THE THING IN THE WOODS
Julie continued to stare at the
opening of the cave. The creature was
moving very slowly as if searching for something. It raised its camel-like snout into the air
and sniffed several times, before moving again.
She’d never seen such an animal
before. For one thing it was huge, way
too big to come into the opening of the cave.
So even if the animal did sense their presence, it couldn’t get at them
even if it wanted too.
Then again, it could try using
those massive claws on its front paws to try and reach in to get them. She’d never seen such talons before on any
animal. There were three on each paw,
and measured a good yard or more in length.
They were so long in fact, that the animal had to curl its front paws
back and walk on its knuckles.
But what made them truly
frightening was the way they curved like a scythe. She could easily picture herself being hooked
by one of those terrifying claws and dragged out into the snow.
Yet, something about the animal’s
behavior made her think it didn’t want to harm anyone. Her father and Uncle Jason had taken her out
into the woods to observe animals in the wild.
She’d seen how various creatures behaved and this one seemed to be more
lost than anything.
Without thinking she slowly
started to move towards the opening to get a better look when Michael hissed,
“What are you doing? It’ll kill you if
you go out there!”
“How do you know?” she whispered
back.
“Because it killed my parents!”
* * *
* *
Otto and his
companion were studying the ground carefully as they entered the woods. So far they had found nothing but what looked
like mice tracks. He knew from
experience that these belonged to Nathan and was inwardly pleased. Surely they’d find the missing child with
this much ground being covered so quickly.
Still, he was
a little surprised that his friend had apparently revealed his nature to a
stranger. Looking up at the tall Seneca,
he could tell there was more to this man that met the eye. Decades of meeting people from all different
walks of life had allowed him to catch certain looks and behaviors in people
that spoke volumes about themselves.
Pausing to
crack another plastic stick from his pouch, he placed the glowing rod securely
on a tree branch, just as his companion spoke.
“I appreciate
what you and your friend are doing to help find my niece,” the man said. “I’d like to be able to do something for the
two of you. You are seeking something
that much I can tell. But what it is, I
have no clue. Would you tell me what it
is?”
“Nathaniel did
not tell you?”
“Only that he
had crossed into one of the many realities that are and are not, like this
one. Places where some if not all life,
evolved very differently than it did here,” the Seneca replied quietly.
Intrigued,
Otto turned to him. “You have knowledge
of such places?”
“As shaman of
my people, I know a great many things, including how to recognize those who
have been places and come back ‘changed’ by their experiences,” the fellow
nodded.
“Then you also
know that the openings that occur tend not to last for very long, but sometimes
come back every so often,” he pressed. “Have
you heard of any around here?”
“Yes, I
have. There is one place not far from
where we are standing where the woods have been reported to be haunted,” Jason
told him. “Strange noises can be heard,
from beings unseen that are not of this world.
Even the local creatures avoid that place when the sounds come.”
Immediately,
Otto became more excited. “I see,” he
nodded rubbing his hands together. “Most
interesting, tell me when do these sounds occur? Are they all year round or just at certain
times?”
“Only in
winter, as I suspect you have already guessed,” Jason answered with a
smile. “But they do not come every winter. I have heard them twice myself. The first time was when I was only a boy of
ten and had come out this way to hunt deer, in order to see if I could approach
one and pet it without frightening the animal.
It took me by surprise and I was both frightened yet intrigued. I came back several days in a row trying to
find the source of the sounds, but then they ceased. I returned the following year, but they did
not come. Still I hoped and kept coming
back year after year in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Then exactly ten years later, around
Christmas I heard the sounds again.”
“Yes, yes…
that is exactly what I calculated,” Otto beamed with pride. Then he glanced at his friend and said, “And that
happened ten years ago, am I right?”
Jason smiled
and nodded. “Indeed it did. And I got close to the source, but the wind
kicked up and began to howl as it is doing now.
It drowns the sounds and carries them away, but I am certain even
without hearing those strange noises that I could find the opening you seek.”
“Do you think
it’s possible your niece has already found it?” Otto asked quietly.
“It is
possible, but I do not think she would enter such a place. My brother and I have taught her well to
avoid certain places where things do not feel right,” Jason assured him.
“I hope so,”
Otto sighed. “The question is, did something
from the other side have as much common sense?”
“You speak of
the creature that supposedly wanders these hills in winter, don’t you?”
“Have you seen
it?”
“No,” Jason
shook his head, “but I’ve heard of it. A
towering creature with massive claws which can stand up on its hind legs from
time to time, but mostly travels on all fours.
I have even seen the strange footprints it leaves in the snow. They are huge yet not found very often. They seem to vanish near large snowdrifts,
yet I’ve been able to detect a disturbance in the pack as if something has
passed into it, as a fish will move through water.”
“It swims through the snow?”
“No, I suspect
it travels beneath the white, displacing the snow before it and pushing the
pack past and then behind it, thus leaving no trail for anyone to follow.”
“Especially
adapted for a colder climate,” Otto murmured thinking aloud, “It must come from
a version where the Ice Age never ended.
Do we have any idea of the creature’s nature? Is it aggressive? Does it hunt other animals?”
“I’ve not
heard of any strange remains being found in this area or of any livestock
disappearances that could not be explained,” Jason replied after a few moments
of thought. “However, there was one
incident about eight years ago when…”
A low distant
cry as if coming from a gigantic throat cut off the rest of his words.
As the sound
echoed and reverberated across the woods, both men stood there listening in
wonder.
Soon the sound
passed and only the wind could be heard.
“That…” Jason
began.
“Would be our
friend,” Otto nodded. “It sounds very
large indeed.”
“And I think I
know where it came from and it is not too far from where the opening you seek
is.”
“How can you
be certain?” asked Otto curiously.
“For that howl
to have echoed so well above this storm, the creature must be near a stony
area. And I know of one not too far from
where we parted company with Sergeant Ross and your friend, Nathan.”
Just then the
radio attached to Otto’s belt crackled and the voice of the policewoman in
question could be heard.
“Jason? Professor Hofstadter? Do you read me? Respond?”
Grabbing the
device, Otto pressed the button and replied, “We read you loud and
crackly. Did you hear that deep, loud
noise?”
“We did,” came
the reply. “We also found one of Julie’s
footprints in the snow. She appears to
have been headed towards a rocky area to the south of our current position. We’re heading that way now.”
He turned to
his companion who nodded, “That’s the same area I was going to take you. Tell them to move carefully and we’ll catch
up as soon as we can.”
Otto relayed
the information and then the two of them set out, moving as quickly as
possible.
“I’m sure we
will find her safe and sound,” he assured his companion.
“I hope you
are right,” Jason replied, but kept moving with a fast determined step. “You asked me before if the creature was
dangerous or not. Well, there had been a
car crash that occurred at the same place near the barbed wire fence where we
met and...”
* * *
* *
“That thing killed your parents?”
Julie murmured.
“Yeah,” her shadowy companion whispered
back. “It would’ve gotten me too if Riff
hadn’t led me away to safety. He was the
one who found this cave and dragged me inside.”
“He dragged you? Why?”
“I’d hurt my head and couldn’t
walk too well,” her friend replied. “I
don’t remember too much after that, except waking up inside here and feeling
cold. Riff was still with me and curled
up with me so we could stay warm.”
Julie turned and stared back at
the mouth of the cave. The animal was
moving slowly very slowly, or so it seemed.
She could see the back half of the creature and noticed one of its hind
legs was limping. “It’s hurt,” she
murmured.
“Probably from when our car hit
it,” she heard Michel remark somewhere behind her. “It rose up out of the snow as we were
driving and my Dad lost control trying to turn away from it. But the car started to slide and couldn’t
straighten out. Our car fish-tailed and then
suddenly that thing hit us and sent our car flipped over. We rolled over a barbed wire fence and then
the door to the backseat on my side opened and I went flying because I didn’t
have my seatbelt on…”
As she listened Julie kept one
eye on the creature which continued to move away from the mouth of the
cave. Something didn’t seem right. Then without thinking, she crawled forward
all the way to the opening and took a closer look at her pursuer.
The beast was as bigger than a
bear, perhaps as large as a rhino and had long limbs which made its limp so
distinct. Strangely, she couldn’t detect
any blood on the animal that she could see.
There was nothing near the snout or around that injured hind leg.
She was about to double back and ask
Michael another question when the animal suddenly sniffed the air and turned
around to face her. The great nostrils
flared and exuded steam as the beast seemed to stare at her with eyes she
couldn’t see.
Just then a strong wind kicked up
and blew some of the long hair back off the animal’s face. What she saw made her cry out in shock.
A moment later, the great beast
unleashed a bellow of its own, before loping straight towards her as quickly as
its bad leg would allow.
Paralyzed she stood there unable to move, as the snow continued to fall all around her...
TO BE CONCLUDED TOMORROW....
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