John drew his truck to a halt about a half mile out from the old, abandoned resort. A big lad he was tall and burly for his age as he’d turned 18 just a few weeks back. Getting out of his truck, he walked the rest of the distance, hoping to keep his presence unknown.
His father, Sargent Daniel Powers had been assigned to investigate the series of disappearances that were mounting. Even one of his friends went missing shortly after his birthday. The day before, his father told him about checking out the abandoned resort turned ranch or production facility, something like that, to see if they were affected or if the culprit was hiding out there. His father hadn’t come home that night.
Current scuttlebutt was that the local sheriff wanted to bring in the state national guard to run a sweep of the whole county. While not a densely populated area, that was a large swath of land to cover and could take weeks. John didn’t possess that kind of patience and decided to take a look for himself.
Seeing the gate come into view, he saw no one watching the entrance. Out of an abundance of precaution, John took a hard turn into the forest. The camo hunting jacket and pants concealed his mass while the thick undergrowth obscured his movement. This area of the forest wasn’t properly cared for, leaving many noise producing obstacles underfoot, but he’d been hunting enough times to keep his foot work quiet.
Nearing the edge of the treelined and good groundcover, John could look onto the main entrance. Sure enough, his father’s squad car was there. From the distance, it appeared untouched. John could only surmise that his father had run into trouble deeper in the complex.
Right as he was about to leave his cover to take a closer look, a very loud series of stampings and shuffling echoed through the forest from deeper in. John calmed his breath and listened.
The noise was so loud that he quickly realized it was coming towards him and it consisted of multiple masses. Lightning fast, he processed the options. ‘Do I stay and hope to not be spotted or come back later with backup?’
John chose the latter. Long before the source of the noises came into view, he’d backed off. Quickly but quietly, he went back to his truck and worked his way back down the mountain.
Continue reading “Himbo Reconciled” →