We rigged up a stretcher to carry River's body on and headed back to town. The journey back was made even more miserable by our ponchos being whipped around by the wind and rain. I couldn't shake the look in River's eyes when it turned on him, the pure terror and determination was unmistakable. Hal was looking a little out of it, … he had lost a lot of blood before he got the belt cinched on his arm. Tyr was looking grimly determined to carry on, but Rick looked like he was in shock. I kind of took over and guided us back to our homes, … or that was the plan.

We were just getting to the edge of the road that we had slid down and figured that we had to find a way around if we were to carry River's body. I suggested we head north to a bend in the road where the lay of the land was more level. Tyr just nodded his head along with Hal while Rick just stared at the ground and started walking. I tried to switch off with Rick and Tyr carrying his body, but they both just waved me off. When we got to the road again it was a manageable slope. Before long we were walking back to the trail that led back to town. We were getting tired and it was dark and rainy, making the going difficult.

Just then we heard the squealing of tires and a truck came barrelling out of the night right at us. We were on the side of the road, well out of the way but this truck was coming right at us. At the last moment we jumped off the road into the bushes, River's body and head went flying. I was so angry I couldn't believe it. I was seeing red as I started drawing my sword and walking back onto the road.

The truck had spun around and had its headlights and fog lights lighting up the road like a football stadium. The driver was revving the engine and honking the horn and then peeled rubber coming right at me. I had lost the shield in the jump to the bushes so I took my sword two-handed and waited. Just as it was going to strike me I ran a few steps to my left and took a swipe at the windshield as the truck went past. I struck the left side of the windshield and the blade sunk in heavily, almost torqing it out of my grasp as it cut into the frame at the side of the window. The passenger side window shattered, the tinting film holding the glass together. The truck swerved to swing around but slid on the wet asphalt. It shot forward off the road and smashed into a tree. There was a tremendous explosion that sent me back on my ass.

I got back to my feet and ran back to recover my shield. As I headed towards the burning truck I saw some movement on the other side of it. I brought up my shield defensively just as a humanoid form charged at me with some kind of weapon. I could see fairly well because of the burning truck, it was some creature out of the Lord of the Rings movies. It looked just like one of those Uruk-Hai with a double-bladed falling axe coming right at me. I wasn't able to get my shield up quite right in time and the blade sunk into it heavily. I felt the blade cut into my wrist, the pain was excruciating! In answer I chopped at its side about level with his kidneys. I felt the blade sink in and he gave out a tremendous roar of pain and anger. He yanked on his axe and almost tore it off my arm as my hand was nearly useless. I chopped at his leg and hit him on the outside of his left knee. He began to fall and gave a tremendous yank on the axe stuck in my shield as he went. The axe came loose as I felt a sickening pop in my left shoulder.

He fell to the ground; his left leg at an impossible angle and tried to pull himself upright. I didn't give him a chance; my blade caught him in the tip of his right knee and split it right down the middle. He roared in pain and thrashed around as I circled him until I found an opening. He didn't live long; I cut his head in two just above his nose, right through his eyes. I fell to the ground at that point and blacked out.

When I came to Tyr was gently slapping me while Hal struggled to open his canteen with one hand. Hal poured what was some kind of hard alcohol into my mouth, which I swallowed and then promptly started coughing. Hal chuckled a little and then took a swig of his own like it was mother's milk. Tyr told me that the guy from the truck was dead, as well as his passenger that had died on impact. I started to feel my shoulder throbbing, I tried to move my arm but it was tied to my side. I then realized that they had stripped off my armour. My hand was bandaged as well with supplies from Hal's medical kit. I told them we needed to get back and that Hal had to have his arm looked at when I blacked out again.

…

When I came to again I was wedged up among some rocks wrapped in some furs or something. I was chilly but it felt ok. Whatever I was wrapped with totally stunk. I tried to sit up and found that I was in a cave. I tried to stand up and found that I was very unsteady on my feet and I WAS A BEAR!!!!!!

It took a few minutes to figure it out, but I was a frigging brown bear! I couldn't see myself so I couldn't be sure. I remembered my shoulder being tied down and my wound on my hand and the hardly hurt at all. I looked at the back of my paw at the wrist and there was a flaky scab, but it was otherwise mostly healed. I couldn't figure out what was going on, was this some kind of poetic justice for my having killed a bear 2 years ago with my dad on a hunting trip? It had broken into our camp while were out and it attacked us when we came upon it. With all that had been happening, it didn't sound as crazy at it sounds.

I paced around the cave for a while getting the hang of it, … it didn't feel as weird as I would have thought. My back legs being so much shorter felt strange but it made walking on all fours a lot easier. I was really hungry and headed out of the cave. I had no idea where I was but I could smell some food nearby. I headed out and followed my nose … that led to some food someone had thrown out of the window of a passing vehicle. I was around the bend from where I had been with Hal, Rick and Tyr … the last time I remember. I couldn't just walk into town as a bear, somebody would shoot me as some rogue animal or just for my fur and meat come to think of it. I sat down on the side of the road behind some bushes and tried to figure out what I was going to do. … I didn't even know what day it was.

I was still sitting there thinking when I heard a human voice calling out my name. I wasn't sure what I should do?! Do I walk towards the voice to try to get them to understand what has happened, or do I run. Do I scratch a message to whoever is searching for me explaining what has happened, what do I do?! I wish I could just be a man again! As I was finishing that thought I felt my body change. It was sort of like taking a crap, but all over your body. In a moment I was my old self, but naked and freezing! I answered back to the call and waited for someone to approach. In a few minutes I heard someone calling my name again, it was Tyr!

I called out his name and he came running and then caught himself and I saw him approach cautiously. He asked me if I was ok? I told him I was fine, but that something weird had happened. He seemed to think for a moment and then started walking toward me with his gun at rest, but not far from ready. I was a little embarrassed to be found naked as a jailbird in the middle of the forest but it was a real relief to see Tyr. He stopped walking toward me when he was about 20' away and asked again how I was. I told him I was frigging freezing, that it was plainly obvious that I was freezing as I pointed to my hard nipples and shrinky-dink. He laughed and pulled a blanket out of his pack. He also pulled out a set of my exercise gear and running shoes! I thanked him and asked him what day it was? He looked at me for a moment, like he wanted me to know how significant the date was and told me I had been 'gone' a week!

I was shocked to say the least! I must have looked totally dumbfounded. Tyr looked at me for a moment and told me that a lot of people in town have heard what had happened and figured something weird had happened, but nobody had been hunting bear since it happened. I finished pulling on my sneakers and asked him what he knew of what had happened.

Tyr told me that he wanted to get me somewhere warm and out of the cold first. I was ravenous and told him so. He pulled a thermos out of his pack and some chocolate bars and told me to eat while we walked. I actually had Tyr write it down, and I am taping it into my journal.

What happened to Joseph: by Tyr Gudmundson.

When Joseph blacked out again after Hal gave him a slug from his flask I didn't think it was too serious, he was just tired and worn out from fighting and his shoulder was still bothering him. Hal and I had popped Joseph's shoulder back into joint while he was blacked out. His hand was a little nasty, some of the tendons on the back of his hand were severed, but Hal figured it was at least operable. With Hal, Rick and I to deal with three dead bodies, one being River's and Joseph being out we weren't sure what to do. Hal figured we should drag Joseph and River's body into the bushes under the cover of the trees and then go for help. He would go back and Rick and I would guard Joseph and River. He gave us his flask for Joseph in case he was in pain and off he went.

It was well after dark at this point and Rick and I rigged up a tarp on some line to keep the rain off us and tried to keep Joseph warm and dry. Joseph was getting colder and colder and the wind wasn't helping. Rick remembered a winter survival show where to get a sick or wounded person in a tent you would make a tent (a dome tent) and cut a hole in the bottom big enough to allow the tent to be dropped over the sick or wounded person. It seemed that it would be easier than trying to muscle Joseph's big body into the tent. It took a while in the wind and rain but we got it done. Joseph was lying on a tarp wrapped in a sleeping bag with a tent pitched and pegged over him. His breathing got more regular and he stopped shivering.

It started to feel like Hal had been gone a very long time and we decided that one of us should sleep. I drew the long straw and lay down to sleep. Rick stayed outside the tent to keep watch for a few hours. In a few hours Rick woke me up for my watch. He was shivering bad and looked pretty strung out. I climbed out of the tent and walked around a little trying to wake up. After an hour or so I heard the sounds of a vehicle on the road. I kicked Rick awake through the tent and told him I could hear a car or something and that I was going to go investigate. He mumbled something about 'Just a sec!' as I headed towards the road.

I ducked down into some bushes when I recognized a few big 4x4s with lots of lights just in case. I could hear some voices yelling between the trucks about how they were going to kill the bastards that had killed Rudy and Vick. I went flat in the bushes trying to be invisible when Rick came stumbling out of the trees half-asleep. I was beckoning to him to get down when the sounds of gunfire and the impact of bullets on flesh tore through the night. I was practically shitting myself when I heard a tremendous tearing noise coming from the tent.

As I watched a huge Kodiak bear came running out towards the road and attacked the people in the trucks. They started firing at it as soon as it cleared the trees but it didn't seem to slow it down at all. I didn't see any of the bullets have any affect at all! In no time at all it had ripped the windshield out of one of the trucks and ripped the doors off to kill the occupants. There was a guy in the back of that truck that jumped off and started running. I brought up my rifle and shot him in the back a few times.

As I turned back to what was happening, the bear had ripped the hood off the truck as it tried to back up to turn back onto the road. The bear charged the truck and smashed into the passenger side door and pulled out a person in its jaws. It ripped the guy apart and turned back to the truck that was peeling out to get away. I shot at the tires and was able to take one of them out. The truck swerved as the tire went flat and hit the gravel edge of the road. It rolled down the embankment where we had carried River up earlier that day and then everything went quiet.

The bear ran down to where the truck was as I came out of hiding to see what was going to happen. It was pretty dark but the truck headlights were still on as I came to the edge of the road. I could see the bear drag the driver out of the car and rip the shit out of him. I was totally shocked! I had no idea what was going on. Where had this bear come from! … As I stood on the road edge watching as the bear stopped tearing at the body and looked up at me. It … 'waved its paw at me' and ran off into the bush. I stood there stunned for a few minutes hearing the rain falling on the road and my poncho. I turned back to look at the carnage on this road, three trucks in total. One of the cars was wrecked and burned. One was totalled by the bear and was sitting in the middle of the road, and one was rolled on its back on the side of the road. Quite a scene really.

I walked back to look at Rick, but I figured he would be dead with the amount of high-velocity rounds that had hit him. He was dead, his eyes were still open fixed in a look of surprise. I sat down beside him for a moment and said a silent prayer to Odin for him. I hoped that if there were an afterlife for him it would be in Valhalla. I stood over his body for a few minutes and then began dragging him back to the tent with my rifle slung over my back. It was hard, Rick was a pretty big guy but I was still pumped with adrenaline so I managed. I took a look at the tent; it looked like the bear had torn it in half. I look around for Joseph, but all I found was his clothes all torn and split open. It wasn't hard to figure out that somehow Joseph and the bear were the same thing. A few days ago I wouldn't have believed any of this, … but with all that has happened, been said and done it just made sense.

I sat down in the wreckage of the tent and waited for help to arrive. A few hours later a guy I thought I recognised came up the hill with a kerosene lantern on the end of a long pole. He was calling for Rick and I by name. I watched him for a moment and when I felt safe I called out to him. He waved and called back behind him that he had found us. When he got closer I saw that it was Mr. Worthington, Hal's brother-in-law. There were a few more of the people in the neighbourhood with him as well. They looked totally weirded out by what they saw as I explained what had happened. Mr. Worthington (he told me to call him Chad) asked how I was and hooked the pole on a branch to light up the camp. Two of the other guys went to look at the road and the other guy looked at River and Rick's bodies, then he puked.

After a little while they had River and Rick rigged up in stretchers. It was a long tough hike back as I was almost totally spent already. I think I fell asleep on my feet a few times, but I made it. I was led to Hal's place and taken into one of his spare rooms and undressed by someone. I remember smelling the pillowcase and thinking how nice their fabric softener was.

…

Late the next morning I was woken up by the smell of bacon frying and coffee. I ate quickly, although it was hard to rush such a wonderful breakfast. Bacon, sausages, eggs, pancakes and wonderfully strong coffee. I hiked up to where the camp had been and started looking for Joseph. I spent all day out there and didn't find him. I came back every day and eventually found him Tuesday afternoon. He was just standing there in the nude. It hadn't snowed recently, but it was certainly cold enough. I wasn't sure it was really Joseph, but after I asked him a few questions he seemed to be the Joseph I knew. I had a pack of his clothes and his sneakers, as well as an arctic fleece blanket. I had some chocolate bars and stuff and we headed back to town. Sylvia had wanted to join me on my search, but with those Goblins or Orcs or whatever I didn't want her to get hurt.

I took Joseph right to Sylvia's place. He bawled as soon as he saw her, … I started crying too. I guess the shock of all that had happened had been kept in side until I found him. I cried like I wanted my Mom to hold me and give me a bottle for almost half an hour. Sylvia's Mom came out and started crying too, then she went and got her husband and then brought us in for some food and a hot drink.

Mar 1st, 2005

Sylvia and I just got married (I think they called it pair-bonded?) and I feel so much better. I still don't really know what happened in that last week, but at least I am alive! I still haven't heard anything about the whereabouts of either of my parents… I am going to head up to CFB Comox tomorrow to find out what I can.