Oliver watched Wednesday Addams disappear into the distance before quietly shaking his head.
“She really is crazy.”
Then again, it wasn’t his problem.
There would be plenty of opportunities to get even for today’s conversation — he wasn’t the type to hold grudges forever, but he was just petty enough to return the favor when the right moment presented itself.
With that thought, he left the academy grounds.
The moment he reached the road outside, he slowed his pace and looked around.
Dense forest stretched in every direction, with nothing but a long empty road leading away from Nevermore.
Only then did he realize he had overlooked something important.
Transportation.
He pulled out his phone and opened the map.
“The main road is going to take forever.” After zooming in, he noticed a trail cutting through the forest — according to the map, a much shorter route connecting directly to Jericho.
He studied it for a few seconds before shrugging.
“It should be fine.”
It was not fine.
Nearly fifty minutes later, he stood at the edge of a large pond staring between the water and the map on his phone.
The navigation arrow continued insisting he should keep moving straight ahead.
He slowly raised an eyebrow.
“…Yeah. Straight to the afterlife.”
The pond was easily deeper than he was tall, and swimming wasn’t even an option — he had never learned how.
He let out a long sigh and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
“Looks like I’m walking all the way back.”
As he retraced his steps through the forest, a heavy rustling sound echoed somewhere behind him.
He stopped.
The noise came again, closer this time.
Frowning, he slowly turned around.
A fully grown brown bear burst out from between the trees, racing straight toward him.
“…Oh, shit.”
For a split second he stood frozen.
His mind screamed at him to run, but his body refused to respond.
Then a vague memory surfaced — hadn’t he once heard that bears sometimes ignored dead things?
Or was that only for a different species?
He couldn’t remember.
His thoughts were a complete mess.
“I’m dead…”
With no better idea, he threw himself onto the ground and forced himself to stay as still as possible, hoping the half-remembered advice wasn’t completely wrong.
The heavy footsteps stopped beside him.
Hot breath drifted across his face, carrying the sharp scent of damp earth and wet fur.
His heartbeat pounded so loudly he was certain the bear could hear it.
Its nose nudged his shoulder, then his neck, each slow sniff making his muscles tighten even more.
Please…
just walk away…
The bear suddenly opened its jaws and closed them around the side of his head.
His eyes squeezed shut.
He waited for pain that never arrived.
Instead, the bear jerked its head back as though it had bitten solid rock.
It let out a confused growl and immediately tried again.
The powerful jaws clamped down with enough force to crush bone, yet failed to leave so much as a scratch.
The animal huffed in frustration.
Apparently deciding that biting wasn’t working, it lifted him off the ground and began shaking him violently from side to side, his entire body swinging through the air like a doll caught in a dog’s mouth.
…Right.
I’d completely forgotten about the Kryptonian durability.
Even though he couldn’t feel any pain, his stomach had reached its limit.
The shaking blurred his vision, and nausea rose so quickly he had to clench his teeth to stop himself from throwing up.
I have to make it let go.
Still hanging from the bear’s jaws, he twisted his body and drove his foot toward its face. Find the original chapter at g.com.
The moment his leg connected, something gave way with a sickening crack.
The bear’s head exploded.
Blood, bone, and fur sprayed through the air as the massive body instantly went limp.
Oliver’s eyes snapped open.
“…What the…”
The dead bear dropped straight to the ground with him still in its mouth, pinning him beneath its enormous body.
He planted both hands against the carcass and pushed — the several-hundred-kilogram body rolled off him with surprising ease.
He climbed to his feet and looked at what remained of the bear, mouth hanging slightly open.
“…I only wanted it to let go.” His gaze shifted slowly to his own foot.
“…I think I kicked a little harder than I meant to.”
It seemed he had seriously underestimated what a Kryptonian soldier was capable of.
He had been so focused on Superman that he forgot ordinary Kryptonians were never ordinary by human standards — even the lowest-ranked soldiers possessed inhuman strength under a yellow sun.
Bending steel with their bare hands was considered normal.
So what chance did the bones of a brown bear have?
His eyes drifted back toward the carcass.
Blood soaked the ground.
Torn flesh and scattered organs lay across the forest floor, filling the air with the metallic smell of fresh blood.
The nausea he had been holding back returned all at once.
He quickly turned away, stumbled toward the nearest tree, and bent over.
“Ugh…”
He threw up into the bushes, holding onto the tree for support.
After several moments the retching finally stopped.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and let out a slow breath.
“…I’m really not built for high-definition gore.”
He glanced back for less than a second before immediately looking away again.
“Yeah… that’s still disgusting.”