Undoing, Part 6: Zen

The footsteps were getting nearer to them. The heard heavy breathing, almost like growling. Ryan kicked Paul t wake him up.

"Paul,"he whispered,"wake up. Wake up." He kicked him again.

"What?" Paul asked in a normal voice.

"Shhh. There's something out there. Do you have your knife?"

"Yeah. Why. Can't defend yourself? Wuss." Paul answered.

Paul carried a large Ka-bar knife with him almost everywhere he went. If he didn't have that, he had his pocket knife. This time he had both. When he goes to houses of people he knows he usually takes both. He handed his pocket knife to Ryan then woke Jim up.

"Hey, Jim man, we're been attacked. Find a stick." He said.

"You mean to beat you with?" Jim said.

"No. That's funny, but no."

They sat prepared to stand their ground. They sat in a circle with their backs to each other watching every part of the woods. Ryan heard a stick snap in front of him. Paul saw a shadow moving. Then Jim saw a large bear jump from the trees towards him.

"WAAAAHH!" He cried.

They all stood up and faced the bear. They lived in an area where there weren't any bears of any kind. But suddenly there were very tall, fierce ones. It lunged towards Paul. It was threatened by the sharp object in his hand. Paul stood firm and swung with his knife. The bear dodged out of the way, raised a claw and hit Paul on the shoulder, sending him flying. He landed back into the woods. He stood up and took a moment to figure out where he was. He looked in his hand to see nothing. He had let go of his knife.

Ryan opened the pocket knife, Jim found the bigest branch he could lift. The bear looked at them and ran towards Jen.

"Noooo!" Ryan yelled.

He jumped on the bears back and was imediatley thrown off. Jim got a couple of hits in with his stick before he was knocked off his feet. they scrambled in every direction, trying to confuse the beast. Paul stumbled back to the fight. The bear had many options. It chose Paul. He took two steps towards Paul and stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up over Paul's head. He seemed to be filled with a type of worried fear.

It was then Paul felt a breath on his back.

"Stay calm,"said a voice,"let me handle this."

A large man with a large stick walked out of the shadows the bear. The bear stood, but was still shorter than the monstrous man. The man reached out and grabbed the back ofthe bear's neck. He looked into his eyes and very quietly but firmly said, "Go."

The bear got on all fours and ran cowardly into the woods.

"Come with me." The man said,"There's someone you need to see."

He lead them down the path for a long time until they came to a clearing where Ben's hill was. There was a house built into the hill. The man opened the front door and let them go in first. When they all entered, he looked outside, then came in and shut the door.

They four friends walked down a long hall with only a door or two along the way. At the end of the hall, there was a step that went down to a large, round room with a fireplace and many chairs and couches. There was a collumn in the middle. It was a thick tree trunk with bark a branches still on it. There were countless bird nests built in the branches.

On couch there was a man with long brown hair and a full beard. He looked much like Ben. In fact it was. They just didn't know it yet. The man stood up and walked to them. The end of the hall was rather dark and they could see his face well enough to make him out. he lit a match and lit a lantern above and to his right. In the light they could plainly see it was Ben. But he had never had long hair or facial hair.

"Welcome to Hillhouse." he said. "You're early. But that's ok, I've been expecting you for monthes. as you know, I was Ben. That may worry you but I asure you I'm the same man. I just changed my name to Zen. After the undoing, I became at peace with nature. I befrended the woodland creatures. So I decide to build a house under the hill, so it could be climbed by many. I didn't want to ruin a beautiful thing. So I built this home with the help of Thrash, behind you, and his family. I've prepared beds for you all. I suggest you get a good night's rest and I'll tell you what you want in the morning after a good hardy breakfast. I know you'll like it. You haven't had one for four months."

Questions then began to fly from the friends. They all spoke at the same time, asking so many things. Zen interuoted them saying, "Please, sleep first. You'll feel much better."

They went off to their rooms and laid down. To their surprise, they fell asleep right away. Zen and Thrash talked in the round room for awhile. Eventually their voices faded and all was quiet.

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