14
63 miles south of Delta
Moving silently through undergrowth choked with decades of dead leaves and branches taxed Rudi’s skills and current physical abilities. Every few steps he stopped to listen intently and rest.
Nothing moved save for the constant whisper of wind across the willows and black spruce. The susurration filled the silence at the edge of his awareness and he missed the sound of teeth on foliage. He spied something dark ahead, but seeming stationary, he dismissed it.
He quietly spread the willows with his rifle and left hand and stared up into the face of a moose. A covey of thoughts flashed through his mind: moose were incredibly large; it was as surprised to see him as he was to behold it; his left hand was impossibly far from the rifle in his right hand; he didn’t know where to shoot this thing if he even got the chance, and he was totally terrified.
The animal’s eyes grew wider by half and it abruptly pulled back and centered its weight over the back legs. Rudi knew it was going to use its front legs for combat and he threw himself to the side and scrambled madly through the thicket, ignoring the lightning flashes of pain throughout his body. Behind him the moose smashed down through the haze of sweat he knew he must have left in his wake.
It crashed into the willows behind him. He turned ninety degrees to his left without slowing. The moose gained on him, snorting and slamming huge, splayed feet down on the thick gravel.
Dogs barked in excitement somewhere behind him.
Rudi turned to his left and ran through the slashing willows, desperately trying to avoid anything that could truly trip him up. Three strides later his right foot caught in the middle of a three-trunk sapling and he hit the ground hard. Unhealed wounds ripped anew and the cascading pain lofted him into the edge of shock and unconsciousness.
Cool, wet strokes brought him awake and he jerked as memory returned.
“Lie still, Rudi,” Bodecia said gently. “You’ve opened some of your wounds.”
“Where is moose?” He tried to see all around him.
“Gone. It was probably more scared of you than you were of it. Griz and Kodiak ran it off.”
“Not possible to be more frightened, would have died from fright.”
She laughed. “I’m glad you didn’t lose your sense of humor.”
He tried to smile but couldn’t find it. “I run from a beast, a man I would fight, but from beast I run.”
“If you hadn’t run it would have killed you. That was the only thing you could have done.”
“You are kind. I ran like coward. I have failed person who saved my life.”
“You are being far too melodramatic. That was a cow moose, she had a calf with her, and she thought you were a threat to her baby. If you hadn’t run you would have been kicked to death in moments. I am not presenting puffery, merely facts.”
“Da.”
“How do you feel?”
“As if I may die.”
“Here, drink this.” She held a cup to his lips and he drank deeply. The astringency of the liquid nearly caused him to vomit, but he held it back.
“What is this?” he asked with a gasp.
“Relief.”
Darkness swam up around him, rolled over him, and pulled him down into it. He surrendered without a fight.