It was like a reaper, hiding in the fog, watching our every move.
The blood-soaked man staggered over to us, his voice trembling: "Just now, we were—"
"Hush—" I gestured for him to be silent.
Human olfaction couldn't match an animal's, so I could only gauge its position by catching faint sounds.
"Sha-sha, sha-sha"—the sound of leaves being trodden upon, distant one moment, right beside my ear the next.
"Ryan! Duck!" Selene barked. The brown bear leapt right over my head. Thankfully I dropped down in time, or it would have landed on my face.
Selene's second arrow flew—unerringly striking the bear's left eye!
The brown bear let out a howl like tearing silk that chilled me to the bone. Abandoning all tactics, it dropped its bloody tongue and charged straight at Selene!
Selene spun and scrambled up a tree. The bear slammed into it headfirst—bam!—and the impact shook Selene loose before she could get a grip.
The bear lunged with open jaws. In desperation, Selene shoved her bow forward straight into its mouth. Just then, Jasper leapt up and brought a walking stick fashioned from a tree trunk crashing down on the bear's skull.
Jasper wasn't strong, but he'd put everything into that swing. The walking stick snapped with a sharp crack.
But the brown bear was completely unharmed. Instead its rage magnienciesed. It shook its head, flinging Selene and her bow away, then opened its bloody maw at Jasper.
Jasper was just a university professor—he'd never seen anything like this. He stood frozen, paralyzed with terror. I gritted my teeth, launched myself forward, twisted my hips, and channeled every ounce of power into my right leg for a sweeping kick!
I swear, if that kick had landed on an ordinary adult, it would have ruptured internal organs and sent them into shock. But against the brown bear, it felt like tickling. The beast didn't even waver. It swiped a paw and sent me flying.
I felt like a kite, my body disconnected from my will, sailing through the air. When I hit the ground, my sternum felt collapsed—I couldn't catch my breath.
"Old Jasper, run..." I croaked.
But humans can't outrun bears, especially not one in a rage. Blinded in one eye, its remaining right eye was blood-red, locked on Jasper, saliva streaming from its jaws. You could smell the stench from meters away.
The terror had frozen on Jasper's face. He couldn't read this beast's thoughts, couldn't psychoanalyze this king of the mountain— even if he could, words wouldn't pierce its mind.
Old Jasper must have felt his death was deeply pointless.
Just then, a flame flared up. The blood-soaked man was wielding a burning branch, shouting at the bear. The bear clearly feared fire and backed off a few steps.
Weren't we forbidden from bringing fire starters into the mountains? This guy must have smuggled contraband in like Selene. Rules, it seemed, were only meant to constrain the honest.
While the bear retreated, Selene loosed her third arrow. I believe she aimed for its remaining right eye, but the bear jerked its head and the arrow lodged in its mouth instead.
The brown bear went berserk. It bit the arrow in half, stopped fearing the torch, rose up on its hind legs, and pounced on the blood-soaked man, jaws tearing into him. I don't know where I found the courage, but I launched myself onto its back from behind and locked my arms around its neck.
The bear whipped its head around, trying to bite me, but couldn't reach—just a frenzy of rooting and scraping, its coarse tongue rasping across my face. The stench was so overwhelming I could barely keep my eyes open.
When it couldn't reach me, the bear simply rolled on the ground. No human hide was as thick as its—after just two rolls, I felt my entire skeleton coming apart and was thrown clear.
Another figure leapt onto the bear's back—Selene. She seized the arrow still embedded in the bear's left eye and yanked it out, then drove it savagely into the bear's neck!
The brown bear bellowed in pain and surged blindly forward, slamming into a tree. Selene gasped and was flung off. The bear hated Selene most of all—it reared up, bared its fangs, and stomped toward her.
Selene was dazed from the fall and couldn't get to her feet. The bear was almost upon her when, with a muffled groan, it collapsed, convulsing, panting heavily.
The massive creature had finally fallen.
The fur around its neck was soaked crimson with blood.
Selene struggled to her feet, pulled an arrow, and moved to deliver the killing blow. But Jasper suddenly shouted: "Don't!"
I turned and saw a small bear cub cowering in the bushes—about the size of a dog, clearly a juvenile, trembling as it watched the scene.
I immediately understood. This cub was its baby. It had attacked so fiercely because we'd entered its territory and threatened its young.
"Drive it away!" Selene ordered.
Jasper hesitated, then started shooing the cub. Startled, it scurried off. But as he turned back, he saw Selene drive an arrow into the brown bear's neck.
The bear let out a soft, low moan that cut off abruptly—a hasty farewell to the world.
"Are you crazy? What are you doing?" Jasper ran over and grabbed Selene's shoulders. "Why did you kill it?"
"It was already dying. This just ended it faster." Selene brushed off his hands. "If it rallied one last time and went berserk, we'd all be dead here."
"But you..." Jasper beat his chest in frustration, at a loss for words.
I didn't know what to say either. In the face of survival, all emotions felt so pale.
We checked each other's injuries. Jasper was okay. Selene and I had nothing major—just scrapes and surface wounds. The blood-soaked guy was the worst off. His clothes were shredded, and his thighs, back, and chest were all gashed open, flesh parting like a child's gaping mouth.
We had no medical supplies, so we did our best to bandage his wounds with what we had.
He said his name was Lucas. He'd been teamed up with two others, and like us, they'd planned to cut through the Smoke Forest, bypass the second supply point, and avoid combat until the finish. But they'd stumbled into the brown bear's territory. His two companions hadn't been fast enough and were both killed.
"If I hadn't run into you guys, I'd be dead too." Lucas panted, still shaken.
"Where did you get the fire starter?" I asked. "Isn't that against the rules?"
Lucas gave a bitter smile. "I'm a heavy smoker, couldn't help it. I hid a few cigarettes and a lighter in my shoe liner. Didn't expect it'd save my life."
I checked his shoe liner—sure enough, he was telling the truth.
"Everyone, running into you is fate. Please, take me to the supply point," he clasped his hands together repeatedly, then pulled out his entry ticket. "This is my entry ticket. I don't want it anymore—I'm forfeiting. I'm giving it to you. Just please save me..."
The three of us stepped away and huddled together to discuss our next move.
"What do we do?" Jasper glanced back at Lucas. "His injuries are too severe. He'll never make it to the finish line, and without antibiotics, he'll die of infection soon."
I puffed on a cigarette taken from Lucas. "True. If we want to save him, we have to go to the second supply point."
Selene looked at both of us coldly and suddenly asked: "Why should we save him?"
Jasper and I both froze.
That's right—we'd almost forgotten. This was a Death Trip. Others were hell. Kill or be killed. Their heads were our tickets. Why would we save him?
Did we really think we were on vacation?
"But," Jasper hesitated, "if he hadn't lit that fire just now, I might've been killed by that bear."
"Don't misunderstand," Selene corrected. "He didn't save you. He saved himself."
"So what, you want to leave him here to die?" I asked.
"We need to ensure our own survival first," Selene said. "Don't forget our objective."