Footprints (14 page)

The darkness beyond the glow of the porch lights seemed to spread off in the distance forever, an endless horizon of impenetrable shadow. Annja tried to adjust her breathing so she was more relaxed and hopefully more in tune with her surroundings. At the same time, she switched from trying to focus on everything and allowed her vision to become softer, knowing that at night this was the better way to see in the dark.
"It shouldn't be long now," David said. He stood right behind Annja. His presence was so close it made her feel uncomfortable. She wished Jenny would see how aggressive he was and how Annja was not encouraging him in the slightest.
She sighed. "Get away from me, David."
Joey glanced at her and grinned, but then went back to watching the woods. "What exactly are we waiting for here, Sheriff?"
"Just keep your voice down and be still. If it hears you, it won't come out of the woods."
"
It?"
Jenny said as she approached them. "You don't actually mean the Sasquatch is going to come here, do you?"
"I certainly do."
Annja shook her head. "There'd better be a good explanation for how you managed to achieve that miracle."
"
Simple.
A few months back, I noticed some obscure tracks on the periphery of my property. They weren't like anything I'd ever seen before. Of course, my skills aren't nearly what Joey's are so I couldn't be sure of anything, really."
Joey frowned. "Well, you certainly could have asked me."
David shrugged. "I guess I wanted this to be my discovery and mine only. I wasn't ready to ask for any help. I just wanted to make sure this was what I thought it was and not some big mistake."
"So what did you do?" Annja asked.
"I set up small feeding stations around the edge of the woods back there. And then I started sitting out all night long, making notes of when the creature came in and for how long. What it liked to eat, what spooked it, that sort of thing."
"That's pretty intriguing," Jenny said. "Did you think to set up a night-vision camera or some other method of actually capturing this thing on film for the rest of the world to see?"
"No. I didn't want to spook it before I was ready to, at long last, unveil this to friends. That's you guys."
Joey sighed. "I don't buy it."
Annja smiled.
"Me, either.
How did you keep this to yourself? Most people would have busted at the seams with the urge to tell the world they'd discovered the truth about the Sasquatch. And yet you kept it quiet. Why?"
David shrugged. "Guess I'm just better at keeping secrets than other people."
Annja nodded. "Sure seem to be."
Jenny looked at her watch. "Well, when does the nightly entertainment start around here?"
"Should be right about now," David said. "If it keeps to its normal patterns and comes by. Of course, it could also be spooked by the presence of you guys."
"But it's fine with you seeing it?" Annja asked.
"Well, sure. By now it's gotten used to my scent being here. I'm not a threat anymore."
"And we are."
David frowned. "Annja, if you were a creature like this who had survived for so long by being so careful, then wouldn't you feel a little threatened if you smelled someone you hadn't before? Even someone who smells as lovely as you?"
Joey groaned. "Dude, please."
Jenny's voice grew terse. "So what exactly are we supposed to be looking at, then?"
"
The outer border of the lights.
Sometimes you can see it moving just beyond the glow."
"And you think it will be here tonight?" Jenny asked.
"I refilled the feed bags earlier today."
Annja glanced at David. "What in the world did you use as bait?"
"
Venison."
Joey groaned. "You killed a deer?"
"I found a dead deer by the side of the road. It was still fresh. Someone must have hit it and kept going. It wasn't spoiled and it seemed a shame to waste it. So I used it. I thought you'd be proud of me for not wasting it."
Joey frowned. "It wouldn't have been wasted, anyway. It would have been food for the other creatures in the forest."
"And it is," David said.
"It just so happens that the creature in question is a bit larger than the scavengers that would normally get to the deer first."
"
You've done this before, then," Annja said.
"Yes."
"
Each time with deer?"
David shook his head. "No, it was a very interesting trial-and-error system. I tried berries for a while and they didn't work. It just left them untouched. I tried leaves and plants, testing to see if it was an herbivore. Not so much."
"So what beyond the venison actually worked?" Jenny asked.
"Honey."
Jenny nodded. "I can see that. Sweets are always a good way to break down barriers with animals and people alike."
Annja went back to watching the darkness. Her eyes couldn't pierce the cloaked environs beyond the reach of the lights, but somewhere deep down inside her she felt something moving out there.
Slowly.
"What time is it?" she asked.
David checked his watch. "It's about that time."
Annja nodded. "I think it's out there."
"Are you sure?" Jenny moved closer to her. "I don't see anything."
Annja smiled at her.
"Too much time in the classroom.
Let your eyes go out of focus and deepen your breathing until you're more relaxed. Sense the rhythm of the woods and then you'll start to hear and see things."
Jenny took a breath and released it slowly, exhaling in one smooth stream. "I feel like I'm meditating."
"You are, sort of," Annja said. "Now just let your awareness expand outward in concentric circles, almost like radar."
Annja went back to watching the woods. Her senses were heightened. There was definitely something moving out there. She shivered. Having something like the Sasquatch lurking on her property would have made her distinctly uneasy at night. She wondered how David the lothario fared.
Joey leaned his head forward, and his voice, when he spoke, was the vaguest whisper. "It's here."
David snaked his head in next to Annja and Jenny. "I told you it would be here. Do you believe me now?"
"I can sense something out there," Annja said. "But I haven't seen anything yet that proves it exists. I'll withhold judgment until I do."
"That shouldn't be long," David said.
"I still can't see anything," Jenny said.
David smiled. "Want to get closer?"
Annja looked at him. "Are you crazy?"
"We're not in danger," David said. "And I really want Jenny to see what this thing is that I've been dying to tell her about all this time."
"When you weren't luring me out here," Annja said.
"We can discuss that later," David said. He looked at Jenny. "What do you say? Shall we get closer?"
Jenny nodded. "I'm in."
Annja frowned. "Well, there's no way you two are going without an escort. Joey and I will come with you."
"Great," Joey said. "This better not turn out like the last horror movie I saw."
David led them off the porch and onto the grass. Tall weeds reached up, threatening to entangle their shoes, but David took them on a route that spared them from the largest plants.
Annja's senses were on high alert and she could hear vague snaps of twigs and branches as whatever lurked beyond the clearing moved smoothly through the woods at a slow pace.
This doesn't feel right, she thought. We ought to be back on the porch where we can see. In the darkness, anything can happen.
Joey stalked through the grass next to her and she marveled at how silent he was. He was half crouched over and his legs came up out of the grass and back into it like a stork moving through the water in search of fish. He glanced over and whispered to her.
"Old stalking technique."
Annja nodded. She'd seen similar movements in martial arts training. She was always fascinated by the way different cultures, isolated geographically, could sometimes develop similar techniques.
David stopped moving and pointed ahead of him. Annja saw it before the others did and she froze.
On the edge of the woods, a large shape appeared, partially obscured by branches and a tall shrub. Was this the Sasquatch?
Jenny froze in her tracks and then glanced back at Annja, her eyes wide.
"Oh, my God, Annja.
That's it."
But Annja couldn't see any detail, just a shape and that bothered her. I need to get closer, she thought.
Next to her, Joey held her arm. "What are you doing?"
"
Getting a better look.
All I see is a vague shape. That's not enough for me to become a true believer."
Joey sighed. "You're on your own, then."
Annja nodded and stalked farther on, past David and Jenny. Behind her she could hear Jenny whispering at her to come back and not be a fool. But Annja hadn't gotten to where she was in life by being afraid to take a chance.
Or many chances.
And this time was no different. She needed to know. She needed to see.
She approached the edge of the woods. Still, the shape kept moving, and Annja could see something hanging from a tree close by. That must be one of the feeding stations, she thought.
Was it eating?
I just need to get a solid look, she thought. That's it. If I can actually see the creature, I'll go back and leave it alone.
She moved even closer, bridging the gap between the open field of David's yard and the clustered shrubs at the edge of the woods. Twenty yards separated her from the thing moving around in the bushes.
She advanced farther.
At ten yards, she stopped again, aware of how much she was sweating. A long time ago someone had told her how difficult it was to move quietly and slowly. She hadn't believed it back then, but she did now.
Stalking was hard work.
Five yards and Annja could hear sounds like something was eating. The telltale noises of smacking lips reached her ears clearly. Whatever was in there was definitely eating.
What if it was a bear?
It was possible, of course. And with Annja's recent luck it would probably turn out to be the only grizzly in the area.
Probably with a taste for human flesh, too.
She frowned. Don't think that way.
She took a deep breath to still her pounding heart. David, Jenny and Joey seemed so far away, even though they were perhaps sixty feet behind her.
I've got to do this, she thought. If I don't, then I'll never get my own questions answered about the existence of the creature.
Annja plunged into the woods.
The sounds ahead of her stopped. The creature wasn't eating anymore.
Annja heard a soft whiff of air. And then she felt something pierce her skin just below her heart. She looked down and then brushed her hand down the front of her shirt.
She came away holding a tranquilizer dart.
Since when does the Sasquatch use tranquilizer darts?
she
wondered as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Annja groaned as she became aware of the painful throbbing in her head. She tasted something in her mouth, something faintly sweet, and wondered just what drug had been used to take her down.
"Ugh."
She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a cave of some sort, but exactly where she had no idea. She could hear the steady
drip-drip-drip
of water falling from the cavern ceiling to the floor below. Combined with the ache in her head, the dripping water seemed to echo her pain.
The area where the dart had struck her felt a little tender, but the wound was nothing too serious. I've probably got a nice welt there, she thought. It wasn't the first time she'd been struck with a drugged dart. It probably wouldn't be the last, either. Annja almost grinned at the thought of how ridiculous that sounded.
Her hands were bound tightly behind her and movement was difficult. But at least the ropes flexed some when she moved her hands. She'd been in handcuffs before and that was far worse.
The ambient light in the cave seemed to be coming from somewhere else. She wondered if there was a way to get to the outside and, if so, was sunlight somehow penetrating the cavern? She couldn't be sure, but it felt as if she'd been out for the better part of several hours. That would make it coming up close to dawn.
From behind her, she heard something shift and Annja tensed, expecting the worst. Instead, when she turned around, she saw Joey and Jenny. They were tied up, as well. Jenny was trying to sit up, but was clearly not used to being bound.
"Are you all right?" Annja asked.
Jenny nodded as she finally succeeded in righting herself. "I think so, aside from one hell of a bruised ego."
"David?" Annja asked.
Jenny nodded. "The bastard conned me, Annja. And he did such a great job on me that I was distracted and I never even noticed he was setting us up."
Annja shrugged. "I got conned, too. It happens."
"What happened to you? We saw you go into the bushes and then it sounded as if you'd fallen."
"As soon as I stepped in, someone shot me with a dart. I didn't see a damn thing," Annja said.
Jenny smirked. "I did. Don't worry, you didn't miss much. It was just a guy dressed in some kind of special suit I've seen soldiers wearing before. It covered him from head to foot in strips of burlap and stuff like that."
"He wore a gillie suit?"
Jenny nodded. "That's what they call it. Thanks. Yeah, he was in one of those. He came walking out, raised his gun and shot Joey first. Then he nailed me. As I went down, I heard David telling him what a great shot it was.
Jerk."
Annja frowned. "I wonder exactly who David is working with. And why the hell has he fabricated the entire existence of big foot?"
"I thought we were calling it Sasquatch," Joey said, opening his eyes for the first time."
"You okay?" Annja asked him.
Joey nodded.
"Yeah.
My stomach hurts a lot, though."
Annja grinned. "Did you get shot in the stomach?"
"
Yeah."
"
It's the localized pain from the dart hitting you. Sort of feels like you got punched real hard."
"
Yeah."
Annja smiled. "It wears off in time. The important thing is you're okay and back with us."
Joey flexed his hands. "Whoever tied these ropes did a good job. There doesn't seem to be any give to them."
"Agreed," Annja said. "
Which leaves us with the questions that have been plaguing us for the past day or so.
Namely, what the devil is going on around here?"
"Well, Dave hasn't succeeded in luring the Sasquatch to his backyard, that's for sure," Joey said. "He did, however, succeed in suckering us something silly. Speaking for myself, as a fourteen-year-old, I'm not happy. But you guys are grown-ups. You should be ashamed."
Jenny smirked. "Thanks a lot."
Annja looked around the cave. "Joey, you recognize any of this? Does it look familiar at all?"
"Not really. The woods are filled with caverns like this. Miles of unexplored tunnels crisscross the area. I don't know if anyone has really ever explored them, to be honest."
"Not you?"
Joey shook his head. "I was just mastering the outside world. I wasn't even that curious about the tunnels."
"Maybe this is where the Sasquatch lives," Jenny said.
Annja sighed. "I doubt that. Last I remember reading about the
Sasquatch,
it doesn't wear a gillie suit, shoot tranquilizer darts or tie people up in secret underground caves."
"This is all the sheriff's doing," Joey said. "And, boy, am I going to enjoy having some words with him."
"But what's the purpose of all this?" Annja asked. "Why bother getting us out here? He could have simply ignored us and done whatever he was planning on doing by himself. What does he need us for?"
"That would be the magic question," Jenny said. "But clearly it's not for anything romantic."
"Safe bet," Annja said. She glanced at Joey.
"Any ideas there, Einstein?"
Joey shook his head. "All I know is Dave has been a decent guy since I've known him. That's not all that long and all, but he's always been cool with me. This is completely out of left field. I don't get it."
"None of us do," Annja said. "So let's hear some theories."
"You think this is connected with Simpson and Baker?" Jenny asked.
Annja shrugged. "Could be, I guess." She knew she'd have trouble summoning the sword with her hands bound behind her. Instead, she started looking around for a sharp rock to cut the ropes on. They couldn't just sit there, waiting for someone to come and hurt them. They had to get out and quick.
"Either Simpson or Baker could easily have a gillie suit and tranquilizer darts. That's not out of their ballpark."
"So if they're working together, then to what end?
To capture the Sasquatch?
David didn't strike me as all that supportive of their mission," Annja said.
"Well, that was before he lured us out to his house and had his friend shoot us with those darts," Jenny replied.
"Good point."
Annja spotted an outcropping of jagged granite ten feet away. "We need to get these ropes off."
Joey squirmed his way over to Jenny and sat up, using her back for support. "So if Dave is with those two Feds, then that would mean one of them shot us even though we weren't doing anything illegal. That doesn't strike me as being kosher."
Annja smiled. "None of this is kosher, pal. This is the big wide world of evil people." She got herself situated and starting moving up and down, rubbing the small space between her hands against the rocks. She felt the sharp edges bite in her flesh.
"Damn, cut myself."
Jenny looked at her. "You okay?"
"
Fine."
Annja kept the friction on. She couldn't afford to give in to the pain. David and his buddies might be on their way to finish them off. "How long has David been the sheriff around here?"
Joey shrugged. "I don't know, maybe three years or so."
"Where did he come from before that? Does anyone know?"
"I'm the wrong guy to ask, to be honest. I've had my nose in the woods too much to know what his background is. All I know is he
came
, wooed everyone and got the job."
"What are you thinking, Annja?" Jenny asked.
"I don't know. Maybe he was sent here for some purpose that we don't know about. Maybe this isn't the first time he's done this." She kept the pressure on and felt some of the rope start to give a little bit.
"Well, whoever he is, he can't get away with it," Joey said. "Someone has to find out and make him pay."
"Like who?" Jenny asked. "State Police are more than an hour away. Who would come out here in time to rescue us?"
"She's right," Annja said. "If we're going to stop David and whatever it is he's up to, we're on our own. Unless there's anyone else we can find to help us."
Jenny frowned. "Who are you thinking of?"
"Sheila."
"
From the hotel?
I thought she was a nutcase."
Annja felt another bit of rope start to give way. "I thought so, too. But she was the one who warned me about David. That's got to count for something, don't you think?"
"I guess, but how are we going to get to her? I don't have a cell phone on me and I doubt it would work underground, anyway," Jenny said.
One of the ropes fell free and Annja gritted her teeth, working on shredding the remaining ropes. "Just let me finish this and we'll work that out. If we can find some way out of here and get back to town, then we'll be all set."
Joey watched her. "Once we're out of here, I'll need a minute or two to look around and get my bearings. Once I do, I can get you back to town as fast as you can run."
"What happens if I run faster than you?"
Joey shook his head. "No one runs faster than me."
Jenny started. "Did you hear that?"
Annja stopped moving. Her ears strained to make out whatever it was that Jenny thought she'd heard. "I don't hear anything."
"I could have sworn I heard something."
Annja went back to grinding the ropes. "Keep your ears open. If you think someone's coming, tell me. We'll need the element of surprise if they do come in here to check on us."
Joey looked around them. "You know, there's something vaguely familiar about this place."
"You've been here before?"
He frowned.
"No, not really.
Just something seems really familiar. I just can't place it."
"Well, hurry up," Jenny said. "I thought I just heard something again."
"What did it sound like?" Annja asked.
"Almost like a snore. But really constant." Jenny frowned. "I can't explain it properly."
"
A snore?"
Annja grinned. "Great. That helps a lot."
"Well, you try listening, then."
"I'd gladly switch places," Annja said. "But I'm a bit busy right now."
Joey tried to get to his feet. "That's not a snore she heard."
"What do you mean?" Annja asked.
Joey struggled to rise, but bumped his head on the low ceiling and sank back down. "Damn."
"You okay?"
Annja kept rubbing the ropes against the rocks. "Joey, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Jenny's right.
In a way.
Except it's not a snore she's hearing."
"Well, there's a relief," Jenny said. "It'd be just our luck to get trapped in a cave with a sleeping Sasquatch."
"Jenny! Be quiet," Annja said. She looked at Joey. "Will you just hurry up and explain yourself?"
"The snore she heard? It's water."
"
Water?"
"
There's a huge river that runs through the back part of the forest. It's really swollen this time of year."
"
Rapids?"
"
Yeah, but it's worse than that. The dam fifty miles away releases some of the water every few months and it adds to the volume.
A lot."
"
But shouldn't that just concern the river? How is it going to affect us?" Annja broke through another set of ropes. One more set and she'd be able to get them out of the cave.
"The river runs underground, as well. That roar Jenny heard is the oncoming water. If we stay in this cave, it will smash us against the rocks and we'll drown or be cut to pieces."
Annja glanced at the cavern opening—now she heard the roar.
It was getting louder.