He was driving too fast, he realized, especially since he was only using one hand to drive. With the other, he was searching his contact information, trying to call Jerry. The road was curvy and it was winding up a hill, so he needed to pay more attention to his driving. He slowed down for a curve, but he still took it a little too fast. As soon as he made it around the bend, he saw that something was standing in the road, right ahead of him. It was one of the grey creatures. It had been waiting for him.
Josh slammed on the brakes, but before he could bring the car to a stop, he felt himself floating. Then he felt his body lifting upward. So much information was coming to him, now. He knew where to find David. He saw what was after David. Josh had to go find his friend.
27
Revelation
They'd walked slowly for a long time, after first seeing the beast in the path. They'd crept along in silence, listening at every step for the sound of twigs breaking and branches moving on either side of them. After a while, they'd sped up their pace to a trot, and for the past two hours, they'd kept a pretty steady run. It's amazing how motivating fear can be.
"I need water," Laura said, as she grabbed David's hand to slow him down. David slowed his pace and finally came to a stop as she tugged at him. "I can't go any further."
"Okay, okay," he whispered, as he swung his backpack around to his side and dropped it on the ground. "I don't think there's much left, though." As he pulled the canteen from its pouch, he realized the vessel was much lighter than he'd expected. He handed it over to her. "Drink what's left," he said.
Laura turned the canteen up and brought it down again, quickly. "That was only a sip!"
"I'm sorry!" he said. "I didn't realize it was so low." He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the redness in her face. In their rush to leave the camp, he'd neglected to fill it up. They'd been moving steadily since they’d fled the camp site, and neither of them had been thinking straight under the circumstances. It was a stupid mistake on both of their parts. They'd let their water supply run out. "I guess we're going to have to look for some," David said. "We've got a good bit of distance to go, still. Shit."
"It's okay, babe," she said as she looked at the GPS watch, which slid loosely down her arm as she lifted it. "There's a stream at the bottom of the next gorge. But I'll need to rest here for a few minutes. I'm dizzy."
David looked around the woods that surrounded them. "Maybe we'll be lucky, now. I haven't heard anything following us, have you?"
"No," she said. Her expression wasn't overly reassuring, though. He could see worry in Laura's face. Now that he took the time to pay more attention, he could also see the dark semi-circles under her eyes and white around the edges of her mouth.
"Let's sit," he said, although he didn't want to sit. More than anything, he wanted to run like hell until he reached some sign of civilization.
Laura collapsed on the ground at the invitation. David sat cross-legged beside her, although he couldn't keep his eyes from darting all around them. "So I guess I owe you an apology," he said. "For not believing you."
Laura looked like she was attempting to say something, but it was clear she was struggling to hold back tears. Finally, she put her hands over her face and sobbed. "Poor Chaz," she said. "I never dreamed that would happen."
David moved closer beside her and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't do this to yourself. There's no way you could have known."
"But that's just it," she said. "I knew it was going to be dangerous. And I've heard of that—tree thing before. It doesn't happen often, but I've heard of it happening, like it's some kind of warning to humans, I think. I just got too cocky." She was crying, but no tears were coming out.
"Don't do this," David said.
"It's even in the book you never read." She wiped an arm across her nose.
"Oh, baby," he half laughed. "We all got ourselves into this mess. We were all cocky. Chaz included. He's been with you a long time, hasn't he?"
She nodded.
"Look," he continued. "Let's make our way slowly to the water. I'm sure we're going to be okay, now. I can feel it."
"We don't have much choice but to keep going," she said. She nudged him and pushed herself slowly to her feet. "You may have to stop me from falling. I'm still light headed." With that, her legs appeared to give out again, and David caught her by the shoulder to guide her back to a seated position. "You can't go on like this," he said. "Maybe I need to go find water and bring it back."
"No way in hell you're leaving me here alone," she said.
"Then tell me what to do," David said. His patience could be stretched only so far, and they were in a true life or death situation. "I'm kind of at a loss right now."
"Hang on." She unzipped her backpack and began dumping the contents in a pile. "I threw a bunch of random stuff from Chaz's bag in here. I might have a—Aha!" She pulled a small, single serve tin of green beans from the bag, and lifted it above her head like a trophy. "This will help."
"Thank Jesus," David said. "I think I have an opener." He rummaged through his own bag until he found the small, multi function gadget he'd packed in his own bag. He had a brief flashback to the moment he'd purchased the small device. He'd stopped on his way home from a lunch date with Laura, back in Ohio. It was his first purchase for this trip, and it followed their first kiss and the very moment when he'd really committed to the idea of spending the summer with her. Now it might be the thing to save her life.
"My hero," Laura said. David chuckled at the irony as he punched a small hole on each edge of the top. He handed it over and watched as she sucked at the hole with loud, slurping noises. Even now, in this horrible, unflattering moment, she was lovely. He had to pull his eyes away to prevent a melancholy tear from slipping from his eye, so he looked around again at the surrounding trees and boulders. "Did you hear that?" Laura asked, suspending the can in front of her mouth.
"What?" he said. The mere question made his blood feel icy.
"Birds. Crickets. Squirrels. That's a good sign."
"You scared the shit out of me," he said. His heart pounded quickly in his chest for a few beats, like it was recovering from a brief suspension. "What do you mean?"
"When they're anywhere around, everything stops. Even the bugs freeze in place when the creatures are nearby. It's an eerie silence like nothing else."
"Good to know," David said, feeling a flicker of irrational joy as he saw a squirrel jumping from one tree to another. He looked back at her face, now sporting a tiny drip of bean juice in one corner of her mouth, and he wondered what else she knew about this strange and terrifying world that was so new to him. He thought of the many times Laura had urged him to read her book. "I'm such an idiot," he whispered. "I don't know anything."
"I don't think we need to dwell on that, now," she said.
But he needed to know more. He realized that this was the first moment of stillness he'd had since he'd discovered Chaz's body. It was his first moment to acknowledge that everything he’d ever learned through formal education—the numbers that he’d worshipped and the discipline that had been his church, in a way, had been so constrained and small, all along. His learning had been confined and limited within pre-set boundaries. Those creatures were real. And if those were real, what else could be real?
"So what are they?" he said.
He watched as her expression went limp and she fidgeted in the dirt beside her, making small circles of mounds. "You want me to tell you what they are?" she stalled. "They're monsters. Other people have said that, but I never wanted to admit it before. But, now—"
"Seriously, Laura." There was a desperation in him, now. "I mean, I don't have any guarantees I'm going to survive the day. I'd at least like to know what's going on before I go." He was trying to half-joke, but the words came out with a pitiful ring.
"We don't know for sure," Laura sighed. "But I can tell you what I think—we think. There are lots of serious anthropologists looking at this, you know." Sh
e searched his eyes as if she was ready to retract at any sign of ridicule. "You've probably heard that Native Americans have told stories about tribes of hairy men since Europeans first came into contact. And stories are their way of knowing.”
"Ive heard something about that," David said.
"Every single tribe, in every corner of the continent has these stories, in fact. All over the Americas, really, populations who were isolated from each other, they all talked of encountering or trading with groups of large, hairy people. Early explorers described them, too. These things have been around for a long time, in some shape or form."
"But that thing we saw on the trail, that didn't look much like a human. I mean, it was huge."
"I know," Laura said. "It seems like some of them are more humanlike than others. And maybe they're changing. We've had reports of them getting—more primitive. And bigger."
"Like, they’re regressing?"
"That's exactly what we're seeing," Laura said, haltingly. "Originally, Native Americans reported Neanderthal-like tribes that could communicate. They were primitive people who had their own languages."
"But the thing we saw earlier looked like a mix between a giant ape and a man. Like Gigantopithecus, maybe?"
"Correct," Laura said.
"But how is this possible? It sounds so crazy."
"We think somebody—or something—is taking human DNA and conducting some kind of regression exercise. Recreating early human and ape hybrids from thousands, or even millions of years ago. And the things they're creating don't seem all that happy to be here."
"In other words, they're creating monsters."
"Yes. Through devolution."
"But who? And why?"
"We don't know, but we know that the government knows. They're either involved, or they're hiding the truth."
They were moving again. They were making good time, now that Laura had recovered a bit, and the water source was now only another twenty minutes away. Something about nearing this goal, along with the constant, soothing sounds of songbirds and insects, had an uplifting effect on him. Still, David's mind remained bogged down on Laura's theory about the creatures. He'd never been a fan of conspiracy theories and simply couldn't fathom that any government could carry off such a monumental experiment. First of all, politicians weren't that smart, and secondly, they weren't that discreet. It just wasn't feasible. He didn't want to come across as doubting Laura again; he'd caused himself enough trouble doing that. He had to tread lightly, but he also had to satisfy his discriminating mind.
"Hey, Laura," he said. As he expected, she maintained her pace ahead of him. "Do you really think the government could keep a secret this big?"
She took a few steps in silence before answering. "I think they have to, David."
"What do you mean?"
This time, Laura stopped and turned around. "Whoever is conducting these experiments has technology so advanced that it's mind boggling. That's the big secret. Mass hysteria would break out if people knew we weren't actually the superior species. That we’re really just a bunch of lab rats. Suicides, panic, riots, the works. There’s no way the truth can come out."
It took a moment for her point to sink in. "Are you talking about aliens?"
"Possibly," Laura said. "Some really advanced intelligence is behind Sasquatch. That's why there's a coverup. They're smarter than us, and they're mixing human beings with—other things—for some reason. Some people think they're trying to create killing machines. I probably should have listened to them." With that, she turned to start walking again.
"Jesus," he said, as he followed behind her in silence again. As much as he wanted to be in denial, he had to face the fact that he'd been living in a bubble of make believe knowledge. Ten years of college and another decade of research now felt like a joke. He'd been fed dabbles of limited knowledge and kept blind to actual reality. His head was swimming to the point that he felt ill. What would life be like, back at the university? Would he tuck away all this newfound knowledge and proceed as normal? Or would he become one of the crazy conspiracy theory crowd that he'd always made fun of? How could he ever share this knowledge with any of his friends?
He stopped suddenly. Josh. He realized, for the first time, that his friend could be in really serious peril, if there was any truth to this mad notion. If any of Laura's suggestions were true, Josh could be in more danger than anybody. He needed to get to Josh, to warn him off of his study, if at all possible. "We've got to get out of here!" he said. The words came out unexpectedly. Laura just turned and looked at him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," David said. "I'm just realizing again how stupid I am."
"Good," she said.
28
Finding Truth
The stream was cold and clear, but David knew better than to drink it without boiling it first, as much as he wanted to. The last thing they needed was debilitating stomach issues over the next few hours. He volunteered to start a fire on dry ground, while Laura splashed around in the refreshing water. It seemed like he'd known her for years, but it had barely been two months since he'd first laid eyes on her. Probably because his world had been turned upside down completely in that time. His mind wandered to Chaz's family. He had no idea how many loved ones Chaz had left behind, but he knew Laura and Chaz had been pretty close. He hated that she'd have to deal with that, once they got back home. But there was something else nagging at him, and he wasn't quite sure how to broach this with Laura. How were they going to explain his death to the authorities? David was pretty sure they couldn't tell the truth, so what were they going to say? Could they become suspects in his death? It was a possibility they'd have to talk about, at some point. But he supposed it would be best to wait until they were completely out of this ordeal, and back home, safe.
"Is it ready, yet?" Laura called from the water's edge. "This is torment! I'm so thirsty."
"It's boiling, but we need to let it cool," he said. He pulled the small metal pot from the fire, walked to the water's edge, and placed the pot in a shallow pool." This should speed things up," he said. From the corner of his eye, he saw a monkey swing from one tree to another. For a moment, it reminded him of his visits to the Cincinnati Zoo, as a child. Then the reality hit him.
"Holy shit!" he said. As he stumbled backward, his hand flipped the water pot and spilled the contents into the pool.
"What the fuck?" Laura said. "You spilled it."
"Laura," he said. "I just saw an ape in that tree over there."
Laura froze, and her face blanched to a deathly white. "What do you mean?" The words came in a choked whisper.
"Over there." David intended to point to his right, but another sight caught his eye and he forgot to point. His eyes were transfixed on an object on the far side of the stream, just behind Laura. It was a huge, spider-like creature making its way toward the water. Its eyes were fixed on her. David wanted to speak, but he could not make sound. His mind traveled back to the time in his comfortable bed, while he watched Laura interviewing a boy who saw ape-like spiders in his yard. As the creature moved closer to the water's edge, David tried to speak again. This time, words came out in a squeak. "Laura, come—come out of the water." He managed to motion with his hand, but he knew it was no use. Now there was a second creature. It dropped from a tree and collapsed into a spider crawl, in one, graceful movement. David felt his face twist into a scream. He wasn't sure whether he was actually making a sound, or if it was Laura's scream he was hearing.
The creatures had lunged at Laura, first one, and then a second one jumped in. David watched in horror, as the two creatures played out some terrifying version of tug-of-war with her body; one pulled on her leg and one had its clutches on her shoulders. Laura's mouth was twisted in a horrific gape, and her eyes were rolled back to show only whites. The scene was playing out quickly, but in a surreal, slow motion scene, all at once.
David was frozen in time and space, trying to move or speak, but he could no
t. He wanted to run to Laura. He might have been able to fight off the animals, but he could not force his body to move.
He felt a heavy blow to the back of his head, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground with his mouth full of wet sand. His body was moving, and as he slid along the ground, he saw a tooth and a small stream of blood. He felt a pain in his right ankle, and he realized that an enormous hand was holding him by the foot, and he was being dragged through the dirt, face down. Now his body was moving over weeds and rocks at an unreal speed. He twisted his body around in an effort to see what was happening, and the sight made his stomach muscles spasm in an attempt to vomit. He could make out the back of the head of some large, reddish, ape-like animal. Its body seemed to be three times David's size, and the lean-carved muscles were evident beneath the hairy exterior. Its enormous arms were extraordinarily long, which was the only thing keeping David from dangling in the air like a doll. He tried to look around for Laura, but all he could see was his shirt, which was being pushed up around his neck, and the accumulation of dead leaves and twigs that built up around his head as his body traveled over the forest floor.
The sound of Laura's screams faded as David's body bounced over tree limbs and rocks. A bulky object jabbed at David's stomach, and he realized for the first time that he had a gun stashed into the belt of his pants. It was a miracle that it hadn't been dislodged yet, David thought, so he attempted to keep his body twisted to one side so that the gun would remain in place. He tried to reach down to grab it, but his right shoulder scraped over a large rock, tearing away at his clothing and skin. He saw another trail of blood forming, but he couldn't really feel the pain of this injury; he assumed the adrenaline was pumping through his body, preventing him from feeling much of anything. In another attempt, he managed to reach down and pull the gun from its pouch.
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