15: The Bear

Episode Description
There. Are. No. Talking. Bears. In. Oldbrush. Valley.

Content Warnings
This episode contains a depiction of assault.
 * Timestamp: 20:04--23:12

Plot
Mike begins the episode talking about the appearances of some bears in TV and film, some of the mysticism behind bears, and the real danger that bears pose.

Mike remarks that his previous heists didn't go well, blaming the lack of heist music. He then describes how he walked to the dropbox in the middle of the night to retrieve the envelope that Hunter had placed there earlier that day. When he hears a rustling noise, he grabs a handful of envelopes and retreats behind the building. He finds one that he is fairly certain to be the envelope from that morning.

As he finds this envelope, he sees the headlights of a golf cart, heading towards the louder, more frantic, rustling. He hears Marissa yell at what she assumes to be a bear, hears a gunshot, and then hears the word "fuck!" Based on the convincing evidence that bears do not know the English word "fuck," Mike concludes that it was likely a person, not a bear, that Marissa shot.

Mike texts WOE.BEGONE pictures of the files in the envelope, which he suspects to be a series of hash codes. Their text back is very casual, and they seem surprised that Mike found the files. The next day, Mike sits with Hunter, Chance, and Shadow. Marissa is telling everyone at the cafeteria that she shot and scared off the bear. Hunter appears to remember the conversation he and Mike had on Mike's first day.

Mike receives another text message from WOE.BEGONE, this time asking him to take the long way to the red flag cabin and touch the doorknob. Mike laments the walk, whining and asking "can't I just cut my arm off again?" During his walk, there is a bear on the path. Since Mike didn't buy bear mace, or bring his gun, he curls up on the ground and is subsequently mauled by the bear. Halfway through, the bear suddenly disappears, which Mike attributes to WOE.BEGONEry. Mike is rescued by Hunter, and WOE.BEGONE seems to be unaware that the bear attack happened, meaning that they were likely not the ones to disappear the bear.

Trivia
Transcript This episode is the first to contain the bear sound effect.