Warning: This story may not accurately represent the hibernation patterns of bears. Please consult your local wildlife authority for advice on how to safely feed yourself to bears and other wildlife.
It was a very early morning, somewhere in the middle of a large forest. The sky had begun to lighten, though the sun was still hidden behind the horizon.
Adam wasn't very much of an outdoor person. The fox was hardly the type one would expect to camp out in the middle of nowhere, or to wake up before the sun had risen to scale a cliff. Yet he was in the midst of doing exactly that, while the animals around him had just begun to wake. The sounds around were absolutely serene. A gentle breeze could be heard flowing through the trees. A nearby nest of baby birds had begun to cheep as their mother brought them food. Further away, a large rushing river could just barely be heard...
“Damnit!”
And the sound of a camera impacting rock, followed by a very angry fox shouting. He turned his camera around to examine it, thankful to see no apparent damage to the glass in front. His tripod, flash, and other lens clattered around as he grabbed a branch to continue to climb the wall, all haphazardly tied to his belt or backpack. After a couple more treacherous minutes, Adam finally grabbed the top, and began to pull himself up.
As soon as he pulled his head up above the cliff, he saw that his trip had been worth it. The sun was just barely beginning to peek over the horizon. The landscape was dominated with evergreen, though some yellowing trees lined the rivers, just about ready to lose their leaves for the winter. A large river cut through the trees, while the entire view was framed by two large hills on both sides. The fox couldn't feel anything but serenity, even as he noticed the trail that he could have taken instead of climbing up here. As soon as he was on his feet, he began to set up his tripod.
This region was known for its bear populations, but Adam hadn't been very concerned, believing that they all must be in hibernation by then. He had bought a can of bear spray just in case, but didn't anticipate using it. Indeed most of them had already retired to their dens for the imminent winter, though there were still a few roaming around. One in particular was roaming close to the photographer, attracted by the sounds he and his equipment made on the ascent up that cliff. He had begun to approach from behind, completely unnoticed by the fox.
Adam stared through his viewfinder for a moment, making a couple of minute adjustments to his camera before he held up his light meter to double check the conditions. He squatted back down to look through his viewfinder again as he dialed in the appropriate settings. He clicked the shutter, and then leaned back to check the picture on the screen. Alas, it was overly bright with the sky almost completely blown out. The frustrated photographer began to fiddle with the settings on his light meter, trying to return them to normal. He was completely oblivious to the bear creeping up behind him, standing as he reached up to take another reading. The grizzly bear stood on his hind paws, dwarfing the fox. The beast was easily twice the height of the photographer, and several times the weight. All of that heft came crashing down at once as he pushed his prey to the ground, just after the camera clicked a second time.
Adam shouted as he was shoved into the ground, getting a mouthful of grass as his face was pushed into the dirt. He sputtered and tried to pull himself away from whatever force had just knocked him down. He managed to crawl a foot away, before the bear chomped on his shirt and pulled him back. The predator rolled him onto his back, allowing him to finally get a glimpse of his attacker.
“H-help! Someone!” The fox shouted to an empty forest, before he remembered his bear spray! He fumbled around in his pockets as the bear slurped over his face, before holding the can between him and the bear's face. He grinned for just a moment, satisfied that he had outsmarted nature. He aimed for the beast's eyes, and squeezed the trigger...
The fox let out a piercing scream, having failed to notice that he was holding the can the wrong way. In an instant his entire face burned, while his eyes felt like they were on fire as he yelled in agony, flailing as he tried to rub his face into the dirt. Even the bear paused for a moment, staring down as though he was in disbelief.
The bear kneeled down to sniff the flailing fox, and give a cautious lick over his muzzle. The capsaicin in the vulpine's fur made him flinch a bit, but it wasn't enough to make him consider releasing his prey. Adam was still blind and in agony as the predator's jaws yawned open, and moved down to surround his head.
The fox felt the dampness over his head, but was still in too much pain to comprehend that he was being eaten. Instead he took the opportunity to push his head around, mashing his face into the wet walls to try and get that spray out of his fur. The bear's eyes watered a bit as the capsaicin was rubbed into his tongue, though it really just made the vulpine taste spicy rather than inedible. Adam's burning sensation began to subside into only a bad stinging one, and he started to regain the ability to think about something other than the pain. He still couldn't see, but realized that it wasn't just the bear spray blinding him. His eyes and face were pressed onto something slimy and rigid, while something squishy pressed against the bottom of his muzzle.
Adam screamed once more as he realized where he was, but just for a moment before the bear shoved its head down, pushing his muzzle down his throat. The rest of his head followed, as the beast stepped backwards to begin working his shoulders inside. Beginning to panic, the fox tried to press against the predator's chest. But as his shoulders were slid up and into the gullet, his arms became pinned to his sides. He resorted to trying to kick the bear's heavily furred belly, but even his strongest blows didn't seem to do much more than annoy.
The bear's stomach let out a wet gurgle, as a bubble of gas slid up the esophagus. The fox gagged as what would've been a belch hit his nose. His chest started to push past the throat, and he felt the muscles in the gullet get a grip on his form as they helped to drag him deeper into the digestive system. The beast gagged a bit as as the fox’s overstuffed backpack slid against his upper jaw. For a moment the fox stopped moving down towards the rumbling stomach, as the predator’s eye watered. Adam felt the swallowing stop, waiting, hoping that the bear would decide he was too much to handle and to spew him back up. But the predator persevered, gulping until the lump of cloth finally slid down his throat.
With the fox’s torso swallowed, his head entered the stomach. The omnivore’s gut was already partway filled with half digested berries and forest critters, as he prepared to hibernate for the winter. Adam’s face was pushed into the disgusting mix of melting food and digestive enzymes, while he kicked his legs wildly, trying to do something to hurt the bear. Despite his best efforts, his struggles did little to deter the predator from finishing him off. The gullet had an ironclad grip on his form, pushing him down further while his legs slid past the lips. In just a few more moments his feet and tailtip would vanish into the throat, completely sealing him inside of the bear’s body. The esophagus forced the rest of him into the dark pit, until the only sign of him was a wiggling bulge on the bear’s chubby underside. As the fox kicked and struggled, the bear would feel some discomfort. Something lodged within his gullet that wouldn’t move down. He retched for a moment, before feeling it travel back up...
With a monstrous belch that made a flock of birds flee the nearby trees, a large lump of plastic and metal came flying out of the bear’s lips. A soaked camera landed on the ground, clattering next to the discarded can of bear spray the fox had attempted to use. No longer in any distress, but still with an instinctive hunger even as the lump of vulpine settled in his belly, the predator walked away in search of even more food to help prepare himself for his long slumber.
Adam fought to push himself back up the esophagus, but the bear’s stomach easily kept him confined. The panicked fox sat against the stomach walls for a moment, with liquid coming up to his chest. The thick muck made up of gastric juices and liquefied meat soaked his fur, while he felt a solid lump bump into his side. He reached to try and feel out just what it was, but the unknown bit of meat disintegrated as soon as he touched it. Yelping, the vulpine continued to thrash and struggle, trying to find any way out before he suffered the same fate. The bear in the meantime was unfettered by the movements in his digestive system, continuing to walk along, only stopping when he found some berries to swallow.
Eventually the beast would find his way back to a secluded cave, settling down to begin a long hibernation. In a short time the internal workings of the bear’s body would slow to a crawl, leaving him unresponsive and ready to survive for months with the food he had. While the predator had gone still, his prey was still very much active, still desperate to escape his fate as bear food.
In the months that followed, Adam’s saliva-damaged camera and used bear spray would eventually be recovered. Though no other remains would be found, it was assumed that he was deceased, and that he was probably just an unusually large but otherwise undescript pile of bear scat. A few new warning signs would be erected in the area to warn hikers to be vigilant and to watch out for other creatures that might turn them into snacks.
It wasn’t until late spring that the bear would awaken again. Groggy and sore, the first thought the bear had was that of any creature that spent months hibernating. He desperately had to relieve his bowels. The predator wandered out of his cave, squatting down next to a large tree, and beginning to push. A log filled with berry skins and small fish bones easily emerged from his over packed rectum, landing on the ground with a thump. A couple more followed, before he felt something larger push against his anus. With just a couple more seconds the bear pushed out a soiled backpack, and then a wad of clothing that belonged to his fox meal. The indigestible belongings were then mostly buried as the beast released more scat, before something else large blocked his tailhole. He knew that he had trouble pooping after eating people sometimes, but the vulpine was being exceptionally difficult. He strained, digging his claws into the ground as his tailhole quivered, very slowly expanding to allow whatever was in his colon passage.
*GAAAASP!* Adam took a deep breath of fresh air as his head emerged from the bear’s backside. How he survived in a bear’s stomach and intestines for months was anyone’s guess, but his nightmare was at long last about to be over...
Or it would if the bear bothered to keep pushing. He stopped straining, and felt his rectum pull the massive fuzzy log back in. “W-wait...” He moaned in a raspy voice, before his head vanished behind the pink sphincter. The bear sat feeling the fox weakly struggle inside of his colon for another minute, before he attempted to push again. The tight ring of flesh gave way once again, allowing Adam to take in another deep breath of fresh air. The predator strained and pushed, slowly expelling his prey’s shoulders from his bowels. The fox was scared his captor might give up again and allow him to be sucked back into his butt, though once his shoulders had fully cleared the pucker, the pressure behind him would quickly shove him the rest of the way. With a sickening squelch Adam’s naked, filthy body was finally pushed out of the predator’s digestive system. The bear stopped and relished in the great feeling of relief as the fox was suddenly removed from his guts, followed by a few more gallons of waste. At long last his body was empty, ready to be filled again, while his last prey sat in a massive pile of dung.
The fox felt cramps in every part of his body from being held in one place for so long. He could barely move an inch without feeling a shooting pain. He whimpered as the bear turned around to sniff him, scared that he might be about to take a second trip... But the predator quickly decided that the lump of meat was far too filthy to eat, and wandered off, leaving him. Eventually the photographer would find the strength to get up, and try to find a ranger station. For now he just sat in the cooling pile of waste, taking in as much cool, fresh air as he could, about ready to cry as he thought about how his ordeal was finally over.
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