California, 2002
The squad of soldiers walked with a brisk pace through the gravelly pathway. The John Muir Trail in central California, aside from its beautiful scenery, quietness and peace, was in some areas, one of the most challenging walking paths that the soldiers had ever maneuvered in. Crossing through the imposing snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, was an unforgettable and breath-taking experience, even when carrying eighty pounds of gear in your ruck-sack, which when wet felt twice as heavy. Ahead of the linear formation was Sergeant Holmes, a man of a stoic and unfriendly appearance, he didn’t seem completely unapproachable, but definitely seemed like the type of soldier who took his job way too seriously. He seemed to know the trail well, as he didn’t mind the map or the compass for that matter, taking at times short-cuts through the icy creeks, or through thick forests. Behind him, the four privates walked as if though they had been given the most tedious of chores.
The privates were: private first-class John Hutton, abnormally tall, with a really big head shaped like an egg, completely bald (and not by choice), wearing the plastic eye-protection that did more bad than good, as it would get really foggy with his sweat, and impair his vision. Then there was private bush, the only African-American of the group, he was often in a light mood, and was easy to talk to, he was a known prankster, and an intolerable joker, especially in despaired times. Then there was private Jackson, usually recognized by his noticeable under-bite which kind of made him looked like a bulldog, hence his pitiless nickname. And at the very end of the formation, hunched over as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, lagging behind, almost dragging his M-16, was private Gaylord, fruitlessly trying to catch up to his battle-buddies ahead.
“Hurry up Gaylord!” -Yelled Sergeant Holmes, who often screamed too loud, because he was deafened in combat. A decorated veteran of the gulf war, Sergeant Holmes had been blasted into kingdom come by an R.P.G, which left him completely deaf in one ear, and awarded him a purple-heart.
“Here coming Sarge!” -Exclaimed Gaylord uselessly as his voice was so low, and Holmes was so deaf, that he wasn’t heard.
The troop was heading upwards on a steep and unforgiving rocky hill, once atop, Holmes began giving directions:
“Okay listen up second squad! We’re gonna set camp down there on the prairie, am gonna need two of you to go get lumber, and the others help me set the tent.” -He commanded.
“Me and Gaylord will go get the wood.” -Jackson asserted.
“Gaylord!? Are you kidding me?! It’s getting dark and we need fire now, Gaylord will be bringing the wood back by the time the damn war is over. No, take Bush with you. And please don’t kill anything like last time! We’re not authorized to hunt in this area.” -The Sergeant commanded.
“Oh man we can’t even kill Hutton?” -Bush joked.
“He is an ugly animal, but we need him alive for now.” -The sergeant joked as well.
As they were preparing to build the giant green tent, Gaylord struggled with his task, sergeant Holmes caught him, and came up to him furiously.
“Sergeant the middle pol’ doesn’t fit through the grommet.” -Gaylord complained.
“Give me that you useless pube!” -The sergeant said as he snatched it away. – “As my father used to say gaylord: If we all fit in hell, this should fit too”
“Wow what a wise man your father was.” -Said Gaylord with a sardonic tone of voice, expecting a smile, but instead he got a fulminating gaze right back at him.
Later that night by the blazing light of the burning wood, the camping soldiers laid to rest, eat, and overall contemplate the eerie beauty of the dark woods.
“Gaylord?” -Bush said as he was laying down on the grass. – “It’s that like your actual name, or that’s like an official title? -He concluded jokingly.
“Screw you Bush!” -Gaylord replied clearly annoyed.
“Alright ladies, you know the rules, I don’t want any cat-fights in my beloved squad.” -Sergeant Bush said. “Speaking of which, you ladies did bring your reflective belts, right?” -Sergeant asked.
“Oh, come on staff sarge! We’re in the middle of buttfuck god-knows-where, don’t expect to find much traffic out here!” -Hutton replied defiantly.
“Reflective belts save lives, have you not read your field manual?” -The sergeant asked exasperatedly.
“Who reads that anymore?” -Private Bush replied.
“See that’s the problem with this generation” -The sergeant continued. –“You want everything given to you, you don’t like to read, you don’t like to do your research, or your homework, you just want other people to do it for you, and then tell you about it, feed you the information, and you’ll buy anything they tell you. Just like my father used to say: If you wanna hide something from young people, you put it in a book” -The sergeant concluded.
“Sarge, if we were smart, would we be in the army?” Bush asked ironically.
“Ok, that’s a fair point.” -Said the sergeant.
In the middle of the night, as they were all fast asleep, Gaylord had the inescapable urgency to use the latrine, which in camping trips such as this one usually meant he had to go pee in the woods. However, it was cold outside of the tent, it was dark, and a whistling icy wind made it feel even colder. He tried to sleep it off, as if putting it off would make it go away, but when the urgency became insufferable, he leaped up from his stretcher, and walked outside into the cold dark night. At first, he was disoriented, dazzled by the brightness of the moon and stars, he lost his north, and soon became overwhelmed by a sense of danger. He decided to simply pee on the spot, he didn’t care where he was, but he just wanted to come back to the tent as soon as possible, problem was, the more he walked the more disoriented he became, and the further away he veered off from the tent. And this time something felt off, something definitely was not right, unable to explain it, or point it out exactly, there was this feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.
He ignored it at first, but it soon turned into a heavy warm breath that was blowing on the back of his neck. Then after that, there was a faint but clear grunt, all too guttural and hoarse, which made it sound like a deep and chilling growl. As the seconds past, and the sound became louder, he became quite convinced that he wasn’t alone anymore. Overwhelmed with fear, and the wonder from what kind of animal could be breathing on his neck like that, he pulled his shorts back up, and continued acting normally as if to fool the creature into thinking that he hadn’t sensed it breathing and growling behind him. Took a few steps forward, and began to whistle nervously, in his head, if he ignored it long enough, it was going to go away. But not this thing, whatever it was not only persisted, but embolden with each single step the soldier took, as if becoming angry at the fact that the poor scared man was walking away from it. The heavy breathing intensified, the growling became louder and clear, making an even stranger sound, a mixture of a man panting, and a bear on the prowl. That was it, his fight or fly instinct started kicking in, there was no way to continue to ignore this clear threat, he had to either turn around an assess the danger, or run as fast as he could, and never look back.
Suddenly there was the imminent feeling that the threat had grown to the point of no escape. Emboldened by an unexpected rush of adrenaline, Gaylord turned around. And then he saw it. There it was unequivocally standing behind him, it was not a product of his imagination, it was not a nightmare, it was real! Standing tall on its hind legs, measuring a solid eight feet of stature, built like a gorilla, and poised like a human, there was a man-ape, completely covered in white fur, with glowing yellow eyes that’d let you know he was there without a doubt, and a pair of pointy sharp teeth sticking out of its mouth.
When their gazes met, the poor soldier could only recognize the fury of an enraged rabid animal, on the other hand, all the monster could see was a feeble man ready to cry, and surrender. Gaylord’s teary eyes opened as wide as they ever had, while the creature frowned with a beastly scowl reminiscent of that of an angry gorilla. The heartbeat of the soldier was loud and made his chest expand uncontrollably and exaggeratedly. While a warm vapor came out of the ape’s nostrils.
The creature raised his right hand, and in a swift and powerful swing tried to take Gaylord’s head off. He however was able no nimbly dodge it by ducking down. Then the creature tried once more, but this time clenching its fist and bringing it down like a hammer of death. But Gaylord dodged that too by jumping back. As the massive fist from the ape-like creature hit the ground, it created a huge hole, making dirt rain all over. Then the creature looked up, and stared at the soldier with that particular beastly glare. As Gaylord’s eyes met the monster, he knew that it was now definitely a good time to flee.
Gaylord ran through the forest, and he had never run that fast before, he looked back a few times, but could never see the monster, however he could hear the sound of branches breaking, and bushes rustling. It was as if the monster wasn’t running after him, but following him up close by swinging from the trees above, and next to him. But he would be damned if he didn’t try to escape, so he kept running.
As soon as he could smell the lingering scent of the burning wood from the campfire, he rushed towards it, hoping to find his way back to the camp. However, the more he ran, the more lost he got. Confused and disoriented, Gaylord had to stop, he looked around, and as crazy as it may sound, was more distressed by the fact he didn’t see the monster, than if he could see it. The hairs in the back of his neck stood, he could sense the monster close, but couldn’t see it, even under the brightness of the starry night sky. Suddenly he saw it, it dropped from above back into the ground, making the ground shake a little as he did, as soon as Gaylord saw it, he quickly hid behind a tree. The creature was stealthy, and quiet, as he prowled around like a ferocious predator. The soldier on the other hand was like a little scared prey, his breathing was heavy and noisy, but luckily for him, a whistling gust of wind distracted the creature’s attention and muted the sound of the soldier’s huffing and puffing.
Comments (0)
See all