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Sergei
We cut the grizzly off on her normal path through town, but she pays us no mind. Instead, she rushes across Main Street and makes a line straight for the bakery. I can see why. The scent of donuts, cakes, and pies waft throughout the town and it’s a straight shot from the tree line to the shop. That and the barrier to entry is extremely weak with that temporary door in place.
Thankfully, it’s late afternoon and most folks are at home, eating dinner.
The guys and I park near the shop and hop out. The weather has started to shift at the worst possible time. Snow falls heavily and accumulates around us. The only good thing about that is the tracks are easy to follow.
It looks like the grizzly has gone around back with the cubs in tow. I’m sure she’s rummaging through the trash or hiding out behind the gas tanks. There are some narrow spaces in the back alley that lead to the rodeo ring and a giant overflow parking area. Plenty of nooks and crannies to hide out.
I glance toward Aspen. “You stay here. I need to know your safe.”
“I’m fine, and I’m coming!” She hops down from the truck and rounds to my side, linking onto my bad arm as though she’s protecting it from further damage.
Fucking hell, I love this woman. She spent the drive here wrapping it tightly with the black tape she grabbed from the cabin. I know it’s against her better judgment, but I don’t feel a thing, and it’ll heal like everything else I’ve wrapped up over the years.
The guys hop out, guns aimed. Rowan stops to explain to a few bystanders what’s happening, and they run off toward their cars. It’s probably for the best. The fewer people on the street, the less we have to worry about.
I step down the alley and keep my eyes peeled for the bear or her cubs. It’s nearly dark, and the wind has started to blow significantly, which means she’s smelling us far before we see her.
Aspen stays close behind, her little hand tucked into mine.
When the alley behind the bakery is clear, I make a motion for the guys to spread out along the back of the shops. She has to be here somewhere. There’s no way she could’ve cleared the field by now.
Snow picks up, and the wind howls through the passageway. If the weather picks up even more, we’re fucked. Footprints are nice, a white out is a different story. We need to see the bear before she sees us.
Rowan points toward the general store and nods. His tranquilizer is up and he’s aiming to shoot. I’m sure this isn’t how the people of Rugged Mountain saw this going, but here we are, big, old, giant Alaskans invading their space and chasing a bear straight through town.
I’m going to be doing a lot of apologizing. I can feel it now.
“Did you hear that?” Aspen tugs on my arm. “It’s a hissing sound.”
I stop walking and tune into the noises around me, but the wind picks up again and dulls everything near us.
“This wind is whipping everywhere, but there’s definitely a foul smell in the air.” Aspen’s eyes are wide as she stares up at me.
“You’re right. It smells like propane. Do you see a canister around here?”
“I can’t, but that hissing is so loud.”
It isn’t two seconds later that Rowan is shouting from behind the general store. “She’s here! Move!”
We race down the back of the shops and let ourselves into the side door of the store, following the trail the mother bear and her cubs have left behind. Food is torn off shelves, bags of chips squashed, a bottle of pop spinning in aisle three.
The owner of the store is a little elderly woman, maybe in her late nineties. She looks toward us, her eyes wide, a pistol drawn. “She ran back toward the freezer. I have a stocker back there filling it up.”
Aspen and I follow the mess toward the back of the store and aim at the bear. The stock boy has huddled into the corner of the back room, and the bear is completely oblivious to us, rummaging inside the freezer before tearing open a package of frozen salmon. I’m not sure this could’ve been planned any better.
The cubs play behind her, rolling back and forth, making tiny growls, and biting one another playfully.
Aspen steps forward and slams the door closed before sliding the lock into place.
“Fucking hell!” I groan and pull Aspen into my arms. “You okay?”
She nods. “Yeah, you guys?”
The boys nod and everyone leans against the wall of the store. Usually, we take an animal down. We don’t chase them through town and trap them in a freezer. This is new for all of us.
“I just called Henry,” Rowan says. “When we talked about relocation, he said we could use some equipment from the quarry to move the bear and her cubs.”
