Sounded like gobbly-gook to Alec. “Um, okay.”
Danny laughed. “Yeah, it’s confusing. Took a lot of study for us to learn all about this stuff. There are very few reputable experts researching Bigfoots because there have been a lot of people pulling hoaxes, faking tracks, dressing in gorilla suits, and most people think it’s all a joke. But what the public doesn’t know is that they’re not all hoaxes. We can attest to that first hand!”
Alec sighed and nodded. Then he became quiet and pensive. He tugged on his father’s shirt. “Are they going to come back, dad?” Alec whispered.
Danny looked at Alec long and hard. “Well, we’re not gonna hang around long enough to find out.” He turned to the others. “We need to go.”
A wave of relief washed over Alec. Thank God.
Mr. Gonzalez watched the fear on Alec’s face, and thought for a moment. “You’re right. We need to get out of here before they come back.”
“Should we call off the alpha team?” said Mrs. Edgar.
“We’d better. They specialize in using force, capturing and killing. And we’re not ready to do either right now,” Danny replied.
“I’ll get to making some plaster casts of the best footprints,” said Mr. Edgar.
“Thanks, Elbert,” Danny said. “Also, any hair samples would be great, too.”
“No problem.”
Danny and Alec approached the front door, followed by Mr. Gonzalez and Mrs. Edgar. Entering the cabin, they began waking everyone up and announcing the decision to leave.
“Oh, thank God!” Emily gasped as she came to.
Mrs. Gonzalez, who had fallen asleep in a recliner, began chattering in Spanish as she stood, and Alec imagined she was saying something like, ‘It’s about time, since you brought us out here to this monster-infested forest!’
“They’re all gone?” Ken asked while he stretched his arms out and yawned.
Alec nodded thankfully. “Yeah,” he smiled.
“Good! Stupidhead Sasquatches!” Ethan said. His hair and clothes were all quite askew, as were everyone’s. For once, he didn’t stand out.
Mrs. Gonzalez entered the kitchen to begin making breakfast, but Mr. Gonzalez touched her arm and said, “It’s okay, Rosa, we’ll stop in Branson and get something. Let’s just get out of here.”
Her eyes were dark circles, and dust and debris covered her hair. She smiled. “Sounds good to me.” He placed his arms around her and hugged her.
The families each went to their respective cabins to pack, Danny and Alec to theirs, which was closest to the gravel entrance and the grass field that was beyond the entrance, and the Edgar family to the cabin on the other end, closest to the forest that was behind and next to it.
Alec and his dad packed quickly. Alec could sense that Danny wanted to get away from there as fast as he did. The previous night had been stressful and horrifying for them all.
Alec found a travel size pack of Fig Newtons in his backpack and remembered that he was hungry. He quickly ripped it open, stuck one in his mouth, and another in his shorts pocket to eat later. He put the opened package back in his backpack and zipped it closed.
When they were finished they walked back to the middle cabin, where the Gonzalez family were, and where the Bigfoots had attacked them. There were numerous pools of white in the yard where Mr. Edgar had poured wet plaster into the creature’s footprints. Danny explained that Mr. Edgar was allowing the plaster to set and dry enough to pick up the casts and take them with them. The plaster casts would record the size and shape of the footprints.
When they entered the cabin, the Gonzalezes were in the middle of an urgent discussion concerning Emily.
“… well, she’s very upset about last night, dear,” Mrs. Gonzalez was saying to Sarah.
“I know, but she won’t come downstairs, momma,” Sarah replied.
“What’s going on?” Danny asked.
“Emily is apparently afraid to leave the cabin, and won’t come downstairs,” said Mr. Gonzalez.
Alec glanced at Ken, who sat quietly on a wooden stool in the kitchen, where the rest of them stood discussing what to do. Ken waved at him, and Alec waved back. He would have walked over to his friend, but he was listening to the adults.
“I could try to talk to her,” he offered, surprising even himself.
Everyone looked at him. Mr. Gonzalez and Danny exchanged glances, and Danny shrugged.
“You can certainly try, dear,” Mrs. Gonzalez patted his face.
“Let him try. It might help,” said Sarah, studying Alec.
Alec went over to the stairs and began to walk up to the loft, where Sarah and Emily’s room was. The stairs creaked and groaned as he ascended them slowly.
There was no light shining from the room, even though the door was open. Alec peaked around the door frame. The old shutters were still closed, blocking out most of the sunlight, except for a thin strip that shone on the worn red and green rug on the floor, with bits of dust floating in the sunlight like tiny fairies. The light switch was off, and the room was dark and shadowy. It was very warm in there, as the temperature outside was really beginning to climb, and it smelled old in the confined space.
Emily sat on a bed in the corner with her knees sucked up to her chest and her arms around them, hugging them, forming a protective wall to keep the world at bay. Her chin rested on her knees. Her open eyes were staring off in a daze. Tears streaked her cheeks like streams of sadness. She sniffled. Alec stepped into the room and tread carefully toward the bed, stopping a few feet away.
“Why is it,” Emily whispered, “some days you can feel so good, and others you feel so down?”
Alec could relate. But now it was someone other than him who was hurting, and he searched for words to help.
“It’s part of life, I guess,” he said softly.
Emily breathed in silence for a moment, then said, “I feel scared… and alone.” Her voice broke as she finished the sentence and her body shook with quiet sobs.
Alec shuffled to the bed and sat next to her. He awkwardly wrapped his arm around her shoulders and patted her arm. “This trip has been hard on all of us. Last night was like a nightmare,” he said, remembering Emily’s frantic screams. “It was scary and draining.”
But now Emily’s thoughts weren’t focused on the monster attack from the night before. They were somewhere else, maybe triggered by the stress of it, and lack of sleep.
“One time, “ Emily said, “I asked my mom why my dad left. She was crying in her room alone, and I came in and I asked her why he left, and she said he told her that he just doesn’t love her ‘that way’ anymore. So he left. And he broke her heart, and he left me behind. He left me behind.” She looked at Alec. “See? I told you that you’re not the only one who hurts.” Then she laid her forehead on her knees and hid her eyes. Her sandy hair mopped over her face like strands of silk.
The two of them sat side by side on the bed in silence for several minutes. Then Alec touched her face and Emily looked up at him.
“You’re not alone, Emily. I’m here. Your dad may be gone, and your mom’s not here, but I am. Don’t be lonely. Don’t be sad.”
Her eyes filled again with tears. She laid her head on his shoulder and he hugged her tighter.
A half hour later Alec and Emily stepped slowly down the stairs, holding hands. Everyone was sitting in the living room, waiting, including the Edgars. All heads turned to Alec and Emily.
“We’re going to go outside for a few minutes,” Alec announced.
“Alec, we need to leave soon,” his father replied.
“ I know. We’ll just get some fresh air and be right back.”
His dad was exasperated, he could tell. Mrs. Edgar leaned forward toward Danny and said, “We think the Sasquatches are nocturnal. That’s probably why they left at sun-up. They should be okay for a few minutes.”
Danny sighed. “Well, hurry!”
Alec and Emily walked out the front door and descended into the
yard. Emily squeezed his hand tight as she looked at all the footprints. “Monsters,” she muttered.
“It’s okay, Emily. They’re gone.”
Alec led her across the gravel entrance and into the field opposite. It was a few acres big, ringed by forest. The grass was knee high and beginning to brown in the continuous summer heat. It rustled as they walked through it. The sun was hot on his head and neck. Insects buzzed around them.
It was strange. Here he was, holding her hand, but he no longer looked at her the way he did when they first arrived here. It was like he held her hand to protect her, to help her, as a friend. Just a friend. She hurt, and he wanted to help.
As they walked, she complimented him on his actions the night before. “When you slid on the floor and picked up the gun, and fired, that was pretty cool,” she smiled.
Did he really do that? It was like a dream. “Thanks,” he managed. “I don’t know where that came from, to be honest. It happened so fast.”
“Well, I was closest to the door, so if you wouldn’t have done that, I think that thing would have gotten me.” Emily shuddered.
Alec really was confused about it. About the attack on the road, too. The way his mind seemed to suddenly go into high gear, the way he could focus and see the details of everything around him when he was like that. His dad had expressed such frustration with his bad grades in school after his mom died, saying he was too smart for this. Ms. Cunningham had tried to help him focus, to understand the science and history that she taught, but he just zoned out. And he had come to believe that he really was dumb. That he’d never be able to do anything right again. But now…
Now, he didn’t know what to think. It was his clear thinking and actions that had helped protect them out on the road, and last night in that cabin. Where did that come from? Maybe he wasn’t dumb after all.
Emily stopped walking and gasped. Alec looked up and studied her face, which was contorted in fear.
“What’s wrong?”
Staring with eyes the size of dishes, Emily pointed mutely. Alec followed her eyes and peered over to their right. It suddenly felt as if some unseen hand had punched him in the stomach. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move.
Standing some one hundred yards away, at the edge of the field, was the same huge Bigfoot that had screamed and shook the tree outside their cabin two nights ago. Same silvery crest on its chest. Same build, like a linebacker. It’s dark face was sunk into its monstrously wide shoulders. Its beefy arms were long and muscular. It stood silent and sentinel, all eight feet of it, just staring at them.
Emily squeezed Alec’s hand so tight he thought it would break. Alec looked behind them. They had walked further from the cabin than they should have — they were past the middle of the field. The Bigfoot was closer to them than the cabins were.
They stood frozen in terror.
Then, to Alec’s utter horror, the Bigfoot abruptly dropped from its upright stance to all fours and began charging at them like a bear, huffing and growling.
Emily screamed. She dropped his hand and ran through the tall grass toward the cabins. Alec took a step back, tripped, and fell backward into the grass, in shock.
“AAAAAAAAAAH!” he hollered in panic. He pushed himself back up and stared at the monster roaring toward him. It was approaching fast.
I’ve got to lead it away from Emily!
It crashed toward him through the field like a runaway locomotive. Alec turned and took off, racing toward the lake, unsure of where to go. He was fast, one of the fastest runners in his class. And now, he was running for his life.
He could hear it grunting behind him. It was close! He began to zig zag, trying to stay out of its reach.
“YAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
In front of him, the water line was approaching. Now what???
As Alec approached the lake, a heavy hand slapped his back, knocking him forward, and he fell directly into the rushing torrent of icy lake water.
Inside the cabin, Danny’s blood ran cold when he heard Emily scream, from somewhere far away. He scrambled to his feet and rushed out the front door, followed closely by the others. Standing on the porch, he surveyed the yard, but the kids were gone.
Where are they?
“Holy mackerel, look!” Mr. Edgar shouted, pointing at the field to the right.
Far off, in the tall sunlit brown grass, Emily was running toward them as fast as she could. Danny scanned the horizon. But where’s Alec?
Then he felt light-headed and his knees nearly buckled. He spotted a large Bigfoot creature running along the shore away from them, staring at the lake. And in the lake, Alec’s blonde head was bobbing above and under the swirling water.
The current was too strong. Alec knew how to swim, mostly, and he kicked his legs and paddled his arms as hard as he could, but he just couldn’t keep his head above the water. A powerful undertow pulled him below and dragged him parallel to the shoreline, fast.
The water was frigid, bone-numbing. His eyes were open under the surface in a wide panic, bubbles surrounding his face, the translucent lake water distorting his vision and making it blurry. He pushed against the flow and shoved his head above the surface briefly, took a frantic gulp of air, and sunk back below again, over and over. Every time, he sucked in water in addition to the air, and began to cough, then choke.
I’m drowning!
Panic took over. Alec flailed about in a frenzied hysteria, now yelling out for help every time his head broke the surface. He sucked in more water. His lungs began to hurt, his stomach felt full.
Mom? She opened her eyes and smiled at him. The storm’s too loud, I can’t sleep. The rain’s falling hard and the thunder, the thunder… She reached up from his parents’ bed and touched his lips, saying ‘Ssshhh, your dad’s asleep.’ She got up, wrapped the soft green terrycloth robe around her nightgown, and walked him back to his bedroom, holding his hand.
His head crested the surface, gasping and choking, his face staring straight up. White cotton clouds floated on a background of bright blue like a painting. A hawk soared high above, elegant and proud. Beautiful, he thought, now feeling oddly serene. Then the current dragged him down again.
Don’t be scared, baby, don’t be scared, she whispered, caressing his face as he lay under his bedcovers. It’s okay, there’s nothing to fear. I’m here. I’m always here. And God is always with you. No matter what. No matter what.
Even when I die?
Especially when you die.
Alec closed his eyes. His strength was gone; his limbs felt like dead weights. He stopped fighting. His arms and legs were now open and spread eagle. His body was being pulled along, underwater, in the freezing current, flying, smooth and majestic, like that hawk up above. This is the end.
Danny ran so hard he thought his lungs would burst. The summer air was hot and moist. His breaths came in heavy gulps; his heart felt like it would explode. The grass in the field was high, and it was hard to run through. Far ahead, the creature ran upright and fast, following the shore, still staring at the water.
“GET AWAY FROM MY SON!” Danny shouted, angry and hoarse.
“Danny!”
Somewhere behind him he supposed everyone else was following him. They were calling out to him, but he didn’t care. If that monster tries to get my son, I’ll kill it. He held John Gonzalez’s pistol in his right hand, firm and tight. I’ll kill it!
Something crashed into the water and clutched onto Alec’s right arm. In a motion sudden and swift, as if in a dream, Alec’s body surged up and out of the water like Superman, and splashed onto the rocky shoreline, hard. The impact knocked the air out of him, and water ran from his mouth as he turned his head, coughing and gasping. He struggled to focus his vision, leering around wildly. Up above him, something large and dark loomed. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, still coughing. All at once, the figure came into focus, and Alec jerked in a sudden fright. It was the huge, eight foot tall Bigfoot, glaring down at him.
Danny had watched in horror as the Bigfoot had sunk its arm into the lake water and tugged Alec onto the shore. Now he felt helpless as the monster picked up his son, threw him over its shoulder, and lurched into an all out sprint away from the approaching humans. Danny stopped and raised the gun toward it, then thought better of it, afraid the bullet would hit Alec. And just like that, the creature stole into the thick forest and disappeared.
His son was gone.
Part II
This thing stinks like poop!
Alec was draped over the Bigfoot’s right shoulder, his head against the middle of its back, its arm holding his legs tight. The stench was overpowering. Obviously, sleeping outside in a heavy fur coat that never gets washed with soap makes one smell rather offensive. His sopping wet clothes drenching its fur probably made the smell even worse. And it didn’t help that he was staring down at its butt, which was a large bubble butt, covered with fur. Great. Just don’t pass gas or I’m done for.
The brown hair was thick and coarse and several inches long, on the back at least. It had thick matted clumps and over-all the hair reminded Alec of a dog or wolf or coyote, like he saw at the zoo. The immense body was warm, hot even.
Tree branches scraped against him over and over as the thing carried him through the dense forest. He could hear it huffing. Every once in a while it coughed.
He tried to struggle against it, to kick his legs, to hit it on the back, but it only held him tighter, really, really tight, almost crushing him, and growled, a low, rumbling, guttural growl.
Alec Kerley and the Terror of Bigfoot (Book One of the Monster Hunters Series) Page 9