Darwin Expedition (6 page)
I snap branches out of my way, ripping through the undergrowth toward him. The man at the gatehouse stands straight and squints in my direction.
“Hey!” I'm out of breath and my voice is barely a rasp. “Help!”
The man drops his cigarette and reaches for something. Before I can try to shout again, he's leveled a rifle at my head.
I burst through the undergrowth into the ditch, my hands over my head. Light from the gatehouse spills onto my face. He can see me now, can't he? Again I call, “Help!”
“What the hell?” He lowers the gun.
I stumble out of the ditch and onto the road.
He looks at me, his eyes so wide I can see the whites. “You scared the crap out of me,” he says. “I thought you were a bear.”
Everything looks different from the air. The spotlight on the chopper illuminates pale egg shapes on the ground. The light slews around and makes me dizzy. The pilot speaks to me through the headset. “We're at the scree slope. But I don't see your buddy.”
This is where I left him. Isn't it? It's raining so hard that the creek is spilling out of its bed. What if Tej is underwater?
I hear one medic shout, “Look at the size of that bear.”
I spin to where he's looking, just upstream of the scree slope. In the spotlight, a massive grizzly bear boots it beneath the chopper. A smaller bear is hot on her heels. The bears are heading back up the stream.
The medic hoots, “She's close to a ton, I bet. Wouldn't you hate to bump into her on a dark night?” He laughs.
I remember the smell of her, the sound she made deep in her chest, the black of her gums against the yellow of her teeth.
I speak without looking away from the ground. “Maybe Tej did.”
The medic falls quiet.
A glimpse of something blue makes me shout. “There!” I point to where I saw it. “Tej's jacket!”
It's raining. Why would Tej take his jacket off?
The pilot dips the nose. The trees look close enough I could touch them. “There!” I jab my finger, as if that will make the pilot see.
He nods. “It's just a jacket, son.”
No. The jacket is tangled in a shrub like it's been tossed there. Or ripped off.
I try to keep my voice from cracking. “I know he's here.”
The pilot and the medics exchange looks, and I know what they're thinking. If the bears really got my friend, do I want to see what's left? I say, “Put it down.”
The pilot shrugs, and the medics lower the ladder.
I sense it before I see itâa movement from under a fallen tree. Tej is on his belly, crawling out. “It's him! He threw his jacket so we'd know where he was holed up.”
Tej looks up at the chopper. He's coated in mud, but even from here I can see he's okay. He bursts into a grin and waves.
Tej loads a huge duffel bag into the back of his truck. The truck looks pretty good, now that the roof is repaired. Tej replaced the fenders and tailgate with parts from the auto wrecking yard, and he worked all summer at Dairy Queen to pay for a paint job. I pat the fender. “Nice ride.”
Tej nods.
He favors his right ankle when he walks, although no one else would notice.
He was still in a cast at graduation. He got a standing ovation as he hobbled on crutches across the stage.
He closes the tailgate and says, “You can still change your mind.”
I shake my head. “I got a spot on a survey crew in September. Forestry department. Might lead to something.”
Tej grins. “That grizzly will be waiting for you.”
The warden who helped get Tej's truck out of the bush said it wasn't likely that the bears I saw from the chopper were the ones we had seen earlier. He said bears don't stalk humans. I think the warden might be wrong, but I'm glad we didn't find out.
“If that bear finds me, I'll give her your number in Portland.”
Tej looks down at the ground. “I guess Jordan isn't coming to say good-bye.”
I shake my head. “No, Jordan thinks you and I need to do this by ourselves.”
He laughs. “You can tell her I cried, if you want.” He scuffs the ground with his
shoe. “Jordan is good for you.” He looks up at me. “I was wrong about her.”
I smile. “Yeah, you were wrong.”
Jordan got a job with the same survey crew. Jordan might lead to something too.
Tej says, “Maybe I thought if you didn't have Jordan, you'd come with me.” He looks up at his house. His entire family is gathered on the front step, waiting to wave good-bye. He says, “You have everything you need here in Tremblay.”
“You do too, here and in Portland. You'll be fine.” I shuffle my feet. “And you never know. I might end up at tech school. I've registered for a couple of adult education classes. High-school upgrading.”
He looks at me and his eyebrows shoot up.
I laugh. “You were wrong, now you're speechless? This must be a first.”
“You're right, which is also a first.” Tej claps me on the arm. “I'll be back at Christmas. We'll go snowboarding.”
I pull him into a fast hug, and then I
give him a shove toward the door of his truck. “Yeah, and this time, I'll drive.”
“Fine with me. I'll sit in the back with a couple of Aussie babes.” Tej slides in behind the wheel.
“I'm beginning to think anything is possible.” I close his door. “Now get the hell out of here.”
Diane Tullson is the author of the ALA Best Book
Red Sea
. Diane lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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