I’m a happy go lucky type guy who likes to dabble in everything that comes within sight.
I like to draw…
TATTOO FOR A HAPPY CUSTOMER!
POLITICAL CARICATURES
TSHIRT AND POSTER ART 🙂
I also bake things….
TIRAMISU CAKE
BARBIE CAKE
CARROT CAKE 🙂
My Mother was a baker her whole life, but, she never really taught me HOW to bake. What she taught me was how to get up and going EVERY DAY and never stop. 4 Kids. A Dad that was as dedicated as he was self-distructive (he lit himself on fire twice in two years doing the same thing….fixing my car. Fell out of a tree and broke his leg even though at his size (6’0″ 300 lbs) he shouldn’t EVER have been IN THE TREE to being with, fixing a cable wire so Mrs. Johnson down the road could watch her ‘stories’; Got stabbed breaking up a heroin dealer’s sale in our neighborhood. You should’ve seen the other guy.)
I’m a product of those two, so, it’s not pretty, but, it’s a life, and I’m grateful for every second of it.
He sneaks through the wilderness, every tree a neighbor; a friend. He has names for things that don’t sound anything like the names we have for things.
He watches from behind the tree line. Confident he can do this. He’s been watching; he knows it’s time. He’s been waiting; it needs to happen now.
He takes off at full speed, has to be ready to…
STRIKE! The big rock with his left foot SNAG! The tree vine with his right hand. PULL! With all his might. RELEASE! Soar like a bird!
EXTEND!EXTEND! Now TWIST!ROLL!
“Perfect!”* (*In Bigfoot language) A perfect, two big-footed landing on the back of the cruising yacht with the water skiing girl behind it. (She goes out every day but, she’s SO lame!)
THRILLDABEASTgrabs the ski-rope, pulls her in (safely) (somehow) with one tug, and she FLIES through the air. Catching her, he lets her down on the deck with a wink and a kiss. He grabs her water ski, looks at it, galnces at his HUGE feet, and throws it over his head with a laugh. Looking left, he leans over and rips off the bench seat that Connor was sunbathing on. He grabs the rope and slams onto the water. SLAP!
Buffy screams, and Penelope tells Roger to drive faster and shake the monster. (Little do they know, that’s exactly what he wants). The speedometer says 70 knots, and THRILLDABEAST is killing it! Flying through the air, acrobatically landing jumps over the humongous wake left by the massive engines that are ROARING!
THRILLDABEAST roars even louder!
Just then, Kate, the 17-year-old little sister of Roger, comes from below decks, wondering what all the ruckus is about. She emerges just in time to see THRILLDABEAST land a jump that almost takes him over the boat! She freaks out. She’s never seen anything like it, but, as the tomboy/athletic one of the family, she is blown away at what she’s watching and can’t look away.
The rest of her family continues to scream and yell. Penelope has finally reached harbor patrol on her cell. Meanwhile, THRILLDABEAST sees trouble up ahead, as the boat is running out of real estate! There’s going to be a collision with the pier any second! He looks left, he looks right, and he decides his best course of action to dismount. He has to STRIKE! This last wave…. SOAR! EXTEND! EXTEND! (Uh-oh! this is gonna hurt!)
CRASH!
ROLL!
He’s upside down, discombobulated and almost disfigured, but with one eye open and a half a smile, he yells HELL YEAH!!*(*In Bigfoot language).
In the background, we hear sirens and commotion. Roger and the crew are dealing with harbor patrol, and looking at all of the damage that the yacht has done to the marina.
Kate, however, has left the scene, and grabs a pair of binoculars off of the police boat. She looks up into the woods. What the heck just happened to her life?! This may be the best vacation yet. (IF she can lose these morons she came with.)
CHAPTER 2:
Kate has a problem. Kate is old enough to know this is not REALLY her problem. Kate is young enough to NOT know this MAY BECOME a problem. Kate is old enough now to know that she LIKES the feeling she gets when she NEEDS to solve a problem. Is it REALLY a problem? No, it’s not a problem. Was there any real danger? No, it seemed like no one was in real danger. The only danger was the panic that set in. It was her own family’s fault.
She walks onto the deck of the yacht, where everyone is trying to look cool, but she knows secretly they are all freaking out. Penelope is texting her friends, Miranda is posting online, and Sheridan is trying to call newspapers and media outlets for exposure. Roger is trying to get the guy from the insurance company to fix the bench, that was not only ripped off of the boat but is now waterlogged. “This should be easy.” Kate thinks. “Hey guys, I’m going to head down to the beach and try to clear my brain. Anybody want to come?“ she says. She knows no one will come with her. They’re all a bunch of 20-something rich snobs who would never congregate with the unwashed populous. Everyone rolls their eyes at her, and she just gives a polite wave. Walking down the stairs, she finds a place on the pier where she can set up without anyone watching her. She pulls out her binoculars from her knapsack and stares into the wooded area that surrounds the lake. Scanning the trees looking for landmarks. Places to mark off on her map that she is drawing. There are three bays to the lake. It’s July 17, and only 14 more days until they go back to Toronto. She needs to be organized.
Somewhere in the great woods of Second Bay, THRILLDABEAST sleeps and dreams. What a great day yesterday was. Everything he would have ever hoped. How could he do that again…. soon??! He dreams of the skateboard park and the big tube. He dreams of parasailing! He dreams of the basketball court.
Just then, his dreams are interrupted abruptly by a large foot. “uh-oh”
CHAPTER 3:
Kate walks through the woods, marking trees with a K using a pocket knife.
THRILLDABEAST’s Mother stands over him, looking very Motherly, and very upset at him. She saw what went on yesterday, and she is none too happy about it. THRILLDABEAST is a teenager, and thusly, thinks everything is cool, and nothing is wrong. his mother is worried.
His mother starts to cry. THRILLDABEAST is now the man of the family that his father is gone. He promises her that nothing will ever ever happen to her, and if someone EVER tries to do to her what they did to Dad. they won’t live to see the moonlight again. She barely hears him as she cries. He hugs her. He’s a head taller than her, his shoulders, broad and strong. We see his face turn from caring, and then his head turns toward us, and it’s an instant, menacing snarl.
CHAPTER 4:
Kate has found a nice rock to sit on and have her lunch. She brought granola bars, a bottle of water or two, and some beef jerky. She’s marked her map all through First Bay. The map shows she’s right at the crease where First bay meets Second bay. She looks over to her left, into Second Bay’s woods, wondering if she could keep going. She decides to stand up and put her backpack on. She looks over into the woods of Second Bay one last time, takes a couple of steps, looks up to the sky, sees that the sun is going down, and decides tomorrow is another day. She turns around and walks away.
Just then, 100 yards away, a tree slowly bends down, and the large figure of THRILLDABEAST slides down the branches and lands heroically on his feet. He hides behind a large tree trunk and looks over into the First bay woods. He sees the figure of a young girl walking away. He looks worried. Then, the snarl comes back.
End, book one
THRILLDABEAST BOOK TWO
CHAPTER 1
Kate reaches the end of the woods, and takes a drink of water out of her bottle. She pulls the cell phone from her backpack where it was mounted to capture what was going on behind her while she walked out of the woods. She’d tried to make as much noise as possible, and left some VERY spicey beef jerky on the rock she’d sat upon.
She touches a few buttons on her phone and her eyes go from slits, to dots, and then to the size of car tires!
She’s seen something…something happened….
She gets up, and RUNS! Backpack slinging behind her while she goes as fast as she can down the road towards town. She wants to look behind her, but, she also DOESN’T want to look behind her.
She reaches the first gas station/convenience store at the edge of town and goes in to use the bathroom and hide. The door to the ladies room is locked (of course!) so she tries the Men’s room. Locked! Damn! She walks out the side door, and sees the Garbage corral. Heading over there, she sneaks through the crack in the wall of the locked area, and sits on the Milk Crate by the wall. She breathes a huge breath, and grabs her phone out of her hoodie pocket. She opens the video, and starts from the beginning.
It’s bouncy because of the way she walked, even though she tried to be steady. There’s the tree coming down like an elevator! There’s the huge feet and the massive dark brown/orange mass of hair she thought she saw for a second before she panicked and ran. Just then, she must’ve taken a slight turn due to the terrain, because the video moves slightly off subject, BUT THERE IT WAS! She HAS to get home and upload this to her computer!! Then, she smiles, and quietly says “This is AMAZING!”
CHAPTER 2
The canopy of the Pa’Cha trees forms a shelter from sight and sunlight, but can’t block out the noise. They’ve been arguing for what seems like hours, but it has only been about 10 minutes. Unironically, that is the same amount of time that THRILLDABEAST has been awake. His mother is emotional, with a look of fear, and also a slight look of disappointment. Or, was that disgust? Like any normal teenager, THRILLDABEAST’s face is a mix between an eye roll and disbelief.
Mom: (*translated from Bigfoot language): “Why do you do such things? Why put us in danger. No one to protect us. Why do you do such things?”
THRILLDABEAST: Mom! it’s not that big of a deal!
Mom: It IS a big big deal! You know the ways! You know what you did was wrong!
THRILLDABEAST: It didn’t feel wrong! It felt great! I enjoyed myself!
Mom: You enjoyed yourself!? So…. you enjoyed yourself, so, now I have to live in fear! After all we have talked about, after every lesson you have learned, you put your life in danger…. you put MY life in danger! All of the others.. now in danger!
THRILLDABEAST: NO! THEY ….those who stole our land and force us to hide….THEY are in danger!
Mom: M’halo! Stop this talk right now! That is not the way!
THRILLDABEAST: The WAY is what got Dad killed! How is THAT the WAY!? I’ve worked hard to make sure none of that will EVER happen to you! I’m bigger than Dad was, I’m stronger than Dad was, and I DARE any of them to threaten you or me in our home! They won’t live to see the MOON that night!
Mom: M’halo…my son; your Father would not want to hear you speak this way. He loves you very much from afar…. Very, very far, …yes, but, do not go that path.
THRILLDABEAST.: You KNOW it’s coming mom. You knew since the day it happened, that one day I would grow. One day, I would grow strong, and inside me there would be an anger at what happened. It will never go away. You, me, and the others deserve to live free! Free of fear, and free to enjoy the WHOLE woods. Not just THIS woods. Our ancestors once ruled the whole woods, and now we are hiding! Cowering! No more!
Mom: (hugs her son, puts her head down into his chest and cries) It is not the way. M’halo.
CHAPTER 3
The SUV pulls in to the hotel parking lot. Three people get out. Two men, one woman. Dressed in what could be either tactical gear or workout gear. Either way these are not desk jockeys. They enter the hotel room, and set up shop. One has the satellite hook up, the other has the wilderness gear, and the other has the map. She starts to talk into her ear, the other two respond with the tactical Roger. The tall man finishes with the map on the wall. Marks a spot.. marks another spot, and then tapes up the photo print-out from Penelope. It’s a shot of TB boogie boarding. He’s having a great time. The man stares at the photo with a worried look and says,
“OK, Buddy. We’re coming. Hope you’re happy.”
CHAPTER 4
Kate stands on the dock with her arms crossed. Roger, Penelope, Sheridan, all surrounded by TV Crews. Kate is not happy with what she’s seeing. She storms below deck and grabs her backpack. She screams, “MOM! I’m heading to the skate park!”
Kate grabs her board and her helmet and jumps over the rail. Landing on the pier like the superhero she wishes she was, she straps on her helmet, and starts to race down the pier with a fierce look of determination. Her backpack is not on her back, but, worn on the front for some reason, and she reaches into one of the pouches. As she speeds nearer to the throng of reporters, she throws a handful of bread slices towards the huge seagulls that rest on every post. Then, she throws the rest of the bread in the air above the reporters and her family. The birds dive in, causing a ruckus. Screams emit from the pile. Kate blows by, jumping over the rail, and sliding down it with a perfect dismount onto the walk. Her smile is huge!
CHAPTER 5
THRILLDABEAST’s smile is huge! He’s now escaped the clutches of his worried mother, and is out for the day to fulfill his promise. In front of him, through the trees, he sees a basketball game. Preteen kids; boys and girls. Every once in a while, a ball bounces astray, and he wishes he could grab it. He wants to play! Finally, the ball bounces his way, and is coming… fast! He’ll only have one chance.
He needs to… SPRINT!
SCOOP up the ball!
Instead of bouncing it, he presses it on the ground, and, using his arm as a polevault to extend his extremely long body, does a roll in mid-air; tucks, and grabs the ball with two hands and comes down on the rim for a SPECTACULAR jam! The ball goes through the hoop with such force It hits the ground and EXPLODES.
THRILLDABEAST dismounts from the rim and lands on the ground. He looks to the sky, and howls the word AWESOME* (in Bigfoot language). He looks at NONE of the basketball players, smiles, and just speeds away into the woods. The children stand stunned, their backs to us.
One of them walks close to the woods, and says, “Sick!”
CHAPTER 6
The Woods.
The three agents scattered throughout the landscape, with the tallest in the long shot in perspective. The ‘Other man’ has the gun that looks like a flamethrower we saw in the hotel room. The woman, closes to us, has goggles on. Heat sensing goggles. The tall guy has an iPad/Tablet. The Other man speaks first.
“Moose.“
“Bear“, says the woman.
“Moose“, says Otherman again. “I’m telling you, they come out of nowhere, and, yes, you see videos of them moving really slow, but, they’re like a horse that has spiky tennis rackets on its head. They’ll kick a hole through your chest.“
“Lucky for us we have the tranquilizer guns.” says the woman.
“You’d better be a good shot, or, that moose is going to swat those tranquilizer darts away with his tennis rackets.” Says Otherman.
Just then, the Tall man with the iPad checks in on his com link, “What are you guys talking about over there?”
“Wimbledon” says the woman.
“I’m telling you” says the Otherman.
“Well, we could be in danger, so get your mind on that instead.“ says the Tall guy.
“I’ve got nothing on heat sensor.”, says the woman. “Let’s move on”
“Roger.,” Says both of the guys.
SCENE CHANGES TO THE YACHT
“Roger!“ Says Sheridan. “…don’t you think we should go water skiing today? I just got this new line of swimwear sent to me from FashioNutta! I was thinking we could get some good shots of me skiing for the ‘Gram!“
Roger is watching the repairman fix the bench on the yacht
“OK but we’re doing it in Third Bay this time. Traffic is getting crazy out there.“
“Third Bay? Nobody goes to Third Bay!” says Sheridan.
“I know!” Roger yells looking at the sky with a huge eyeroll.
“Well, when can we go?”
“As soon as these guys finish this bench!”
“We’re losing daylight. Roger, If we’re going to monetize on this “event“, we need to react fast! Hurry up, boys!”
At that same moment, one of the workers looks at a plane going by with a banner that says “BIGFOOT ARE REAL”. At the same moment, the other worker is watching Sheridan walk by in her skimpy bikini (as she recites her dialogue above).
One worker looks up at the Bigfoot sign and says “… you think they’re real?”
The other worker looks at Sheridan in her bikini and says, “They’re definitely not real.”
THRILLDABEAST BOOK 3
CHAPTER 1
Today is the day. He knows the day by the position of the moon. The smell of the woods. The look the old fox gave him yesterday. The way his Mother is responding to the day. No food. No foraging. No water. No bathing. There’s more on her mind than her own life, and even her son’s life, today.
It was on this day 8 moon cycles ago that his Father was lost to them. He will never forget, and he has always wanted to make them regret they ever trespassed into the woods. The invaders.
THRILLDABEAST comes to this cliff every year on this day to be alone, and to tell the tale. He scales the rocks no one else would dare and paints in the ways of the ancients. He tells the story of his Father, and how they took him from the world.
The first painting was when he was 9 Moon Cycles. It is a large proud painting of a proud Father. The artwork is crude to him now, but, he will leave it and not redo it. It is from a time and a place of hurt and love that he can never recapture. He has progressed in his life , (as has his artwork), each cycle. The second painting is one of a Moon and the sky with his Father in the sky among the stars. That is where his Mother had told him you go when you are no longer in the woods. The third painting shows an intelligence jump, and also a sense of the oncoming anger. The ceremony. The fourth painting is of the Moon again, but, this time it holds a picture of his parents. The fifth shows him in the trees he loves so much, his world among the branches, menacingly looking down upon the ones who invade. Then, there is last year’s painting; It is a howl, a snarl, and a warning. It is teeth, and claws, and, yes, there is blood. He is not shocked by any of this….he’s been getting angrier every year. They, the invaders, take more and more every year, and he swears they will not take any more before he gets his revenge. He paints anew, hanging effortlessly from the cliff by one huge hand. Just as the scene pulls back to see what he has started, the noise comes.
Turning to look down the ravine, he sees nothing, but he, and most likely everyone in the area, hears the noise. Instantly letting go of his grasp, he falls to a safer landing place below. (Some 30 feet below. Itself an amazing feat.) He jumps from perch to perch, blindingly fast and with such incredible athleticism that it’s hard to comprehend. Headed towards his home, the worry begins to creep in. His Mother is in danger. It can only be the invaders, and they are going to pay dearly.
SNARL.
CHAPTER 2
Agent Evens reads the surroundings through her heat sensing goggles. She looks East and West, checks her data bank for anomalies and then checks the placement of her colleagues in the field. She does this over and over again.
Agent Schecktler checks his Ultrasonic Monitor. The synthesized signal is perfectly balanced, and his battery has a 75% charge. All systems are good to go. The Tablet screen is brighter than he’d wish. He feels like a target holding a lighted bullseye. He checks the location of his field agents and is reassured. Visual contact with Agent Evens is made. She signals no danger present.
Agent Ameca is weapons-ready-go. He’s been loaded since early this morning and refuses to check again. His concentration is upon the trees, mainly the high branches. He’s looking for movement more than color. He’s watching Agent Evens give signals to Field Commander Schecktler, and waits patiently. The noise is what bothers him….it’s not so much the volume as it is the tone. He feels the pain in the tone, and while he gives props to the Field Commander on creating it, (from a synthesized AI amalgamation of Baboon and a Hungarian Opera Singer no less), he feels it’s striking the terror neurons just a bit too hard. It was a quick job, and it works, but they’re going in blind. Noone knows what kind of power and rage set the subject commands. It’s a gut feeling, but, Ameca senses trouble. The gun is ready. So is he. Let’s do this.
CHAPTER 3
Trees as high as the sky bob and weave with the weight he throws around. THRILLDABEAST stands 7 feet and 9 inches tall and weighs 415 pounds at this stage in his life. He will grow into adulthood in four more Moon Cycles. His diet ensures that he is a tight mass of muscles and boundless energy. The trees are strong, and they are his friends. They sense the urgency he rushes with, (even though they also know this isn’t a natural noise he’s reacting to). They push back when he bends the trunk because they know he needs the speed. He’s actually flying at some points on the journey. He learned how to do this from catching the squirrels as a youth. There were so many of them, and his Father taught him how to gauge the bend of the branches when the squirrels would launch to another tree in their attempts to escape his grasp. One day, he decided to climb the tree and surprise the squirrels. The trunks down low did not bend as easily, but higher up, they were practically like a slingshot. There were many falls and injuries, but all young inhabitants of the woods got hurt. It was how you learned. THRILLDABEAST learned to ‘surf’ the high trunks of the trees, and feel when the tree was about to snap back to it’s form. He would then use the momentum to leap in the air. The first flight was so beautiful. He had climbed a high cliff before, but, this was very different; very special. That first flight had a first landing as well, and it wasn’t as beautiful, but, he learned. Now, at 15 Moon Cycles, and almost 10 Moon Cycles of Tree Surfing, he was unstoppable. He could travel anywhere in the woods at a high rate of speed and most of all of the life around him would just watch with amazement. Especially his Mother.
“MOM!*” roars THRILLDABEAST. (In Bigfoot language) His face is snarling as he cruises through the branches. He knows he’s almost there and now he begins to think about what he’ll find. The noise is horrible, and he can’t help but think that for her to be in THAT much pain, she must be at the point of almost death. The thought at once both terrifies and enrages him. He comes down the last tree trunk to land and face his worst fears. He is met with nothing but a strange black thing he knows is one of the invaders toys. He’s seen them at the Basketball court with a form of rhythmic sound emitting. This one still wails, and he confusingly reaches down to pick it up in his huge claw and crushes it without any effort. The menacing snarl emerges once more. He turns as he senses an unfamiliar odor and is blinded by a explosion of light to his eyes (which are so attuned to darkness they have evolved into powerful receptors) and he screams with pain. He’s off balance, and that’s when Agent Ameca fires his cannon.
CHAPTER 4
Kate has been behind the huge rock at the top of the ridge for hours. She came out here today to find and warn the beast everyone is looking to capture. She knows how insane that sounds, but she saw his face when he was water skiing that day, and knows he was happy, and not a monster. Everyone else was in a panic, but she had come up from below decks late and only caught the show. She wants to help him escape the reporters. The cameras. The Sherriff’s office. Sheridan. Everyone.
Upon reaching the hill’s downward slope, she noticed a light she knew shouldn’t be shining under the dense canopy of the trees. She hoped it wasn’t a reporter and was maybe just some kids her age hiding out and drinking their parents’ beer and having a little cookout. She ducked behind Snoopy Rock, (because it had the big beagle nose like the Peanuts character) and watched with the binoculars. There were three of them, and after a short time, they split up and found a place to set up camp. One of them pulled out a gun! A huge gun that looked like a missile launcher from a Shooter Game! There was a woman in the group, and she put on a VR headset and did a circular scan of the surroundings. Kate quickly ducked behind Snoopy Rock, hoping to evade her view. The taller man went to the middle of the opening and placed a black box with a handle on the leafy ground. He walked away with an IPAD or something, and suddenly, touching his ear, sent a signal to the other two and then waved his hand. A low, guttural moan started to sound from the box, which Kate now knew to be a Bluetooth Speaker. It began at a lower volume, and then slowly got louder, until it was so loud, she could probably run home and they wouldn’t hear her rustling the leaves. She didn’t go, though. She stayed, knowing full well what they were up to. They were after the beast. Kate was now more afraid than she was of finding the beast herself. Wow! The noise was AWFUL! It made her want to cry. She needed help. Who could she get to help her? Everyone else wanted the beast for their own reasons.
Kate decided she had to do something. She was still quite young, at 18, and had been known to do some impetuous things before, but, with the noise building and the scene evolving in front of her, she knew that in a matter of moments, there would be a fight for someone’s life and freedom. Heck, it could be those agents who might be in danger from the beast. She didn’t know which way to turn, so, she decided to stand up and create a diversion, even if it got her in trouble. She climbed up Snoopy Rock, and just as her head was about to emerge from the top of the rock and expose her to the man with the gun, a dark shadow engulfed her, eclipsing any ambient light she had to see her surroundings. Amidst the wailing noise from the speaker, and her whirling thoughts of danger, she turned to face…… the beast!
Except something was different. She remembered him being taller, and his hair being spiky and dangerous looking. This beast’s hair was softer, and eyes gentler and kinder. That being said, it was only a second’s thought before she realized this was STILL a beast, but she was too scared to react. Then, from inside her head, in the middle of her ears, came the sound of the word “PEACE” and the beast’s eyes emoted the same sentiment. “What just happened?”, Kate thought, but, again, she had no time to react, as the large hand of the beast took her arm and led her away from the scene.
CHAPTER 5
BOOM!
The cannon erupted, and a wide netting flew through the air towards THRILLDABEAST. He was snared! His claws could not rip the metal mesh of the trap, nor was his strength able to shred the fibers. The sound had stopped from the speakers, and now, the only sound was a violent shrieking from inside the net. Agent Ameca took out his tranquilizer gun, and began to hurriedly, yet, warily, approach the beast. Agent Evens stayed back to capture the full view of the event, and Field Commander Schecktler, free of any technology other than a cell phone, walked to the other side of the netting and grabbed the control remote attached to one of the strands. THRILLDABEAST tried to reach back at him but the net began to shrink around him. He howled and yelled. He was now afraid and knew he was in trouble. Agent Ameca reached out with the tranquilizer gun, aimed and fired. The dart hit the beast on the thigh. Then another dart hit his other thigh. One dart bounced off of the netting, but a fourth shot reached his shoulder.
“MOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!” he shouted* (In Bigfoot Language)
BOOK 4
CHAPTER 1
The Sherriff’s vehicle rolls up to the gated entrance. He sees the gate is open and a confused and concerned look comes across his face. He gets out of the truck and puts in a quick call to the HQ about his whereabouts. Just then a sound catches him off guard. He sees a vehicle coming out of the woods, and unsnaps his holster. Touching the comm button on his left shoulder, he alerts the station of the situation while walking behind his vehicle. A rusty brown Volkswaagen Mini Bus with the full Westfalia kit on top emerges from the trees, bounding over the bumpy branch and gravel access road. He sees the standard camper outfits on the driver and passenger, and loosens up a little on his revolver, but only just a little. Taking a few steps from the patrol unit, left running just in case, he raises his left hand in a slightly friendly yet firmly aggressive gesture to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. The van driver hits the brakes and waves back. Sheriff Foster breathes a little easier, but still hasn’t let go of his weapon.
“Hi Folks….Sheriff Everett Foster, Forest Patrol.”, he says as he steps to the passenger side where the woman is seated. She seems like the lesser of a threat, and he’s just checking off boxes in his mind on being safe and getting home in one piece tonight.
“How can we help you, Officer?” says the driver. The woman smiles and takes off her sunglasses, revealing a pleasant, agreeable face with happy eyes. It’s just then as he gets closer that he senses the smell of Marijuana and sees the trails of smoke coming out of the Camper Window atop the bus.
“Investigating the loud noises and some perceived wildlife disruption in the area. Reports flooding the Station about a half hour back. You wouldn’t happen to have seen or heard….”
“Oh, we heard!”, laughed the driver, “that’s why we’re getting the hell out of here! Place was crazy for a bit, and we swear we heard howling…..We came here to relax, man. After the past week, and now all the reporters, cameras and rubberneckers, this place is a drag to be around.”
“All right, I understand. Well, you all can rest assured I’ll be getting to the bottom of the issues we’re having lately. Did you happen to see anything strange on your way out of the woods? I’m gonna head on in there.” said the Sheriff.
“Nothing on the way out, no….but, then again, we weren’t looking for trouble, if you know what I mean.” the driver said.
“Be careful, Officer,” the woman quickly said with a look of concern.
“Thank you, Ma’am. I appreciate that.”, he says back.
The van slowly starts back on its journey out of the dirt road, bouncing and bobbing over the rocks and puddles. The Sheriff watches as it heads onto the paved roadway and gets a sense of the weight the van moves on those little tires. The Father in him wants to stop and tell them to check the air pressure before they hit any highways, but the Lawman in him says that’s a problem the units in town are keen to look for in a Camper Van. Hopefully, they’ll be ok.
He jumps in his Bronco, turns on the flood lights, and pulls into the woods at a good rate of speed. The truck is brand new, and he’s lost valuable time due to the Van.
As his vehicle disappears, we can now see the Camper Van in the distance, chugging down the road, getting smaller in the distance, just about to come to the big bend in the road before the downhill slope ahead into town. Just as it makes the turn, the Volkswaagen starts to wobble and waver, then, shimmers in color and structure, eventually revealing the Agents inside of their SUV. It starts to pull away at a high rate of speed.
“Agent Schteckler reporting to base; all operations successful; heading to close up shop here and make the rendezvous point. Package is secure; all Agents intact and unharmed. Well done, team.”
“Well done….” says Agent Ameca, staring at the beast just inches away from his feet.
“Nice Sheriff.” says Agent Evens.
“Lucky guy.” says Schteckler. “He wasn’t ready for what we saw in there.”
CHAPTER 2
The Black SUV speeds away down the hill, and we see the top of the vehicle and the tree branches above it. Ha’na is moving at an incredible rate of speed through the trees, and there’s a small backpack hanging off of her shoulders for dear life. Only, it’s not a backpack. Its Kate, and she’s quietly trying not to freak out.
Ten minutes ago, Ha’na, THRILLDABEAST’S Mom, led her away from the scene of her only son’s kidnapping by some of the Invaders. She used some kind of mind manipulation, or mind meld, or something very science fiction-y to communicate her plan to Kate. Kate thinks now how crazy this is going to sound to everyone.
Ha’na is keeping up with the speed of the SUV, but only just barely. There are moments where they lose sight of it completely, only to then emerge from a patch of trees almost on top of it. Ha’na knows the woods better than Kate could have imagined. It’s almost like the trees and she are talking to each other. Every time Kate thinks they’re going to crash and die, somehow, there’s an opening just ahead and they’re ahead of the agents.
It looks like they’re slowing down, and Kate looks over Ha’na’s head to see why. The road is going to turn left at the light ahead. Ha’na pulls Kate off of her back like a baby and lightly puts her down next to her. She holds her hand and says “FOLLOW” with the Martian Mind Meld thingy and Kate runs down the hill to the street. She hears nothing behind her, and she looks back to see Ha’na is gone. How does something that large move so fast?
Kate runs after the SUV and knows she’s not going to be able to keep up if they make all the green lights. She sees the opportunity up by the Car Wash. Kids on bikes. She’s gotta do this fast. She runs up to them at full speed and knocks a boy off of his bike with her hip, and the bike barely leans over before she’s gone. The boys are all shocked by what happened, and they stand stunned. The victim of this robbery then screams “HEY!!!” and the boys realize it’s the pretty 18 year old Skater Girl they’re all in love with from the Skate Park that just robbed their good friend of his bike. They all look at each other with expressions of “whoa” and “what do we do?” A few of them are completely fine with what just happened because she’s the best thing that’s happened to the Lake this Summer. The bikeless kid jumps on the pegs of his friend’s BMX bike, and they’re off! “GET HER!” He yells. The chase is on, and they have NO IDEA what they’re getting into, but they’re boys, and there’s a super hot babe involved, so they don’t care one bit.
CHAPTER 3
A shiny new Tesla Cyber Truck drives down the main street of the town at a rate of speed one could describe as ‘parading’. Sheridan sits in the passenger seat deeply immersed in her Social Media addiction. She’s wearing the newest offering from RavishWear, sent to her the other day after a new personal record 300,000 streams of her FashionNutta bikini line. The boxes just keep coming, and what’s a girl to do? (If everything looks so good on you, you need to show it off.) (Actual quote.) Roger is driving. That’s all he seems to do, but, hey, the Cyber Truck was free. He just has to drive it with Sheridan in the passenger seat once a day and smile. He doesn’t have to say anything. Just drive and smile. Fine by him. There’s complete silence in the truck, except for the sound of Sheridan’s audio clips being edited over and over, until finally Roger sees something up ahead.
“What… hey, is that Katie?”, he says to Sheridan, knowing full well she may not be paying attention, and partly hoping she isn’t.
Sheridan sits up out of her slouch position and looks out the front windshield. Sure enough, she sees her boyfriend’s little sister on a BMX bicycle going as fast as she can down the street on the right side, hair flapping in the wind. Just then she hears a noise behind her and looks in the rearview mirror. A pack of 6 or 7 young kids on BMX bikes are weaving in and out of traffic. One bike even has a kid standing on the back wheel somehow. Sheridan has instantly forgotten about Kate and is now seeing a good opportunity for a fun Reel. She rolls down her window to get a good video when the truck veers hard to the right, throwing Sheridan left onto the center console. She refuses to wear a seat belt because it leaves marks on her perfect skin, and also covers up her outfits when she’s sending Snaps to the girls.
“HEY!!” she yelps. “Roger! What are you doing?!” She gets herself back together and sits back in her seat.
“I’m following Katie. She just went down this side street on that bike. She doesn’t even have a bike. I wanna see what’s going on.” Roger says calmly as he watches attentively to Kate’s speed and position. She hasn’t seen the Truck yet, so he’s trying to hide as much as possible.
Roger looks in the mirror and sees the swarm of children on bikes take the turn as well. Weird, but everyone wants a look at the Truck since it was delivered, so he kinda gets it.
Kate pops a curb and flies across the sidewalk, going through an entrance lane and into a Hotel parking lot. Roger has to wait for the light and cars in front of him until he can follow, and he hopes he doesn’t lose her. The gang of kids blows right by the truck on both sides, and Rog hears one of the little miscreants say, “What is this thing, from Minecraft?’ as he laughs at the way the thing looks. Roger is not happy.
CHAPTER 4
The SUV pulls into the parking spot directly in front of the Hotel room. Agent Evens launches herself from the passenger seat and heads for the door. A quick glance to the side catches a teenage girl on a bicycle racing straight towards the SUV. Agent Ameca is also out of the vehicle and facing the twin back doors. He doesn’t see Kate approaching.
Evens has a split second to make a decision. Threat or no threat. She also sees a swarm of pre-teens on the same kind of bikes about 40 yards behind the girl. “Now we’ve got a situation.”, she thinks.
“Cary!” she yells, pointing at Ameca, facing her with one door of the back open. He freezes and looks around the side at Evens, but, for some reason Ameca looks up to the hotel roof. Evens is puzzled. Ameca’s eyes widen.
BOOM!
Broken glass explodes from the front windshield of the SUV. Something fell from the roof onto the truck? Evens runs into the hotel room and grabs her weapon. She assumes the incoming fire position at the door’s left. Ameca has been blown back ten feet by the concussion of the crash. He gains his senses quickly, but then hears the screams of children to his rear.
“…..this is all going wrong…” he thinks.
Scrambling to his feet he turns around to protect the children from the nightmare in front of him. He is immediately rewarded with a blow to the head from Kate’s backpack!
WHAM!
Now, he’s in trouble…he tries to gain his balance before the next blow can reach him but reels in shock from a piercing shriek that suffocates all sound around the area. The angry scream of a Mother whose child is in danger, willing to lose all sense of logic and grace in order to save him. Evens looks out the door and sees Ha’na atop the SUV, roof caved in, glass destroyed. Ha’na rips the roof off the vehicle like its tin foil.
“Where is Schtekler?!”, Evens thinks?
Agent Evens takes her eyes off the unbelievable scene evolving in front of her and locates her Field Commander unconscious in the front seat! Evens has no choice but to call for help.
Ha’na is in a state of rage she wasn’t sure she had insider of her. In the woods, she instinctively knew Kate was holding her back and let her go on her own. Ha’na has tried to control her animal instincts since her son was born, thinking that he should be more like his Father. Wise. Thoughtful. She was the wild one in the relationship, and he brought her a peace she has tried to pass down to her son. That instinct started to boil into a mad rage once she began the chase to save her son’s life. The young girl was too fragile to survive the speed needed for a surprise attack. She could smell the vehicle and knew exactly where Kate was as well. They had been together only moments, but she was like a beacon of flower scents and dried cow tongue. The jump to the Hotel roof from the treeline was easy, and now she only had to watch out for the weaponry she saw them using on her son. They would not be catching her so unaware. They would not have the chance to use them. They would pay.
Ha’na throws the top of the SUV to the side and sees the young girl attack the man who shot ser son.
“This girl is brave!”, she beams, thankful for the support and distraction.
She sends a wave of intense emotion to Kate, and then looks down into the truck to see her son wrapped in a netting. He sleeps, but not peacefully. More humans start to appear in front of her. Smaller ones, also distracting the attacker with high pitched noises and yelps. Ha’na reaches down into the vehicle and tries to pull her son up and out, but he’s too heavy for the truck’s roof to bear both of their weights. The sides begin to curve and crumple. She slips down into the cabin, regains her balance and tries again. He moves but just barely.
“Too heavy when he’s asleep!”, she worries. She needs to wake him!
She sends a frantic call to Kate’s mind.
Kate has never struck another human with such force before in her whole life. She can’t believe she did it, and instantly regrets it. She felt the power of Ha’na during the run after the truck, but, seeing the violent intensity of the way she crushed and tore apart the vehicle had made her act in kind. (Well, as much as she could seeing how she only weighed 104 pounds.) There was no time to think, only act. She saw this man, with the short brown hair and earpiece, shoot the beast with tasers or something and he could do the same to Ha’na! Or her!! She gets ready to strike the man again when the sound of screams appear behind her. The kids from the bike gang followed her down here and are now within about 25 feet and are freaking out!
“$#*+!”, she screams.
She looks up at Ha’na who is struggling to pull her son out of the truck’s cabin and sees that THRILLDABEAST is tied from underneath to the floor so he can’t escape. Kate dives inside and begins to unravel the ropes.
Agent Ameca never saw this coming. He agreed to this job so he could get more experience in the field and advance his future as a Nature Conservationist. He’d worked hard to become one of the best and made sure he was the first to be called when there was an endangered species issue anywhere in the Northeast. Now, he was fighting a gang of 10-year-olds on bikes while the most dangerous, (and amazing), creatures he’d ever come across were attempting an escape back into the woods. His head was still reeling from the blow to the head from the Bicycle Gang’s leader, a teenage girl with long curly auburn hair and a backpack full of fury. He races towards the children with his arms out.
“MOVE!” GET BACK!”, he screams. “LET’S GO! MOVE! MOVE!” The kids are naturally drawn to the action in front of them and are stubbornly standing still as they watch in amazement.
Kate finally unravels one side of the rope and Ha’na feels the tension let loose just a little. She heaves and THRILLDABEAST lifts up into the air just enough to see his arms dangle a bit.
“WAKE UP!”*, she screams at him! (*in Bigfoot language)
Kate felt that in her mind! She heard it in her ears, too, which means that she’s trying to reach her son with the mind thing.
“WAKE UP!!”, Kate yells, and tries to do the mind thing, as well. She doesn’t know if it worked or not.
Ha’na felt a wave of desperation and urgency come flooding though her soul. Kate had reached out to her son, and the feelings of awe and surprise made Ha’na look to Kate with a sense of pride. She raised her eyebrows and stared at Kate with a sense of purpose. Kate understood. They both gave everything they had at that moment, directing energies to their one purpose.
“WAKE UP!!!!!!”
The blast of strength and emotions from the two became one force, and THRILLDABEAST immediately moved as if he was hit with electric current. His eyes were opening slightly, and he let out a gasp that looked like a great yawn. He got up on one humongous elbow and felt a ringing in his brain. Had he fallen off the cliff while he was painting the picture for his Father and Mother? Had he eaten too much of the sweet tree roots his Mother warned him about? His leg was sore, and so was his shoulder. He looked out at the commotion in front of him and saw a human girl. His sight was still fuzzy, but, as he began to focus, he recognized her as the one from the woods. What? Why? His eyesight began to get clearer, and he noticed he was wrapped in a trap. The girl reached in and started to cut the netting with her weapon. He felt a tug from above him. He fell back down after the tug, and looked at the girl once more, furiously cutting at his restraints. Adrenaline began to rush through his veins, and he let out a noise that, while not a roar exactly, was easily on the road to rage. The girl backed away, and he heard a noise behind her. He shifted and saw another human. He felt his leg and shoulder ache, and the male human met his gaze. It came back to him immediately. That man hurt him. That man is the reason he ached. That man….is in BIG trouble. The netting gave way, and with a fantastic shrug of his powerful shoulders, he was free of the trap. He rose to his knees. He was in a manmade box of some sort, and he looked out at Ameca with a snarl and very bad intentions. Kate had to run. She saw his anger, didn’t blame him, and knew she was in the wrong place right now. THRILLDABEAST reached out to gain his balance, and then stepped out of the SUV. He had one foot on the ground and the other wedged on the SUV sidewall ready to attack. The roar he let out was one he’d been holding back for years. It made a small child behind Ameca close his eyes from the ferocity and volume. Ameca whirled around to see the beast was free, and guarded the children as best he could. THRILLDABEAST raised his hand in a position to strike, claws bared. Muscles rippled and began to move forward.
Kate couldn’t look. It was all going in slow motion to her, but also too unbelievably fast to do anything about. Just as the roar reached its loudest, the huge claw started to swing, but was caught from behind. Stopped a second before it could reach Ameca. Ha’na was still on the truck, or what was left of it, and she held her son’s wrist with all her might.
“NO!”*, she shouted!
He looked back to see his Mother. His anger still at a high level, he tried to pull back from her. Didn’t she see what they had done?
“They are trying to hurt me!”, he barked at her with no compassion for who he was speaking to.
“NOT THE WAY!”*, she shouted again. “NOT THE”,
BLAM!!
Ha’na fell back to the left. Her shoulder and chest had been struck by a bullet sending her reeling. She was down. “NO!!!!”, yelled Ameca. “NO!!!!”, yelled Kate. “NO!!!!”, yelled Her son.
Children screamed and scurried.
Evens came out of the hotel and surveyed the scene. “Ohmygodno….” She whimpered.
Agent Schteckler was now awake and had blood from glass cuts all over his face. He saw Evens next to the truck and got out to see what she was seeing.
“Oh no…ohnoonnononno…’ He grabbed his cell phone and began to dial.
THRILLDABEAST BOOK 5
CHAPTER 1
Sherriff Foster turned the key and the Patrol Vehicle lit up with fog lights, emergency warning lights, and side spotlights by the rearview mirrors on both sides. He pressed in the clutch and put it in first gear. The truck moved forward about 30 yards into the woods entrance over the gravel and puddles on the dirt road and then did an immediate stop. Now there were brake lights as well. Then reverse lights. A hasty three point backwards K-turn followed, and the lights went dark.
Immediately after the VW Bus pulled away, the veteran lawman realized what was bothering him. The smoke from the cabin had no smell. The man in the backseat looked like a beatnik hippie, and the two people up front seemed like they were from San Fransisco and owned a Health Food Store or something of the like. But the smoke wafting upwards through the sunroof should have smelled. Even tobacco would have been a smell he would recognize. These days, since the legalization of recreational marijuana, Patrolmen are educated to know the difference in the odors of all substances. The second you see smoke your first instinct as a member of the Police force is to identify the substance. This smoke had zero odor. That was the first tingle he got from the camper van. The next was the way the truck pulled out of the entrance and hit the pavement. Something very, very heavy was in the back of that vehicle, but the tires did not reflect the weight when it reached the seam where the rubber hit the road. The final straw was the woman’s sunglasses. She was sure to remove them the moment he came to the window, and he had thought she was just being complacent in order to show obedience, but he recognized the brand. They were Phast’s latest “smart glasses”. Able to browse the internet, watch HD movies, or play video games all while the wearer had the glasses on with no TV screen or monitor needed. Sherriff Foster’s son, Timmy, had asked for a pair for his last birthday. Mrs. Foster and her husband deliberated upon the purchase for a few days. They knew he would either break them, or lose them, or worse, trade them to his friend for an item he wanted THIS week, and the glasses were so LAST week. The were almost a thousand dollars, and that was a lot of money. Too much money for that group in the rusty camper van, and a purchase that didn’t make sense with the rest of the van’s interior surroundings. It was an intuition, and he always followed his hunches.
He hit the road at a high rate of speed and was in pursuit. He did not know what he was in pursuit of, exactly, but he’d be ready to apologize or incarcerate, either way.
All he wants is to get it over with before he goes home tonight. It was meatloaf night. Yum.
CHAPTER 2
“Unit Leader to base, copy”. Sherriff Foster always went by the book, and this day was no different. Station to station, base to base. Steady wins the race. That’s what his mentor told him when he was honing his instincts as a member of the armed forces.
“Base copy, what’s your position Unit Leader?”, answered the dispatch.
“Mears Turnpike, mile marker 23, coming into town. Following a lead on the disturbance in Second Bay this afternoon. In pursuit of a Vokkswagen Camper Van, brown with some rustation. Three passengers. Should be catching up with them in a minute or so.”, explained Foster.
“Roger Unit Leader. Requesting backup?”, said the dispatcher, following procedure.
“Negative, dispatch. No backup necessary. Seems non-violent in nature. I’ll call in with details soon.”, he said matter-of-factly. “Unit Leader, out.”
“Roger, Unit Leader’, dispatch ended the transmission.
Foster came around a large curve in the road by the cliff and saw a black SUV ahead where he knew the VW should be. He crinkled his nose in surprise. He didn’t see anyone pass the entrance to the woods as he was getting in his truck, and was pretty sure he didn’t lose ground to a Twenty Five year-old four cylinder van with a weight distribution issue.
The vehicle took the left at the light and put on it’s right blinker, obviously heading into the Hanson Hotel parking lot which also housed a Car Dealership in the front of the lot. He sped up and took the right at the light, knowing the back entrance to the lot was quicker than hitting the line of traffic at the stoplight outside the hotel. He pulled in fast and gunned it trying to catch the SUV before it parked, but as he got the truck straightened out from avoiding the first yellow speedbump, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of brown and tan seemingly flew from the trees onto the roof of the hotel about 50 yards to his right. He slowed immediately to a crawl and leaned into his passenger seat to get a better look.
“My..God…”, he uttered quietly.
The figure was moving at breakneck speed across the roof. Sherriff Foster gunned the patrol vehicle to get out front of it as fast as he could. He pulled around the side of the hotel, weaving through parked cars and tractor trailers that blocked his view just enough to frustrate him.
“Dammit!”, he yelled as he lost sight of the huge mass of hair and muscle. “Dammit!”
Finally, he emerged out of the maze of vehicles and saw the SUV had beat him into the lot. They were way over in the other part of the hotel. He started his way over there, noticing the woman in the passenger seat with the sunglasses.
“That’s her!”, he thought. She ran to the door of the hotel, and the back left door also opened. A male with dark hair got out and walked around the back to open the door. He had the best opportunity now to see what was in the back of the truck. He should call this in, but he knew it was too much to handle for a conversation and he wasn’t quite sure he believed what he saw anyway.
The Sherriff’s truck sped through the lot and he had a clear lane to the right of the vehicle when the hairy brown figure stood on the roof above the SUV.
BOOM!
“Holy!’, exclaimed the Sherriff.
He stopped the truck immediately and started running. His left hand instantly slid to his holster and unclipped the strap. The sheer force of the impact on the black SUV was incredible. He had called in the pursuit of the vehicle as non-violent in nature, but he had no idea this was going to get crazy like this…. The monster tore the roof off of the SUV and the Sherriff pulled his weapon. The maze of cars around him served as a shield and a hindrance. He couldn’t take his eyes off the action ahead of him, so he used his right hand as a guide while going as fast as his 49-year-old feet and legs could go. Sliding around a trunk, he saw a girl on a red bike just like his son Timmy’s. Details…details. Let go of details until later, he thought. The girl leapt off the bike and instantly swung her backpack striking the male suspect at the back of the SUV. He was caught off guard. What was even happening here?? It was then that he heard the voices of children, and one voice so familiar he must have been mistaken. The monster was now inside the back of the roofless vehicle thrashing and screaming. He took his eyes off it for one second to identify the distracting noise he’d heard and confirmed it was Timmy. “What the…?” he yelled. He watched as his son jumped off the back pegs of another kid’s bike and ran towards the mayhem. “NO!”, the Sherriff yelled, but obviously the child had his mind made up. Timmy ran straight for his bike, which was on the ground where Kate had left it in a heap. As soon as he reached it, a roar came from inside the SUV that was different than the sound Foster had heard just a second ago. Fear. The past five minutes he’d been in control of the situation and his emotions, but his son…. Fear. The male suspect whirled back to cover Timmy, and when he did, a huge claw emerged from the SUV. The back door was in the Sherriff’s eyeline. Instinct took over, as well as the love of a parent for his child. Foster kept his momentum moving left, got in a position, and fired into the back of the vehicle blindly.
BLAM!!
Agent Ameca looked to his right and located the weapon. Timmy looked too and saw his father with the gun. “DAD!”, he said loudly.
Foster steadily crept closer after he fired to secure his son’s safety.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!??”, he angrily yelled at his son, all the while hugging him tenderly with his free arm.
“That girl stole my bike! I knew you and Mom were going to be really mad at me, so I had to get it back. Dad, what is that thing? “Timmy was talking at a fast rate of speed in a high-pitched tone. He was always trying to act older and tough. The boy was scared and on the verge of tears. “Just get back. Get your friends and get way, way, back!”, Foster said with confidence. He had to show the kids, and his son most importantly, that he was going to handle this insanity.
He turned towards the scene and again looked surprised. He knew he’d hit the subject in question, but now he saw another one. It had his back to him, and if he was going to take the shot now was the time. He held his gun towards the ground and slowly advanced on the action ahead. The larger one had fully emerged from the back of the vehicle, and the Sherriff could see clearly that he had been in the back of the SUV tangled in a netting now on the ground and wrapped around one of its humongous feet. The monster was standing over the first monster who was bleeding from the upper right chest and shoulder area. Screams could be heard from the girl who stole Timmy’s bike, and also from the woman with the sunglasses, but the loudest scream came from the larger monster itself. It was a scream of pain, and fear. The same fear that Sherriff Foster had just experienced. He felt as if there was a mistake made somewhere, and he might have been the one to make it.
The monster turned. Tears in its eyes. Teeth bared. Claws open. Angry. Scared.
Sherriff Foster had never been more unsure and afraid in his whole life. He lifted the gun. He began to pull the trigger.
CHAPTER 3
Kate would think about the next ten seconds for the rest of her life. “What was I thinking?”, she’d shiver from the thought.
She was less than 2 yards from a cornered 600 pound beast and also next to a loaded gun in the hands of a professional marksman. Her solution to this situation was to jump in the middle of them both as if it was just a couple of kids on the playground.
“NO!”, she yelled so loudly her voice cracked and made people wince because it sounded painful.
THRILLDABEAST was distracted just long enough for Ha’na to grab his hand again. She was up on her feet, wounded, but with a strong sense of wisdom and love she implored her son to stop and think. She said it with one word.
“Run.”, she said quietly.
“WHAT!?”, he looked at her bloody shoulder and shrugged her hand off his claws.
“I SAID RUN! NOW!!”, this time in a tone that did not invite discussion.
Kate saw what was happening and felt the urge inside her head once more.
“GO!”, Kate said in her strongest mind-pushy-thing she had just learned how to do.
THRILLDABEAST turned to her and looked confused. “What?”, he said back to her, and then to his Mother.
He looked in his Mother’s eyes and he began to cry when in actuality he felt he should be angry and making the man with the weapon pay. She looked back at him with love and understanding and unwaveringly said:
“Please. RUN!”
She then fell on one knee towards Kate. THRILLDABEAST grabbed a door off of the SUV and threw it at the Sherriff. He shot the Sherriff a vengeful look and took off. “I’ll find you Mom! I promise!*”, he screamed. “I know son; I love you! Go to the curtain!*”, she hollered back.
Kate listened to the language, and knew they were making plans to find each other. You could tell from the tone. THRILLDABEAST was gone in an instant. Kate turned to look at the Sherriff.
“Thank you….,”, she said quietly. She noticed he was crying.
Everett Foster, the man, hated violence. He had reacted as Sherriff Foster, the law enforcement officer. He turned to look for his son and his friends. They were back behind the Police truck with a woman wearing a bikini top and cutoff shorts. There was also a man standing next to a Tesla Super Truck. The woman was filming the kids’ reactions to what had just happened.
“Oh, boy…”, Foster said. “TIMMY! GET OVER HERE NOW!”
Timmy looked over at his Dad and knew his emotions had gotten the best of him. He grabbed his bike and threw it in the Police truck’s bed. He jumped in the vehicle and hoped his Dad would just forget about him and not be too mad.
“Excuse me, Officer. If I might have a quick word?”, said a voice from behind him.
Foster looked down at Ha’na who was breathing heavily as the young girl held her head off the ground. He looked up at the voice with an expression that read confusion and a let out a sigh of exhaustion. The man who spoke put out his hand.
“Agent Arnold Schteckler, Newfoundland Security Director, Science and Nature Division. We need to hurry.”, he said matter-of-factly as he pointed towards the scene.
“Newfoundland?”, Foster said?
“We’ve come a long way, sir.”, the Agent confided.
“OK,”, the Sherriff shrugged. “What’s up?”
THRILLDABEAST BOOK 6
CHAPTER 1
The stream was bubbling into a small pool under a weeping tree. The sun was out and it was filtered through the branches and leaves putting on a natural light show for the parents and their beautiful child. Ha’na and Mauo had been together for a year now. They spent each day together in their home, the woods. There was a large lake on one end and this brook. The brook gave more shelter now that they had brought a child into the woods as the lake was filled with humans.
M’halo, their son, was now eight months old. He swiped at the water over and over trying to grab the minnows and larger fish he saw under the water’s surface. He bore a striking resemblance to Mauo in his facial structure and had streaks of gold hair in his brown mane. Ha’na was so proud of him.
She had been a wild creature until she met Mauo under the moonlight one night. She had never seen such a handsome male. He was so different from the rest. She instantly became difficult to him. She had no idea why. He looked puzzled at first, and then knew he should tread lightly. They had been in the same woods for a week when she finally felt something other than a resentment for the way she was feeling. She saw him on that day and looked embarrassed for her previous actions. He was wise enough to let her actions pass, and they embraced. They’d been together ever since that moment.
Mauo brought them to a safer place among the mountain cliffs. It was behind a waterfall just off of the great swamp fields. Ha’na never knew it was there, and she’d been in the woods for her entire life. Ha’na became pregnant almost immediately and Mauo would provide shelter, safety and food for the new family.
The birth of their child was a momentous moment. Mauo could not believe what he was seeing, and Ha’na seemed to know exactly how it all should go although she didn’t know how she knew. It was natural to her, and it was perfect.
Sitting in the shade of the tree and watching her son, she wondered how she got to this point. It seemed impossible just a few moon cycles back that she’d even know how to find a mate. She looked at Mauo and smiled. She got the look back from him that she’d expected and she blushed. He walked over and grabbed M’halo from the water. The boy giggled and splashed his wet hair into the air. Climbing up onto his father’s back, they walked towards Ha’na on the shore. Mauo reached down with one huge claw and pulled a big fish from the stream. He presented his trophy to Ha’na as M’halo shrieked with joy.
They headed home to what Mauo had named “Yinishbaal”. The curtain. The cascading water hid their cave home from the outside world. Ha’na wondered who had lived here before they did, but Mauo just told her he would make sure they would be safe. He would constantly fight off bears and on one occasion a large snake!
The Curtain was the safest place they would know in the whole woods.
CHAPTER 2
Years passed, and the family created a life you could only imagine happening in a storybook. The child grew like a young tree and his parents fell more in love every moon. The woods became a holy place. The threat of civilization was on the other side of every mountain, yet the three of them relied on the bond they shared to keep the peace within their hearts and minds.
M’halo became his father’s best friend. He learned valuable lessons every day. Most days, he was as accident prone as any normal child. Mauo watched him grow and tried to teach him patience and honor. He had no problems with the honor part of the lessons, but the patience… well, that was going to take some time. The boy was rambunctious to put it lightly. Mauo was glad to take the brunt of the days with the boy, leaving Ha’na to herself during those trying moments. The boy would come home scratched and bruised but as happy about he and his father’s adventures as he could be. Ha’na got worried from time to time, as any mother would, but she trusted Mauo. He was raising a man. Raising him strong.
Ha’na and Mauo were protectors of the woods. The residents of the mountain range were grateful for the pair’s constant watchfulness. While M’halo slept, the two sat in the moonlight while the creatures of the area dropped by to visit, and sometimes bring gifts. The Hawks always surprised them with the most amazing things from over the mountains. M’halo would wake up to these treasures and his curiosity began to get the better of him.
He saw the hawks flying high one day, and he took off to catch up with them. Reaching the top of the mountain was easy, but the hawks seemed to keep going and were so far away he wondered if he should follow. He looked down the side of the mountain and saw the other life that was out there. It was both frightening and amazing. The hawks were almost invisible now in the sky. He looked back at his home in the valley and decided to go back. He felt afraid without his father by his side. M’halo didn’t like being afraid.
The week following, a fox flew down the side of the hill and into the valley. It was mid-afternoon and Ha’na was alone at the stream while her boys did what they do.
“Ha’na!’, yelled the fox, “they’re coming on the hill!”
Ha’na didn’t respond. She’d always known this was a possibility, and was ready for whatever came. She nodded to the fox, and ran down stream and into the curtain. Grabbing a spear and her club, she came out of the curtain with the look of concern.
CHAPTER 4
Mauo moved faster than anything M’halo had ever seen. The boy could barely keep up with him, and would lose sight of his father around trees and rock formations.
“DAD!”, he’d shriek, “WAIT!!!”
Mauo could not wait and was almost assuredly trying to lose his son. He had felt the push from his wife. She was the love of his life, and he was driven by the fear of loss for the first time after years of safety and joy.
M’halo watched from twenty yards behind as his father stabbed a hand out for each branch to propel him faster ever faster. He used the biggest rocks to leap to the hanging vines and swung farther than he could jump. M’halo was now 40 yards behind, and his young legs grew weary. He knew they were headed towards the curtain, but, he did not know why. He did know something was wrong, though, as his father hadn’t spoken a word. He just took off and ran. The forest animals were around, and some of them seemed to be there to help the young boy. The racoons came out of their nest inside the sideways tree to offer a hiding spot. M’Halo refused and kept running. The deer came as a family towards him. The Father stood tall looking at Mauo fly away on a vine while his wife pointed to the woods on the left. She encouraged M’Halo to go with her to safety. Her children bounced at him to get him to stop his progress. Again, he refused and plowed ahead. The mother deer ran after him, but the buck snorted loudly, and she stopped. Turning her head to plead with him, she saw her young were following. She knew she had to stop. She watched as the young bigfoot ran as fast as his little big feet could go towards certain danger.
A dark blur appeared above the branches. The mother deer knew what it was and appeared relieved, if only a little. Atka, the great black eagle, spirit of the skies, had heard the call. If you catch a good look at him, you’d see great wide wings and a sheen of feathers like iron covered with streaks of silver. His cowl was a mature dark grey where there once was white. This added to his mystery.
Atka swept down through an opening past the twin pines and grabbed M’Halo by the scruff, securely and as gently as possible. M’Halo was unsure what was happening for a few moments. He thought he was flying at first and was thrilled. Then, he felt the tug at his skin and looked up to see Atka, the great eyes in the sky. He was again thrilled, and then, with a look down, was scared to death.
Mauo and M’Halo would watch Atka on his perch at the top of the biggest peak in the range. Atka’s eyesight was so great that he could guard the valley with confidence even from a distance. His speed was legendary as well. The lives Atka had saved in his time on the perch were numerous and meaningful. Only the fish had feared Atka. He needed to eat, too, you know. M’Halo would watch as Atka soared in a circle around his perch at the peak of the tall mountain. It would seem he was miles away. M’Halo would become mesmerized by the movements he saw in the sky as the great bird floated on the high winds. He would look for any sudden changes in the pattern of Atka’s movements, and then, just as suddenly as a lightning bolt in the storm’s sky, the black eagle would catch a tunnel current and BLAST into the valley. He would get closer than M’Halo wanted him to sometimes, revealing his great size and the power of his massive wings. M’Halo would dart behind his father in fear of being scooped up like a fish and eaten for dinner.
Flying above the woods away from his father just now, M’Halo looked up and wondered: “Am I now dinner?”
Atka felt the boy’s uneasiness and hoped he wouldn’t be hard to manage. He needed to get the boy to safety. His mother, Ha’na had begged him to do so. Atka headed for the perch as fast as he could fly.
CHAPTER 5
“It is not the way, my love…..let it be.”, said Mauo.
“They will not take this from us too!”, Ha’na screamed.
“They do not want to harm us. Do not fight!! M’Halo is safe!”, Mauo spoke back.
Hana looked over her shoulder at the high mountain perch where she saw Atka taking her son. She knew he was safe but could not stop her anger.
“Everything they do harms us!”, Ha’na said loudly. She had her spear raised dangerously high above her shoulders daring an Agent to advance upon her home. Mauo had arrived just as the team of humans made their presence known. They had been undercover, (or as hidden as they could be to ones with as advanced a sense of smell as the animals of the woods possessed) and were now surrounding the Curtain. They had the advantage in numbers by over double, and Ha’na was scared it was all going to end right here and now for their family.
“Ha’na, my love….”, Mauo said, bending on one knee and taking her hand. “Remember the good in me…in us. It is me they are after, not you…and they don’t know about our son. Keep him hidden. Keep him safe. I love you more than any moon in the sky. Please…. I beg you not to fight.”
“What are you even saying!!!”she screamed. “NOONE will be taking you anywhere! You are not leaving here! It will be over my dead and broken body if you do I swear upon the stream and the sky!”
With that last statement, and the look in Mauo’s eyes of defeat and eventual capture, Ha’na broke free of his grasp and charged the men directly in front of her. She drew back her spear and stabbed at them, hitting their weapons and shields. The men gave ground, but only to allow the others to fall in behind her and surround her in an even tighter formation. She swung her spear like a huge wand with both hands in a wide circle. Her shrieks echoed off the curtain cliff, and the animals of the woods, her friends, screamed with her…The men closed in, finally grabbing her weapon with force of numbers and then came the netting. Terrifying screams of fear erupted from the wild beast, who just hours ago was peacefully preparing to have her family rest their weary heads and dream of the next day together.
Mauo watched in horror as the men surrounded him as well, but he did not fight. Tears rolled down his face without blinking as he watched his love disappear into a dark pile of padded blankets that muffled the sound of her yells. He put his head down and reached out his hands. He was not new to this procedure, and knew his time was up. Restraints were applied hastily and Mauo was no longer free.
“I LOVE YOU HA’NA! I’ll see you in the big sky again! I promise! Do not fight! Tell him it is not the way! It is NOT the WAY!” he screamed to her knowing there was only this last moment for them to talk.
“MAUO!!!! NO!!!”, Ha’na begged at the top of her lungs as she made one last effort to break free. She moved the whole pile of agents that had her tied down about three feet in the air with her strength.
“OKAY! That’s enough! Agent Schtekler! Do it!”, the commanding officer spoke, but spoke with respect to not only the situation but to the victim as well. There would be no injuries to anyone. Not on his watch.
Agent Schtekler looked nauseous as he walked up to the trapped beast. He reached out his hand and pointed the tranquilizer gun.
“SHPTT!”, the weapon fired one shot into Ha’na’s leg. M’Halo’s mother gasped with the pain. Mauo looked away. He knew she would never stop. He loved her so much for that.
Atka flew closer to the opening in the trees. He could see what was happening from farther away, but his feelings for the pair compelled him to get closer to the pain and emotion of the moment. It was very unlike him to do so, thought the other animals.
Atka watched as the men led Mauo into a holding cell on the back of a huge truck. He never looked up. He never looked at the curtain. He did, however, look up at the sky and see Atka. Atka looked Mauo straight in the eyes. They did not gesture or make a noise. None were needed. Atka knew he would never see his friend again. Such was the way of the woods. He flew straight up into the sky and sounded the alert that the conflict was over. The sound of an eagle with a broken heart bounced off the canyons. High above in the perch, M’Halo’s tears started instantly. They would not stop until the moon went down. His family was no more.
THRILLDABEAST VOL.1
BOOK 7
CHAPTER 1
Ha’na had been awake for a few hours. She knew by the smell she was somewhere in the human’s world. The woods were very far away. She resisted the urge to open her eyes. Her shoulder did not hurt, but she knew it should. There was a ghost pain and the memory of the moment she was wounded. She had never seen her own blood before…there was so much of it. She moved her fingers just enough to know she was going to be ok. That was just physical, though. She tried her best to not think about what had happened. When was it? What day on the moon cycle was it? Had she lost hours, days, or weeks? Inevitably, she thought about and saw the face of her son in her mind. Instantly she began to cry. It was bound to happen, and she couldn’t fight it anymore. The tears came in droves, and her physical and emotional states met in the middle creating the type of sadness you cannot hide. The low moaning whimper of a Mother without the power to see and hold her child one last time…not knowing if he’s going to be able to survive alone. Her eyes opened. She stopped crying instantly.
“Hello again.” He smiled at her with tears in his eyes. He was a tall Caucasian human with short cut blonde hair and glasses. He wore a lab coat like a Doctor, and he had a tablet with charts on the screen. There was a slight uneasy moment there where he wondered what would happen next.
Ha’na turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes but were only the longest lasting 10 seconds of their lives.
“Mauo….my love. My love? It is you. It is you…” Ha’na reached out her hand and the man took it in both of his, letting go of the tablet.
Ha’na began to sit up. She was having trouble understanding what her surroundings were, so there was a bit of awkwardness getting situated. She had been placed in a motorized bed of nanobyte padding to help her heal faster and increase her comfort.
Another man came over to help make her comfortable and the man she called Mauo pulled up a tall chair on wheels and sat close to the bed.
“How do you feel?”, he asked. “Can we get you anything? Anything at all?”
“I feel fine.”, she said back. She reached her left hand up to her injured shoulder and felt a bit of tenderness, but otherwise it was fine. “Why do I feel fine?”, she slyly asked the man.
He began to speak about the reason she was not hurt anymore, but they were all words she did not care to understand. She just looked at his face and looked in his eyes. There were echoes of her memories in there, and she could also see her son in there too. He began to taper off in conversation as he saw her eyes deepen in thought. He took a huge breath and exhaled.
“Ha’na….”, the words came out of his mouth in human language. She understood what he was saying for some reason. “I’ve put a device in your hippocampus to alleviate the language barrier here. Do you know where we are right now?”
“I do not. I know I do not like the smell.”, she said softly, embarrassingly.
“The last time I saw you, I said I’d see you again. Come. Look.”, said “Mauo”.
Helping her out of the bed, she stood for the first time in days. She towered over Dr. Rex Peatfield. He could not help but be amazed at her…he always revered her and it had not lessened with the passage of time and the distance between. Ha’na got her balance back quickly, and she followed as Rex led her by the hand. Her eyes looked ahead and saw the wild wonders of technology all around her, but the sight that made her eyes open widest was the one that surrounded the whole area.
Windows five feet high lined the huge room. Outside the windows, however, there were no trees. No mountains. No rivers. No lakes. There were clouds. Only clouds. They were humongous and went on forever. The sky she recognized, as she did the sun. There were no birds up where they were. She stopped as she got within a few feet of the window and became frightened.
“It’s perfectly safe, my love…”, said Rex.
“Am I …..are we in the High Sky…?”, her words trailed off into a soft weep. She looked at the man who was her husband, but was no longer her husband but a man. Her eyes began to get more serious. Worried.
“No, Ha’na…”, answered Peatfield quickly, as if he knew it was coming. (The “High Sky” was the term the woods people used for the final resting place. Humans call it Heaven.)
“One day, I said I’d see you in the Big Sky. Not the High Sky. I was true to my word. Look.”, he said as he held his hand out to display the world below them.
She crept closer as she listened to his words. She felt safer by the second and got right up on the big windows. She could see the Earth, the whole woods of the Earth, and the waters of the Earth, too. They were up so high she could see the curve of the woods as it seemingly led off into infinity. Never had she imagined the woods to be so vast.
It all began to pile up in her head. So much going on. So much to take in. Finally, she could take no more surprises.
“Mauo. Where is our son. Why am I here? Why are you here? Why are you like this?” Ha’na was visibly shaken by the happenings. One could hardly blame her.
“Let’s go have food. I am starving and we always did like to eat together. Please?”, Rex asked.
“Yes.”, Ha’na said. Ha’na would have said anything for answers. She wasn’t hungry at all, but went along the hallway with someone she’d known for years yet did not know at all. So strange.
CHAPTER 2
M’Halo stood in the curtain. Directly in the curtain, water cascading over his head and body. He had been there for almost an hour, and didn’t want to move. The water kept his mind off of the disturbances that had destroyed his family. The water cleansed his mind and body. He may never move. The moon was beginning to win the battle in the sky, and the heat of the day was slipping into a murky mist. Still, M’Halo stood in the curtain.
The night would bring feelings. That was the last thing he wanted right now. The night would bring silence. He didn’t want that either. The night would bring memories. He begged his mind to not do so. He was hungry. He was exhausted. He was wet. He was miserable.
One could not blame him. However, he knew it was all his doing, and that he was the one who should get the blame.
She told him over and over, but he would not listen. It was almost at times like he COULD not listen. Why was that? Was there something wrong with him? Why would he go ahead and do things that he was told were wrong? Look what happened every time. Bad things. Bad things happened.
The first to reach the curtain was Nassama. She was alone, and came slowly up the riverside checking to see if there were others there yet. She knew there would be others soon as the word had gotten around to almost the whole woods.
Nassama was the daughter of the King Buck deer, Tona, and his wife Meela, who so long ago tried to stop young M’Halo from reaching the curtain when his father got captured so many moon cycles back. Her father and mother had long been gone from the woods, taken by the humans as most of her kind were. She was an adult now, but felt like a child again seeing M’Halo. They were roughly the same age and had always enjoyed the same woods.
“Are you ok?”, Nassama said. It was all she could think of to say. She knew it was the least she could say, but didn’t know if he wanted to talk.
M’Halo opened his eyes and lifted his head. He knew he looked stupid to her. Maybe he was still under the waterfall so no one could see his tears.
“I am fine. I will be fine.”, he said very steadily. He was acting. H wondered if she believed him.
“I know what you’re going through, M’Halo….it is very hard. I still think about them every day.” Nassama lowered her head and then caught herself. She raised her head proudly back to the conversation. “Will you stay here or have you a place to hide? We all think they’ll be back eventually. Do you?”
“I have to stay. I have to fight if they do come back. I don’t know what else to do.”, he said as he finally walked out of the downpouring water. “I am not smart like my father was, and I am not as nurturing as my Mother….”, he said with a small twist of his neck. Nassama saw it, and understood what was beneath the words.
“If I stay here, don’t I put all of you in danger? They could come at any moment. They take what they want. They destroy our land and lives before we even gather our families.”, M’Halo said. He walked to the waterfall and looked up at it’s source. He thought he saw something up there, but knew he wasn’t thinking straight right now and ignored it.
Nassama walked closer to the curtain so she didn’t have to yell over the sound of rushing water anymore. “Every season we have losses, and every cycle there is danger, M’Halo. We have no control over the woods. We think we do, but have we really ever been safe. Our parents did their best to raise us here…protected us from the dangers….we grew in an environment of danger.”, she said confidently. M’Halo felt he was losing the argument and interjected.
Shamefully he butted in and said “I am the dang….”,
“No!”, Nassama butted right back, just like her father. He would have proud.
“We were all completely victims….afraid to come out of hiding before your parents came to the curtain. Your father was the first to call on the Eagles and ask for help. Your father was the first to build shelter for the Raccoons. He built the dam in the river every year. I would not be here right now if it wasn’t for him. Your Mother was in the woods before, but my Mother said she was afraid. She would barely come out in the moonlight until they became one together. They built our world. M’Halo….we need you now more than ever. We wish you would stay. Please.”
M’Halo scoffed in the pause of her words. “The others are all in fear of me! I am no protector. I am no leader.”, M’Halo said. “I am going to be 16 moon cycles soon. Still a child to the woods. I bring trouble every day I am here. I see only you here. Noone would dare come with you. You are a fool asking a fool for help.”
“Boy,”, came a booming voice from above the trees, “call no one a fool that asks for your help.”
M’Halo was spooked and looked up as he darted to the left for shelter. He knew whose voice it was but the thought of him being here and not being able to see him in the dark scared his soul.
“Great Eagle!!!?”, Nassama blurted out in shock. She naturally sat back on her legs in reverence for the last of the protectors. She also could not see him, but, it was easy to feel safe knowing he was there.
“You are wise, young Nassama. Wise as your Mother. Stubborn as your Father.”, the voice in the dark said as if it was written on the cliffside. The noise of his great wings broke the silence of the moment and the huge black eagle dropped down to the other side of the pool across from Nassama and just to the right of M’Halo.
“Great Eagle, you have protected me along with my parents my whole life. I’ve messed up everything. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault…”, said M’Halo. He turned as he spoke and got back in the waterfall. His head hung down. Nassama looked away for a moment, then held her head high and stared at Atka.
“Boy….you’ve no idea what I’ve seen in my time in these woods or even farther from my perch. Sometimes…”, he crept a bit closer to the waterfall, “this ability to see so far in the distance…it is a curse.”
Atka flapped his wings once and his body leapt in the air. He stuck out a huge clawed foot and snagged M’Halo’s shoulder as firmly, yet gently, as he could and pulled him from the water. M’Halo felt the tug and leaned backwards like a weeping tree swaying in the big winds. Facing the Great Eagle, he saw the age in his face and the tufts of grey that now had majestic white streaks. He tried not to look shocked, but failed.
“Yes, boy. I am much older than I was…I am doing what I can, and still wait for the return of my daughter. I know she’s out there somewhere, and she will return but, until that day the woods needs a protector. The woods needs a group to keep the young safe from harm. The woods has always needed ones like your parents. Since the day they took your Father, your Mother stayed strong for us all, and together we moved forward…kept the woods alive. It’s the time, no matter how young, no matter how reckless, to find the strength…. the courage. It will be your way. Your voice. You are now my hands…my partner. I have the faith of many skies in you, Great M’Halo of the woodspeople.”
It was not lost on Atka that this speech of his could be the end of the woods. He had seen the boy grow, and not knowing Mauo before his migration to the Curtain, saw only what he observed of him. M’Halo was already much bigger than Mauo, and at such a young age had been able to do things his parents had never thought of trying. The boy stood high as a tree when he was confidently enjoying his life, and was as strong as any inhabitant of these woods had ever been, if not stronger. He would only keep growing, and Atka knew that though he may need guidance, young M’Halo would be able to inspire by intimidation alone. He could be a great leader….but, would he want to be a leader? The time was now for him to try, or run wild.
CHAPTER 3
The date was August 1st, and Kate was in a very bad mood. Her parents had forbidden her to stay for the rest of the summer and were forcing her to get on the plane tonight headed for Toronto. She had done a ton of research trying to get them to let her remain behind. She had found a Nanny job for a great family in town who had seen her on the news. They loved her, and her directive to save the wildlife and the woods. They were activists, and once they’d found out who Kate’s parents were and what they did for a living it made them love Kate even more. Her parents, especially her Father, forbade her from taking the job. Kate had found a room to sub-let for the next month at a local college dormitory. It was available for three weeks at a great rate, and was right near the skate park. Her Mother forbade her from sub-letting the room. She was doomed to go back North. Her life had been given purpose this summer. She was energized about the future. Granted, it had nothing to do with the future her parents had mapped out for her and that was a huge problem. They also dropped a bomb at dinner last night and said this would be the last year they would come to the lake. Kate had never known another way to spend a summer. Sure, she lived in Canada, but she grew up each summer at the lake. She was very confused at what she should do. She looked at her parents as if they were trying to do something to hurt her. She and Roger would talk after dinner. He talked in circles. She was even more confused. Roger loved the lake. It’s where he and Sheridan fell in love. Why would you not care about that? She needed time, and they were making things go so fast. Why was everything changing so much? There were plenty of tears after dinner that night, and plenty more to come as she sat in her seat on the plane.
CHAPTER 4
The last time M’Halo hung from this vine over the cliff, things were so different. He was commemorating the memory of the day his father was taken when the sound erupted and he was almost taken by the humans. They took his mother instead. He felt so much shame. He didn’t even know if she survived. He had run off bleary eyes and crying after seeing his Mom bleeding and in the hands of the captors. So much shame.
He spent the afternoon working on the document, and when he finished he swung back a few times to get a wider view of his work. When the vine broke on the third swing he didn’t even blink.
“Of course…”, he thought.
He dropped straight down once again, this time by accident and had to brace himself for impact. Crashing onto a treetop he let out a howl as his right shoulder scratched deep into a branch cutting him and drawing blood. Careening down the bigger branches to the ground below he finally righted himself. Does everything he touches have to go wrong, he thought? Is it all going to be like this every day for the rest of his life? Until they come for him, too? It might be too much to deal with….he might be losing his mind. He was in no kind of mental state to be near anyone right now, much less be a part of the woods protectors. He grabbed a huge rock near him and threw it at the cliff, exploding it into a thousand fragments. He saw his mind in the same manner. All over the place. Scatterbrained.
He looked up at the high cliff and in a loud voice said, “I miss you so much….” to the picture of his mother he had just painted.
CHAPTER 5
“I missed you so much”, said Rex. He and Ha’na sat on a long bench in the upper level of the Big Sky Lab where Rex had been recuperating from his mission for the past 8 years.
Ha’na was ready to move on with the conversation they desperately needed to have. “Can you tell my what is happening? Please. Enough of the small talk. I have been alone for so long with no idea you were even alive. Can you understand how that can affect a….soulmate…a wife…a mother…your son….the woods?”
“Ha’na,”, Rex said very intensely, “tell me your earliest memory of our life together. How far back does it reach?”
“Still, more questions to answer my questions?”, Ha’na erupted? She smacked the bowl of fruit on the table so hard it flew to the windows. Grapes scattered across the floor in a thousand directions. The banana landed perfectly on the window sill.
She got up and was very tense. Peatfield knew he had to be careful….she was once a very wild creature, but, also once the woman he loved. This had to go well, for everyone’s sake. Especially M’Halo’s.
“How good is YOUR memory?!”, she blurted back at him? “I’ve told you everything many times. I never knew my parents, and neither did Atka. I just appeared one day, and there I was…..One day you appeared, and you know the rest.”
“I do…”, Rex admitted. “I know the rest.”
He stood up and walked to the wall of doors. Opening the leftmost door, he revealed a bank of computer screens that were hooked into his tablet.
“The day I was taken was a very hard day for me, as you can well imagine. I was put in the truck and driven out of the woods. Was I to become someone’s food? Their pet? Was I to be experimented upon? I had no idea. I had been with you in the woods for 7 years. That’s what we call them in human terms, by the way, not moon cycles.”
Ha’na felt a bit more at ease now that she was getting him to talk facts. She controlled herself as best she could. While he talked she went to the window and grabbed the banana, picked up the bowl, and began top collect the grapes. Peatfield watched her do so, and knew she felt shame for her anger. He would never call her out on it, though. He loved her too much. This was all too intense right now.
Rex continued: “When the truck reached its destination, I was led here to the Lab in the sky. They did begin to experiment on me, and I thought it would end for me horribly. Until,” he stopped and pulled up a photo on the screen of a much younger Rex Peatfield. The photo was cropped to eliminate the other members of his lab team.
“Until they showed me a few photographs of this man. Rex Peatfield.” He put his hand on his chest. “Me.”
“So…’, Ha’na interjected with an impatient tone of sadness, “you are not My Mauo….?”
“I am the husband you knew. Here, it is better if I show you what they showed me.” He began typing on the tablet.
“They showed me video documentation footage of my life, and the work I’d been doing. I had lost the use of my left leg due to cellular degeneration of tissue and bone marrow due to a parasite I’d come in contact with while on another mission. I was a Professor of Radiology, and to lose a limb was devastating. The University supported me in every way necessary to fight this thing. I decided to turn back to history and see how the human body had handled degeneration through the years. This led me to the vaults of every DNA lab I could find and was allowed via grant money to create a program that would use our past biological forebears as a kind of scaffolding.”
More and more images filled the huge screens in front of Ha’na. She was listening to her husband talk about things she did not understand. It was at once relaxing to hear his voice and frustrating to follow. She sat back down and waited for him to begin again.
“My team and I came upon this,” The screen flashed a white background filled with a paragraph of numbers and symbols. Ha’na had no idea what it meant, and she looked at Rex for answers. He seemed to be disappointed she didn’t pick it up right away. Ha’na sat there confused while the awkward pause happened. Peatfield put down the tablet, took off his glasses, and walked over to the window in his room. He seemed distraught, but continued the lecture.
“It’s a strain of DNA found in North America that is the oldest known sample from your…’tribe’. Your relatives…your species.”
Ha’na wondered where this was going, but, the mood in the room had changed. Mauo became a bit more serious, and looked at Ha’na with slight disappointment. She was hurt. She began to close up inside.
“Please finish.”, she said.
“We created a technique to graft the DNA sample to the human DNA strain. It needed the intense blast of radiation, which was my specialty. We weren’t sure what order the procedure should be, and, after much consideration and some scary arguments, it was decided that the radiation would be done in a post-DNA injection bath followed by an incubation period in an isolation chamber.”
“We needed tests, and test subjects. We were running out of grant money, and the Government was all of the sudden interested in our findings. They got the results back as fast as we could find them, and when they saw the percentage of success for limb regeneration and, most importantly, the potential growth and strengthening factors, they moved into Big Sky Labs to get things going.”
“I was about to make a breakthrough. I could feel it, but my lab partner at the time….”, Rex stopped. He felt like he should gather himself. Ha’na may have been frustrated a minute ago, but, she saw the pain in his face. Just a glimmer. He always did try to protect her from the worst of life. Her brow softened and she nodded that he should proceed.
“I argued at the time with the Government that this wasn’t done for Military reasons, to weaponize the troops. They argued back about grant money. I faked a report saying the findings were wrong, that we had missed a decimal somehow, anything I could to delay what I thought was coming. Little did I know that my partner had the same idea, only their conviction was much stronger than mine. The procedure was going to be successful, and we were very sure of it, but, we needed to see what the product would be before giving our work to the Military. My partner subjected themselves to the test without my knowledge. I should have been there, as I was the radiologist. I came to the lab on Monday to find a mess I’ve been trying to clean up for almost a decade now.” Peatfield walked to his desk and picked up his tablet. Touching a few things on the screen, he changed the view to a black and white video player.
“This is that morning. Upon my arrival, I saw the Log. They had followed standard scientific lab procedures up to the point of radiating their cells. You can see me limping to the isolation booth as fast as I could to hopefully find things were not as I’d feared. It was worse. There was no body in the booth. I went back to the video playback and watched in horror as the radiation mutated my partner beyond recognition. The increased size and power was there, but a fit of painful madness created a fight or flight response that destroyed a wall, a window, and our hopes of ever getting this project okayed.”
Ha’na watched the tape as Rex sat crying alone in the very lab they sat in right at that moment.
“There is more, I take it….” Ha’na asked very quietly, knowing what was coming.
Rex sat next to Ha’na. He had tears in his eyes and looked scared. “Please don’t hate me.”
The video played on. Ha’na watched as Rex went to the table of vials, beakers and syringes and subjected himself to the procedure. He set the radiation bath to a certain level, took off his clothes and lay back for the unknown to happen. Intense waves showed upon the film, blurring out detail between the projector and the subject. Rex’s body relaxed instantly, his head falling to the side obviously unconcious from the trauma he was inflicting upon himself. He looked dead. Ha’na was now crying. The man beside her watched again for the thousandth time as his chest heaved, his eyes open violently and he screamed. He could almost hear it even though there was no sound to the video. Ha’na’s hand tightened around Rex’s, and for the first time since their reuniting all was equal between them…the pain and the suffering. The footage continued, and what could only be called a miracle and a tragedy unfolded before their eyes. Peatfield’s body began to lengthen, his arms grew huge, hands hitting the floor. His face mutated to match his neck and shoulders, now massive balls of muscle. Before the scheduled time of exposure for the beam had ended, though, the monstrous being began to tilt the platform and fell off of the table to the side. Reaching out a huge hand he began to try to pull himself upward, only he had no balance or dexterity to his movements and knocked everything in the lab astray. Finally getting to his feet, he began to look around and get his bearings. The machine was still running, and he turned it off as best he could with his now massive and clumsy fingers. He looked at the camera. Directly at the camera. He looked down at his body, took a quick study of what had happened, and leapt towards the screen. The massive claw appeared with such speed you could barely see it, and the screen went blank. Rex stopped the tape and rewound it back two seconds. He paused it at the moment of impact. Just behind the beast’s hand was his face. It was Mauo. There was no doubt about it.
joesmithrealname.com 