A Night in the Woods

Nathaniel Mish
E Block
Short Story Rough Draft
Ben woke up and stumbled to the coffee machine. He poured himself a cup. He picks up the phone and calls his friend Carl to wake him up. Both him and Carl are both infallible survivalists. The night before Ben had gotten his gear all together and he put it in his entrance way. He picked up the gear and in morning grogginess dropped it because he wasn't expecting the weight. He went to his friend Carl's house to pick him up for their expedition. As he stepped outside the sun was gleaming. The crisp air hit his face. He cracked open his door and climbed in. He put his key in the ignition. His crappy Buick felt like being a problem today. He attempted to start it again. Reluctantly the car started. He then puttered over to Carl's house. He got to Carl's house and he walked out of his house looked as if he was ready for war. Carl had two rifles and two sidearms. Ben exclaimed, "What, we hittin up the bank on the way there?"

"Nah, but you can never be too careful, remember this is the untamed wild were going to." remarked Carl. Ben agreed and they drove to their starting point. They got to their spot and parked. They trudged through the dense woods until they got to a small clearing. They decided to set up camp. They were maybe a mile or two into the forest. The air was refreshing as they gathered wood. They kindled a warm fire just before dark. They heated up some food over the crackling fire.

Meanwhile a pack of hungry bears were nearby and caught a scent. Their pack had dwindled due to starvation so there were only two bears. Ben and Carl heated up some juicy steaks and had eaten them. They hung all their equipment in a tree. They crawled into their tents with their weapons and walkie talkies to keep in touch. As they are sleeping the bears creep in. One of the clumsy bears stepped on the hot coals. He roared in pain. A myriad of birds flew into the air filling the night sky. Immediately Ben and Carl awoke. They knew that they had to plan something big to get out of this. They turned the volume on the walkie talkies down and started to devise a plan to get through this impasse.

They planned to try to wait them out. All of a sudden the bears started becoming distressed they knew that life was near them. Rifle in hand they were ready to make their move. They decided to fire a shot into the bears direction and run. They fired the bullets, dazed and confused the bears went into anarchy and started to roar and look around. Full of trepidation they both started to run, before the bears understood what happened Ben and Carl had gotten a sizable distance from them. They fired a couple slugs into the bears but the bullets only seemed to provoke the bear. They both aimed for one bear at a time. Ben took a lucky shot and placed a bullet right between the bears eyes. It was in slow motion and Ben could hear the bullet whizz through the air. The bear dropped to the ground hard. They started to aim at the other bear. They fired more shots but only got it in the leg with one bullet. The obstinate bear only stumbled and kept running. They ran out of ammunition in their rifles. They could feel the breath of the bear on their legs. Ben pulled out his pistol and aimed back. He chastened the bear with a clip of bullets. The hardy body dropped to the ground with a thud. Tired and panting they stood.

Feeling elated they checked the bodies to make sure they're dead. The phlegmatic expression on the faces of the bears concurred with Ben's initial thoughts. Laconically they slowly walked back to their camp. They started to pack up their things in silence. They knew that they couldn't stay there. It impacted them so much, the thought that they ended the life of two bears. As they were packing Ben seemed to be aloof. He could just picture the bears faces as the slug hit them. They started their hike back to their car. The thought of what they had just done was so confound it baffled them. They were deep in thought while they walked and they never made a sound. Once they entered the car Carl tried to mallify Ben. It didn't work, Ben had felt so guilty at what he had just done. He just had to accept the fact that he did what he had to survive. They drove what seemed to be an eternity just in thought. They finally got to Carl's house and they said their goodbyes. Ben drove home and passed out as soon as he touched his bed.