“Thank you, Scott,” Aurelio said sincerely. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do at this point beyond just keeping our eyes and ears open. We need to be aware of what we could be walking into out there and prepared for it.”
“Ya know, we could just load up and go hunting for these things if you really think they’re real, Sheriff,” Harold said, apparently being serious.
Aurelio shook his head. “No way. I don’t want anyone going into the woods unless they have to. Heading out there with as little as we know right now given that the woods are the Sasquatches home turf would be a very bad idea. We’d more likely end up getting killed by them than anything else.”
“Roger that,” Scott agreed.
“I want everyone back here bright and early in the morning. Checking out things at Henderson’s camp again is as good a place to start looking for evidence as any and a heck of a lot safer than heading up to Lou Hyatt’s place for a look at those tracks. And no one is to breathe a word about any of this to anyone other than those in this room right now. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Aurelio’s deputies chorused.
“Good, everyone, go home and get some rest. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow,” Aurelio said. “Scott, you and Kevin give me a call on my cell if anything weird pops up during the night that can’t wait until then.”
With that, the meeting ended and the deputies filed out of the conference room. Only Nicki lingered behind. She clearly had something else she wanted to say.
“What is it, Nicki?” Aurelio asked with a sigh.
“I just can’t seem to get over that all of this is actually happening. It’s all sort of messed up and crazy, isn’t it?” Nicki’s expression was a mix of worry and shock.
“If this is your way of asking for a raise, forget it,” Aurelio joked, hoping to put her more at ease.
Nicki laughed despite herself. “See you in the morning, Sheriff.”
“See ya then and you be careful out there.” Aurelio smiled as she turned and headed for the door. He watched her go and then let his shoulders slump. He was nearly dead on his feet and was so tired that he was highly considering just sleeping in his office.
****
The eighteen-wheeler raced along the road at just over sixty miles an hour. Brian would have liked to have pushed his speed even more, but one never knew when there would be black ice waiting around the next turn. The temps had been pretty warm during the days for Alaska of late, but they still were dropping below freezing once the sun set. He chugged down the last of his energy drink and tossed the empty can into the floorboard below the cab’s passenger seat. His fingers reached for the volume of the big rig’s stereo and cranked it up. Geddy Lee’s voice screeched out the lyrics to Tom Sawyer as Brian rocked out to Peart’s rhythmic drums. Brian had loved Rush since a friend of his had introduced him to the band’s music in high school. He had been converted instantly. There was no greater band on Earth. From Peart’s lyrics and drumming, to Lifeson’s ripping guitar playing, to the unique awesomeness of Geddy Lee, the music of Rush was beyond anything else Brian had ever heard.
The night was dark and the detour he had been forced to take thanks to the construction taking place on the interstate had put him onto a road he didn’t know. He had been driving all day and sleep was trying to sink its claws into him. The energy drink had helped, but it was Rush that was keeping him going. Brian figured if he could just push on until the dawn, he’d make his destination in close to record time and be able to unload his freight. Once that was done, thank God, he could turn the truck around and make for home. He missed Caroline. She was one heck of a woman and his life was so much better with her at his side. Their marriage was only two months back so they were still newlyweds with all the fun that came from that status. Brian smirked as he thought about it. What he wouldn’t give to be curled up in bed with her right now. Brian shook his head and whistled. She was more than just kind and madly in love with him like he was her. Caroline was a full-out hottie to boot. She was three years younger than he was, toned, and had curves in all the right places. She was like an angel sent from God to make his dreams come true. So much of his life Brian had spent alone on the road. He might still be driving the road but now the word home had real meaning to him.
Brian didn’t see the thing that came bounding from the trees at the side of the road into the path of his truck until it was almost too late. The creature, there was no way in heck it was a person, was moving on two legs and stood over eight feet tall. The truck’s headlight beams lit up the brown hair covering its body but even in their glow, the thing’s eyes burned brightly as it whipped its head around to look at him. Brian jerked the wheel as hard as he could to the left and slammed on the brakes. The truck swerved around the creature, narrowly missing it. The big rig’s wheels squealed in protest at the punishment they were enduring as the truck slowed. It was only the grace of God that kept the truck from rolling over onto its side. Brian’s mind was still desperately trying to make sense of the creature as he looked into the driver’s side mirror to see that it hadn’t continued on across the road into the trees opposite from where it had emerged. It was sprinting up the road towards his truck with rage in its eyes and its lips parted in a fearsome snarled that showed the pointed teeth inside its mouth.
He might not know what the creature was, but he sure as heck knew he didn’t want to stick around to find out. Brian slammed down the gas and the truck lurched into motion again. The big rig took time to build up speed though and the creature was moving fast. It bounded up the road, easily catching up to the eighteen-wheeler. Brian saw it coming up alongside him in his side mirror. The closer it got, the better he could see it. Whatever it was, it scared the crap out of him. Something like it wasn’t supposed to exist in the real world. The thing’s face was almost human. Its arms were overly long like those of an ape’s. The fingers of its hands were tipped with claws that glinted in the light of the moon. The thing extended its left hand as it ran, reaching out to rake the side of the truck with those claws. Sparks flew as they slid over the metal of the truck’s trailer. Brian pushed the gas pedal harder. He glanced at the speedometer. The big rig was up to thirty-five miles an hour and climbing steadily but still the creature was keeping pace with it. The strides of its long legs brought it ever closer to the cab he was sitting in. The creature must have seen his reflection in the side mirror because it roared and picked up its pace. It raced up to run along beside the truck’s cab. Brian looked over into its blazing eyes and nearly wet himself. He kept a snub-nosed .38 tucked beneath the driver’s seat but was too terrified to try to make a grab for it. With how he was pushing the truck, he needed to keep both hands on the wheel. The large vehicle wasn’t meant for the kind of maneuvering the creature was forcing him to do. He swerved the truck almost onto the side of the road as the creature lashed out at its driver’s side door next to him. The creature’s claws slashed through empty air.
Brian could tell the trick he’d just pulled off wasn’t going to work a second time. Curving the path of its run, the creature moved closer to the truck again. The speedometer was up to forty miles per hour now, and Brian could see that the creature was beginning to really push itself to its limits to keep up with the truck. A few seconds more and it would start falling behind. Brian started praying hard to be granted the few seconds he needed to get clear of the creature. His only other option was to use the truck as a weapon and swerve directly into the creature. The problem with that was if the impact didn’t hurt the creature enough, the move would give it a chance to latch onto the truck with its claws. If it did that, there would be no getting away from it. The creature would just hang onto the side of the vehicle and maybe even find a way to tear its way inside the cab to get at him. Having moved up to within reach of the door next to him, the creature made a grab for it. The window beside him shattered, sending shards of glass flying over him as the creature’s hand came through it. Brian lunged his bo
dy to the left, dodging its grasping fingers. He was barely able to hold onto the steering wheel to keep the truck from careening off the road. The creature’s fingers locked onto the top of the door as they withdrew and the truck continued to pull ahead of it. Out of desperation more than anything else, Brian hammered a fist down onto the top of the creature’s hand, driving it into the remaining glass that was still sticking up from the bottom of the window. The creature howled and let go of its hold on the door. As soon as its grip was broken, the truck finally pulled ahead enough so the creature wasn’t directly beside him anymore. It was still close and within reach of the truck’s trailer though.
Brian watched the beast in his side mirror as it gave up its chase and turned to face the truck. The beast had just enough time to sink the claws of both its hands into the side of the trailer before the trailer was completely out of its reach. With seemingly impossible strength, the creature heaved itself up onto the side of the trailer and scampered up its side. Brian heard the thing’s weight land on top of the trailer and its heavy footfalls as it ran the trailer’s length towards the cab. He couldn’t see it at all anymore, but he knew from the noise it was making exactly where it was and it was coming for him. The roof of the cab crumpled inward above him as the creature leaped onto it. A hair-covered arm descended through the roof into the cab to his right only inches from where he sat in the driver seat of the truck. Brian screamed as the arm twisted about inside the cab, its hand feeling around and trying to locate him. His luck in keeping the truck on the road finally gave out. Brian looked back through the truck’s forward window as he felt the bump of it going off the road. He saw the tree coming at the truck’s hood only a fraction of a second before the truck plowed into it. The tree snapped like a broken twig as the truck’s hood folded up against it. The forward window shattered as Brian was flung forward into the steering wheel. Pain surged through him where his chest made contact with the wheel, but his seatbelt kept it from being far worse. As if awaking from a deep sleep, Brian realized the truck wasn’t moving anymore and the creature was on top of its damaged cab only feet away from him. The creature hurled itself from the top of the truck and thudded onto the ground next to the driver’s side door. It tore the door loose and flung it away into the trees. Brian remembered his .38 and reached for it. His fingers brushed the pistol’s butt but weren’t able to free it from its holster as the creature yanked him out of the cab.
Grunting, Brian slammed onto the ground several yards from the wreckage of the truck. The creature was on him by the time he managed to just roll over to face it. Plunging a hand into his stomach, it ripped out his innards, shaking jumbled strands of his intestines that were caught on its claws above his face. Brian tried to scream as the creature’s other hand, balled up into fist, swung at his face. The last thing he saw was the brown hair of its knuckles followed by a flash of red and pain then there was only darkness.
****
Road flares burned, illuminating the wreck. Kevin stood out in the road to direct traffic should any other cars come along while Scott checked out the truck. The call had come in an hour ago. They had responded to it together, as per the sheriff’s instructions. Kevin was glad that they had too. It was easy to see that this was no normal accident. The call had been placed by a very spooked woman who refused to identify herself over the phone. There had been no sign of her at the scene when they arrived. She must have called in the wreck and got the hell out of dodge as fast as she could. Kevin sure as heck couldn’t blame her either. The driver’s side door of the truck had literally been ripped from it and the ground all around that part of the vehicle was drenched with blood. Bits and pieces of body parts that had clearly been chewed on were strewn about there too. The truck’s cab had been caved in from its rear over the driver’s seat and both the forward and driver’s side door windows were shattered. That could have happened when the truck plowed into the tree that had brought it to a dead stop, but with everything else damaged on the vehicle, there was no means of being sure about what exactly had broken them. Some of the damage, like the caved-in cab and thrown-off door, couldn’t possibly have been caused by the crash. There were other really creepy things too, such as the grooves that were slashed along the side of the trailer.
Kevin wasn’t really too concerned about more traffic coming along the road. It was freaking three o’clock in the morning and the road wasn’t a well-traveled one, even with the detour that had been set up on the interstate for larger vehicles to take around the construction going on there. He watched Scott examining the truck’s trailer closely.
“Hey,” Scott called to him. “Come over here.”
Kevin did so gladly. With the talk about real live monsters maybe being real that the sheriff had given them, the closer he was to Scott, the better he felt. He couldn’t help keep shooting glances at the trees that ran along both sides of the road as he walked towards Scott and the truck’s trailer. His skin crawled like something was out there in the night, just beyond the point where they might be able to see it, watching them.
“What is it?” Kevin asked as he came up beside Scott.
“What do these look like to you?” Scott asked him, pointing at holes in the metal of the trailer’s side.
Kevin shrugged. “I got no idea. Holes?”
“Yes, they’re holes,” Scott said, sighing. “But they’re not bullet holes. Look at the size of them.”
Looking at what Scott was showing him again, Kevin commented, “They go up.”
Scott blinked and must have seen that he was right because his gaze shot upwards as he stared at the top of the trailer.
“Give me a hand,” Scott ordered him. “I want to get up there and see the top.”
“What? That’s crazy,” Kevin protested, not wanting to be alone on the road.
“Just do it,” Scott growled.
Kevin gave Scott a boost as he scampered up onto the top of truck’s trailer. As soon as he was up there, Kevin heard Scott shouting something about footprints. Scott moved along the length of the trailer and then leaped down from it.
“If I had any doubts about what the sheriff was saying before, I don’t anymore,” Scott said. He had gone pale and his voice almost trembled as he spoke. “There are footprints on the top of that trailer, Kevin; huge ones. They start just above the holes I showed you and go all the way along it to near its forward end. It looks like whatever made them must have jumped on top of the cab from there.”
Kevin shuffled about on his feet nervously, not knowing what to say and just shrugged at what Scott had told him.
“After whatever made them leaped onto the cab, that’s likely when the truck hit the tree,” Scott rambled on. “And then it jumped down to go after the driver.”
“That would explain all the bits and pieces of him over there,” Kevin mumbled more to himself than as a response to Scott.
“How do you know the truck’s driver was male?” Scott asked.
“I’d rather not say, but if you go look at all those parts again…” Kevin let his voice trail off.
With a look of disgust, Scott changed the subject. “We’re going to need to call the sheriff. He needs to know about this.”
“Sure,” Kevin agreed. “But what say we get the hell out of here before we do it? If you’re really saying some monster did all this, then it could very well be hanging around in these woods somewhere close by watching us right now.”
“We can’t leave the scene of this wreck, Kevin. At least not until the clean-up folks get here,” Scott said. “They’re on their way, remember?”
“If whatever did this could really run down an eighteen-wheeler and force it off the road, do you really want to be out here with it in the dark?” Kevin shot back at him.
“It’s our duty,” Scott told him, “but I think breaking out some firepower just in case while we call the sheriff and wait on the others is a real good idea.”
Scott walked to their patrol car and popped its trunk. He tossed Kev
in an AR-15 as Kevin followed him over and then got out a pump-action shotgun for himself.
Kevin was glad to have the AR, but it didn’t really calm his nerves that much. “Frag it. I really don’t want to be out here.”
“Me either,” Scott admitted. “But the tow crew won’t be armed, Kevin, and they sure as heck won’t be expecting to find a monster out here with them if the thing that did this comes back. We can’t bail on them. We’re all the protection they’ll have.”
****
Henderson had gotten up early. He was eager to get things rolling at the camp again for the day. Wallace was waiting for him downstairs in the hotel’s lobby, a coffee for him in hand. Henderson took it from him as they headed out into the parking lot.
Wallace opened the passenger side door so that Henderson could get in and closed it behind him before heading around the front of the car to slide into the driver’s seat. Henderson’s eyes were on the sky. The sun hadn’t come up yet, or at least hadn’t managed to pierce the gray of the morning. The weather forecasts were calling for up to a couple of inches in terms of snow, but Henderson hoped they were wrong. The operation was running behind where it should have been and it would be his head that rolled if the pace didn’t pick up. He leaned back in his seat, sipping at his coffee, as Wallace drove the car out of the lot onto the main road. There wasn’t much traffic about during their commute to the camp. All in all, they passed only a handful of cars. It looked like most of Lowah was still asleep. Henderson glanced at his watch as Wallace took the turn onto the gravel road leading up the mountain to the camp. Its display read 5:47.
The car bounced along the gravel road at a slow but steady pace. Its headlights cut through the dimness beneath the gray sky. Henderson closed his eyes and started crunching numbers in his head. If he could just double the amount of work that was getting done, the operation would be on track again in less than a week. The car suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Henderson was flung forward in his seat, his coffee splashing onto the car’s dash as his shoulder belt caught him and snapped him back, keeping him from hitting the dash too.
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