Hominid (35 page)

CHAPTER 124

T
ess was easily able to keep up with the two men—since they were dragging the bigfoot behind them—but she wasn’t sure what to do. They were trained soldiers, and she was not. There was no way she could get the bigfoot away from them; even though he was only a juvenile, he was easily two hundred pounds, and she’d never be able to carry him or even drag him away.

And she knew she wouldn’t be able to kill the men—she wasn’t ready for that step.

So she followed them and watched from behind the trees as they joined up with two more men. The four of them picked up the juvenile and carried it to a camp of sorts. A row of six empty cages were lined up against one side of a clearing. To Tess’s relief, they were all empty.

Until now
. The juvenile was placed in one of the smaller cages.

Tess made her way slowly around the clearing, careful to stay well back behind the trees. When she got around to the cages, she moved closer so that she could get a better look. The back walls of the cages were solid metal. She couldn’t even see into any of the cages from back here, much less open them.

Tess sank down on her heels, staying low out of sight.
What am I going to do?

Just then there was a knocking sound from the trees on the other side of the clearing. The sound of wood on wood.

The four men turned and raised their weapons. One man nodded to the other three. “Check it out.”

Tess watched as the three men slipped into the woods.
One to go.

The last man checked the lock on the cage. He paused at the cage entrance and raised his gun, aiming it at the small bigfoot. Tess tensed, aiming her own weapon.
Please don’t make me do this.

The man laughed and lowered his weapon and then followed the other men into the woods.

Tess didn’t waste a second. She burst into the vacated clearing and hurried to the front of the juvenile’s cage. The bigfoot was beginning to come to. He rolled onto his back and sat up, his head hitting the top of the cage.
Oh, please know who I am.

The juvenile reared back when it caught sight of her, rocking the cage.

“Shh, shh,” Tess said.

The bigfoot’s chest rose and fell quickly. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

“I’m a friend. I’m a friend,” Tess said.

The bigfoot watched her closely. It was a
Gigantopithecus
type, and it looked to be less than four feet tall. It probably wasn’t even a teenager yet. It was still a child.

“Got that damn thing in a cage. I swear it nearly took my arm off,” a voice said.

Tess dove around to the back of the cage again.

“We need to get this thing set up to transport.”

“We’re flying it out?”

“Yeah. Help me move it.”

The two men who had originally grabbed the bigfoot reappeared from the woods and walked straight for the cage. But behind them, two shadows separated themselves from the trees. Two very tall shadows.

The bigfoot grabbed the men and threw them. They sailed through the air with a scream. Tess’s heart rate picked up. The other men would hear that scream and be here soon.

Tess wasted no time. She sprinted back around the cage, pulled her rifle from her back, stepped back, and blasted the lock. She kicked the lock off and swung open the door just as more men appeared. Tess shot at the ground in front of them, forcing them to take cover. “Go, go!” she yelled at the juvenile, hoping he understood.

But the young bigfoot just cringed in the back of the cage. The men had taken cover and now that they realized it was only her, they opened fire.

Tess dove for the ground and rolled behind the cage, covering her head. She heard the men yell and she peeked out. Two bigfoot had appeared behind the men. They lifted them from the ground and flung them into the trees.

Tess ran back to the open cage door. She reached in, holding out her hand. “Please.” She focused on her memories of Charlie, Mary, and Sugar, and did her best to pour out her feelings of trust.

The bigfoot finally reached out his hand. Tess grasped it and tugged him forward. The bigfoot needed no further urging. He ran forward and grabbed on to Tess. Tess nearly fell under his weight, but she managed to keep upright. “We need to go.”

But before they could escape into the woods, a man stepped out right in front of them, his weapon aimed at the two of them.

CHAPTER 125

T
ess stepped in front of the bigfoot. She could feel the poor little one shaking, and her anger spiked, right along with her fear.

The man smirked. “What are you, one of those tree huggers? Get out of the way.”

Tess looked at the rifle held confidently in the man’s arms. It wasn’t a tranquilizer gun.

“No,” she said, although she would have preferred if the tremor in her voice hadn’t been so noticeable.

“Your choice.” He raised his weapon.

Tess tensed. But then a bigfoot swooped down from the trees above, both feet landing on the man and driving him into the ground. Tess cringed at the crunch of bones. She reached back for the child, grabbed his hand, and ran.

Together they sprinted through the trees, and Tess could hear the crashing of branches behind them. She knew bigfoot made no noise going through the trees—which meant it was humans giving chase. She willed herself to run faster.

The child stumbled and fell. Tess reached down and pulled him up, urging him on.

Their pursuers were getting closer. Tess knew she would have to confront them at some point, but she had no idea how to make the bigfoot continue on without her.

An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, and Tess screamed as she struggled. The child’s hand was yanked from hers. “No!”

Then she noticed the hair covering the arm. She glanced back—it was one of Kong’s lieutenants. Another lieutenant had the young bigfoot wrapped in her arms.

Tess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was safe for the moment. But she knew that wasn’t something she could count on for long.

CHAPTER 126

T
ess flew through the trees wrapped in the arms of one of Kong’s lieutenants. She would love to check her GPS. She knew they were close. But in her present position, she couldn’t reach it.

A gunshot sounded from behind them. The bigfoot carrying Tess stumbled and dropped Tess, who rolled to the side as the bigfoot crashed to his knees. Somewhere behind her a man screamed. The bigfoot next to her, who was carrying the child, sprinted away.

Tess crawled over to the downed bigfoot, but two of his friends reached him first and hoisted him up between them. They looked at her.

She waved them on. “Go, go!” she yelled. She scrambled behind a tree and pulled out her GPS.
Almost there.

Movement in the woods caught her attention. She squinted. It was a man in camouflage. He leaned up against a rock, and raised his rifle. Tess’s gaze flew to his target. He was aiming at a bigfoot about six foot tall, who was scanning the trees.

Sugar
—s
he came back for me.

Heart pounding, Tess raised her own rifle and aimed. She pulled the trigger. Nothing.
Damn it
. She threw it down and pulled out Madge’s rifle.
Oh, please God
.

She took aim and fired. Her bullet hit right a tree right beside the man, spitting bark. The man ducked and rolled. Sugar scampered away.

Tess let out a breath and sprinted forward.

In her mind, she counted the yards. Five more. She pushed harder and crossed the imaginary finish line. Gun blasts behind her celebrated her achievement, and she flung herself to the ground just as Sugar dashed toward her.

Behind Tess, six men stepped out of the trees, their weapons aimed at Sugar. Tess leaped to her feet and jumped in front of her. “No.”

Tess’s breaths came out in pants. Two more men moved in on her from the left. Tess pulled Sugar behind her so that none of the men had a clear shot. Tremors ran through her, and she was pretty sure her legs were going to give out at any moment. Nearby, bigfoot could be heard slamming branches into trees, voicing their displeasure.

Run, run,
Tess yelled in her mind to Sugar as the armed men moved toward her. But Sugar stayed with her. Tess wanted to cry, knowing Sugar wouldn’t leave her but wishing with all her might she would.

Then Shawn and Dev appeared out of nowhere. Their weapons were raised, and pointed right at the men. Even more threatening were the bigfoot who were lined up beside them.

The armed men swung their weapons between Sugar and these new bigfoot. Tess’s heart stopped. This was precisely the nightmare that had kept her on edge since she’d first learned about the private army.

I’m going to lose them all.

CHAPTER 127

A
gray-haired man stepped forward from the group to her left. “My name is Jeff Adams. I’m a retired colonel of the US Army. We are under orders from the governor of California. Stand aside.”

Adams was a square-jawed man with sharp eyes. This was a man who would follow through on his orders.

“And if we don’t stand aside?” Tess asked.

Adams narrowed his eyes. “Casualties happen. Like I said, I’m under orders.”

“Well, that means next to nothing here,” a familiar voice said.

Tess’s head whipped to the side. Eric stepped out of the woods. And he wasn’t alone.

A dozen park rangers were with him, along with twice as many men and women whom Tess recognized as members of the Hoopa and Klamath tribes. There were more men, too, men she’d never seen before, but she had no doubt who they were: Shawn’s fellow SEALs “on leave” from the Navy. They had made it.

The private military men seemed taken aback at this sudden appearance. “You people need to clear out,” Adams said. “We are under orders of—”

Eric stepped forward. “You’re in Oregon. Your orders don’t apply here.” Tess felt a sense of hope as Eric stepped forward. “In fact, Governor Blackwell has ordered all of you arrested on sight if you set one foot into Oregon. So
I
am ordering
you
to drop your weapons. You are all under arrest.”

The colonel slammed his mouth shut. He glared at Eric. But then he appeared to assess the situation. “Do as he says,” he told his men. “Drop your weapons.”

“Go,” Tess whispered to Sugar. Sugar looked down at her, and Tess squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. Go.”

With one last look, Sugar disappeared into the trees, and the other bigfoot followed. Tess watched them go, then turned back to the stunned faces of everyone who’d watched them depart. That was not a sight they would soon forget.

The rangers made the military men kneel on the ground and placed zip ties around their wrists. The colonel looked up at Eric and Tess and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know what you think you’ve accomplished here. Everyone knows they exist now.” He scoffed. “In fact, you just provided more than a dozen witnesses to their existence.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tess said. “All I know is that my brother-in-law, boyfriend and I were walking through the woods when you started shooting at us.”

The colonel laughed. “Right. And not the bigfoot standing next to you.”

Tess reared back. “Bigfoot? What bigfoot?” She turned to Eric. “Did you see a bigfoot?”

Eric shook his head. “Can’t say I did. But man, I would really like to.” He turned back to the colonel. “You know, people often mistake bears for bigfoot. It’s a common misidentification.”

The colonel spluttered. “Who are you trying to kid? All these people saw them.”

A few men and women had grabbed tree branches and were already busy swiping the ground in different spots, removing any traces of prints.

Tess called out to them. “This guy says he saw a bigfoot. Did you guys see one?”

They all shook their heads.

“Nope.”

“No.”

“Bigfoot’s just a legend.”

Tess turned back to the colonel. “You know, whenever people say they’ve seen bigfoot, they’re viewed as being a little crazy. So you might want to keep that ‘sighting’ to yourself. Because none of the rest of us saw anything.”