Hunting by Night (Carney)

[Allison]

Allison watched Sorley attack the bear in disbelief. What an idiot! she thought to herself. If she was in this situation alone she would still be in the tree, or even better, running away from it. However she wouldn't leave now, while Allison was normally selfish and manipulative she was loyal to people she liked. And so she waited until the abnormally large bear was distracted before running behind it and slicing at the back of its legs. She made sure to cut the arteries, or at least she hoped. If she got it right then the blood loss would weaken the animal further. This intrusion on Allison's part of course attracted the bear's attention, and so it turned away from Sorley. The thick scent of Akalak blood was filling the air around her, but she couldn't see what happened. Her thoughts were interrupted when a stumbling bear crashed down on her, pressing it's entire weight. Her dagger hand was free, so she took this opportunity to stab the creature in it's side, making it jump up. Allison got back up onto her feet unsteadily. She found herself backed against a tree, facing the snarling creature. As it leaned forward to strike again she ducked and slipped around to the other side of the tree. She ducked down into the undergrowth and held her breath, praying the bear would choose to back down. Allison had a feeling that if anyone was leaving this fight out of free will, it would be the bear rather than herself and Sorley.