Wild Collision (Us 4)

All our eyes swing to Cannon.

“What do we do, Dad?” I joke, trying to lighten the mood but I only get glares from my friends in return.

All their faces pale as they continue to look at me.

My smile falters. “What?” I whisper.

“Don’t. Move.” Cannon hisses. “I mean it.”

My heart begins to beat rapidly.

There’s a snuffling sound behind me and I turn my head the slightest bit, spotting a mama black bear with two cubs right behind me. They seem oblivious to the four of us, focused on wherever they’re going, but they’re so fucking close. If I took two steps backwards and reached out I could touch the mama bear’s thick charcoal fur.

Nothing much has ever scared me, but in this moment I have to admit I’m absolutely terrified. Especially when I look down, seeing the mama’s claws. They could rip me to shreds in a heartbeat.

“We’re so dead,” I mutter under my breath.

At least, if we’re going to die, this is one hell of a way to go.

9

Mia

“What do you mean you’re in the hospital?” My dad shrieks into the phone. I look up in worried surprise at his words. More conversation is exchanged, my dad’s lips parting in surprise. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t leave.”

He hangs up the phone pinching the bridge of his nose. “What is it, Dad? It’s not grandma is it?”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s Hollis. Apparently he was attacked by a bear.”

My jaw drops. “What?” I gasp. Worry zips through my veins, suffocating me. “Wait, a bear?”

This sounds like a joke.

“Yeah,” he says, searching his pockets for his keys.

“Dad, calm down,” I say seeing he’s becoming flustered. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Yes, please,” he breathes a sigh of relief.

Once we locate his keys we pile in the car and head for the hospital. It’s over an hour drive, but with my dad’s speeding, we make it in forty-five minutes.

We head into the emergency room. At first they won’t let us back, saying there are too many people in the room, but for once my dad pulls the, “Do you know who I am?” card and we’re let back immediately.

As we stroll through the halls searching for his room number I know when we’re getting close because I hear him complaining.

“It’s a scratch, this is ridiculous. Let me go already.”

We round the corner and find Cannon, Rush, Fox, and a doctor huddled around a shirtless Hollis sitting on a stretcher with a blood pressure cuff strapped to his arm.

“You could have rabies,” Fox hisses.

“Seriously, it was a cub and it was only playing.”

“You’re lucky the mom didn’t attack you,” Cannon growls. “You fucking idiot.”

“It’s not like I asked the cub to play with me, it just did. Stop getting your granny panties in a twist.”

Cannon huffs and crosses his muscular arms over his chest. Out of all the guys, he’s the biggest. He’s massive, like some impenetrable wall.