Baker County Bigfoot Chronicle Read online

  As his mind began to wander further into the rabbit hole of what constituted good parents in 1988, he began to stare at the blinking red traffic light. He’d become entranced and felt his eyelids begin to get heavy. Just as he was beginning to succumb to exhaustion, the roar of an approaching automobile startled him back to life. It was a beat-up blue Ford F-150 and he immediately recognized it as the one belonging to Kurt Bledsoe. Kurt wasn’t what Cochran would call a “bad kid”, but he knew him well enough to know he was exactly the kind of young man he’d just been thinking about. The high rate of speed and the jerky movements of the vehicle all indicated a strong possibility that he had indeed been drinking alcohol.

  Sheriff Cochran cranked the car, its engine roaring to life, and chirped the tires as the massive vehicle lurched forward, the blue strobes on the roof swirling all at once. The driver of the blue truck, presumably Kurt Bledsoe, noticed him immediately and slammed on the brakes. Cochran angled the patrol car in front of him, the Baker County courthouse looming large over them. The door on the truck swung open and the sheriff was surprised to see that it wasn’t Kurt Bledose after all, though he was certain that it was his truck.

  “Sheriff! Sheriff!” the young man screamed as he ran toward Cochran.

  Cochran was standing behind the open driver’s door of his patrol car. The aggressive nature in which the teenage boy was coming at him took him off guard and he instinctively reached for his sidearm.

  “I need your help! In the forest—please come to the forest!”

  “Tony Joyner?” Cochran asked, squinting. “Is that you?”

  “Yessir,” the boy replied frantically. “Kurt is in the forest and he’s hurt—I tried to help but…”

  “Get in the car,” Cochran commanded as he himself climbed back behind the steering wheel.

  Tony got in and the sheriff immediately righted the car and turned on the sirens. The large boxy car had a powerful engine, so much so that Tony felt himself sink into the faux leather seat as they accelerated past the “LEAVING DUNN” sign at the north edge of town.

  “What the hell were y’all doing out in the forest this time of the night?” Cochran asked.

  Tony looked away sheepishly. “I don’t know…just talking,” he mumbled. Suddenly, he whipped his head back to look at the sheriff as his thoughts returned to his ailing friend. “We’ve got to hurry—something got him…it came from the meteor.”

  Sheriff Cochran glanced at Tony curiously. “Meteor?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean something got him?”

  “I mean…I guess it was a meteor,” Tony replied shaking his head. It was as if there were a million thoughts scrambling around in his head and he was trying to put them back in order. “It was a big rock…it had a crack in it and…this stuff, it was coming out and it got on him. It was hurting him.”

  Cochran could clearly tell that Tony was not intoxicated but he could smell the faint aroma of alcohol. “Son, I’ve got to ask…were y’all drinking out there?”

  Tony bit his lower lip and rubbed his hands over the brown hair atop his head. He seemed incredibly bothered by the question and his posture provided the response Cochran needed.

  “Relax,” he said calmly. “We’ll get him.”

  Once they finally arrived at the parking area next to the playground, Tony pointed to the horse trail that led into the forest. Cochran looked at the trail and then back to Tony, an expression of disapproval on his face.

  “Trucks aren’t allowed on those trails,” he muttered.

  “Yessir, I know,” Tony said. “But we knew no one would be out there this time of the night.”

  Cochran sighed. “Will my patrol car make it down there?”

  Tony considered the question and then nodded. “Yessir, it’s plenty dry enough and it’s mostly gravel.”

  With a bit of caution, Cochran eased the wide car onto the trail and though it initially seemed too narrow, it eventually widened out to the point where he felt comfortable enough to drive a little faster. He estimated the drive to where Tony and Kurt had been parked took almost ten minutes—a surprisingly long way for them to be into the forest at that time of the night. The sheriff and many locals knew of tales regarding the presence of a tribe of bigfoots that lived in the forests of Baker County. Many dismissed the tales as nothing more than local folklore, but Sheriff Cochran knew better. He’d seen the legendary wood ape with his own eyes and knew that it was very much a real creature. Of course, not everyone would be convinced, and he was okay with that—as a matter of fact he preferred it. The less the public knew about them, the better. He felt certain that Kurt and Tony must not have put a lot of stock into the tales that they’d undoubtedly heard at some point during their lives in Dunn. Had they truly believed, he was certain that they would’ve never ventured so far into the forest at that time of the night with the knowledge that the wood apes were out there watching them.

  “Right there!” Tony said suddenly, and he pointed. “We were parked right there!”

  Sheriff Cochran brought the car to a halt and snatched up his flashlight as he exited the vehicle. As soon as it flickered to life, he scanned the beam of light over the surrounding landscape and settled it on something small, white and cylindrical resting on the ground.

  “That yours?” he asked, keeping the light steady on the beer can.

  Tony immediately thought back to the can Kurt had thrown out of the truck. The one he’d made a mental note to pick up before they left. “Kurt threw it down,” he said. “I was going to pick it up—but then…”

  “The meteor,” Cochran interrupted as he glanced up at the twinkling stars above them. He continued to survey the surroundings when he spotted an odd trail of burnt grass and splintered trees of all sizes down the hillside ahead of them.

  “That’s where it came down,” Tony explained. “I left Kurt down there.”

  “Okay,” Cochran said, pulling his sidearm with his free hand. “Stay behind me, and if I tell you to run, you get your ass back to the car and you don’t look back…got it?”

  “Yessir,” Tony replied.

  They moved down the hill and into the blackness below. The only sounds to be heard were that of an owl and the occasional yip of a coyote. Otherwise it was deadly silent. Just as Tony mentioned that they were almost there, Cochran noticed the ominous silhouette of what appeared to be a large boulder ahead of them.

  “What the—”

  “That’s it…that’s the meteor,” Tony stammered.

  Sheriff Cochran directed the beam of light onto the rock and could see the large crack that had formed in its center, just as Tony had described, however he didn’t see any sort of stuff coming out of it.

  “You said something was coming out of the rock?”

  “Y-yeah,” Tony said, and he stopped where he was, seemingly afraid to get any closer. “It was some gooey slime looking shit—it was glowing blue.”

  “Well I don’t see anything glowing blue,” Sheriff Cochran mentioned with a bit of skepticism.

  Cautiously, he made his way around the rock, his gun still drawn and pointed ahead of him. “Kurt Bledsoe—you out here son?”

  There was no response.

  Cochran surveyed his surroundings carefully and as the beam from his flashlight washed over the soil ahead of him, he spotted something troubling. There were footprints all over the ground—but they clearly were not human. They were large, nearly two feet in length. They were clearly put there by a wood ape.

  As far as Cochran knew, the bigfoot tribe that lived in Baker County had never harmed a human being and based on his own personal experiences, they did everything they could to stay hidden away and as far from humans as they could get. However, even knowing all that, he couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling come over him. The notion that a wood ape could’ve snatched up an incapacitated Kurt Bledsoe and dragged him off into the middle of the night never to be seen again was a troubling thought, but at the same time a logical one under the cu
rrent circumstances.

  “Kurt!” Tony called out from behind him. “You out there man? I’ve got the sheriff here!”

  Still there was silence.

  “You don’t see him?” Tony asked Sheriff Cochran.

  “No,” he muttered in reply. “I don’t. Head back to the car, I’m going to venture a little further down. I’ll be back soon.”

  Tony said nothing but did as he was told and jogged back to the patrol car. Meanwhile, Sheriff Cochran walked onward, keeping his head on a swivel. There was tension in the air. It was thick and hot and signaled something bad was near. To the best of his recollection, Cochran thought there was a stream directly ahead. He decided he’d walk as far as that stream and if he still saw no sign of Kurt, he’d head back to the car and request back up. A few more minutes of walking among majestic pines that reached for the stars and finally the bubbling of water signaled that he’d reached his intended destination.

  Sheriff Cochran again shined his flashlight around the surrounding landscape. Suddenly, a flash of white came into view and he immediately recognized it to be a shoe. Cochran jogged over to it and knelt to examine the footwear without touching it. He looked closely for any blood, or even the glowing blue substance that Tony had mentioned. He saw nothing.

  “Kurt Bledose? You out here?” he asked, glancing all around him.

  A cool breeze rolled off the stream that made him shudder. He pulled the top of his jacket together tightly and resisted the urge to tremble. As he stood back up, his knees popped and then they popped again…only the second time he realized it wasn’t his knee that made the sound. It was the twigs on the ground behind him. He spun around sharply, the gun and flashlight moving with him to see who—or what—was sneaking up behind him.

  “What in the literal hell?” he asked with a mixture of shock and bewilderment.

  Standing before him was Kurt Bledsoe. His eyes were open and at first, he appeared to be looking at the sheriff, but as Cochran studied him closer it became more apparent that he was actually looking through him instead. It was almost as if he had no idea he was there at all.

  “Are you alright, son?” he asked softly.

  No response.

  “What happened to you?”

  Still nothing.

  The sheriff shook his head and began to unzip his large coat. He then moved toward Kurt, who still didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence, and draped the jacket over his shoulders. As if the situation was not already odd enough, it had suddenly become even more curious because for reasons that Cochran could not come to terms with at the time, Kurt Bledsoe was completely naked.

  Chapter 4

  The Baker County Hospital was located on the outskirts of the town of Dunn. Sheriff Cochran took Kurt Bledsoe straight there for observation. He and Tony had made multiple attempts to get the young man to talk, but he would not respond. Kurt would instead stare blankly out the window of the patrol car: clearly his mind was somewhere else. With regards to his lack of clothing, Tony was just as dumbfounded as the sheriff and could offer no explanation.

  When they arrived at the hospital, Tony jumped out of the passenger seat and opened the rear car door to make one more attempt to get through to Kurt. He knelt in front of him and looked up into his friend’s eyes.

  “Kurt, what the hell happened out there?” he asked, almost pleading.

  Kurt stared past him toward the forest behind the hospital.

  “Did something get you after I left?” Tony asked.

  For the first time, Kurt’s gaze slowly lowered to meet Tony’s. He said nothing, but Tony saw something in his friend’s eyes that he’d never seen before. Fear was there, but there was much more than that. Confusion, sadness, despair…it was all there in a collection of unbridled emotions that had seemingly overwhelmed Kurt’s brain.

  “Okay, Tony,” Sheriff Cochran said, gently pulling him aside. “Let’s get him inside.”

  Tony looked over his shoulder and found a male nurse standing there patiently, a wheelchair in front of him.

  “We’ll take good care of your friend,” he said as he stepped forward. Another man joined him and a moment later they were wheeling him through sliding glass doors.

  Sheriff Cochran and Tony followed and once they were inside, Tony was directed to have a seat in the waiting area. The sheriff spoke to two other hospital employees for at least half an hour before returning. He glanced at his watch as he had a seat next to Tony.

  “You need to call your mother,” Cochran said. “It’s three in the morning—she must be worried sick about you.”

  Tony shook his head. “Mom works nights at the box factory,” he replied. “As far as she knows, I’m at home asleep.”

  Sheriff Cochran shook his head with disappointment but resisted the urge to lecture. “Okay,” he said. “Well you still need to let her know what’s going on.”

  Tony took a deep breath and then slowly looked over at the sheriff. “I’d rather not,” he said softly.

  Cochran smiled and shook his head, this time in disbelief. “Son, if you don’t tell her, I’m going to tell her.” He paused and pointed toward the desk he’d just walked away from. “Go over to that desk, ask to use the phone, and call your mother. Let her know what’s going on and that you’re with me.”

  Tony looked over at the desk and sighed. “Alright,” he said, sounding defeated. “I’ll call.”

  “Attaboy,” Cochran replied.

  Once Tony was away with the phone against his ear, Sheriff Cochran quietly stood and made his way through a pair of swinging wooden doors that led to the observation rooms. He stopped at the nurses’ station and asked where to find Kurt Bledsoe. She told him room six and a few seconds later he arrived just as the doctor was walking out.

  “What’s wrong with him, Dr. White?” Cochran asked as he and the doctor made eye contact.

  The doctor took a deep breath through his nose and removed his glasses. He looked exhausted—or maybe it was unnerved. “I’m not sure,” he muttered. “His adrenaline levels are through the roof. They are so high in fact that he should be dead.”

  Cochran’s eyes widened. “What? Dead?”

  Dr. White nodded. “Too much adrenaline can cause damage to the heart. It’s as if his flight or fight response kicked in but still hasn’t stopped yet. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Would that cause him to act the way he’s acting? So…distant?”

  The doctor considered the question. “Well, I think he’s clearly suffering from shock, but his strange behavior goes beyond that. I need to know more about what happened out there.”

  Sheriff Cochran breathed deeply, his large shoulders moving slightly. “I’ve given you all the information I have. Frankly, I think a lot of that business about glowing goop coming out of the rock was a bunch of B.S. What we have here are two teenagers that went out in those woods and drank themselves silly. Imaginations went wild.”

  “What that boy is suffering from is not a result of his imagination, Sheriff,” the doctor said. “He’s also suffering from a fever which as you may know is the result of the body trying to fight some sort of sickness or trauma.”

  Cochran’s brow furrowed with curiosity. “What are you saying, doc?”

  Dr. White’s eyes narrowed, and he looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Have you notified the boy’s parents of what is going on?”

  Cochran shifted uneasily. “His mother died…his father has been long gone. He lives with his sister and no I haven’t contacted her yet.”

  Dr. White nodded. “Good, that’ll give us a bit of time.” He closed his eyes as if he were planning something out in his head. “Sheriff, we need to take the boy to the Walker Laboratory for further evaluation.”

  Sheriff Cochran was taken aback. He cocked his head and asked, “What the hell for? What can they do that you can’t do?”

  Again Dr. White looked uncomfortable and looked around. “They have equipment there that I don’t have here. Whatever is wron
g with him is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I want to transport him there and then you let his sister know where he is at.”

  Sheriff Cochran sighed and ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair as he considered what Dr. White had just said. Walker Laboratory was a mystery to most people in the town. Cochran knew that the federal government funded the facility, but little was known about what they actually did there. He’d been in the front lobby of the building before, but never had the opportunity to venture in any further. There were some in town that speculated the lab had something to do with aliens or U.F.O.’s. This particular rumor currently troubled him as he considered the strange circumstances surrounding the rock that had fallen from space. As otherworldly thoughts began to creep throughout his mind, Cochran shook his head to regain his composure.

  “Doc, I know you’re the expert and all, but can you give me a little more to go on here?” Cochran asked nervously. “This kid seems messed up in the head, but I don’t really see anything physical going on.”

  “The neurological problems that he’s having right now are…complicated,” Dr. White said cryptically. “Trust me, we need to get him looked at with the equipment over at Walker.”

  Again, Sheriff Cochran sighed. “Alright, hurry up though ‘cause I’m about to call the sister.”

  Dr. White nodded and disappeared through a door that Cochran could only assume led to Kurt Bledsoe. He returned to the lobby where Tony Joyner was waiting. His face was ashen, and it seemed obvious that the conversation he’d just had with his mother had not gone well.