Forest of Savages, Rookie Burwick [the giving tree read aloud TXT] 📗

nearly heaved. It smelled like the worst body odor possible, with a hint of wet fur and rotting flesh. This came as no surprise to him. The Bigfoot were nearby, and they were waiting.

 

Panic began to show in his trembling hands. The thought of being alone with these monsters was too horrible to imagine, until one of the Bigfoot emerged from the ridge above him. Nick turned to see it, and froze. A long stare-down followed. Nick kept eye contact with the creature, glancing off to look for his rifle every now and then. He sent up a prayer he would spot it soon.

 

The creature growled in a low, threatening tone, and took a step toward him. He still kept eye contact. It seemed to keep the creature at ease with an odd calmness in its eyes. But he had a sickening feeling it wouldn’t last long.

 

A loud snap. The crack of a breaking branch. . .

 

More of the beasts emerged from the trees. They all glared down at him. Sweat began to run down his face like rain. The one he’d kept peaceful for so long snarled loudly, and bolted forward. As of the time before, he turned and ran.

 

As he pumped his legs beneath him, his eyes searched for the rifle. The trees flew by his line of vision, and so did all hope of survival. He was certain his pursuers were driving him deeper into the forest, and away from any civilization.

 

The Bigfoots behind him began to let out their God awful howls, which only fueled his fear. He picked up more speed. He never looked back over his shoulder, but kept running.

 

The ground he was covering was all downhill, and was coming to a sudden end quickly, ending in a small slope, like the one now far behind him. He had to watch his footing as he ran, which only gave the beasts an advantage. Two of them were already right behind him, growling and howling as they sped through the trees. It was only seconds later when he hit the slope. He went toppling over, and fell headlong into a large field of tall grass. Beyond that small field was another large portion of the forest that stretched on for miles. The trees were now a mixture of pine and cottonwood, which made it all that thicker, and all that harder to run.

 

The creatures all came to a perfect, un-skidding halt at the slope, and searched for him, grunting to each other as they did. Nick, however, was lying beneath the overhang of the slope. He’d rolled beneath it after the fall.

 

Finally, after such a long time of pressure and fear, he breathed. He let out a silent sigh of relief, and said a prayer of thanks. He continued to lay there for a long while, listening to the occasional snap or whfft of the beasts above him. One of them let out a loud, angry roar. What sounded like chest-beating followed shortly after.

 

Nick still couldn’t believe this was all happening. These creatures shouldn’t even exist. They’re supposedly the stuff of legend, or at least that was what he’d been told by so many people. These things were not only legends, but demons straight out of Hell.

 

Another loud thump, another low-toned growl.

 

The sounds made a shiver run down his spine several times over. These beasts could kill him in a matter of seconds if they wanted to. But they had to find him first. For now, he actually felt somewhat safe.

 

Sweat still clung his shirt to his skin. His breathing was still hard and hoarse, his lungs felt like they might explode, but he was thankful for the life he still had. Right now, he was thankful for a lot.

 

It was long before he found his eyes slowly closing, and darkness settling in. He needed to rest. As he dozed off, a dream began to form in his mind. He saw the town of Wallace, he saw a bright, sunny day. All was perfect.

 

Then, he saw himself, strolling along the sidewalk. His own happy expression was painful to see right now. It was hard to actually grasp that happy feeling anymore, and he somewhat doubted he never would again.

 

In his dream, Nick saw himself opening the door to a small building. The chilling words on the door read Shoshone County Civil Clerk. The dream-sized figure of himself stepped in, and was met by a man in a police outfit.

 

Nick tossed and turned in his sleep now. The mind-made sight made fear dwell inside him. It was now turning into a nightmare. The day he’d gone into the office was the day this real-life nightmare had begun.

 

He flopped onto his stomach and clenched his fists. The dream continued on to show himself in the forest, completely lost. Something lets out a long, angry howl behind him. . .

 

The sound wasn’t in the dream. It was coming from right above him.

 

More howls slowly rose into the sky from a distance. The one right above him grew deeper. Nick could hear the hate in it.

 

His eyes flew open with terror as the howling Bigfoot jumped down and glared at him. Nick backed up against the slope wall as the beast began to thump slowly toward him. It bared its teeth and beat its chest, crouching down to crawl beneath the overhang.

 

“Help!” he cried out.

 

His cry only angered the beast, and sent it charging towards him. All he could do was pray something would happen. He winced, and waited for the creature to tear into him.

 

The creature grabbed his throat with its leathery hands, and squeezed. This made his eyes come open quickly. They widened at the close-up of the creature’s hideous face. All of these creatures had the same distinct look about them; flat out ugly.

 

The creature leaned in close and slowly opened its jaws. Nick shut his eyes again as it squeezed his neck harder. He waited, second after agonizing second, but nothing happened.

 

Suddenly, two gunshots rang out, followed by a loud thump. He dared to open one eye. When he did, a wide smile instantly spread across his face. Danny ran into view, clutching his rifle with a death grip.

 

“Danny!” he called out, barely able to speak due to his happiness.

 

“You’re alive!” Danny called back.

 

Nick got to his feet and hurried toward his fellow hunter, who was smiling as if he was smiling for the very first time. Danny swung his rifle onto his shoulder, and continued on toward Nick, which only lacked a few feet.

 

“How did you survive? I heard you scream!” Nick said, coming to a halt next to Danny.

 

“One of those. . .Bigfoot creatures sliced into my back. It’s okay now. I got it patched up.”

 

“That’s good, that’s good,” Nick said.

 

“Hell, thank God I’m even alive,” Danny replied. “Those things nearly killed us all. . .” Danny’s expression grew dark.

 

The look in Danny’s face reminded Nick of their one casualty, Alan. The beasts had made quick work out of him. Tears began filling his eyes, but he fought them back.

 

“Yeah, they came pretty close.”

 

A loud roar echoing off the trees silenced their guilt instantly. Danny’s face grew fearful, and Nick’s grew into one of sheer terror.

 

“Crap.”

 

“No time for cussing, run!”

 

 

***

 

Nick and Danny barely had time to start running before the army of Bigfoot came swarming through the grass. They managed to make it into the trees just before one of the beasts could swipe Nick’s leg clean off.

 

Nick looked back over his shoulder. His expression turned to one of shock.

 

“Holy frag, there’s thousands of them!” he cried.

 

But Danny didn’t respond. All Danny could think about was getting away.

 

The Bigfoot came in gigantic numbers that hard to believe. The entire field and forest was now nothing but a flood of dark brown, matted hair and evil, beady eyes, and every single one of them were running faster than both of the men combined.

 

“Faster! Faster!” Nick yelled, but again, Danny didn’t respond.

 

They dodged a large branch hanging from the trunk of a cottonwood tree. The creatures ran right past it. It snapped in half when one of the beasts stepped down onto it with its hairy feet.

 

Howls erupted from behind Nick. The awful sounds were something he was now used to by far. They didn’t bother him anymore, but they did fuel his energy. Danny managed to dodge a large log blocking the pathway, but Nick failed.

 

His legs hit the log, and sent him flying to the ground. Danny skidded to a halt, and spun around to try and help him. Danny swung the rifle into his hands, hopped over the log, and began to fire away. Two of the creatures dropped dead in a matter of minutes.

 

Danny couldn’t get another shot out before a Bigfoot jumped in front of him, and sliced his jaw open. Blood sprayed onto the rock beside him. His body fell to the ground, and onto his back.

 

Nick, by this time, was on his feet. The gruesome sight left him fighting a rage of guilt, fear, and anger. It also fueled his fear. He turned and continued to run. This time, he managed to jump over the log. The Bigfoot followed close behind. They let out odd, ape-like sounds, beating their chests and howling.

 

He dared to take a look behind him. Surprise hit him like a punch to the gut. There were unbelievable numbers of the beasts following him. He sent up a prayer to not let there be any more. When he looked back to the path ahead of him, he was met with a the sharp needles of a pine tree branch. It whacked against his face, causing him to nearly loose his footing.

 

After steadying himself, quickly, he took off again. The Bigfoot were gaining on him fast. There was an odd, human-like vengeance to these creatures that he didn’t quite understand. They seemed to be very upset, but for a reason. Something told him it he was involved with that reason. Another odd thing was the fact that they killed Alan first. These creatures could’ve easily killed every single one of them last night. But they didn’t. He didn’t have time to think about it though. More howls erupted and echoed through the trees.

 

As sweat and exhaust haunted him, common sense still made its comeback. The radio in his pocket was the next thing he thought of while dodging branches and tree roots. He reached down and drove his hand into his left pocket, and pulled out the small, handheld radio.

 

Holding it to his mouth, he pressed the button.

 

“Sheriff Prine! Sheriff Prine! Mayday! Mayday!” Nick screamed into the radio.

 

Before he could say another word, a Bigfoot jumped out in front of him. He skidded to a halt. The radio fell from his hands, and hit the ground.

 

The beast stared him down, growling in a low, anger-filled tone. The other beasts appeared, and surrounded him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEVEN

 

Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Donnelly picked up his radio and held it to his mouth. Thinking back to what the message had said, he finally decided on what to respond with.

 

“Hello, this is Deputy Craig Donnelly of the Shoshone County Civil Clerk. Who is this?” he asked, then waited.

 

Seconds went by with no response. His nervousness was not to be compared with. Someone had a radio, and that someone probably wasn’t supposed to. Those seconds soon turned into minutes. Finally, he tried again.

 

“Hello, please report back to me. Who are you?”

 

After another long pause that still came with no answer, he let the radio plop back down into its hold on the dashboard. Right now, Craig was driving up the rough dirt road to answer a call of a wounded hiker, way up there, at the base of Maple Cliffs. It had been one of the longest drives he’d ever encountered while on the job. He was a newbie to the Wallace Police Force. He’d only actually taken a total of five calls over a four month time range. This call was his most desperate,