The Boys Who Cried Sasquatch

Chapter 27

"Where are you going?" one of them asks.

I look at Julian. He doesn't look at me. He looks directly at the soldier in front of him.

"We have come to check on Bigfoot and report back to see how he is doing," Julian says.

The soldier looks from Julian and then to me and back to him, staring at us like he was trying to figure out who we were. It didn't seem like he believed us and I was worried we would be turned away or worst, shot for trespassing on restricted area. He turns to his partner, asking him if he knew anything about us coming down here. He shakes his head. The soldier turns to us.

"Are you sure you were told to come down here?" he asks. "We weren't informed about this."

"You weren't?" I acted surprised. "Colonel said he was going to informed you. He must have forgotten. He is awfully busy upstairs."

He nods. "Yes, you're right." He moves aside. "Go in. Be careful. He is really aggressive."

We thank him and entered the new area. The cage is to the left side of the cave. It's so small for Sasquatch that I couldn't blame him for being aggressive. It was the same size they used for animals in the circus. Bigfoot was too big for it. He couldn't move. He has to hunch over because he was too tall for the cage. There's a food bowl on the ground beside him with some fruit, but it looks like it has been untouched. How is he supposed to eat when being squashed inside a small cage that's not even built for him? The light was also very dim, not giving him much light to see.

Gosh, if Paul had never told us about this place, there is no way Bigfoot would be able to survive here.

"We need to get him out of here, Julian," I whisper. "Fast."

"I know, David, and we will."

We walk over to him, disobeying the guards about getting too close to the cage.

"Bigfoot, hey, it's us," I say.

He growls at us. Not really sure if it was an angry growl or not, but I couldn't blame him for being mad with us. We had broken promises to him twice. He probably won't even trust us now.

I pick up the pad lock on the cage, resting it in my palm. I wasn't sure how we were going to break this lock. The key wasn't anywhere. I couldn't ask these guards here because they will be suspicious, and no doubt they wouldn't have the key. Maybe the Colonel would have it.

"How are we going to break this lock?" I ask Julian, moving away as Bigfoot growls. I don't want him to rip my arm off if I stand too close.

"I have the wire cutter in my bag in the truck. I could go back and get it, but it will look suspicious."

I glance at the ground, wondering what else we could use to break the lock. We could pick it lock, but neither of us had something to pick the lock. The only thing I could think of was using the gun I held in my hands. It was the only way we could break it. I tell Julian my idea and he agreed with it, even though it was going to send the entire army after us.

Julian tells Bigfoot to stand back. I don't think he fully understood, but after explaining to him more than once, he moved away from the lock, which was only an inch since there was not much room at all for him to move.

I point the nozzle at the lock. I was fairly good at aiming so I knew I wouldn't have any trouble breaking it with one shot. Dad took me to a shooting range when I was thirteen. He told me if there was ever an emergency at home when he wasn't there, and a criminal was threatening to kill Mom or Sally, he trained me on how to use a gun.

I concentrate hard on my target and pull the trigger. The bullet hits the metal, the sound echoing loudly throughout the cave. For a brief moment I can't hear anything. All I can hear is a ringing sound in my ears. Bigfoot roars loudly from the noise, which I hope drowns out the gunshot.