“You’re probably going to ‘relocate’ some to zoos. Don’t think I don’t know what your kind is like.”
“I wasn’t planning on doing any of that. We’re going to observe and take notes and, if possible, try to figure out why the bears are moving this far south, so that maybe the scientists who are involved in… scientists who work… scientists who?—”
“You expect me to believe a single word from someone who can't get their words out.”
Before I could think of a response that might not get me run out of town, he crossed over to me and threw me on the ground. I was face first, and when I struggled to get up, he grabbed both my hands and tied them behind my back. I didn’t see with what.
“Come!” He yanked me up and pushed me forward, and I nearly tumbled to the ground again. I had a feeling he would be even rougher if I did.
I’d been scared of a bear when I came out here. I should’ve been afraid of the humans. It was always the freaking humans.
He brought me near the cabin I saw before. Only this time, it didn’t appear vacant like the first time I was here. There was a group of people clustered out front, and all of them looked pissed.
My first thought was that I’d stumbled into a cult. Maybe I’d been watching too many documentaries, but that was the only thing that came to mind. It wasn’t like we were in the center of town and people came out of their houses and businesses to watch the drama. No one accidentally congregated here.
I heard mumbles of “threatening their lifestyle,” “ruining the environment,” “destroying the animals,” and “not respecting the law of the land.” That only fostered my initial belief that it was a cult.
The man who dragged me there held up a small recording device that I kept in my pocket, the one I’d looked for earlier. “Is this yours?”
“Yes.” It was pretty clear he was asking for their benefit and not because he didn’t know the answer. There was no point in denying it. Any chance I had against one guy, which in this case was none, was even smaller with all the people here.
“He’s been here before. He’s surveilling us in the name of science.”
“No! I came here for the bears.”
There were a couple of snickers from the group and a growl. What kind of a person growled?
“This human is a danger to us,” the man declared. “He’s an outsider. He’s a spy. He’s a threat to everything.”
The people cried out their agreement. All they had was a probably broken recorder and his word, and they were acting like I was the enemy.
“He cannot be allowed to leave.”
I still didn’t know who he was or who any of them were, but this wasn’t a cocktail party. I couldn’t exactly ask them to go around the group and tell me their name and one fun fact about themselves.
“What do you mean, I’m not leaving here? You can’t just throw me in jail because you don’t like that I’m a scientist.”
His eyes changed. Had I not been watching him the entire time, I’d have sworn he put in contacts. They were inhuman. Please let me have fallen asleep at the B&B and have this be a nightmare.
“Jail? What made you think you’d get off that easily?” the man said. “Your last breath will be taken here.”
There were so many things I regretted not saying to Asher. He was going to think I just disappeared. It wasn’t like I told anybody where I was going today or what I was doing. And with this many people, they’d take care of the car very quickly, leaving no trail.
I’d finally found my special person and we didn’t even get the chance to spend a week together, much less our lives.
The man threw me in the snow, and everyone’s eyes were glued to me. I kept waiting for him to reach for a weapon. He didn’t. Instead of taking more rope or pulling out a gun or maybe a log to whack me in the head, he started to get naked.
Two seconds later, where he had been standing, was a polar bear. A real, live polar bear. They weren’t just protecting bears. They were the bears. How was that possible?
The beast started toward me. I scrambled to get up, but failed miserably. Between my hands still being bound and my winter gear limiting my mobility, I was a sitting duck. I squeezed my eyes shut. When I dreamed of polar bears as a child, it was never about being their dinner, and yet here I was.
The bear’s nose came in close, I could feel his breath on me. I braced myself for the impact. None came. He was smelling me. Then he snarled before circling me and smelling every inch. I’d never felt so exposed, so vulnerable. Then he took his huge head and raised it to the sky and let out a roar like I’d never heard before. It was pure rage, and I shook from the force of it.
Then the bear was gone and the naked man was in his place. “Why do you scent like him?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I stammered. “And... weren’t you just a bear?”
“Wait,” he turned to the others. “I have a better idea. Prepare the clearing. There won’t be one bleeding today, there will be two.”
