happyboy

He wandered off, tired of calling for his mother to come play with him. She was too busy as usual yakking away on the phone. So, through the grass, passed all the cat tails that stuck to his G.I. Joe t-shirt and into the woods he ran. His older brother had built a club house in there with his friends and seven year old Tyler Krane was determined to find it, especially since Ben had told him he couldn't join.

He ran and hopped from rock to rock shooting at the evil Cobra mercenaries attempting to capture him. They wanted the secret location of G.I. Joe's invisible plane that could shoot glowing red missles capable of blowing up your enemy from a hundred miles away. Captain T.K. would never divulge such information and he certainly wouldn't give up without a fight. Pow! Bang! Zap! They all fell one by one disappearing as they each got hit by ace Captain T.K.'s super powerful laser pistol.

Tyler had never been in the woods by himself before. His mother always made Ben take him along when he ran off to go play Pirates with his friends. Ben hated this. "Tyler just gets in the way and he slows us down, Ma! "I don't care Benjamin Joseph Krane, he's your little brother. You can either take him with you or help your mother cook dinner." "Aw, alright." "What's that, boy?" Yes, m'aam."

This was incredible! Tyler was excited and a little scared all at once. He began running faster, cutting through the bushes and around the trees his jubilation growing with every second. "Ben thinks he is so cool, these woods ain't so scary."

Watching from above, it's fur matted by the blood of it's previous kills, it saw the little cub dancing like a fool unaware that it had stepped through the gates and into great peril. The creature breathed in through it's large nostrils and savored the cub's scent, it's crazed eyes taking it all in as well. It was time to feed, to rip the small head from its small body and play with it until the hunger grew too ravenous to be denied any longer. Sitting back on it's haunches, the creature leapt into the air, arms out, claws fully extended...

Tyler looked up, his eyes as wide open as they could be. There it was! Ben's precious little clubhouse sat twelve feet off the ground in a large oak tree. Someone had tied a ratty skull and crossbones flag to the top and below that, on two different levels, pieces of plywood and scraps of 2x4s had been crudely nailed between the thicker branches to create the pirate ship's deck and platforms. Tyler was in awe. Any half decent parent would never let their child climb up into this death trap, but to Tyler, it was a palace. He spotted the ladder made of boards nailed into the side of the tree and began his ascent.

It was easy at first, but Tyler was soon struggling to pull himself up the last step. He grabbed the final board with his right hand and squeezed hard. Then he threw his left hand over and grabbed the other side. His shirt had gotten pulled up near his chest, he had scraped a hole in his jeans over his right knee and cut himself. Tyler wasn't going to stop though, he was going to climb all the way up and grab that flag. He'd show it to Ben who would be so impressed by this feat he'd have to let Tyler join his club.

Tyler heard a loud snap in the distance, the sounds made by frightened birds. Something hit the side of the clubhouse fast and hard sending Tyler flying twenty feet away, landing brutally on his right. Tyler turned to see what he thought was a truck that had rolled down the hill, off the ranger's pass high above. Just under his armpit, he felt like he was on fire, being poked by sticks and glass. A few of his ribs were broken. Tyler began to cry, tears rolled down his cheeks washing away some of the blood he had coughed up. Then he saw it....

It looked like a giant angry bear, but nothing like the pictures he had seen in his Dad's wildlife books. It was huge! It's eyes glared at Tyler, it snorted gusts of foul air. It's growl came like thunder to his ears. Tyler began to wet himself as he tried to push away with his feet. "OWWWWW....ah...owwwwieee!" Tyler was frightened beyond belief.

"Go away, go AWAYYYYYY!," he screamed. The creature just smiled, exposing a mouth full of knife-like teeth and growled even louder.

Tyler grabbed his G.I. Joe laser pistol, fashioning his hand into a gun, the pointer finger held out, his thumb pushed up like the hammer, his hand the barrel, "Zzzap!, Bang! I-I got you! You're dead!" The creature didn't disappear like the others had when hit, it moved closer and closer, crushing the ground beneath it massive paws until finally, it came to rest over Tyler's frail, little body. It then crouched down and began sniffing it's prey. Warm slobber dripped down hitting Tyler on his neck and chin. He turned his head and looked away, he had stopped crying....No longer able to see the woods he had conquered and too far away for his mother to hear him cry out, the bravest seven year old in the world bit down on his lip and closed his eyes....