Baker County Bigfoot Chronicle Read online

  Before the sheriff could respond, Tony gasped in terror. Cochran looked over at him and watched as he raised his arm and pointed back down the hallway. There were at least six large silhouettes moving in their direction. Slowly and methodically. The sheriff raised his gun and pointed it in their direction as Marie did the same.

  “What do we do?” she asked worriedly.

  “Hold your fire until I give the go ahead,” Cochran replied. “I mean it, don’t fire until I tell you.”

  She nodded but kept the barrel of her gun pointed aggressively toward the approaching wood apes. If the creatures could see the guns, the weapons did nothing to dissuade them.

  “Tony,” Cochran whispered. “Try the doors to these cells closest to us while we can still reach them.”

  Tony glared at him with disbelief. “You want me to move toward them?”

  “We won’t let them touch you…and the longer you wait the closer they’re getting,” Cochran shot back.

  With great reluctance, Tony moved to the cell closest to him on the right side of the hallway. It was marked with the number nine but otherwise was identical to every other door they’d passed. He grabbed the handle and pushed with his shoulder. It did not budge.

  “Try another…hurry!” Cochran urged.

  Tony made a passing glance toward the wood apes that were still approaching and had no doubt that they could see him too. The flashing red strobe lights made their presence even more sinister, but he did his best to ignore it and keep focused on the task at hand. He hurriedly checked the door across the hall but got the same result.

  “Grab that axe,” Cochran said suddenly.

  “What axe?” Tony asked, surprised.

  “In the red cabinet beside the fire extinguisher…grab it now!”

  Tony, finally realizing what the sheriff was referring to, pulled the glass door open and retrieved a fire axe from within the red cabinet. He then quickly retreated to stand beside Marie. “Wh—what am I supposed to do with this?” he stammered nervously.

  “Get ready to use it,” Cochran grumbled. He then paused and shot a quick glance to Marie. “Get ready…I think we’re about to have to try to shoot our way outta here.”

  Marie nodded and gave a half smirk. If Cochran didn’t know better, he’d have sworn she was excited about the prospect.

  “Remember…not till I say,” the sheriff reminded her, and she nodded again in response.

  The wood apes continued to move slowly toward them and their foul stench began to fill Cochran’s nostrils. His mind wandered a thousand directions as he frantically tried to come up with another solution that didn’t involve emptying his weapon. He heard one of the creatures begin to chatter their strange language toward the others. It was then that the idea came to him.

  “Marie, save your ammunition,” Cochran said. “When I tell you both to run, you run like hell all the way to the other end of this hallway. Stay to the right side and against the wall and you’ll be fine.”

  Marie looked at him incredulously. “Excuse me?” she asked. “How the hell do you think we’ll be able to get by them?”

  “Trust me,” Cochran replied. “When I say go…you go. When you get down there I want you both to try every damn door you can until you find one that opens—and then I want you to get inside. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Tony looked at Marie, clearly skeptical of the sheriff’s plan, but he said nothing.

  “Okay,” Marie said, her own bit of skepticism dripping off the word. “When you say go…we’ll go.”

  Cochran took a deep breath and aimed his gun with purpose. “Alright…GO!” he shouted, and at that same moment he pulled the trigger.

  The bullet discharged from his gun hit its intended target and the red fire extinguisher that was on the wall exploded in a white cloud of nitrogen and chemicals. Marie and Tony did as they’d been instructed and stayed close to the wall, concealed within the white cloud, while the wood apes darted to the opposite side to escape the strange turn of events. Cochran hurried after them and began coughing violently as he mistakenly breathed some of the chemical into his lungs. Fortunately, Marie and Tony managed to avoid the same mistake and went to work on the doors at the far end of the hallway. To their amazement and relief, the first door they tried swung open, and the three of them plunged inside. Cochran, still suffering from a coughing fit, kicked the door closed with the heel of his boot and immediately locked it.

  Chapter 10

  They found themselves in a room with five lab technicians, two of whom were the man and woman that they’d met when they’d first stepped onto level four.

  “This is because of you three, isn’t it?” the dark-haired man asked, a hint of disgust in his voice.

  Sheriff Cochran was still coughing, unable to respond, but Marie stepped forward and poked a finger in his chest. “I don’t even know what this is,” she snapped loudly. “All I do know is that my brother is being held here against his will and I want to take him home.”

  The woman that the man had called Julie spoke up, attempting to diffuse the tension. “I’m so sorry about the situation with your brother,” she said, gently placing her hand on Marie’s forearm. “Did you find his holding cell?”

  “Yeah, we found it,” Tony interjected. “We found it about the time those monsters you guys have been keeping down here broke in and came after us.”

  “We were forced to leave him,” Marie said. “I’m not leaving without my brother, even if it means I have to kill every damn sasquatch walking around in this building.”

  The man chuckled, which drew a disapproving glance from Julie.

  “Don’t be an ass, John,” she muttered with an eye roll.

  “Well you know as well as I do that she won’t be killing every monster in this building,” he replied, still chuckling.

  “And why the hell can’t I?” Marie asked, her rage building.

  John placed both hands on his hips, pulling back the edges of his lab coat slightly. “Well let’s just say there’s something else another level down that make these wood apes look like the puppets from Sesame Street.”

  Tony felt a chill run up his spine and he reacted with an obvious shiver. Marie noticed it but pretended not to.

  “What’s down there?” Sheriff Cochran asked, finally able to speak again.

  Some of the other lab technicians had been listening and were visibly shaken by the topic of discussion. John noticed this and waved the sheriff off in an attempt to put the conversation to rest.

  “No,” Cochran said, stepping toward him. “Tell me what the hell is down there.”

  “I’ve already said too much,” John answered.

  “Tell me how to get out of here then,” the sheriff snapped back.

  John smiled. “There is no getting out of here until Franklin lets us out,” he answered. “The building is on lockdown. The only other way to get these doors open right now is to turn off the generators and then cut the power.”

  Cochran perked up. “Okay great, then why don’t we do that?”

  John shook his head but said nothing.

  “Because our test subjects could then escape,” Julie explained.

  “Umm…they’ve already escaped!” Marie said, dumbfounded.

  “Some of them have,” John said with a smirk.

  Cochran was about to grab him by the collar of his coat when suddenly something slammed hard into the door. Marie pulled her gun and pointed it toward the door and Cochran did the same.

  “Great,” John said, annoyed. “You led them right to our hiding spot.”

  The door was struck again, and this time the metal jamb around it jarred.

  “We gotta do something quick or they’re coming in,” Cochran said, still pointing his gun at the door.

  For the first time, he took a moment to examine the room. Two of the walls were lined with metal cabinets, both high and low. Between them a metal countertop ran the length of the walls. There was a table in the middle and on the r
emaining walls there were doors. One of which they’d just entered through.

  “What’s behind that other door?” Cochran asked frantically.

  “That’s nothing more than a storage closet,” John answered.

  There was another loud crash and it sounded as if the door was getting ready to give. Cochran raced over to the storage closet, swinging the door open. It was a small space, probably six by six and it contained a couple of brooms, a mop and other cleaning materials within.

  “We’re running out of time,” Marie shouted over her shoulder.

  Cochran turned to face the lab employees. “You all have been working on these damn things…what can we do to stop them?”

  “When we work with them they’re under sedation,” Julie said, sounding a bit panicked. “There isn’t a whole lot that will stop them when they’re in this state.”

  Tony moved toward the closet, dragging the fire axe behind him. When he peered inside, there was no secret hatch inside as he’d desperately hoped to find. What he did see, however, was a large air duct that ran across the ceiling with a grate that seemed to hold an air filter.

  “What about getting out through here?” he asked, pointing up.

  Cochran darted over to investigate and smiled as he saw the grate. He then looked over his shoulder, his eyes gazing the environment.

  “Can we fit in there?” Marie asked, looking up.

  “It’s quite large,” John answered. “There’s a lot of air that has to be circulated down here. The ducts will have plenty of room and seem to be our only means of escape.”

  Cochran continued to look over the room and his eyes finally settled on a metal stool in the far corner. Quickly, he made a dash for the stool and then returned to the closet. There was yet another loud crash which in turn caused Tony to spin around and raise his axe in defense. The door held, but it was beginning to crack badly in the center.

  Wasting no time, Cochran climbed onto the stool and quickly removed the grate and filter. There was a hole roughly two feet by two feet, providing just enough room for a human being to slip through.

  “Let’s go!” he shouted, jumping from the stool.

  Without hesitation, John scrambled onto the stool and began to pull himself into the duct.

  “Don’t you think we should let the kid and the ladies go first?” Cochran asked him with disgust.

  John didn’t reply, only grunted as he pulled himself up to safety. Another lab technician approached but Cochran shoved him back.

  “Let the kid up,” he snapped, motioning for Tony to come forward.

  Tony tossed the axe aside and shuffled into the duct, followed by Julie and then Marie. Two more lab technicians clambered up just as the door finally burst inward. The enraged wood apes poured in behind it. Sheriff Cochran made a motion to grab the remaining lab technician but was too late. The poor man was ripped backward, and the wood apes swarmed over him at once, pummeling and eventually tearing him apart. There were screams, but they were short-lived as the life of the man was extinguished quickly. Cochran slammed the door to the storage room shut and then scrambled up into the duct.

  Once inside, he looked to his right and could see John, Julie, and the other lab technicians crawling away into the darkness. To his left, Marie and Tony sat, waiting.

  “We’re not going that way,” Marie said. “Kurt is this way and this duct is our ticket into his cell.”

  Sheriff Cochran glanced over his shoulder once more at the darkness in the other direction. He knew that the lab technicians would know where a safe place to retreat would be. He also knew, however, that he’d come there to retrieve Kurt Bledsoe and that was just what he intended to do.

  “Tony, maybe you should follow the others,” he suggested.

  Tony’s brow furrowed, and he looked to Marie and then back to the sheriff.

  “It’s alright if you want to go with them,” Marie said. “No one ever expected all of this to happen and I’d hate for something to happen to you.”

  Tony sighed and shook his head. “I’m staying with you,” he told Marie.

  “Alright…let’s go,” Cochran said, fully aware that there was no time to argue the matter further.

  Marie pulled the flashlight she’d brought and then began crawling. She led them through multiple turns that made Cochran question whether she actually knew where she was going.

  “Won’t the wood apes come after us?” Tony asked. He was crawling between Marie and the sheriff.

  “Not through here,” Cochran replied. “They’re much too big.”

  “That’s good,” Tony said, clearly relieved. “We should stay up here then.”

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Cochran asked Marie, no longer able to keep quiet.

  “No,” she admitted. “But my gut tells me we’re going the right way.”

  “Well that’s comforting,” Cochran replied, a bit of sarcasm in his tone.

  They passed multiple vents, occasionally stopping to peer into the rooms below. Most of them looked like hospital rooms, empty except for a bed and a couple of chairs. After what seemed like fifteen minutes, Marie excitedly told them that she spotted movement. The three of them huddled around the vent and what came into focus was not what they were expecting. It was another wood ape and it seemed to be pacing back and forth in the room. The bed had been overturned as well as the chairs. There was other medical equipment tossed about, all of which now appeared to be destroyed.

  “Well we certainly don’t want to go in there,” Tony whispered. “Let’s keep looking.”

  He pulled back, expecting Marie to do the same, but she remained where she was. She continued to stare for a long time, saying nothing. Cochran for his part was staring intensely too. There was something different about this particular wood ape. It moved about the room differently and something about the way it carried itself made Cochran think its intelligence was a bit higher too. The creature continued to pace about the room and seemed to get more and more anxious with every step. Finally, it stopped, and to their horror, it peered up at the vent where they were watching it. The creature sniffed the air and approached the vent, keeping its eyes locked on them. It was then that Marie spoke up again.

  “I don’t believe it,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “I just can’t believe it.”

  “Can’t believe what?” Cochran replied, though he sensed he already knew the answer.

  “That’s Kurt…th—that’s my brother.”

  Chapter 11

  Before Sheriff Cochran could react, Marie managed to kick the vent off the duct and began to drop into the room in a fluid motion that seemed to take only a second.

  “Wait,” he called after her, and he literally hung out of the duct in an attempt to snatch her back.

  Marie landed on the tile floor awkwardly, falling onto her side. The wood ape looked at her curiously and then lumbered toward her. She could only look up at it as the creature’s large shadow loomed over her.

  “Marie!” Cochran shouted. “Get back up here…now!”

  If Marie heard him, she didn’t show it. Her eyes were trained only on the beast standing over her.

  “Kurt?” she said, her voice soft, yet steady.

  The wood ape stared at her, cocking its head slightly. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of fangs that made her take a deep breath. After a moment, the creature knelt and began to sniff her hair. Marie looked up at Cochran and Tony, the both of them watching wide-eyed and seemingly overtaken with fear.

  Marie reached up and gently touched the beast’s face. “Kurt…it’s me,” she said. “It’s Marie.”

  Moments after touching its face, the creature pulled back and let out an unsettling guttural growl. The sound was terrifying, and Marie pushed back from it, scrambling away until her back was against the wall. Overwhelmed with concern for her safety, Sheriff Cochran immediately pulled his gun and took aim. He initially took aim for the beast’s head, but suddenly he caught sight of what Marie had seen as
well. There was something far different about this wood ape’s eyes when compared with those of the other beasts Cochran had encountered since they’d become trapped in the bowels of Walker Laboratory.

  “What are you waiting for?” Tony asked suddenly.

  The young man’s voice startled the sheriff. Without giving the matter a lot more consideration, he moved the barrel of the gun toward the beast’s left leg and fired. The report of the gun echoed loudly inside the confined metallic walls of the duct and the sheriff and Tony immediately closed their eyes as their ears began to ring.

  “No!” Marie screamed as the wood ape howled loudly, a mixture of agony and pain.

  It limped toward the metal door and began to beat both of its fists against it, desperate for an escape. Marie regained her footing and then looked around the room for something to aid her in getting back into the duct. As she surveyed her surroundings, her eye caught sight of the blood pouring from the wood ape’s leg and she again thought of her brother. If the creature was indeed Kurt, the sight of the injury brought on concerns that were unavoidable. With little regard for her own safety, she made her way to the terrified wood ape.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Sheriff Cochran called out to her, just as his hearing was returning.

  “He’s hurt,” she said, her eyes remaining on the beast.

  “Yeah, he’s hurt,” Cochran replied. “I shot him before he could hurt you! Now get back over here.”

  Marie ignored the sheriff’s pleas and drew closer to the beast she now believed was her brother. “Kurt,” she said, gently placing a hand on the wood ape’s shoulder.

  It turned to look at her. There was no anger in its eyes, only a mixture of pain and fear. Once she was convinced it was not going to hurt her, she knelt slowly to examine the wounded leg. “I’m so sorry this happened,” she said, glancing up at him. Her eyes then drifted to other parts of the room. She was searching for bandaging of any kind and when she found none, she grabbed the pillow off the hospital bed and yanked the case off it. Marie then quickly ripped it into strips of cloth that she then fashioned into a bandage around the beast’s injury.