Chapter 9
((-KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!-))
NATURE’S BREATH filtered through the pines. Sweat beads on Trevor’s fore-head tickled down over his face. Not distracted by this, his mind raced with thoughts.
Being rid of the Sasquatch was one thing but delivering it into the hands of men was quite another. He wanted to be free so badly and now he might have his way… He was home.
Trevor would much rather see the Sasquatch disappear into the forest than to find it killed by a hunter. He had to protect it. It was his Sasquatch. There was a kinship there. The respect and obedience he had for the Sasquatch validated his next choice.
Trevor took Tiarrow by the hand and tried to show her that strange people were at the door. He didn’t know how to show her a sign for, ‘danger,’ but through Trevor’s urgency she could sense it.
She understood him even more so when she peeked through the curtains. Her eyes widened with fear when she caught sight of the men’s faces at the door. They all turned and looked at her. When the men did this, Tiarrow’s stomach churned.
The hunters at the door were tired and their clothes were soaking wet. Tiarrow quickly pulled her face back from the window. Panicking with short breaths, she spoke to Gurchukk and explained the danger of men. With Trevor’s assistance, Tiarrow told the Sasquatch to remain perfectly still if he hoped to hide from the hunters. Using many hand gestures and grunts, she spoke to the great Sasquatch and Gurchukk understood everything.
((-Knock! Knock! Knock!-))
The undeniable fist of a man outside pounded on the door again. “Hello! Would you please open the door?” came the deep demanding voice of William.
“Uh, right! Ya, of course! I’ll be right there!” Trevor picked up the roll of bunched up bed sheets and tried to open them up. He threw one of the blankets over the tall Sasquatch. Gurchukk didn’t move at all.
Tiarrow understood that Trevor was trying to hide Gurchukk, so she also helped with his efforts, tossing the sheets over Gurchukk’s head.
The Sasquatch infant found the entire escapade thoroughly entertaining. He chuckled with more dry heaving laughter.
Trevor heard one of the hunters try the door knob. Finding it broken they pushed at the door but it was blocked.
((-Knock! Knock! Knock!-)) Came the pounding at the door again. The men weren’t about to leave with the storm in such a stir.
There was so much more Trevor wanted to do in preparation, but his time had expired. Trevor approached the door. Moving the heavy trunk only a little to keep the men from being able to enter or look inside.
William, spoke politely on behalf of the others, “Hello. Please sir, could I appeal to your good nature to let me and my men enter your home so we can wait out the storm?” Studying Trevor’s face, William wondered if this man was Trevor. He didn’t know what Trevor looked like.
Trevor hesitated then William continued, “Sir, we’re on a rescue mission. Have you seen anything strange around your property today?”
“Oh, I’ve heard some loud distant noises, like gun shots, but I’ve seen nothing peculiar.” Trevor answered.
“Are you the owner of this home?” William asked, more to encourage conversation than to be nosey.
“Why, yes, yes I am.” Trevor replied, but there was nothing natural in the way he answered. His odd grin made it obvious he was covering for something.
“This is strange. The owner is said to have gone missing. What’s your name, sir?” William inquired with a hint of skepticism.
“I’m Trevor McKinnon. I had to leave town for a while to bring my wife and child home from Washington, DC.”
“Trevor McKinnon, you say? We’re in search of a man named Trevor.” William was certainly confused and hoped Trevor would invite them all in.
“Oh,” Trevor looked worried for a second then he calmly mentioned, “My name is Trevor, but I’m clearly not in need of rescuing.” He opened his arms for the men to take a good look at his home and family. “You must be looking for some other Trevor. Sorry, I cannot be of more help to you men.” Opening the door a little too wide, the men craned their necks to look inside.
((-Wham!-)) Tunoka jumped from the loft to the floor.
William saw the clothed infant perform the incredible leap. When Tunoka landed, he turned away from the hunters. He was wearing a cowboy hat.
No one caught a clear look at him, but when Tunoka looked back over his shoulder and sneered, his eyes connected with William’s.
For that fraction of a second, William had seen enough. Then he also saw the odd woman at the mirror and the strange protruding object that was covered in bed sheets at the center of the room.
Above all, William caught a whiff of an undeniable but recognizable smell. It was an odor that crossed between a skunk and a dead wet dog.
Knowing he had some explaining to do, Trevor quickly stepped outside with the men and closed the door behind him.
The men were surprised how large Trevor was.
“Was that your boy?” William asked with a skeptical eye.
“Oh, yes, yes it was. He’s in one of his moods.” Trevor tried to suggest everything was normal. Like his home was no different from any other household. William was not impressed.
Suspecting the boy was a Sasquatch, William knew for sure; something very strange was going on; “I saw him jump from your loft!” William began to second guess what he saw. Did he really see a boy jump from the loft? The men behind him stepped closer. They too weren’t sure what they saw either. They couldn’t be sure if they had even seen the same thing.
Puffing up his chest and straightened up as tall as he could, Trevor tried to intimidate the men.
They tried to look through the thin curtains.
Trevor had to get rid of these men as soon as possible. “Yes, well, my son is special, if you catch my meaning.”
“You mean to say he’s mentally dumb?” asked Norman, with his all too familiar rudeness of tone.
“I prefer to use the term, ‘special.’” Trevor gave William a belittling glare. “I would like to help you men, but, as you can clearly see, because of my son’s condition, I cannot.” Trevor held William’s eyes in a competition of confidence and authority.
“Trevor…” William finally said as he flared his nostrils, “You’ve been away for two months. Come to your senses, man! We’ve come a long way for you... We want to help you.”
The response found in emotional Trevor’s eyes could conceal the truth no longer. He had been found out. The charade was over. Without turning his head, Trevor glanced to the side.
He couldn’t do it. Though it was by strange circumstances that he came to grow into the family of the Sasquatch, he had established a respect and a bond that was too deep. He couldn’t dishonor what was between them.
“If you men are finished here then you best be moving on. I don’t take kindly to trespassers…” Trevor told them with a glare.
The message was clear. The men weren’t welcome at his home. The group began to stop away, but William just waved him off, irritated. He was convinced, the Trevor they set out to find was standing right in front of him.
Then Trevor added, “I can, however, offer you my horses. You can borrow them to ride in to town. Just leave them tied up out in front of the hotel. I’ll be by in the morning to get them.”
Besides William, the other hunters were just about to give up and take Trevor up on his offer when they heard a crash from inside. A smash came with a high whistle, followed by a low growl.
William put his finger on the mystery right then and there. ‘It was the Sasquatch.’ The men recognized the sounds immediately and rushed at the front door.
Somehow, Trevor could hold back the men for a moment. Reaching behind the door, he took hold of Tiarrow’s arm and pull her to his side.
When she came out, she was dressed. Trevor announced to the men, “I’d like you to meet my wife.”
The men stopped in their tracks and backed away a fe
w paces. The front door, behind Trevor and Tiarrow, swung wide open all on its own. Their eyes fixed on the strange lump standing out of the broken floor. It was mysteriously covered over with bed sheets. Nothing about the situation made any sense to the hunters. Why was their heroic rescue being stalled by these people? The sounds they heard were certifiably of a Sasquatch and they came from inside the cabin.
Tunoka whistled. He continued to be very active. In his excitement he continued to make a mess of the cabin.
The hunters recognized such supernatural strength.
Forcefully, the men pushed Trevor and Tiarrow aside and quickly uncovered the fraud.
The Sasquatch stench of skunky rotten garbage was unmistakable. Tunoka tried to run passed the men, Norm grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Lifting the cowboy hat off Tunoka’s head, the men gasped at the sight of his ape-like face.
Tunoka; frightened and shivering, locked his innocent eyes on the men for a moment. The Sasquatch child became enraged. The lines on Tunoka’s face stretched back. An inhumanly wide mouth lined with sharp white fangs expressed the danger the hunters were up against. In his rising temper, Tunoka tore off his clothing.
Tiarrow ran to Tunoka and tried to calm him with her touch. Speaking their Sasquatch language, combined with hand gestures, the men could see for themselves, this woman was just like a Sasquatch.
Trevor’s mysterious wife wasn’t only a native woman, which was a rare thing for the time, but she was unable to talk and carry herself in a civilized manner.
“She’s one of them! Raised by them!!!” Norman pointed and shouted. With this announced, the hunters realized just how primitive she was.
William seemed disconnected from everyone else’s curiosities. He was past all that. Stepping up close to the monument at the center of the room William took hold of the bed sheets and yanked them off. As the white sheets slid off, Gurchukk’s presence had almost stopped the men’s hearts cold.
The men were captivated as the Sasquatch filled their sights, their minds and their imaginations. They were distracted from pursuing the infant any further.
Eyes wide, the hunters never expected to stand so close to the legend. His warm breath blew over them and his wicked eyes of merciless judgment was almost enough to turn them to stone. With a quick silent stroke of his hand, Gurchukk swept the men off their feet and sandwiched them against the wall.
Norman quickly took aim at Gurchukk’s head, but Trevor intercepted him, pushing the barrel of his rifle away. Pulling the trigger, Norman fired off a shot through the ceiling. At the loud gunshot, everything just froze.
Suddenly, everyone reacted differently. Most hustled to the kitchen to escape Gurchukk.
Under a force of circumstances, the battered hunters cornered Tiarrow and Tunoka in the kitchen.
“Alright, men! Listen up! We need to dominate these creatures. Puff up your chests men! Take him with everything you’ve got, there’s no way some bush creature is going to overpower us, right?” The men didn’t really listen to Norman. He was the only one who didn’t get swatted against a wall.
Trevor was confused and frustrated. ‘Whose side am I on? Who will I betray?’ To keep the situation under control, he grabbed the rifle out of William’s hands and turned the gun on the men. Lifting it, he fired off a second shot right through the veranda of the porch.
“Get back!” He said as he leveled the rifle at the men, but the piercing sound of the gun shot angered Gurchukk.
He roared with a moan that Trevor recognized. It’s what he did if Trevor was out of his sight for too long. The loud rifle blast, plus the screams of the infant caused Gurchukk to react wildly. Reaching out, he smashed the kitchen window and helped his son and Tiarrow escape. Then he turned his rage back to the hunters.
Already stumbling over one another, the hunters scrambled desperately to get to the door. The trick was not to get too close to the Sasquatch in the middle of the room. Gurchukk saw the fear he stirred in them and roared while smashing his arms against his surroundings. He wasn’t trying to stop the men from escaping. He could’ve easily killed them all, if chose to.
Bounding out through the front door, the hunters tripped and stumbled down the steps into the rain falling to the muddy puddles. Trevor lost his rifle in the stampede of men and fell down among them.
Gurchukk smashed out through the front of the cabin. Lumber and logs flew out fifty feet into the yard. The hunters were totally surprised and fear almost caused their spirits to run off without them.
For a good thirty seconds, Gurchukk just stood at the front of the cabin beating his chest and roaring at the men.
During this time, William formulated a plan. He told the conservation officer, “Get your jars of chloraphorm out here!”
With this instruction, the conservation officer went into auto pilot. Darting directly to his chloraphorm jars. He unpacked them from his pony’s saddle bag. Loosening the lid, he drew the jar back and threw it at the creature’s chest. The jar broke into shards of glass and steam.
Gurchukk became angrier. Pulling pieces of glass out of his thick skinned chest, the look in his eyes said it all. These men were going to die!
Swaying his weight from one leg to the other, he stepped forward out of the cabin. Pouncing in a mess of lumber and destruction, the tall Sasquatch paused for a moment and sniffed like he was about to sneeze. Coming unglued, he lost all sense of balance and fell backwards, into the cabin.
A deathly silence followed the fall of the Sasquatch. William was the first to stand up in the rain. He walked to the cabin and cautiously climbed the steps to look at the Sasquatch.
Only a few of the bravest men followed him. They leaned forward and found the mighty Sasquatch curled up and sleeping in the root cellar.
William began to bark orders to the others. “Men, we have captured ourselves a Sasquatch! We need ropes to hoist him out.” Then William looked at Trevor. Wiping the sweat from his fore head, he told Trevor, “You! Get over here right now! We need to talk!”
Trevor stood up. He was covered in cold wet mud. The good feeling of being all cleaned up was long gone. Looking at the damage of his cabin, he said, “Hey! What’ve you done?! You’ve killed him!” Trevor shouted.
“Calm down.” William told him, “We used chloraphorm. It won’t kill the creature. We only wanted to capture it. Those were your instructions weren’t they… Trevor?” William asked with a clever smirk on his face. “I knew I had the right Trevor all along. Now would you care to explain what’s going on here?” William gently lifted Trevor’s hand and examined the missing digit and burned flesh. His eyes were full of questions and concern. Trevor began telling his story. He started by explaining how he was on the mountain, hunting the herd of elk.
The other men began slapping their ponies on their hinds to pull the massive Sasquatch out of the cabin.
Later, the men assisted the horses by grabbing the ropes and pulling the slumber some body of Gurchukk out of the cabin and into the rain. Examining the Sasquatch, they turned it over onto its back on the muddy ground. They meticulously looked at the hands and feet, but they spent most of their time with its head.
Opening the eye lids, they looked at the eyes, ears and nose before gaining courage enough to rub their hands on his sloping forehead. William wrinkled his nose as he moved in closer than the other men, and braved the risk of opening the creature’s lips to see its teeth. When they saw the large white teeth and fangs, the men received a good case of the heebie-jeebies.
Trevor tried to explain how the creature was capable of great kindness. He told them, quite truthfully, “I fired my weapon into the air because I was at odds. I wanted to both, be free of the Sasquatch and protect it.”
No one was satisfied that the Sasquatch infant and the primitive native girl escaped. The hunters searched the area to find them but through the heavy rains, they abandoned this needless attempt. They had the trophy of a silver tipped Sasquatch along with their missing citizen, Trevor. Looki
ng forward to return to town as heroes, the men tolerated how cold and wet they were.
Wrapping Gurchukk in one of Trevor’s large canvases, they tied him down with ropes. The canvasses were for covering mounds of straw. It took a great effort from all of the men, but they finally managed to load Gurchukk onto the wagon.
William drove the carriage as they carried the Sasquatch away in the rattling wagon of squeaky wheels.
Trevor joined the men as he sat with many of them alongside the sleeping body of the Sasquatch. Trevor was saved, so why did he feel like a prisoner more than ever?
The hunters used their pack ponies to tow the massive Sasquatch back to Seton Portage. They tied Gurchukk down with ropes as a safety measure in case the Sasquatch woke-up.
Trevor looked back at the cabin. It was severely damaged. Little about it resembled the same place he purchased. Thinking about all the work it would take to repair it, Trevor came up with an idea.
By leaving the place exactly as it was. There would soon be a rising interest in all the Sasquatch hoop-la in Seton Portage, like William predicted. People will come from all over the world and all of them will be itching to hear his story.
By charging admission to his farm, people would see what kind of damage a Sasquatch was capable of. His story, ‘How I survived Bigfoot’s capture.’ will be in demand. With so much publicity, he could build himself a new cabin… ‘No, a fancy house or even a mansion.’ He dreamed.
While Trevor fascinated about fortune and glory, he looked past the cabin to the trees. Feeling the eyes of Tiarrow and Tunoka upon him, Trevor scanned the tree line carefully. He couldn’t see any sign of them. His gaze traveled up to the magnificent view of Crater Mountain.
The sight of the mountain immediately caused flashes of recent memories along with the dreadful feeling of the Sasquatch’s presence.
Concerned for the well-being of Tiarrow and Tunoka who were left to survive on their own. Trevor knew how they both depended on Gurchukk for everything. ‘How would they get along on their own?’
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Trevor shouted to the mountain, “Kootch vent sloagumba, cha kanabenth!!!” These were the words he remembered Gurchukk used back at the cave. When the alien sound allowed their minds to understand, these words meant, ‘I will return. Wait here for me.’
The men stood up in the wagon to sit Trevor back down and question him. They asked, “What are you shouting?! Are you calling more Sasquatch to come out here?”
Trevor apologized and dropped his head in shame. He rode with the men and didn’t utter another word.
The men, however, were alert to the activity of the forest. Examining the silence, they feared the creature.
With fear saturating every word he spoke, Norm said, “What if the forest comes alive with Sasquatch?! What if the number in the thousands. With wild vengeance they’ll destroy us all?!!!”
“Shut-up, Norm!” William eyed the skittish man sternly.
The men grew quiet with anticipation, but all they found was an eerie silence.
Norman sat near the driver of the wagon. Peering out ahead of them, Norman reflected on all they achieved. Down the long and twisty road ahead the early morning dawn began to lighten around the mountains.
Looking down at the face of the Sasquatch, Norman still couldn’t believe he was a part of this historic event. The brighter the day progressed, the better it would be to see the creature. The ape-like face, bounced around with the motion of the wagon when all-of-a-sudden, its eyes opened. Norman jumped up and nearly fell right out of the wagon, alerting the others.
“Look out! The creature’s waking up! Quick! My rifle, now!” Norman demanded.
Others stood and also began to panic. Norman, still demanded someone give him his rifle.
Gurchukk stirred as he woke up with a moan.
The conservation officer, leaned over with a rag and held it to the Sasquatch’s mouth. The rag had been dipped in chloraphorm causing the breath of the beast to slow. It quickly fell back to sleep.
The conservation officer began explaining the dangers of chloraphorm, “The chloraphorm has the potency to slow the creature’s heart rate and even kill him with a high enough dosage.” To this he made a suggestion, “I could use naloxone to counteract the effects, but the antagonist could put the creature into a narcoleptic state. This would make the creature go crazy in a violent rage like a runaway steam engine. Because of this danger we must always be ready to kill the Sasquatch.”
“No, you can’t kill him!” Trevor stood up, shouting. “You have to use more accuracy when you administer chloraphorm.” He told the conservation officer.
“There are no records for these creatures. I have no idea what this creature’s thresh-hold is. We can only assume, at this point, and do the best we can.”
The rain calmed down to a light sprinkle. The tail end of the storm tapered off. Trevor moved up next to Gurchukk’s head where Norman previously sat. Looking down at Gurchukk’s peaceful face, it didn’t seem real or even possible but Gurchukk was now the captive of men.