Dangerous World by Grace Hamilton

Author:Grace Hamilton [Hamilton, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

20

BEAR

“Jess! Jess!” Bear hissed into the dark, praying that the darn dog would turn around and come running back to him.

“What’s got into her? She never runs off!” Trent whispered, looking nervously toward the glow in the distance.

“Probably smelled food. Another hare cooking on the fire.” Bear scratched his beard and narrowed his eyes at the flicker between the bushes, which was undoubtedly a campfire.

“What do we do?” Trent asked, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder.

Bear sighed. He glanced behind him. Somewhere back there, Britt and her gang were still following them. His fake trail might have put them off the track, but it might not have. If whoever was up ahead was friendly, they could be useful. On the other hand, if they weren’t….

“We’ll go check it out. Stay quiet and follow me. I don’t want to be seen until we’re sure who we’re dealing with.”

Trent nodded and stepped into line behind Bear.

As they started moving through the undergrowth, Bear found himself holding his breath. “Can you hear anything?” he whispered.

“Voices. Quiet ones. Can’t make out what they’re saying.”

“How many?”

“Not sure.”

Bear gritted his teeth. Not for the first time, he wished he had full use of his senses.

The glow became brighter as they inched toward it. Every now and then, Bear stopped and hissed, “Jess,” under his breath. But she didn’t reappear.

Soon, they were close enough that even Bear could hear the voices. He gestured for Trent to stop. “Wait there.” He held up his hand to prevent Trent from going any farther, then slipped into the shadow of a large, thick-trunked pine tree.

Here, the smell of pine tickled his nostrils; whoever lit that fire must be burning pinecones.

He rested his hand on the tree trunk, felt the rough bark beneath his fingers, and tried to slow his breathing.

“She’s so cute! Look at her little pink coat.” A kid’s voice, a boy, younger than Trent.

“She must have run away from someone,” a man replied.

“It’s funny….” A female voice. Bear tilted his head, angling his good ear toward the campfire. That voice. It was familiar. “She looks just like….”

Bear’s breath caught in his throat. It couldn’t be.

As he told himself to slow down, his feet began to move. Before he could think about what he was doing, he’d stepped out from the shadows.

“What the heck?” A ginger guy with a big beard stepped in front of him. He had a gun. But Bear wasn’t looking at it. He was looking past it. “Stop. Stop right there, buddy.” The ginger guy raised his gun and squared his shoulders.

Bear hadn’t even taken his own weapon from his belt. He moved forward and raised his arm, placing a hand on the barrel of the guy’s gun and moving it gently to one side.

Whoever this guy was, he was looking at Bear like he was crazy. “I said stop. Take one more step…”

“Dad, don’t!” The boy’s voice. Bear glanced at the kid. Jess was sitting in front of him. He had his hand on her back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.