Chapter 34: Trapped
He waits, until the bears are easy to shoot. He can not hit the heart so wants a brain shot. But, the bullet will go through the animal so he needs a shot that misses wolves behind it. He gives up and hits a leg with a bear behind it. Both drop for an instant, which gives the group the opening they need.
They split the other two bears off from the two wounded and keep harassing them. Kam climbs down from the tree and heads for the two. He puts the pistol away and takes out his knife.
The two get split apart. Kam goes for the more active one and stabs it in the butt. Both bears can not defend themselves against the more mobile wolves so die moments later. He stabs their hearts to be sure.
The other two get split and are overwhelmed. Four wolves have their back legs pinned, while others are snapping at their neck. Once grabbed by one wolf, a second joins it and the bear dies. Once more, heart wounds make sure.
The group splits up to hunt down the three remaining groups. Kam follows after the two going the same direction, figuring that it will require less traveling.
Meanwhile, Tom's group was trapped. His four bears forced his group to meet another. The eight of them pushed the wolves up a valley. Tom mistakenly took the easy way and now have cliffs above them on three sides and bears on the fourth. Thirty wolves and the only way out is pass the eight bears.
Sure they could become human and climb the rock face, but the odds of making it was slim. The bears could kill them as humans much faster, while they could do little to touch the bears. Two bears grabbed a wolf that was trying to slip past them and ripped it in half.
Tom thought, 'if we all rush that spot, most would get out alive.' He shifts, "follow me," and shifts back. He rushes the opposite side and hopes they follow. They entire group runs for that edge behind him. He gets caught like he expected. 'It hurts to be ripped in half,' he thinks, as he sees most made it, before seeing nothing again.
The twenty-seven survivors meet fourteen more wolves coming to join them, on the other side, so they box the bears up in the trap. Not enough wolves to handle them that close together. But, Kam will be coming.
The new ones howl so the rest join them. Kam hearing it runs as fast as his body can go. It is mostly level so he can maintain a full out run for a mile. Just as he has to slow down he finds the valley and jogs up it. He quickly shoots all eight bear heads, followed by heart stabs. With only rocks behind them, he does not have to worry about hitting a wolf.
He has all the wolves hunt down the last group. He jogs as fast as he can with full speed running on the level ground.