“Look out!” I cried, and Deputy Ruby dove to his left to avoid decapitation.

The bear was now atop the car’s roof, stomping it down into the cabin, shattered glass from the windows and flashing lights spraying onto the road. The tranquilizer gun had come to rest just beyond the road’s shoulder. I was the closest to it and could get there faster than the bear—I thought.

“Maggie!” Jordan shouted as I scrambled toward the gun.

The bear was taking giant strides, closing the gap. In one fluid motion, I grabbed the gun and whirled toward the charging animal, which was two steps from me, claws out.

Zap! The dart hit it right between the eyes, and the bear spilled over backward.

“Damn!” Jordan cried. “Nice shot!”

I blew into the muzzle and smiled.

“That’s my girl,” Mom said as she and Jordan jogged toward me and wrapped their arms around my shoulders. “I’m not sure how to get it back to the clinic for an exam.”

“Well, it’s not going in that squad car,” I said, nodding toward the pile of twisted metal and scattered glass in the middle of the road.

I looked at Jordan and put on my sweetest voice: “So what were you trying to tell me?”

“I was wondering how effective a tranquilizer that didn’t work on Nerf would be on a raging ten-foot-tall bear.”

The smile on my face froze. I turned toward the bear just as it was launching itself back onto its feet, towering above me.

“Maggie!” Mom cried.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! A crouching Deputy Ruby emptied his pistol chamber into the animal, red patches oozing in its fur. The bear roared—and bolted toward the deputy, who fell over backward, his hands in front of his face.

As the bear arched over him, snarling, teeth out, I saw a flash from inside the woods and heard a voop!

The bear exploded, and the sky was filled with raining clumps of fur and bear meat.

Four young military officers stepped out of the woods, one hoisting a grenade launcher.

“The situation has been neutralized,” the officer with the launcher said. “Please proceed back into town.”

Mom’s face was as white as the newly painted stripes on the road.

“Don’t worry,” I said, rubbing her shoulder blades. “We’ll find another bear for you to examine.”

“Thanks,” she coughed out.

Jordan extended a hand to pull a bloodied Deputy Ruby to his feet.

“That was some bear,” the deputy grunted, and we all started walking back to town.

CHAPTER 5

Jordan

CHARLIE SCREAMED WHEN I stepped in the door.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “It’s not my blood.”

Wearing a horrified expression, Mom leaned in and plucked something off my forehead.

“Is that fur?” she asked, holding up a sticky strip.

“Not mine, either,” I said.

“You smell like charred meat,” she said.

“Mind if I shower?”

Mom backed away with her hands up. She wasn’t going to argue with that.

“Tico came by,” she called up as I headed to the bathroom.