Heroes to Hunted

Its eyes widened, and another earth-shattering roar escaped its gaping jaws. Clear gobs of drool sprayed from its quivering lips, propelled forward by the force of its cry.

Though the display was undeniably impressive, I was too deliriously excited to be intimidated, even as the sound shook the air around me.

"That ain't gonna work, small-fry," I sneered, "you gotta come to me!"

Its eyes narrowed into slits, and the beast dug its claws into the muddy ground, preparing to launch itself at me. With a fierce growl, it charged toward me at a heart-stopping pace. The ground shook with each thunderous step as it closed in.

I crouched low, my muscles tense as I prepared to dodge the oncoming attack.

Rapidly closing the distance between us, the bear's massive form loomed larger and larger with each passing moment.

"Wait for it," I muttered to myself, bracing for impact.

The creature was almost upon me, so it raised a paw for a swipe. Its claws glinted in the sunlight as they aimed straight for my throat.

"NOW!" I screamed, hurling myself away from the grizzly's attack. But I wasn't content to simply dodge.

I lined up the blade's edge and slid it down the length of the bear's snout, using its own momentum as my driving force. Through the entire motion, a gush of blood sprayed outward, dousing my face and neck with red.

The grizzly let out a deafening roar of agony, its eyes blazing with murderous rage. It spun around, lips curling back to reveal bloodied gums and razor-sharp teeth, the memory of its last meal still fresh.

I'll admit, the sight of flesh wedged between the grizzly's teeth shook me to my core. My mind raced, imagining those fragments of meat as my own.

'Just one wrong step,' I thought, feeling a shiver rise from my bones. 'Just one wrong step, and that could be me...'

The fear once caged deep within me now seeped out like poison, eating away at my resolve. The excitement I felt moments before faded away as I faced the brutal reality of what was at stake in this fight.

There were no ground rules to be set for this fight. No breaks or rests during the fight. No ambulances waiting to pick up the wounded after the fight. No. This was raw, unbridled violence. Compared to everything I'd faced before, this was the real deal. A fight that could very well end with someone dead or dying.

A crimson stream flowing from its slashed cheek, the beast began a more cautious, planned approach.

'Guess I'm not going to get any more lucky strikes,' I shrugged. Knowing I couldn't keep it occupied forever, I shouted, "Hurry up, Agawa! Hurry up and-" but I was cut off by what I saw in my periphery.

It wasn't Agawa carrying the lemming away; it was Kamida. He was struggling to pull Takahashi by the arm over his shoulder. 'But, if he's there, where the hell is she?!'

I darted my eyes around in search of her to see a flash of yellow appear near the beast's backside. The blur ducked below my vision, hidden behind the beast between us. Then, within a second, the beast started wailing in agony for no apparent reason.

It thrashed about in a tantrum, bellowing roars and swiping its paws randomly. When the beast turned, the reason for its rage was revealed to me.

Agawa had leaped in with one of Sato's daggers and plunged it down to the hilt into the beast's back left leg. Then, just as quickly as she entered, she vanished from the bear's side and dodged its counterstrike. Finally, she strode to my side, away from the now very pissed-off predator.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I shouted at her with a mix of shock and anger. "I told you to gr-"

She looked at me in shock. "You were begging for help, weren't you? So I came to help," she shrugged at me nonchalantly.

"I wanted you to carry the lemm-..." It took a moment for what she'd said to register. "BEGGING? I don't beg! I just wanted you to make yourself useful!"

She crossed her arms, still holding the sharpest of Sato's knives. "Looked like begging to me," she shrugged again.

"Look, just get out of here! Don't be reckle-" Looking at her, I saw her legs and arms trembling furiously. She hid it very well in her voice but was terrified of confronting the creature.

'So she's not playing dumb...' I realized she wasn't being reckless at all. In fact, she knew the considerable risk she'd been taking and, yet, showed up to help anyway.

'You idiot,' I shook my head disappointedly. I was disappointed to have gained some respect for her.

"Heh, fine,' I smirked, "don't get in my way."

She smiled back, about to utter something, when we were interrupted by the antsy third party we left out.

The grizzly bellowed angrily, causing Agawa and me to shift our full attention to it. It tried making an approach but stumbled over the leg wound.

Every step it took made the blade Agawa lodged in its leg squirm and shake within. Eventually, the beast staggered over itself and fell, giving the two of us some time to strategize.

"So, you got a plan, or just want to get in my way?" I teased Agawa.

"Huh?!" she gasped angrily. "You want to fight it?! No! We're running! Why do you think I even stabbed its leg in the first place!"

"To give us a prime opportunity!" I asserted.

"An opportunity to die?!" she shouted back. "Because that's what'll happen if we stay!"

"Wha?!" I was shocked by her cowardice. "No, we ne-"

"Don't underestimate that thing," Agawa interrupted. "Just because I stabbed it doesn't make it any less of a monster."

I guess she was right, at least in that regard. Though the bear was limping, you still wouldn't want to be caught in its clutches. It'd easily claw you to pieces if given a chance.

'But running? She wants to run?!' I preferred facing problems as they arose. I hated letting them fester by retreating and dealing with them later. So I made my decision. "I'm not runn-"

"We're running," she vetoed before I could finish. "Don't be an idiot."

My eyes twitched with disbelief and irritation. 'She gained some respect and instantly lost it,' I sighed.

Seeing how Agawa refused to be a team player and help, I had no idea which of the two was my larger problem at this point. I guess it was the bear since it was literally physically larger than Agawa by a considerable margin.

"Fine, when the bear misses, I'll run," I grunted.

Agawa and I took a robust stance, ready to make a mad dash away.

Meanwhile, the bear struggled to wobble back to an attack position, shaking and whimpering on its way up. It was a display one wouldn't at all expect from an apex predator.

Though it was trying to devour us, I still felt a degree of pity for the pathetic display I was witness to. My face even twisted into a disgusted cringe.

"Just kill me if I become that pathetic," I mumbled to Agawa.

She shot me a look of confusion. "What was that? What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind," I sighed. 'It's not like I'd ever make such a pathetic display anyway.'

Stifling its cries, the bear regained a rushing pose and bellowed another ground-shaking roar. It glared at us; its eyes glossed with fear and anger. Finally, the beast again scraped its front claws on the soil beneath, further crusting them with grime and mud.

"Ready?" Agawa asked.

I angled my head toward her, gave a bladed grin, and nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said, rolling her eyes.