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Julep sat down on the guarded dock with her rusty fishing rod in hand.
Ever since the outbreak, each person on the Isle of Wight was assigned a role that would help everyone survive. The roles ranged from high-ranking city planners (since when did city-planning become so essential to surviving the apocalypse?) to some lowly mechanic.
Julep was assigned as one of the fishermen in the Isle of Wight. She had no idea why she was chosen for the job. She’d only gone fishing with her brother and father a few times at best. It probably didn't matter anyway. Her job included catching fish, starting at seven in the morning to seven in the evening. It was as boring as you think it was.
The colourful sunrise reflected on the waves. She stared at it, mesmerized. That was one perk of waking up early. She got to see the sunrise each morning. It was the highlight of her day. She yawned. It was awfully quiet. Usually, at least one of her co-workers would make some sort of ruckus.
She surveyed the dock. It looked like none of them showed up. What a shame. They always found a way to make time move a tiny bit faster. They might have taken a break or something. She only hoped they weren’t dead or infected.
As the day moved on, she caught zero fish. None. Which was a bit concerning. There was also a chance that it was just a slow day. Although, by this point in time on a slow day, she would have caught something small by now. Nothing too out of the ordinary though. She’ll just keep on fishing.
Out of the corner of her eye, far out on the ocean, she spotted a sliver of white peek out from the water. It seemed to have the texture of wet fur from where she was sitting. That was odd. What furry creature would be out here in the water? She stood up to get a clearer view. It was gone. She sighed. It was probably nothing. She didn’t get much sleep that night, so that might have accounted for that instance.
After several hours of pure boredom, she felt something heavy tug on her rod. Something way too heavy to be a normal fish. It forced her down. She reeled in as hard as she could, struggling. It was difficult.The rod flew out of her hands and in a blink of an eye, suddenly, a large weight was set on her lap. She looked at it.
It was a fucking polar bear.
She jumped back in surprise, grabbing her discarded rod as a weapon. “Stay back,” She demanded, eyes narrowing on the creature.
This was fine. She could handle this. Totally. She just needed to think. She could call animal protective services, but who knows if they’re still in service or not. Even if it was still running, she was not sure if they could deal with a whole polar bear. Calling anyone was off the table. What should she do? Her current plan was to just wait for the opportunity to run.
The polar bear moved closer slowly with a fish in his mouth. She continued to move back until she hit the fishing shack. She slumped down in defeat. Great, she thought. The big animal surrounded all of her exits. She shriveled in terror. This was how she was gonna die.
Then, he stopped and placed the fish down at her feet, nudging it gently.“Friend?”
“Friend?” She repeated, bewildered. Not only was there a polar bear right in front of her, it could speak. She had to be dreaming. None of this was real.
He nodded. “Wait,” He instructed. Maybe he could only speak in simple sentences, Julep wondered, trying to make sense of everything. She was trying to justify a talking animal who was she? He dived back into the water with a swoop. She steadied her breathing.
He returned a few minutes later with a huge pile of fish. By huge she meant huge, the pile was several feet tall, almost as tall as Julep and that was quite a feat in itself. That must have been where the fish went. She stared at it in awe. That definitely would be able to feed everyone for a couple days. Though, it might propose a problem if he killed every fish in this part of the lake, and she would need to relocate,
“Thank you,” She hugged him without thinking. It was her biggest flaw. She would get excited and touch people. It was the main way she expressed her emotions. She usually regretted it after since it made the interaction awkward after. But oh, boy, was she glad that she hugged him.
His fur was soft and fluffy. She nuzzled her face into it. It was also quite warm like a blanket on a winter day. Honestly, she could stay there forever. It might have been one of the best hugs in her life. He placed a paw on her shoulder, keeping her close.
“Thank you, really. This helps a lot.” She emphasised. “I owe you. Do you need anything? Anything I can help with?”
“Be friends?” He let go of her shoulder to summon two Coca-Cola bottles out of thin air. He offered one of them to Julep. “Drink?”
Puzzled, she took the drink out of his hands. All of this was very unusual. How the hell did he do that? Did all polar bears have the ability to summon bottles of coke or was it just the Coca-Cola bear? Was this polar bear the iconic Coca-Cola bear? This left her with more questions than answers.
She gently opened it and took a sip. It tasted normal. A minor worry was that it was drugged, but then again does a bear know how to drug drinks? Counter point, usually bears also don’t know how to speak. She broke a smile. She hadn’t tasted a coke since the you know thing happened. It felt nice like a moment of domestic life. “I’ll be your friend.”
He returned back onto all fours. “Meet here next time?”
She chuckled. “It’s my job. I have to be here, Mr. Polar Bear,” She couldn’t believe that she was making plans with a polar bear. And she was even looking forward to it. This bear felt more human than anyone she had talked to in months. He seemed to have a reaction to the name. “Your name is Mr. Polar Bear?” He nodded.“That’s quite on the nose don’t you think?”
She let her hand naturally fall onto his head. It was like petting a very big fluffy plushie. She ruffled the fur. He rubbed his head into her palm, savouring every touch. They stayed there in peaceful silence until the woman spoke again. “My name is Julep if you were wondering,”
The bear smiled warmly, “Julep nice,”
This was the start of something new. Julep could feel it. What she didn’t know was that this would bloom into something they both could not control.