Evening arrived and all the children came together to create shelter.
Taking long thin strips of leaf and weaving together sheets, proved quite effective for the time being.
The children sat with their friends, chatting and weaving. This was a group activity.
"Mike knows how to start a fire, in fact, he probably knows more than all of us about these woods." Tom started, he was reluctantly chosen to start a fire with sticks.
"I remember.. his dad takes him camping every summer right?" James recalled.
"That's not all, his dad makes furniture out of wood, I remember in middle school, Mike was bragging about all the tools in his shed-" Tom grunted and tossed the sticks aside "fuck this, you do it."
"Fine, continue" and James picked up the sticks.
"If normal people like us find the woods safe then to Mike this may as well be a playground you know?" Tom laid back against a tree and rotated his wrists, that fire-starting took a lot from him.
"So what you're saying is, he'll be fine?" Sarah joined them, she was helping the weaving until now.
"That's the idea, we can check in the morning if he's still in that circle area." Tom finished. He closed his eyes and crossed his legs, trying to relax.
"Chances are..." James took note of his surroundings, a bunch of teenagers who could burst into tears at any moment, he hushed his voice "chances are, he's still with Tyson's... You know?"
"Oh, oh! Ok, so if we go there in the morning and he isnt there, then what?" Sarah asked, trying to cover all the possibilities.
"If Tyson's there then he's there. If Tyson's not there then he's moved. Simple." Tom spoke at his normal voice, which Sarah and James found to be way to loud for their current topic.
It's a relief though Sarah thought.
If Mike can find a place to sleep, have fruit to eat and water to drink then he can find his way back to us eventually.
"But it's actually kind of easy to find us no?" Sarah blurted out.
"What?" Tom and James asked in unison, I'm getting Deja Vu.
"Well the bear has been walking in a straight line since morning, and the bear won't target Mike unless he's in arms reach. So he could just move along the bear's path and find us, right?"
"And so, if he wanted to reunite with us, he would have done so sooner? Is that it?" James tried to end her point, it obviously felt wrong, the class should stay as a group.
"Well it's just a small theory, don't worry about it, we can put everything into finding him tomorrow." Sarah said, and James miraculously started the fire.
"Everyone! Gather around!"
There was ample space between the trees for sheets and campfires, James had multiple campfires in case of a bear attack.
His last-ditch backup plan was to burn down the forest with the bear in it. But nobody needed to know that.
Just right before everyone went to bed, James and Tom went out to check in on the bear.
They hadn't seen it since morning, and they needed to see if it was close or not.
I expected it to be faster.
James rightfully thought, that bear was moving at an astounding speed of a snail.
It was nothing compared to the terror they felt in the morning, so what gives?
"Tom, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah. That thing would reach us by~ let's say late tomorrow morning? Does it move faster when it's closer?" Tom was on the money.
There was another person in the area around that time. Mike watched the bear's every move, he's started to put the pieces together.
James and Tom went back to the shelter, followed by their close and missing friend Mike.
James and Tom, I'm guessing they have all calmed down now. They are probably going to leave these woods, it's better I stay away from the group.
Mike decided to started preparing his first attack on the bear. If he could find it's weakness, then he could kill it with nobody's help.
I don't think they know yet, about the bear's modes.
After burying his friend, Mike studied the bear.
First he analysed the place where the bear came from.
This place was filled to the brim with trees, but the bear knocks them down when he needs to.
What's unusual is, these trees are bent from the base, not knocked down.
When the bear is carving out a path, it's a different behaviour from chasing down humans.
In the morning, the bear chased down the group, pushing trees to the side to get there faster.
It's footsteps were loud, and these prints...
Mike stood between the knocked trees, the feet of the bear had printed heavily into the ground, to the point where the prints reached dirt.
It manages its own weight whilst moving 'normally' but when it's on a hunt, it speeds up and puts more pressure on its feet.
This bear has 2 modes to my knowledge. The Hunt mode and The Attack mode.
It is usually in attack mode, where it places strength into its senses and arms, allowing it to push down trees and find humans.
This mode was what it used to kill Tyson.
The Hunt mode, this one is triggered by finding humans in its proximity.
It no longer focuses on sense or arm strength and now fully gives its energy to speed and ease of mobility.
But that was not the only discovery he made.
The group could have easily found these "modes" if they spent time thinking about the bear's behaviour.
But they didn't see the bear eat grass.
The reason it can't use the attributes of both modes at once, is because of energy management.
The bear does not eat humans, it eats grass. Grass can't provide enough energy to run a race, atleast not with the amounts the bear is eating.
The bear takes short and frequent breaks to grab the nearest pile of grass and eat it. It stores the unused energy for The Hunt mode.
Extending it's use of the Hunt will exhaust the bear quickly.
While it tries to replenish, attack again.
The bear will be forced into Attack mode for as long as this cycle continues.
And with this knowledge, Mike attacked the bear on the first night.