Avenge the Bear by T. S. Joyce

her in the middle of a meadow, and no matter how fast or how far she ran, Reese couldn’t get closer to him than the tree line. The wilderness stretched on and on the harder she pushed her legs.
    “Trent!” she cried out, desperate to reach him.
    Something was wrong. The sky was hazy with fog and the forest birds had been scared into silence. The only noise was her panting breath as she ran.
    Slowly, Trent turned, and as he did, his dark hair lightened and morphed into Ethan’s wavy, mussed hair.
    She skidded to a stop, chest heaving as she stared in horror at the man before her. One second he had been Trent, but now his face was changing, contorting, until Ethan looked at her with the saddest eyes.
    She took one last step as a strangled sound left her throat, and the trees disappeared behind her, leaving only the endless meadow.
    “Trent?” she asked, uncertain.
    As Ethan shook his head, those haunted, dark eyes never left her.
    “Reese.” It was Trent’s voice that whispered across the meadow, rustling the wild grasses. Ethan’s lips didn’t move. “You have to run.”
    Flames exploded from the earth and she jumped out of the searing heat’s way. A ring of it sprung from the dry ground, encircling Ethan. Drawing her arm across her face to shield her eyes, she screamed his name in terror.
    “Run!” he yelled as he burst into flames.
     
    Reese sat up and gasped for breath that her closed throat didn’t want to allow. Her lungs were burning, and she clawed at her bare neck. Smoke. Smoke was everywhere and she blinked hard to try and allow her night vision to kick in.
    She kicked viciously at the covers her legs had become ensnared in.
    “Hey,” Ethan’s sleepy voice rumbled from right beside her. His strong hand found her shoulder in the dark. “Reese, what’s wrong?”
    The soft edges of the lookout tower began to flesh out as her vision adjusted. With a long, trembling sigh, she closed her eyes and melted back onto the cot, into Ethan’s waiting arms.
    It was just a dream.
    Petal soft kisses brushed her forehead, just above where her head was pounding with pain. Trent’s ghost left her palms sweaty and her breath shaky. Watching him, or Ethan, burn was…
    She swallowed bile down as Ethan stroked the sweat matted hair from her face. The smell of smoke still hadn’t disappeared from her haze of sleepiness, so she shook her head to clear it.
    Still, it clung to everything, choking her, singeing her lungs. She touched Ethan’s chest, but where she’d expected his smooth skin, something grainy was smeared across him. Frowning, she sat up and reached for the lamp on the table.
    The soft yellow glow illuminated Ethan as he propped up on one elbow and stared at her with such worry swimming in the depths of his dark eyes.
    She studied his body in horror. Across almost every surface of his flesh was thick, black soot. The bed was covered in it. Her hands were covered in it. Smudges of the damning stuff were brushed across her bare stomach like a charcoal drawing.
    “What is this?” she asked, lifting her shocked gaze to his.
    Ethan had gone white as a sheet as he stared at the filthy covers.
    He bolted from the bed and stood in the dull lamplight, rubbing his hands through his hair. Pacing, he gaped at the soot covered bed.
    “What did you do?” Her voice was getting shrill, but fuck it all. The man was covered in ashes. Why the fuck would he be covered in ashes?
    Spinning, Ethan rushed for the bathroom. The noise of the small shower sounded and Reese padded in there after him.
    He hadn’t even waited for the water to warm up, and already he was frantically scrubbing his body under the streaming showerhead.
    She watched his panic in utter confusion. “Ethan, tell me what’s going on. Right now. Why are you covered in ashes? Where did it come from?”
    “I don’t know,” he answered.
    Instincts were kicking in, and the word that had clung to the edges of that dream, run , made her back up a few