Running.

Run faster, he screamed to himself, keep Toni and Keno in front of you!

He looked over his shoulder and saw the big cloud of thick, choking black smoke. Beneath it, the flickering yellow and orange flames, catching up to them, faster and faster.

"Run!" His mother screamed at him. "Run, Aliko, fast as you can! Keep close to your brother and sister! Don't look back, just keep running to the river!"

That's when he realized that he could only hear her voice. He could no longer see his mother's protective face, her big, comforting paws, or her gentle eyes. He could hear his sister crying out to him.

"Come on, Alik!" She yelled, her voice high-pitched and sorrowful. "Listen to Mama! Don't turn around, you're running this way!"

"We have to go to the river like she said!" His brother, Keno, agreed fearfully.

"But I can't see-" His voice was cut off by a painful roar. "Mama!" Then, without realizing, his body some how turned back toward his sister. "Come on, Toni, run!" He nudged her quickly, then seeing as his brother had already started running, ran after them. As the three siblings raced through a burning forest, the fire grew, feeding off of the foliage and gaining speed.

Then, he heard his sister cry out. "The river! The river, we made it!" The three bounded down and into the cool water, turning to gape in horror-struck awe at the flaming trees and grass that was slowly getting nearer. Toni and Keno whimpered and snuggled close to him, and he snuggled back.

"We'll have to wait for Mama, guys. She said she'd come, she'll be here." He was exhausted, and he could tell they were too. So they settled in the shallows by a clump of wet water-reeds. "She'll come. She promised... she'll come find... us..."

"She'll... find us..."

Toni stared at her brother. The little brown bear cub was twitching in his sleep, mumbling something she couldn't quite understand. For only being a few months old, the trio were amazingly well-prepared for surviving. Grant it, they had to teach themselves, but they got through. She poked him with her big, almost black paw. "Aliko? Alik, wake up. Come on, don't be lazy. Get up!"

The young male jumped up, breathing heavily, his fur damp with sweat, mingled with tears. "She's here, isn't she? She came?"

Toni gave him a confused look. "Who?"

"Mo-" He stopped short of saying the word 'mother'. He gulped in the fresh air before turning to his sister. "Nobody. Just a dream."

The dark cub sighed and nuzzled her brothers cheek. "It was Mama, wasn't it? You don't have to lie to me anymore, Alik, I can handle it."

He nodded his head sadly, tears springing unheaded to both his and her eyes. "Yeah, it was Mama... and that fire..."

She shivered. "Come on, you need something to take your mind off of the dream." She stood, happy smile on her face. "Let's wake up Ken and go fishing!"

Aliko stood, shaking out his fur before answering. "But you pushed me in last time we fished."

"I won't do it again," she placed a paw over her heart. "Cub oath!"

He arched an eyebrow. "That's what you said when you stuck honey on my back. You know my back still feels a little sticky."

With a yawn, their brother made his first appearance. "Hey guys, mind keeping it down?" The smallest brown cub yawned, stretching as he did. "I'm still sleepy."

"I wanna go fishing," Toni explained, "wanna go?"

Keno sighed. "Only if you don't slap me in the face with a salmon again. That hurt." He rubbed his cheek as if she had just delt the blow.

Toni giggled. "Aww, that's wasn't serious. I was -" She stopped abruptly, sniffing the air. She stood on her hind legs to get a better smell.

Aliko furrowed his eyebrows together in a frown as he whispered, "What is it, Toni?"

She inhaled deeply before answering. "I think... No... I've never smelled this before."

The two brothers stood too, sniffing the air with great carefulness. Suddenly, Keno gasped. "There! I see it!"

"Where?" His two siblings immediately faced his direction. They gaped, their eyes wide and jaws hanging, but it was Toni who spoke. "What is that?"

Aliko, the more cautious of the siblings, crouched down quickly and quietly, beckoning for the other two to follow. "I dunno, but it's probably dangerous!"

Toni crouched down, but Keno stayed standing, staring at the strange creature. "It's looking at me..."

"Get down!" Aliko hissed, backing away and close to a nearby hollow log. "Come on, get in here."

"The thing has two legs, Alik, how could it possibly get here in a matter of seconds?" Toni argued as she backed away toward him, slowly. "Come on, Ken, let's go."

Ken, however, stood as if hypnotized. "Did Mama ever talk about two-legged creatures?"

"Not that I can remember," Aliko said. "But I'll bet you it's bad news. Come on, let's get out of here."

Suddenly, a blur sped past Keno's left shoulder. He fell to the ground, letting out a painful cry. "Ow! He threw something at me!"

"Well, come on!" Aliko growled, grabbing his brother by the scruff and hauling him into the back of the hollow log. Then he and Toni looked at Keno's shoulder. "It doesn't seem too deep. It should heal in a few days."

Toni set about licking the cut. "What was it that hit you?"

Keno winced as she cleaned his wound. "I don't know, it was too fast! It kinda looked like a stick, with a pointy rock at the end. Ow, not so hard, Toni, that hurts!"

Toni gave one last final lick and back away, nodding at her work. "I agree with Alik, it'll be better in a few days."

"Shh!" Aliko whispered, crouching back into the shadows. "The creature's coming this way!" As his siblings followed his example, remaining silent and still, they watched as the creatures two legs passed the log, jogging about. It picked up it's pointy stick, stood for a moment, then quickly ran off in another direction. Once the creature was gone, Aliko gave a sigh of relief. "I thought he'd find Keno's trail into here!"

Toni shrugged. "He must not be a very good tracker then, huh?"

"Can we just go back to sleep? I'm still tired." Keno murmured, settling down on Toni's left. Aliko settled to the right, and soon the three cubs were sleeping peacefully.

They had learned an important lesson; two-legs are dangerous.

--

once again, i know, short and bad. but hey, bear with me. get it? bear with me, this story is about bears... eh, bad jokes rule. anywho, maybe some action in the next chapter or so.