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“Trouble is,” Reed says, “when a bear finds a source of food, especially at this time of year, it’ll keep coming back to it.”
I widen my eyes. “You mean it won’t go away?”
“Not without a little encouragement.”
Cade gets to his feet. “I’ll get the gun.”
“You can’t shoot it!” I cry, louder than I’d intended. “It doesn’t deserve to be shot. It’s in its own habitat, and it hasn’t done anything to hurt us. Just wait for it to leave.”
He stares at me. “And when it comes back during the day and you’re sitting out on the porch and it decides you look like you’d make a good meal, would you still not want it shot then?”
“You don’t know that’s going to happen,” I protest.
Reed eyes me. “You really want to take the risk?”
“You agree with him?”
Reed nods. “Yeah, I do. I’m not going to risk losing any of you to a bear.”
I turn to Darius. “What about you? You think we should shoot some innocent animal because it’s come close to the cabin?”
Darius links his hands between his knees and nods. “Sorry, Laney, but yeah. If that bear decides it wants in here, we’ll be in trouble.”
“If it tries to get inside, then we can shoot it.”
While we’d been arguing, the noises of the bear had faded away.
I hold my breath, trying to hear over the thudding of my heart. Has it gone? Perhaps it had overheard us discussing shooting it and decided to make itself scarce. Of course, I don’t actually believe this, but there is a chance it heard human voices and instinctively knew we posed a danger. I imagine its huge furry butt shuffling from side to side as it lumbers its way back through the woods, and I hope it makes a sensible decision to never come back again.
“From now on,” Reed says, “when we go out of the cabin, whether that’s to hunt or forage or collect wood, you take a gun with you. Plus, we always go out in pairs, no going on your own. It’ll be too easy to get distracted by something and not hear the bear coming.”
“Umm, what about washing?” I ask. “Are you saying I can’t go down to the river on my own?”
“Definitely not. Bears love to fish. It could easily be somewhere nearby.”
I let out a sigh. I understand his reasoning, but I’ll miss my time by the river. It’s the only time I really get to myself, where I don’t have to think about one of the men being around, and I’m reluctant to give it up.
“Okay,” I relent.
While I’ll miss my alone time, I also don’t want to get attacked by a bear. I’ve seen the size of their claws and imagine the damage they would cause. For one of us to end up with the kind of injuries one might cause would be life-threatening, and I don’t even want to think about the horror of it.
When morning arrives, we venture outside, Cade armed with one of the guns.
“Look,” Reed says, jerking his chin at the outside of the cabin walls.
There are pale grooves in the logs, two sets, high up. It’s clear the bear had been on its hind legs and used the side of the cabin as a scratching post.
“Was it trying to find a way in?” I ask, a tremor to my voice.
He twists his lips. “Looks like it. Bears will be thinking about fattening up for hibernation now, which is probably why we had our visitor last night. Make sure we don’t leave any food waste or scraps near the cabin, and if we’re gutting birds or rabbits or fish, do it down by the river so it washes away.”
“What about the windows?” I ask. “They’re hardly made from solid glass. What if it figures out it can break its way in?”
Cade holds up the gun. “Then we shoot it.”
“I don’t feel safe here anymore,” I tell him, blinking back tears.
He puts his arm around my waist and kisses the top of my head. “I’ll keep you safe, Laney.”
