Hominid

by R. D. Brady

  Until now. The juvenile was placed in one of the smaller cages.

  Tess made her way slowly around the clearing, careful to stay well back behind the trees. When she got around to the cages, she moved closer so that she could get a better look. The back walls of the cages were solid metal. She couldn’t even see into any of the cages from back here, much less open them.

  Tess sank down on her heels, staying low out of sight. What am I going to do?

  Just then there was a knocking sound from the trees on the other side of the clearing. The sound of wood on wood.

  The four men turned and raised their weapons. One man nodded to the other three. “Check it out.”

  Tess watched as the three men slipped into the woods. One to go.

  The last man checked the lock on the cage. He paused at the cage entrance and raised his gun, aiming it at the small bigfoot. Tess tensed, aiming her own weapon. Please don’t make me do this.

  The man laughed and lowered his weapon and then followed the other men into the woods.

  Tess didn’t waste a second. She burst into the vacated clearing and hurried to the front of the juvenile’s cage. The bigfoot was beginning to come to. He rolled onto his back and sat up, his head hitting the top of the cage. Oh, please know who I am.

  The juvenile reared back when it caught sight of her, rocking the cage.

  “Shh, shh,” Tess said.

  The bigfoot’s chest rose and fell quickly. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

  “I’m a friend. I’m a friend,” Tess said.

  The bigfoot watched her closely. It was a Gigantopithecus type, and it looked to be less than four feet tall. It probably wasn’t even a teenager yet. It was still a child.

  “Got that damn thing in a cage. I swear it nearly took my arm off,” a voice said.

  Tess dove around to the back of the cage again.

  “We need to get this thing set up to transport.”

  “We’re flying it out?”

  “Yeah. Help me move it.”

  The two men who had originally grabbed the bigfoot reappeared from the woods and walked straight for the cage. But behind them, two shadows separated themselves from the trees. Two very tall shadows.

  The bigfoot grabbed the men and threw them. They sailed through the air with a scream. Tess’s heart rate picked up. The other men would hear that scream and be here soon.

  Tess wasted no time. She sprinted back around the cage, pulled her rifle from her back, stepped back, and blasted the lock. She kicked the lock off and swung open the door just as more men appeared. Tess shot at the ground in front of them, forcing them to take cover. “Go, go!” she yelled at the juvenile, hoping he understood.

  But the young bigfoot just cringed in the back of the cage. The men had taken cover and now that they realized it was only her, they opened fire.

  Tess dove for the ground and rolled behind the cage, covering her head. She heard the men yell and she peeked out. Two bigfoot had appeared behind the men. They lifted them from the ground and flung them into the trees.

  Tess ran back to the open cage door. She reached in, holding out her hand. “Please.” She focused on her memories of Charlie, Mary, and Sugar, and did her best to pour out her feelings of trust.

  The bigfoot finally reached out his hand. Tess grasped it and tugged him forward. The bigfoot needed no further urging. He ran forward and grabbed on to Tess. Tess nearly fell under his weight, but she managed to keep upright. “We need to go.”

  But before they could escape into the woods, a man stepped out right in front of them, his weapon aimed at the two of them.

  CHAPTER 125

  Tess stepped in front of the bigfoot. She could feel the poor little one shaking, and her anger spiked, right along with her fear.

  The man smirked. “What are you, one of those tree huggers? Get out of the way.”

  Tess looked at the rifle held confidently in the man’s arms. It wasn’t a tranquilizer gun.

  “No,” she said, although she would have preferred if the tremor in her voice hadn’t been so noticeable.

  “Your choice.” He raised his weapon.

  Tess tensed. But then a bigfoot swooped down from the trees above, both feet landing on the man and driving him into the ground. Tess cringed at the crunch of bones. She reached back for the child, grabbed his hand, and ran.

  Together they sprinted through the trees, and Tess could hear the crashing of branches behind them. She knew bigfoot made no noise going through the trees—which meant it was humans giving chase. She willed herself to run faster.

  The child stumbled and fell. Tess reached down and pulled him up, urging him on.

  Their pursuers were getting closer. Tess knew she would have to confront them at some point, but she had no idea how to make the bigfoot continue on without her.

  An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, and Tess screamed as she struggled. The child’s hand was yanked from hers. “No!”

  Then she noticed the hair covering the arm. She glanced back—it was one of Kong’s lieutenants. Another lieutenant had the young bigfoot wrapped in her arms.

  Tess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was safe for the moment. But she knew that wasn’t something she could count on for long.

  CHAPTER 126

  Tess flew through the trees wrapped in the arms of one of Kong’s lieutenants. She would love to check her GPS. She knew they were close. But in her present position, she couldn’t reach it.

  A gunshot sounded from behind them. The bigfoot carrying Tess stumbled and dropped Tess, who rolled to the side as the bigfoot crashed to his knees. Somewhere behind her a man screamed. The bigfoot next to her, who was carrying the child, sprinted away.

  Tess crawled over to the downed bigfoot, but two of his friends reached him first and hoisted him up between them. They looked at her.

  She waved them on. “Go, go!” she yelled. She scrambled behind a tree and pulled out her GPS. Almost there.

  Movement in the woods caught her attention. She squinted. It was a man in camouflage. He leaned up against a rock, and raised his rifle. Tess’s gaze flew to his target. He was aiming at a bigfoot about six foot tall, who was scanning the trees.

  Sugar—she came back for me.

  Heart pounding, Tess raised her own rifle and aimed. She pulled the trigger. Nothing. Damn it. She threw it down and pulled out Madge’s rifle. Oh, please God.

  She took aim and fired. Her bullet hit right a tree right beside the man, spitting bark. The man ducked and rolled. Sugar scampered away.

  Tess let out a breath and sprinted forward.

  In her mind, she counted the yards. Five more. She pushed harder and crossed the imaginary finish line. Gun blasts behind her celebrated her achievement, and she flung herself to the ground just as Sugar dashed toward her.

  Behind Tess, six men stepped out of the trees, their weapons aimed at Sugar. Tess leaped to her feet and jumped in front of her. “No.”

  Tess’s breaths came out in pants. Two more men moved in on her from the left. Tess pulled Sugar behind her so that none of the men had a clear shot. Tremors ran through her, and she was pretty sure her legs were going to give out at any moment. Nearby, bigfoot could be heard slamming branches into trees, voicing their displeasure.

  Run, run, Tess yelled in her mind to Sugar as the armed men moved toward her. But Sugar stayed with her. Tess wanted to cry, knowing Sugar wouldn’t leave her but wishing with all her might she would.

  Then Shawn and Dev appeared out of nowhere. Their weapons were raised, and pointed right at the men. Even more threatening were the bigfoot who were lined up beside them.

  The armed men swung their weapons between Sugar and these new bigfoot. Tess’s heart stopped. This was precisely the nightmare that had kept her on edge since she’d first learned about the private army.

  I’m going to lose them all.

  CHAPTER 127

  A gray-haired man stepped forward from the group to her left. “My nam
e is Jeff Adams. I’m a retired colonel of the US Army. We are under orders from the governor of California. Stand aside.”

  Adams was a square-jawed man with sharp eyes. This was a man who would follow through on his orders.

  “And if we don’t stand aside?” Tess asked.

  Adams narrowed his eyes. “Casualties happen. Like I said, I’m under orders.”

  “Well, that means next to nothing here,” a familiar voice said.

  Tess’s head whipped to the side. Eric stepped out of the woods. And he wasn’t alone.

  A dozen park rangers were with him, along with twice as many men and women whom Tess recognized as members of the Hoopa and Klamath tribes. There were more men, too, men she’d never seen before, but she had no doubt who they were: Shawn’s fellow SEALs “on leave” from the Navy. They had made it.

  The private military men seemed taken aback at this sudden appearance. “You people need to clear out,” Adams said. “We are under orders of—”

  Eric stepped forward. “You’re in Oregon. Your orders don’t apply here.” Tess felt a sense of hope as Eric stepped forward. “In fact, Governor Blackwell has ordered all of you arrested on sight if you set one foot into Oregon. So I am ordering you to drop your weapons. You are all under arrest.”

  The colonel slammed his mouth shut. He glared at Eric. But then he appeared to assess the situation. “Do as he says,” he told his men. “Drop your weapons.”

  “Go,” Tess whispered to Sugar. Sugar looked down at her, and Tess squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. Go.”

  With one last look, Sugar disappeared into the trees, and the other bigfoot followed. Tess watched them go, then turned back to the stunned faces of everyone who’d watched them depart. That was not a sight they would soon forget.

  The rangers made the military men kneel on the ground and placed zip ties around their wrists. The colonel looked up at Eric and Tess and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know what you think you’ve accomplished here. Everyone knows they exist now.” He scoffed. “In fact, you just provided more than a dozen witnesses to their existence.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tess said. “All I know is that my brother-in-law, boyfriend and I were walking through the woods when you started shooting at us.”

  The colonel laughed. “Right. And not the bigfoot standing next to you.”

  Tess reared back. “Bigfoot? What bigfoot?” She turned to Eric. “Did you see a bigfoot?”

  Eric shook his head. “Can’t say I did. But man, I would really like to.” He turned back to the colonel. “You know, people often mistake bears for bigfoot. It’s a common misidentification.”

  The colonel spluttered. “Who are you trying to kid? All these people saw them.”

  A few men and women had grabbed tree branches and were already busy swiping the ground in different spots, removing any traces of prints.

  Tess called out to them. “This guy says he saw a bigfoot. Did you guys see one?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “Nope.”

  “No.”

  “Bigfoot’s just a legend.”

  Tess turned back to the colonel. “You know, whenever people say they’ve seen bigfoot, they’re viewed as being a little crazy. So you might want to keep that ‘sighting’ to yourself. Because none of the rest of us saw anything.”

  CHAPTER 128

  Tess stepped away from Eric as he read Colonel Adams his Miranda rights. Dev was already doing to the same to the other captured men. Shawn and his friends had disappeared back into the woods. They were looking for any injured and any evidence left behind of the bigfoot.

  Not that I think they left any. Tess stood still, staring at the woods to the north. Had she not just seen the bigfoot depart that way, she’d have no idea they had ever been here. She studied the ground. Nothing there either. Not a trace.

  She walked north. She didn’t expect to find any bigfoot still in the area. After all, they had plenty to take care of. She’d seen a few bigfoot carrying the bodies of other bigfoot, and her heart lurched at the memory.

  But as soon as she rounded the curve of the path, Mary, Sugar, and Frank were there in front of her. Tess soaked in the sight of them. None of them seemed hurt. Thank God.

  But Tess felt their sadness. Missy’s family may have escaped injury, but they had lost their home, and other members of the tribe had been hurt or killed.

  And she had the distinct impression they had been waiting for her. She looked at each of them. “Is everyone accounted for?”

  She knew they couldn’t answer her, or even understand her, but she needed to ask. Frank grunted, and Tess looked up at him. A vision of half a dozen bigfoot flew through her mind, vague and indistinct, except for the last one. Kong popped into her mind with perfect clarity.

  Tess reared back. Well, that’s new. But then she realized Frank was telling her that Kong and some others hadn’t returned. She had no doubt that other bigfoot were out looking for them. But she also knew Frank was asking for her help.

  Tess nodded. “I’ll find them.”

  CHAPTER 129

  Tess made her way back to Eric and the others, but everyone was busy dealing with the private army. Tess debated speaking with Dev before slipping away after the missing bigfoot, but she knew he would just try to talk her out of going. Kong might not be the friendliest bigfoot, but he had saved her life and Missy’s. She owed him. She’d call in the cavalry if she found someone and needed help.

  Without a word, she headed south. She knew there were probably still gunmen somewhere in these trees, but fear for Kong overrode all other considerations. At the same time, she thought she was crazy for even worrying. Kong was ridiculously capable. He could take care of himself. He was a ten-foot hominid, for goodness’ sake—not exactly the stereotypical victim.

  But she wasn’t sure how familiar he was with the trickiness of humans.

  Blowing out a breath, she checked that Madge’s rifle was loaded—it wasn’t. And she had no extra rounds with her. Well, this was well thought out.

  Tess paused every few feet to listen. What am I doing? Kong does not need my help.

  But maybe the others do.

  She moved forward. Gunfire sounded through the forest followed by a scream of pain.

  Tess ran forward, knowing that scream hadn’t come from a human. She leapt over downed trees and moved faster than she ever let herself move in the woods.

  She sprinted past a boulder and slammed to a stop. How the hell—

  Abe Cascione stood ten feet away, a small bigfoot on the ground next to him. He reared back and kicked it in the side. It let out a whimper.

  “Come on, you can scream louder than that.” He kicked it again.

  Tess’s anger boiled. This bigfoot was barely a toddler. He didn’t appear injured, but he did look absolutely terrified.

  A bellow sounded from farther away, and Abe grinned. “Now that’s more like it.”

  Abe pulled his gun into his shoulder and scanned for any movement. Tess quickly ducked behind a boulder.

  A crashing sounded from the other side of Abe. Abe whirled around just as Kong stormed out of the woods, a body over his shoulders.

  No. Tess knew Kong was fast, but he wouldn’t outrun a bullet. She slid her rifle off her shoulder. It might not be loaded, but it would still work as a bat.

  She adjusted her grip, not believing she was doing this. Was she actually about to take on an armed man with only an unloaded gun?

  Abe pulled the trigger, and Kong reared back, the body he was carrying hitting the ground with a thump. The small bigfoot that Abe had been kicking darted into the trees, but Abe didn’t seem to care. He was after the bigger trophy.

  Tess raced forward, swinging the rifle for all she was worth.

  Hearing her footsteps, Abe turned. “What the—?”

  Tess swung, knocking his rifle aside. It clattered to the ground and out of his reach. Tess swung back and caught him in the shoulder. But he r
ecovered quickly and tackled Tess around the waist, slamming her onto her back. Pain radiated through her skull, and her vision went blurry.

  Abe held her arms down and stared at her. “You.” He laughed. “Looks like I get to finish what I started.” Abe reared back and aimed a punch at her face.

  Tess shifted at the last second. He caught her ear instead of her cheek. But it still hurt like hell.

  “Get off me!” Tess yelled. Squirming, she kneed him in the groin. He groaned. Tess managed to sit up, slamming her elbow into his chin. He fell back, and she scrambled out from underneath him.

  Tess and Abe both dove for the rifle. But Abe got there first. Pointing the rifle at Tess, he rose to his feet. “Well, guess this didn’t end the way you planned.”

  Still on her knees, Tess glared up at him. In her mind, though, she said her goodbyes. Her life flashed before her eyes, dominated by images of Dev, Missy, Shawn, and Pax. She pictured the four of them together. I love you, she thought, and then held her breath.

  Abe smiled. And then his smile turned to an expression of horror as he was yanked into the air by an angry Kong. The rifle went off. The ground right next to Tess was torn up by the bullet.

  Kong roared and slammed Abe into a tree. The tree cracked and bent. Tess cringed at the sickening thud Abe’s body made. Then he flung Abe’s broken body into the trees.

  Kong stared down at her, breathing hard, rage coming off him in waves. Then he turned, scooped up the dead bigfoot, and disappeared into the trees.

  Tess fell back, her stomach rolling. Her breaths came out in pants. She couldn’t tear her gaze from the spot where Kong had disappeared. Then she turned on her side and threw up.