Forest of Savages - Rookie Burwick (books to read as a couple TXT) 📗

reached up and covered the wound with his hand. What felt like a flood of blood and puss came off onto his palm.

 

A stream of blood had made it out and onto his shirt. The blood-soaked area of his T-shirt stuck to his skin. Luckily, the creature hadn’t punctured his neck, or any other critical area. There was plenty of pain that joined the blood flow, but he ignored it.

 

He jumped to his feet, rifle now in hand.

 

The creature had jumped up onto a large rock a good seven feet away from him. It glared at him with angry eyes. Now, he could see them. But one glance told him he didn’t want to look at them. The creature growled at him, and forced him to take a longer look.

 

He lifted his rifle into range and took careful aim. The thought of the rifle’s kick against his wounded shoulder made him shudder. He just could fire with his left arm. He’d tried that many times, each failing.

 

The creature let out a low yet rumbling roar, and jumped to the ground.

 

He took a deep breath, and fired two more bullets into the creature’s chest. It let out a loud moan as he pierced its skin. Blood stained its fur.

 

Nick and Danny joined in. Three more shots rang out. Bullets flew through the air. Cries echoed through the trees beyond. Alan shot two more bullets into its chest, and it fell to the ground. Its dead body slid face-down a few inches into the mud, and then moved no more.

 

“Dear almighty God of the heavens. . .” Alan said.

 

Nick walked up, hand over his mouth in shock. “What is that. . .that. . .creature?”

 

“It looks like. . .a. . .Bigfoot,” Danny muttered.

 

Danny was a science fiction geek beyond limits. He could identify something like this long before Nick would.

 

“Did you say Bigfoot?” Nick asked, disbelief in his voice.

 

“Sure. You know, that legendary creature that’s been spotted all around the world.”

 

“Yeah I know what Bigfoot is. I just can’t begin to believe it’s real.”

 

“Well, just look at that thing. The hairy, yet man-like body, the ape-like face,” Danny gestured toward the dead beast.

 

“Yeah, he’s right,” Alan chimed in.

 

“Call it what you want. Whatever it really is, I’m just glad it’s dead.”

 

Pain shot through Alan’s shoulder, making him wince. He put pressure on it again, which didn’t really help. The bleeding had stopped, but nothing else.

 

Nick turned toward him.

 

“What even happened?” he asked.

 

“That thing took a swipe at me as it ran by. . .”

 

Nick strode to his side and moved his hand away.

“Let’s have a look.”

 

“No, it’s fine.” Alan waved him off.

 

“Hey, don’t be stupid. God only knows the parasites that thing could’ve put into that wound.”

 

Alan rolled his eyes, but exposed his torn flesh to Nick.

 

Nick felt around the edges of the massive scar. The look on Nick’s face made Alan nervous. He himself couldn’t actually see much of the wound, except the blood. He saw plenty of blood.

 

“Well, it looks okay,” Nick began after looking it over real well.

 

“But I’m still going to doctor it up a bit.”

 

“It doesn’t even hurt that much.”

 

“Doesn’t matter. You leave that exposed for too long, you’re just asking for infection.”

 

Nick pulled out a super-sized bandage and white medical tape from his pocket.

 

“Is that all you brought?” Alan asked.

 

“No, I brought a First Aid kit. It’s in the backpack.”

 

Nick carefully place the large bandage on the scar. Alan winced as he wrapped the tape around the bandage.

 

“There, that’ll hold it for now.”

 

“For now?”

 

“Yeah, you’re gonna need more than that. I’ll get the first aid kit out after we get this body out of here.”

 

The focus suddenly shifted back to the body of the Bigfoot.

 

“I’m going to report this to the sheriff,” Nick said.

 

“What? Are you crazy? He’ll never believe this!” Alan replied.

 

Nick shot him an angry glance.

 

“When he sees it, he’ll believe it.” He pulled the radio from his pocket, switched it on, and held it up to his mouth.

 

“Come in, Sheriff Prine, come in,” he called into the radio, panic still in his voice.

 

Only a few seconds past before a reply came through.

 

“This is Sheriff Prine. Who’s this?”

 

“This is Nick. We’ve shot down something big.”

 

Prine’s breath grew heavy with excitement.

 

“Oh my. . . What is it? A bear? A cat?”

 

Nick paused and looked down at the body.

 

“A bear. . .I think. . .”

 

Another pause.

 

“Do you even know what you shot boy? You sound uncertain.”

 

“Yes, yes, it’s a . . . a bear.”

 

“Alright, me and a few Department of Wildlife guys will be down there soon. What’s your location?”

 

Nick looked back at the slope.

 

“Two miles south on the Grandide Trail. Just past the slope, in a small clearing.”

 

“Got it. Thanks Nick. Hopefully this is our killer.”

 

Nick snorted and glanced at the body. “I can only hope.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOUR

 

Sheriff Prine couldn’t believe his eyes when he laid them on the body. It was so astonishing, even to an old bog like him, who knew nothing about the whole Bigfoot thing, except that people saw this creature everywhere.

 

It appeared to be that he was staring at the body of the real hairy monster of the Northwest. When he and the two D.O.W. officers had found the clearing, they had found Nick and his men waiting impatiently for them. Prine had been given the honor of seeing the body first.

 

“Well, there you have it, Sheriff,” Nick said from behind him.

 

He turned to Nick and eyed him.

 

“Yeah, no kidding. I have a lot,” Prine replied.

 

Nick chuckled darkly.

 

“So, that old legend was true after all.”

 

“You mean the Bigfoot legend?”

 

Prine nodded and looked back to the body of the beast.

 

“The boys from the Department of Wildlife tell me they’ve never seen or heard of anything like it. I sure as hell haven’t either.”

 

“I never did believe in Bigfoot myself, sheriff. This is a real big shock.”

 

The body had been turned over, and now lay face-up in the mud. It’s tiny, dead eyes still glared as they pierced the sky above. Prine shook his head, and rubbed at his chin.

 

“I dare to wager this would probably be our killer.”

 

Nick walked up beside him.

 

“Yeah, makes sense.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, you did say you had seen the way a bear killed its prey. You also said the body you found outside the woodcutter’s cabin was much different from a bear’s doings. It would only make sense that a new predator had wandered into the area,” Nick explained.

 

Prine looked over at him. “True, Nick. But what if this thing isn’t new to the area? What if it’s actually been here for ages?”

 

“That’s a good point.”

 

“But, of course, what if you’re right? Maybe it was new to the area.”

 

Nick covered his face with his hands. “I don’t know. There’s so many un-answered questions. . .”

 

“And they’ll have to stay that way,” Prine interrupted him.

 

Nick dropped his hands to his sides and turned to Prine with a confused look.

 

“You and I both know there ain’t a soul in town or local to the area that knows the answers to those questions, Nick. I’m not going to waste my time.”

 

“Right.”

 

One of the D.O.W. officers approached them, a cold look in his eyes.

 

“Sheriff, this species isn’t categorized in any. . .”

 

“Oh just speak English,” Prine interrupted.

 

The officer paused for a moment. “Okay, I have no clue as to what that. . .monstrosity over there is.”

 

“I didn’t expect you to. No one except a fragging science fiction geek would know what this thing is.”

 

“What should we do with the body?”

 

Prine, looking to the ground, sighed and thought through it until he found the best option available.

 

“Send it to the office in New York. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to find the answer to this thing.”

 

The officer nodded, then turned and hurried away to carry out his order. Nick lifted his gaze to the trees beyond.

 

“Well, when will the payment happen, sheriff? Looks like we’ve done our job.”

 

“Yeah, I would reckon. . .” Prine suddenly stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, movement had rushed through the trees, just to his left a ways.

 

He turned his head in that direction, but whatever was there was now long gone. He gulped slightly, and then heard Nick’s frantic voice.

 

“Sheriff! Sheriff!” Nick nearly screamed. His attention flew back to the world around him.

 

“What? Oh, sorry. Anyways, I was trying to say. . .”

 

“Say what? Out with it!” “. . .is it okay if I ask you to stay another night?”

 

Nick’s expression turned from one of anger and confusion to utter disbelief.

 

“What?” was all Nick could say.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s just that, I want to just see if we’ve really killed it. Stay one more day, and see if you can’t pick up at least another trail of something.”

 

“Uh. . .why on earth. . .”

 

“I just don’t feel like we’ve finished this hunt. Please, you have the supplies, stay another night, aye?”

 

Nick sighed angrily.

 

“Fine. One more night to satisfy your worries. Then, the pay.”

 

“Thank you, Nick. I value your patience a lot. I just, I still haven’t got it in my head that the thing lying there now is real. I don’t know.”

 

Nick’s expression softened.

 

“I understand, sheriff. I have trouble believing it myself still.”

 

“Thank God you understand. I will provide you with more ammo if need be. How many shots did it take to bring that thing down?”

 

“Um. . .quite a few.”

 

“Right. I’ll supply you with plenty of ammo, and some more canteens of water.”

 

Nick raised an eyebrow.

 

“Okay then, whatever you say.”

 

“Don’t be concerned, I’m just being prepared.”

 

“Oh, no worries.”

 

Prine smiled.

 

“Excellent. I’ll be right back with the ammo.”

 

He turned and marched off toward the slope. As he walked around the winding path, the images of something zooming through the trees flashed in his mind. His thoughts were all fueled by fear, and that wasn’t good. In a situation like so, he needed to be as focused as possible.

 

Prine was just inexperienced in dealing with something like this. The only things he’d dealt with, even haven been sheriff for over thirty years, was crime. Human acts such as theft, murder by gun-fire or knife blade. Stuff that happens in a civilization. Out here, the rules were a little different.

 

It was only about sixteen minutes before he got to the trail, where his sheriff’s vehicle was parked. He threw open the back, and began collecting all the bullet cartridges he’d stashed up into a large, blue bag. Crickets sang their song in the grass alongside the trail. It made him smile.

 

Crack.

 

He froze. The cartridge in his hand clattered into the bag below. Every second that passed by he spent listening for any more sounds.

 

There was a quick snap. He glanced toward the noise. Nothing to be seen except thick trees and brush.

 

Was he alone out here? He listened some more.

 

Seconds turned into minutes with no sound at all. A bird began chirping in a tree somewhere above him. The crickets began sounding off again. Still fueled by a pang of panic, he threw the rest of the cartridges into the bag, slammed the back shut, and hurried away. As he walked back along the edge of the slope, he felt eyes watching him. He knew had to be his imagination, but the feeling was too realistic to ignore.

 

When he returned to the clearing, Nick was sitting on a fallen log, talking with a Department of Wildlife officer. As he set the bag of ammo next to the log, Nick glanced at him, confirming he knew it was there.

 

“Let’s get this body out of here,” the other officer called out suddenly.

 

Nick bid his farewell to the one man, and let him go to his work.

 

“Alright, you got a full bag of ammo there,” Prine said as Nick turned toward him.

 

“Thanks.”

 

Prine glanced around a few times, and then looked back to the body.

 

“Why do you really want us to stay another night?” Nick asked.

 

“You’re not suspicious, are you? No need for that.”

 

“No, I just find it odd is all. Why continue the hunt if we’ve brought down the animal?”

 

“I understand.