Mrs. Gonzalez burst out the front door of the center cabin and rushed at Ken, shouting something in Spanish. Ken passed Alec as he trudged back from the water’s edge, and Alec murmured, “Good throw.”
Ken smirked in response while wading into a torrent of his mother’s exclamations. Sarah and Emily appeared, and Sarah said, “Nice going,” to her brother as they approached Alec, who stood under a Sycamore half-way between the cabins and the lake. Alec’s pulse quickened at the sight of them, especially pretty Emily.
“So who’s staying in the extra cabin?” Sarah asked him.
Alec was flashing an uncomfortable, close-lipped smile at Emily, who was appraising him with a critical look. Finally, he broke the smile to answer. “My dad says there’s no one staying there; we’re just using the first two cabins.” Then he began smiling awkwardly at Emily again.
“Well, no one’s used any of these cabins for a long time. They look abandoned,” Sarah observed, peering back at the cabins.
Alec broke his frozen smile again. “Really? Oh, that’s great. And there’s probably no Jacuzzi either, is there?”
Both girls laughed. “No, of course not!” Sarah replied. “Why would you ask that?”
“Why, are your muscles sore?” Emily asked, suddenly verbal.
She thinks I have muscles? Alec beamed at Emily sheepishly, tongue-tied.
“Everyone, inside! Let’s go! It’s past dinner time,” announced Mrs. Gonzalez, who had finished scolding Ken.
The seven vacationers gathered around a large dining table in the center cabin, where the Gonzalez family had settled, for a hastily prepared feast of ham sandwiches and potato chips. Alec was seated between his father and Ken, close to a rectangular window. The cabin was so old that all the windows actually had wooden shutters, which could be closed to cover them from the inside. Now the shutters were folded open, and as he ate, Alec watched the transformation of the forest from bright, sunlit, and green, to dark and foreboding, as the sun set.
Twilight approached slowly, and long tendrils of shadows slunk between the innumerable trunks of Aspens, Oaks, and Sycamores like snakes of darkness. Under the cacophony of intermingled voices chatting and laughing, and plates and glasses clinking on the oak table, Alec heard the high chirping of crickets and locusts from outside. They sound lonely… lonely in the middle of a crowd of their own, he thought, looking around the table.
“They’re gonna go somewhere after dinner!” Ken whispered into his left ear.
Alec blinked and glanced at him. “What? Who?”
“Shhh! My dad and yer dad.”
“Where?”
“I dunno, but this’s our chance!” Ken hissed.
“You’re close,” Danny peered at Alec, smiling.
Alec jumped and Ken’s eyes grew wide. Alec turned to his dad, shaking his head. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, if you’re discussing the rules of journalism, it’s Who, What, When, Where, and Why.”
“Aaaaaaand, how!” Mr. Gonzalez said, giving a wide wave like a character from the Little Rascals. The two men looked at each other and burst out laughing, and Alec rolled his eyes. Ken sighed in relief, while Sarah and Emily looked confused.
Mrs. Gonzalez shook her head and smiled at her husband and Danny. “Ay yi yi, I swear, you two are like a couple of kids!”
After helping to clean up the table under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Gonzalez, Alec and Ken stepped outside onto the creaky porch. Through the overhanging tree branches, the peaceful sky was a blanket of glittering diamonds on black velvet. They could smell the lake, fresh and earthy, on the light breeze that rustled the leaves around them, and they listened to the water lapping at the shore. Alec breathed in the tranquility, held it for a moment, then exhaled slowly, hoping to exhale his tension into the bottomless night. It did seem to work, a little. He smiled at Ken, who jumped in right away.
“Okay, listen! I heard my dad talkin’ to yer dad ’bout goin’ someplace where there was a report of somethin’, tonight!” Ken’s eyes were lit up with excitement.
Alec shrugged. “So, what can we do about it?”
“Go with ’em,” Ken grinned.
“H-how would we do that?”
“We can stow away in the back’a the car.”
“That’s crazy! How do we even know which car they’re going to take?”
Ken thought for a moment, then said, “Well, they’ll prob’bly use the SUV instead’a the minivan.”
That was probably true. Still, Alec didn’t like this idea at all. He wasn’t feeling nearly as adventurous as his friend. “Ken, we said we were just going to watch them—”
“An’ that’s all we’re gonna do. Ferm inside the car! Look,” he said, in response to Alec’s pursed lips, “we’ll be nice an’ safe! How could we be any safer than bein’ inside the SUV with ’em?”
“Safe from who? Monsters, or our dads when they find out we stowed away without permission?”
“It’ll be like we’re spies! C’mon, lessee what ther up to.”
Alec rolled his eyes and shook his head. Incorrigible Ken. “Fine.”
Ken put his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “Great! Come on!”
“Now?”
“Yeah! They said right after dinner.”
The two boys descended the stairs and slunk to the parked vehicles, which were unlocked in the midst of this wilderness. They climbed into the back seat of the Ford Explorer, then clambered over the seat, into the storage area behind it. There were some cases, like black suitcases, stacked back there, along with some supplies: flashlights, a tool box, and a wool blanket, which they pulled over themselves. The blanket was itchy on Alec’s exposed arms — he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans — and he began to sweat in the heat.
Ken was bubbling over with excitement and anticipation. He was full of vigor, always approaching life at full speed, like a bull charging a matador. And he was a good person to have on your side. This one time, at school, a bully with a face like a bulldog was giving Alec a hard time, right after his mom died. Ken came up and unceremoniously flipped the kid over his shoulder and slammed him onto the sun-scorched ground, hard. It knocked the wind out of the Bulldog, and that was the last time he bothered Alec. That little deed earned both Ken and the Bulldog after-school detention with Ms. Cunningham, their Science and History teacher, who made them clean out the hedgehog, newt, and fish aquariums, which was way more disgusting than it initially sounded, since the hedgehog has a litter box and likes to prick you with its quills, the newt is a slimy green lizard-looking amphibian that you have to clean by hand, and the filter in the fish aquarium is filthy and has to have the mold removed. But Ken took it all in stride. To him, being the friend that he is, it was worth it. So yeah, Alec decided, he would go on silly adventures with his friend Ken, even when that meant suffering under a scratchy wool blanket in the middle of summertime, sweating like a greasy pig.
After what seemed like an hour, but was probably closer to twenty minutes, their two dads emerged from the front door of the cabin, and opened the doors to the Explorer, climbing inside. The boys remained quiet as death. They could tell from the voices which of their dads spoke, as the men carried on a conversation that had begun before entering the SUV.
“— it’s about 13 miles to the west of here,” Mr. Gonzalez was saying.
“And it’s a gravel road, right?” replied Alec’s dad, starting the engine and backing the SUV up, to turn it around in the grass.
“Yep.”
“Is that the report that was compiled by those two new analysts, um, the, uh—”
“The Edgars, husband and wife team.”
“Okay.”
The Explorer had followed the gravel driveway from the cabins, and was now bouncing over a lip onto a paved road, the same one they had arrived on, the one that was so winding and hilly.
The sweat was running down from Alec’s scalp, into his eyes, stinging them. It was also streaming down his nose and dripping off, and s
ome of it made it to his mouth, tasting salty. He wiped it on the blanket. Protected from sight by the barrier of the back seat, the boys cautiously tugged the blanket down off their heads as a welcome respite from the heat and darkness. The illuminated dashboard cast a faint glow around the inside of the vehicle so the boys could see each other. Ken raised his eyebrows and beamed at Alec, as if to say, See, I told you we could pull it off! Alec responded with a crooked grin.
Their dads made small talk. Danny complimented Mrs. Gonzalez’s food, even when they were ham sandwiches, because the ham was home-cooked, with a deep smoky-sweet flavor, and the lettuce and tomato slices with the sea salt and fresh-ground pepper just topped off the sandwiches. And was that honey Dijon mustard? Awesome. John agreed that his wife’s cooking was wonderful, which was why he was “putting on the pounds”. Both men laughed.
The SUV crunched onto a gravel road, and bumped along for a while. Then it seemed to turn onto another gravel road and continued on, under John Gonzalez’s spoken navigation. After several more minutes, Mr. Gonzalez said, ”Okay, I think it happened around here somewhere.”
Danny Kerley slowed to a stop, in the middle of the road, and shut off the ignition. Alec and Ken quickly pulled the blanket back over their heads and curled onto their sides, trying to resemble equipment covered by the blanket. The men got out of the truck, closed the doors, then suddenly opened the hatch to the back, where the boys lay. Alec’s heart skipped a beat, but he remained still.
Danny rummaged around for a minute, grabbing a few things, it sounded like, then slammed the hatch closed with a loud whump! Everything was suddenly pitch black.
“Whew! Tha’ was close,” Ken breathed.
“Yeah, I’d say so!” Alec responded.
They pulled the blanket back down and peered out the back window. Nothing but darkness. The sounds of their fathers’ voices were muffled from outside, from somewhere in front of the vehicle. Looking up, it was a relief to at least see the myriad stars, thousands and millions of them, with nothing to impede the view. Off to the side, about a quarter of the way up in the sky, a half moon shone brightly. After a few minutes, their eyes adjusted to the night, and they could make out that this portion of the gravel road was on a hill, with some trees on only one side. On the other side, the hill sloped far down into a valley, covered with grassland or a meadow, with no trees for a mile or so. After the far tree line, the forest was dense again.
“What the heck are they looking for?” Alec said.
Ken nodded his head. “Bigfoot!”
“Oh, whatever!”
“I’m serious! What else could they be doin’ out here?”
“I have no freaking idea.”
Alec watched the men outside. Each one held a lit flashlight, which they swung around to either side of the gravel road. Every once in a while one of them waved a hand around, as if to shoo away a mosquito. His dad appeared to be holding a box about the size of a shoebox, except perfectly square, and a dark, shiny color. After a few minutes, Danny hoisted the box up to his chest, and opened it. Mr. Gonzalez stood close, and reached in. He messed with something inside for a moment, then closed the lid again. Danny sat the box down onto the white rocks on the road. Then the two men turned off their flashlights, and stood silent.
And stood silent.
And stood silent.
This was creepy.
Alec began to sweat again. He could only muster a whisper in the awkward silence. “What is going on?”
Ken shook his head, confused. “No idea,” he whispered back.
The muffled sounds of their fathers talking had stopped. They were only standing in the middle of the gravel road, not moving, being completely quiet.
“Holy juice!” Ken exclaimed, in a half whisper, half yell. He was staring out the side back window, toward the grass field below.
“Shhh! What’s wrong?”
“There’s somethin’ down there!” he hissed, pointing.
A shiver electrified Alec’s spine. “Where?” he responded meekly.
“Look!”
Alec followed Ken’s finger toward the field. At first he didn’t see anything. Then he spotted what appeared to be a shadow of someone running across the field, in the moonlight. It didn’t look like an animal, on all fours. It looked like a man. A big man. A really big man.
Alec’s heart began to throb and gallop in his chest. His throat felt tight, and he could barely speak. “Wh- who is it?”
Ken shook his head. “Dude, I don’t know.” He looked back at their dads, still standing at the front of the truck. “They don’t see it.”
As Alec watched, the figure reached the tree line on one side of the clearing, and disappeared. “It’s gone.”
Ken swung his head back toward the clearing. “Where’d it go?”
“Into the trees.”
Ken sighed. “Oh my gosh. That was crazy.”
“Maybe they’re looking for some-one, instead of some-thing,” Alec murmured.
“Maybe so.”
Their two dads still remained quiet outside. They walked back to the truck and sat back against the hood, obviously waiting for something.
“Well, now what?” Ken said, more to himself than to Alec.
They sat in dark silence, the two boys in the back of the SUV, and the two men out in front of it. Alec was ready to get back to the cabin, and was becoming more impatient by the minute. His t-shirt was drenched in sweat. Ken just kept peering out the windows intently; first behind, then one side, then the other, then back to behind them again, over and over. Ken turned to look at their dads, and Alec glanced through the back window, directly in front of them.
There was something there.
Far off, in the middle of the road, down a slope, there was something standing up on two legs.
Alec’s throat went dry. He tugged on Ken’s sleeve, and Ken turned to him.
“What?”
Alec pointed at the back window. Ken stared. The black figure was swaying slightly from one side to the other, over and over. Ken was motionless and hushed. In the moonlight, it looked like the color drained from his face.
Alec couldn’t take his eyes off the thing, whatever it was. The arms looked longer than a man’s, reaching down to its knees. It seemed maybe a little hunched, sporting bad posture, and its head sat right on top of its shoulders, which looked outlandishly wide. And… was it getting bigger?
“What the heck…” he gasped. His breathing was coming in gulps of hot air, and he could hear the thumping of his elevated pulse in his ears. He felt light-headed.
Ken sat in stony silence, staring.
“Ken! What the heck is that thing?” Alec grabbed Ken’s arm and shook it. “Ken!”
Ken glanced at Alec from the corner of his eye, not turning his head, and his lips barely moved. “Bigfoot,” he whispered, barely audible.
Alec shivered.
The thing kept swaying back and forth, and it really was getting bigger. Seriously, really big. Suddenly a thought dawned on Alec, and he felt sick. It’s getting closer! It looks like it’s swaying because it’s walking toward us!
Alec coughed out a loud gasp. The sweat on his scalp felt cold. Too scared to move, he closed his eyes. In a panic, he tried to breathe deeply to avoid hyperventilating. His mind’s eye was a solid, deathly black. He could hear his breathing, heavy and unsteady. He could feel the fear emanating from his friend. He could feel the shivers running from his own head down through his spine. He was engulfed in the silence.
Then, from out of nowhere, in his mind’s eye, he saw the entire situation as if from above. In Technicolor close-ups, he saw the SUV they were in, and their dads sitting out on the front of it, and the creature outside, approaching the vehicle. And he saw himself and Ken, cross-legged inside the back storage area of the Explorer — Ken in a frozen panic, and himself with his eyes closed.
His mind raced back out to the creature, huffing and ambling toward them, stalking them, closer and closer. His mind
raced back to the front of the truck, to his dad and Ken’s dad, leaning against the hood, looking around them but not seeing the creature approaching from behind. What is happening? Alec had never experienced anything like this before. Was this due to stress? Then thoughts invaded his head and forced out all others:
Tell them! Help them! Save them!
Alec’s eyes popped open, wide and horror stricken. He hit Ken on the shoulder and shouted at him. “Come on, Ken! We’ve got to tell them! Come on! Come on!”
Ken shook, as if coming out of a trance, and stared at Alec.
“Ken! Come on! We need to tell them!”
Ken gasped. He nodded his head. “Right! Let’s go!”
Alec climbed over the back seat, and Ken followed. Alec opened the passenger side back door, which lit up the inside of the SUV. He was suddenly engulfed in a terrible, rotten eggs, sick skunk odor, which almost made him vomit. He pushed his head out, and glanced back at the figure approaching. It was getting close! And it was huge! It must have seen him, because all at once, as if from the cave of Hell, a low, guttural growl flowed from it, long and aggressive. Alec shuddered. Then he jumped out and ran to the front of the truck, followed closely by Ken.
Alec’s dad and Mr. Gonzalez had already turned to face them, having heard the menacing growl. Danny Kerley appraised Alec in astonishment.
“Alec! What the heck are you two doing here?”
“Dad! We’ve got to go, now!” Alec shouted. “There’s something behind the Explorer, and it’s coming this way!”
Ken pulled on Mr. Gonzalez’s hand, toward the truck. “C’mon, let’s get outta here!”
The two men glanced at each other somberly, then back toward the moonlit, hairy beast. It was maybe fifteen feet behind the Explorer now, walking steadily, and it was a giant, at least eight or nine feet tall, thick, wide, and dark. And growling.
Danny gawked back down at Alec. He grimaced. “Okay, let’s go!” He rushed over to the black box that sat on the gravel, grabbed it, and pulled Alec behind him to the driver side of the SUV. Ken ran behind his dad to the passenger side, and jumped in, crawling through to the back seat. Alec joined him.
Alec Kerley and the Terror of Bigfoot (Book One of the Monster Hunters Series) Page 3