Mark and Pat return with this month’s exciting installment of A New Reality. John and Grady have tracked down the creature, and struggle with the reality of what they have discovered.

If you haven’t already, read Chapter 2 of A New Reality or start at the beginning.

Chapter III

Both John and Grady were seasoned veterans of war. Both had seen their share of death. They had watched friends and comrades die slow and painful deaths in the bloody jungles of Vietnam. They had been close to the threshold of death themselves on more than one occasion and had been the executioners multiple times. Death held no sway over either man. However, they now found themselves in a state of mind that was foreign to them. They sat silently atop their horses in stunned disbelief at what had just transpired. They spent their conscious energy keeping their rifles trained on the downed giant as their horses pranced about nervously.

The large, hairy creature was lying motionless on the ground just a few yards away. It was slightly curled in a fetal position and facing away from them. It showed no sign of life, but neither man, as of yet, felt confident enough to lower his weapon. The beast was huge beyond description.

The smell that permeated the air was putrid, but neither man showed any signs of noticing. The horses, on the other hand, continued to prance nervously and snorted loudly, as if trying to purge the foul odor. Both cowboys kept their vigil over the body, as seconds stretched into minutes. The shadows continued to lengthen, while the sun sank steadily towards the horizon.

John was the first to react to the growing darkness. He slid his boot out of the right stirrup and deftly swung his leg to dismount. His feet sank in the soft earth as he landed in the soft creek bed.

Grady snapped out of his daze and slowly followed John’s lead, careful that the muzzle of his gun was on the beast at all times. He grunted as he put his considerable weight onto shaky legs.

Without sharing a word, the two cowboys eased forward towards the fallen beast. With rifles held at the ready in one hand, and leading their horses with the other, they slowly crept forward.

They stopped five feet short of the giant and paused. John gave Grady a quick nod towards the animal. Without exchanging a word, Grady nodded his understanding. They had learned long ago that a man that takes unnecessary chances is death’s fool. Grady raised his large caliber 45-70 and took careful aim. At the roar of the report, a tuft of hair flew from the head of the creature, and a mixture of blood and bone coated the ground. The creature did not flinch.

The two cowboys then tethered their horses, and again approached the animal, now confident of its demise. They stood directly over it, taking in the sheer size for a moment. Then, wanting to get a good look at it, John reached down and grabbed a handful of hair on the giant’s left arm. With a grunt of effort, he pulled, but nothing happened. Grady set his rifle down and secured two handfuls of the creature’s mane. Together, they strained and rolled the creature over awkwardly onto its back.

Grady stood up, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pouch of Beechnut chewing tobacco. He liberally filled his right cheek and began to gnaw on it in earnest. After a moment, he spit a large puddle of brown liquid on the ground. “Holy hell, John!” he quipped, breaking the silence the two men had kept since firing the first shots. “Just what on God’s green earth is that? And why in the hell does it stink like piss?”

John shook his head, as though having trouble believing what his eyes were witnessing. He reached over with an unsteady hand and took the pouch of tobacco from his friend’s grasp. “That, would be a bigfoot,” he stated simply. “I’ve heard some call them sasquatch, as well. I don’t know why it stinks.” He then took a modest sized chew and slapped the pouch back into Grady’s waiting palm.

The two cowboys paced slowly in a circle, surveying the dead body. The sasquatch was eight and a half feet in length from head to toe and the cowboys figured it to weigh in excess of five hundred pounds. Medium-length, tangled hair that was reddish-brown in color covered its body. In spots, the hair was matted with small twigs and debris. The hair on the head and shoulders was slightly longer and thicker. The hands and feet were enormous and devoid of hair. Rough, grayish-black skin could be seen on the hands and feet. The area around the eyes and nose was also hairless and covered in a similar skin. The dark eyes, which were slightly bulged from the slug Grady’s 45-70 had delivered, were small. The wide nose appeared flat. Its teeth, showing through the hideous grin frozen on its face, were large, worn and discolored.

While John knelt down and examined the bigfoot a little closer, the wheels of thought were spinning in Grady’s mind. We’re a half-mile ride from John’s house. We have a five hundred pound gorilla we’re gonna be draggin’ back with us. It’s gonna be dark in just a few minutes, and there’s gonna be a crescent moon tonight.

Grady decided to share his concerns. “We’re going to have hell tryin’ to drag this big sumbitch home in the dark, John. Whatcha reckon about that?”

John looked up from his examination as though he had forgotten where he was. “We’ll camp tonight and rig up a litter in the morning.”

Grady considered for a moment before continuing. “And just what in the hell we gonna do with a five hundred pound gorilla when we do get it home?”

“First of all, this don’t look like no damn gorilla I ever saw,” John snapped.

“Well excuse me, Mr. Professor,” Grady laughed, punching John jokingly in the arm. “What the hell we gonna do with this bigfoot then?”

John smiled, realizing he was taking himself too seriously. “I’ll tell you, Grady, I don’t have a clue. What I do know is that right now is not the best time to be making big decisions. What do you think about making camp right here in this bottom? There ought to be plenty of firewood about.”

“Alright,” Grady agreed. “I’ll go fetch some firewood if you’ll unsaddle the horses.”

“Fair enough,” John replied, as he turned his attention back to the sasquatch.

Grady stood there for a moment feeling euphoric. He wasn’t sure how John was feeling, but everything had happened so fast that he hadn’t had a chance to soak it all in. After a moment, he went to retrieve a flashlight from one of the saddlebags and went to work gathering wood scattered abundantly about the forest floor. As he collected the wood, his mind began to wonder about the possibilities of other such creatures roaming the countryside. Slowly his apprehension grew, and he began to question the wisdom of their little expedition. That sasquatch has got to have parents. Hell, its probably got brothers and sisters too! What the hell are we gonna do if there’s a whole herd of ’em?

Grady made good time with the firewood. John was just getting the horses staked out when he returned to the campsite. Grady felt silly about the moment of fear he’d experienced a few moments before and decided not to share it with John. Then he thought about an old saying his sergeant always said to new recruits: ‘If you’re too dumb to be afraid, then you’re too dumb to live.’

Grady got the fire going while John unloaded the packs and bedrolls off the horses. As darkness settled over the bottom, the two cowboys started preparing for an evening meal. As any good cowboy worth his salt knew, beans were a staple on the trail. Tonight would be no different with a traditional meal of beans and bacon.

With their bellies full, the men settled back and began to work on the details of how to handle their dilemma. Grady, of course filled his cheek with tobacco. John reached in his shirt pocket and fished out a cigar.

“So tell me what’s going through that head of yours?” John asked, initiating the conversation.

“Well,” Grady replied, “I was just thinking that I’m glad you brought them cigars. I was startin’ to worry that you might try and chew all my tobacco!”

John smiled at his friend’s wit, but kept the conversation moving forward. “I’m thinking we might have stumbled on a gold mine here. I think—”

“Just what the hell do you mean a gold mine?”

“Hear me out, you impatient old bastard,” John hissed. Grady grunted and then grew silent. John continued. “I think this body might be worth some money to the right people. I don’t know much about bigfoot, but I’ve heard enough to know it would be a big deal if it was ever proven to be real.”

“It’s damn sure real!” Grady remarked.

“Sure enough,” John agreed. “But right now, we’re the only two people in the world that can prove it. Here is what I’m thinking. We could drag this thing home in the morning and put it in my big freezer where I keep my sides of beef. It’ll keep for a good long while there. In the meantime, we can start figuring out the best way to cash in on this little discovery of ours.”

“How we gonna figure that out?” Grady asked.

“Well,” John continued, “I know you’re always making fun of me for having the Internet, but—”

“It’s the gateway to hell, if you ask me,” Grady hissed.

“Be that as it may,” John went on, “it’s full of information. My bet is that we can find out everything we need to know about bigfoot on the Internet.”

“Hell, I can walk ten feet and tell you everything you need to know about bigfoot,” Grady laughed.

“Would you shut the hell up and let me finish?” John said impatiently.

Grady leaned over and spit some tobacco juice in the crackling fire. “You’re gettin’ plumb cantankerous in your old age.”

John shook his head in disgust, but couldn’t help but crack a little smile. “I figure all we need to do is find someone who’s real interested in these creatures. I saw a show a few years back with a fellow by the last name of Green, I believe. I got the impression that there are quite a few people out there really looking for this thing. They seemed pretty obsessed about the whole thing. My bet is that they’d pay good money to finally have the proof.”

Grady was starting to show some interest now. “How much money you reckon that stinkin’ bag of fur would bring?”

“I don’t know,” John admitted. “I got a feeling it would be worth our trouble, though.”

Grady leaned back against his bedroll and thought for a moment. “Did you see the way that thing moved, John? It was running on two legs like a man.”

“Yeah, I saw it.”

“It was hiding up in that tree,” Grady went on. “It musta known we were after it.”

“Could be,” John agreed. “What are you getting at?”

“I’m not sure,” Grady admitted. “There’s just something really odd about that thing.”

“It’s a queer creature, that’s for sure,” John agreed.

“What makes you think it’s queer?” Grady asked in confusion.

“It’s just another way of saying odd, Grady.”

“Oh, well, the point I’m making is what if that thing is part human or something. Hell, what if the law tries to charge us with murder or something?”

John grew silent and thought about it. It had never crossed his mind and he was a little surprised it had crossed Grady’s. Perhaps the shock of this whole thing has my thinking off center, he thought to himself.

Click to enlarge.
Copyright 2006 Pat Barker.

As the fire crackled and the wind whistled, his mind spun with the possibilities. Then something occurred to him. He was just about to voice it, when the sound of a branch breaking came from behind him.

John and Grady quickly swiveled around and stared in the direction the sound had come from. Both men instinctively reached for their rifles, which they had close by. The branch that had broken sounded large.

“Whatever broke that branch musta been big,” Grady said, confirming what John was thinking. “You don’t think there’s another one of—”

“Quiet!” John insisted.

John’s eyes were straining to see in the darkness. Whatever had made the sound was just outside the small ring of light their campfire was casting.

Grady’s previous apprehension had now returned and with a vengeance. Now that he had seen how big these creatures were up close, he certainly didn’t want to tangle with one, especially not in the dark.

John, on the other hand, was feeling alert, but confident. Now that he knew these creatures were susceptible to gunfire, like any other animal, he felt a sense of relief. Guns and death, he understood all too well, and when it came to fighting, he knew how to handle himself.

A dark shape emerged from the woods and into the light of the fire. John’s heart began drumming wildly in his ears. Both men slid their fingers on the triggers of their weapons and prepared to fire. Unlike the one they had gunned down earlier in the day, this sasquatch was not quite as tall and appeared light brown in color.

“Hold your fire until we see what it’s going to do,” John whispered. “I don’t see any need in killing any more of them.”

Grady didn’t like that idea, but he held his fire. He could just make out the eyes of the sasquatch, as it stared them down. It did not look happy. A moment later, it took another step forward and grunted.

“I’m shooting the bastard if he takes another step,” Grady whispered in a scared but determined voice.

Just then, another large branch snapped to their left. John, being to Grady’s left, swung his rifle to cover the area. Another, larger sasquatch, was standing just inside the ring of light. This one was gray in color. It stopped, as the other had done, and emitted a strange whistle, like a bird.

“I’m not liking this, John!” Grady said nervously.

Just then, Grady caught the slightest movement out of the corner of his right eye. Grady quickly turned to have a quick look. What he saw was almost more than he could bear. Four more creatures had moved into the light of the campfire. He and John were surrounded.

Continue to Chapter 4 of A New Reality

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