A/N: So... this kind of took a little longer than planned, sorry for that, once school is out the updates will be a lot faster. I also really appreciate the reviews! I'd like to say a special thank you to Amy, who has reviewed almost every chapter. I would send you a private message, but your not a member, so thank you! Your reviews help me a lot! Thanks to everyone else too. Anyway, here's the next chapter, enjoy! :)
Chapter 7: Ruined Plans
"I've got Dunham." Saunders said into the phone, laying back in his tent at 11:00 at night, "I've also got the other guy, Bishop, I think he might be useful."
"Good work," Faber replied, a little hesitant, "But if you can't handle another person, don't let him drag you down." he seemed worried that Saunders couldn't handle them.
Saunders rolled his eyes, "Yeah, trust me I've got this under control. Now all we need is the girl, any idea where she could be?"
Faber sighed, that was the reason he had called in the first place, "Yes I do," he said, "but unfortunately it's not anywhere near you."
"Where is she then?" Saunders asked, confused by Faber's cryptic reply.
"Well our researchers have learned how to track her, and apparently she disappeared again. Around the same time you arrived at the forest." his tone was menacing, implying that it might have been Saunders' fault that the girl disappeared.
Saunders hesitated, "Well, I didn't have anything to do with it, I can tell you that."
"Really?" Faber questioned, "Well according to my researchers the girl disappears every time she is caught off guard and scared. Sort of like every time your heart gives a little jump when something surprises you. And I take it that one of the only things that could have taken her by surprise in the forest is you, Saunders."
Saunders struggled to think of something to say. Thinking back, he realized that it might have been the gunshot that scared the girl. Trying to redirect the conversation, he asked, "Uh well, do you know where she reappeared?"
"Peto, Mexico. It's on the Yucatan Peninsula. I'll send you the details later, but for now, pack up and start heading down to Mexico," he paused for a moment, "Since she's in a city you need to get down there right away before someone else finds her. Bring Dunham and the other guy with you, you don't have time to drop them off, but make sure they don't cause a disturbance."
"Okay," Saunders said, glad he hadn't gotten lectured, "We'll leave as soon as possible." hanging up, he dropped the phone onto the ground and shut his eyes as he leant back into the sleeping bag. He thought he was doing a pretty good job so far, but the hardest part was yet to come.
Peter was slouched against the tree, asleep, when a rustling sound came from behind the tree he was tied to. It was loud and slowly approaching the clearing, and he woke with a start, his eyes adjusting to the dim moonlight. Looking around slowly, he saw two men huddled around a campfire about 100 feet into the clearing, right next to the river. They looked drunk with their beer bottles, and seemed to be eating something. He thought about calling out to them, to see if he could trick them into letting him go, when he heard a rustling sound again. This time it was closer and louder, and was accompanied by a sort of low grunting.
Slightly alarmed, Peter twisted as much as he could to look behind him. It was too dark to see anything, but he could still hear the faint rustling, and it was getting even closer. Turning back around, Peter leant into the tree and ignored the sound, figuring that it was probably just a raccoon.
A few minutes later, there was a deep grumbling, and it was directly behind him. Jumping slightly in surprise, Peter twisted to look behind the tree and came face to with a grizzly bear on all fours. Frozen in shock and fear, he took in the massive size of the creature. It was four feet tall, just on all four legs, and had a deep brown color to its thick fur. The bear was staring intently at Peter, curious, and was simply sniffing around, but that didn't stop Peter from being close to terrified. Here he was, tied to a tree, helpless, with a giant bear a foot away from him.
Taking a slow, deep breath, he backed away and faced forward, shutting his eyes and willing it to go away. Instead the bear stumbled onward, and came to the edge of the clearing, just to the left of Peter. Bringing its nose to the air, it sniffed, and turned its head to the campfire and two men.
It was then that Peter realized what the bear was doing. It had smelt the food that those two idiots had cooked, and now it wanted some. He couldn't believe it. Those guys were not only going to get themselves killed, but everyone else at the camp as well. Thinking of that reminded him of Olivia, and it made his breath catch. Olivia. She was somewhere in one of those tents, if the bear lost it she might get hurt.
The bear was now continuing towards the two men, completely ignoring Peter. The men were oblivious to what was going on, probably because they were drunk. He considered yelling out to the men, but that would only startle the bear, the only thing he could do was wait nervously.
As it approached the fire, the bear passed dangerously close to the tent Olivia was in and Peter held his breath. It stopped for a moment and took in the scent of the food once more, then continued towards the fire. Letting his breath out, he intently watched.
One of the men, the one holding the food, looked up and saw the bear. Eyes widening, he brought a shaking finger up to point at it and said something to the other man. Turning around, the other man saw the bear and froze.
Despite the danger of the situation, Peter stifled a laugh. These guys were seriously caught by surprise. He only hoped that they would know what to do.
The bear now tilted its head curiously, and stepped past the first man to the one with the food. Grunting, it sniffed the air once more and made a swipe for the food.
The man was still in shock, and when the bear swiped, he brought the hot dogs out of the way and closer to his body. Peter was shocked, what was this guy doing? Did he want to get killed?
The bear became angry after it wasn't given the food. Backing up a few steps, it grunted again and slowly stood up on its hind legs, towering at eight feet. Terrified, both men scurried backwards away from the fire and cowered beside a tent. The man still had the food.
At this point, Peter didn't care about what the bear might do, he just had to knock some sense into these guys, "Hey, don't just sit there! It wants the food! Give it the food!" he yelled, hoping they would get it.
The bear had taken a few steps forward and turned to Peter after hearing his voice. The man with the food heard him, and turning back to the bear, hurriedly threw the stick with hot dogs at it. Being drunk, the man had terrible aim and ended up hitting the bear square in the face.
Startled for a bit, the bear just stood there, taking in the terrified expressions of the two men. After a second, it shook its head and gave a loud roar. It was furious.
Peter tensed, he hadn't seen a bear lose it before, but he did know that it wasn't pretty. Trying to make himself invisible, he watched it carefully, hoping it didn't get anywhere near him or Olivia.
Olivia was already starting to wake from her stupor, but a sudden loud roar brought her back to earth right away.
Snapping her eyes open, she looked around the tent to find it empty. She was about to pass the loud noise off as her imagination when she heard it again, a loud roar, and this time it was accompanied by a few yells and crashes.
Wondering what the hell was going on, she tried to prop herself up, but her side hurt too much. There were restraints on her legs and wrists, but the ones that had been on her shoulder were now gone. Trying again with all she had, Olivia thrust herself up into a sitting position and stayed for a moment gasping for breath when there was another roar and yell.
Moments later, something crashed into one of the posts that was holding the tent up and it fell over onto the cot Olivia was strapped to, hitting her leg.
Crying out in pain and shock, Olivia was starting to become scared, she had no idea what was going on. Pulling at the restraints again, she tried to get free, but was stopped when a man rushed into the tent and pushed her down onto the cot, "Stay still," he frantically said, as he rolled the cot out of the collapsing tent, "There's a grizzly bear that's going crazy, we'll put you near the edge of the woods so it won't bother you. Hopefully."
Olivia did as the man asked and stayed still, he continued to push her though the clearing and when she looked around her, she was shocked.
There were things scattered everywhere, tables, fabric from the tents, and in the distance she could just make out a hulking, roaring figure smashing everything in its path. Men were running all over the place, panicked, and were trying to find guns. Some were already shooting at the bear, the loud shots echoing across the forest, but it wasn't going down without a fight.
"Is that it?" she asked, trying to hide her fear and stay calm.
"Yeah," the man muttered, as he stopped the cot just inside the edge of the woods, "now don't do anything stupid." At that, he left, rushing to help out the other men.
Taking a deep breath, Olivia brought herself up to a sitting position again and looked around. To her right she saw a slouched form and yelped in surprise when it moved. Looking more closely, she realized that it was Peter. He had dark circles under his eyes and scratches and bruises covering almost every inch of his body, he didn't look too good.
"Olivia?" he whispered, turning to get a better look at her, "Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?"
"I'm fine." she replied, quickly brushing off his concern, "But what about you? What did they do to you?"
Laughing quietly, Peter shook his head, "I'm fine too sweetheart, and I'm not the one who got shot." he was looking pointedly at Olivia as he said this.
Groaning, she turned onto her side as best she could on the cot, "Really Peter, I'm fine, they just patched up my side, that's all."
"Good," he said, "I'm glad you're okay." he looked back at the clearing then, and his eyes widened. Curious, Olivia followed his gaze and saw what surprised him, the men had finally gotten their guns together and were shooting at the bear, but it was heading straight for them, a murderous look on its face.
"Olivia!" he hissed as he slouched against the tree, "Lay back and act dead. I'm serious."
Doing as he said, she quickly shut her eyes and laid back, listening closely. It was getting closer, and by the sounds of it, it was mad. When it reached them, she heard it snort, then brush its snout against her leg.
Biting hard on her lip, she tried her best to stay still, but the bear was now prodding her in the side and it was killing her. She could vaguely hear a man yell out not to shoot, because they might hit her. The bear then gave a hard nudge in her side, and she blacked out, the pain becoming unbearable.
Saunders had to act fast. The bear was almost on top of Dunham and if anything happened to her, he'd be dead. Faber would make sure of that. "Don't just stand there!" he yelled at his men as he ran towards the bear, "Kill it!"
Following his commands, the men came and began frantically shooting at the bear. They had large guns, and the bear responded immediately. Leaving Olivia's side, it stood on its legs again, approaching the men slowly. This gave one of the men the opportunity to shoot it in the heart, and it stumbled, collapsing in a heap onto the ground.
Running his hand over his forehead, Saunders looked over the destruction of the camp, giving a heavy sigh at what he saw.
All the tents had collapsed, papers and supplies scattered everywhere, and worst of all, over half of their food supply was destroyed. His men scattered and began to clean up, but he knew that they needed to leave soon, there was no point in wasting food now.
Heading over to check on Olivia and Peter, he saw that Olivia was unconscious. Peter was awake, and was observing the wreckage of the camp, not even trying to hide the wide grin on his face.
"Shut up, Bishop." Saunders muttered, seeing that he wanted to say something about the bear.
Peter's grin became wider and he shook his head, "You've got some great luck, don't you?" he said mockingly, ignoring Saunders' grim expression.
"Wipe that grin off your face or I'll do it for you." he said darkly, tugging Olivia's cot out of the forest. Turning back to the clearing, he wheeled the cot over beside the river bank, leaving it so he could help clean up.
Coming into consciousness, Olivia opened her eyes to more darkness, the moon giving an eerie glow to the trees. Groaning, she felt her side throb and remembered the bear. There was a lot of talking and moving around going on behind her, and when she looked back, she saw people running around, doing their best to clean up. As she moved, she noticed that the strap on her left wrist had ripped at the edge a bit.
Quickly, she checked to see if anyone was watching, then twisted her wrist against the rip. The strap was leather, and it was tough, but after a minute it started to give way. Trying to keep her cool, Olivia continued to push on the strap, and finally, it snapped and her left arm was free.
Checking behind her again, Olivia kept her arm at her side so no one would notice. Then, she laid on her back and thought of a plan to escape. This time, she wouldn't mess up. Hopefully.
A/N: How was it? Please let me know in a review! Thank you! :)