Wearing the military outfit made me feel like I was playing Call of Duty, only this time it was for real and I wasn't in a war zone. It was a rescue mission. Julian and I step out of the truck, looking around us. I manage to get a better look at the surroundings then what I saw inside the truck. It surprised me how none of the public knew about this cave. How long has it been here for?
I wonder how long they have spent on making this cave as their secret hideout for Bigfoot. The ground was tar so they were able to drive through here. I wasn't sure how far the road extended into the cave. It goes past the stair case the soldier told us about, disappearing around a corner. I wonder where it leads to. In a few dark areas of the cave where there weren't any light, bats was hanging off the ceiling. It made me wonder how the bats could stand to be in here with all of the pollution from the trucks. Even with the long sleeves and pants, the cool air within the cave still managed to get through the material, making me shiver. I hear a faint sound, but I wasn't sure what it was. I then caught sight of the wires running along the wall. I take a closer look at them. The cables were on either side of the cave walls, giving light whenever it was needed. The cables must be coming from a generator, which is probably what the faint sound was. I follow the cables to the left side of the wall. They lead downstairs.
I look around at the soldiers moving around, making sure everything was in order and no one was trespassing. I wonder if they will take any notice that Julian and I weren't one of them.
Julian and I hid our faces as we walk past soldiers, heading towards the stairs the soldier had instructed us to go. We grab hold of the railing as we walk down the rocky stairs. I didn't see the water on one of the steps and almost slipped. Luckily I was hanging onto the railing.
"How long do you think this cave has been here?" I whisper to Julian so my voice couldn't echo.
"I'm not sure. It might have always been here, but no one ever knew about it, especially when there are no trails leading out here. So because it wasn't placed on the map, the military took over it and claimed it so they could do experiments on Sasquatches I guess."
"How would Paul have known the name to this place?"
Julian shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe he overheard one of the soldiers talking."
We heard soldiers walking up the staircase. We move a side as three of them walk past us. Continuing on, it was a long way down and I didn't understand why it was such a long way down, about a hundred steps. I don't want to know how we are going to be able to get up these stairs later.
There's a stream of water at the bottom of the stairs, and we walked along the path beside it. We could hear people's voices echoing at the other end of the cave. That must be where the lab is, and hopefully Bigfoot is there too.
We enter an area where it was brighter more than when we were walking down the path beside the stream. It's a large space in the cave for the laboratory. The place reminded me of some science-fiction movie. There are four men in white coats in the area with tables full of lab equipment. Among them are a few soldiers. They must be there to guard Sasquatch in case he ever tried to escape. I don't see him anywhere. I wonder where they are keeping him. It shouldn't be too far from the lab. The scientists were speaking to each other in scientific terms that I couldn't understand. Decorated around the cave are artefacts of Bigfoot. From the looks of it, it seems like this secret cave has been here for ages, collecting and studying the artefacts to decide whether or not if this mythical creature really does exist.
I see another opening to a tunnel and I wondered if Bigfoot would be in there. He has to be. Our answer was soon answered when we heard a growl.
Julian and I headed towards the tunnel. We nod a hello to the other soldiers who were keeping watch of the scientists. The scientists ignore us as they continue to work on their experiments. We stroll over to the two soldiers guarding the entry.
"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.
As soon as the lock is broken, Bigfoot pushes the gate open. He walks out and stands up tall, pushing his chest out and throwing his head back, letting out a roar.
Before we get a chance to run, we hear another gunshot being fired, but it wasn't from mine. We turn to see the two soldiers who were guarding the entry, pointing their guns at Bigfoot. My heart beats fast that I can hear it in my own ears. For a moment I blank out, not sure what I'm supposed to do. The soldiers are screaming at both Julian and me to move aside so they can shoot the monster, which only makes Bigfoot angrier.
I shake my head and pointed my own gun at them. There was no time to blank out. I had to concentrate on getting Bigfoot out of here, which isn't going to be easy. I was the only one with the fire arm, not Julian, so I had to save both of them.
"No," I reply. "We aren't moving aside so you can shoot him."
I hold my breath as Bigfoot stands right behind me, growling.
Julian can't do much without a weapon so he stands there with his hands in the air, begging to not be shot at. No one moves as we have a stand down, which starts to irritate Sasquatch. He lets out another roar, pushing Julian and me aside, which makes me pull the trigger. A bullet whizzes across the cave, narrowing missing Sasquatch has he walks in front of me. I don't see where it hits, but I know it has hit one of the soldiers as he begins to scream in agony. The alarm goes off, which only makes Bigfoot scream louder.
Julian and I quickly run after Bigfoot, making sure he doesn't do anything to injure the soldiers. The one I had shot was on the ground, blood gashing from his leg, staining his camouflage pants. He tries to reach for his gun, but I kick it out of his way, moving it towards Julian. He grabs it and then tells the soldiers not to follow us.
We enter the laboratory. The scientists are in a corner, protected by the soldiers in the lab. They point their guns at us.
"Drop your weapons now!" one of the soldiers shouts.
I look around the lab, not exactly sure how we were going to get out without being shot. We needed a shield for Bigfoot. If the soldiers aren't going to shoot at Julian and me, there was a higher chance they will shoot Bigfoot instead. He would cause more of a threat than what Julian and I would. I glance at Julian. We both knew getting out of here wasn't going to be easy.
Julian makes the first move without any hesitation. I figured Sasquatch would run straight ahead of us, but he doesn't. He follows him. I aim my gun at the soldiers, keeping my finger on the trigger as I trail behind.
"Don't shoot," I warned.
"You can't take him," one of the scientists with grey hair and bald patch says.
"Yes, we are taking him and there is nothing you can do about it."
Just as I turn to follow Julian and Bigfoot, I'm tackled to the ground by two soldiers. I scream out to Julian. I reach for my weapon I had dropped, which was a few metres in front of me, but it's just in reach. I can grab it if my arm was longer or if I didn't have two bodies weighing me down. The weapon is kicked out of the way, scraping across the ground as it hits up against the cave wall.
Bigfoot's growls echoes throughout the cave. The soldiers' heavy bodies were suddenly lifted off me. They scream, begging the others to shoot. Still lying on the ground, I look up at Bigfoot. He was holding onto the two soldiers, roaring into their faces. Other soldiers begin shooting. To protect himself against the ammo, he uses the soldiers as shields. I glance over my shoulder at the scientists as a cry escaped from someone's mouth. They stand there helplessly. I'm sure they would have some kind of weapon they could use, but they let the soldiers do all of the work.
Bigfoot pushes his chest out and throws his head back as he roars. He then throws the dead soldiers at the others. I scramble to my feet as Julian yells at me to get up. I pick up my gun and then hurry behind Bigfoot as he ran after Julian. I can hear the other soldiers behind us, running after us. Bigfoot was faster than us and manages to overtake Julian, not realising what could be up ahead. Julian pushes himself to get to the front of him.
I glance behind me as the soldiers chased us from behind. I fire a few shots, missing them on purpose so I couldn't kill anyone. It's bad enough I'm in trouble for trespassing. I don't want to be in trouble for killing any of the army officers.
I hear gunshots coming from Julian. I glance over at him as he shoots at some soldiers that come down the stairs. I have never seen him use a gun before besides the tranquiliser. We have played a lot of first shooter games, especially Call of Duty, although it was a virtual gun we had used. These fire arms were the real thing.
As Julian begins to fire, Bigfoot pushes him aside, knocking him to his feet. Julian scrambles to his feet as Bigfoot comes after the other soldiers. He grabs the weapons as bullets spray at him, but they didn't seem so much of a concern to them. He yanks the firearms from the soldiers' hands. Some held onto the weapons tightly as Bigfoot lifts them into the air. He then throws them at the soldiers on the stairs. They run up them to get away. I fire my weapon at the soldiers behind me. Julian suddenly lets out a scream. I glance over at him. He has his hand over his shoulder. I notice dark red blood stains on his hand. I curse loudly, and quickly rush over to him while Bigfoot continued to fight with the soldiers.
"Julian!"
Julian looks up at me, clenching his teeth together. "I'm fine, David. Go help Bigfoot."
Before I get a chance to shoot again, Bigfoot grabs us both, running up the steps, using us as weapons. He swings us into soldiers. Every part of my body ached from being slam into people and the cave wall.
When we are on the road, every other soldier came running to us again. Bigfoot drops Julian and me on the ground. I scramble to my feet as Bigfoot roars. He picks up a barrel beside him, which I think may be petrol inside. He throws it at anyone who came near him.
"Bethany!" I scream out.
I help Julian up just as Bethany comes out of the truck. She gasps when she sees Julian's injury.
"What happen?" she asks.
"We will explain later," I say. "Start the truck and get us out of here."
Bethany obeys me and runs to the driver's seat. Julian runs to the back of the truck. I wave my arms in the air, trying to get Bigfoot's attention. He sees me and then I signal him to follow me to the back of the truck. Bethany starts the engine, ready to pull out as soon as we are safely inside. I climb in the back of the truck. Bigfoot climbs in, grabbing the boxes to throw at the soldiers as they continue to shoot.
I scream out to Bethany to start moving, and she does. I lose my balance from standing, and fell on top of Julian. He yelps out in pain and I quickly get off him.
"David, what are we going to do with these two soldiers?" Sally says from the back.
I completely forgotten about the other wo we had left in the back of the truck. I stumble over to my sister, almost losing my balance a few times as Bethany turned the truck around and speeding out of the cave. Sally helps me drag them to the edge of the truck, and rolling them off as they land on the road.
I order Sally to hide around the boxes as soldiers began shooting at us. I return the shots and Julian does the best he could to return fire. Bigfoot continued to throw boxes at them, knocking the weapons out of their hands or knocking them to the ground.
The truck speeds up once we drive out of the cave. I have no idea how long we were inside for, but I was surprise it was still light. I thought it may be dark by now. I see the sun as it blinds me briefly before hiding behind the trees. I couldn't tell what the exact position of the sun is, but it's sunset. I wasn't sure how far we were from the campgrounds, but we will probably have to abandon the truck and travel back on foot. As much as I didn't want to travel through the forest at night, I knew it would be good to hide in the dark so the military couldn't find us.
Bethany bangs her fist on the wall that divides us and the front seat. There's a small window and Sally opens it.
"Guys, I'm about to crash into the front gate," she shouts. "Get down and hold onto something."
There wasn't really anything to grab onto so I lay flat on the ground. Bigfoot continues to stand, throwing as many boxes as he could at soldiers who try to climb onto the truck. I brace myself as I hear the vehicle coming in contact with the steel fence with a crash. It scrapes across the road. The truck then bounces as it drives over the fence. Some boxes fall onto both Julian and me. Sally lets out a cry as boxes fall onto her. Bigfoot growls as he loses his balance and falls backwards.
I push the boxes off me and then help Julian who struggles to lift them with one arm. I look up to see two army trucks chasing after us. I grab my gun and waited until they got closer before shooting at their tyres, hiding behind some boxes to protect me from being shot. It was the only way I knew how to stop them from following us. I blow the tyres from first shot. Julian had to keep Sasquatch down so none of the bullets could pierce through him. Sally talks to him so he doesn't get angry with Julian for keeping him down.
I shoot the tyres of the first truck and it slides off the road. The truck behind it almost crashes into them. A shot is fired at me and just narrowly misses my head. I aim my gun at the tyres and they run off the road. There is no other truck after us for the time being, but I know they will be sending more soldiers to come after us soon. I tell Bethany to keep driving until we are a safe distance away from the military.
Before I checked to see if Julian was alright, I take off the army uniform and threw it on to the road. I then help Julian to take off his uniform. Bigfoot stands over us. Sally crawls over to see if Julian was okay. I helped him get off his red checked shirt and the white shirt he had underneath, both stained by his injury. The blood continued to gash out of the wound. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to get the bullet out. We are going to have to get Julian to the hospital, wherever the nearest one was. But right now we couldn't. We had to get us far as we could so the army couldn't find us. And even if I could take out to bullet, I didn't want Julian to bleed to death. I wasn't sure how much blood he has lost, but with his eyes droopy, he has lost maybe half. I don't know how much blood you can lose from a bullet wound, and I know it hasn't gone through any arteries, otherwise there would be twice as much blood as it is now, and he probably would be dead by now.
I clear away some of the blood to get a better look at the wound, but more blood gashed out. Using the white shirt, I wrap it around the wound, pulling the shoe laces from my own shoe to tie it tightly.
The vehicle slows to a stop, pulling on the side of the road. Bethany gets out and runs to the back of the truck.
"How is he?" she asks.
Julian holds up his thumb to signal that is okay. "I'm alright."
"We need to get him to the hospital," I reply.
"Where is the hospital?" Bethany asks.
Julian shakes his head. "I'm not sure."
"But we can't get to the hospital right now," Sally speaks. "What about Bigfoot? We can't take him with us."
"Sally has a point," I say. "Plus we need to get us far as we can before the army catches us."
Sally grabs Julian's bag, the four of us climb out. Bigfoot sees what we are doing and climbs out himself. Not sure whether or not if we needed the guns, we leave them behind. We head to the trees on the side of the road before a passing car sees us. The road was deserted so I don't think there would be a car any time soon. We were also beside the rail tracks, but there were no signs of any trains.
Julian holds onto me, feeling tired from the loss of blood as we step onto the grass. He wanted to rest, but we all knew right now wasn't a great time to rest. We needed to get as far as we could away from this spot. I wasn't sure who was going to slow us down the most – my sister or my best friend.
Julian is suddenly slipped from my grasp. I thought maybe Julian had fallen, but he hasn't. Bigfoot had scooped him up in his arms. He then takes huge steps into the forest. I look onto the ground to make sure his feet weren't stamped into the ground. I didn't want the soldiers to follow his foot prints. I couldn't see anything in the grass, and continue to follow Bigfoot, trying to keep up with him the best I could. Sally had a hard time walking fast and her leg was starting to hurt. I stop to allow her to climb onto my back and hurried after them.
Carrying Sally on my back made me have short of breath. I couldn't keep up with Bigfoot's large steps. Bethany kept looking over her shoulder to make sure we were alright. Seeing us struggle, she calls out to Bigfoot, telling him to stop. He doesn't listen so she runs up to him, putting her hand on his arm, telling him nicely to stop. He growls at her. I put Sally down and quickly hurried over to him before he could get angry at Bethany.
"Hey, let's take a rest," I tell him. "Please. We need to work out where we are and where the nearest hospital is to take Julian."
Bigfoot growls and then sets Julian down underneath a tree, resting his back against the trunk. He then walks off to investigate something in a nearby bush. Sally sits down beside him to rest her leg while Bethany and I kneel beside him.
"Julian, are you alright?" I ask.
He nods. "Yeah, just tired."
"Okay, well just try and keep your eyes open."
He nods. "I know."
Bethany pulls out the map from Julian's bag. "Okay, we are somewhere near the railway. We have to keep going west to get to the campgrounds."
"How long is it going to take us to walk across this forest?" I ask.
Bethany shrugs. "I'm not sure. It took us at least two hours to find the cave. Maybe it will take us the same time."
Sally looks down at her watch. "It's 4:20 now."
"Okay, well as long as we can get through this forest without any problems, we should get back to camp by dark. Does the map say where the nearest hospital is?"
Before Bethany had the chance to answer me, we were interrupted by a loud noise overhead. The army's helicopter's engine was so loud it was almost deafening. I quickly made sure I was invisible underneath the tree so I couldn't be spotted from above. The trees covered our view of the sky, only giving us blue patches. We don't see the helicopter, only hearing it's roaring engine. We wait for a minute for it to fly by before we continued our conversation.
"We have to get further away from here," I say. I look around for Bigfoot. He was nowhere to be seen. "Where did Bigfoot go?"