Night of the Sasquatch

by Eric S. Brown

  “Pass me another one,” Kurt snapped as he tossed the empty beer can aside.

  Tony sighed and shook his head. He already felt his good friend had drunk enough, but it was their last week of school and he could tell Kurt was feeling a bit emotional about the impending end of their childhood and transition into adulthood. Tony could never remember seeing him this down about anything since he’d known him. To make matters worse, he personally looked forward to the drastic change. Tony had been a good student and had many scholarship offers to a lot of the larger schools throughout the southeast. With reluctance, he reached over into the cooler and tossed his friend another ice-cold alcoholic beverage that neither of them had any business drinking.

  They were seated in lawn chairs, placed in the bed of Kurt’s truck, their backs against the back of the cab. It was a beautiful night with a starry sky that seemed to swallow them up from their secluded spot deep inside the forest. This was a spot that they knew well. It was a safe place to go and discuss their futures and secrets that only the two of them knew. Despite some of his character flaws, there was no one Tony trusted more than Kurt. He himself had always had a crush on June Johnson but she’d never learn from him that Kurt ran around on her. Their friendship was much more important than any girl ever would be.

  “There’s another one,” Kurt said suddenly, pointing up at the sky.

  Tony looked up quickly in response but knew it was futile. “Damn—I missed it,” he grumbled.

  “Gotta keep your eyes open,” Kurt replied smugly. “I think I’ve already seen four and you’ve only seen one in the hour and a half we’ve been sitting here.”

  Tony sighed and took another sip of his own alcoholic beverage (the first and only one he’d had for the night). Truthfully, he had been watching the sky and was certain that at least one shooting star had streaked over their heads. With Kurt now on his fifth beer, Tony somehow doubted whether his friend was seeing actual shooting stars or if perhaps his vision was becoming blurry and making him think he was seeing them. It wasn’t, however, worth an argument. If Kurt thought he’d seen four, then so be it.

  “You decided on a college yet?” Tony asked, glancing over at his friend.

  He couldn’t make out Kurt’s facial features in the darkness, only a dim silhouette but there was no mistaking the uneasiness when the question was asked.

  “I told you,” he said flatly. “I’ve got some options but I’m still trying to decide.”

  Tony breathed deeply through his nose and nodded. He knew that Kurt said he’d gotten athletic scholarship offers for his time playing varsity baseball, but he found himself unable to believe it. His gut told him that Kurt had no intentions of going to college and the decision was weighing heavily on him.

  “Well whatever you decide, I’m sure you’ll be successful at it,” Tony said. “You’ve been good at everything you have done so far.”

  “That’s right,” Kurt said, and then he took a long pull from the can. When he finished, he crushed the empty can in his hand and tossed it aside onto the ground beside the truck. Tony shook his head and made a mental note to pick the can up before they left.

  “Give me another,” Kurt said, belching as he said it.

  “No, I think that’s enough,” Tony said firmly. “You’ve already drunk way too many to drive so toss me the keys.”

  Again, Kurt glanced over at him. Tony was unable to see what sort of expression was on his friend’s face, but he sensed that it was something bordering annoyance and anger. He braced himself for an argument but to his pleasant surprise, Kurt reached into his pocket, retrieved the keys, and handed them over with no resistance.

  “One more shooting star and then we can call it a night,” he said, settling back into his lounge chair.

  There was a chill in the air and Tony was getting sleepy, but he didn’t argue. Though he had no idea how long they’d have to wait before they saw another shooting star, he felt he owed it to Kurt since he’d easily handed over the keys. He relaxed, weaved his fingers behind his head, and kept his eyes focused on the starry mural overhead. Before long, his eyelids grew heavy and soon after that, they closed.

  ***

  “Wake up!” Kurt shouted frantically. “Get up! Did you see that? Holy shit!”

  Tony sat up straight and an ominous orange glow to his right gained his immediate attention. “Is that—is that a fire?” he muttered, still trying to figure out if he was awake or still asleep.

  “Yes, it’s a fire,” Kurt said excitedly. He threw his legs off the side of the truck bed and stumbled onto the ground. He moved toward the flames and Tony began to make sense of what he was seeing. Something large had crashed through the forest, leaving a clearly defined path of broken trees and fire in its wake.

  “It crashed over there,” Kurt said, pointing toward the spot where the flames seemed to begin. “Then it kept crashing and rolling through the trees further down.”

  The flames weren’t large and in fact much of them were beginning to extinguish as Kurt approached.

  “Wait,” Tony called after him as he clambered out of the truck “What is it? What crashed?”

  As crazy as it would’ve been, Tony fully expected Kurt to respond that a U.F.O. had just crash landed while he’d been asleep.

  “Meteor,” Kurt answered, still walking between the parallel lines of dying flames that led further into the forest. “I think it was a meteor!”

  The irony of what he’d just heard wasn’t lost on Tony as he considered the last thing Kurt had said before he’d fallen asleep. One more shooting star and we’ll call it a night…

  “Are you sure we should go over there?” he asked, trying to catch up. “We should probably call somebody?”

  Kurt laughed the suggestion off. “We’re not calling anyone until we check this out for ourselves first,” he replied.

  Tony wanted to argue the matter further but knew ultimately his drunken friend would not listen. Initially he was annoyed with the situation and the carelessness Kurt seemed to have regarding the whole thing, but it was short-lived. Tony was also very cognizant of the fact that if he didn’t go after him, Kurt could very well injure himself in his inebriated state.

  “Wait up,” he grumbled as he jogged after him.

  The two young men gingerly walked down the hill, careful to avoid embers that remained on the ground all around them. Tony could feel heat creeping up his leg and in his mind’s eye he pictured the soles of his shoes melting. They walked on for what he estimated to be at least another sixty yards when suddenly they came upon a large crater in the ground and in the center of it, a large rock with a crack in the middle of it. The odd object almost resembled some sort of galactic egg, Tony thought, but pushed the silly thought aside.

  “Wow,” Kurt muttered in a voice just above a whisper. “This is badass.”

  He then began to climb down into the crater.

  “Hey, hang on,” Tony called after him, but again, it was no use.

  Kurt tripped as he stepped over a hedge of dirt and tumbled head over heels. Tony chased after him, concerned that he’d hurt—or possibly burn himself. To his relief, instead of a cry of agony, Kurt began to laugh, an obvious product of his drunken state.

  “Are you alright?” Tony called after him. “Get up before you get burned.”

  “That’s the crazy thing,” Kurt said over his shoulder as his laughter subsided. “It’s not hot—hell, it’s cold.”

  “Cold?” Tony asked in disbelief. It was at that moment, he noticed it. The flames that were present only moments before were all but gone now, and as his eyes adjusted, he began to see a strange glow originating from the bottom of the crater. It was blue in color and it began to get brighter with each passing moment. “What the heck is that?” he asked, dumbfounded.

  Kurt shook his head as he too began to notice it. The luminescent substance was all over his clothes and hands—an obvious result of the fall he’d had. Overcome with his own sense of disbelief, Kurt place
d two fingers on the ground and scooped up a dollop of the strange stuff. He held it up so that Tony could see.

  “It’s freezing cold—feels like some kind of slime,” he said in awe.

  Tony looked on as Kurt studied the substance on his fingers, all the while the glow became more intense. Suddenly, with a cadence of panic seemingly coming over him, Kurt began to rapidly thrash his hand wildly as if he was trying to sling the blue goop off his fingers.

  “What’s wrong?” Tony asked, sensing his panic.

  “It’s starting to hurt,” Kurt replied, his tone worried. “This shit won’t come off.” Desperate, he then began to wipe the stuff off on his shirt, but to no avail. Whatever it was, it clung tightly to his skin.

  “Ow—OWW!” Kurt shouted suddenly, dropping to his knees.

  “What?!?” Tony asked, his own voice now stricken with panic. “What is it?”

  The blue substance began to spread over the rest of Kurt’s hand and continued onward up his arm. It then reached his neck and began to encompass his head. “Oh my god!” he screamed painfully. “Tony! Help me!”

  Tony felt his heart rate increase ten-fold but forced himself to stand. “St-stay there,” he stammered. “I’m going to get help!”

  Without considering the matter any further, Tony ran back to the truck, never looking back. Had he spent just a moment longer surveying the landscape around Kurt, he’d have realized his friend was not the only victim of the strange occurrence in the forest that night.

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