Avery could only make out blurry images of what was happening in front of her. This bear would kill her sister if she didn’t act quickly. The tears rushed down her face as she tried to focus her aim on the bear’s body. Avery picked up a crystal boulder and threw it at the bear with all her strength. The cracking sound of the rock making contact with the bear’s shoulders echoed off the surrounding rocks.
Immediately, the bear turned its attention from Morgan’s still and bloody body, and began charging toward Avery. Avery could hardly make out the features of the bear through her stinging eyes. She turned her back on the bear and stumbled over the sharp rocks. Avery’s body smacked the rocks as she tripped, cracking her head on the crystals. She pressed her arms forward to push her body up, trying to think of how to save herself and her sister.
Suddenly, the bear was on Avery’s back, pinning her down against the sharp rocks. It raised itself up on two legs before plunging its front paws and claws against Avery’s backpack. The air escaped her lungs as the full weight of the bear crashed into her. There was no escaping this attack. She clutched onto the crystals and let out a feeble plea to anyone or anything who could hear her.
“Please! Help!” Avery cried out.
At that moment, the mountain filled with a shrill whirring sound. The bear ran, charging back toward Morgan before dragging her body down further from the site of the attack. Light exploded from the crystal that Avery clung to, and the world around her ceased to exist. As light and sound exploded from the world around her, Avery let out a shrill and gasping shout for her sister, “Morgan! Morgan! Morgan!”
Darkness engulfed her where light had once poured out, and she fell into unconsciousness on the cold rock.
Chapter three
Avery
Muted light filtered through Avery’s eyes as she tried to make out her surroundings.Everythinghurt, but Avery’s head throbbed so much it made her eyes burn.What in the hell happened?
Avery tried to remember the details that led her to wake up alone on a pile of sharp rocks, but the pain coursing through her body made it impossible to think of anything else. Her neck and shoulders felt like they were on fire, and she struggled to think past the pain pounding through her head.
She had to assess the situation. That’s what she’d always done when she approached an injured skier as a ski patroller. It was no different now, except she was the injured one. Avery tried to lift her right hand to her head, but she couldn’t move it. She had a serious injury to her right shoulder. She moved her left arm and realized she still wore her backpack.
Suddenly, the last few hours rushed back to her. She was backpacking with Morgan and an aggressive bear attacked them. She’d hit her head hard on a rock. Bringing her left hand up to her forehead, she felt the open wound running across her forehead. The fresh blood on her fingers nauseated her.
The last thing she remembered flashed into her head. Morgan’s terrified screams, the crunch of her bones as the bear took off andthe blinding white light that stunned Avery into unconsciousness.
Where was Morgan?
Avery unclipped her backpack. She needed to find helpnow.Morgan’s life depended on it. Avery sat up, pushing through the dizzying pain. The motion rocked through her. Her ears rang. Her stomach did a flip before the contents of her stomach roiled.
She had to get control of her body before she helped Morgan. She wasn’t lost. The trail was popular, and she knew other campers and hikers were just below Quartz Mountain at the lake. If she could make it down there, she’d be okay. Then she could get Morgan some help.
She tried standing, but the dizziness hit her again, and she leaned back against her backpack. She tugged on her water bottle and took in some sips of water. Next, she needed to get out the first aid kit.
She tried to move her heavy pack over to her side. While she struggled, she heard voices on the trail. Help was already here!
“Help!” Avery tried to yell, but her voice came out so weak and scratchy. It didn’t sound like her typically confident voice. She couldn’t make out anyone on the trail thanks to her stinging eyes.Think, Avery. Think this through.Her mind felt so garbled it was challenging not to succumb to panic. But panicking would not help her right now. It would only make things much worse.
The whistle! She had a whistle attached to her chest strap on her backpack. Grabbing the backpack with her left hand, she lifted the buckle to her mouth and blew. The shrill sound echoed across the mountains. She blew again and again. Surely someone would hear her distress signal?
Panting and exhausted, Avery flipped the backpack over and leaned against it again, closing her eyes. The throbbingpain in her head and the searing pain in her shoulder wore her down. Dizziness threatened to rob her of consciousness.
The voices down the trail got louder. People were coming! She slid down so her head rested on the pack, and she could reach her chest strap. Despite the lightheadedness, Avery blew the whistle as long as she could before she repeated it. Over and over, she blew the whistle while her head and shoulder pounded in protest.
Footfalls came down the trail, and voices were much closer.Thank God!She would get the help she needed. Avery whistled again and opened her eyes. Shapes approached her with shocking speed. They were men. Maybe they already found Morgan? She could be getting help now.
Through blurred vision, she could see what must be a group of stacked men running toward her. Fuck, these men were enormous. But what was in their hands? The first one to reach her crouched low beside her. He spoke in a lilting language. He wore some sort of leather clothing, and his skin was covered in an intricate design that looked like it was tattooed below the surface of his skin. Avery blinked as her mind played tricks on her. The tattoo moved on its own.
Most alarming of all was the sword the man held in his right hand. “Help me!” Avery said. Her voice sounded so raspy, so quiet, she wasn’t sure if he heard her. He just kept pointing a sword at her and talking in that nonsensical language.
The man yelled at her in that strange language as the others reached her. There was something inhuman about these men. Or was this a result of her head injury?
“Please, help me!” she cried. Men were all around her now, but most of them weren’t paying any attention to her. She couldn’t believe what she saw. They were actually fighting each other. She looked around through her blurred vision and saw them raising swords against eachother. She saw one take a sword through the chest and collapse to the ground. Another shot out what appeared to be thorns through his hand. The thorns wrapped around another man, and she watched his eyes widen as the man suffocated and choked to death.
The one who made it to her first pressed the tip of the sword’s blade to her throat. He shouted something at her, but she couldn’t make out a single word of what he said. He wore a hateful scowl on his face. This man was going to kill her! She closed her burning eyes, hoping that all of this terrifying experience was just a bad hallucination.
Avery felt hot liquid splatter against her face. Something heavy thudded into her lap.No, no. This couldn’t be real.She opened her eyes and looked into her lap. The man’s head was lying there, eyes looking into the void. Avery’s heart raced so fast she was sure it would burst from her chest.
This is not real.
