No. Something big was definitely moving out there. And chewing. It sounded like something was sniffing and eating the grass while meandering closer toward us.
I shook Logan awake, and he moaned softly. I threw my hand over his mouth and leaned in close to his ear, whispering the most terrifying words ever uttered from my mouth. “There’s something out there.”
The only sudden movement he made was a long stretch before releasing a sigh. I pushed against him. “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah. Do you know what it is?”
Why wasn’t he freaking out?
“I only have bear thoughts in my head right now. It’s grunting and eating and moving closer to us. Do something.” My mouth pressed against his ear as I spoke.
“Like what?”
“Use your strength and fight him.”
He breathed out a chuckle, though I noticed he wasn’t moving. At all. “It’s probably just an elk or something.”
“Or something,” I repeated ominously.
We lay still, our bodies tensed, waiting for more movement. And then movement came. The side of the tent near our feet pushed inward in the distinct shape of a nose. Another grunt ensued.
Every swear word I could think of ran silently through my head as I scrambled to sit up, Logan following suit.
I had always tried to give the appearance of being tough. Strong. Sarcastic. Witty. All the things that made up who I was. I liked that image. I didn’t want to be the girl hopping up and down on her knees in a tent, holding Logan’s body in front of me as a human shield, but there I was. I had always heard you never knew what kind of person you were until a problem was in front of you. Turns out, I was the kind of person who would sacrifice my friends. Or…whatever Logan was.
The outline of the nose retracted from our tent, as the sounds of grunting and eating continued.
To his credit, Logan didn’t remove himself from my death grip but, instead, calmly turned his head toward me, holding something in his hand. “I missed a sandwich.”
“What? How did you do that?”
“It was dark. I grabbed all the food I could see. It was hidden between our sleeping bags. Why didn’tyoujust eat?”
Curse me and my stubbornness which led me to both starve all night and attract the wildlife.
“I wasn’t hungry.”
He sighed. “Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s here for.”
It.
Such a terrifying word in the wrong context.
“Who’sit? Do you know what it is?”
I resisted the urge to scream when the nose pushed the tent forward again, this time from the front flap, and instead, attached myself to Logan’s back like a starfish to a rock.
Logan swallowed and pointed in front of him. “Yup. That thing right there.”
I slid off his back, trying to gather some wits. “Should we throw him the sandwich?”
“How?”
“You open the flap and toss it outside so he’ll go after it.”
“Why am I in charge of feeding the bear? It’s your sandwich.”
“You brought it.”
