Kuruk had been separated from the rest of the Algonquin tribe while hunting alone. He hadn’t eaten in days, and he knew he wouldn’t make it much longer. When he spotted the dead bear, he rushed to the outer edge of the lake. Its body lay in a small crater, half submerged in the thin ice.

He crept across the frozen lake toward the bear carcass. Its eyes were gray, and its mouth was fixed into a frozen snarl. He nudged it with heel of his foot and then dropped to his knees, unsheathing his stone blade and thrusting it into its belly. He skinned the hide, tearing chunks of raw meat from the carcass and swallowing them whole.

Without warning, the ice began to crack and Kuruk fell through. He held his breath and reached upward, twisting his body and grabbing the ice until his hands froze to the surface.

He scanned the shoreline, fixing his eyes on a hairy human-like figure that was watching him. Kuruk lay there on the ice in a state of terror as the massively muscled creature moved toward him and howled.