The bear came through the door of his shack tent with a squeal of abused latchwork and snapping lumber.

He started up in his open sleeping bag. In the next frozen second, his eyes darted between his knife, hanging sheathed above his bed and the intruding bear.

Time ran out.

A longtime LRR fan, Alex works for a gold exploration and development company in Saskatchewan. This was written while in a shack tent, after having watched a bear safety video too late a night.

Editor: I worked with LRR for more than two years until I left in 2010 to finish school.