Young Adult Fiction
There's a masked man in the passenger seat, pointing a gun at me. A masked man. A gun. In my car. "Drive!" He waves the gun at me.
The forest about me is absolutely still.
I shoot.
I shoot at the ground before the bear's massive paws. A scuff of snow flies up. In the next moment I lean the rifle against a tree trunk and grab my bear spray from my coat pocket where I've kept it warm. I pull off the safety clip, and this time I walk toward the bear.
Not away. I'm through with walking away.