Grizzly Fury

To Fargo’s amazement, they raced past him. He grabbed at the second woman’s arm but she jerked away. “Don’t go back there. The bear will kill you, too.”

They didn’t listen.

Fargo stared after them. That way lay certain death. He stared to the south. That way lay his only hope. He turned north and went after them.

For females in dresses they were remarkably swift. Farming wasn’t for the puny, and these two were antelopes. One of them glanced back and said something to the other and both ran faster.

“Damn it.” Fargo was trying to save their lives. He hoped one would trip so he could overtake them but his luck was true to form.

“Sluta jaga oss!” one of them yelled at him.

The best Fargo could make of it, she had called him a slut or an ass. The first didn’t make any sense, and as for the second, he’d been called worse.

The pair were abreast of a wide pine when a gigantic mass of muscle and fur swept from behind it and was on them before either could stop. They screamed in unison and died singly with savage sweeps of the grizzly’s paws.

Fargo drew up short. He had tried but they hadn’t listened. Whirling, he got out of there. He expected the bear to feast on their brains and that would gain him time. The thud of heavy paws proved otherwise.

Brain Eater was after him.

Fargo willed his body to its utmost. He had already run so far and so hard that he couldn’t sustain the pace for long. He was worn out. His hip hurt like hell. His clawed leg hurt worse. But he refused to give up.

As inexorable as an avalanche, Brain Eater closed the distance.

Fargo had one consolation. Bethany had escaped. She was a sweet kid, the kind he’d like to have himself one day, maybe when he was forty or fifty and ready to settle down.

He chuckled at how ridiculous he was being. Here he was being chased by a killer bear and he was thinking of the family he’d never have.

Rocks and boulders covered the ground ahead. He avoided the largest and was almost to bare ground when his left boot became wedged. Momentum carried his body forward and he pitched flat. The pain set his head to spinning. He almost didn’t hear the grunt behind him but he did smell the blood and the pungent bear odor. Rising to his knees, he turned.

Brain Eater stood a few yards away. That close she was immense, a mountain of ferocity unrivaled by any creature on the continent.

Fargo’s chest constricted. She had him. He could shoot her but he couldn’t stop her.

The grizzly whuffed and pawed the earth, her dark eyes glittering with bloodlust. She slavered in anticipation of sinking her teeth into his body.

“Go ahead,” Fargo said, his hand on the Colt. “I’ll make you pay.”

Brain Eater opened her mouth and swept forward. Fargo had the Colt out in a blur and jammed the muzzle into her mouth. He fired just as a tremendous blow cartwheeled him like a feather in a gale. He slammed down close to the creek with one leg in the water. His body pulsed with pain but he made it to his knees again, and he still had the Colt.

Brain Eater was shaking her head. She was bleeding copiously from her mouth, and drops flew all over. She roared, and saw him, and charged.

This was it, Fargo thought. He aimed at her left eye, fired, and missed. The slug scoured a red furrow above it.

She was almost on him. He fired again and her eyeball exploded and then she rammed into him and it felt as if a herd of buffalo were trampling his every bone. Somehow, he stayed conscious. He was on his belly and he had scratches everywhere. He heard coughing. He raised his head and shook it. The fuzziness cleared enough for him to see Brain Eater, doing more head shaking. Blood dribbled from her mouth and the empty socket where her left eye had been.

Fargo grinned. The Colt could hurt her. He pushed up and extended the six-shooter. “Come and get it, bitch.”

Brain Eater fixed her remaining hate-filled eye on him. Her lips curled from her teeth and she hurtled at him.

Fargo aimed at her other eye. He had to be sure so he didn’t shoot until her face was inches from the muzzle.

The blast and her impact were simultaneous. The sunlight blinked out. Pain filled every particle of his body. He felt a crushing weight on his chest and pushed but it wouldn’t budge. Gradually he realized it was Brain Eater; she was on top of him. Her hair was in his mouth and nose, her blood on his neck. Spitting and coughing, he twisted his head so he could breathe.

A large shape blotted out the sky.

“Oh God,” Fargo said, thinking that the grizzly was getting up.

“No,” Wendy said. “Just me and the tyke.”

Fargo blinked. The large shape was the Ovaro. The Brit was dismounting, Bethany in his arm. “Where the hell have you two been?”

“You’re the one who told me not to stop until we reached town, remember?” Wendy set Bethany down. “I couldn’t do it, though. I couldn’t desert you. So we came back.”

Bethany squatted and put her hand on Fargo’s cheek. “You have the bear on you.”

“I noticed.”