Chapter 25
Kendra watched Grayson's tense posture and knew, without asking, that he wanted to go after the men who had disobeyed staying off the roped-off trail. “Do you want to go?”
“Yes and no. I don’t want the grizzlies to get a bad name because some idiots ignored the warning signs and stayed in the area.
But I don’t want to get you or me into an issue with a sow if they run across her, get too close to her cubs, or get between her and her cubs, and we have to try and get all of us out of harm’s way. ”
“But with more of us there to scare off the bear, if they encounter her, it should help, don’t you think?” Kendra asked.
“As long as we stay together, no one runs, we use bear spray if we need to, and we move carefully out of the area, hopefully we’ll be alright. Do you want to wait for Patrick?”
“It might be too late.”
“Let’s go then. Patrick will smell our scents and know where we’ve headed.”
She hoped they were just being proactive and wouldn’t run into any real trouble. But she also knew that the bears would be foraging for berries. The summer and fall were important for them to build up their fat stores to get through the winter.
She also hoped they wouldn’t run into any aggressive males looking for a sweetheart. She didn’t know if any of them would pursue her when she was in her human form, even though a grizzly could smell that she was also a grizzly. She might confuse one enough that he wouldn’t bother her.
They began hiking on the roped-off trail, listening for any sounds that might indicate someone was in trouble. “Head on a swivel,” Grayson said, meaning to watch out for bears, cougars, or wolves.
“Noses in the air.”
“At least they stayed on the trail. I was afraid they might have taken a hike deeper into the forest where bears are not as easily seen in the brambles, and the men could startle them more easily.”
Kendra agreed. “I hope they’re just walking on the trail and not running.”
“Yeah, prime bear bait.”
“Exactly. A running human is the perfect prey.” She lifted her nose and took a deep breath. Then she thought she heard the faint sound of conversation. “Do you hear someone?” she whispered.
“Yeah. The two men?”
“We can hear up to 1,000 feet. One-fifth of a mile,” she said. “So they could be that far ahead.”
“Well, at least no one is shouting in panic or pain,” Grayson said.
“Which reminds me of Jurassic Park, where one of the characters said something to the effect that everyone at the park would be oohing and awwing, until the dinosaurs attacked, and then they were screaming and running.”
Grayson chuckled. “I loved that movie. Yeah, I agree. Getting a close-up photo of cubs is great until you come face to face with the momma bear and she attacks you.”
They continued down the trail when Kendra got a text and checked it. "It's from Amy."
Amy: You two are headed for trouble. So if you're with Grayson, be careful.
Kendra called Amy and put it on speakerphone. "Hey, what kind of trouble?"
"With a bear."
Great. "Grizzly or black bear?"
"Grizzly. I just see the two of you—" Amy paused. "You're in the woods. Are you in the forest now?"
"Yeah, we're trying to stop a disaster from happening in case a couple of male hikers run into an angry sow. A grizzly bear. Ranger Patrick is on his way here also."
"Okay, I don't see the men. I see the woods, the trail, no one but the two of you, and the sow comes out of nowhere."
"While we're on the trail still?" Kendra asked. What if the idiot hikers never ran into any trouble, but she and Grayson did instead, because they were trying to rescue the men?
"Yeah. I'm hoping she's just bluffing. I don't see anything after that. I asked Cedric. He said he hadn't seen anything of the vision. I think it's because you and I are such good friends."
"Well, darn. Maybe we put ourselves in harm's way when we didn't need to."
"I don't know. I wish I could tell you what happened to the men, but I'm just not seeing them in a vision. Okay, well, watch out. Be ultra-careful."
"We will be. We'll tell you when we've left the area so you'll know we're okay."
"Good. Talk to you later."
Kendra put her phone away.
"Do you want to return to the other trail?" Grayson asked Kendra.
"I want to keep looking for the men. We might run into the sow before we find them. But I want to keep looking just in case we can steer them back to the other trail."
"I agree. Despite the premonition?"
"Yeah, it could be that it happens at some other time. Her premonitions are not complete. So we're on a trail in the forest, but it could be later when we're on another hike."
They continued to move along the trail, listening for any sounds of anyone in the woods, when Grayson suddenly stopped, grabbed Kendra's arm, and pulled her close. "A cub is over there in the blackberry shrub."
"Where's the mom? Crap, she's on the other side of the trail, and we're in between her and her cub."
"There's another cub out there, no two more."
The mother rose on her hind legs, which didn’t necessarily mean she was threatening them; she could just want a better view.
"Let's move back on the trail, out of the path. Don't turn your back on her, but just keep moving," Kendra said, her heart and his racing.
They moved as quickly as they could without running, praying once they were out of her way, she wouldn't believe they were a threat to the cubs. She bared her teeth at them and ran at them.
They continued to move away. The desire to run filled Kendra, but they kept putting the distance between them while Grayson pulled out the can of bear spray. She got hers ready too.
"Omigod, the men are behind the sow," Kendra said, as she finally saw them standing on the trail, not knowing what to do.
"Go the other way. If you come this way, you'll be closer to the momma bear's cubs.
Go! You should have paid attention to the ranger's warnings. It wasn't a suggestion but an order."
"Don't run," Grayson said to the men, sounding irritated with them. "Whatever you do. If you run and separate from each other, she'll go after both of you."
Her and Grayson's voices kept the sow's attention for now. But none of them were out of danger.
Kendra carefully called Patrick. "We've got a situation. The sow is coming after Grayson and me. We're away from the cubs, but she's still advancing. The two male hikers are behind her on the trail. If we move to get ourselves far enough away from her, I'm afraid she's going to go after the men."
"Okay, I'm not that far away from you now. I smell your scent and the men's. I’ll help to deter her from you, but the men may be on their own for now."
“She’s just bluffing for now, but we’re far enough away from her cubs that I think she’ll move on, unless she sees the other men. And they’re way too close to her cubs still,” Kendra said. Though wild bears could be unpredictable, she still could come after Grayson or her, too.
Grayson said to the men, “Move back. Don’t turn your back on the sow but get as far away from the cubs and her as you can, or you are dead meat.”
Kendra knew he was right. One of the men might get away, but possibly not.
She knew that a grizzly had taken off after a group of tourists on a hiking trail when they all went running off in the woods.
The momma bear injured several of the tourists and killed one.
They should have stayed together; they would have looked like a more formidable force.
The tour guide should have told them they needed to stay together in case they ended up in that situation.
Then again, maybe he did, and the tourists just panicked.
The men didn’t say a word. They looked terrified, but they needed to keep moving.
Kendra was sure they didn’t want to say a word and alert the sow that they were behind her.
But the sow could hear them even when walking back away from her. She was still concentrating on Grayson and her though.
Then they heard Patrick walking toward them, smelled his scent, and Kendra knew then that’s why the sow was still focused on them.
“What do you want us to do?” Grayson asked Patrick, not turning his head, keeping his focus on the bear.
Patrick joined them. “Keep moving away from her. Hopefully, she’ll take off with her cubs and ignore the other men, though I could wring their necks.”
“I know. They put everyone’s safety at risk, including the sow’s.”
“Yeah, but if she tore into them, she wouldn’t be found at fault. Everyone would know she was protecting her cubs, and they got between her and them.”
“Exactly.”
Then the sow headed into the forest with her cubs.
They breathed a collective sigh.
“What do you want us to do?” the one man called out.
“Come this way, and you need to leave the area,” Patrick said. “Like the signs warned.”
“Don’t run,” Kendra warned, just in case they had more trouble.
The men were moving quickly but not running. But they looked like they wanted to run.
She didn’t blame them. That was a normal human response.
They waited for them to join them so they would be safer as a group. But Patrick immediately wanted to see their ID.
“What for?” the one man asked.
“For violating an order. For putting the bears and us in danger. For making us have to stop what we were doing to save you.”
“You didn’t need to do anything,” the other man said, arrogant, not getting the whole picture because he had made it out alive.
“Have you ever seen someone torn up by a bear?” Patrick brought out his phone and pulled up a video someone had taken of his friend being torn apart by a grizzly before he began moving away from the scene and went to get help.
“That was a sow, protecting her cubs, just like in this situation. And his friend didn’t live. Where’s your bear spray?”
“Uh, in my backpack.”
“Good place for it. By the time you got it out, you would have been dead.”
“What about them?” the one guy asked, motioning to Grayson and Kendra.
“What about them?” Patrick asked.
“They’re on the trail too,” the guy said.
“Because I told them to go to your aid. They’re bear experts.
You’re just lucky they came to help you, or you would have been facing the sow by yourselves.
You probably don’t know enough about the wildlife to protect yourselves in a situation like this.
In any event, I’m fining both of you for harassing wildlife and ignoring posted signs for a trail closure, putting yourself and others at risk. ”
“Nah, you can’t do that,” the one man said.
The ranger took down their information and wrote them both up. He recorded it and then handed them the tickets.
The men read the fines, and one swore, and the other’s face turned beet red. “Two-hundred and fifty dollars!”
Kendra tried not to smile. Patrick was within his rights to issue the fines, but she suspected they would try to avoid paying them by appealing the decision.
But then Patrick showed the photos he had taken of the closed trail marker, and the men and their proximity to the sow and her cubs. “I will also get the trail cam footage that showed you went under the taped off trail.”
It still didn’t mean that the judge would fine them that much, but since one of the judges was a bear shifter, if he saw the case, he would.
“Sometimes it doesn’t pay to violate rules,” Patrick said. “But remember, the two of you got off easy. If the bear had attacked you, it would have been a much different story. And the cost? Much greater, if you had even made it out alive.”
Then Patrick turned and headed out with Grayson and Kendra. “Thanks for coming to their aid even if they’re not grateful for it.”
“Story of our life.” Kendra noticed the men were sticking close behind them, even though they were mad about the fine.
They didn’t want to put themselves in more danger. Again.
“So do you want to hike further?” Kendra asked Grayson, meaning on the trail that they had been on.
“No,” the one man said.
Kendra smiled at Grayson. He smiled back.
Before they reached the taped-off area, they saw a couple with teenage kids climbing under the tape.
They immediately froze when they saw the park ranger.
“Is the trail open now?” the man asked, probably the dad, and sounding like he wanted to get himself and his family out of trouble.
“Is the tape in place, stating the trail is closed because of the wildlife danger?” Patrick asked.
“Well, yeah, but look at all of you,” the man said, motioning to the others.
“They were fined two hundred and fifty dollars apiece for going on the taped-off trail,” Patrick said.
The dad and his family quickly went under the tape.
“We don’t just set up rules to make things inconvenient for you,” Patrick said. “There was a real danger ahead, and we aim to stop that from happening.”
“Yeah,” the one guy behind them said. “A mother bear was protecting her cubs, and we thought she was going to kill the bear experts.”
Good, finally, he was getting the point of the matter.
The family looked a little ashen.
“Why don’t we go back and play in the water some more?” the mom said.
The teens agreed, and the whole family headed back to the pond.
Patrick posted another sign on the trail, warning of grizzlies fighting each other.
“Why did you post that?” the one man asked. “We didn’t see any grizzly bears fighting each other.”
“If I post that a protective mother is watching over her cubs, what do you think might happen?” Patrick asked.
The two men looked at each other.
“Well?” Patrick prompted.
“They would want to take pictures of them,” the one man begrudgingly offered.
“Did you take pictures of them?” Kendra asked.
“Well, yeah, of course. Anyone would have.”
“Not us. And we didn’t take any of the raging bear either,” Grayson said. “You know why?”
“Because you’re bear experts,” the one man said.
Then they made their way past the tape and back to the lodging.
“So, like I asked you, do you want to hike some more?” Kendra asked Grayson.
“I sure do. We’re bear experts, after all.”
She laughed. “What if we run into a cougar?”
“We’ll shift.”