“The Mountain Man”
By: Logan Georgia
The cold dew brushed his worn moccasins as he checked the traps for any new furs to bring into town and trade. The frigid mountains of Montana were an unforgiving land for this man who chose this lifestyle. As he headed to town with the furs he had collected during the winter. The temperature dropped suddenly, and snow fell from all directions, the man looked at his dog and said, “I recon we best stay in town for the night”. The man went to the “Old Elk Trader” and sold his furs for a few hundred dollars. He went to a local Motel. The woman at the counter looked disgusted at the man who walked in with worn buckskin clothing and long dirty hair, the man made his way to the counter “one room please” he asked. The young angry looking woman said, “no dogs welcome” the man looked at her and replied, “that will be okay” as he turned to leave.
He slowly made it out of town and headed to his cabin in the frigid night. On the way home the dog went crazy and barked into the snowy darkness. The man held up his hand over his eyes and proceeded to investigate the night. The dog stayed put as the man tried to proceed into the night, still barking. “What is it?” the dog ran into the darkness, panic stricken the man chased after his dog into the night. Off into the distance he heard a yelp, he followed the sound and saw in the snow a trail of blood and large prints “bear” the man whispered. Continuing into the snowy darkness he followed the trail of blood, as he was walked, he stumbled over what he thought was a log in the snow.
He collected himself and saw a tail sticking out of the snow where the believed log was to be. In shock he fell to his knees and wept for his dog was gone, a slow pitter-patter in the distance shook his attention elsewhere. The man stood to his feet drew his rusted revolver and his antler handle knife ready for anything. In the distance he saw some bushes shift and heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. As he readied his revolver, a rabbit hopped out of the bushes. A sigh of relief fell from the man. But the mourning was not over for his loss of his dog. The man picked up his dog out of the snow and proceed to carry him back to the cabin.
The blood was slowly dripping leaving a warm trail. The man not knowing of the trail, made it within of 50 yards of his cabin. When out of nowhere a grizzly took a swipe with his razor-sharp claws making a large laceration on the mans back. The man laid their loosing blood quickly. As the bear hovered over him, he went to slash the man again, but the man quickly turned over an unloaded all 6 rounds out of his rusty revolver into the bear. The man slowly crawled to a large stump with his dog in his arm. The man sat in the snow leaning against the stump with his dog by his side. he died as the thick snow covered him and the dog.
Fantasy
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