Page 20 of Deadfall

“Hey boy. Where’s Sacha?”

His fur felt damp, but the grey of dawn was only just beginning to lighten the sky and I couldn’t tell if it was water or worse. I really hoped it wasn’t blood, but he smelled feral and slightly coppery. I’d barely greeted him when he took off back down the path. I ran after him and the forest abruptly gave way to a small clearing where the shadowed shape of Sacha leaned heavily against a tree.

“Sacha!”

His head jerked up.

“No! Get out of here!” He barked.

Confused, I opened my mouth to reply, when I heard a shuffling in the bushes that pulled my attention. I gasped—and that was all the time I had before a massive bear charged towards me. I stood rooted in place until Sacha shoved me forcefully out of the bear’s path. I fell into some bushes and heard Sacha grunt as he took the hit and fell with the bear on top of him. I struggled out of the bushes and watched helplessly as he lay pinned under the bear.

“The knife!” Sacha yelled.

His hand flailed wildly in the dirt, but there was no way he could reach the blade that lay a few feet away. My reluctance and fear of weapons tickled the back of my mind, but I ruthlessly shoved those thoughts aside as I lunged for the knife. I wrapped my hand around the hilt and vaguely registered Sacha’s shouts.

“Give it to me!” Sacha barked. “Emersyn, give the knife to me, now!”

But there was suddenly anger where reason should have lived. How fucking dare this beast try and take Sacha away from me—I lunged toward it and raised the knife.

“No!” I screamed.

I brought it down with both hands into the bear’s shoulder. The blade sunk in and hit bone. I yelped in pain and dropped the knife as a jarring sensation jolted up my hand and my entire lower arm went numb. The bear snarled and abandoned Sacha in favor of me. I frantically scrambled backward, away from the lumbering shadow. My back hit a tree. A blur of movement and Fang was there. He jumped and snarled, and snapped his jaws savagely in the bear’s face. I rolled out of harm’s way—

There was a yelp and Sacha yelled for Fang. The bear whirled away to go after Sacha again. The hilt of the knife buried in the bear’s shoulder caught the meager light. It was within my reach—I launched myself at the animal.

“Emersyn! No!”

I grabbed a fistful of musky-smelling fur and frantically flailed my hands toward the knife. My fingers brushed it. I tried again. This time I grabbed it with both hands and yanked it out. I didn’t try to aim. I slammed the blade down with as much force as I could muster. I knew I’d hit the neck by the way the beast shuddered beneath me. I didn’t stop. I pulled the blade out and did it again. The bear stumbled backward and attempted to throw me off, but I must have hit something vital because he faltered.

I stabbed him again. And, again. I couldn’t stop.

My mind went blissfully blank as I buried the knife into the bear over and over and over—

My ears rang, and the world went from black to a murky red. I heard my name called faintly, then louder. Sacha yanked me off the animal and everything rushed in. He pulled me into his lap and held me against his chest. I could feel his heart as it hammered against my back, nearly as hard as mine.

My fists opened and closed on my thighs and I realized I was hyperventilating. Sacha kept saying something in my ear, but I couldn’t focus on it. All I could focus on was the gruesome scene that the light of dawn slowly revealed as it seeped through the trees.

The bear was slumped over, its shoulders in a tattered mess, with the knife stuck in its carcass like a gruesome marker. My hands were covered in blood up to my elbows. My stomach lurched—

What. The. Fuck. Was. That?

“It’s okay,” Sacha rumbled in my ear as he rubbed my arms. “It’s okay. You did good.”

Awareness flooded back. He was hurt. I pulled away from him and turned around on my knees.

“Where are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

I looked him over anyway. He had some wicked claw marks that raked him from his shoulder across his chest, and the wounds bled gently.

“You’re not fine. You need—we need to—” I could barely get the words out around my panting exhales. I didn’t know what we needed. Hell, I was surprised I was even here, with him, right now.

I killed a bear. I killed a fucking bear.

My stomach revolted again except this time, I couldn’t stop it—I crawled over into the bushes and threw up. I frantically tried to wipe the blood off on my sweatpants, but they were covered in it too. I unloaded my stomach again, dry-heaving between gasps.

I’d held a knife. I’d killed a bear.