Alexis

by Erica Rodgers

  Suddenly, Alexis stopped. McKenzie slammed into her from behind.

  “Why are you stopping?” she asked. Alexis pulled her video camera out of her backpack. She turned it on and searched the ground again for the tracks.

  “We might as well get this all on tape!” said Alexis. “If we find him, I’ll be glad I turned this thing on!”

  “Shh!” said McKenzie. “Listen!”

  The sound of barking dogs echoed through the forest.

  “The hunters,” said Rick. “We’ll have to be careful. We don’t want to be caught in the crossfire.”

  “Look at the tracks here,” said Alexis. “They are farther apart, and deeper, like Bigfoot is running.”

  “He knows he’s being chased,” said McKenzie.

  “The poor guy!” said Alexis. “He must be terrified!”

  A tremor rocked the forest floor and made the three of them grab a tree for support.

  “We’d better make this quick, ladies,” said Rick. “We can’t stay much longer.”

  Alexis took off through the forest, her camera at her side. The whole time she was following the prints, she prayed that they would find Bigfoot and that it wouldn’t be too late…for any of them. He was running straight toward the volcano, and the farther they followed him, the farther they were from safety.

  All of a sudden, Alexis heard a low rumble from somewhere behind them.

  “It’s a car engine,” said Rick. “Might be the hunters.”

  “Then we have to run faster!”

  Why were the hunters behind them? Weren’t their dogs up ahead? Alexis was getting confused. She shook her head and decided not to think about the hunters anymore. She just had to find Bigfoot.

  Alexis could still see the tracks. Now and then there were flattened ferns where Bigfoot had stepped on them. They had to jump a couple of fallen logs too.

  The barking of the dogs got louder, and so did the rumbling of the truck. They were still coming from two different directions.

  All of a sudden they broke into a clearing. The trees disappeared, and the three of them were standing in a ring of short grass spotted here and there with old stumps and mushrooms. Alexis saw movement across the clearing. She squinted and stopped in her tracks. There, standing on the other side of the clearing, was Bigfoot.

  He was shorter than Alexis had expected—about six feet. His hair was long and shaggy, and it got in the way, so Alexis couldn’t really see his face. Something about his build looked familiar to Alexis.

  It looked like he was going to start running again, so Alexis called out.

  “Wait!” she cried. “You’re in trouble! Come back!”

  The animal looked around frantically, like he didn’t know what to do. The dogs were barking on one side, and the roaring of a vehicle seemed to be coming from all around.

  “Come here!” shouted McKenzie. “We have to get you out of here!”

  “We may not be able to do that,” said Rick. “Ladies, I think my compass is broken.”

  They didn’t hear him. Alexis took off running across the field, just as a vehicle broke through the trees behind her.

  “Don’t! Don’t shoot! It’s not an animal!” Alex hysterically cried.

  Bigfoot turned around to look at her.

  “Don’t shoot!” she repeated as she saw the muzzle of a gun in the corner of her eye. “It’s not Bigfoot! It’s—”

  BANG!

  Alexis started to sob.

  “It’s Chad!” she whispered.

  An Explosive Ending

  Alexis turned around to see Ranger Davis holding a smoking rifle.

  “You?” she said. “But I thought you didn’t want him shot!”

  “I didn’t,” he said. “But if someone was going to shoot him, it needed to be me. I use tranquilizers not bullets. He’s only sleeping.”

  That’s when Alexis noticed the two Jeeps parked behind them. That must have been the noise she had heard. Two other rangers were dragging the Bigfoot toward their Jeep. She took a step toward him, but Rick held her back.

  “We have to go!” he yelled. “I know I said my compass was broken, but it looks like it’s spinning now!”

  “But we can’t go! It’s not Bigfoot. It’s—”

  “Now!” Rick demanded.

  “What did you mean?” McKenzie asked Alexis, but before Alex could answer, Rick grabbed her and thrust her into Ranger Davis’s Jeep.

  Ranger Davis pushed McKenzie into his Jeep too. A huge tremor rocked the earth just as Ranger Davis started the engine. The Jeep jumped a foot off the ground before slamming back to earth. Ranger Davis hit his head on the roof and then hit the gas, spraying dirt everywhere. He spun the Jeep around and tore through the forest with the other rangers right behind them.

  “What about Kellie?” yelled Alexis. “She’s still out there!”

  “No, she didn’t get far,” said Ranger Davis. “She got turned around and ended up back at the shop. When she saw that the van was still there, she knew you three had gone after Bigfoot, so she called me.”

  “I have to tell you something!” Alexis shouted to be heard over the noise. “Ranger Davis, that wasn’t Bigfoot—”

  “What?” He yelled. “Bigfoot? The boys back there will take Bigfoot with them. Look, I can’t talk right now. We gotta drive! We’ll talk later.”

  As if to emphasize his words, the Jeep took another leap.

  The Jeep bounced fiercely. Alexis thought it was just the roughness of the forest floor, but then she saw the trees swaying. Something much bigger was going on. Bigfoot completely slipped her mind. She kept her video camera going, but Alexis couldn’t help but wonder if she or the camera would ever make it back to civilization.

  They were almost out of the woods when it happened. A deafening boom rocked the air and made Alexis’s ears pop. A moment later, it felt like the Jeep had been picked up and dropped by a giant. Then everything was still.

  The sky was black, and ash drifted down on them like colorless rose petals.

  Back at the ranger station, Alexis couldn’t believe all that had happened. She was sitting in a plastic chair in the waiting room with Rick and McKenzie. All three of them were still in shock. Husky was lying at her feet.

  “But you said it wasn’t going to blow until tomorrow,” said Alexis.

  “I told you that we’re not always right,” said Rick. “We were really lucky that it wasn’t a mega eruption.”

  “Is it really over?” asked McKenzie.

  “Yep,” said Rick. “My boss says the mountain is quiet again. There’s a huge crack in the bowl where the ash plume escaped, but that’s it. There’s no lava flow, and no one is going to be vaporized.”

  Alexis couldn’t help but smile.

  “I guess that’s a good thing,” she said. “Aw, man! My mom’s never going to let me go anywhere again!”

  “Mine either!” said McKenzie. “We seem to attract dangerous situations.”

  Just then Kellie came out of Ranger Davis’s office. She gave bottled water to each of them and sat down. Rick’s phone rang, and he stepped outside to answer it.

  “Have you seen what the rangers caught this morning?” Kellie asked the girls.

  “Bigfoot?” said Alexis. “Yeah, we were there. But it’s not Bigfoot, it’s—”

  “Yeah, there the wild man is,” Kellie said. “Over there.”

  She pointed to a large cage in the corner. It was usually used for large animals that were hurt and waiting to be returned to the wild. Now, however, there was a person curled up in it asleep. Alexis couldn’t see his face, but she recognized the spiked black hair.

  “Jeremy Jones? No way!” Alexis said.

  “Yep!” said Kellie. She was smiling ear to ear. “I guess he made the rangers at the road block pretty angry. They said he got upset when they wouldn’t let him through. They handcuffed him and brought him down here so he could settle down. Ranger Davis said they would have put him in a human-sized cell, but they don’t have one.”


  By the time she finished explaining, Kellie was laughing so hard, she was crying.

  Alexis waited a moment until Kellie calmed down.

  “But Kellie, where’s—”

  Bang!

  The door to the ranger station flew open. Mr. Randall stood there covered in ash. His gun was nowhere to be seen, but he was carrying what looked like a very dirty young woman. His Alaskan malamute stood near him, whining.

  Roof! Husky barked a quick greeting and wagged his tail. Randall’s dog wagged its tail in reply.

  “Oh, my goodness, Randall,” said Kellie. “What happened?”

  Kellie jumped up and ran to Randall. She helped him lower the girl onto a couch in the waiting room.

  “Well,” said Randall, “we were using the dogs to try and find that monster when I heard a familiar howl. I knew it was my dog, and it sounded like he was hurt. I stopped chasing Bigfoot and started looking for him instead.”

  Randall reached down and rubbed his dog between the ears.

  “When I found him, he wasn’t hurt,” said Mr. Randall. “He was curled up next to this girl, keeping her warm. I think it’s the missing hiker. I guess the monster didn’t get him after all. My dog probably found her and didn’t want to leave her. That’s why he didn’t come home.”

  Kellie used her cell phone to call the town’s only doctor.

  “He’ll be here in five minutes,” she said. “If she wakes up before then, we can try to give her some water. She looks healthy, except her ankle is swollen and looks like it may be broken.”

  Alexis and McKenzie walked over to Randall.

  “Can I pet your dog, sir?” McKenzie asked. “He’s a hero, you know.”

  “Go ahead,” said Randall. “I’ve heard the two of you girls are good at solving mysteries. You and my pup here have something in common now!”

  “Speaking of solving mysteries,” said Kellie, “would the three of you like to meet Bigfoot?”

  Alexis had almost forgotten that they had caught Bigfoot. There was so much happening!

  “Grab your camera, Alexis, and follow me,” said Kellie. “You’re going to want to get this on film.”

  “But I already know—”

  “You’ll never believe what’s going on,” Kellie interrupted. Alexis was getting really tired of people not listening to her! “Bigfoot is actually—”

  “Chad!” Alex exclaimed. “Bigfoot is Chad. I know!”

  McKenzie looked at her in surprise. “That’s what I thought you said back in the woods, but I decided I must be mistaken,” she said. “I’d wondered…We just hadn’t had a chance to put our clues together yet.”

  Kellie just stared at them with her mouth open.

  “That’s what I was going to go show you,” she said, dropping to the chair. “How did you know?”

  “Well, there were a lot of things,” Alex said. “As one of our Camp Club Girl friends pointed out, a human-type of creature—no matter how tough his feet—couldn’t have made it through the woods without some serious injury and scars on the footprints.”

  “And then Kate, our friend, made a remark about shoes,” McKenzie said. “That made me start thinking.”

  “Me too,” Alexis said. “Who’s to say someone creative couldn’t make Bigfoot boots? And walk around in them.”

  “And then there was the fact that an animal like Bigfoot certainly wouldn’t wipe his feet on the rug before going inside,” McKenzie said.

  “Or use a key,” Alex added.

  “Then I thought I saw Chad’s truck hidden in the bushes,” McKenzie said. “And you said he wasn’t answering his phone and was probably in town, Kellie. If that was his truck, that meant he was somewhere nearby. But why would he hide his truck?”

  “And then when I saw him standing in his costume in the woods, well, he stood like Chad stands, and he was about the same height as Chad,” Alex finished. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes, the ranger thinks he’s alright. I can’t believe you two figured this out!” Kellie exclaimed.

  “Well, we had help,” Alexis said. “All the Camp Club Girls really had a part of it. They said things that made us think.”

  “Even the Camp Club Girls’ dog, Biscuit, gave us a clue,” McKenzie explained. “He barked at whoever was at Kate’s door because he always barks at strangers and threatens to bite them. Like Husky. Only Husky apparently let whoever it was in your house.”

  “And it must have been Chad outside our cabin at night making the noises to make us believe in Bigfoot. If it hadn’t been a scent or person Husky was familiar with, he would have gone crazy,” Alex added.

  “Well, that’s true,” Kellie said.

  “And even in the forest,” Alex said. “Husky wasn’t barking at Bigfoot. I saw his tail wag, so he apparently knew it was Chad in that costume. Actually, it was just like Sherlock Holmes’s story Silver Blaze. Some people call it the case of the barking dog.”

  “What barking dog?” McKenzie asked.

  “Exactly,” Alexis said. “The prize racehorse was stolen in the night, but the watchdog in the stable didn’t send up an alarm. The dog didn’t bark, and it normally would have. So Holmes figured out that the thief was one of the people who worked in the stable—someone the dog knew.”

  “You girls are amazing!” Kellie exclaimed, looking at them with awe.

  “I want to see Chad,” McKenzie said. “Is he awake?”

  Kellie motioned for them to follow her into Ranger Davis’s office.

  Two fury legs stuck out from behind the ranger’s desk.

  The girls walked slowly around the desk. There, lying on the floor, was Chad. A mask had been removed and was lying beside him. Everything except his face was covered in a hairy costume, complete with rubbery bare feet. Alexis started the video camera.

  “This is so Scooby Doo!” Alexis said with a big grin. Husky walked over and licked Chad fully across the face.

  “But why in the world would Chad be running around pretending to be Bigfoot?” Kellie asked, looking at her shop assistant.

  Alex smiled. “I think you can ask McKenzie that question. She’s the one who’s best at figuring out what makes people do the things they do.”

  “Kellie, have you had some low business in the past couple of years?” McKenzie asked.

  “Well, yes, it was starting to slip, but then the Bigfoot sightings started increasing sales and tourists,” Kellie answered. “I was a little worried for a while that I might have to let Chad go find another job, so I was really glad when business picked up.”

  Kellie was looking at Chad, her forehead wrinkled in a puzzled glance. Her head suddenly shot up, and she looked at the girls. “Do you mean that was it? Chad was trying to keep from losing his job by pretending to be Bigfoot and getting some publicity out there?”

  “Well, that might have been a little bit of it, but I don’t think that was all of it,” McKenzie said. “I think it’s a little more obvious—”

  “Oh, you do, do you?” Chad interrupted.

  Everyone looked down. Chad’s eyes were wide open, and his glance met theirs.

  “Man, what hit me?” he said, looking at Ranger Davis.

  Ranger Davis grinned at him. “Tranquilizer dart. Better be glad I only used a little one. You dropped so fast I didn’t think it was necessary. If you didn’t have that thick costume on, you’d probably be out a lot longer as it is.”

  Chad tried to sit up. He groaned and fell back onto the floor again.

  “I would stay put for a while if I were you,” said Ranger Davis.

  Garoror, Husky vocalized happily as he curled up next to Chad with his head on Chad’s legs.

  “Here, have a drink,” Kellie said as she opened a bottle of water. She squatted down by Chad and raised his shoulders. Then she put the top of the water bottle against his lips.

  “You don’t know how close you got to being shot by a bullet!” Randall exclaimed. “That would have killed you. And if I’d done it, I would’ve been guilty
of murder!”

  “You wouldn’t have if you hadn’t been hunting in the national park,” said Kellie.

  “It’s alright, Kellie,” said Chad. “I was being dumb. I shouldn’t have been out there today, but I wanted to give the scientists one last glimpse of Bigfoot before they left.”

  “All the clues make sense now,” said McKenzie. “The blond hair in the cave was yours, wasn’t it?”

  Chad nodded and then grabbed his head. “Wow, this tranquilizer’s given me an awful headache,” he moaned.

  “And you broke into the shop?” said Alexis. “But why? Why would you steal one of Kellie’s statues?”

  “I didn’t steal it,” said Chad. “I was going to put it back after everything settled down. It was my favorite too, and everyone was buying everything! I didn’t want it to get taken by someone who wouldn’t fully appreciate it, so I hid it.”

  “Why didn’t you just buy it or tell me you wanted it?” asked Kellie. “And why did you break the door off the hinges?”

  “Well, I didn’t quite mean to,” he explained. “But it’s a really old door, and when I was wiggling it to try to get it loose…”

  “It came off the hinges!” Alex guessed.

  “Yeah. Since you’d need a new door anyway, I banged it around a bit to make it look like Bigfoot had been there.”

  “I was afraid you would know why I wanted it,” mumbled Chad. He wouldn’t look Kellie in the eyes.

  “But why dress up like Bigfoot at all?” asked Kellie. “You didn’t have to go to that extreme to keep your job! We would have figured out something….”

  “But I’d been trying to figure out something, and that seemed to be the best thing I could figure,” Chad said.

  “But why?” Kellie insisted.

  “Well…” Chad paused and blushed.

  “Oh, Kellie, don’t you know by now? Chad didn’t just want to keep his job. He wanted to help your business. He wanted to make you a success,” said McKenzie.

  “I think I hear the L word in there somewhere,” said Alexis with a grin.