again.

Suddenly he realized the dog was coming from the direction he ran last night. It was following his scent trail. He turned his body so he could see the way he had come and in the distance he saw movement. It was a single dog coming his way. It must have went by him and picked up his train when it got near the edge of the Man path forest. Then he heard more noise. There was a Man walking behind the dog. There was nothing to do now except stay still and hope the dog did not find him. The dog was moving around looking for a scent. Then it stopped and raised its tail and looked directly where he was at. He had been found. The dog started barking loudly.

"Here, he is here," it called to the Man who came in closer.

Now the dog headed straight for him. He had no choice he had to fight, but if he stood now, the Man could see him. He waited, keep still and low. If he ran, the man could easily use the killing stick on him. There might be a way. His Father told him one time he charged a Man and ran over him and got away. It might work. He kept low and waited. Sure enough the dog went straight for him and the Man came up quickly behind. He waiting until the dog was on top of him and then leaped up and lowered his head. He charged into the dog catching it in his antlers and he threw it aside. The dog squealed in pain. The Man started to bring up his killing stick, but he ran straight for him as fast as he could The Man had his killing stick up when he hit him. The impact stunned him and knocked the Man down. He recovered and started to run away when the chest pain hit him hard again in the chest. He stopped and fell on the ground. He got up quickly and started to run away. "WHAMMMM." echoed as something went by him. He changed direction and disappeared into the tress. Finally the pounding in his head and his shortness of breath forced him to stop. He rested for a while. A short time later he heard.

"WHAMMM . . . WHAMMM . . . .WHAMM," from behind him in short order.

He heard the Man shout several times. He got up even through it hurt and slowly walked as far away from that place as he could.

"WHAMMM. . . WHAMMM . . .WHAMMM," he heard again. Then in the distance he heard more men shouting.

"Bang. . . Bang . . .Bang . . . came. These noises were not so loud.

At that point he did not care. He wandered not knowing what direction he was going in. Soon he came to the hard ground of the Man Path. He knew the dangers of crossing it. At this point he had little to lose so he crossed it quickly and lost himself in the bush. He found a place and waited until dark. By then he side started to hurt. He got up anyway and slowly and carefully made his way toward the edge of the forest.

He ate and drank as he could. As long as he did not move quickly, the pain in his chest and legs stayed away. Resting and stopping many times he reached the edge of the forest by dawn. He stopped to drink, and empty himself. He tried to eat again but his chest and side hurt. In the distance he could see the spring and the remains of their old forest. There was nothing more to do other than to wait.

He found a place that was hard to see and waited. As the day passed he heard more noises. These noises were from his old forest. First there was the barking of dogs, big dogs coming from the old forest. They were chasing something. Then from father away he heard other sounds of Men shouting. What would Man be doing there? There were no deer in that forest. He heard a dog cry out in pain, and then another. The barking was coming from the side of the meadow where the bear kept his cave. Then came the sound, "WHAMMMM . . . WHAMMM. There were more shots in quick succession and more shouting by Man. Then even more loud noises in the distance. Finally the noise died out. Then he heard sound coming from the Man Path. It was the Man animal having that funny high low bird call he could hear. It sounded like they went to the Man cave and then stopped for a short while before going down the Man path again. After the funny call stopped there seemed to be quiet.

He hoped they had not gone after the bear, but he was the only thing large that lived in that part of the forest. There were more noises from behind him. During the late day his chest started to ache again. He was sure of it now. He had the same thing Faline had. That meant that soon, he would go most likely the same way she did. He looked around and then looked at the old forest. A sudden realization came over him. He did not want to die here. He wanted to go home. Not to the burnt forest. He wanted to go the forest he was born in. If he had to die, he wanted to die there. The question is, was he strong enough to get there. He did not know, but even if he died in the open, it still be better than dying here. The day passed with no more noise around him. He heard Men yelling from the Man cave. He smelled the fire, and the burnt deer meat. Someone had not gotten away. He hoped it was no one he knew. As darkness fell again he heard noises from behind him. He smelled the scents of deer.

"Bambi, we found you."

He looked back it was Stelar and Helos. Both look hot and sweated like they had been running a while.

"What are you two doing here," he called out. "Come the day Man will be here and kill every deer he can find. Get out of here and run back into the deep forest."

"We were searching for you," Stelar said running over to him. "You have to come with us."

"I cannot go," he said not getting up. "I have the same pain in my chest that Faline had. One way or the other soon I will be gone. Now leave!"

Helos look over at his side. "You do not look hurt. You can still come with us."

"I cannot run. All I will do is slow you down so you will die with me. I want you to go, but I will ask one thing," he said. His side was starting to ache. "Is everyone else alright?" he wanted to know.

"Yes," Stelar told him. Stabo led the herd into the deep forest. Man did not get behind us. Only bad thing is Man is also using the other Man cave to hunt. Now please come with us," she begged.

"No," he said with finality. "I want you two to tell Stabo and Gena that I am leaving the forest. I am going back to my old home. You will not see me again. I just wanted all of you to know how much I care for all of you. Now go please."

"If you go there you will likely die," Helos said as if he did not know.

"I know that. Nothing can stop that now. Tell the others what happened, especially Gena. Enough talk, now get going."

Stelar did not want to go, but Helos pushed her back. Helos then looked back at him. "Thank you and Stranger for everything," he said having trouble speaking. "We will teach our children what you taught us. I hope I do see you in the Great Herd."

"Do not be in a hurry to get there," he said and then lay on the ground.

He watched them both disappear into the forest. He was alone. Now all he had to do was leave the forest.

Chapter 8: Final Journey

Bambi walked carefully out into the open. Even through it was night, and there was no sound from the Man cave, even though the dogs were still there. There was the lingering scent of burning deer meat in the air. He thought about just close he had come to being the one that was burning. At least there was no smell of burning bear meat, He moved as fast has his chest would allow him across the open space past the spring and toward the edge of the burnt out Meadow forest. He heard some dogs barking but there were too far away to bother him. Besides, even if they did wake Man, he doubted they could find in in the dark. Carefully he slipped into the remains of the meadow forest and walked slowly up the hill; all the time his chest was aching and his breathing becoming increasing hard. He wanted to make sure he could not been seen from the meadow as he moved toward to the far end and the stream that would lead him back to the place he was born. There was also the bear to check up on. He just hoped he was alone.

The walk through the woods was eerie. Other than the insects and some small ground animala, there was no noise, no scents, and no movement he could see. Everything stood burnt, quiet and lonely. This was still a place of death now with only a few small plants growing at his feet. He continued to walk slowly and carefully up the hill. By the time the lesser light was overhead, he reached the place the bear called home.

He stood back and called out just loud enough to be heard, "Bear."

There was silence. The bear should be nearby at this time of year. He walked toward the den and as he did he caught several scents. One smell of decay and the other smelled of blood. Around him he looked and saw a trail of blood on the ground. One smelled of the bear, but there were other scents, the scent of both dogs and Men. There had been a fight around here. Blood was spilled from Man, dog and bear. The trail of blood led from the trees near the meadow, up the hill toward the den. As he followed it, the dog and Man scent disappeared until he could only smell the bear.

He looked in the front of the den and saw and smelled a large pool of blood. In fact he saw blood trail leading down the hill toward the old meadow. He walked quickly to the den and leaned over. There was a large bear lying still in the den. He smelled it and it had the scent of the bear he knew. It also was cold and still. He could not see well in the dark, but the smell of blood was everywhere. He poked the bear. The bear was stiff. He had been dead a while. He lifted his head and turned away.

"You too," he said. He found tears coming down his eyes for a creature he never liked, and yet seemed as good a friend as