This time taking slow deliberate steps it closed in on Tara. Not wanting to fight the bear she tried to climb the walls to escape but her hands slipped right through the mud surface which immediately hardened up once her hand was passed. Seeing how easily the Mud Bear changed the walls she understood the grizzly death that would await her if she was to try walking through. Turning her head left and right she saw that the Bear boxed them in together. Hesitantly she stepped forward, wanting to get away from the death trap that was the walls.
With nowhere else to go she walked to the bear ready to face her death, but not willing to go without a fight.
When the bear was in range he lunged forward swiping at her stomach, between the scales that covered her sides and underneath the carapace covering her chest. His sharp claws ripping through the rubbery amphibious skin that covered her stomach. Even though the lunge startled her she grimaced through the pain, clenched her fist, and threw a wild haymaker to the top of the bear's head cracking the helmet he wore.
Dazed for a second, the bear stumbled to the side and Tara chased after him ready to smash her fist against his head again. Just as she was about to, the floor gave way and she sank waist-deep into the mud.
The bear turned back as she struggled to climb out, lunging again, this time with its jaw wide open trying to clamp down on her exposed throat.
Reaching her hands out she caught the stretched open mouth, teeth stabbing into her palms painfully. Holding both sides of his jaw, she slammed his head into the ground and climbed out while he recovered.
Both of them stood apart staring hatefully at one another. The bear's head rung from the consecutive strong strikes to it and Tara bled from the gash on her stomach and the deep puncture marks on her hands.
As if rehearsed they both ran at each other Tara raised both her hands together ready to smash against his head the bear's legs bunching to lunge again. When they were right on top of each other Tara swung her hands to intercept the bear. But to her surprise, it didn't lunge at her stomach again. It dove towards her legs.
Tara unprepared, couldn't react before he bit down onto her exposed leg, shattering her shin. Yanking his head to the side he tore a massive chunk of flesh out of her leg, along with shards of her shattered shin.
Grimacing her teeth, she fell down to her knee, staring furiously at the bear with her blood dripping off its teeth. You filthy. Hairy. Stupid. Monster. Stop preventing me from going to my family.
The bear leapt at her again, going for a killing blow to the neck.
When his mouth was wide open and just about to clamp down, she used her one good leg to jump. Her torso coming up higher, the bear's teeth bit against the scales once again, this time the scales cracked under the pressure. A near maniacal smile spread across her mouth. "Looks like you'll be the one to die today!" She shouted as she stabbed her claws through the roof of the bear's mouth. When he tried to pull away, she locked the lower jaw onto her side ignoring the teeth that started to pierce her skin.
Scrapping against it she continued to rake her claws down the roof of his mouth and jammed her hand down, her claws audibly scraping against the inside of his armor.
After a tense moment with her hand as far down his neck, as it could go, his strength gave way and they both fell to the floor. Carelessly she extracted her hand from the bear's throat and flopped to her back.
Exhausted from her fight with the bear she lay on the floor gripping her stomach in an attempt to staunch the blood flow. As she lay there looking at the rising crescent moon, she realized that she could still see clearly around her. I guess this is just a feature of my new eyes. She thought brushing this new bit of knowledge off, too tired and generally overwhelmed to think too deeply on it.
Slowly she tried to rise but her leg still collapsed from under her. Looking at it for the first time she saw that her foot hung weakly at a disturbing angle, obviously no longer capable of use. "Damn!" She yelled hoarsely slamming her hand into the ground. "It'll take me forever to get to them now." Climbing up to her one good foot she limped off not wanting to waste more time lying around here. As she slowly stepped over the roots, fallen logs, and other hazards she found many branches across the ground. Unaccustomed to her new height though, the multitude of branches she selected was far too short to be of use. Finally, finding a long and sturdy branch that fit her size she continued on her path briefly before being sent back to the ground with the snapping of the branch.
Frustrated she threw it to the side causing it to shatter against a tree and screamed harshly into the night sky. The pain. The sense of loss. Pure anger. Everything came out in that one scream as she released her thoughts into the night sky before crumpling to the ground feeling completely wrung out. Slowly she closed all her eyes and allowed sleep to take her.
When she awoke a few hours later, her leg had sealed itself over to prevent any further blood loss. But that isn't what she noticed. In the pit of her stomach, she had such a gnawing hunger. Groaning she thought, My stomach feels like it's eating itself. Looking around briefly she only saw grass and trees around her. Really?! She thought. No wild fruits or noticeably edible plants at all. Gazing hungrily at the grass a nagging voice in the back of her head said, Well. Animals eat common grass and leaves all the time. Who's to say that it isn't edible.
Stuck there between her common sense and her hunger she stared at the grass before her common sense gave way and she crouched down, hungrily ripping the grass out the ground and shoving it in her mouth. A few flowers entered her mouth along with it but she kept eating until she created an area large enough to sit a house on, devoid of any plants, besides the large trees she ate around. Her stomach filled enough to stop she looked over at the massive amount of grass she ate and rubbed her stomach thinking. This better not kill me or mess up my stomach too badly.
Climbing to her foot she limped off once more in the light of the midday sun. Must've spent a long time eating. She mused while walking steadily forward. After an hour of limping through the dense woods, the trees gave way to a narrow clearing. To her left and right no more trees could be seen and a relatively smooth dirt road showed the touch of civilization.
Overjoyed, she turned to the right and limped on at a slightly faster clip, singing little tunes inside her head.
She continued on down the road her joy still visibly apparent despite the hours that passed since she first stepped on the road. As if rewarding her good mood, she spotted in the distance a small group heading her way. Rushing forward as fast as her injured limbs could carry her, she waved her arm high, greeting the approaching group.