Back to the present, Mike is exploring.
There's alot on his mind, the fight with the bear didn't go exactly as planned.
Most of what I know about this bear is wrong, and I need to know why that freak is the way it is.
Not only is it a pain in the ass to fight with just physical things like it's tree-throwing and claws, it can use some magic things as well.
The healing makes it impossible to damage it slowly over time, so both slings and arrows are out of the question now.
That water ball thing is probably not the last I'll see of its magic, there's probably going to be some last-ditch-effort-magic in there too.
I can only speculate because of how exhausted I became when I fought it.
But you can learn most things about an animal from where it lives.
And that brought us to now, Mike in search of the bear's home.
The forest isn't hard to wade through, nothing lives here.
Mike's first instinct was to find it's home from the direction it first attacked the group in.
So he walked, and walked, until he reached the home of the beast.
Hours passed into the what was now the second day.
As he was thinking of stopping for a rest, Mike hit the edge.
Just what the hell is this place...
Instead of the end of the forest, it seemed like he only left the start of it.
Beyond the closely pack trees and ripe fruit, a hollow and empty forest of giant trees, with wide bases and empty space between.
Sunlight barely touched this place, there was minimal grass that grew here and roots tangled everywhere.
Am I in the wrong place? If I circled the smaller forest will I reach salvation?
Wait... Circled.
There was a perfect circle far back from here.
If this smaller forest is next to a larger one, what is the chance of it being completely inside it?
Mike ran around the edge, he couldn't rest until he confirmed it. But the feeling, the feeling that this place was one hell inside another.
It wouldn't leave me.
I am going to go out on a small limb and assume this bigger forest has no fruit, or water.
If they wanted to leave, the group would need to stockpile for atleast a day.
And if running to the edge got me here in just a few hours time. Then walking with rest stops will get them here soon enough.
I suspect once they find this place, they will have set up camp and begun raising their defences.
They don't know what that bear can do, I need to help.
Mike was tiring himself out too much, not that I disagree with him. He should've been there from the start.
But speaking of the group, how were they handling things on the other side?
Sarah was dumbfounded.
"And you're sure this wasn't found in water? Was the grass wet?"
James brought with him a small bloodstained stone.
Now if we operate under the assumption that this stone belonged to Mike's attack, then it's clear that the blood belongs to the bear.
But I found the bear without a scratch, is this blood Mike's?
Either way, the problem here wasn't a who question, it was a why question.
The blood on the stone was still an alive red, not darkened like dried blood normally is.
It even stained James hand, which was now the same colour as the stone. Hell, even his pockets were now painted red.
"Nope, I found it near one of the fallen trees, the blood isn't drying up Sarah. Even you can tell."
James stared at her, like he needed answers. But what kind of question was Sarah supposed to be answer in the first place?
Why is this blood not dried up even though it's been hours?
Why does either the bear or Mike have blood that doesn't dry?
If it's the bear's blood that doesn't dry, how does this help out the cause?
"Mike attacked it, he knows something. If what he found out was important enough, then he will come to us." The two of them furrowed their eyebrows, there was nothing they knew about the bear.
The so-called 'bear management' team did not have the resources to 'manage' the bear. So instead, today they stared at the profoundly slow bear.
"It's the bear's-" Sarah began to speculate out loud.
"I found it without a scratch, but we both know Mike wouldn't leave it alone until it's dead and buried."
"Do we know that for sure? Im not trying to insult Mike here but what if the bear was too much to handle straight off the bat?" James voice had fallen, now sultry and concerned.
"If Mike was hurt or injured in any way that left even a drop of blood. We would have found it. Dried." Sarah snapped.
"This blood can only be the bear's, or somehow, some new animal has appeared and sprinkled this shit on the scene, take your bet." Sarah continued.
"So listen to what I have to say. This bear can heal, I am almost sure of it. I just need Mike to confirm it."
"What if Mike hit it somewhere that you didn't see, and it's still wounded there?"
"James, this is a giant fucking bear. Where can I not see?"
"...under its fur?" And James was slapped across the head.
"Unless the bear bled out of its mouth, which is unlikely, it can heal wounds within the span of a few hours." Sarah frowned, all the weapons the 'Shelter and weapons' group were making would render useless if this was true.
James was about to say something, but the two of them heard shouting.
The other people in the area began running to the noise, they seemed to recognise what it meant.
Sarah and James looked at each other with worry, before hurrying after everyone else.
"What's going on?" James asked one of the other kids ahead of him.
"You didn't hear? Someone just said Mike has come."