The Chase

"Hurry up! Get outta there!" screamed Kalli.

"It's gotta hold of my leg" Tim screamed back. Tim's leg was stuck down in a snow caved-in hole. Tim caved it in when he tried to get out of it. He had seen the bear's eyes and yellow stained teeth when he and Kalli disturbed the bear from it's winter nap.

Now the bear had Tim's leg. Kalli ran to Tim and pulled on his arm while packing in the snow that they were already standing and jumping on. But the bear was a lot stronger than the two of them, together. All of a sudden the bear let go, trying to dig it's way out of the hole in the ground which was a deep cave in the mountainside. The gigantic brown haired arm with long opaque claws that curled, reached through the hard snow.

Tim and Kalli were on the run as fast as they could go with the damaged leg. Leaving a trail of blood and deep footprints in the snow, the adolescents ran for home. Breathing and running hard through the forests and crashing into bushes, they came up on a familiar place. Their abrupt approach startled the herd of deer from the salt lick. Deer scampering in all directions, confused the humans and animals in the route they took. Tim grabbed Kalli, "This way! Don't stop to look, Kalli." The paths had crisscrossed so much that Kalli hoped the bear would settle for a deer.

No such luck. The bear was hard on their trail. Kalli could hear the distant roars getting closer. She knew, bears could out run a human, even in the snow. She also, knew that the bear could follow the scent of it's victim, not to mention the blood trail left behind. Kallie could feel her heart beating inside her head and it was getting so hard to breathe. Her body was so tired of running against the snowy wind. Tim stopped. Kalli stopped with a jolt to her body. She had been hanging on to Tim to help him run with his hurt leg. "Keep on runnin', Kalli. I'll stop it."

"No! No. Come on, Tim. We can make it. We're not that far from home." It was getting dark but they both knew the area so well that they could find their way home blind folded.

"I can't run anymore. Go! Go!" Just then the bear stood up on it's hind legs and let out the loudest roar the Kallie ever heard. It was like being in a dream, not really being there but yet being there. The world began to go around in circles and her breathing seem to stop. Out of nowhere, came two barking dogs. One on either side of the ferocious bear. Their teeth were just as fierce as the bear's. The dogs went around the bear in a circle to drag its attention away from her and Tim. The bear would swipe it's big heavy claw at each dog that came close enough. All of a sudden three guns went off and startled the bear. It ran off into the woods.

Kalli took a deep breath and realized that they were still in one piece. The dogs came closer to them, panting hard and wagging their tails. Three men approached Kallie and her brother. "Are ya' all right?" asked the biggest man in the long heavy coat.

"We'll live" answered Tim.

"Tim's hurt" stated Kalli. "The bear got a hold of his leg."

"Tim, what are you two doing around a bear?" asked the smallest of the tall men. It was father. A big relief came over Kallie. The third man was their uncle Pete. He bent down to where Tim and Kalli fell when the bear left. He picked up Tim's leg and turned on the flashlight. "Any of ya' gotta hanky?" he asked.

Tim's leg was bloody and the skin was torn back. Each man gave uncle Pete a hanky. He took his own and tied them all around the wounded leg. "We were just exploring. We were looking for the 'Miner's Cave' that is in ol' Smitty's stories," answered Tim. Father bent down and picked up Tim after handing his gun to his brother in-law. Tim rode on father's back all the way home.

Inside the cabin, mother had been waiting. The door opened and mother was standing by the table with a very worried face. Mother's hands were tightly held together and she was twisting her hands in fret. "They'll be alright, Mary," father said.

"We do need to get 'im to a doctor, though. Mary, do you have some bandages to wrap around 'im?" asked uncle Pete. Mother scurried to the linen closet and brought a sheet. "This is all I have."

Uncle Pete tore the sheet into pieces and wrapped it around the gory wound. "Let's get him to the doctor" said father.

"Kalli, are you alright?", asked uncle Pete.

"Yes, I'm fine." answered Kalli.

Father and uncle Pete carried Tim to the four-wheel drive pickup and headed for the nearest emergency clinic.

Mother was hugging Kallie so tight that she thought her head would pop off. Uncle Derrick, the tallest man of the three in the woods, stayed behind in case the bear were to come back and follow the human trail to the cabin. The dogs belonged to uncle Derrick, he was a hunter by trade. Higgins and Molly were allowed to come in the cabin this one time, as a reward for their efforts to save Kallie and her brother. Mother put down a big bowl of warm milk and the leftover deer roast from two nights ago. The dogs lapped the food up, happily.

Kalli had gone in to change her clothes and freshen up. Uncle Derrick put his arms around his sister to assure her that everything would be all right. "Do you think Tim will be okay? Will he be able to walk? Will he.."

"Mary, Mary, Mary" said uncle Derrick, holding his sister tighter. "He'll be just fine. Don't worry. You should be checking on your daughter."

"Oh, of course" Mother gasped as she turned around to see Kalli coming out of her room. Kalli and mother hugged for a few minutes more, then she sat down on the couch that was covered by an old bedspread.

"Come here, Molly" Kalli told the yellow lab that saved her life, patting her own cold stinging thigh. Molly came panting to Kalli. She bent down and hugged the dog. "Thank you so much for coming after me, Molly. I love you." Just then, a high pitched moan came from the Airedale that sat by the stove. "Oh, I'm not leaving you out, Higgins. Come here boy!" Kalli said excitedly and apologetically. The brown and black curly haired dog scampered to her for affection. "I love you, too. And you have my greatest thanks, too. You'll both get a lot more when Tim comes home." The dogs laid down on either side of Kalli and went to sleep.

The hours passed but it seem like an eternity to the family members that had stayed home. Finally, there was a roar of an engine coming up the snowy drive. Tim, father and uncle Pete had come home.

Tim hopped out of the pickup and walked toward the house on crutches. Mother and uncle Derrick came out on the porch, eagerly awaiting the news about Tim. "Like I said Mary, he'll be alright" said father.

This story is completely fiction and out of the imagination of Cass Michaeli.  Copyright of Cass Michaeli.