by Bindi Irwin
‘Fingers crossed we don’t see any bears,’ whispered Katrina. She was putting on a brave face, but felt decidedly anxious about their plan.
They walked for a few hours and soon it was time for the group to take a break. The girls watched as Hank chose a shady spot by a river and unpacked some morning tea for them to share. Bindi and Katrina took the opportunity to eat at the same time.
All of a sudden there was a cry from Hank as he pointed to the creek. ‘You gotta check this out – salmon jumping! There’s a good view from the bridge up here.’
The family stood up, eager to get a look at this popular local attraction. They moved closer to the creek and away from their picnic spot.
Katrina watched them go. She grabbed a cloth package from her backpack. ‘Now!’ whispered Katrina urgently to Bindi. The girls leapt out of the bushes and raced over to the pile of rifles on a large flat rock. Katrina began carefully taking the bullets out of each rifle.
‘Check for extra ammunition in the bags,’ whispered Katrina.
‘Found some!’ cried Bindi. She pulled out a round of bullets on a long string. Katrina handed her the bullets she had taken from the rifles. ‘Quick, bury all the bullets before they come back.’
Bindi darted behind the trees and quickly dug a hole to hide the ammunition. Success! She couldn’t believe such a simple plan had worked.
Bindi raced back to Katrina with a big grin on her face … only to be met by three angry-looking faces. Hank was staring down at Katrina with his arms crossed.
‘I repeat,’ said Hank in a gruff voice, ‘what are you doing out here?’
Bindi took one look at Katrina’s rabbit-in-the-headlights stare and knew it was up to her to talk their way out of this one.
‘We know we’re not meant to be here but I’ve come all the way from Australia and I really think bear hunting is just about the best thing ever.’ The words stuck in Bindi’s throat as she said them in her strongest Australian accent.
Hank growled. ‘How long have you been following us?’
Bindi looked back at him as innocently as she could. ‘We started off at your house this morning.’
Hank looked embarrassed that he hadn’t heard them but shrugged it off. ‘Well, you’re obviously enthusiastic.’
The teenager glared at Bindi. He looked less than happy to have two girls crashing his hunting party. ‘Teen girl stalkers, that’s all we need.’
Hank turned to the father. ‘It’s up to you, Ted. There’s no age restriction for hunting in Alaska.’
Ted surveyed the girls. ‘We can’t really leave you out here alone. Stay out of our way and don’t go anywhere near the firearms. You got that?’
Bindi smiled. ‘You’ll barely notice we’re here, I promise!’
The friends exchanged a look of relief.
At first there was silence as they continued on their way. Bindi and Katrina now knew that the son’s name was Joey. It had puzzled Bindi that anyone who knew even a little about bears could possibly want to hurt one. She decided to test out Joey’s knowledge and casually dropped in beside him as they walked.
‘That was a great shot you took back at Hank’s place.’ She gave Joey one of her biggest smiles.
He looked at Bindi in surprise. ‘You saw that, did you?’
‘Oh yeah!’ cried Bindi enthusiastically. ‘You’re a crack shot. Have you done much hunting?’
As much as Joey didn’t really want to spend his time talking to a girl, he did like talking about hunting. ‘I’ve hunted mountain goats and deer and got trophies each time,’ he told Bindi smugly.
‘Wow. Never missed, huh?’ gushed Bindi. ‘And now you want to bag a big one?’
‘You got it!’ Joey lifted his rifle into the air with emphasis. ‘I’m going to bring that sucker down.’
‘You know the males can stand over ten feet tall on their hind legs?’ asked Bindi.
Joey nodded. ‘Those boars are big fellas.’
‘Have you ever seen one?’ asked Bindi.
Joey shook his head.
‘Neither have I,’ said Bindi, and then couldn’t help but add, ‘People say it’s a life-changing experience.’
Bindi was about to continue chattering away when Joey abruptly demanded, ‘You don’t know the first thing about hunting, do you? If you did, you’d know to keep your trap shut. Stop talking!’
This gave Bindi an idea. She walked on ahead of Joey.
‘Aaaa-choooo!’ Bindi let out a loud sneeze.
The others swung around and glared at her.
‘Sorry. Must be allergic to the … aaaa-choo!’ She sneezed again.
‘Thanks for alerting every bear within miles,’ growled Hank. He sighed and shook his head.
Bindi smiled to herself. They walked on in silence. Daylight was beginning to fade. Bindi hoped that soon they’d give up on seeing any bears.
Hank checked his watch. ‘It’s getting late. I think we’ll call it a day and make our way to the cabin for the night.’
‘Not so fast,’ called Ted in a low voice. ‘No sudden moves but take a look between the two large trees at 4 o’clock.’
Everyone turned their heads very slowly in the direction Ted was looking. There in the shadows stood a large and very shaggy male Kodiak bear. He was quite calm and still. He watched them passively as if he was curious to see what they were up to in his neck of the woods.
‘What a beauty!’ said Joey and Bindi at the same time, although Bindi knew he saw the beauty in a very different way to the way she did. Bindi grimaced as she watched Joey position his rifle to shoot. Ted and Hank did the same.
‘He’s all yours, son,’ said Ted to Joey. ‘We’re just here as backup.’
Joey had the boar in his sights. ‘Don’t worry, Dad, I’ve got the perfect shot.’
There was nothing Bindi and Katrina could do as Joey lined up the position of the rifle and pulled the trigger.
To Joey’s surprise and confusion, when he pulled the trigger his weapon didn’t fire. There was the small sound of the click of metal against metal.
‘What is wrong with you?’ called Ted, annoyed at his son’s incompetence. ‘You had the perfect shot lined up.’
‘There’s something wrong. The ammo’s sticking,’ Joey called out.
Hank shook his head. ‘Nothing wrong with those rifles. I checked them thoroughly and loaded the bullets this morning.’
Bindi and Katrina gave each other a knowing look.
‘Take another shot, Joey,’ called Hank.
The bear was intent on something in the distance and didn’t notice the humans’ interest in him. Joey took aim again and pulled the trigger. Again nothing happened.
Ted grew impatient and took aim. ‘Let a real man take care of this.’ He lined up his rifle and pulled the trigger. The same thing happened. The soft click of the trigger against his finger, but no bullet was fired.
‘These guns aren’t loaded,’ Ted growled at Hank as he checked the barrel of the rifle. Sure enough, it was empty of bullets.
‘That’s not possible!’ called Hank as he approached to take a look. While the bear watched on, the men inspected the three rifles.
‘I don’t understand.’ Hank shook his head.
Ted glanced at the bear. ‘Our target’s not going to stand around waiting all day.’
‘Not to worry, I always carry extra ammunition.’ Hank grappled inside his shoulder bag, becoming more and more angry as he did so. ‘Hang on a minute.’ He turned to Katrina and Bindi, who were watching anxiously. ‘Have you girls touched these guns?’
Nobody spoke but Katrina went bright red for the second time that day and started to stutter. Bindi realised it was time to come clean.
‘We, ah, took the bullets out of the guns.’
Three pairs of disbelieving eyes turned on Bindi and Katrina.
‘YOU DID WHAT?’ roared Hank. His face was tomato red.
Bindi stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated. ‘You won’t be killing any bear
s, at least not today.’
‘Where are my bullets?’ Hank exploded with rage.
Bindi took a step back. ‘We buried them.’
‘Why, you –’ Hank advanced on the girls.
All of a sudden the forest was shattered by a loud rumble. The ground shifted and Bindi felt a sharp jolt followed by a strong shaking. It was similar to the sensation she felt when they were out on the boat the day before but this time it was much, much stronger.
‘Earthquake!’ cried Katrina, glancing at the shaking trees above her. ‘Quick, we have to get away from here!’
Alarmed by the quake, the bear took off through the forest, away from the humans.
The group started running with Katrina in the lead. It was impossible to speak above the roar of the natural world being ripped apart beneath their feet.
They were aiming for an area of open land, out of the way of the heavily wooded area they were in. Trees were cracking and splintering beside them, roots were being unearthed and branches were falling from above.
A large branch struck Hank hard on his right shoulder. It was all he could do to stay upright and stagger as fast as he could after the others.
Up ahead, Joey tripped over and fell hard onto the buckling ground. For a moment it looked as if he wouldn’t get up again. Bindi reached out a hand and pulled him back up.
‘Quick!’ she yelled. He dimly nodded and followed her. There was the sound of a deep rumbling and the earth seemed to tilt sideways.
Bindi could see the open grasslands in the distance. They would still be in danger from the ground splitting but at least they wouldn’t have to worry about a tree falling on top of them. She focused on running as fast as she could while dodging the flying debris. Finally they made it out into the open grasslands. The tremor continued but the air around them was clear.
A few moments later the shaking subsided. The group began studying the damage around them. The forest looked like a tractor had driven through it. It was a mess.
Ted saw Hank stagger out from the woods and ran back to help him. The others did their best to get their breath back and take in their surroundings.
‘That was a big one, all right,’ gasped Katrina.
Joey nodded. He looked thoroughly stunned and was very pale. ‘Thanks for helping me back there,’ he said quietly to Bindi.
Bindi nodded. ‘I’m sure you’d do the same for any living creature.’
Joey looked away and they all turned their attention to Hank as he approached. His shoulder was cut quite deeply and would need stitches. His right arm hung loosely by his side.
‘Are you okay?’ asked Katrina.
Hank nodded. ‘I’ll survive. We need to get back tonight, though. This bear hunt is officially over. I dropped the food pack when we ran. We’re going to need the supplies.’
Nobody spoke as they picked their way back through the foliage and clambered over fallen trees and branches. Bindi noticed Hank grimace more than once as he swung his body over logs. He was in more pain than he was letting on.
They finally located the food pack among the piles of leaves and splintered wood. Or what was left of it. Ted groaned as he picked up the shreds of fabric that remained of the backpack. There was no food in sight. An animal had already devoured it all.
‘Is this what you meant when you said no fancy meals and cushy surroundings?’ Ted asked Hank, and by the tone he used Bindi could tell that he wasn’t joking.
Katrina pointed to some fresh tracks in the dirt. ‘Looks like fox tracks.’
‘Impressive that they know to get fresh food while they can!’ commented Bindi.
‘Good for them but not so good for us,’ said Joey. He and his father looked extremely uncomfortable at the thought of going hungry.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway. We’ll be out by nightfall,’ Hank gruffly reassured them.
The going was slow as they picked their way back through the forest. Hank found it difficult to manoeuvre his body over the many fallen trees in their way and often needed help. All around them the forest floor was littered with broken branches, uprooted trees, and deep chasms in the earth. The quake had left the area a different place from the one they had delighted in that morning.
‘I just want to go home,’ whinged Joey. His foot ached from where he had tripped. He was hungry and worried about being out in the dark.
‘You’re lucky you have a home to go home to!’ declared Katrina. ‘Spare a thought for all the animals that have lost their tree or nest homes today.’
Joey rolled his eyes. ‘Spare me the lecture. You nearly got us all killed.’
Nobody spoke much after that. They trudged on towards the river as the daylight faded and dusk grew into night.
They finally reached the river where just that morning Bindi and Katrina had been discovered. Bindi felt her step lighten. She remembered it was only two hours from the bridge back to town. Soon this day would be over and they would be sitting in Tony and Mia’s kitchen eating a hot dinner and falling into bed.
Just then Katrina let out a cry. ‘Oh no!’
Bindi raced to catch up to her friend. ‘What is it?’
The bridge crossing the river was nowhere to be seen.
‘Is there another crossing?’ asked Bindi, trying to stay positive.
Katrina shook her head. ‘No. And the river is at its peak this time of year. It’s way too dangerous for us to try to cross.’
Hank looked furious. ‘There’s nothing we can do now. We’ll have to camp here for the night.’
With that he sank down onto the ground and leaned back against a rock, closing his eyes.
The others stared at him. Ted shook his head, disgusted. ‘Thanks for the help, Hank.’
Joey looked as if he was about to cry. ‘So, aside from bears, what other wild animals are out here at night?’ he asked, sounding much younger than the gruff teenager of earlier.
‘There’s fox, wild deer, goats, bald eagles, but mainly bears, big bears like the ones we saw earlier,’ said Katrina matter-of-factly.
‘And we don’t have any bullets?’ Joey checked with his dad. Ted grimly shook his head.
‘Despite the fact that you had a gun pointed at one earlier and that they are the largest predator on earth, bears are shy and don’t seek out humans unless provoked or afraid,’ explained Bindi. ‘Isn’t that right, Hank?’ She glanced at Hank who shrugged resignedly, not bothering to open his eyes.
‘In fact, only one person has died from a bear attack on Kodiak in the last 75 years,’ added Katrina.
Just then Joey, who had been simmering with resentment for hours, lost his cool. ‘Don’t you two ever stop? You’ve ruined everything! If it hadn’t been for you, we’d have our trophy now. Earthquake or no earthquake.’ He grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them into the bush angrily.
Bindi glared back at the sullen boy. ‘If it means that beautiful bear gets to live, then I’m glad.’
The boy laughed a horrible laugh and shook his head. ‘You haven’t achieved anything here. So we didn’t get a bear today. You can’t stop my love for hunting. I’ll just go on another hunt some other time.’
Bindi looked downcast. ‘That’s too bad, Joey. I thought maybe when you saw the bear up close that you’d appreciate what a magnificent animal it is. It’s such a waste of life to kill for no reason other than sport, or a horrible rug.’
Before Joey could answer back, Ted held up a hand for silence. ‘That’s enough. Right now we have no food, it’s dark and we want to survive the night. I’ll take first watch. You kids try to get some sleep.’
Joey snorted and lay down heavily on the rough ground, and turned his back to the others.
Bindi made a quick assessment of their situation. ‘We can try to deal with the food situation in the morning. In the meantime, we don’t have sleeping bags but we can keep warm if we build a fire,’ she suggested.
‘Great idea,’ agreed Katrina. ‘I’ve been trying to get enough service on my phone to text m
y parents but I’m not sure if any of my messages are getting through. The network might be down because of the quake.’
The friends busied themselves by collecting dry wood in the surrounding area and lit a fire. Once it was burning they sat around the warm glowing light and watched the flames. Katrina glanced at her phone every few minutes to see if there were any messages, but her inbox remained empty.
Bindi groaned as she shifted her stiff body on the cold ground and sat up. She looked around her. The fire was now nothing more than a few black pieces of charred wood and grey ash. She guessed it was still early from the dim light and although the others were still asleep she felt like getting up. Her tummy was telling her that it was well past time to eat!
Joey stirred and opened his eyes. He looked like he’d hardly slept a wink.
‘Good morning,’ greeted Bindi in a low voice.
‘Don’t know what’s so good about it,’ he muttered. ‘My whole body aches and I’m starving.’
‘Oh, come on!’ she said. ‘We’re out in nature. It’s a beautiful day and we have this incredible river right next to us full of fish. It’s crying out for us to go fishing!’
‘We don’t have any fishing gear,’ pointed out a grumpy Joey.
‘How hard can it be?’ challenged Bindi.
Bindi made her way down to the river. She wasn’t at all confident about her ability to catch fish but she felt the need to remain optimistic and at least try to keep the group’s spirits up, despite their situation.
Joey sighed and got up to follow her, grimacing as he moved his stiff joints.
‘Amazing that yesterday there was a natural disaster but today nature just keeps on going as if nothing had happened,’ said Bindi, looking into the crystal clear waters of the river.
Joey grunted.
‘There!’ Bindi pointed with excitement at a salmon that had flipped right out of the water and dropped back in as if it were dancing. She watched in delight. More and more fish leapt out of the water.
