Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Mel fell through the sharp pine branches. They scraped and stabbed her as her body twisted and turned. She grasped desperately for them. But the fragile twigs broke off in her hands. She landed with a jarring thud in the bushes, smacking her head hard on the ground. She shook off the pain and sat up. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The bear was just feet away. She could see its glistening black nose, the gleaming points of its canine teeth. Mel braced for the feeling of claws slashing through her skin, jaws crunching down on her bones. She gripped a long, sharp branch that must have broken off as she was falling. She sat up and held it out in front of her. A ridiculous weapon, that little stick. She wouldn't have been surprised if the grizzly had laughed. Mel heard something rustling in the bushes right in front of her. Probably some terrified squirrel. Voices echoed. "Mel! Mel! Where are you?" It was Cassie and Steve! The grizzly stepped toward her, its eyes burning with fury. Its muscles rippled under its shaggy fur. The rustling in the bushes got louder. And then Mel heard a strange new sound. Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack.

Before Mel even knew what she was doing, she had pulled the stick back and jabbed it into the bushes. The stick hit something, something big and solid. And then that something leaped out of the bushes. It landed on the ground between Mel and the grizzly. Mel's mouth fell open.

It was a huge porcupine. Its quills stood straight up, like metal spears. The bear reared up onto its hind legs. It let out an earsplitting roar. Not of fury. The sound was high-pitched, ragged, almost a cry. The bear was afraid. The porcupine click, clack, click clacked, louder and faster. Mel's heart thundered. In that moment, everything seemed to disappear. The voices shouting her name. The footsteps closing in. The flashlight beams getting closer and closer. At that moment it was just three of them: The grizzly. The porcupine. And Mel. Three terrified animals, alone in the wild.