Forces of Nature (4 page)

Washed Out

“P
ssst!”

Zack's eyes popped open. The tent was filled with a dim light that told Zack it was early in the morning. Everything felt damp. The cold air was moist and misty. He remembered Amp was in the tent and he hoped that nobody had rolled over on him and crushed him into a flat, blue pancake.

“Pssst!”

He sat up. That wasn't Amp. That was Olivia. He had forgotten she was even on this trip.

“Zack?” he heard Olivia ask from outside the tent.

Taylor turned over and sat up, still looking mid-dream. “What happened?” he croaked. His hair shot up into the air, making him look like a
rooster that had missed the sunrise.

“Don't wake Dad,” Zack whispered.

“What is it, Olivia?” Dad said, stirring in the sleeping bag next to Zack. “Everything okay out there?”

“Which one of you made this fire?”

The three tentmates exchanged puzzled glances. They all had clearly just woken up, so it wasn't them.

“I thought it was a forest fire,” Zack's mom said from somewhere outside.

Taylor unzipped the tent, letting in a blast of chilly air. He stepped outside in his bare feet. “It wasn't us!” he exclaimed. “WOW!”

Zack looked at his dad and the two crawled to the tent's opening and poked their heads out.

Between the tents a giant campfire roared. They stared in stunned silence, blinking from the heat.

It looked like a campfire, but it was way larger than it needed to be. Zack could feel the heat on his face from twelve feet away.

“If we didn't build it,” Zack's dad said quietly, “and you didn't build it . . . who built it?”

Zack looked over at Olivia and they shared a troubled look.

“It must have been built by the ghost,” Taylor squealed with excitement. “Nasty Ned must have built it.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Zack said. “It was probably Ranger Davis.”

“I don't think rangers make fires for you,” Olivia said. “It's not like a hotel. And I don't think a ranger would make a fire this big and dangerous.”

“Quick, Mom, get the marshmallows!” Taylor shrieked, his feet squishing in the mud as he stepped closer to the fire and held up his hands. “This is the best day ever!”

“Be quiet, Taylor, you'll wake up the owls,” Zack said.

“Not too close, honey,” Mom said, stepping closer to Taylor nervously.

“Let's go get the ranger,” Dad suggested, clearly shaken by the sudden, strange campfire. “It's not safe here.”

Of course, Zack and Olivia couldn't say anything for fear of giving away the fact that their alien friend was surely behind this fire. In a matter of minutes, Olivia and the McGee family were in the car, their hiking boots, coats, and wool caps thrown on in a hurry.

Soon the car was slipping and sliding down the muddy road. Zack watched as the flames died down, so he didn't see that the narrow bridge
that ran over the small creek near the campsite was gone.

But Olivia did—and just in time.

“NO BRIDGE!” she screamed. “STOP!”

Dad stomped on the brake pedal. The tires skidded over the mud like a sled, and the car's rear end swung out to one side, then back in the other direction. Zack's mom screeched in fear.

The car stopped with just feet to spare.

They all sat in eerie silence for a few seconds, then quickly exited the car to check on the bridge's destruction. They walked to the edge of the now-roaring stream in silence, staring down at the bubbling water. The muddy liquid was violently pushing over the splintered posts that once held up the little wooden bridge.

“We're stuck here?” Taylor shouted. “Awesome!”

“Incredible,” Dad said, staring down at the remains of the bridge and the foaming, churning water.

“Maybe the ghost wrecked the bridge after he built us a fire,” Taylor said.

“This is all getting too dangerous,” Mom said,
putting her hand on Taylor's shoulder to keep him from wandering too close to the water's edge.

Dad pulled out his cell phone and stared at it. “No service out here,” he said.

“And I thought last year's trip was a disaster,” Zack said.

“Uh, guys, we have a visitor,” Olivia announced in an odd, pinched voice.

Zack noticed that Olivia was looking back at the car.

Everyone slowly turned around and watched as a massive brown bear squeezed itself into the front seat of the car.

New Friends

D
espite the bear that was growling at them from his family car, Zack still heard the splash loud and clear.

It sounded like a giant boulder had been thrown into the water.

But it was no boulder.

Zack's mom had fallen into the water, probably when she had turned to run away from the bear.

Mom had a tendency to panic.

Mrs. McGee also wasn't much of a swimmer. She bobbed and gasped before getting hold of a log that was floating down the river along with her. She held on to it as she was swept along in water that could be no deeper than four or five feet.

Zack's dad now ran along the stream shouting at her as she was carried downstream. “Just stand up! Just stand up!”

He had forgotten about the bear.

And his car.

And Zack, Taylor, and Olivia.

Apparently, Zack's dad wasn't great in emergencies either.

Really the McGees simply were not the outdoorsy type.

Zack was about to mention this to Olivia, but before he could utter a word, another even larger bear stepped out from behind the passenger side.

This bear looked surprised when it saw the three bug-eyed kids standing at the edge of the creek.

It stopped and sniffed the air with interest. Its head swung back and forth. Then it pushed off its massive front paws, stood up, and made a growly, groaning noise.

Zack was pretty sure this was the sound they had heard coming from the forest last night.

No bear ever looked this big in the zoo, but that was probably because there was always a
nice, sturdy wall between you and those finger-size front fangs.

“Should we run?” he whispered to Olivia without taking his eyes off the bear.

“Don't run,” Olivia said sharply. “Are you crazy? It'll make you look like a snack in sneakers.”

“Should we jump into the creek?”

“That will make you look like a delicious trout.”

“Okay, how about if we just lie down and play dead?” Zack said, barely moving his lips.

“Well, you may end up not playing dead, and actually become dead.”

“Okay, Ranger Olivia, what do you think we should do?”

Without answering, Olivia started to wave her arms and whistle as loud as she could. Zack watched her out of the corner of his eye.

“What the—?”

“Don't you ever read, Zack?” she shouted at the bear, her arms continuing to flap. “The ranger's sheet said to look big, make noise, and retreat only when it's safe.”

Zack started to wave his arms and jump up
and down. “HEY, YOU BIG, FAT, UGLY BEAR! YOU STINK LIKE BEAR FARTS!”

“Don't insult the animal!” Olivia snapped.

“I don't think it speaks English,” Zack replied, his arms waving crazily above his head.

Taylor hadn't moved an inch since the appearance of the bear. “This is the best trip ever,” Zack heard him mumble.

The bear seemed to lose interest in the kids. It dropped down heavily onto its front paws, turned around, and entered the front passenger door. The car rocked from the weight of the second bear.

Zack could hear the
bing-bong
chiming of the alarm inside the car that signaled to the driver that the door was open and the key still in the ignition. The car engine was still on.

“Okay, now run!” Olivia said and shot down the side of the creek in the opposite direction from where Zack's parents had gone.

“What if they steal our car?” Zack asked, instantly realizing it was a dumb question.

Zack was stunned to see Taylor already a good seventy-five yards away from them, running along the stream in the same direction Zack's dad had run. “WAIT!” Zack shouted. But Taylor was gone.

The bears were now ripping off the top of a blue plastic cooler they had found in the car. The lid of the cooler and a few dozen ice cubes tumbled out of the driver's-side door and fell into the mud. Zack knew it was the one filled with foil-wrapped steaks. Tomorrow night's dinner was being served early. And uncooked.

That's when Zack saw another bear emerge from some trees and gallop toward the car.

He ran after Olivia and didn't look back again.

He didn't know exactly how, but he knew for certain that somehow Amp was responsible for this mess.