Baker County Bigfoot Chronicle Page 4

  Dr. Franklin didn’t reply. He just stared at Kurt, his face revealing nothing. Marie returned her attention to her brother.

  “Did something happen to you in the woods?” she asked.

  Kurt’s eyes darted around wildly, and his heart rate increased even more. Marie considered what to say or do next when suddenly something strange caught her eye. “When is the last time you shaved?” she asked, smiling at Kurt.

  Her brother’s eyes revealed nothing this time, it was as if he’d never even heard a question.

  “Have you noticed this?” Marie asked, looking back at Doctor Franklin. “These fine hairs on his face…even on his forehead. What the hell is this?”

  Doctor Franklin strolled over and stood next to her. He turned on an overhead light and peered closely at Kurt’s face. Sure enough, his face was covered in fine hairs…dark in color.

  “That wasn’t there when he arrived,” he muttered. “Interesting…”

  “What the hell would cause that?” Marie asked aggressively. “You’re doing tests on him. What is wrong with him?”

  Doctor Franklin sighed and gently placed a hand on Marie’s shoulder. “We’re trying to figure that out,” he said. “Your brother is undergoing some sort of biological change. We’re running tests trying to figure out what exactly it is, but clearly something is amiss. Why don’t you go home and rest up for a few hours? Come back later today and maybe we’ll know more. There is nothing you can do for him right now.”

  “And then something could happen while I’m away,” Marie said, looking back over at Kurt. “No thanks, I’ll stay right here.”

  Doctor Franklin looked over at Sheriff Cochran, clearly wanting him to help out.

  “Uh, Marie,” Cochran said, taking a step forward. “I think the doc is right. You told me yourself you’ve been up all night wondering where Kurt was. If you’re gonna be there for him, you need to get some rest. How ‘bout I take you home, so you can wash up, take a good nap, and then I’ll bring you back this afternoon?”

  Marie looked over at him and now more than ever he could see the exhaustion in her eyes. She took a deep breath and at that moment seemed defeated. “I suppose you’re right,” she muttered. She then glanced back at Doctor Franklin. “If I go, then you swear to call me if something happens.”

  “Of course,” Franklin replied. “You’ve got my word on that.”

  Marie looked to Cochran. It was as if she was wanting him to tell her if she could believe him or not.

  “Honey, he’ll call you,” he said. “And he’s gonna call me too because I want to stay in the loop with what’s going on here.”

  She considered it a moment more before finally leaning in close to her brother again. “Kurt, I’m gonna go home for a bit but I swear I’ll be back this afternoon. You hang in there, bud.”

  Then she stood and made her way back to the door, snatching the cap and mask away from her face. “Get me out of here before I change my mind,” she said to Cochran as she strode past.

  The sheriff looked over at Doctor Franklin once more. “We will be back,” he said firmly. “And I’m gonna expect more answers than what you’re giving me right now.”

  The doctor bit his lip and nodded as they disappeared into the hallway. When he was certain they were gone he glanced at the nurse nearest him. “Get the restraints and make sure he is secured to this bed,” he muttered. She nodded and went about the task. Franklin then stared at Kurt a long moment before finally reaching over and placing a hand on the side of the boy’s face. He used his thumb to pull up the upper lip to get a look at his teeth. He took a deep breath and stared in disbelief. The teeth he was looking at no longer appeared human. They were becoming sharper…pointier, and it was getting worse.

  Chapter 6

  Much to her surprise, Marie had no trouble falling asleep. She was the epitome of exhausted and despite her mind racing a million miles a minute, no sooner had her head hit the pillow, did she drift off to sleep. She probably would have slept longer had it not been for the sudden knocking—or pounding, rather—on the front door. With a mixture of frustration and grogginess, Marie swung her legs off the bed and willed them to carry her to the door.

  She grabbed the knob, then thought better of it and peeked out of the living room window to see who was there. The pounding continued, and she guessed it was either someone really angry with her, or someone that was really scared. Slowly, she pulled the curtain back and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Tony Joyner.

  Marie snatched the door open and as expected, found Tony standing on the doormat. He was wide-eyed, and his face was ashen.

  “Tony Joyner you better have a good reason for beating on my door like you’re the police or—”

  “We’ve got to go get Kurt,” he interrupted. His eyes darted over at the neighbor’s house and then back to Marie. “He shouldn’t be at that lab.”

  Marie squinted and cocked her head. “Wait, slow down,” she said calmly. “Where is all of this coming from? The lab is trying to help him.”

  Tony closed his eyes and clearly was struggling to keep calm. “No,” he said firmly. “They want you to think that but they’re running tests on him—and not the kind of tests that are going to help him. They want to study him…I’m telling you we gotta get him out of there.”

  Marie looked down the street in both directions. There was something about the way Tony kept looking around them that troubled her. She grabbed his shoulder.

  “Get in here,” she said, pulling him forward.

  With the door shut, Marie leaned her back against it and narrowed her eyes at Tony. She pointed at the nearby sofa and he sat.

  “Talk,” she snapped.

  Tony rubbed his knees a minute as if he were trying again to calm himself. Finally, he took a deep breath and began. “Okay, so do you know that kid Kyle Simpson?”

  Marie’s brow furrowed, and she pursed her lips as she thought. After a moment she said, “Umm…should I?”

  Tony rolled his eyes in frustration and shifted on the sofa. “Yes, he’s in my class…and Kurt’s. I wouldn’t call him a friend, but his mom is the librarian at the school.”

  “Oh yes,” she said, remembering. “Mrs. Simpson was always a bitch to me—I’ve tried to block her out of my memory.”

  “What?” Tony said, clearly confused.

  Marie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she replied. “Go on.”

  “Well, Kyle’s dad works at Walker Laboratory—where they took Kurt.”

  Marie bit her lip and felt her heart skip a beat. “Go on,” she said, not sure she really wanted to know where this conversation was going.

  Tony stood up from the sofa and began pacing. Marie watched him for almost a full minute before he continued. “Kyle called me this afternoon. He said he heard his mom and dad talking earlier this morning…they didn’t know he was listening in the other room. He told me that his dad mentioned Kurt by name and said that there was a terrible situation going on at the lab and that if Kurt survived he’d never be allowed to leave the lab.”

  Marie crossed her arms and felt a bit faint. She tried to tell herself that the information she was hearing was second-hand and though Tony was a very trustworthy kid, she knew nothing about Kyle Simpson. “What else did he say?” she asked.

  Tony chewed his lip as he pondered her question a moment. “Well, he told me not to say anything and he was just trying to find out what was going on since he knew me and Kurt were buds. He said whatever happened to him was a pretty big deal and that he’d never heard his dad so upset before.”

  “Did you tell him about the meteor?” Marie asked.

  Tony shook his head. “No, and honestly, I only didn’t because I was so freaked out about what he told me.” He paused and squinted at her. “I take it you’re glad I didn’t mention it?”

  She nodded. “Right…don’t say anything about what you saw to anyone. I think right now the less people that know, the better.”

  Tony
looked at her, clearly puzzled. “I don’t get it,” he said. “I figured the more people that know he’s over there, the better. The lab can’t keep it hidden from everyone in town.”

  “Yes, but I don’t need what we’re planning to get out and get back to someone at the lab.”

  Tony swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “And what are we planning?” he asked reluctantly.

  She took a deep breath and ran slender fingers through her brown hair. “You said it yourself,” she replied. “We’ve got to go get him.”

  Tony remained on the couch while Marie retreated to her bedroom. She made a beeline for her closet and reached around on the top shelf until she found what she was looking for. When she pulled her hand out, there was a black handgun clutched in it. She ejected the magazine to make sure it was loaded and then slammed it back into the grip. After placing the gun in the back of her waistband she made her way to the nightstand beside her bed and retrieved a flashlight.

  When she returned to the living room, Tony was standing near the front door.

  “Does your mom know you’re here?” Marie asked him.

  He put his hands in his pockets and shifted his feet.

  “I take that to mean she doesn’t,” Marie said, looking away from him and snatching her car keys off a hook in the wall.

  “My mom is asleep,” Tony said. “She works nights and she’s kinda used to me doing my own thing during the day.”

  “Well you still should tell her what you’re up to,” Marie said, reaching for the door. “You need to go home and stay out of this. I appreciate the information you gave me.”

  Marie exited the house and made her way along the sidewalk that led to the blue muscle car parked in the driveway, Tony in tow.

  “No,” he called after her. “I’m going with you. You’re gonna need help and he may be your brother but he’s my best friend.”

  “Go home, Tony,” Marie said as she climbed into the car.

  Tony snatched open the passenger door and plopped down on the seat beside her. “No, the only place I’m going is with you,” he snapped. “I know him better than you and I was there when that stuff in the meteor got on him.”

  Marie rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth. “Tony, sweetie, don’t be a nut rash. Get the hell out of my car and go home. I’m not going to be held responsible if something happens to you.”

  Tony glared at her but didn’t budge. He instead reached over his shoulder and fastened his seatbelt. “We’re wasting time,” he said.

  Marie sighed deeply and gripped the steering wheel hard in frustration. After considering her options for a moment, she finally turned the key and the Chevelle roared to life. “Fine,” she growled, pulling the stick into reverse. “But if you get your ass killed, don’t blame me.”

  She mashed the accelerator and the car lurched backward just as Sheriff Ray Cochran’s patrol car rolled to a stop at the end of the drive.

  “Dammit,” Marie grumbled, putting the car back into park. She watched in the rearview mirror as Cochran exited his vehicle and strolled up to the driver’s side window of her car. He glanced in at her and she watched as his eyes drifted past her and over to Tony. Marie rolled the window down.

  “Hi sheriff,” she said, smiling.

  He smiled back. “Marie, I thought we were going back to the lab together.”

  She nodded. “Oh yeah,” she said. “Honestly, I forgot all about that. I figured you were busy anyway…I’m sure you’ve got more to do than worry about my brother.”

  “Oh, it’s no trouble,” Cochran replied. “Tony, how are you doing?”

  Tony smiled nervously. “Doing good, Sheriff,” he said.

  “You going to the lab with Marie?”

  Tony nodded. “Yeah, just concerned about Kurt.”

  Sheriff Cochran rubbed at the graying stubble on his chin and moved his eyes back and forth between Marie and Tony. “Alright,” he said finally. “Let’s head on over. You guys follow me in case the fella at the guard shack gives us any trouble.”

  Marie smiled. “Sounds good,” she said.

  Cochran nodded and then returned to his car. Marie rolled the window up quickly, cursing under her breath.

  “Why didn’t you just tell him what I told you?” Tony asked.

  Marie put the car in reverse and backed into the street. “Oh, I don’t know Tony,” she quipped. “Because it sounds batshit crazy?”

  The sun was drifting lazily toward the western sky as Marie’s blue Chevelle rumbled loudly in the wake of Cochran’s boxy patrol car. There were orange and yellow leaves littering the road on the country road that led to the laboratory and they swirled and danced behind the cars as they navigated the curves and hills of Baker County.

  “You know, I’ve never even seen this place before,” Tony said as Marie turned the car next to a sign that said WALKER LABORATORY AHEAD—AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

  “You’re not missing anything,” she answered. “It’s just an old gray building in the middle of nowhere—it looks outdated.”

  “Do you think the rumors about the place are true?” he asked.

  She looked at him with a sideways glance. “Which rumors? The ones about the aliens or the U.F.O.’s?”

  He smiled at her. “Both.”

  She stared out the windshield as she considered the question. There was a time that she’d have laughed at such a suggestion. Now, however, she wasn’t so sure.

  “I don’t know what to think right now,” she answered. “All I know right now is that I want my brother back and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make that happen.”

  Tony stared at her a moment but couldn’t think of anything helpful to say. He instead turned his attention ahead to Sheriff Cochran’s patrol car as it approached a large sinister looking gray building surrounded by pine trees. Once he stopped at the guard shack, he leaned out of the window and chatted a moment with a man that appeared to be in his thirties.

  “That’s not the same guard we spoke to last night,” Marie said softly.

  Sheriff Cochran and the guard spoke for much longer than she expected. At one point, the sheriff leaned further out of the window and looked back toward Marie, pointing at her. The guard looked at her and then back to Cochran. Finally, the guard opened the gate, but he didn’t seem happy about it. Marie nodded at him as she followed the sheriff through. The guard stared at her with an icy gaze that seemed to pierce right through her.

  Once the two cars were parked in the same area of the lot where Cochran had parked the night before, Marie quickly got out of her car and retrieved a denim jacket from the back seat. She put it on and made sure to pull the back of it down low to ensure that the gun she was carrying was concealed.

  “Do you think they have metal detectors in there?” Tony whispered, noticing what she was doing.

  “Keep quiet,” Marie snapped at him, though she had to admit he asked a good question.

  She thought back to the night before when she and the sheriff had ventured inside the building. It was all such a blur and she could not remember walking through a metal detector.

  “What was that all about?” Marie asked Cochran as they drew near him.

  The sheriff shook his head and his brow furrowed with disgust. “I swear, you’d think they’re hiding Frankenstein’s monster in there or something,” he complained. “It took an act of Congress just to get that fool to call his supervisor to confirm what I was telling him. He didn’t want to let us in.”

  The revelation was not a comforting one for Marie, but she held her tongue on the matter. Instead, she decided to go ahead and make her intentions known to Cochran—or at least some of them.

  “I want to take Kurt home,” she said as they briskly made their way up the sidewalk that led to the sliding glass door entrance. “And don’t try to talk me out of it, my mind is made up.”

  They were walking side by side with Tony behind them. Sheriff Cochran glanced over at Marie. “Even if it’s not what’s best for
him?” he asked.

  She closed her eyes a moment and licked her lips. “Sheriff, do you really think they’ve got Kurt’s best interests in mind right now? That Dr. Franklin seemed shady as hell.”

  Cochran smirked. “Yeah, I can’t argue with that, Marie,” he said. “But I saw no evidence that they were doing anything to hurt your brother. And why would they? They know I’m involved and could cause all sorts of trouble for them if I found out something was amiss.”

  “I know that’s what you believe,” Marie replied. “But sheriff, this place is funded by the federal government and no one really knows what’s going on in here.”

  Sheriff Cochran wanted to discuss the matter further, but they’d reached the entrance and quickly stepped inside. There was a different guard to greet them inside too, though he appeared much friendlier than the man at the guard shack.

  “Welcome sheriff,” he said, shaking the larger man’s hand.

  The guard then politely shook Marie and Tony’s hands as well. He was blonde with blue eyes, tall and slender.

  “Dr. Franklin said to expect you,” he said. “I guess I should’ve shared that with Frank,” he then added, his gaze moving beyond them and to the guard shack down the hill. “I apologize for the confusion.”

  “How’s the boy?” Cochran asked, getting down to business.

  “I’m afraid I’m not privy to that information,” the guard replied.

  Marie heard them talking, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She noticed the metal detector just behind where the guard was standing. It was the large walk-through kind and as she stared at it intensely she felt a bead of sweat roll down her back.

  “Follow me and I’ll take you to him,” the guard said, and he turned and walked toward the metal detector. He then paused and looked at the sheriff. “Y’all just step around it—I know what you’re carrying,” he said with a chuckle.

  Marie breathed a sigh of relief as she and Tony followed Cochran around the metal detector. Tony looked at her, his forehead beaded with perspiration. It had apparently been a stressful moment for him as well.