Loup-Garou: The Beast of Harmony Falls (The Ian McDermott, Ph.D., Paranormal Investigator Series Book 1)

by David Reuben Aslin

  Charlie and Ian both nodded. Bud continued, “After I’m done jawing with that news lady, I’ll do some looking around here topside all about. Once you’re both a ways down inside the tube, give me a holler over the radio. The code to tell me you’re okay is … Ah hell, just tell me you’re okay. By that time, I don’t give a good Goddamn if that news lady hears us or not.”

  Charlie almost laughed at Bud. He’d been all through the cave systems countless times as a boy and as a young man, and he was still nimble as a mountain goat. He looked straight into Ian’s eyes and said, “Sure Bud, whatever you say. Long as this white boy can keep up, no problem!”

  Ian, who had done plenty of cave spelunking in Mexico and South America years ago, remarked with a confident voice, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep up!”

  Chapter 6

  Darkest before Dawn

  After nearly an hour had passed, Charlie and Ian were deep within the cavern, and Ian was beginning to rapidly fatigue. He stopped for a moment and propped himself up against the cavern wall to rest, where he noticed and began studying various abundant cave drawings that were prevalent all around where he stood. One large grouping of rock art was located high above him near the cave’s roof.

  “Wow, look at all these magnificent drawings. My God, there’s both pictographs as well as petroglyphs all around this section. By looking at the difference in the art styles, and I mean the difference in the clay and charcoal drawings versus the engravings in the stone, well, taking into account the greatly varied symbols one from the other, I’d guess these somewhat cuneiform-like drawings and etchings are from more than one culture. Cultures probably separated by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.” Ian pointed with his flashlight up at the symbols located directly above his head. Hoping to perhaps make points with his Indian companion by demonstrating his expertise, he began to elaborate more fully, “One group is definitely Native American, maybe ancestors of yours. By the looks of the pictures depicting hunting and fishing, they were no doubt Kawlic peoples of the Cowlitz tribes. But some of these petroglyphs would suggest …”

  Charlie interrupted, “Look, Professor White Eyes. We’re not here to look at the pretty pictures drawn by my ancestors. Let’s stay focused. The cave goes on for a ways yet.” He motioned with his flashlight for them to get moving. After taking a few steps forward, Charlie stopped midstride, staring, straining his eyes as hard as he could, trying desperately to focus on what had suddenly caught him by surprise.

  There was light where there shouldn’t be. Around a hundred yards up ahead was the type of light that, even at that distance, didn’t appear to be from any flashlight or lantern due to its apparent fixed position.

  Charlie looked back at Ian, who was about ten feet behind him. He motioned, waving his flashlight, signaling Ian to catch up. “Mister Scientist Man, you might have some usefulness yet ‘cause something’s going on up ahead that’s more than peculiar.”

  “What?” Ian replied. He ended his rest and quickened his pace. In seconds, he was caught up to Charlie.

  “Charlie, what … what do you mean … peculiar …?”

  Charlie never glanced away from what he was focused on.

  “Up ahead there. You see that light with those expert eyes of yours?”

  Ian was beginning to get fed up with the way Charlie had been talking to him. But for the time being, he chose to keep his temper in check. “Yeah, what about it?” he replied with little concern.

  Charlie glanced just for a moment at Ian. With a disgusted look on his face, he fired back, “What about it? What about it? I thought you were an educated scientist or some shit. That light up there it … It can’t be. That’s all.”

  Ian knew from what he’d already been told about the lava-tubes that they were dead-end caverns. He also had seen the faint light a moment earlier, but it hadn’t registered with him.

  Charlie didn’t let on to Ian how surprised he actually was. “Something wrong with your white eyes? That don’t look like no light from a flashlight or lantern. That’s the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Problem is, the cave comes to a narrow end just up ahead. No opening to the outside.”

  The two quickened their pace as they moved forward, heading towards the ever-increasing light.

  The cave was progressively narrowing as they moved ahead another seventy feet or so. There was loose rock and upturned, sizable stones and churned earth all about them and so much disturbed cave wall and ground that you wouldn’t need to be a geologist to understand that it reflected a recent occurrence.

  “This is—was—the end of the line. Must have caved away. Must have opened from that earthquake. This right here’s been the end of the line for hundreds or maybe thousands of years.”

  Ian began looking around. “This is all newly-disturbed granite and soil. Other than dynamite, no other explanation beyond a significant seismic event could have caused such collapsing of the thick rock wall.”

  Charlie and Ian began to make their way up and over the large stones and churned earth into an entirely different chamber, a never-before-known part of the lava tube cave system. They glanced at each other as they both realized theirs might very well be the first human eyes ever to view it.

  Chapter 7

  Tomb

  Charlie and Ian kept moving forward into the cavern. The light grew brighter as they moved forward. They switched off their battery-powered torches and began looking all around the large chamber, marveling at the abundance of ancient rock art and Indian artifacts that lay strewn all about. They realized that they were standing on the site of an enormous, perhaps monumental, archeological find. The abundance of never-before-discovered or tomb-raided, hand-crafted antiquities was beyond either’s comprehension.

  All around them were spears, arrowheads, and woven baskets. Artifacts that though partially covered in dust and debris otherwise looked nearly new. Silver and turquoise jewelry sparkled in the dim light. The entire chamber was filled with ancient, lower Columbian Indian wares, a people who had once flourished in the area since time immemorial but now had few surviving descendants, Charlie being one of them.

  Ian, catching his breath, said, “My God, this is … All of this is just unbelievable!”

  For the first time since they’d met, Charlie didn’t have a sarcastic or condescending reply. He nodded his head in agreement as he said, “You got that right! Man, this part of the cavern hasn’t been accessible or even known about for … I don’t know, pretty much forever! I heard stories when I was just a kid told to me by my grandfather of a secret, ancient burial place for what he called the “old ones.” A burial place that was rumored to be somewhere around this area. But understand when it comes to legends of my people, more often than not they’re nothing more than stories. And as far as my grandfather or any of our tribal elders talking about whether it even really existed and if so, whether it was located somewhere around this area, well, that could mean practically anything! The concept of distance in terms of miles was a vague concept. Distance was measured more like … it’s a one or two day walk in this or that direction, if you get my drift. There’s all that, and I learned at a very early age that you have to take certain things my grandfather has to say with a grain of salt, especially when it comes to his often exaggerated stories about our ancestral people. Anyway, where I was going with all this, is in one of his many stories, he told me of a burial ground of the “old ones,” a place that holds the graves and treasures of chiefs from the beginning of my people up to when the white European fur traders, explorers, and settlers first began their invasion into our land. A burial chamber whose secret location was never to be spoken of to the white man, nor ever written down so it would never be discovered and desecrated. Well, I guess the jig’s up now. All we can do is try and keep this quiet and close off this cavern to the public until the right authorities determine what to make of it all. And keeping anything, especially something as big as this, on the down-low, well, in these par
ts, that ain‘t gonna be easy!”

  Charlie and Ian were nearly giddy by all that surrounded them, excited as little boys in a candy store. Charlie took a deep breath then continued, “Bud or I will have to notify the local tribal council and all the proper authorities. Then, with any luck, before all the arrow-head collecting vultures catch wind and rob this site blind, archeologists and museum people can find a proper place for it all. I’ll tell you this: From now on, I’m gonna start giving more credence to my grandfather’s stories!”

  Blank-faced, Charlie took a deep breath as he looked into Ian’s eyes. But within seconds, his upper lip began to quiver until he could maintain his poker-face no longer and began grinning. His smile began small, but it soon overtook him as he began exhaling his deep breath. Charlie began beaming as he slowly shook his head side to side. Ian couldn’t help himself. He smiled wide in return while nodding.

  After a few seconds of mutually excited light-heartedness, Charlie suddenly became still as a statue. “Wait, you hear that? That faint sound, it sounds like rushing water! We’re approaching or are at least near, well, Harmony Falls would be my guess. If I’m right, that would put us back on reservation land, which borders the falls and Little Merwin. Anyway, again, if I’m right and we are near the falls, that would explain why this all has gone undiscovered. Well, that and the fact that the cave never had that opening we came through before the earthquake. Anyhow, nobody, no archeologists or such has ever been granted permission to dig anywhere around here. Little Merwin and Harmony Falls is sacred land to my people, and now I’m beginning to understand why. Sacred burial grounds that is! Ian, listen. We take nothing, we disturb nothing, we tell nobody but Bud about this. Are you clear on that?”

  Ian was a little perturbed at even the suggestion that he would disturb a site of such historical significance, tribal land or otherwise. He took a shallow breath, then stared wide-eyed at Charlie before answering, “Crystal clear! Charlie, you don’t have to worry about me. I wouldn’t dare touch a thing. This is of course too important to history as well as to your tribal elders and people. This is the stuff for professional archeologists to excavate, catalog, and put into some museum. But know this, once the news of this site leaks out, and believe me, somehow it will and sooner than you think—not by me, mind you. But it’s not if, it’s when it does—you and Bud are gonna have your hands full just trying to keep tomb raiders and hosts of Weekend Warrior cave spelunking ravagers and arrowhead collectors out.”

  Charlie believed Ian was sincere, and he found it increasingly difficult to maintain his initial instinctual dislike for Ian. “Well, white boy, at the very least, when we do lift the gag on this, you’ll once again get to see your name in the papers as co-discoverer. And I guess for a guy in your line of work, that kind of publicity might just end up payment enough, right?”

  They both laughed. Then Ian replied, “Yeah, a little positive press never hurts business. And hey, thanks. I mean, for including me as co-discoverer!”

  “That’s right, white boy. Hell, maybe I’ll stay out of the limelight altogether. Give you full credit. Ah, who am I kidding? Screw that. Of course I’ll take the credit!”

  They both laughed. Charlie then motioned for them to continue forward in the direction of the light and the increasing sound of rushing water. As they progressed forward, they found an ever-increasing amount of puddles of stagnant water. The cave walls steadily bled moisture. The cavern’s ceiling dripped droplets of water that splattered with more and more intensity upon the men’s necks and heads. And there was an almost indescribable stench that was growing stronger with each step they took.

  After walking ahead for what seemed to be maybe another seventy-five yards, a hike that was heading steadily up hill at what Ian estimated to be about a four-percent grade, they came upon another, even larger open area of the cave. Beyond that, not thirty more feet ahead, was the source of the light and sound they had been heading toward. At the threshold of the source of illumination stood an enormous boulder, one that at first glance seemed to have been rolled aside, exposing a crescent moon-shaped doorway to the outside world. From their vantage point, Charlie immediately estimated the opening to be around eight feet high and maybe four feet wide. As they approached the massive stone, it became evident that the opening led to the back side of Harmony Falls. There simply was no other waterfall of its size anywhere around the area. Charlie and Ian looked at each other, knowing that this also was another first. Charlie knew of the giant granite boulder that was behind the falls, but to his knowledge, nobody had ever dreamed that there was a cavern behind the massive rock. At no time of the year was there even room to move around much behind the falls, other than to walk or stand on an extremely narrow path behind the cascading water with one’s body nearly pressing up against the giant stone. The stone itself appeared to be a natural formation that seemed to fit precisely into the backdrop of the falls.

  The water pounded with fury just beyond where they stood. Thunderous noise echoed all around them. Even if they shouted, the intense noise would make it difficult to hear each other speak.

  Harmony Falls boasted an approximately seventy-five foot vertical drop of cascading, frigid glacier melt-off. In no way was it the largest falls in Washington State, but it did present itself as a beautiful display of the power of falling, pristine water in all its glory.

  Charlie stood at the threshold behind the falls, totally astonished by the revelations of the day. He’d always prided himself in knowing the area like the back of his hand. But as impossible as everything had been that day, he felt justified about being right about one thing. They were in fact standing on reservation land. Never before discovered subterranean land, but reservation land nonetheless.

  The lava tubes, the caves, now went all the way from the Ape Caves parking lot, which was miles west from where Charlie and Ian stood, all the way to reservation land. Ian came over to Charlie, and both stood, so mesmerized by the moment that they hardly noticed that the fall’s heavy mist had nearly instantly soaked them both; they slowly, unconsciously began to shiver. As they looked back from the falls, they noticed that this part of the cave’s walls and floor were dankly covered with moisture-saturated vines, cave moss, and small varieties of ferns and ivy, seemingly clinging parasitically to suckle from the cavern’s life force. All of the plant-life amidst the dankness created a humid, steamy mist that hovered about six inches above the ground. The mist nearly covered their feet and swirled about as they walked.

  Charlie and Ian each ran their hands through their soaked hair and wiped the accumulating mist from their eyes, then began focusing on the massive slab of granite. Both surmised without uttering a word that such a mammoth stone must weigh several tons, but the ground at the boulder’s base appeared disturbed and revealed tracks in the mud and sandy ground that would have indicated to anyone, expert or lay-person, that the mighty stone had either rolled due to the recent earthquake or, as far-fetched as it sounded, had been forcibly rolled to create the doorway. Both Charlie and Ian were totally intrigued as well as confused by the sight and thought of it.

  “God, Charlie, the smell. I don’t know how much more I can take of it. It’s starting to make me feel sick!’

  “Yeah Ian, I hear ya. Smells … I don’t know, like concentrated road kill.”

  They both uttered small, nervous laughs. It was then, at the height of their confusion, that Ian stepped backward to get a better look at what they were viewing. After a couple moments of staring at the great rock, Ian stepped even further from the well-lit open area to the side of the massive boulder. Into the darkness he backpedaled, seeking to prop himself up against the cave wall, desperately needing to balance himself against something to enable him to lean over and stretch his back. His lower back had begun to spasm from all of the unrehearsed exercise. As he approached the cavern’s side, the stench became nearly more than he could bear. Just as he’d back-stepped his way nearly to the side of the cave, he stepped heel to toe onto som
ething that nearly rolled his ankle over. It made a crunching sound as it squished into the soft, sandy dirt beneath his foot. Ian looked down, and what he saw at that instant caused him to grow two shades whiter than the white boy Charlie teased him of being. He uncharacteristically let out an uncontrollable, unimaginably terrified scream!

  “SHIT! OH … MY … GOD!”

  Lying at Ian’s feet were the partially-intact, blood-soaked, nearly fleshless skeletal remains of what had not long ago been a man and a woman. There was a small portion of the woman’s hair, but it was impossible to be certain of the hair color in the darkness and with all of the gooey, rancid blood and mud that nearly covered both bodies. Regardless of her hair color, Ian and Charlie could not take their eyes off of the spectacle of how it somehow managed to remain clinging to the back of her partially-remaining skull. The hair had been pulled into a semi-pony tail through the back side of her chewed and bloody Seattle Mariners baseball cap. Charlie stood slack-jawed, staring at the aftermath of what had probably been beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. All of the corpses’ major organs had been removed, presumably eaten by some kind of large predator at the time of the assault. Or perhaps what lay before them represented not just the initial kill but further, later feasting. Neither Ian nor Charlie needed any forensic pathologist to tell them whatever had attacked these two poor people was much more than they could have stood a chance against. Their guts were probably the first things eaten. Then their skulls had finally succumbed to massive crushing from the jaws of what at first glance could have been a bear or cougar or, though rare, even a pack of wolves or wild dogs.

  Charlie began panning his flashlight all around Ian and the bodies. Within moments of searching the perimeter, he motioned to Ian to look just a few feet beyond the corpses at their feet. To both of their horror-driven minds, just a few feet away from where they stood was a mound of older, much cleaner-picked skeletal remains of humans and animals. For one uncomfortably long moment, neither could muster even a single syllable as convulsive quivers undulated up and down their spines.