The dog is listening to him, there's no doubt of that, and John doesn't think that's possible, not in the way it seems to be happening. Bear is extremely well trained, but he's still a dog and he doesn't respond to John quite like this.

If he talks to the dog openly like he expects it to respond, someone is going to notice, so instead John crouches, wraps his arms around the dog and lifts.

"You'll be okay," he says again and suddenly it feels like he needs to really mean it. He'll take the dog somewhere safe and figure out what this is.