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ROLAND HALTED AT THE EDGE of the clearing Susannah, perched on his shoulders, stared unbelievingly across the open space The creature stood at the base of the tree where Eddie had been when the two of theo She could see only chunks and sections of its body through the screen of branches and dark green needles Roland&039;s other gunbelt lay beside one of the monster&039;s feet The holster, she saas empty

"My God," she ht wo the tree The branches lashed as if in a high wind Her eyes skated upward and she saw a dark for the trunk as the tree rocked and rolled As she watched, one of his hands slipped and flailed wildly for purchase

"What do we do?" she screaoan shake him loose! What do we do?"

Roland tried to think about it, but that queer sensation had returned again - it was alith him now, but stress see inside one skull Each ue, each insisting that his er felt as if he were being ripped in two He made a desperate effort to reconcile these two halves and succeededat least for the moment

"It&039;s one of the Twelve!" he shouted "One of the Guardians! Must be! But I thought they were - "

The bear bellowed up at Eddie again Now it began to slap at the tree like a punchy fighter Branches snapped and fell around its feet in a tangle

"What?" Susannah screamed "What&039;s the rest?"

Roland closed his eyes Inside his head, a voice shouted, The boy&039;s name was Jake! Another voice shouted back, There WAS no boy! There WAS no boy, and you know it!

Get away, both of you! he snarled, and then called out aloud: "Shoot it! Shoot it in the ass, Susannah! It&039;ll turn and charge! When it does, look for soain It gave up slapping the tree and went back to shaking it O from the upper part of the trunk

When he could be heard again, Roland shouted: "I think it looks like a hat! A little steel hat! Shoot it, Susannah! And don&039;t miss!"

Terror suddenly filled her - terror and another e loneliness

"No! I&039;ll an to fuive it to hile&039;s bad! You have to do it, Susan-nah! This is the real test, and you&039;d better pass it!"

"Roland - "

"It means to snap the top of the tree off!" he roared at her "Can&039;t you see that?"

She looked at the revolver in her hand Looked across the clearing, at the gigantic bear obscured in the clouds and sprays of green needles Looked at Eddie, swaying back and forth like a un, but Susannah could see no way he could use it without being shaken froht not shoot at the right thing

She raised the revolver Her stomach was thick with dread "Hold me still, Roland," she said "If you don&039;t - "

"Don&039;t worry aboutthe shots as Roland had taught her The heavy reports cut across the sound of the bear shaking the tree like the cracks of a bullwhip She saw both bullets strike home in the left cheek of the bear&039;s rump, less than two inches apart

It shrieked in surprise, pain, and outrage One of its huge front paws came out of the dense screen of branches and needles and slapped at the hurt place The hand caht Susannah could i its bloody pal sound as the bear turned, bending down at the sa to all fours in order to achieve maximum speed For the first time she saw its face, and her heart quailed Its lared like laht and centered upon Roland, who stood with his legs apart and Susannah Dean balanced on his shoulders

With a shattering roar, the bear charged

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