The tree didn't make it.

The bears' head hit the tree at a speed of about 8 meters per second. Now that's pretty fast. What's more impressive is the skull strength it must've taken to hit a foot-wide trunk and break the trunk. 

You know, I'm really appreciative that my minds' processing speed is such that I can be impressed by the instrument of my impending death. Really contributes to my situation.

I'm glad I can still be sarcastic.

Now, I won't say I was strategic about my retreat. Nor will I say that I retained all of my pride. Pride can go jump in the bears' mouth for all I care. What I will say, is that if there had ever been a record set for a hundred meter sprint, I broke it. Good thing, too, since after I'd gotten a hundred meters distance, the bear started roaring again, and getting closer.

I really hope the bear received brain damage.

The trees were starting to thin. I'd covered quite the distance in this medium-sized valley of mine. The ground started to slowly steepen, and soon rocks outnumbered patches of dirt. I ran past ledges and small cliffs, until I came to a very large cliff. Below, the sound of rushing water could be heard.

I blame myself. If I'd gone back around, I could have gotten farther into the mountains. But as it is, I was wondering which would be messier.

Getting mauled by a bear, or landing on water from a height of a hundred feet. I eventually came to the conclusion that at least the bear would clean up some of the mess afterward. And I turned around.

Thirty meters and closing. Hey, maybe I won't have to make a decision? Perhaps the bear will maul me in mid-air, and then join me in my graceful splat of a landing? Sadly, the bear didn't get brain-damage from it's hit to the tree. It seemed to have gotten cleverer, and was approaching slowly, so as to not allow any mistakes to happen.

I must applaud this bears' mental prowess. I'd clap louder if it wasn't being used to kill me.

Once the bear was twenty feet away, it slowed massively. It started leisurely walking, like it had all the time in the world. I started to feel chills running down my spine. I tried to take a step, to start moving, to get somewhere, to run.

But my body wouldn't move. The bear was going to kill me, and the only thing I can do about it is scream.

I found it kinda funny, actually. How I, who had lived twenty years, each made of four-hundred-eighty days, was going to lose my life.

It's strange. When I look into the bears' eyes, all I see is the desire to kill me. It has the power, the desire, and the will. All I am to this bear is a bother. It doesn't care what I've done. It doesn't care what I'd do if I lived. It won't care afterward, and probably forget me within a few minutes.

A humbling experience, to say the least. And I can't help but laugh.

Because I still won't lose.

I bent my knees, and looked around. Sharp ledges, and the sheer drop-off behind me. Nothing but a few loose stones and some dust in the vicinity.

As my father told me, "Anything can become a weapon."

In my left hand, I grabbed a fistful of dust. In my right, I picked up a stone. I then walked towards the bear. At five feet from the bear, I was also five feet from the edge. I threw the rock in my right hand at the bear. It bounced off the fur without leaving a scratch. I grabbed another rock.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I looked into myself. My memories of learning to hunt. My teacher was, unsurprisingly, the elder. I once saw him pierce the heart of a steer from thirty yards. He taught me how to throw. But between a spear and a rock, there is a world of difference.

Or is there?

For a spear, you must throw it at just the right angle, so that the tip hits the target. But with a rock, you don't need to do that. But it doesn't have a shaft, so how do I put force into it? I remembered the elders' words.

"Most important is the snap of your wrist. All of the power of your arm goes into the spear by way of your hand and, by extension, your wrist."

I pulled the rock behind my head, and stepped back. Then I stepped forward, and whipped my arm forward. And flicked my wrist for all I was worth.

The stone hit the bear in its' sensitive nose. It reared and roared, then came back down, one claw raised to kill me. I threw the dust in my left hand into its' face, and got on my hands and knees. A clawed hand whistled over my head, whiffling my hair with the wind of its' passage.

I picked up another stone, and threw it behind me. The stone clattered, and the bear roared and took a step over me. I now lay beneath the belly, completely at its' mercy. If it stepped sideways, it would crush me. I threw another rock, a little farther this time. The bear took another step, and I scrambled between its' back-paws, coming up behind it. I made no sound as I picked up another rock, and threw it over the bear. The rock clattered against the edge of the cliff, and the bear took another step. Just one more, and it'd be off.

I'm going to kill this bear. By my action, this animal will die. Sure, I'd hunted many times before, but somehow, it seemed strange to take the life of this creature.

I'd learned so much, and felt so much, while being hunted by this bear. But if I don't finish it off, it'll kill me.

I took a stone, leaned over the ledge, and threw the final rock such that it landed against the face of the cliff. The bear took a step off into empty air. It teetered. Then it stabilized, and started to regain its' balance. In a second, it'll be fully up, and it'll kill me.

I wanted to run away. All of my instinct told me to run.

But a voice deep inside spoke of courage. So I ran. Right into the bear. Jumping just to be sure.

And both me and the bear tumbled off the cliff.

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I'll be gone for three days, away from all technology, so I won't be able to write or reply to anything. I leave you with this 'cliff-hanger' just to be mean. XD

Obituary:

R.I.P. tree number 13943

-It was a tree.

Although your life was short, and you didn't get much screen time, you will always be remembered as the tree that saved the MCs' life. Plot convenience will look after you in the next life. Amen.