Charlie cleared his throat and managed to speak. “Ian, there’s something not right here. I mean besides the obvious. Look, no drag marks on the ground, and they weren’t killed here. I mean, I’m pretty sure this is that couple of hiker-campers that we’ve been searching for, but there’s no gear. Where’s all their hiking gear and tent and all that? Ya see, they were brought back here to this animal’s den. But any animal that I know of would have dragged ‘em in here. Ian, there ain’t no drag marks on the ground!”
Ian inspected the ground then glanced up at Charlie. “Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Shit, whatever tore these poor folks apart carried their bodies into here from somewhere out there.” He pointed towards the massive boulder and the light of the outside world.
Charlie stood up straight and gathered his composure. “All right, Ian. We’re gonna get the hell out of here. Don’t touch a thing. Soon as we get out of this cave and can reach Bud by our radios, we’ll get him up here to see this all for himself. Then we’re gonna lock this son of a bitch down tight and try and find whatever has done this.”
Ian wore a mildly surprised look on his face as he replied, “Okay, but as soon as possible. I want to take some bite radius measurements and maybe even try and collect some saliva residue, hair, or any viable tissue for DNA that may link us to the animal before the Feds or other so-called experts take over and whisk all the physical evidence away. I know a guy, Matt Larsen up in Vancouver B.C., who has a lab. He and his partner can help us with identifying what animal, or animals, did this unless maybe it was done by some kind of homicidal maniac.” Ian got down on his hands and knees to look more closely. “No, it looks pretty self-evident that these are canine bites.”
He nearly gagged when he saw all the flies, maggots, and worms that were crawling all over the bodies, feasting on what little flesh and fat cells remained. He leaned back on his haunches, and with his flashlight held firmly in his right hand, he panned the white LED light up and down the victims as he rubbed his chin with his left hand deep in thought. “Hey, I thought you guys already had this place closed off due to the earthquake and the manhunt?”
Charlie, with a notably disgusted intonation, fired back, “Yeah, well obviously it hasn’t been shut down tight enough. Else we wouldn’t have got that anonymous tip to come up here about this unfortunate couple. Someone’s been here before us. Don’t know who, but I’m sure as shit gonna find out! Anyway, no doubt in my mind the same animal that attacked Rob Richard, one of our townsfolk, killed this here couple as well. Rob’s up in the hospital in Portland all tore-up from what he described as … Well hell, he said it was Big Foot that got him!”
Ian looked blankly at Charlie. “Big Foot? No shit.”
Charlie shook his head slowly. “No shit.”
“Wait just a minute. Look over there.” Ian waved his flashlight towards the pile of bones. “My God, there we have it. Tracks! Prints from the beast. In this soft ground, there had to be tracks, right? But my God, look at the size of them.” Ian and Charlie walked over to the bone pile to have a closer look at the impressions in the sandy dirt.
Ian knelt down to better study the tracks. “Charlie, look. Look at the size of these. Big Foot indeed, and no pun intended. But take a look here. The impressions look like some form of canis lupus track but much too large. I mean, these are enormous. An animal would have to be beyond freakishly large to make these tracks. And by the depth of the prints, this animal would have to weigh … My God, hundreds of pounds. Maybe close to four or five hundred or better. And check this out, there is also some kind of, well, heel-type impression it looks like. By the look of the track’s impression, it seems to be … Christ, it seems to indicate a gait of heel to toe. And apparently bipedal as well. Jesus … Here, take a look for yourself!”
Without further discussion, Charlie grabbed Ian’s shoulder and motioned for them to get moving. Ian stood up, and the two made their egress from the darkness.
Charlie and Ian made their way out of the cave, through the waterfall, and around the west bank of Little Merwin Lake. They were still shocked by what they’d seen and were dripping wet and shivering cold. Charlie reached for his walkie-talkie to radio Bud. “This is Charlie for Bud, come back. This is Charlie for Bud. Do you read?”
“Yeah, you got Bud. What the hell have you two been up to all this time? Why’s it taken so long for you to contact me? Come back.”
Ian looked on while Charlie continued talking to Sheriff Bud.
“Bud, we need you to drive to Little Merwin and pick us up. We got us a real situation up here. I’m not gonna discuss it on the radio. Might not be secure. So don’t ask me any questions. Just come and get us right away. Understand? You copy?”
Bud scratched his head as he stood with his left foot propped up on the door jamb of his Blazer’s driver door. He’d been stretching out his arthritic left hip when the call came over his radio. “Little Merwin? How the hell did you two get all the way up there? Never mind, don’t answer. I read ya. Could be other ears listening. Stay put. I’m on the way.”
Chapter 8
Discovery
Bud couldn’t for the life of him figure out how Charlie and Ian had managed to get up to Little Merwin Lake. He’d seen them both enter the caverns himself. Regardless, it would take hours and hours to hike to Little Merwin from the Ape Caves parking lot. Bud pondered the question over and over in his mind as he drove nearly sixty miles per hour up the gravel road. He lit out like a house afire to avoid any chance of being followed by Marsha Steward. Bud had sped out of the lava tubes parking lot so fast Marsha and her sidekick had no chance to get their equipment loaded back into their van. Bud knew he’d surprised them and that the odds were hundreds to one that they would ever catch up with him or have even a clue which road he would take. The gravel roads in the area riddled the hills like a spider web, and they all looked the same. Mostly, they were Weyerhaeuser Company logging roads that led here and there all the way to Mount St. Helens and beyond. One wrong turn, and they could be traveling for miles and miles heading to God knows where. For a moment, Bud almost felt bad about that, but he soon got over it.
Less than ten minutes after leaving the Ape Caves parking lot, Bud came tearing into the very small dirt parking lot located at the west end of Little Merwin Lake. He immediately spotted Charlie and Ian and at first glance could see they were definitely worse for wear. Bud laid on his horn as he sped towards them. Without hesitation, a very confused sheriff parked his Blazer alongside them both and climbed out.
“Well aren’t you two a couple of sorry-looking sights. Jesus in a Cracker Jack box, what in tarnation happened to you fellas? Far as that goes, how in hell’s bells did you manage to get all the way up here? Normally, a hike from the caves up to here would take nearly a full day, not that you ain’t been gone half of that. But I never seen either of ya come out of the cave.”
Neither Charlie nor Ian was quick to respond. They both had blank expressions on their faces.
“Are one of you two sub-geniuses gonna tell me what in the hell is going on?”
Charlie took one step closer to Bud, putting himself between him and Ian.
“Bud, you are not going to believe what we’ve seen. First off, we found bodies, most likely the bodies of the two missing hikers.”
Bud shook his head in sorrow. Charlie took a big gulp of air, gathered his composure the best that he could, and began, “But Jesus, Bud, that ain’t even the half of it. So listen up and listen good ‘cause I ain’t in the mood to be repeating myself—not just yet anyway. I mean the amount of paperwork I’m gonna have to fill out. And the number of questions I’m gonna be answering over and over to you and maybe the Feds and God knows who else is gonna be enough to fill two books.”
Bud interrupted, “Okay. All right, Charlie, let’s just stick to the facts of what you’ve got to tell me right here, right now. Let’s hear it plain, slow, and simple.” He looked away for an instant at Ian, taking into account his shock-glazed eyes
. “And Ian, don’t you be shy about laying it out straight for me neither.”
Charlie took a deep breath and cleared his throat. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to sum up all that he and Ian had seen, but he was going to try his best.
“All right, Bud. Me and Ian, we did like you told us. We entered the lava tubes from the parking lot and proceeded to check out the big cave beginning to end. All was normal until we got near the end, and now, there ain’t no end! It’s been opened up probably due to that earthquake. Opened up to an all new chamber where we found lots of artifacts and such. And now, there’s an opening from the outside into the cave from behind the falls next to where that giant boulder’s always been.”
Bud scratched his head as he looked over at Ian, who nodded. Charlie continued, “Bud, in the new part of the cave, we found bodies. A young man and woman, most likely the hiker couple we’ve been searching for. They fit the general description. Well, what’s left of them fits the description that is.”
Charlie paused to catch his breath and maintain his composure. Ian seized the opportunity that afforded and spoke up, “Bud, of course it all was as Charlie says. But I got to tell ya, something attacked that poor couple, and whatever it was, it was big, powerful, and now has a taste of human flesh. I need to get back in there as soon as possible and look further around for other evidence of prints, claw marks, saliva, bite radius, and whatever else might be useful in determining what animal or animals did the initial kill. I say initial kill because by now, there probably have been other lesser carnivorous scavengers that may have joined in on consuming the bodies after the fact.”
Sweat was forming across Bud’s forehead. He took his hat off and wiped the sweat away with his shirt sleeve before replying, “Okay, okay. Charlie, you stay here and call Dispatch to get the county coroners up here. Use my cell phone. It gets some signal from right here where we stand. I checked a few minutes ago. Not a strong signal, but it should be enough. No way it will hold signal up at the falls.” Bud handed Charlie his phone. “Better notify the state cops too! Meanwhile, Ian, you’re gonna take me to where y'all say that entrance behind the falls to the cave is. I’ll have a look around myself while you do what it is that you need to do. Just mind ya, we need to leave the scene as non-contaminated by our presence as possible. That will be about impossible, I know. And we’ll no doubt take shit from someone regarding it. Anyhow, let’s get going. By the looks of you two, I’m about to take a shower in the falls, am I right?”
Charlie had already gotten on Bud’s cell phone and was making the necessary calls. Ian responded while nodding and mustering a very small, insincere smile. “Yeah, Bud, you’re gonna get wet. You don’t happen to have a couple respirators or gas masks in that rig of yours, do you?”
Confusion flashed briefly across Bud’s face. “Gas masks? Oh right, the bodies are starting to get pretty ripe, no doubt.”
Chapter 9
Confirmation
Bud stood looking at the bodies and then glanced all around for tracks. He held a handkerchief over his mouth and nose. The stench from the decomposing corpses was almost more than he could take. As far as tracks, there were plenty of large prints of what looked like canine tracks, but they were different. Too large and very unusual.
“Okay Ian, now you’re the expert here. I’ve seen plenty of all kinds of animal tracks in my day—I used to do a lot of hunting around these parts—but hell, I ain’t never seen no tracks that look like these here. Except maybe some plaster casts of phony footprints taken by hoaxers and crackpots over the years. You know, the typical Big Foot crap that’s been turned into my office from time to time.”
Ian smiled at that thought. He’d seen lots of that junk himself in his line of work. Every single one-tavern logger town throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California that he’d ever visited regarding Big Foot investigations had plenty of the typical plaster cast footprints usually brought out from behind the bar as tongue and cheek conversation pieces, much the same as the equally typical Jackalope that stood stuffed and mounted on the walls. The castings for the most part were generally really bad fakes, but occasionally he’d be shown one that was at least intriguing, manufactured probably by a taxidermist with some basic knowledge regarding primate skeletal anatomy.
“Bud, these tracks are amazing! Nothing about them looks to be fake. We should take some plaster castings of them. Unfortunately, just wait and see. Like me, you’re gonna know what it feels like to have people thinking you’re a nut case or perpetrator of a hoax or both. You’ll see it in their eyes regardless of what they say.”
Bud was already one step ahead of Ian. He knew that stories around these parts tended to grow larger down the line whether fact-based or otherwise. The last thing he wanted was to get a reputation as a crack pot. That could devastate his career or at least severely damage his much-deserved reputation as a level-headed law enforcement professional and a highly respected member of his tiny community.
“Yeah Ian, we’ll get some casts made of these prints, but let’s keep this tuned to the down low, if you get my drift. Stay away from saying anything to the media about any of this. We clear on that?”
“You bet, Bud. No problem. I know why I’m here and who’s paying the bills. Besides, there’s the bigger picture here, like the total mutilation of that young couple over there.”
Ian gestured towards the decaying corpses of the hiker couple. Bud suddenly felt bad about not sounding more concerned regarding the deceased and instead worrying if reporting weird tracks could potentially damage his reputation.
“Yeah Ian, of course you’re right. Much bigger picture! That must have sounded pretty cold on my part. Hey, anyhow, I trust you to do the right thing regarding a gag-order ‘bout all of this.”
Ian smiled slightly and shook his head to help ease Bud’s concern. He knew this was a lot of pressure for the small-town sheriff to shoulder. He continued to look all around the cavern walls and proceeded back over to the large boulder that appeared to serve as a would-be doorway.
“Jesus Christ! Bud, get over here and take a look at this!”
Bud had been kneeling over the couple’s bodies to get a closer look at their remains. He quickly stood and nearly ran over to where Ian stood staring slightly upwards.
Ian had his flashlight focused on the left edge of the large boulder about seven feet above the ground.
“Bud, would you take a look at these massive scrape marks in the stone? And mind you, this is solid granite! You see that? You see the blood, a bit of what looks like dark grey animal fur, and … Holy shit, look up there. Just a little higher up. That looks to be maybe … like a broken claw-nail buried in the stone?”
“Good God Almighty, Ian, I believe it is. Can you reach it?”
“Yeah, Bud, I think I can. Here, hold my flashlight. I’m gonna try and get to it. I’ve got a knife kit with multi-tool on me. The small pliers should do the trick.”
Ian retrieved his tool from its sheath that was fixed to his belt and began to stretch as high as he could to reach whatever it was that was lodged into the boulder. Before calling Bud over to have a look, Ian had already stealthily collected some blood and hair samples from the boulder. He had tucked the samples into a small glass vial that he habitually kept on him in his field vest for just this sort of thing.
“There. Bud, I got it! Good God, you got to look at the size of this thing, and it appears to be just a broken-off piece of nail!” Ian thought, Nice! We’ve got plenty of DNA to use to identify this thing.
Bud was relieved that Ian was able to get the sample without hurting himself. “All right, Ian, good job. Get it down here so I can have a look-see!”
At that very moment, Bud and Ian heard faint voices from just the other side of the falls.
“Bud, Ian, it’s Charlie. I got the coroner, Dan Sparling, with me. We’re coming in!”
Bud was surprised by how fast the coroner had arrived. He glared emphatically into Ian‘s
eyes. “Ian, quick. Stow that claw, or whatever the hell it is, in your pocket.”
Chapter 10
The Wait
In the back parking lot of Harmony Falls High School a teenage boy nervously paced back and forth. The boy glanced at his watch. 7:37 p.m. She’s more than half an hour late, he thought. He suspected it was probably due to her father. He’d been stood up. But just as he climbed back onto his nearly vintage, partially restored Kawasaki dirt bike, she came rolling into the parking lot in her shiny, like-new Honda Civic, a birthday gift from her protective, prejudiced-to-the-extreme father. Her father hated him. Hated him for who and what he was.
“Shit, Katie, I’ve been freezing my ass off waiting for over a half hour! What kept you? As if I don’t already know!”
“God, Jeremy, you know how he gets. Fuck, he drilled me with a thousand questions about where I was going. But it’s cool. I told him I was going over to Becky’s to help her with homework. He can’t stand Becky’s parents, so no way he’ll call them. If he calls at all, it will be my cell, and I just won’t answer. I’ll tell him I left it in the car.”
Jeremy laughed and shook his head while he flicked what was left of his cigarette onto the pavement.
“Yeah, right. Like he’s gonna buy you not having your cell in hand at all times. Christ, Katie, he knows you’d like go into some kind of spaz attack if you couldn’t text your friends every few minutes.”
Loup-Garou: The Beast of Harmony Falls (The Ian McDermott, Ph.D., Paranormal Investigator Series Book 1) Page 5