Footprints

by Alex Archer

  After they'd rested and gotten some much-needed sleep, they could trek into town and see the sheriff. Annja wanted to ask him some questions and get his take on this David guy. She still didn't trust the story. It seemed far too strange to believe, even if Jenny was determined to do so. She'd obviously lost all sense of objectivity on the situation.

  And then there was the matter of the three riflemen. The sheriff definitely needed to know that he had those guys prowling around, looking to scare folks off for some unknown reason.

  Joey stopped up ahead. He gestured that this was where they would make camp, and Jenny immediately sank down onto a log, resting her head in her hands.

  Annja came up next to her. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Not necessarily for what I said but for how I said it. I should have waited until you felt better to explain how I was thinking things through."

  Jenny looked up at her. "You've always been somewhat impatient."

  Annja smirked. "No argument there. Time, I've found, is a pretty crazy thing. I don't like to waste it."

  "And sometimes—"

  Annja nodded. "Sometimes it gets in the way of my good manners. Absolutely."

  Jenny nodded. "All right. I don't agree with you, per se, but I appreciate the apology."

  "We've known each other too long to let this come between us."

  "Fair enough."

  Joey came back into the small clearing carrying armloads of pine boughs. He dropped them into a big pile and then left to go for more.

  "I could sleep for a day," Annja said. "I've been all over this forest for the past day."

  "Me, too," Jenny said. "I don't think I'll ever look at pine trees in the same way again."

  Joey came back twice more and combined the piles until he had a good area large enough for all of them to sleep on. He added some leaf litter, tested the bed and declared it suitable for sleeping.

  Jenny collapsed onto it immediately. Annja followed and then sat up when she saw Joey going out again.

  "Aren't you sleeping?"

  Joey nodded overhead. "Remember where you are? The Pacific Northwest? See that cloud? It's going to rain."

  Jenny groaned. "Not again."

  Joey smiled. "I'll get some branches and more boughs so we can have a waterproof roof over us. Once that's done, I'll get a small fire going to warm the shelter. In an hour we'll all be asleep."

  Annja turned as the first of Jenny's light snores reached her ears. "Looks like someone's already out."

  "Good," Joey said. "I'll be back soon."

  Annja watched him go and then turned to look at Jenny. She wondered what her friend had gotten mixed up in. Jenny was exhausted and she'd almost died tonight, and yet she seemed determined to continue her quest, regardless of the threat to her safety.

  Annja knew she'd go along. There was no way she could turn her back on her friend, not knowing what she did about the situation. Even if it was precious little.

  Jenny would need protecting. If not from the external threats like the mysterious gunmen, then from herself. Annja had seen obsession kill other people and knew that Jenny could easily fall prey to the same fate.

  I won't let her die, she thought.

  Joey came back into the camp dragging branches behind him. "She still out?"

  "Yeah."

  "Good. I don't want her hearing this."

  Annja frowned. "Hearing what?"

  Behind Joey, Annja could hear a low howl of some sort. It sounded like a cross between a coyote and a banshee. She looked at Joey. "What the heck is that?"

  Joey busied himself with thatching a roof together. "I don't know. Now if you'll help me make this roof, we can get to bed and hopefully forget we ever heard that. Because it's not something I've ever heard before."

  "Ever?"

  "Never," Joey said. "But whatever it is, it sounds like it's coming this way."

  Chapter 11

  Joey and Annja thatched a roof together more quickly than she would have thought possible. But Joey was a master at building shelters, and Annja had done more than her fair share of roughing it, so he got her squared away as he laid down the branches and boughs. He stood outside the shelter, even as the howling sounds grew louder.

  Behind Annja, Jenny stirred and then woke up. "What's that noise?"

  Annja shushed her. "Joey's making sure that the shelter can't be seen from outside."

  "He'd better hurry—it sounds like the source of the noise is close by."

  As if on cue, Joey's feet emerged into the shelter itself. Joey wriggled his body into the narrow entranceway and then he reached behind him to pull the last bit of pine boughs over the small opening.

  Annja started to whisper something, but Joey put his hand over her mouth and gestured slowly outside.

  It was close.

  Annja held her breath and thought she could feel Jenny's body shaking nearby. She'd better keep it together, Annja thought. Otherwise, whatever is out there will know we're in here.

  Annja closed her eyes and checked to make sure she could get the sword. As many times as she'd done so and knew it was usually available, it still felt good to double-check. There'd been a few instances in her past when she hadn't been able to use it for one reason or another.

  Joey leaned forward and tried peering through the branches and boughs to see what was outside. Annja strained her ears and thought she could hear something rustling around on the fringes of the camp area.

  Maybe it would simply pass through and leave them alone.

  She glanced at Jenny and saw her friend's eyes were wide with fright, and at the same time she could detect the curiosity that drove any true adventurer. As terrified as Jenny might be, there was a part of her that desperately wanted to creep out of the shelter and see for herself if the source of the noise just might be a real Sasquatch.

  Annja was curious, as well. Could this be the real thing? She almost laughed at the idea, but at that moment she heard what sounded like a heavy footstep come down on a branch that couldn't have been more than ten feet from the shelter.

  Joey's body seemed tensed. He had claimed to know most of this forest, but even he with all of his skill and knowledge was concerned about the creature outside of their shelter.

  Annja thought about Cheehawk and wondered if the wolf might be prowling around the area. Would it protect them? Could Joey call him in some way like he'd supposedly contacted his grandfather?

  She could imagine the great wolf leaping through the forest until it could launch an attack upon the beast outside. At that point, Annja could stand and draw her sword. The distraction would give her the necessary time to decide if she should simply kill the creature or not.

  Another howl erupted a few feet away and sounded so utterly dreadful that Jenny clapped her hands over her ears and choked off a scream.

  Annja's eyes blazed and ran with tears, and in that second she caught a whiff of the most horrible scent she'd ever smelled in her life. Hadn't Joey mentioned something about that with regards to previous big-foot sightings? Was this the real deal just outside? Could it smell them? Would it attack?

  Legends of the Sasquatch came down from the Native American tribes that used to live around these parts, and Annja tried to remember what little bit she knew. Supposedly it stood at least seven feet tall and would easily weigh more than three hundred pounds. Hair or fur covered its entire body.

  Joey wouldn't necessarily have grown up with the legends since his tribe had migrated from the Southwest of the United States.

  Another branch snapped outside the shelter. Annja's heart thundered in her chest. Maybe she should just leap up and try to rush it.

  It was still quite dark outside and she couldn't see through any of the boughs that Joey had laid over them unless she suddenly felt like compromising their position. It was infuriating to think that she might easily know with one simple glance if the Sasquatch truly did exist or not.

  Another branch snapped.

  Annja tensed. Was that sound closer than
before? Was the creature nearer to them now?

  It would be able to smell them soon. Annja certainly hadn't been out in the forest long enough to lose her smell from the city. It would cling to her like a musk that she felt certain any type of creature like a Sasquatch would easily smell.

  Jenny herself hadn't been out that long, either, and Annja knew that Jenny liked using scented soaps.

  That could be trouble.

  Despite his youth, Joey looked as if he was ready for a fight. Annja knew that even though he'd insisted otherwise earlier, he would fight if need be. But she also knew that Joey wouldn't purposefully look to harm something that lived in the woods around these parts. Joey considered himself a caretaker and protector. If the creature did indeed live here, then Joey would rightfully assume it had every right to protect its territory.

  Just like Cheehawk.

  A sudden scrape on the outside of the shelter made them all jump. It was like a heavy pawing at the structure. At first, nothing much happened, but then the scraping continued. It was trying to get inside the shelter.

  Jenny backed up until she was against the trunk of the tree that Joey had built the shelter next to. Her hand gripped Annja's arm.

  Joey glanced back at Annja and made a doublehanded grip.

  Annja frowned. Joey wanted her to use the sword.

  Great.

  It was bad enough that he knew about it. But Annja wasn't crazy about pulling the sword out in front of Jenny. For one thing, it would be one more person who knew her secret.

  And it might galvanize Jenny's belief that the Sasquatch did indeed exist.

  Although, at just that moment, even Annja herself was considering revising her previous hard-line stance against the creature's existence.

  Bits of branches and boughs came away from the shelter. The noises and scrapes were accompanied by a low whining howl. The volume was less than it had been before.

  But the fear still kept them all frozen in place.

  Joey nudged Annja.

  He showed her the small knife he carried and Annja knew that it would do no good if it came down to defending them against whatever was outside.

  It would be up to Annja to save them.

  How was she going to do this? The shelter was cramped and at close quarters. From past experience, she knew that drawing the sword required a minimum amount of space. If things were too tight, it simply wouldn't materialize.

  But one way or another, she was going to have do something soon. More branches and boughs came away from the shelter.

  Joey frowned and then whispered, "Annja."

  Annja nodded. "I need some space."

  The howling grew louder, as if the creature outside had heard them speak. The scraping sounds of more branches and boughs coming away increased to a frenzy. A constant assault on their position was under way and Annja knew that she would have to literally go through the roof.

  She figured she would have about three seconds to break out and draw the blade. She would need to be quick or she'd be completely vulnerable to attack.

  But what other choice was there?

  She turned to Joey and mouthed, "On three."

  Joey nodded.

  Annja closed her eyes. This had better work or else it was going to get ugly really quick.

  Joey tapped Annja's arm.

  One, two, three!

  Annja jumped up and crashed through the mass of pine branches and boughs that they had just thatched together a few minutes before. There was a ripping sound as the branches tore away from the top of the structure. Annja's arms went through first, followed by the rest of her upper torso.

  As she went through the roof, Annja closed her eyes and saw the sword in front of her in her mind's eye.

  She reached for it and felt the hilt settle into her hands.

  Annja opened her eyes.

  The outside of the shelter was a horrible mess. She hadn't realized how much work Joey had put into making it. Branches and boughs lay scattered at the base of the shelter.

  And there in front of her lay the creature.

  Cheehawk.

  "No!"

  Annja let her arms come down and released the sword. It disappeared in an instant. "Oh, my God, no."

  Joey poked his head out. "What's the matter?"

  "It's Cheehawk."

  Joey crashed through the remainder of the shelter not seeming to care about keeping it intact any longer. Annja could see the sorrow in his eyes the moment he saw the wolf.

  Cheehawk's entire left side looked as though it had almost been torn wide open. Bloody chunks of flesh clung to his fur and Annja could even see bits of white bone protruding through his flesh at odd angles.

  No wonder the sound had been so horrifying. Cheehawk was in absolute agony and had been dragging himself through the woods looking for Joey.

  Joey pressed his face into Cheehawk's neck and stroked the wolf. "Who did this to you?"

  Cheehawk's whine reduced to a whimper as he struggled to lay flat on the ground to rest. Behind them, Jenny came out of the shelter and cried out in shock when she saw the damage to the wolf.

  "Who would do such a thing?"

  Annja frowned. There were three people she thought might be likely candidates for such brutality.

  Joey looked at Annja. "It was them. They did this to him."

  Annja didn't say anything. Her heart felt heavy, watching the extreme agony that Cheehawk must have endured on his journey. He was such a beautiful animal and the reality of the situation hit her hard. Cheehawk would not survive his wounds.

  As soon as she thought it, the wolf lifted its head and stared at her. Annja felt like his eyes were peering into her soul.

  She shook her head. "No."

  Joey looked at her. After a moment he seemed to understand. "Annja."

  Annja kept shaking her head. "I won't do it."

  "You must."

  "No."

  "He's asking you to. Would you deny him the right to be free of his pain and suffering?"

  "Of course not, but—"

  Joey frowned. "There's no but. Those bastards didn't show him any mercy. They just did this and then left him to suffer. The cruelty and indignity of it is horrible."

  Annja felt her throat go dry. "I don't know if I can."

  Joey nodded. "You have to. He has asked."

  Annja walked behind the shelter and summoned the sword. She stared at it for a long moment and knew it was the right thing to do.

  Jenny gasped when she saw the sword Annja held. "Where the hell did that come from?"

  "Long story," Annja said. And then, as if she was in a dream, she felt herself walking toward Cheehawk. She knelt next to him and stroked his fur.

  The wolf looked at her. Annja could see the plaintive look and knew it would have to be done. She glanced at Joey.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Is he sure?"

  "Search your heart, Annja. You know it's the right thing to do."

  Annja took a calming breath. "I know." She stood and gripped the sword.

  Joey whispered something into Cheehawk's ear and then nuzzled him one last time. The wolf lay its head on the ground as if it knew just how to position itself.

  Joey stepped back.

  "Annja," Jenny said, "what in the world are you going to do to that poor wounded animal?"

  Annja shook her head. "Not now, Jenny. Not now."

  Annja raised the sword over her head. She closed her eyes. Forgive me for this. And may it release you from your suffering.

  She cut down.

  Chapter 12

  Joey managed to find a branch suitable for scraping a hole out of the muddy earth and got to work making a burial plot large enough for Cheehawk's body. When he'd finished digging it out, he laid a bed of fresh pine boughs, and then with Annja's help they carefully laid the mighty wolf in the ground.

  "I'm sorry," Annja said.

  Joey nodded. "He's one with the spirit that moves within us all.
At least he's not suffering."