You canhandleit? You vomited. You can’t walk straight. Your pupils are different sizes from here.
Handle it, my massive, furry?—
“I don’t need extraction,” he adds while I silently combust behind a tree. “No, really. It’s… not that bad.”
My growl builds from the soles of my feet.
Don’t you dare.
Don’t youdare.
“I’ll head out tomorrow morning. I’m good. I’ve got enough supplies.”
I growl louder—too loud. The sound vibrates through the trees, resonant and low, the kind that makes prey animals freeze and turn their heads.
Elias freezes. His voice goes tight. “Gladys? Uh—hold on?—”
I slap a hand over my mouth.
Shit.
Well. It’s too late to pretend that didn’t happen. And honestly? Maybe scaring him is the best thing I can do. If he thinks he’s in danger, maybe he’ll stop being stubborn and admit the truth.
Decision made.
I drop to all fours and start crashing through the brush like the world’s angriest bear.
Branches snap. Leaves explode upward. Birds take flight in a chaotic burst.
I’ve been a sasquatch for nearly five centuries. I can walk silently enough to slip past a wolfpack without one ear twitching.
Right now?
I make as much noise as a marching band falling down a mountainside.
Elias’s panicked voice rises, trembling and high. “Gladys? GLADYS? I—I need assistance. Something’s out here.”
There it is. The sweet, sweet sound of a human choosing self-preservation.
I shake a fallen log for extra dramatic effect. It cracks satisfyingly, echoing off the valley.
“GLADYS?” he yelps. “It’s close—it’sclose!”
His heart thunders from twenty meters away. Fast. Erratic. Terrified.
I wince.
Guilt gnaws at me, but guilt doesn’t get him rescued. Guilt doesn’t keep him alive with a concussion in bear country. Guilt doesn’t stop him from hiking tomorrow morning when he absolutely should not be hiking.
Fear does.
So I let my growl roll out from deep in my chest, low and aggressive, the kind that turns marrow to ice.
Elias makes a small, broken noise.
Then, finally, his voice steadies. “Gladys, I need evac. As soon as possible.”
Good.
