Baker County Bigfoot Chronicle Page 6

  “I tried very hard to make sure we would not find ourselves on the path we’re now on,” Franklin said. “But here we are.”

  Marie’s eyes had finally adjusted to the bright light and she quickly surveyed her surroundings. The room where they now found themselves was rectangular and the back wall was lined with eight metal doors, each with a small rectangular slot near the floor, and another slot near the top of the door, roughly the size of a loaf of bread. The slot at the top of each door was fitted with bars spaced roughly six inches apart all the way across. Through one of the slots, she saw movement.

  “And what path is that?” Cochran asked. His eyes drifted away from the ceiling and to the eight cells that Marie had noticed.

  “What’s in there?” Tony asked in a voice just above a whisper.

  “You wanted to know what we’re hiding in the basement,” Franklin answered. “Well—you’re about to find out!”

  Chapter 8

  “We need to find a way out of here,” Cochran said, a hint of panic in his voice.

  “There’s a hatch over there,” Tony said, pointing to a yellow protrusion, rectangular in shape, coming out of the floor.

  Cochran said nothing, but instead ran toward the hatch Tony had pointed out. He didn’t wait to see if Marie and Tony had followed. In his mind he knew that if there was a chance any of them was going to survive, every second had to count. He dropped to his knees and immediately reached for a small handle on the side of it. He pulled, and his heart sank as he came to the realization that it was locked.

  At that moment there were several loud clacks that rang out in unison. The three of them paused, dead in their tracks, and turned toward the eight cells to their right. All the doors swung open at the same time and for a long moment all any of them could see was the black interior of the cells and nothing more.

  Upon closer inspection, Cochran found a padlock on the side of the hatch. “Step back,” he barked as he pointed his gun at the lock.

  There was a thunderous BOOM followed by the subtle clinking of the broken lock falling to the cement floor.

  “Oh my god…oh my god,” Marie whispered. “What the hell are those?”

  Cochran whipped his head around and redirected his attention to the open cells again. What he saw made his jaw drop. Tony had moved behind him and placed his back against the wall. The color had completely drained from his face and he looked as though he was on the verge of fainting.

  “Wood apes,” Cochran said finally, disbelief evident in his voice. “They say those things have been in Baker County for a long time.”

  “T—The gunshot didn’t even scare them,” Tony stammered.

  The creatures were all similar in appearance, but their hair color and facial features varied. A couple of them were almost black, while most were different shades of brown. There was even one that was gray in color and appeared to be the oldest of all. While they all had ape-like features, a couple of the smaller ones took on a softer, more feminine appearance. It was Cochran’s estimation that they were indeed female but no less menacing than their male counterparts.

  All the wood apes glared at the three humans with a look of pure hatred. Their black eyes were locked on them and displayed a mixture of rage and curiosity. It was the curiosity that Cochran picked up on and knew would give them the window of opportunity for escape. Without hesitation, he flung the heavy metal hatch open and it clanged loudly on the concrete.

  “Let’s go, now,” he snapped, motioning for Marie to come toward him.

  She did and quickly shuffled down a ladder into the blackness below. Tony followed and was shaking so badly Cochran could feel the ladder vibrating with his every move. As soon as there was room, Sheriff Cochran clambered down after them and then whirled around quickly to make sure they weren’t being pursued. The wood apes were standing around the hatch opening, forming a semi-circle. They had definitely closed in but did not seem to be in any great hurry. Cochran pulled the hatch down over his head as he descended the rungs of the ladder. He spun the large wheel on the bottom side of the door and when he was satisfied it was latched, he continued down to where he eventually caught up to Marie and Tony.

  “They’re gonna come after us,” Marie said, her voice sounding panicked.

  “No, they’re not,” Cochran replied firmly. “The hatch is locked.”

  “And what’s to keep them from unlocking it the same way you did?” she rebutted.

  Cochran scratched at the side of his neck, he was sweating profusely. So much in fact, he decided to shed his coat, tossing it aside. “That’s a good point,” he admitted, glancing back up the ladder from where they’d just come.

  “Then we need to keep moving,” Tony said, sounding even more panicked than Marie.

  “And we will,” Cochran replied. “I’m sure that Franklin has got his goons rounding up those things right now.”

  ***

  “Get them back into their cells!” Franklin barked loudly over the two-way radio.

  The blonde security guard, a man named Michael Lynch, rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath. He then opened the mic and replied, “Why the hell did you let those things out, doc?”

  There was static, and then, “Not for you to question,” Franklin barked back. “Get them into their cells before they try something. This isn’t something you haven’t done before!”

  Franklin was right. Lynch and his men had a lot of experience wrangling the wood apes and getting them to follow orders. The high-voltage cattle prods helped their efforts and the creatures had gained a healthy respect for the tool when they saw it. On the other hand, he could think of no time where he’d had to wrangle eight of them at once.

  “You heard him,” Lynch spat angrily as he turned to face the other two guards that flanked him. “Let’s get this done quick and in a hurry.”

  Lynch reached for a large keychain that dangled from his belt loop. He thumbed through the ring until he found the key he was looking for and then made his way over to a panel on the wall beside the door. He inserted a key and the panel swung open to reveal the cattle prods they would need to take care of the matter. Each guard grabbed one and then Lynch retrieved yet another key to open the door. He inserted it and then paused to glance over his shoulder at the other men.

  “Don’t forget what these damn things are,” he said. “Don’t turn your back on them and light them up the second one of them gets out of line. Are we clear?”

  The men nodded and when he was ready, Lynch turned the key and opened the door. Once in the room, they quickly shut the door behind them and made sure it locked. The wood apes were gathered around the hatch in the floor and one of them was trying to turn the wheel on top of it to open the door.

  “Okay, let’s get back in the cells!” Lynch yelled, and as he did so all the wood apes turned to look at him in unison.

  The one that had been trying to open the hatch, stood up and Lynch estimated he was nearly eight feet tall. His hair was dark—almost black, and his eyes were so black they were hard to find in the hair.

  Lynch glanced at his two counterparts and gestured for them to close in with his chin. The three men carefully moved forward and as they did, the wood apes began to chatter amongst themselves. They all sounded panicked, or worried, all except the big dark one.

  “Get back in your cells now,” Lynch demanded, and he pointed toward the open cells with the cattle prod.

  Two of the wood apes noticed the cattle prod and immediately moved away from the rest of the group toward their respective cells.

  “The others aren’t moving,” one of the guards said.

  “I can see that,” Lynch grumbled. “Light ‘em up.”

  The two guards nodded and briskly moved toward the wood apes closest to them. Without hesitation they thrust the prods forward and as soon as they made contact, both wood apes howled in pain and scrambled away frantically toward the cells. Lynch roared with laughter and then popped another one with his own prod, getting th
e same result.

  The remaining three wood apes glared at him with an intensity that he could literally feel wash over him. “Get those cells closed,” Lynch said.

  One of the guards moved toward the cells but no sooner had he taken two steps, one of the wood apes darted toward him and then stood in his path.

  Lynch smiled and shook his head. “Light his ass up,” he said, chuckling.

  The guard made a motion to do just that, but the wood ape reacted with a lightning fast movement, ripping the prod from his grasp and hurtling it through the air where it struck the far wall of the room. The cattle prod broke into two pieces and clanged loudly when it struck the cement floor.

  “Dammit,” Lynch said, as he reached for his sidearm.

  The other ape that had been standing alongside the dark one over the hatch, moved just as fast and swung its large hairy arm forward making direct contact with Lynch’s back. He was hurtled forward and crashed hard into the chest of the dark wood ape that had been trying to open the hatch. Without hesitation he raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The blast thundered loudly but missed because the dark wood ape had caught him by the wrist and pushed the weapon aside just as he fired.

  Suddenly, Lynch heard screaming behind him and turned his head just in time to see the guard that had lost his cattle prod jerked forward by his collar. The wood ape he’d attacked had grabbed him and when he pulled him close, the creature proceeded to grab both of the guard’s arms at the same time, ripping them from the man’s torso.

  Lynch could hear a ripping, tearing sound when the gruesome act unfolded, and he closed his eyes, unable to look. At that moment, another gunshot rang out from behind him. It was the other guard, Lynch knew, and he heard the man scream. The scream was loud, blood curdling, and then it was cut off immediately as if someone had turned off a stereo in the middle of a song. There was another horrific sound—a crunching sound and in his mind’s eye Lynch could see the guard’s throat being crushed by a hairy hand.

  With his eyes still closed, Lynch felt himself being pulled from the ground by the front of his shirt. Terrified, but unwilling to quit, he thrust his cattle prod forward and into the chest of the large dark wood ape that had him. There was a hum of electricity, the smell of burnt hair, and a howl of pain—or possibly rage.

  Lynch was immediately released, and he fortunately landed on his feet. He then ran with all his might toward the red metal door that would grant him safety. It was locked, he knew, and when he was mere feet away, he reached for the key ring on his belt only to find that it was gone. As he slammed into the door, he grabbed at the knob and frantically tried to get out, though he knew the effort was futile.

  “Open the damn door!” Lynch screamed, knowing full well that Franklin could hear his pleas.

  “You know I can’t do that,” the doctor called out from the overhead speakers. There was a coldness in his voice that enraged Lynch.

  “Franklin, you piece of shit! Open this door right now!” he screamed with fury. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the dark wood ape headed his way. His gait was slow yet determined and there was hatred in his eyes.

  Lynch continued to pull and work at the door handle, hopeful that Franklin was just toying with him and would unlock it remotely at any moment. The moment he hoped for never came. The wood ape bore down over him and grabbed him by the back of his skull. Lynch screamed out in pain as he was yanked backward and lifted off the ground by his head. The wood ape began chattering furiously at him, though Lynch had no clue what message he was trying to deliver. Lynch took his last breath and the wood ape’s hand squeezed hard on his skull, bursting it like a grape.

  Chapter 9

  Doctor Franklin rubbed at his temples and tried desperately to fend off the headache that was brewing there. He’d just watched his best three guards get slaughtered by the wood apes he’d just released. Clearly, he’d underestimated the wretched creatures and now he was seeing the consequences of his actions. He now found himself in a situation that he himself could not contain alone. There were procedures and protocols on how to deal with situations such as these and Franklin had prided himself on the fact that he’d never had to resort to any of them in his almost two decades at Walker Laboratory. Now, things had taken a dramatic turn for the worst.

  With a mixture of reluctance and shame, Walker pushed back from his desk and hurried down the hallway to the control room.

  “Good afternoon, doc,” a portly man said when he entered. The man had his feet up on the desk and was eating a sandwich. “Do we have our visitors in custody yet?”

  “I need you to initiate protocol five,” Franklin said, ignoring the question.

  The man pulled his feet from the desk and put his sandwich aside. “What happened?” he asked.

  “None of your concern at this time,” Franklin replied. “Just do it now.”

  “Y—yessir,” he said, and he immediately opened a panel next to him with a red T-handle implanted in the wall. He then grabbed the handle and turned it counter clockwise.

  There was a rumbling under their feet, somewhat like the rumbling that had occurred when all the exterior windows and doors were sealed off.

  “What do we do now?” the man asked, worry in his eyes.

  “Now, I go make a phone call and we wait for help to arrive,” Franklin said as he turned to leave the control room. He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “And relax…everything underground is now sealed off. No one can get out and no one can get in until we allow it. You’re safe up here.”

  “What about all the other employees down there?” the man replied.

  Franklin sighed and turned away. “If you pray, then pray for them,” he said.

  ***

  Chaos. That was the best word Sheriff Ray Cochran knew how to describe it. They’d found a door that led to another hallway and as soon as they’d stepped into it, the fluorescent lighting overhead flickered off and was replaced by red strobe lights that left them feeling a sense of looming dread. There were more lab workers that poured into the hallway with them, panic on their faces.

  “Sheriff Cochran,” one of the employees called out. “What are you doing down here? What is happening?”

  It was a young woman, probably mid to late twenties. Her hair was curly, shoulder length and she wore black rimmed glasses.

  “I have no idea what is happening,” Cochran replied. “I was hoping one of you could tell us.”

  Another man in a white lab coat jogged up and grabbed the woman by the arm. “Julie let’s go…we need to go hunker down in the cafeteria until this is over.”

  “And what exactly is this?” she asked, annoyed.

  The man looked at her and then to Cochran. “Sheriff, what are you doing down here?”

  “I think he’s tired of getting asked that question,” Marie snapped. “I have a question of my own. Where the hell is Kurt Bledsoe?”

  The man and woman looked at each other and then back to her.

  “You know he’s here?” the woman asked, her eyes widening.

  “Hell yeah I know he’s here,” she replied. “And just so you know, it’s why he’s here,” she added, jerking a thumb toward the sheriff.

  “Do you know where he is?” Cochran asked.

  “Yes, of course,” the woman answered. “I’ve been treating him.” She suddenly seemed troubled.

  Marie grabbed the woman’s shirt and yanked her forward. “Where is he?” she asked through clenched teeth.

  The man in the lab coat attempted to reach for Marie’s arm but Sheriff Cochran stopped and put a hand on his chest to hold him back.

  The woman looked down the hallway behind her. “If you take a right at the end of that hall, you’ll find him in holding cell three.”

  Marie was taken aback. “He’s in a holding cell?” she asked incredulously.

  Before the woman could answer, a loud crash occurred behind them. Sheriff Cochran swung around and peered back toward the door that they’d just come out
of. Something was on the other side of it, banging furiously.

  “It’s them!” Tony shouted.

  The woman, apparently sensing what he was talking about, immediately looked to her male counterpart. “We need to go…now!”

  “Shit,” the man muttered anxiously. “I guess now we know why there is a lockdown.”

  The two of them ran away, disappearing around the corner at the end of the hallway. Once again Cochran, Marie, and Tony were all alone. The banging continued on the other side of the door.

  “I told you they could open that hatch,” Marie said, pulling her gun.

  Sheriff Cochran pulled his own weapon again. “We need to get going,” he said, the red strobe lights flashing across his stubbled face. “Let’s get your brother and then get the hell out of here.”

  Cochran led the trio to the end of the corridor where they took a right as Julie had instructed. The lighting was dim, but the pulsating red lights provided enough illumination for them to see the signs over the various doors along the hallway. Each sign had a number on it, a black plate with white numerals.

  “Number three,” Marie said, pointing to a door on the left.

  Sheriff Cochran grabbed the handle on the door to open it, but it stood firm.

  “Of course, locked,” he muttered in disgust.

  There was a sudden crash from the hallway where they’d just come that made all three of them turn in a startle.

  “They’re through,” Tony whispered. “They’re coming…”

  Cochran took a deep breath and grumbled something incoherent. He then struck the door in frustration and turned to Marie.

  “We’re gonna have to retreat and then come back when it’s safe,” he told her.

  He could clearly see that she wanted to argue when he looked into her green eyes, but she reluctantly nodded. Cochran motioned for them to follow and they began to retreat further down the hallway. They’d passed at least six more cells when the worst thing Cochran could’ve imagined occurred. They hit a dead end.

  “Shit,” Marie spat, slapping the hollow block wall. “What now?”