Siege at Hawthorn Lake: Murder on the Mountain

by Paul G Buckner

  Chapter 26

  The sheriff drove as fast as he dared down the snow covered dirt road that led to the cabin. He kept the emergency lights on just in case someone in the woods needed help. They may be able to spot the vehicle and know which way to go to find the road if they were lost. It didn’t take long for them to reach the bridge over the lake. As they crossed over it they could see that every light in the house was turned on.

  Billy said, “Wow, you see all those lights from the cabin down to the boat dock? Looks like you could land a plane there!”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” the sheriff murmured as he studied the area. When they pulled up to the house they saw that Troy wasn’t alone. Nick stopped the truck and they both got out and met the entire group at the front of the house. He recognized Clance Denizen and his family.

  Clance was the first to speak, “Sheriff, glad you’re here, but you may not be. You’re not gonna believe this, but we all need to get loaded in your truck and get the hell out of here as fast as we can, but we have to wait on Phil.”

  “What’s that Clance?” The sheriff asked.

  “Phil Jackson. He’s out there,” Clance said.

  “He’s alive?” Troy asked excitedly.

  Clance nodded then replied, “He was when we left him twenty minutes ago.” He said, then pointing to indicate the mountain he said, “He led one of those damned beasts away from us so that we could get away and get down here. It had the trail down to the road blocked.”

  “What are you talking about, Clance?” the sheriff asked.

  Billy was starting to get nervous and fidgety. He silently studied the faces of everyone around him not sure what to believe. He looked around into the darkness as Clance told them the story and instinctively he let one hand slowly fall to his holstered weapon. He had no idea what was happening, but he would be ready.

  Clance explained the current circumstances and the dire need for getting out of the valley. The sheriff ordered everyone to get into the truck. While the men helped the women into the vehicle, Billy was the first to spot it and shout out.

  “Sheriff, someone’s coming up the road. That’s gotta be Him!”

  The single headlight of a snowmobile bounced along the road at a breakneck speed from where they had just come. The group could hear the rider shouting, but couldn’t make out what he was saying until he skidded to a stop in front of them all and jumped off the sled in one swift motion.

  Phil shouted, “Everyone, get inside! Now! They’re right behind me!”

  “Let’s get in truck and get off this mountain,” Jolene exclaimed in a loud, shaky voice.

  “There’s no time and the road’s blocked now!” Phil exclaimed, “I just followed the sheriff’s lights and the whole damn mountain is right on my ass. I killed the one on the ridge and the others are pissed and not far behind me.”

  The men quickly moved into action and gathered the emergency supplies from the truck and carried them inside. Troy closed the front door and then bolted it with the heavy wooden crossbars. Everyone had a weapon except Troy. The sheriff handed him one of the twelve gauge shotguns from the truck with a box of slugs.

  “They’re only accurate at close range. Hope you don’t need it!”

  “Me either!” Troy said.

  Once everyone was armed, the sheriff and Clance checked out all of the flashlights to make sure they were working and handed them out. He directed the deputy upstairs.

  “Get up there and stay out of sight and let us know if you see anything moving! Clance, what do you think?”

  Clance said, “My boys can set up in that room there and each one cover a window. The place is lit up pretty damn bright, should be able to see anything that gets within a hundred yards. I’ll go up on the deck with your deputy, Sheriff. Scope on this rifle will come in handy.”

  The sheriff continued his instructions, “Sounds good! Troy, you and Phil take the room where you can watch the front and east side. Be careful not to get too close to a window.”

  In all of his years in law enforcement, Nick had never been in a situation like this. He had seen a lot of things, but this was one that no one would ever believe. One thing he knew for certain, Clance Denizen was not a man to lie and he certainly wasn’t a man that scared easily. He was an eccentric mountain man, though honest as the day was long and Nick knew it. If he was worried about whatever it was out there, then he had cause to worry too.

  Everyone moved quickly and took up their assigned positions. Before Troy moved away, Nick asked him,

  “Troy, do you have a working phone?” The sheriff asked.

  No, Sheriff. It only works if the internet does and it’s been down all evening. It worked for a few minutes earlier when you first brought me home and then nothing,” Troy replied.

  “Try again!” The sheriff demanded. “Radio is out of range. It’s no good.”

  There were no stars or moon to light up the night sky so it was pitch black on the mountain. The lights shined brightly off the soft white snow and played eerie shadows through the trees when the wind blew the lights hanging from the electric wire. It was quiet. Unnervingly quiet! The only sound was the wind blowing down from the mountain and across the frozen lake. Every now and then it would blow the boat around at the dock and they could hear the aluminum bang against a post and ring hollow.

  The men had taken stock of all the weapons and ammo. They were, in Clance’s opinion, woefully under powered for what was about to take place. Each man watched intently at their respective positions and was obviously on edge. They had turned the lights off inside the house so that they wouldn’t be silhouetted through the windows. Not that they expected a Sasquatch to fire a rifle, but they wanted to retain their night vision without being blinded.

  After several minutes of waiting with no signs of the Sasquatch, Billy whispered to Clance,

  “Maybe they’re not coming. Maybe he scared them off when he killed that one on top of the ridge.”

  “Nah, they’re coming. They’re just watching us right now - waiting.” Clance was matter of fact with no sound of fear or trembling in his voice.

  “For what?” Billy asked.

  “Just sizing up their prey before the hunt,” Clance replied.

  More silence.

  Sheriff Blaine walked from the living room window he was watching to the stairs and called out to the big mountain man.

  “Clance, how many do you think we’re dealing with?”

  Clance moved off the deck and into the bedroom before answering him.

  “Can’t say for sure, Sheriff, but I’ve counted at least nine or ten through the years. They don’t all look alike. Some are really tall, but I’ve seen a few others that were only about as big as me. Some have reddish, brown fur all over ‘em and some are black as the night. They blend in to their surroundings and are hard to see. If they don’t want you to see them, you won’t.”

  “If he’s right and he killed one of them up on the ridge…” Nick let that last thought trail off and the two men shared a knowing look. There would be hell to pay after killing one of the clan. They moved back to their positions without another word.

  Chapter 27

  Troy worked diligently on the internet connection, but was having no luck. He restarted the modem several times in hopes that it would pick up the signal, but it could never establish a connection longer than a few seconds.

  “Signal’s too weak, Sheriff. I’ll keep trying,” he called out.

  Almost two hours had ticked away, but it felt like an eternity to the inhabitants of the cabin. Clance and Billy took turns coming inside to warm up. They had a perfect spot on the deck where they could see from one side of the house all the way to the other. They couldn’t see in the back of the house, though. The back was the least guarded side of the cabin, but it was also the most protected with only one small kitchen window and a heavy wooden door. It would take a locomotive to break it down. The cabin was their best defensive position if they had to defend their
ground at all.

  Clance turned his head slowly when he thought he spotted something moving near the boat dock. It was several hundred feet away, but he knew he saw something. The movement was different than the moving shadows caused by the blowing light bulbs. He knew not to look directly at it because his vision would blur so he opened his eyes wide and took in everything. Suddenly, he saw it again! There was no mistaking what he was looking at. A huge Sasquatch was skulking near the shoreline. Immediately Clance knew what they were going to do. He quietly alerted Billy, then moved inside and called downstairs.

  “Turn off all of the lights, in fifteen seconds!” Clance told them.

  Troy clambered from his position at the counter, counted down, then quickly shut off the lights. The sheriff had seen the movement from his position as well. They both knew the Sasquatch were moving for the lights. They were going to try and knock them out, but Clance’s quick reaction was just in time to surprise the Sasquatch and maybe cause them some confusion.

  “What do we do now?” Gavin shouted from the bedroom.

  His father called out, “Give ‘em thirty seconds then turn ‘em on again. Be ready to shoot and only at what you can see and hit! Don’t miss and don’t waste ammo!”

  Clance quickly returned to the deck and carefully made his way to the edge crawling on his hands and knees through the snow piled on it. He and the deputy took up prone positions and waited. The others waited anxiously below with their weapons at the ready.

  Troy counted down quietly to himself. When he counted thirty seconds he threw the light switches on. Clance was the first to fire. A huge, hulking Sasquatch had gotten very close to the house and carried two large rocks, one in each hand. The beast screamed before letting go with one of the rocks. The mountain man’s shot rang true and hit the beast in the upper torso just as it let go the rock. It screamed in agony and rage when the bullet found its mark then threw the other rock. The bullet had caused too much damage and the beast’s strength failed it. The rock fell short of its intended target. It turned to flee, but was severely injured from the large caliber bullet that had lodged in its chest slowing its retreat. Clance fired again; the beast stumbled and went down on a knee for a brief moment then moved over a small embankment and out of sight.

  Suddenly, the cabin shook from a deluge of large rocks booming against the walls and reverberating throughout. The Sasquatch had surrounded the cabin and were close enough now to cause serious damage. Gavin spotted one near the garage and opened fire with his rifle through the bedroom window. The bark of the big bore rifle was deafening in the bedroom where he and his brother took refuge, but the adrenaline was pumping through his veins and he fired twice more. The beast went down with a mournful howl and Gavin continued firing until his rifle was empty and he had to reload. The beast was down, but Gavin couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

  “I got one!” he shouted just as a huge rock banged into the side of the house near him causing him to flinch back from the open window.

  The attack became more ferocious as the rocks pelted the walls smashing windows and shaking the house. Photos that hung on the walls were jarred off and crashed to the floor. The cabin held firm even though the pounding seemed to last forever. Each time the walls were hit, the entire cabin shook to the foundation and the people inside felt the vibrations. The huge rocks pounding the house from all sides sounded like a hail storm on a tin roof. The screams from the beasts were terrifying and echoed through the dark mountain valley.

  One of the lights hanging on the line leading down to the dock was suddenly knocked out sending a shower of sparks spraying into the night then quickly disappearing into the darkness. The two yard lights on tall electric poles and the outside porch lights on the cabin were still bright enough that the defenders could still make out targets - when they got close enough and showed themselves.

  Billy turned just in time to see a large rock smash into the light above the garage. He quickly turned his aim in the direction it came from, found a target and fired three times in succession with his shotgun. He heard the creature scream and thought he may have hit it, but couldn’t tell for certain. He rolled from his position and moved to the back of the deck just as another large rock shattered the deck railing where he had been laying. Splinters pierced his cheek.

  Clance grabbed Billy’s arm and pointed to the vehicle below.

  “There’s one behind the truck, if he gives you a target, empty everything you’ve got!” he shouted.

  They were most vulnerable being out on the deck, but they also had the best vantage point to see them coming. Billy waited tensely, but the beast never showed itself. Several more rocks found their mark on the upper deck of the cabin forcing the two men to move closer to the door. Clance ducked inside with Billy in tow. Just as Billy turned to slide the heavy wooden door into place, a rock smashed through one of the French door panels and slammed into his shoulder knocking him to the floor.

  “Turn off the lights!” Clance shouted to anyone that could hear him below as he helped Billy up and bolted the doors.

  He knew they had to turn them out before the beasts found them all and knocked them out. They might be able to use the trick at least one more time. If the lights weren’t shining, maybe the Sasquatch wouldn’t see where they were. If they were lucky, they may save a few.

  Troy threw the breaker plunging the cabin into complete darkness. The sheriff also had seen the monster behind his truck just as it went dark. He quickly reached into his pocket and hit the remote button to unlock the doors. The vehicle gave out a ‘chirp chirp’ and the entry lights came on. The Sasquatch had stepped out thinking it was in the relative safety of darkness only to be caught out in the open. With a scream it jumped back and ran toward the tree line, but not before Nick was able to get off a shot.

  Just as suddenly as the assault started on the lakeside cabin, it stopped. The Sasquatch seemed to disappear as quickly as they came and the mountain valley became eerily quiet once again. The defenders had held out against the assault and had beaten back the attack of the Sasquatch. They could rest now, but for how long, they wondered. They knew they could wait it out for quite some time in the comfort and safety of the cabin if they were careful. The fire was burning and the cabin was warm, even with the generator turned off, but with most of the glass in the windows shattered it would soon get cold.

  It wouldn’t take long until Linsdey would start to worry about us and send in the cavalry. All they had to do was survive the night, the sheriff thought, as he walked around the cabin checking on everyone else. He walked into the bedroom where Gavin and Mathew were standing guard. They were shining their flashlights in the area of the yard where Gavin had shot the Sasquatch, but there was no body lying there. Blood was everywhere and they could see where the creature was dragged away or had crawled to safety. They knew it was either wounded badly or had been killed.

  “I know it’s dead, Sheriff.” Mathew said, “There’s no way that that thing could take a half a dozen slugs like that and live! I hit it in the chest at least once if not twice. No way could it have survived!”

  “One thing’s for sure, you hit it! That’s a lot of blood out there. Either way, it’s out of this fight!” The sheriff responded.

  The men took the opportunity to reload and count their remaining ammunition. They were all still in decent shape since they had only fired when a target had presented itself. They waited quietly and watched through the broken windows for any sign that the Sasquatch would attack again. Several long minutes went by with no further hostilities though they could hear what sounded like whoops from the distant woods. Troy and Phil were in the bedroom of the lower floor. They were each at corner window watching intently out into the darkness, nervously waiting for the next volley. Troy was exceptionally nervous as he glanced over at Phil. He couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but could make out his silhouette from the fireplace light reflecting off the glazed, wooden logs of the home. In the fast pace of the evening, h
e never had much of a chance at conversation, only a brief greeting.

  Almost hesitantly, Troy said, “I think that was just the first attack, right? Just feeling us out to see what they’re up against? If three of ‘em were hit and maybe dead or dying, maybe they’ll think twice about attacking again?”

  “That makes a total of four! The one I shot on the ridge is dead. There was no mistaking that. I emptied my gun on it and it took every shot to bring it down! But it WAS down!” Phil insisted.

  “I wonder just how many there are?” Troy asked.

  “I dunno. Hey, where’s Craig?” Phil asked.

  Chapter 28

  Shadows from the firelight flickered about the cabin dancing on the walls and ceiling while the crackle of the cinder burning popped in a melodic and almost hypnotic manner. It was peaceful and calming to the group that sat in silence, watching and waiting.

  “Who’s doing that?” The sheriff suddenly asked, disturbing the silence. He explained he was hearing a thumping that sounded like someone nervously tapping on the cabin floor with their foot.

  The sheriff had been looking out through one of the windows in the front room for any sign of the Sasquatch. Everyone was clearly on edge. It had been at least an hour and nothing had been seen of the beasts except for whoops and calls in the woods earlier.

  Jolene had made coffee for everyone and Billy stood near the fireplace sipping a cup. He planned on heading back upstairs once he warmed up.