Baskadia

My wounds had started to attract flies and I was busy swatting them when my nose caught a really strong smell, which I recognized as rotten fish. I picked up the flashlight and began to scan the perimeter. Nothing felt unusual until I saw the claw marks on the tree. I had an epiphany and understood that I had entered the territory of a bear. I rushed towards my backpack but froze in place on seeing death in front of my eyes. I was looking directly into the eyes of a huge creature with a light brown muzzle and a white patch on its chest, and a fish in its mouth. This removed all doubt that it was an Asiatic black bear.

Humans usually do not arouse the interest of Asiatic black bears, but the one in front of me was flabbergasted to see me. From the look in her eyes, I knew that she thought of me as vicious. How did I know that it was a female? On spotting me, she threw the fish towards her baby, who had been hiding in a corner all the while, and it pounced on the dead fish and began to eat it like a food-crazed maniac, while she stood in between me and him, growling at me. Males don’t come even close to females in terms of caring for their offspring. I knew that many animals were afraid of creatures larger than them, and here I was, six and a half feet tall and wearing big trekking shoes. So I couldn’t exactly blame her for the confusion. Further, I had interrupted her family dinner. She probably regarded me as a predator who wanted to get the taste of the soft skin of her babies.

I did not want to make any sudden movements, so I quietly started to back off. As I was walking backward while looking towards her, I did not realize where I was going. I directly bumped into a tree, but I did not know that. For me, everything in the area was a potential threat. It was a natural reflex for me to caterwaul. That, or so I thought, was going to be the final nail in my coffin.

The beast sprung at me at full force. I tried to dodge, but her movement was too fast for me to anticipate. In a matter of moments, my right arm was in her mouth, and a sharp pain arose in the region where her teeth were penetrating my skin. I digested that this was my end. I did not resist; not that it would’ve been of any use. Goodbye, world!