“Smell what?” I sniffed the air. A faint whiff of decay hit my nostrils. “Something’s dead nearby.” As I uttered the words, a feeling of dread punched me in the stomach. “Oh no.” I turned to look at Toren. “You don’t think?—”
“I hope not.” Without another word, he set off, away from the riverbank.
The further we went into the trees, the stronger the smell became.
My stomach turned at the putrid scent, and I couldn’t stop the grimace that formed on my face. God, that was an awful stench.
The buzz of flies reached my ears before I saw it. Toren must have heard it, too, because he changed direction. We walked another fifteen feet before he paused again.
“Well, there’s the source of our smell.” Extending an arm, he pointed at something lying behind the boughs of the fallen pine we just rounded.
I peered past him. Bile rose in my throat. On the ground laid a black bear carcass in an active state of decomposition. The hide, caked with dried blood, hung off the animal’s massive bones. Maggots writhed where there were bits of exposed flesh.
Toren moved forward, crouching near the bear. Picking up a large stick, he prodded the remains.
“Oh, that’s disgusting. What are you doing? Don’t touch it.” I covered my mouth and nose with the collar of my shirt. My eyes were beginning to water from the godawful smell.
“Relax. I’m just poking it to see something.”
“What is there to see? It’s dead, Toren.”
He maneuvered part of the hide out of the way. A cloud of flies rose, making him lean back a bit. Turning his head, he let out a short cough, blinking rapidly. “Damn. That’s potent.” Easing back in, he shifted the hide some more. “There. Do you see that?” He glanced back at me.
“See what?” I squinted at the carcass but didn’t get any closer. “It’s just a mass of rotting flesh. I don’t know what you want me to see.”
“Exactly. Rotting flesh. There shouldn’t be any meat on the bones.”
I frowned. “Why not? I mean, I get it if it was hunted. You’re supposed to take all the edible meat. But how do you know it didn’t die from something else? Bears are just coming out of hibernation. Maybe it got in a fight with another bear and lost.”
“No. That’s not what happened.”
He seemed so very sure of that. I cocked my head. “Oh? How do you know? There’s a gaping hole where the outside of its chest used to be. And from what I can see, no bullet wound in its head.”
“Right. But a competing bear wouldn’t chop off this one’s paws.”
My eyes rounded. “Chop off—oh, man… Are you saying?—”
“It’s poachers,” he finished for me.
Chapter 7
Toren
Rising to my feet, I threw the stick down, disgusted by what I saw. “This is such a waste. I don’t condone poaching, but if you’re going to do it, at least take the meat.”
“Why would they take just the paws?”
“They’re sold on the black market for use in Asian medicines. The gallbladder too. I’m betting it’s missing as well, but scavengers have been at the carcass, so it’s hard to tell.” I shook my head. “This is… It burns my blood.” Some people would put me in the same class as the poachers just because I chose to hunt. But I would never leave a bear—or any animal—like this. What set me apart from assholes like this was that I actually had respect for the animal and for nature. I was well aware that bears, elk, geese—all the things—were living creatures whose lives I took, but I didn’t do it for sport. Ialwaysharvested the meat, and any that I couldn’t use or freeze, I donated. None of it ever went to waste.
I looked down at the rotting bear again. That could have fed so many people.
The click of a shutter sounded.
I turned to see Lana snapping pictures with her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Preserving the evidence. I’ll take it to the police when we get back to town.” Her gaze met mine. “Whoever did this won’t get away with it if I have anything to say about it.”