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Burial Ground

Chapter eleven

Dean slowly turned around and saw something that in all his days of hunting he prayed he'd never see. A gigantic grizzly bear stood on its hind legs and was walking toward them. It swatted at the air in front of it with massive claws, its large teeth glistening in the light. Dean knew if they ran the bear would get down on all fours and easily outrun them. He slowly raised his gun and stood protectively in front of the couple.

"Back away toward the river slowly…Do not run unless I tell you to. But if I tell you to run…then run as fast as you can and get in the river, don't look back."

Dean knew grizzlies could swim but he hoped maybe the bear had just eaten and wasn't hungry enough to want to swim after its food.

He slowly walked away from the couple trying to keep the bear's attention on him.

"Hey you big son of a bitch….you want some of this you come and get it."

It worked for awhile, the bear turned toward Dean and away from the couple. But when the girl suddenly panicked and began to run the bear got down on all fours and started running after her.

"Run! Get in the river!" Dean shouted as he fired at the bear. He knew as big as the bear was he'd more then likely only wound it and not kill it, and a wounded bear was far more deadly then an uninjured one.

Mike and Andrea made it to the river and jumped in. The bear started into the water after them but then turned around and headed back toward Dean. Dean did the only thing he could think of to do; he too jumped into the river.

The current carried them down river but the bear ran alongside the river having little difficulty keeping up with them.

"Try to stay in the middle of the river!" Dean shouted over to the terrified couple. He hoped by staying in the middle of the river the bear would soon tire and give up the chase. But even as he said it he could feel the current pushing them closer and closer towards the bear.

Dean had protected people all his life and he wasn't about to stop now. He swam to the side of the couple making sure he would be the first one the bear would reach.

"I'll try to distract him….Just stay in the river, hopefully the current will take you far enough away that he won't bother following."

When he got close to the river bank he quickly crawled out before the bear could reach him and ran into a clearing. He watched as the bear turned in his direction and as the couple continued down the river. It had worked; the couple at least for now was safe but now the bear's full attention was now on him. He knew his only hope was to double back and once more try to reach the river. He headed into the woods hoping the trees would give him at least a little protection from the bear. His plan was to get into the woods and let the bear follow him. Then when he was certain the couple was far enough down river he'd head back to the river. He hoped the bear would grow tired of the chase and back off. But he had a bad feeling he was going to become exhausted before the bear tired out.

He could hear the bear crashing through the woods behind him and knew it wasn't far behind. After leading the bear into the woods for a few minutes he turned and headed back for the river. He had just reached the edge of the woods and could see the river up ahead when he suddenly felt the bear swipe at his backpack with its huge claw. The creature connected with his backpack and picked him up and threw him through the air. He hit the ground hard and lay on his back trying to catch his breath as he watched the bear once more get on its hind legs and head toward him. He tried to get up but the leg he had injured in the river earlier protested and he collapsed back to the ground. He aimed his gun at the huge creature's head. He knew he had to make the shot count or he was dead. He had heard of bears being shot in the head before and the bullet didn't even seem to faze them only made them angrier, but he had no choice. He fired….but there was only silence. He frantically hit the bottom of his gun with the palm of his hand; his gun had never misfired before. He tried again with the same result. He lay on his back and watched in horror as the bear, which was now standing over him, opened its mouth and roared.

TBC