Wood Ape Read online

  WOOD APE

  A Bigfoot Thriller

  C.G. Mosley

  www.severedpress.com

  Copyright 2018 by C.G. Mosley

  PROLOGUE

  1985, Baker County, Mississippi

  Clifford Lowe, or Cliff as his friends knew him, had been searching for his fifth bullfrog of the evening when it happened. He’d spent the past hour knee-deep in the muck of Sanderson Swamp looking under every rock and inside every stump for the large amphibians. Frog legs were a favorite of his, and it was something he was quite accustomed to eating back when he lived in his native home of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

  It was a woman that had brought him to the quiet town of Dunn, Mississippi six months earlier. Her name was Jenny Fleming and when he’d first asked her about preparing a mess of frog legs, the woman wretched as if she were going to throw up. Cliff, appalled in his own right, decided at that very moment that he and Jenny would not work out. He was, however, suddenly stuck in the town of Dunn thanks to the new job he’d just accepted at the local textile plant.

  With Jenny out of the picture, and nothing but time on his hands when he wasn’t working, Cliff decided he’d waited long enough for a taste of the Cajun goodness well-cooked frog legs provided. Sanderson Swamp, named after the family that had once owned the land, was formed thanks to a family of beavers almost a century earlier. A small creek that could once be traced all the way back to a tributary of the mighty Mississippi River had provided the water, the beavers provided the dam. There had been efforts over the years to eradicate the pesky rodents, but in Cliff’s best estimation, it seemed to him that the beavers had won.

  With the sun beginning to set, and the clouds on the horizon beginning to turn a beautiful shade of violet, Cliff decided one more frog would be enough. He ventured to a section of the swamp he had not yet explored, hoping it would provide a quick find. Without realizing it, he was putting more distance between him and his truck. Cliff approached a hollowed-out tree trunk and reached for his flashlight. He was dismayed to find that it wasn’t in its usual holster place…the holster attached to his belt. He glanced around him in all directions, deciding he must have lost it somewhere in the murky water. With the sky darkening, it would be next to impossible to see inside the tree without a light. For a brief moment, he considered returning to his truck for the spare light, but laziness got the better of him. Against his better judgment, he plunged a hand into the dark void of the trunk and felt around. It was full mostly of water and mud, but as he felt around something hard bumped against his hand. Cliff fought the urge to jerk his hand away, and instead wrapped his fingers around the object and pulled it out. It turned out to be nothing more than a snapping turtle, though it was quite large. The turtle snapped at him, and he suddenly realized it was an alligator snapper.

  Could’ve lost a finger, he thought, and he cringed as he tossed the animal aside. In a few short minutes, his environment became much darker. Cliff pulled the trucker cap off his head and wiped the sweat away from his brow with his forearm. He sighed, his shoulders slumped. I guess four will have to do tonight.

  Cliff reluctantly turned away and headed back in the direction that he’d come. He nearly tripped a couple of times over hidden tree stumps, rocks, and limbs all submerged underneath the water. Suddenly, it seemed eerily quiet. There wasn’t the sound of a bird, insect, or other animal to speak of and something about the silence made him feel uneasy. Cliff tried to tell himself that his mind was playing tricks on him—that it had been that quiet all along and that his focus on finding dinner had been the reason he hadn’t noticed it before. It wasn’t just the silence…he seemed to feel a presence too. Just as he was about to reach dry land again, he heard it.

  Cliff stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around in the direction of the sound. It was a ripping sound, but he couldn’t place exactly what was being ripped. He turned his head back in the direction of his truck and something in the back of his mind was screaming at him to go to it quickly. For reasons that Cliff was never fully able to explain or understand, he instead turned and focused his attention again on the ripping sound roughly fifty yards away. There was light splashing he could hear too. Whatever was out there, it was in the water and it was large enough to create waves. Cliff looked down at his ankles as the water rippled past him. The ripping sound continued, and it beckoned him to investigate. Cliff trudged through the muck yet again and did so as quietly as he could. When he finally got close enough, the light was all but gone. Cliff crouched down behind a tree and glanced up at the sky. The stars were beginning to twinkle overhead. When he returned his attention to the thing making the sound, he squinted his eyes and a silhouette began to form in front of him.

  The creature was kneeling, and it was clearly covered in hair. Cliff was unable to tell for sure due to the lack of light, but he thought it must’ve been brown in color. And it stunk. It smelled terrible…like that of decaying flesh. The hands it used to peel bark away from the tree were massive and looked similar to that of a primate. He could hear it breathing and the sound suggested whatever it was had large lungs to go right along with the rest of its large frame. Cliff’s heart began to pound hard as his mind began to understand what he was looking at.

  Bigfoot, he thought.

  He must have watched the legendary creature peel bark off the tree for another two minutes before he finally figured out that it was retrieving insects and eating them. His knees began to ache, and he felt lightheaded, but he dared not move. A slight rumble in the sky drew Cliff’s attention upward. There was a commercial airliner flying overhead and when he looked back toward the beast, it too had looked up. Not only had it looked up at the airplane, but it stood as well. The creature stood no less than 8 feet in height, its shoulders broad and hulking. The sight of the wood ape now standing on its feet scared Cliff so badly that he fell backward due to the dizziness that quickly overcame him. As soon as Cliff’s bottom hit the water, the monster snapped its head around and glared at him.

  With the aid of a sudden burst of adrenaline, Cliff began to propel himself backward while simultaneously rolling over onto his hands and knees. His frantic crawl forward quickly transitioned into him running away toward the truck. He did not look back, but he could hear the large beast stomping through the water after him.

  It’s chasing me, he realized with disbelief.

  The wood ape growled at him and grunted something that sounded as if it were attempting to speak to him. Whatever it was trying to say, Cliff was uninterested. His concentration was on nothing else but getting into his truck and driving away as fast as possible. Much to his surprise, he somehow managed to outrun the beast to the truck and for the briefest moment, he thought that it had given up the chase. As he snatched the handle to open the door, he immediately realized he was mistaken.

  A massive hand wrapped around his bicep and tightened like a vice. Cliff felt his feet leave the ground as he was jerked away from the truck and thrown through the air. When he crashed back onto the earth, he felt something pop in his left shoulder. The sensation made him yelp in pain, but he wasted no time returning to his feet and running again. With seemingly no other option, Cliff turned his attention to the nearby two-lane highway. If he could make it there, surely the elusive wood ape would give up on the chase.

  It quickly became apparent that Cliff had managed to outrun the beast to his truck only because it allowed him to. With little effort, this time the wood ape caught up to him in mere seconds and wrapped its chubby fingers around his throat, jerking him backward again. Cliff felt his feet leave the ground and he kicked wildly with his heels, trying desperately to inflict any sort of damage to his attacker. Unfortunately, the wood ape’s arms were long. Cliff’s efforts were futile. Instead, the creature casually turne
d him around so that they were face to face. Cliff looked into the dark eyes that stared back at him and saw nothing there to suggest he would be granted any mercy. With his options running low, Cliff began to yell and plead for the wood ape to drop him and set him free. The beast responded by pulling him closer and sniffing at his face. Cliff winced and held his breath in an attempt to stifle the putrid smell. He felt the grip around his neck begin to tighten and came to the realization that the wood ape was about to crush his windpipe. He clawed his own fingers at the beast’s, frantically trying to pry the massive hand away. The wood ape was undeterred and only tightened its grip further. Just as Cliff began to lose consciousness, he reached for his belt.

  The next few moments felt like a dream, but he clearly felt the hilt of the knife in his hands. He felt his arm swing forward, though without his vision it was impossible for him to know exactly where the blade was going to land. It was only when the creature howled in pain and released its grip from his throat that his vision returned, and Cliff realized what had happened. The blade of the knife had somehow found its way directly into the right eye of the large creature. A shower of blood poured from the wound and the animal continued to wail pitifully.

  Cliff gasped as his lungs begged for air. He fell onto his back and wriggled away from the carnage that was unfolding in front of him. For the time being, the wood ape didn’t seem to be concerned with his presence, only with its own survival. It reached up, grabbed the hilt of the knife, and jerked it free from the gore that had once been a healthy eye socket. The beast momentarily glared at the human that had caused the injury but as the blood continued to pour from the wound, seeking vengeance at that particular moment was not a priority.

  The wood ape retreated into the shadows of the forest, howling in pain as it moved away. Cliff, still unable to regain his footing, crawled away from the swamp. When he was finally able to walk again, he moved briskly back to his truck and sped away back to Dunn.

  CHAPTER 1

  35 years later…

  Downtown Dunn, Mississippi looked as if it had somehow stopped moving at some point in the mid-fifties. There were no major chain stores of any kind to be found, and the same went for the restaurants. Every place of commerce that existed on the town square was locally owned, and many of the stores had been owned by the same family for decades. For those that happened to stumble upon its meager existence (no one really visited Dunn on purpose), at face value it appeared to be a charming little town…the sort of place one would picture on Leave It To Beaver, or The Andy Griffith Show. There were certainly shades of Mayberry no matter where you looked.

  For Harry Schrader, the move to Dunn was largely his idea, though not for the reasons his wife thought. For all Lacey Schrader knew, the move to Dunn was a necessary evil of her husband’s chosen profession. Harry was a high school principal, and the school where he’d worked in Atlanta, Georgia was forced to close its doors due to a state takeover. Harry was unfairly blamed for the school’s consistently terrible test scores, but ultimately it had not cost him his job. There was an offer for him to take over as an assistant principal at a nearby junior high, but there were other matters that persuaded him to make a major move. Due to some pretty radical changes in his personal life, Harry decided it would be best to make a change to a smaller school district in a much smaller town. Due to time constraints, the move would be dictated by what was available, and what was available was an opening at a public high school in the Baker County school district of Mississippi.

  Fortunately, Lacey’s job as a paralegal was an easy move as well. It just so happened that one of the only two lawyers in the city of Dunn had just lost a paralegal. And “lost” unfortunately meant that 82-year-old Edna Fairchild had passed away of a sudden heart attack. As easy as the transition had been where finding work was concerned, it was equally easy for them to find what Lacey had referred to as the home of her dreams.

  The house was a century-old antebellum two-story house, complete with four large ancient-Rome-inspired columns across the front of the antiquated structure. The price had been a steal in Harry’s opinion, and when he asked the realtor to provide some insight for why the house was so cheap, she explained that there were many locals that believed the home was haunted. He and Lacey scoffed at the notion, as neither of them believed in that sort of nonsense. Their seven-year-old daughter, Alice, however, would most likely be terrified if she’d found out. It was explained that the previous owners had moved away suddenly, and the house was ultimately foreclosed on. Admittedly, when Harry considered the possible scenarios as to why the middle-aged couple would move away so suddenly, what the realtor said about the home being haunted vaulted to the forefront of his mind. When he’d brought the possibility up to Lacey, she immediately dismissed it. The expression on her face made it clear that she was smitten with the old house and he could see she was already decorating the place in her mind.

  Aside from the beauty and history of the house, its location was probably the biggest selling point for Harry. Located in a secluded section of forest, and at the end of a red dirt road, the nearest neighbor was two miles down the road. The city of Dunn was a seven-minute drive. Close enough for convenience, yet plenty of distance to provide the privacy he desperately craved at this particular point in his life. Behind the home, probably a hundred yards away, an old red barn loomed large across the impressive landscape of meadow and pine trees. A boyish desire to venture inside the structure welled up inside of Harry, and he decided once they were all moved in, it would be the first thing that he explored on the property.

  “Well, what do you think?” Harry asked, as Alice clambered up the front porch steps, her plush teddy bear clutched tightly to her chest.

  Alice looked up at the enormous columns and followed them until they met the roof. “It’s big,” she said, sounding awestruck.

  “Yeah,” Harry said, glancing up with her. “It is definitely big. A lot of history in this old house.” He placed a hand on the column nearest him and leaned against it. “It’s a lot different from where we used to live. You’re going to see a lot of nature’s beauty here.”

  She looked at him, blinking. “Like what?” she asked curiously.

  He smiled at her and knelt to her level. “Well, you’ll see white-tail deer, turkeys, raccoons…maybe even a black bear.”

  Alice’s green eyes suddenly widened, and a breeze blew a few of strands of blonde hair across her face. “Bears?” she asked with wonder.

  Harry kissed his daughter’s forehead. “Maybe,” he said, though secretly he hoped not.

  “What are you two up to?” Lacey asked, stepping out of the house behind them.

  The movers were busy trudging in and out, pulling various pieces of furniture from their truck and placing them where she directed. They’d apparently taken a break.

  “Mama, we’re going to see bears!” Alice said excitedly, and she jumped off the porch, headed directly for the wood line.

  “Stay where we can see you!” Harry called after her.

  Lacey looked at Harry, bewildered, and then moved closer to put her arms around his waist. Harry didn’t pull away from her, but he didn’t seem to embrace her display of affection either. There was a coldness about him that Lacey was unable to figure out.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, staying right where she was.

  “I’m fine,” he said, his eyes locked onto Alice.

  “What’s this about seeing bears?” she asked, looking up at him.

  There was a hint of a smile, but it faded almost instantly. “Oh nothing,” he said wistfully, still watching his daughter play. “Just her imagination running wild.” Harry suddenly pulled away from her and glanced at his cell phone. “This isn’t good,” he muttered.

  “What isn’t good?” she asked, turning her attention to the phone.

  “Cell service is terrible out here.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that,” Lacey replied. “The phone company is coming out next week to install
some updates to the landlines, but we’ll have to manage until then.”

  Harry sighed, suddenly appearing very agitated. “There’s no way to get them here any sooner?” he asked, pulling away. He made his way down the steps and held the phone up toward the sky, looking for improvement in the signal.

  “No, I asked,” she answered. Lacey placed her hands on her hips and stared at her husband a long moment before finally adding, “Are you expecting a call or something?”

  Harry whipped his head around to look at her. “Maybe,” he grumbled. “That a problem?”

  Truthfully, it was a problem for her, but Lacey did not dare say it—at least not yet. She’d noticed her husband had become quite distant over the past three months. There were many instances of him walking around in their backyard speaking to someone on a cell phone. When she’d ask him who he was talking to, he would become quite defensive and almost angry. The uneasiness she felt about his private phone conversations were bad enough, but then there were the instances during the day where he would come up missing. She’d visited him at work on more than one occasion to find that he’d left early. No one in the school office seemed willing to tell her where he’d gone which only added to her suspicions.

  He’s cheating on me, she’d decided. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she would not continue the charade for much longer. It was her hope that the change in their lifestyle would be of benefit to their marriage as well. But now, as her husband ventured further into the yard in desperate search for a signal, it seemed some things had not changed at all. Sooner or later, she’d be forced to confront him, but today was not the time.

  Harry glanced over his shoulder to see if his wife was still watching. He could see that she was and despite what she thought about him, the way she looked at him made him feel quite shameful. He wanted to get it out in the open…to just tell her, but the timing was all wrong. There were a lot of decisions he needed to make, and they had enough going on with their lives at present without him adding something more to disrupt their lives.