Hairwolf
Chapter Sixteen

The Creature-Stef leans over the ledge, looking down at Lillian. She lays on her belly and reaches for her plaything but her plaything would rather hang. It just feels safer for Lillian. The Creature-Stef doesn’t understand this and makes strange sounds in protest.

Lillian starts shouting - “Get away from me. Leave me alone. Go chase a rabbit, freak.”

Lillian’s afraid to move. Her eyes land on the small sapling holding her. It’s pulling away from its hold in the rock. She cranes her head towards the Creature-Stef looking down at her, reaching with very sharp claws. Lillian has only moments to make a decision.

On one hand she’s looking at a long dark drop into the abyss. On the other, who knows. She thinks of Stef’s warnings prior to coming here. Could she really be trapped inside this thing? Or has she been taken over by it. Maybe that’s why she offered Lillian the knife set. Maybe Stef knew something like this could happen. It doesn’t matter now. The creature appears to be offering help, not harm. Lillian releases her right hand and with her fingers, inches it up to the creatures out-stretched claws.

From the lakeshore below, a rifle scope searches the cliffside, finding an unidentified

silhouette outlined against the cliff-face. Slightly lit up by a rising full moon, it’s anyone’s guess what the strange object is.

“I don’t know,” Brizzbee barks into a radio. “It looks like it.”

“What else could it be?” replies, Foster, peering out at the lake from the Boston Whaler into his radio. “Take the shot.”

“Here we go,” Brizzbee says, laying his index finger on the trigger. “Fish on.”

A shot rings out.

Lillian jolts from the shot. She’s hit. But it’s not a bullet. It’s a dart. A large, red dart and it’s sticking out of her ass-cheek. “What the . . .”

The Creature-Stef screams loud, slapping her ears from the piercing sound of rifle-fire. She assumes an aggressive poster on the ledge and scans the shore and lake for the intruders? What are they doing at her lake? She looks back over the ledge. Lillian’s kicking and screaming from pain.

Lillian reaches to her backside with her free hand and pulls out the dart. She glares at the creature as her eyes glaze over, “I’m going to kick your ass for this.” Her hand loosens and she slips away.

The creature Stef lunges for her but misses. She watches as her new play thing drops to the water below.

“Go for target. Go for target,” commands, Brizzbee.

Foster turns on the ignition, sparking the engine to life. He pushes the throttle forward and the small boat stands on it’s stern, powered by the mighty Johnson motor. The sound echoes across

the lake as the boat speeds towards the bubbles. He triggers a handheld device which starts up a shore-based generator, powering flood lights. He triggers a second device, launching several land-based canons just below the cliff-face. The canons shoot across the surface pulling strings attached to netting over the splash area. The net covers Lillian completely in the water and causes her limp body to submerge.

Foster speeds up to the area and kills the engine. He searches frantically for the body but doesn’t see it.

Then, a small rock slide dumps gravel onto the net, dragging portions of the net to the bottom of the lake. Foster watches as the slack in the net is being pulled under, threatening his catch, “No. No. No. No.” Foster removes his weapon, wallet and cell phone from his pockets.

Brizzbee climbs into a second boat and races out from the shore. He watches as Foster dives into the cold, dark water.

Brizzbee, approaching fast, kills the engine and coasts into place, eyes searching the water for both.

The Creature-Stef watches from the cliff, frantic and angered.

Foster surfaces, yelling, “I got her. Pull me up.”

Brizzbee reaches out with the bow-hook, questioning, “Her!?”

Foster takes hold of the bow hook with Lillian in his arms, keeping her head out of the water but still entangled in the net. He peels back the netting from her limp body as Brizzbee takes hold of her. It’s at this moment they realize she’s wearing a mosquito net over her face.

“What the Christ? Where’d she come from?” says, Brizzbee.

“So much for our Big Foot theory. Get her aboard,” Foster says.

Just then a thunderous splash wakes the boats. The men freeze. “What the hell was that?”

Foster isn’t waiting to find out. He pushes Lillian up to Brizzbee. Brizzbee’s more concerned with what hit the water than the two people in the water.

“Brizz. Get her aboard.”

Brizzbee notices a line of bubbles heading straight for them. “Get out of the water. Get out of the water.”

Before Foster can maneuver Lillian, she’s pulled out of his grip and back under with

tremendous force. The water bubbles disappear beneath the surface.

Searching the area, they spy Lillian’s head breach a short distance away, heading towards shore, leaving an impressive wake. “There she is. Follow her. Go,” Foster commands, holding onto the side of the boat. Brizzbee starts the engine and throttles forward but the prop catches the netting. The engine stalls.

Foster pushes off of Brizzbee’s boat and swims back to his. He’s going after it. Brizzbee hangs over the stern, feverishly cutting away at the netting.

Foster throttles towards the source of the wake, eyes searching the banks. He’s left the area lit up by the flood lights and now motors in darker waters. His sight is compromised.

Brizzbee pushes the netting free and throttles after Foster. The two men stand poised in their boats, facing the shore-line, waiting, watching. At this point it’s no longer about the creature. It’s about the girl. What happened to her? Who is she? What was she doing here and what does the creature want with her? Their goal of capturing the creature has now turned into a rescue mission. Everything and anything else will be secondary to this rescue.

They watch, eyes scanning the dark shore. Then, the sound of something large pushing through the water emerges on a far bank. It has the woman in its arms. It pauses, looking back at the men and then disappears into the forest.

Foster slams the throttle forward. The powerful engine raises the bow out of the water and he drives the boat onto the shore. As the bow slaps the soft shore Foster leaps out and makes a bee-line to his truck.

Brizzbee breaks out of his freeze and directs his boat towards the creatures exit point.

Foster yells into his handheld radio, “It’s in the woods, heading towards Mayfield trail. I’ll try to head it off.” He enters his truck and speeds out of the area, just missing an aluminum cage, large enough to hold a Bigfoot.

The Creature-Stef carries Lillian through the woods, away from the dirt road. Feeling safe, she takes a moment to inspect her new play-thing. She removes the mosquito netting and breathes

in her scent once again. She especially likes the smell of her hair. She plucks at her lips with the tip of her claws. She then examines Lillian’s claws but there aren’t any. Just nails. And they’re painted. The Creature-Stef tries licking the color off of them but it isn’t working. She shakes Lillian but she’s not moving. She’s alive, but that’s about it. What’s wrong with her? Her new play thing is no longer playing. Maybe it’s just tired. She carries Lillian up the wooded hillside.

The Creature-Stef approaches the Tahoe and lays Lillian near the ditch. She runs the flat of her fingers over the dark skin of her friend. She then touches her own fur. It’s different. A different texture. Why is this? Why doesn’t her new friend have fur? She pushes Lillian’s mouth open looking for fangs. There aren’t any. What is this new thing? Frustrated and very confused, she

drops her hand on Lillian’s chest and suddenly realizes it’s very soft. Like hers. She touches and squeezes Lillian’s breasts, investigating them. She then pulls out Lillian’s collar and looks down her shirt and there they are. She then feels her own breasts under her t-shirt. Yep, she has them too. She looks at them and then back at Lillian’s. Lillian’s are bigger. That’s odd. They’re the same,

just different. She’s elated over this. This is a new thing for her.

This person is almost just like her. Almost.

She then looks at Lillian’s pants. As she starts to reach for Lillian’s crotch the roar of an engine struggling up a dirt road alarms her. She gathers pine needles and branches and fully covers Lillian where she lays.

Her ears pitch towards the now idling engine and the sound of a man’s voice. It’s Brizzbee, talking over Foster’s radio.

“I just entered the woods. I’ve got a trail. It won’t be hard to follow.”

The Creature leaves Lillian behind and races down the trail, towards the sound of the voice.

Foster, navigating the dark and bumpy fire road, hangs onto the steering wheel, keeping himself in the seat as well as on the narrow dirt road. Rocks and roots make up most of the surface

due to frequent wash-outs. This slows him down quite a bit.

Up ahead, he sees a dark silhouette standing in the middle of the fire road. He stops, high beams lighting the area. It’s the creature. Although his view is faint, he knows what it is. He pauses, waiting. He doesn’t see the woman anywhere. He can’t get a clear view, not at this distance but it isn’t moving and appears to be waiting on him. He dowses his high beams. It doesn’t move.

Then he turns off his headlights relying fully on the scattered light of the full moon. It’s still there,

almost curious but still isn’t moving. His next and only move is to exit the truck which he does slowly. He can see its silhouette, looking back. His mouth grows dry. He takes his weapon and levels it on the creature. He could easily shoot it, but will he? Should he?

She can see him. She can see him and that strange thing he’s pointing in her direction but he’s not doing much else. Maybe he knows she’s the Queen Bee around here. She squats down, taking a relaxing posture, appearing less threatened and less threatening. It’s his move and she’s waiting for it.

“I’ll be damned,” Foster says to himself, watching its behavior. He lowers his weapon and holsters it. He can’t shoot this creature. It reveals awareness as if knowing what is about to come. He’s never encountered anything like this before. He’s both captivated by the mystery and curious about its awareness. He takes a few slow steps towards it and pauses. The Creature rises slowly and waits.

Maybe he can communicate with it, get it to trust him. It doesn’t appear dangerous or aggressive but who’s to say? He takes a couple more steps forward.

The Creature-Stef stands watching him like a hawk.

Then, the silence of the encounter is shaken by Brizzbee over the radio.

“You got anything, Dave?”

Foster muffles his radio and holds it up to his mouth. “It’s right in front of me. I’m working

my way close to it.”

“Don’t get too close. You may be offering yourself up as a meal. Don’t do anything. I’m on my way.”

The Creature-Stef slowly advances on him. Foster grows nervous. Brizzbee may be right. Foster rests his hand over his weapon just in case. Suddenly, the creature is running directly at him. Before Foster can react, the creature leaps over him and his truck in one long leap. He spins around just in time to see the dark shadow land with room to spare past the truck. It slides to a stop and turns back at him as if to say, “look at what I just did.” It then races towards the lake and Brizzbee.

Foster is torn between what to do. Look for the woman or go after the creature. He jumps into the truck while speaking into his radio. “It’s heading towards you. I’m on my way. Don’t face it down. Wait for me.”

“Copy that. Wait a minute – I hear something. Jesus, this thing is all over the place. I think it’s up in a tree. No! It’s close by.”

Foster reverses down the bumpy fire-road towards Brizzbee, damning the bumps and truck suspension. The truck will never be the same. Brizzbee lunges from the forest in front of the truck. Foster has to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Brizzbee crosses to the driver’s side, cautious, nervous, and a little too excited.

“Did you see it?” Brizzbee asks, holstering his firearm. “Get a look at it?”

“Barely,” Foster, replies. It jumped clear over the truck. All I saw was fur.” Foster kills the engine and exits the truck adding, “We got a serious problem.”

“We got a Big Foot,” Brizzbee says, half smiling, catching an eye from Foster.

“We have a missing woman,” Foster corrects. “That’s our first priority.”

Brizzbee scans the dark area. “This is a big forest.”

“I’m thinking somewhere at the top of Mayfield. It didn’t have much time to go anywhere

else.”

“So why’s it heading back towards the lake?”

Foster doesn’t have to think long about that. “Because it doesn’t want us to go up there.”

“That would suggest rational thought – forethought. Intelligence.”

“Like I said, we got a serious problem.”

“I’m not liking this,” Brizzbee says, checking the rounds in his firearm.

“Think about it. If it is Bigfoot, it would have needed intelligence and self- awareness to survive all this time undetected.”

Their thoughts, worries and decisions are interrupted by the distinct sound of a fiberglass boat being pushed from the shore into the water. They race down to the lake and find both boats floating several yards off shore. The sight of the boats indicates this thing has intelligence and understands planning.

“I guess that covers the intelligence factor,” Brizzbee says.

“You know, it’s really not all that big,” Foster says. “I was kind of expecting something a little taller.”

“So, what? You want your money back? I say we look for the woman. The boats’ll be fine.”

Just then, a strange bubbling sound can be heard echoing from the lake.

“What’s that?” asks, Foster, listening intently.

“Sounds like water bubbling. Did you kick out your drain plug?”

He didn’t.

“We have to get the boats. Can’t let them sink.”

Foster agrees and waits on Brizz to get in the water but Brizz is surprised over the notion.

“I went in after the girl,” Foster says.

“You’re already wet,” Brizzbee says.

“Why did I know you were going to say that?”

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