Chapter 3

For close to a minute, the six of them stood staring at the image before them on Carol’s laptop. They were stunned by the appearance of this horrifying, menacing creature.

“Mr. Floyd, you’ve lived your whole life up here, have you ever seen anything to compare with this creature?” Dave Hartman asked.

“Never ... To be honest, I really thought we’d find a mutant cross between a black bear and a brown bear - or maybe some weird deformed mountain man to be the cause of all this. This THING is not like anything I’ve ever seen. No wonder it can kill and eat a whole cow, calf, or human. It must weigh close to seven or eight hundred pounds,” Floyd Cooper told him.

“Look at that monstrous head and gruesome face,” Carol said, pointing to the image.

The creature’s monstrous head is half as big as a young elephant. The head rests on the shoulders, as if it has no neck. The eyes are spread wide apart on its grotesque face and they appear to be black in the picture as they peer through the long, stringy hair draped from its head. Hair covers its entire face, except for the mouth. Even the wide nose and flaring nostrils are covered in dirty, brown colored, matted hair. The mouth is another gruesome sight. The next image showed the creature with its mouth open, exposing huge, menacingly long teeth.

The teeth appear to be a dingy brown, with green canker around the base where they enter the blood-red gums. The creature’s canine shaped jawbone protrudes from its face, yet the head is shaped like a primate. The overly fat upper and lower lips appear to be ulcerated and swollen, the lower lips drooping down from the bottom teeth exposing the gums completely. Streams of slimy, bloody drool drip from the bottom lip in strands, covering the grisly chest where hair is matted and tangled in the filth, dirt, grime, and constantly dripping drool.

The creature’s arms reach past its knees when lowered, with paws big enough to grip a half grown calf around its middle. From each of its four fingers and thumb on each hand, extend razor sharp, curved claws over ten inches in length. The hair is thick and matted over its bloated, protruding belly and groin. The creature stands upright, with its knees in a bent position in the manner of an ape. The knees are bare with blackened, calloused knee caps. The feet are hairless, black, and over a foot wide and two feet long with five huge toes on each foot, one resembling a thumb. Here again, there are long curved claws extending from the digits, much the same as the fingers.

In the next image, the creature had turned and from the side, it resembled the form of an ape more than anything else, with long arms hanging down, knees slightly bent. Its backside appeared to be black, and hairless like an ape. The next picture showed the flat hairless buttocks with crusted excrement hanging, tangled in the hair of its upper body and legs. This alone was enough to cause the stench Donna had spoken of. That was the last picture.

The six adults stood staring at the screen as if they thought the creature would suddenly walk back out of the dark shadows onto the screen once more.

They all jumped when they heard a car horn and the slamming of car doors in the yard.

“OK, we all have our stories straight, don’t we?” Coop asked.

They all agreed and stepped out on the front porch when Floyd Cooper turned the porch lights on.

“Mr. Hartman, we got a 911 call about another creature incident up here. You were the one to call it in, is that correct?” The deputy standing on the doorsteps spoke first when he recognized Dave Hartman of the newspaper.

“That’s right, Pete. We were over here showing Mr. Cooper’s grandson, Coop, where Doolin had his problems the other night and we heard a scream for help out in the forest.”

“Are you the one they all call Coop, down at Harker’s Store?” Pete asked, as he looked at Coop.

“That’s right, Pete. You should remember me, I played baseball with your brother one year.”

“I thought it was you, just wanted to be sure. Mr. Harker and all the others think kind of highly of you back at the store.”

“Well, I grew up here like you and Mark over there. I went to the store, like all the other kids in this part of the world, when I was old enough to walk. I guess some of it has rubbed off on me and they still remember me.”

“Why are you carrying that weapon on your hip? Hell, Man, that’s a .44 Magnum you got there. Afraid you’ll see one of them alien beasts run by you in the woods?” Mark asked, with a smirk as he nudged Pete.

“I wasn’t afraid I would. I was hoping I would. Then you’d be out of a job up here on the mountain.”

“Don’t get smart with the law up here, Coop. Just because you left here and went off to learn how to be a story writer, don’t mean we got to take no smart talk from you,” Pete scoffed at him.

“Pete, I wasn’t talking smart talk to you. You asked a question and I answered it honestly. If you keep your questions related to the 911 call, I’ll keep my answers pertinent.”

“Then let’s just get this little incident written up so we can get back down to Rockwell Springs. We got things more important to do other than stand here and jaw about some man dressed up as a Big Foot, scaring hell outta people.”

“Where’s this dead body you reported seeing, Mr. Hartman?” Mark asked, cutting off his partner, Pete.

“It’s out behind Doolin’s barn, maybe a hundred and fifty feet deep in the trees. Just follow the old back road and you’ll see it off to your right if you look good.”

“Who found the body?” Pete asked.

He and Mark both had been eyeing Donna as she stood beside Coop, wearing a white tee shirt and white shorts.

“I did,” Donna told him.

“The man whose body you’re looking for, was my ex-boyfriend. I was camping at the reservoir with my five year old daughter when he came up and tried to abduct her. He beat me with his fists and ran into the trees with my daughter. I ran after him and heard him scream. When I got to where he was, he was already beheaded, dismembered, battered, and bloody. I grabbed my daughter and ran. When I ran, I met Coop, his dad, and the others who had run into the woods when they heard the screaming,” Donna said, her voice calm and steady.

“I can see the bruises on you, Ma’am. Where did you live with him and what was his name?”

“His name is ... or was, Ben Donovan. I live down in Rockwell Springs.”

“What do you do down there?”

“I’m a nurse at the hospital.”

“We’ll need your name, address, and phone number before we leave. Let’s all go out there and see if we really do have a body, before we call the Coroner. He told Sheriff Reed he was tired of being called out, just to find a calf or cow when he got there,” Mark said.

“Pete, get the spotlights out of the car. We’ll need plenty of light, if there’s really a body and we have to do an investigation,” Mark said.

“You didn’t plug yours in, and mine’s only half charged.

“Mr. Floyd, do you know if old Doolin has some cordless spotlights?” Pete asked.

“He does and Coop has two in his Cherokee around back too, I saw them earlier.” Floyd Cooper answered.

“Then let’s get back there and see what we have. This sounds like another wild, made up story to me. Coop, you didn’t shoot the man with that big gun you got strapped on your hip, did you?” Pete asked.

“No. If I had, I would have shot his heart out, not shot his arms and head off.”

“WHAT?”

“Deputies, I think it’s time you started acting like you work for the citizens of the county and stop acting like you own it,” Dave Hartman said, as he stepped off the porch and stood before Pete and Mark.

“Mr. Hartman, don’t get in the way of the law out here. You’re daddy may be a rich, powerful man, but he’s not here to protect you,” Mark spoke up.

“Is that a threat, Deputy? If it is, just file your charges and take me in when the Coroner gets here and puts that body in a body bag,” Dave Hartman told him.

Carol looked over at Dave and saw a different man than the one she’d met earlier. She liked the man she’d met ... she liked this one even more, now that she’d seen him handle himself like a professional.

“Mark, you and Pete, get your heads straight and stop acting like you’re some kind of fancy TV lawmen, or I’ll tell your daddies and they’ll beat them asses,” Don Cooper spoke up for the first time.

“Yes Sir, Mr. Cooper. I apologize for the way we talked to all of y’all. We just been called out here so many times, it gets old,” Mark apologized.

“Coop, let’s get your lights and take the deputies out to where the man was lying when we saw him last,” Coop’s dad told him.

“I’ll stay with Gina, she’s still asleep,” Floyd Cooper told them.

“Granddad, we don’t need to split up out here again, we’ll wake Gina and take her with us,” Coop said, as he went in to get her.

When he came out, Donna walked over and kissed Gina’s face, then took Coop’s hand as they walked down the steps.

Don and Floyd Cooper looked at one another and smiled, then followed the others around to Coop’s vehicle to get the lights.

“Coop and I will take a light and lead us into the forest. Pete, you and Mark better bring your patrol car; you can drive down the old back road right up near the scene. Open these back doors so the women can get in with the baby.”

“Everyone, keep a close eye and ear out for whatever may move or make a sound,” Don Cooper told them, then led the way across the wide grassy field to the tree line where the old back road starts.

Coop held a spotlight in one hand, his other hand resting on the butt of his .44 Magnum as he and his dad slowly made their way through the grass along the old road, following the tracks they’d made earlier with their vehicles.

When Don and Coop came to the small clearing, they shined their lights to the right and saw the splattered blood.

“Over here. I hope you deputies have strong stomachs, you’re about to be severely tested,” he told them, as he spotted the bloody body of Ben Donovan, still lying where they left it.

Pete and Mark stepped out of the patrol car, leaving the engine running, headlights on, and spotlights shining toward where Don Cooper was pointing. They walked over to where Don and Coop were shining their lights down on the ground. Both deputies fell to their knees, vomiting and gagging, as they crawled away, out of the light.

“Unit 17 to BCSD,” Pete said. He made it to the patrol car and reaching through the door window, he grabbed the mike and keyed it.

“BCSD, go ahead, 17. Have you arrived at the Doolin place?”

“We have and we need the Coroner ASAP. We have a mutilated body on the ground here in the forest.”

“Sheriff Reed just said he’s on his way out there too. Secure the scene and send someone out to guide them in.”

“Will do - Unit 17 out.”

“Do any of you know what could have done that to this man?” Mark asked.

“No, maybe it was a bear,” Floyd answered.

“If it wasn’t a bear, I don’t want to meet up with whatever it was,” Pete said, as both deputies stood and wiped their faces on their bandanas.

Pete and Mark decided to stay with the corpse while the Coopers, Dave Hartman, and the women prepared to walk back out to Doolin’s house to wait for the Coroner and Sheriff.

“Pete, you and Mark better keep your guns ready and your eyes and ears open out here. This isn’t one of those false alarms and we’re not crying wolf,” Don Cooper told them before they left.

Both deputies reached into the patrol car, one grabbing a shotgun, the other taking an automatic assault rifle from the rack.

On the way out of the forest, on the grass covered back road, Donna grabbed Coop’s arm and pulled him to a stop.

“What’s wrong, Donna?”

“That awful smell. I smell it again and it’s strong. Do you smell it?”

“Yes, let’s hurry and get out of here. Dad, you and Granddad hurry to the edge of the open field, we’re right behind you,” Coop said, grabbing Donna by her arm, looking back to make sure Carol and Dave were with them as they all ran into the open area to see the flashing lights of the Sheriff’s patrol car coming toward them.

The Sheriff slid to a stop in the grass and the Coroner’s vehicle slid sideways to a stop beside him as they both stepped out.

“Where’s the murder scene?” Sheriff Reed asked, as he held a light on them.

“Right through there, follow the vehicle tracks through the grass in the old back road. You can see where the patrol car went in earlier. Mark and Pete are back there now,” Dave Hartman told them.

“WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?” The Coroner screamed, as he looked to the tree line and pointed.

They all looked to where the headlights of the vehicles were shining on the trees. There the creature was, looking at them, waving its arms, as if in anger. Suddenly, it was gone. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it had vanished.

“Mr. Cooper, what was that?” Sheriff Reed asked Floyd Cooper.

“That ... Sheriff, was what attacked Doolin and has been killing and maiming animals and people alike for over fifty years while you educated fools have denied its existence. You better get out there and see about your deputies, they may or may not be alive by now.”

“Don? What was it?” Sheriff Reed asked Don Cooper, as if he hadn’t heard Floyd Cooper’s statement.

“Sheriff, you heard Dad. You better show some authority and go check your deputies. Carl, you better get out there and get that body bagged up and out of these woods. That creature has killed, and you can bet it’ll come back for its kill,” Don Cooper said, as he told the Coroner to get out there and do his job.

“How far out, Don?” Sheriff Reed asked.

“No more than a hundred and fifty feet from where we are now. You’ll see your patrol car. You better stop wasting time and get out there. This isn’t a hoax, and you need to be prepared to defend yourselves when you get there.”