Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (10 page)

The
bear
was
about
three
meters
away
from
him
when
he heard
a
loud
roar
from
above
his
head and
the
bear’s
gaze
moved
up.
It
was
his
brother
high
upon
a
tree
branch,
who
had
flung
himself
outward
from
the
tree.
Flying
through
the
air
towards
the
bear
he aimed
for
its
head.
As
he
landed,
the
animal
began
growling
ferociously.
The
bear
shook
his
head
so
Lee
would
fall,
simultaneously
trying
to
grip
the
boy
in
his
mouth,
but
Lee
held
on
tightly
to
the
bear’s
head
while
trying
to
free
his
arm
so
he could
swing
his
knife
at
the
beast.
As
the
bear
let
out
another
growl,
he managed
to
free
his
arm
and
plunged
his
knife
into
the
neck
of
the
bear.

The
growl
turned
into
an
empty
hollow
gasp
as
it
tried
to
recover
from
the
blow.
Lee fell
off
the
bear
and
landed
on
the ground
right
in
front
of
him,
but
the
bear
had
lost
interest
in
the
boys
and
was
struggling
to
stay
upright.

It
wrangled
a
bit,
stumbling
slowly
and
hitting
the
forest
floor
with
a
pronounced
impact.
Getting
to
his
feet
again,
Lee
picked
his
bloodied
knife
off
the
ground
and
went
over
to
the
bear,
which
by
now
was
in
a
vast
amount
of
pain.
Taking
his
knife
and
sticking
it
into
the
bear’s
neck
once
again
he freed
the
animal
from
the
pain
it
was
in. Even though it was the humane thing to do it was not glamorous or glorious. Pushing the knife in, Lee could feel it tearing against muscle, bone and cartilage. Crossing a line that Lee didn’t realise he had. His stomach shrank and it pained him to kill what was a beautiful beast. Lee fought his body not to expel the contents of his stomach.

Looking
round
at
his
brother,
Lee
saw
Tom
frozen,
in
a
state
of
shock
at
what
he
had
just
witnessed.
Seeing
something
in
Lee's
eyes
he
had
not
seen
before;
the
look
of
a
man
possessed.

Moving
back
to
the
bear
panting
heavily,
he pulled
his
knife
from
the
bear’s
neck,
wiped
it
on
his
sleeve
and
turned
back
to
Tom.
Lashing
out
angrily
at
him he said,
“Where
is
your
knife?”
But without giving Tom the
time
to
answer
he
said sternly,
“
Tom,
this
isn't
a
game.
You
could
die
here...”
pausing
to
take
a
breath
he
began
to
adjust
back
to
himself
,
with
a
tear
rolling
down
his
cheek and red in his eyes.
“Tom
you’re
my
big
brother
and
I
need
you,
I'm
not
strong
like
you,
I
can't
take
risks
like you,
but
I
won't
stand
by
and
watch
you
risk
everything...”

Tom
saw
that
the
possession
in
Lee's
eyes
was
in
fact
fuelled
by
the
fear
of
losing
him and
conceded
to
his
younger
brother
.
“You're
right,
Lee.
I’m
sorry...”

While
the
two
trekked
back
to
the
camp,
Lee
explained,
“I
went
to
gather
the
firewood
and
I
came
across
the
bear
tracks,
hearing
the
twig
break
in
the
bush
across
from
me,
I
scaled
the
tree
and
waited
for
the
bear
to
pass
hopefully
unseen.

However,
when
you
happened
below
where
I
was,
I had
no
choice
when
the
bear
attacked
but
to
use
the
element
of
surprise.
I
had
to
take
action.”

The
two
boys
returned
to
where
the
camp
was
set,
cooked
and
ate
the
rabbit
and
bedded
down
for
the
night. They were both in a degree of shock, still having adrenaline pumping from the bear attack and were unable to sleep. Stretched out, looking up at the night sky through the cover of the trees, they struggled to settle. Tom spoke up and broke the relative silence.

“I actually can’t believe you jumped from the tree.”

Lee began to laugh. “Well, what was I supposed to do?”

Tom was bemused. “I don’t know, but I definitely didn’t expect you to do that… Ninja style!” Both the boys continued to laugh, naturally falling silent after a moment, Tom reflected. “Lee?”

Lee answered “Yea, Tom?”

Tom lay silent for a few minutes and simply said, “Thanks, Lee.”

Lee calmed his mind once again thinking of the feat he had performed and the odds of him getting away unhurt as they both thought hard for those few moments about what he would risk for his brother.

“Anytime bro.”

The
next
day
they
woke
and
walked at a steady pace
the
rest
of
the
way
back
to
the
cabin,
where
their
father
seemed
surprised
to
see
they
made
it
down
so
quickly.
Inquiring
about
the
hike,
they
told
him
everything
about
their
days
in
the
wilderness.
About
how
they
didn’t
bed
down
on
the
first
night
until
they
got
below
the
snow
line
and
how
they
found
fresh
water
, and
how
they
snared
the
rabbit
for
dinner.
Fearing
the
repercussions
of
their
actions
regarding
the
bear
they
decided
not
to
tell
their
father
about
that
as
he
wouldn’t
have
approved
of
the
risk
either
of
them
took.

Philip,
being
the
protective
man
that
he
was,
didn’t
leave
his
sons
alone
on
the
mountain,
but
rather
had
tracked
them
from
behind,
to
ensure
their
safety.
Not
being
able
to
see
the
incident
with
the
bear,
as
he
was
further
back,
he
came
across
the
bear’s
body
and
from
the
tracks
left
on
the
ground
he
worked
out
what
had
happened.