She heard a pop. It was barely audible over the pounding in her ears, but something had happened. She saw Carl turn his head toward a tree far in the distance. Good. Look somewhere else. Maybe she could drag Theo to safety while Carl was distracted. It was a vain hope. No way would an animal let her drag away his dinner while he was looking at a tree, but it was all she had.
Her heels thudded on the cold ground as she just now realized how far it was. The whole clearing was probably the length of two football fields with Theo lying in the center. Carl had cleared the distance in twenty seconds, but she was huffing at only halfway there.
Then she heard Carl roar again, but this time it was at the tree. He leaped forward on all fours as he cleared half the distance to the tree.
Good! Go away!
Another breath and he reached the edge of the clearing. She heard another pop, this one distinctive because she’d been listening for it. A gun? No, she’d heard guns. That wasn’t it. But it was something like that, which meant there was someone in the tree shooting at Carl.
“Don’t shoot!” she screamed. “He’s…” What? A nice bear?
But Carl reared up on his hind legs, roaring as he tore into the bare branches of the tree.
Shit, shit, shit!
There was nothing she could do for the stupid hunter. Thankfully, she’d reached Theo and skidded to his side on her knees. “Come on, honey. Get up. We got to move, honey.”
She was babbling even as she saw that it wasn’t her nephew. This was an older boy with a square jaw and freckles on his dirty face. Something about his nose reminded her of Marty, so she guessed she was looking at Justin. Didn’t matter. Either way, she had to get the child to safety.
She leaned down and tried to pick up the boy. Adrenaline helped, but not enough. She managed to flop him around a bit before her arms gave out. Fine. She’d drag him.
“Come on, kiddo.” She grabbed his wrists and started pulling. “We gotta go.”
It was forever away to get back to the weeping willow. The tree line was closer. Getting under cover was the better choice, even if it wasn’t nearly far enough away from Carl and the idiot with the gun.
She was just starting to get traction when she glanced down at the boy.
What the hell is that sticking out of his chest?
At first, she’d thought it was blood, but it was a different color of red and…
A dart? What the hell is a dart doing sticking out of him?
The answer hit her, and she started pulling for all she was worth. A tranquilizer dart. Someone had shot the boy…
Oh, shit. He was shooting Carl, too.
She looked back to the roaring grizzly shredding the tree. Her mind raced through all the horrible reports she’d heard about psycho militants holed up in compounds throughout Michigan. That’s the only people she could think of who’d be shooting tranq darts in the middle of the night. Psychos with an ax to grind. Maybe against shifters.
Was Carl slowing down? How many times had he been shot? She hadn’t heard any more pops, but that didn’t mean anything. Given the noise Carl was making, she wouldn’t have been able to hear a heavy metal rock band.
She needed help. She needed her damned cell phone.
Pocket. Coat.
Hell, she was an idiot. She had her cell on her. But she couldn’t just stand there in the open. Not with someone shooting at them. But it was too far to the tree line. Which meant her best bet was to lay low while she called in reinforcements.
She dropped Justin’s arms and flattened herself down between the boy and where Carl now stalked through the trees. She didn’t think bears could stalk, but he seemed to be, and she could hear his low growl like the angry rumble of a pissed-off train.
At least he was conscious.
She dragged out her cell and dialed 911 with shaking fingers. Then she held it to her ear while she pulled the dart out of Justin’s chest. The drug would already be in his system, but no sense leaving it sitting there in case it hadn’t.
“911. How can I help?”
It was that same too-chipper voice that she’d heard earlier tonight. Before, she’d hated the woman for being in Carl’s pocket, but now she was grateful. “Help,” she rasped. “I’m at Carl’s checkpoint. Justin’s here. He’s unconscious. Carl’s gone bear at the trees and someone’s shooting.”
“Keep calm, Becca. Help is on its way.” She heard clicking sounds of a keyboard in the background. “Now tell me exactly what you see.”
