Carol looked up and could see the cabin just ahead and she breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, she heard a sound behind her.
“Humph!”
She turned around and there in the bushes was a very large bear looking at her. His right eye was white and sightless.
Carol screamed and dropped the berries.
She ran as fast as she could to the cabin and slammed the door. The grizzly bear slammed into the door right after her, nearly knocking it in off the hinges. Deadeye roared and Carol screamed again, backing up nearly to the fireplace as the bear huffed around the small cabin and smashed in the small window off to her left.
She picked up the small iron poker that Duncan used to tend the fire and held it up like a baseball bat. Deadeye roared again and his paw reached into the broken window. His claws ripped out the windowsill and part of the mud insulation between the logs. Carol looked at the tiny metal poker and whimpered, throwing it down.
She whirled around and looked up at the rifle and double-barreled shotgun above the fireplace mantle. Deadeye bit the log below the broken window, and tore out part of the log in a loud crunch. Carol reached up as high as she could and could barely reach the rifle. She took it down off its mountings and pointed it at the massive grizzly bear still tearing at the window frame edges and pulling off the rest of the glass. She never fired a gun before. She didn’t even know how to aim the rifle, or even if there were any bullets in it. She turned her face, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
The rifle went off with a deafening explosion but the bullet missed, hitting the log just above the rampaging bear. Deadeye roared again and pulled out part of the log below the window completely. She aimed at the bear’s good eye and pulled the trigger again.
Nothing.
She pulled the trigger again and again but nothing happened, not even a click on an empty barrel. She threw it down and whined as Deadeye continued to disassemble the small cabin of Duncan Little. The hole was big enough now so that the bear could stick its entire head in and he looked at her, turning his head slightly so his good eye could examine her closely. He roared and Carol could feel his hot breath and the saliva shooting out.
She screamed and looked around for something – anything she could use to fight off the hungry grizzly bear. She picked up one of the small logs by the fireplace and threw it at his head, but it just bounced off without even slowing the bear down from biting the cabin walls and tearing apart the logs with his claws. She threw whatever was nearby as quick as she could trying to aim for the bear’s good eye, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, there was nothing left and Deadeye could reach in now with one of his paws and he swiped at Carol. She took off one of her moccasins and threw it. The bear caught it in his mouth and swallowed it down whole, pausing for just a moment to do so. She took off the other one and sobbing, threw it at him. He caught it again and swallowed it down. He roared and lifted up with his shoulders, breaking the roof and upper logs apart.
“No, no, no!” Carol sobbed, shaking her head and holding out her hands. “Don’t. Please don’t.”
Then there was another roar, but this time it wasn’t from the bear. It was from Duncan. He jumped on Deadeye’s back and plunged his huge hunting knife deep into the bear’s neck. Deadeye roared in pain and backed out of the hole as Duncan continued to stab him again and again, riding the bear like a bucking bronco.
The bear reached back and caught Duncan’s left leg and pulled him down onto the ground. Duncan roared back at him and stabbed him in the throat. There was a loud crunch and Duncan screamed, stabbing him again and again.
“Duncan!” Carol screamed. She looked all around desperately for something else she could use to save Duncan from the bear. She looked up at the shotgun and taking a running leap was able to grab it from its mounting. She landed on her back with the double-barreled shotgun down on top of her. The bear roared again and Duncan screamed.
She ran out of the hole in the wall and could see Duncan on the ground, still stabbing the grizzly bear, his arms and legs covered with blood. This time, she took careful aim at the bear and pulled both triggers. Both barrels went off with such a huge discharge that it knocked her completely up off her feet and down onto her back.
With a gasping groan the huge bear rolled over on his left side and was still.
Carol sat up and threw the heavy smoking shotgun off to the side. Neither the bear, nor Duncan were moving.
“Duncan!” She jumped up and ran to him. “Duncan – oh Duncan!” He was covered with blood and his left leg was crooked. She touched his cheek, sobbing. “Duncan! Duncan!”
He opened his eyes.
“I came home,” he gasped. “A day early.” He turned his head and looked at the dead bear. “To surprise you.”
“Oh – thank-you! I’m so glad you did!”
“So – am – I.”
“I had a surprise for you too,” she said, caressing his face, her tears dripping down on his beard.
“What – what is it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
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