lights are not headlights but what looks like a gatehouse. I claw my way through the trees. I keep my hands in front of me and tear the branches out of my way.
Closer now, and I can see a lone man leaning on the gatehouse under a metal awning, smoking. Heâs wearing a gray uniform with a crest on the shoulder. A night watchman, maybe. I call to him, but rain is pounding on the awningâhe doesnât seem to hear.
I snap branches out of my way, ripping through the undergrowth toward him. The man at the gatehouse stands straight and squints in my direction.
âHey!â Iâm out of breath and my voice is barely a rasp. âHelp!â
The man drops his cigarette and reaches for something. Before I can try to shout again, heâs leveled a rifle at my head.
I burst through the undergrowth into the ditch, my hands over my head. Light from the gatehouse spills onto my face. He can see me now, canât he? Again I call, âHelp!â
âWhat the hell?â He lowers the gun.
I stumble out of the ditch and onto the road.
He looks at me, his eyes so wide I can see the whites. âYou scared the crap out of me,â he says. âI thought you were a bear.â
Chapter Sixteen
Everything looks different from the air. The spotlight on the chopper illuminates pale egg shapes on the ground. The light slews around and makes me dizzy. The pilot speaks to me through the headset. âWeâre at the scree slope. But I donât see your buddy.â
This is where I left him. Isnât it? Itâs raining so hard that the creek is spilling out of its bed. What if Tej is underwater?
I hear one medic shout, âLook at the size of that bear.â
I spin to where heâs looking, just upstream of the scree slope. In the spotlight, a massive grizzly bear boots it beneath the chopper. A smaller bear is hot on her heels. The bears are heading back up the stream.
The medic hoots, âSheâs close to a ton, I bet. Wouldnât you hate to bump into her on a dark night?â He laughs.
I remember the smell of her, the sound she made deep in her chest, the black of her gums against the yellow of her teeth.
I speak without looking away from the ground. âMaybe Tej did.â
The medic falls quiet.
A glimpse of something blue makes me shout. âThere!â I point to where I saw it. âTejâs jacket!â
Itâs raining. Why would Tej take his jacket off?
The pilot dips the nose. The trees look close enough I could touch them. âThere!â I jab my finger, as if that will make the pilot see.
He nods. âItâs just a jacket, son.â
No. The jacket is tangled in a shrub like itâs been tossed there. Or ripped off.
I try to keep my voice from cracking. âI know heâs here.â
The pilot and the medics exchange looks, and I know what theyâre thinking. If the bears really got my friend, do I want to see whatâs left? I say, âPut it down.â
The pilot shrugs, and the medics lower the ladder.
I sense it before I see itâa movement from under a fallen tree. Tej is on his belly, crawling out. âItâs him! He threw his jacket so weâd know where he was holed up.â
Tej looks up at the chopper. Heâs coated in mud, but even from here I can see heâs okay. He bursts into a grin and waves.
Chapter Seventeen
Tej loads a huge duffel bag into the back of his truck. The truck looks pretty good, now that the roof is repaired. Tej replaced the fenders and tailgate with parts from the auto wrecking yard, and he worked all summer at Dairy Queen to pay for a paint job. I pat the fender. âNice ride.â
Tej nods.
He favors his right ankle when he walks, although no one else would notice.He was still in a cast at graduation. He got a standing ovation as he hobbled on crutches across the stage.
He closes the tailgate and says, âYou can still change your mind.â
I shake my head.
S. Ravynheart, S.A. Archer
Stephen G. Michaud, Roy Hazelwood