Free The Savage Boy by Nick Cole

forward.
    The Boy checked to make sure the parachute cord was really gone.
    It was.
    The moment that hung between the Boy and the bear was brief and startlingly clear. To have questioned what must be done next would have been lethal to either.
    The Boy loped forward and rammed the pole straight up and into the chest of the bear.
    There is no other way but this, he thought in that moment of running.
    No other way but this.
    He felt the furry chest of the bear meet his grip on the pole.
    He pushed hard and felt the arms of the bear on his shoulders. He felt a hot breathy roar turn to a whisper above the top of his head.
    His arms were shaking.
    His eyes were closed.
    He was still alive.
    He backed away from the belly of the bear, letting go of the pole as the bear fell off to one side.
    He was covered in a thick, cold sweat.
    There was no other way.

 
    16
    I N THE MOMENTS that followed the death of the bear, routine took over, ways the Boy had known his whole life.
    Bleed the animal.
    Don’t think about how close you came to her claws.
    The knife at his back was out as he stood over the carcass, finding the jugular, his good hand shaking, and then a quick flick and blood was running out onto the granite of the Sierra Nevada.
    Don’t remember her hot breath on top of your head when there was little you could do but go forward with the pole.
    Next he made a cut into the chest. Working from the breastbone up to the jaw, he cut through flesh and muscle. When the cut was made he took out his tomahawk, adjusted his grip once as he raised it above his head and then slammed it down onto the breastbone several times. Soon he was removing the organs. Heart, lungs, esophagus, bladder, intestines and rectum.
    My hands are shaking, Sergeant.
    It’s just the cold, Boy. Just the cold. Keep on workin’.
    It is cold out and getting colder, which will be good for the meat, but I still have much work to do.
    Walking stiffly, he descended the mountain and returned to camp. He gathered his gear and when that was done, he began to coax Horse to get up one more time.
    Horse seemed stunned that the Boy would even consider such a thing, but before long, whispering and leading, patting and coaxing, the Boy had him up and on his legs.
    “I’ll carry everything, you just follow me. We’re going someplace warm.”
    Late afternoon turned to winter evening as he led Horse up onto the mountain. Halfway up, as they worked side to side across the gray granite ledges, snow began to fall, and by the time they’d reached the top, the Boy was almost dragging Horse. Never once did he curse at the animal, knowing that he was already asking too much of his only friend. And for his part, Horse seemed to suffer through the climb as though death and the hardships that must come with it are inevitable.
    At the top, the Boy dropped Horse’s lead and began to collect what little firewood he could find. Soon there was a small fire inside the cave. He led Horse into the cave, expecting more protest than the snort Horse gave at the scent of the bear.
    The fire cast flickering shadows along the inside of the cave and though there was a small vault, the cave was neither vast nor deep.
    It’ll be easier to keep warm, Boy. That’s good.
    The Boy put his blanket over Horse, who’d begun to tremble. He fed Horse from a sack of wild oats he kept for the times when there was nothing at hand to crop.
    Horse chewed a bit and then seemed to lose interest.
    That’s not good.
    The Boy left the sack open before Horse and returned to the carcass of the bear.
    Snow fell in thick drifts across the ledge as the wind began to whip along the mountainside.
    It has to be done now, the Boy thought to himself.
    But I’ll need wood. The fire has to be kept going.
    In the dark he descended the mountain, working quickly amongst the howling pines to find as much dead wood as possible. Every time he stopped to look for wood in the thin light of the last of the day, he felt his weak side