Hunt
3: True Lies
The four friends walked down Vance
Street in silence, with only the sounds of footsteps echoing between them; if
they listened closely enough, they could hear the rumble of a train dozens of
miles away. But more immediately, they
heard the hum of street lamps and the fluttering of moth wings (which made RJ
reel a little bit). They passed all the
familiar shops -- the post office in the plaza next to the grocery store, the
Taco House with still-new paint on its walls, and the bank building that hadn’t
had seen a deposit since 1999. To the
northeast sat a gas station, with the rates plastered on its towering sign
uncomfortably high. To the northwest,
the BBQ Shack; Wade sniffed the air a few times, hoping to catch a whiff of
some semi-fresh ribs. Between the two
buildings sat a gigantic mass of crags, jutting up from the street like a
volcano.
How long had it been there? A month?
Two months, maybe? Well, however
much time had passed, the townsfolk had grown used to it; true, that little
intersection was useless now, but there wasn’t anything dangerous or even
spectacular about it. Not now,
anyway. When it had first emerged,
people thought that it kind of looked like a rocky flower, or even a blooming
onion -- thin crags sprouted up, but more outward at the base, shifting around
the asphalt soil. From the base, more
and more stalagmites emerged, angling upward with each new layer. It almost looked like a king’s crown; it even
had a jewel -- or at least, a car gored by a stalagmite -- affixed to its
highest spire.
“There it is,” RJ moaned, with
sweat droplets gathering on his brow.
“If anyone still feels like turning back, I don’t have any objections.”
But Luke quickly shook his
head. “I’d rather do this tonight, while
the coast is clear.” He pointed ahead;
outside of police tape and road cones, nobody stood guard before the crag
tower. “No sense in putting it off. We might never get a chance like this again.”
Dante moved to the head of the
pack. “Hey, quick question,” he said,
walking backwards while the others moved forward. “Just to make sure, you want us to put our
asses on the line for Bigfoot?”
“The correct term is ‘Sasquatch,’”
Luke countered, his voice taking on a slight edge. “But yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re here
for.” He looked back at the crags. “There’s no doubt about it. If the Sasquatch is going to be anywhere in
this town, it has to be there.”
Dante stared at Luke with infinite
disdain and pity. “The things you’ll do
to get laid,” he muttered, sighing and shaking his head. He crammed his hands into his pockets. “So what, you’re going to nab this Bigfoot
--”
“Sasquatch.”
“-- then you’ll parade him through
town for everyone to see, and that’ll be all the proof you need that you’re man
enough for Chloe? Jesus, man. I know that you’re into that whole chivalry
thing, but did you ever think that maybe a nice present would work just as well
as an eight-foot tall ape man?”
Luke pouted. “Okay, first of all? The Sasquatch has gone on record for being
nearly twelve feet tall. Second, I keep
telling you I’m not just in this to get laid.
And third of all…”
“Third of all?”
Luke bit his lip. He’d made plans to meet the Sasquatch, but
little else after that. What WOULD he do
with a beast that large and powerful?
And for that matter, would they even be able to stop him if he went
berserk? He glanced at RJ; just as he
suspected, he’d connected the dots, and looked as if he’d started his
impression of a Mexican jumping bean.
“Listen, it doesn’t matter. All
we have to do is get in there and try and reason with him.”
Wade raised his eyebrows. “We can do that?”
“Don’t underestimate a Sasquatch.”
“Never thought I’d hear that one…”
Dante remarked.
Nevertheless, Wade stared longingly
at his shovel. “So…what was the point of
bringing this? And all this stuff,
too? Are we going camping with the
Sasquatch? ‘Cause that’d be sweet, too.”
That got a smile out of Luke. “Maybe we can. The Sasquatch is just as smart, maybe more,
than us humans; we should be able to reason with him if we get the chance.”
“And if he doesn’t, then we bash
‘em, right?”
Luke turned toward Wade. Of course, what he wanted to say was, “No you
bastard! We could NEVER hurt such a
majestic creature! Get down on your
knees and apologize!” But he decided he
didn’t need to draw any more attention to himself. So he just nodded, smiled, and said,
“Yeah. Then we bash ‘em.”
“Still, diplomacy is our top
priority,” RJ chimed in. “So it’s likely
that we won’t even need to go on the attack.”
“Right,” Luke said with a nod
(overjoyed to hear that RJ had faith in the Sasquatch’s superior
intelligence). “Anyway, there should be
an opening we can squeeze into in the front.
It’ll be easier than trying to climb all those crags like the Sasquatch
probably did.”
RJ covered his mouth, contemplating
the matter. “Still, it IS a little odd…”
“What is?”
“Do you have to ask? Even if there is a Sasquatch running around
Two Sparrows, would he have the strength to move the earth like this?” He folded his arms and shivered. “As if we needed any more of a reason to fear
for our lives.”
“Okay, I’ll admit you’ve got a
point there,” said Dante. “But if
Bigfoot --”
“Sasquatch,” Luke cracked.
“If Bigfoot is gonna be
anywhere, it has to be here. It’s the
one place that nobody would even think of trying to enter, what with the cops
usually keeping tabs.” He cocked his
head derisively. “Well, outside of four
guys trying to get laid.”
“I told you, I’m not trying to --”
“Fine then, three guys. It’s better for us that way. Why go for vanilla when you could have
strawberry, or chocolate, or…” Dante
glanced at Wade, whose steps wobbled him closer and closer to the BBQ
Shack. “Bacon bits?”
Wade scanned the area. “Where?
And don’t say ‘they were inside me all along,’ ‘cause I already
checked.”
All four of them stopped.
“You don’t get between a man and
his meat. That’s all I’m sayin’,” he
explained. “Hey, you think the Sasquatch
is here so he can get some ribs nice and easy-like?”
RJ grimaced. “If this Sasquatch is strong enough to pound
the street into abstract art, I doubt he’d have any trouble getting his hands
on some fresh ribs.”
“Well yeah, ‘cause the BBQ Shack is
right the- oh, I get it. You mean he’d
pull the ribs out of your body. Heh,
that’s creepy. I never would’ve guessed
you’d think up something like that, RJ.”
“I like to consider the
consequences -- even if they are really, really unpleasant.”
“You sound like a very sad person
who needs a hug.”
Dante shifted ahead of the others
and spread his arms wide. “We all know
that much, Wade -- and what RJ needs most is the touch of a woman. And he -- and WE -- will all have that in
spades by the time we’re through here.
So enough with the dilly-dallying; let’s get a move-on already.”
Luke nodded. “You know I’m in, Dante.” Though he made sure to turn aside and mutter,
“But I’m in it for the Sasquatch, not just for girls.”
“Good. So let’s mosey.” He strutted into the street and gestured for
his friends to follow suit. “Line up
with me.”
“Why?”
“So we can all walk toward that
thing looking like badasses instead of a bunch of idiot high school kids. Now come on, form up on me.”
“I feel a little silly,” said
RJ. But nonetheless, he, Luke, and Wade
all stood in a line with Dante; all four of them started walking toward the
crags in sync, though at an unusually slow pace. “Very silly.”
“You know what Mrs. Keller always
says, right? ‘Integrity is what you do
when nobody’s around?’ Well that applies
here. How else will anyone know we’re
cool if we don’t act like it?”
“But there’s nobody here,” Luke
argued. “There’s not even anything
dynamic happening in the background to help us look cool. It’d be different if something was exploding,
but --”
Dante groaned. “You’re missing the point. It’s not about ‘looking cool in front of
people.’ It’s about BEING cool so that
when we tell this story to others, they’ll have more of a reason to believe
we’re cool. You follow me?”
“Your logic seems a
little…suspect,” said RJ. He scratched
at his forehead. “Wait, so does that
mean you’re going to bring up the part where I threw up?”
“Well, I don’t see why --” Dante
glanced at RJ’s feet. “Oh damn it! Are you wearing socks with sandals?”
“What if I am? It gives my toes freedom while letting my
feet stay warm and dry!”
Dante shook his head and threw up
his hands. “All right, let’s break it
up. No sense in trying to look cool
while we got someone wearing socks with sandals.” Luke and Wade started
to laugh a bit while Dante thrust his hands onto his hips, glaring at the sky
like he needed to smoke. “Damn. Socks and sandals. Just…damn.”
While Dante kept fuming, Luke and
the others stared at the crags now standing a few yards away. Just as described, a small opening peeked
between the rocks -- small enough to go undetected from a distance, but more
than large enough to fit someone of even Wade’s size.
“You guys all set?” Luke asked
while giving the crag towers one last glance.
“This is it. We don’t know
what’ll go down in there --”
“Heh heh. You said ‘go down,’” Dante snickered.
“-- but whatever happens, as long
as we stick together we can pull through.
So let’s do our best in there, all right?”
“And what happens if we die?” RJ
asked.
“We won’t die.” Luke turned a grave eye on each of his
friends in turn. “Besides, we all took
care of our business beforehand. Even on
the off-chance that we did, we said everything we needed to way to the people
that mattered most. Right?”
RJ’s eyes widened; he shifted his
gaze to the ground while muttering tamely to himself. Wade tilted his head and ran his hand through
his orange tumbleweed of a hairstyle, humming in thought. Dante glared back at Luke, arms folded, but
nodding in agreement. At the sight of
that, both RJ and Wade followed suit -- nodding shakily, but nodding
nonetheless.
Luke smiled reassuringly. “We’ll be back soon. So let’s get in there and pull off a win.”
“For glory,” said Dante.
“For science,” said RJ.
“For justifying waking up at three
in the morning,” said Wade.
“Well, I was looking for ‘For Two
Sparrows!’ but I guess those things are good, too,” said Luke. He took a step forward -- toward the
beckoning maw of the Sasquatch’s lair.
Finally, they would take the plunge; through their heroic wills, they
would bring about a new age in Two Sparrows.
Together, united by fate and force of --
“Whoa, check it out,” said Dante,
pointing at Luke. “I never knew legs
could shake that much.”
“O-okay, so I’m a little nervous
too,” Luke admitted. He swallowed hard,
but it didn’t do much to calm his rattling body. “Can you blame me?”
Dante laughed and moved to the head
of the pack. “All right, guess it’s up
to me. Not that I’m surprised.” With his hands in his pockets, he walked
calmly into the crags, his pace only wavering so he could wave a hand toward
his pals. “So far so good in here, guys. No Bigfoot yet, but there’s still a lot
of cave to explore.”
As Dante dove deeper in, Luke
started hurrying after him. “It’s Sasquatch,”
he snapped; with RJ and Wade shadowing him, they headed through the
stone-framed door.
“Hey, RJ? Is this that thing they call ‘spelunking?’”
Wade asked.
“Huh. As a matter of fact, it is.”
Wade let out a hearty guffaw as he
and RJ headed inside. “Heh hah. That’s pretty boss.”
And with those words, their adventure
began. A shame that it had to begin just
before their stalker could intervene.
She poked her head around the
corner of the abandoned bank, her fingers digging into the walls. Her blonde bob whipped her shoulders as she
moved, but she paid it no mind; she just kept her green eyes locked on the
crags -- on the entrance that the four boys had just used.
She brought her curvy body -- far
from overweight, but a far cry from being slender -- out of the bank’s
shadow. A bit of apprehension still
stewed inside her; should she follow them into the crags? Her heart said yes, but her brain (something
that those boys probably should have used a bit more) told her not to rush
inside. She first spotted Luke while
doing a little stargazing, having noticed his cowlick over the edge of her
fence. And she’d seen Luke and his gang
with enough backpacks and tools between the four of them to handle some trench
warfare; the most she’d brought with her was some baggy pajamas and a tanktop.
So she just stared at the crags,
hoping that nobody watched her as she’d watched them. And as she did, she started to think she’d
made the right choice by staying behind -- like some prop from a Star Trek
set, the crags’ doorway slid shut.
Sheets of rock gathered together at the center, grinding loud enough for
her to hear even from a distance.
“That does not look good.” She folded her arms, hoping to stop the
nervous chill that sped through her.
Even if she wanted to get in there, she definitely couldn’t now -- not
without a jackhammer or some C4, at least.
She’d just have to turn back and hope for the best.
And she did just that. She spun around on her heel and, with head
hung low, started the trip back to her house.
As she did, one of her hands slipped over her pocket. She didn’t hesitate to reach inside and pull
it out; quickly but carefully, she took hold of the item.
An envelope -- a slightly crinkled
one at that. She recognized the
handwriting almost instantly; there was only one guy she knew that made his Os
more oval than circle. And of course,
he’d shown his little failing not once, but twice in the same space.
“To Chloe,” she read aloud. “Luke…”
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