“You didn’t eat it.”
“You’re the strong one, remember? I’m just the runner.”
The nose disappeared again. A moment later, it came from the other side. It had almost completely circled our tent, trying to find our food. Presumably, it was only a matter of time before it used its claws.
Logan let out a low growl under his breath. His body tensed as he watched the thing remove its nose before he crawled toward the front of the tent. He dropped to his stomach when the creature poked through again. In a flash of movement as fluid as it was jerky, Logan unwrapped the sandwich, unzipped a few inches of the tent, and flung it outside into the darkness before zipping the tent back up and scooting toward me.
We huddled together in the middle of the tent, listening as the animal grunted and sniffed. Ever so slowly, we heard the sounds move off in the direction where the sandwich had landed. Logan crept again to the tent flap, unzipped it slowly, and peered out into the night. From behind me, the tent again pushed abruptly inward. My focus had been zeroed in on Logan, so I hadn’t heard anything behind me. I gasped and flung myself toward him.
“What are you doing?” Logan whispered.
“He’s behind us.”
“No, he’s not. He’s right there,” Logan whispered, motioning for me to look through the peephole. “It’s a moose.”
A noise behind us had us both turning around as what looked like a hoof stepped onto the side wall, squishing the nylon tent into the ground.
Logan pushed me to the side as another hoof came down, this time on Logan’s pillow.
“There’s two of them,” Logan whispered in my ear, as we heard the animal move away from the tent.
I grabbed his arm and squeezed. “Aren’t moose mean?”
He didn’t answer, but there was no need. More grunting and clashing ensued nearby. I dug my fingernails into Logan’s arm, but I didn’t think he noticed. He peeked out of the flap again and ducked immediately, pushing us both backward as something veered close to our tent.
“What’s going on? What’s that noise?” I asked, squished underneath his body.
“They’re fighting,” he hissed. “It’s their antlers clashing together. We’ve got to get out of here. We’re gonna get trampled.”
The shuffling and grunting grew closer and panic exploded into my nervous system. All I could think about was the hoof stepping onto Logan’s pillow and it made me want to run as far away as I could. I made it as far as the zipper before Logan caught the back of my shirt and pulled me into him. He held my body, breathing heavily as the moose pushed against the front of our tent. The clash of their antlers sent a jolt of hysteria clambering up my chest.
After a moment, Logan looked through the flap again and started fumbling around the tent. “They’re by the tree. Now’s our chance. Get your shoes on. We gotta go.”
“Where?” I yanked on my shoes in record time.
“I saw a tree stand a ways up the trail. Grab your phone, we’ll need the light.”
My hands were shaking as I did what he asked. I wasn’t sure I knew what a tree stand was, but it sounded safer than a nylon tent. I pressed against his back as he looked once more out of the tent.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Slowly, he unzipped the tent, the sound about as subtle as a bomb explosion to my ears. The moon glistened off the shadows, but I didn’t need much light to see the fighting animals five yards away from me as I exited the tent. They were huge.
Logan crawled out first, reaching behind him to grab my hand. We crept quietly around our tent, heading in the opposite direction of where the moose were pitted against each other, now only about three feet away. We could see well enough that I didn’t turn on my phone’s flashlight. My knowledge of moose was limited, to say the least, and I had no idea how they might react to a sudden flash of light in the darkness. They were at a standstill, their antlers locked together in a push-and-pull battle, as we rounded our tent, carefully keeping our eyes on the animals. Twigs snapped beneath our feet when we edged out into the clearing. Suddenly, one of the moose charged forward against the other, pushing him backward toward Logan and me. Logan’s grip on my hand tightened as we both took off running blindly into the night.
All was going well, running along in a dark forest, until I tripped on an overgrown root and went down.
32
Logan
Ifelt Tessa fall. Her hand tightened while her body pulled mine back. I stopped, reaching down to help her.
Tessa swore at my hurried attempt to help her stand up. She went limp again, hopping on one foot.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, the terrifying sound of clashing antlers ten yards behind us.
“My ankle. I think I twisted it.”
