Sasquatch

By William Salyers

Abducted as baby at tender age of age of 6 months by a supposedly mythical Sasquatch Big Foot. Raised in a secluded topsy turvy world consisting of both dinosaurs and mammals, where fighting for your life against vicious raptors and sabre-tooth felines is almost a daily occurrence. Ab may be the smallest and ugliest Sasquatch in the clan, but blessed with a human mind, he is by far the smartest, bravest and most dangerous member of the clan.
Shunned for his physical deformities and often barred from many clan rights, Ab becomes a loner whose life is dedicated to protecting the less intelligent members of his clan in hopes of someday gaining full acceptance within the clan. That is until his Sasquatch mother reveals to him with her dying breath he is not clan. He comes from the far off and forbidden land of the Hairless Others. That is why he looks so different from the rest of the clan. She stole him from his true mother when he was an infant just before she died. She tells him his world is through the forbidden crack in the rock and tells him he should go home. Go back to the world he came from.
Shocked and confused over this knowledge and devastated over the loss of the only mother he has ever known, Ab finds this forbidden entrance between their two worlds. A dark tunnel through a massive mountain filled with numerous deadly hazards. Stark naked, Ab emerges into the world he was born too, only now as a muscular cross between a caveman and total wild man.
A marvel to modern man he is the focal point of numerous scientific and research teams who want to study him. DNA tests along with finger and foot printing reveals his true identity. The son of billionaire parents who own a powerful electronics manufacturing business and who had been accused of and believed to have killed their son as an infant even though they remained steadfast in their story a Sasquatch had stolen him.
Sought after and hunted by professional big game hunters for the pure blood sport, it is modern man against prehistoric man in a battle of wits and determination. Especially after Ab unwittingly leads the big game hunters back to his forbidden and lost world with their high powered weapons and modern technology. Now everything he ever knew and understood faced destruction at the hands of these ruthless killers.
To insure Ab helps them in their quest to satisfy their lust to kill, they took his true parents hostage to use as bait to draw Ab and the long lost and believed extinct raptors and saber-toothed cats as well as the Sasquatch into their cross hairs for true extinction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496900326

William Salyers

Texan born and primarily raised, Bill has lived and been in sixteen states in the U.S. Bill came to Hines Creek, Alberta Canada in 1975 where he married his sweetheart and lifelong soul-mate Rose. A beautiful, young, hardworking rancherett. They now make their home on a small hobby farm outside of Spirit River, Alberta. They also have four grown children and six grandchildren. Bill’s first book was written in grade 5 for a friend, who stood in front of the class and gave his book report on The Ghost Hunt, by Bill Salyers. He read all sixteen pages plus showed the pictures Bill had drawn throughout the book. Bill was not expecting any of that, but the book report earned his friend an ‘A’ and started a fire in Bill that has never gone out. With over 8 books in the works, some ready to go to print and others still ‘in the works’ plus having an action series of which 4 books are already written, Bill sees a long healthy career as a prolific writer. He claims he has to write to make room in his head which is always filling up with more story lines and plots. Look for his name and more titles to come.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

H ard beady eyes, narrowed in focus, watching through a thick layer of bushes a hundred yards from the intended prey. Watching the tiny infant with cold intent as its parents cuddled it and lifted it up into the hot sunshine. Laughter filled the air as the two couples doted over the baby for a long time before putting it in a stroller, covering it for protection against the sun’s hot rays and the prospect of mosquitoes or other crawling, biting insects. With the child properly cared for, the two couples entered the cool refreshing waters of the lake though never venturing far from the stroller as they frolicked noisily. With slow steady movements the predator moved closer and closer watching the two bulls and two females from concealment yet biding its time. Watching. Waiting. Moving again. Always closer.

The sun shone bright and hot. The lake was crystal clear. So much so that even in water chest deep you could see your feet on the bottom. The contrasting coolness of the water in the heat of the hot sun felt good against the skin. The cloudless sky overhead was a spectacular azure. A dense forest surrounded the lake nestled deep in a virtually untouched national park surrounded by extremely high, permanently snow-capped mountains. There were no power lines or paved roads. The only roads were fire roads and a few dirt trails the rangers used, and four of those led to independent camp sites sporting single room log cabins without any amenities. No plumbing, no electricity, no phone service, no service stations or stores. No police, fire or ambulance service or medical facilities either.

Over the years, several movie studios had constructed the cabins to capture the remote wilderness settings they required for movies they were making about the early pioneers and loner mountain men and trappers. With the movie companies long gone, these cabins were available for those wishing to gain a sense of how our early pioneers lived, without having to sleep in a tent or on the open ground. All cooking was either by camp fire or on a wood cook stove in the main cook shack. Heat in the cabins was only by open fire place or rather primitive looking wood burning space heaters.

Most people using the park had no idea the cabins even existed. They hiked in and camped under the stars, roughing it all the way. The park was raw and natural. It was far too raw to suit most of modern civilizations concept of the rough outdoors. Even many self-proclaimed, avid campers were accustomed to having a public outhouse and cut firewood readily available and certainly within cell phone range. There would usually be some form of road way access and designated ‘camping’ slots to pick from. You could count on seeing or at least hearing other campers ‘roughing it’. However, such was not to be found here. This location was roughing it as our early pioneers had lived. The log cabins may be there, but that was just barely. The logs still needed ‘chinking’ to plug the cracks and gaps between the logs. They may have been simple one room log cabins, but that was where civilization or at least modernization stopped. Even the cupboards consisted of rough cut one by twelve boards jammed between two logs on a wall and crudely supported by a stick broken off from a larger limb and jammed under it to help hold it up and keep it in place. The only closet was a series of sticks jammed in the cracks between logs to make ‘pegs’ to hang your clothes on.

Graham and Margaret Arness had not been on such a relaxing vacation in what seemed like a life time. Owners of a small but growing electronics business, manufacturing computer circuit chips and diodes. They worked endlessly long hours and now the proud new parents of an infant son, Graham Jr., were taking some badly needed and well-earned time off.

The pregnancy had not been easy on Margaret and the delivery had been equally traumatic leaving her weak and scared. The doctors had told them they were not sure if she could ever conceive again. Graham and Maggie had been devastated. Her recovery had been slow and difficult. This vacation was, in fact, just what the doctor had ordered. Literally. They were under strict instructions to find a quiet place away from everyone and everything, where no one could reach them on their cell phones. Just a long weekend of peace and quiet. So with that concept in mind and their best friends, Randy and Hazel Cliff in tow, they had packed their vacation bags and headed for the most remote camp site deep in the park knowing from previous experience it offered the extreme solitude they wanted along with a view of nature’s natural beauty hard to match anywhere else on earth.

Baby, Graham Jr., slept peacefully in his stroller on the white sand beach under a sun shade, well within eye sight and hearing distance if he should start to cry while the two couples frolicked in the lake. They had been playing in the lake for almost an hour when a movement on shore caught Graham Sr’s attention. He stopped and looked towards it, straining his eyes slightly trying to bring it into clearer view. Hey… hey guys! Look! Look there… what in the heck is that thing? Over there… behind that big bush. Graham said pointing at a large thicket of trees and dense underbrush a hundred yards down the beach.

Jesus Murphy! It’s a bear! Where’s a camera when you really need one. Hazel gasped.

Bear my ass! If that’s a bear, it’s the biggest damn bear I ever saw! Randy said staring in awe.

Bear? Are we safe out here? Graham asked.

Oh my god! Graham Jr! My baby! Maggie gasped in horror immediately starting for shore.

Wait, Honey… if we rush out of the water it might spook the thing and it could charge.

I don’t give a damn! I’m not going to let it get my baby! Maggie said trying not to over panic.

We need to distract it first!

You distract it. I’m going to get our son! Maggie said not stopping or slowing down. As the other three moved towards shallower water trying to get the bears attention Maggie headed for shore as fast as she could. When she was in water knee deep Graham and the Cliffs started yelling and screaming for her to run. It had seen her and was charging.

Although they seemed to reach the stroller at almost the same time, the creature got there first, by a hairs breadth. With a swipe of its long hairy arm it brushed Maggie back a good ten feet laying her flat out on her back gasping for breath. By the time she could look up, it was running away at an incredibly fast loping stride carrying her baby as it made good its escape.

The creature stood erect like a person only it looked to be close to seven feet tall or more with long wiry hair covering its body from head to bare foot. It was not a bear. It was a human… only it wasn’t human either. Maggie went into a screaming fit of hysteria and, chasing after it, caught it just as it reached the trees. She lunged into the air landing on the gigantic creatures back. It shrugged and spinning, threw itself into a tree back first knocking the wind out of Maggie who had been clinging on for dear life trying to rescue her son.

Everyone else was out of the water by this time and were running to help Maggie but the creature was already disappearing from sight in the dense under brush. Maggie was just getting back up and started screaming in a wild rage and going into hysterics over the tragic loss of her son. Hazel tried to subdue and comfort her while Graham and Randy gave chase long and deep into the woods to no avail.

Being bare foot and unaccustomed to running on rocks, sticks, twigs and other things they could not run fast nor follow it very far with any speed. They returned to the cabins and put on running shoes and clothing better suited for running through the brush, then returned to the search. Naturally, not being woodsmen, they did not know how to read sign or follow a trail and the creature was moving at an incredible rate through the dense undergrowth as if it wasn’t even there, leaving the two men far behind. Returning to the cabin, Hazel and Randy drove fifteen miles just to have radio reception.

Park rangers arrived within an hour and a half and looked around for a couple of hours before confessing there was little else they could do. There was few visible tracks and no clear indications of who might have taken the boy or where they could have disappeared to. They told Graham and Maggie they couldn’t do much because if someone stole the child it became a kidnapping or child abduction, which placed it under police or F.B.I. jurisdiction so they had to wait for the proper authorities to arrive. However, they continued to seriously search through the woods to see if they might find any trace of tracks or a clue as to where the kidnapper might have gone. The most they could come up with was a few long course hairs, black and brownish in color, caught up in some bushes and there was very clean, clear impressions of very large, bare footprints where the supposed creature had been lurking in the bushes. They were deep enough to make a plaster cast from but the footprints seemed to grow vague very soon after the abduction was said to have taken place. It took another six hours for the police to arrive and two more for F.B.I. agents to get there.

Being surrounded by such high mountains, it was dark when the police arrived and well after dark by the time a chopper with two F.B.I. agents landed on the beach area near the cabins. Being from the city there was little they could do in the woods after the sun went down. They asked questions and grilled the two couples individually repeatedly and looked all around the cabins, beach and woods for a short distance before shutting down for the day. In the morning they would send out search parties. A local hunter volunteered to bring his blood hounds to help in the search. Being it was an infant, presumably snatched by wolves or a bear, three Search and Rescue Units along with hunters and families from the nearest community outside the park joined in the search. In all, several dozen civilian volunteers showed up to help.

As luck would have it, the following morning greeted everyone with a heavy downpour complete with thunder and lightning, making the dogs unusable and search parties were ordered to hold off. There was nothing they could accomplish until the rains let up and clearly any trace of evidence or tracks would be seriously compromised in the torrential down pour. After the rain stopped they conducted an exhaustive search for two days which the various law enforcement agencies had already presumed would be useless based not only on the weather, but mostly going on the insanely wild story the two couples were telling them surrounding what had taken place.

Talk about nutty. Ya know, if it had been me, I’d of at least said it was a pack of wolves or something. Hell, even an eagle landing and carrying the tyke off makes more sense.

It was a baby, Jessie… an innocent little baby.

Yeah, so?

Just thought you might be interested in knowing in the dictionary, the term ‘tyke’ is used in reference to a naughty kid. a woman F.B.I. agent quipped.

Baby, kid, tyke… same thing. Jessie retorted.

No, Jessie. It’s not. You really need to learn to use the right words before you lead people to the wrong assumptions and screw up any line of questioning, man and there is no way a six month old baby can be referred to as a ‘tyke’. she said in a condescending tone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They all grow up to be a pain in the ass sooner or later so it’s still a ‘tyke’. You know what your problem is Tina?

Yeah, but I’ll bet you money you’re going to tell me anyway. Tina replied.

You’re such a know it all. Ya just gotta know everything and go out of your way to make others look and sound bad. Jessie said.

Maybe that’s because you just make it so easy, Jessie.

Yeah? Well, screw you.

Only in your wildest dreams, Dumbo.

Why you riding my ass, Tina? What’d I ever do to you? We’re partners for crying out loud.

Why don’t you ask my cousin, Lucille.

Aw hell, Lucy’s your cousin?

U-huh.

Great. Just great. Jessie groaned.

Finding no trace of a body, grave or baby blanket, the police brought in boats and divers to drag the lake searching for a body. It was at that point the questioning and attitudes took a serious turn around. The F.B.I. and local law enforcement officers believed the Arness’s had killed their baby and were sticking to their claim a Sasquatch stole it. This allegation was going to create massive media and tabloid headlines creating such sensationalism no potential juror in the country could claim they had not heard about it and or have already formed some sort of an opinion regarding it. If successful in their ploy, it could be their ticket to getting off with the murder or accidental death of their baby.

That was a possibility the law enforcement agents were seriously trying to avoid. Ironically, in their supposed efforts to catch up with the imaginary Sasquatch, the suspects did manage to be in possession of hairs Margaret Arness claimed to have pulled out when she had leaped on the creatures back holding on tight. The two handfuls of hair came out when the Sasquatch slammed its back against the tree to dislodge her. These hairs along with several others found deeper in the woods were taken in as evidence. DNA tests would be run to determine what kind of animal or person it was taken from. The officers assumed the hair along with the large foot prints was planted evidence to make the story look good.

All four were taken in as potential murder suspects although no charges were ever filed due to a lack of physical evidence. Especially when the test results on the hair revealed it was half human yet undetermined animal DNA. Those test results gave credibility to their claim a Sasquatch or something not quite human had abducted the baby. All four suspects never once altered their story from what actually happened, even though the investigation went on for over two years before being filed away as an open ‘cold case’.

CHAPTER 2

T he trek through the woods was fast with no time to stop as long as the white skinned hairless ‘things’ were chasing her to get their little one back. It was not until the hairless one’s came charging out of the water, like they had done, to protect their young one and were chasing after her that Zulia realized, with confusion, they had not been going to their deaths when they had gone into the water, as she had first believed. Sasquatch could not swim and going into the water generally meant certain death to them. She knew in her heart the right thing to do, as a mother, was to put the infant down so its mother could have it back, but fear and confusion drove her on.

Zulia moved with speed and determination born of desperation. She had already broken every rule or law known to the clan she belonged too, but after losing her new born when it slipped from her arms while climbing a tree to escape a saber-toothed cat, the heartbreak and loneliness was more than she could bear. Spending more and more time away from the clan in her attempt to escape the shame, she found herself being stalked by a dangerous predator. In desperation to escape, she began to race as fast as she could lope since, like a moose, Sasquatch did not actually ‘run’. They loped, somewhere between a fast walk and a trot. Either way, they could cover a lot of ground in a very short time. Seeking a place to hide, Zulia found herself at the entrance to a place they called the Forbidden Darkness. A deep, dark crack in a steep mountain wall. A cave with numerous tunnels of which only one eventually led through the mountain and exited out the other side to the land of the hairless ones. For this reason, entering the cave was strictly forbidden by her clan.

Being so dark, it was easy to get lost, and all of the tunnels were treacherous with numerous ‘bottomless’ pits. Throughout this maze of tunnels only one ran the entire distance through the massive mountain and it was full of twists and turns and it too had many deep pits one could easily fall into. However, it also contained several deep cracks and crevices. Some hundreds of feet deep with flowing rivers of molten lava. The glowing molten rock provided the only source of light and the gaseous vapors coming off of the lava made breathing very difficult. Yet, terrified as she was, Zulia had made it across. A feat most impressive since, as a rule, Sasquatch seldom made any effort to jump. Not that they couldn’t. They just never saw a reason too, nor had it ever really crossed their limited thinking minds.

It had taken Zulia two days without food or water to make the journey through the mountain. Reaching the other side, weak from lack of food and water, she found a world far different than anything she had ever known. The trees were dwarfed by those she was accustom to. Food was not to be found in abundance on this side as it was within her home land, forcing her to have to hunt and search for whatever she could find to eat. Driven by intense thirst and hunger she spent several days just searching for food, which she found mostly in grubs and plants, leaves and bark she was not familiar with. Water was the most important to acquire. She had to rely heavily on dew for the most part, which she obtained by licking the ground, grass and leaves. She spent what seemed an eternity licking any and everything she could find with dew on it. While it sustained her it was only minimal.

After meandering aimlessly for two weeks through the seemingly never ending sickly woods, compared to what grew back in her world, her sensitive nostrils picked up the scent of water. In a rush she started towards it until she came upon a large body of it. Dropping down onto her hairy belly she put her lips carefully to the water so no other part of her body or face touched it and began to slake her intense thirst. As she drank deeply, the sounds of laughter and voices attracted her attention. Not knowing what could possibly make such racket, she moved closer to investigate. She saw four strange creatures not unlike herself except their bodies were completely hairless except for their heads and they were significantly smaller than she was. She watched for a while and was about to go when she heard the unmistakable sound of an infant crying.

Her breasts were still producing milk and ached with the need of an infant sucking at them. Now her maternal instinct drove her to get a closer look at it. She watched from concealment when the strange beings placed the baby on a large blanket to play. For all of a day and a half she watched. All four creatures seemed to spend time with it, although clearly the two females and one of the hairless males spent the most time with the baby.

The other hairless male showed little more than a passive interest. Curiously not so different from her own clan where the males had nothing to do with the young until they came of age. Then the males took the young males to teach and train them in the ways of the clan. How to hunt and fight to look after the clan while the females took the young females aside instructing them in the duties of females within the clan.

Zulia saw her chance when all four of the adults went into the water. Why on earth anyone would dare go into water willingly was beyond her. All clan members knew water meant certain death. Was it possible the adults were going to their deaths for some strange reason? If so, then the infant would need mothering. If they were unable to care for it, then she would. Clan babies were fully functional and able to run and play within a few months and no infant or young one needed to witness the death of its parents, so in an effort to spare this young one such horrific pain, Zulia rushed forward from cover as soon as the people were waist to chest deep in the deadly water. She saw one female start charging up out of the water but was that even possible? It did not matter. Zulia’s mind was already made up and in gear. Although the hairless female exploded out of the water making horrible screeching sounds and came charging at Zulia, it was too late to stop or change her mind. She slapped the unfit female away as she grabbed the infant and rushed off with it in search of safety.

To add to Zulia’s panic, the hairless female jumped up and giving chase, actually caught up with her, jumping onto her back screaming wildly. In her panic to dislodge the wild hairless thing Zulia threw herself, back first, into a tree pinning the creature, forcing it to release its grip. By now the remaining hairless others were also out of the water and charging after them. Clinging to the infant and in a terrified panic, Zulia fled as fast as her long powerful legs would carry her. The hairless others were relentless, following her over a long distance. With panic driving her she kept going as fast as she could to escape. The baby started to cry and she snuggled it to her breast and felt relief when it started to suck. For a full week she searched for the secret entrance back through the mountain to return to her home and the safety of the clan.

The clan was pleased to see one of their own back among them who had been missing and presumed dead. Killed by one of the many predators that roamed their world, but they were very upset with her having broken clan taboo when she told them where she had been and they were furious with her for having brought an infant of the ‘hairless others’ with her from the world beyond. The clan’s leader threatened to banish her if she failed to return the infant at once.

I cannot, Orb. Its adults left it behind while they went into a great water. What was I to do? Leave it to die of hunger? I could not. I cannot return it. It no longer has any clan of its own kind. Zulia said hugging the child to her breast.

It’s clan went into this great water willingly? Orb gasped.

Yes. That why I take. It against clan ways to leave helpless youngling to die. she said. She failed to mention how the hairless others had come charging out of the water giving hard chase to get their infant back. If the clan knew that, there was no telling what they might do to her or the infant she had adopted and she refused to let harm come to the tiny child.

This one is not clan! Orb rasped sharply.

The clan way say nothing about taking in others different from clan. To leave a little one to die be great wrong no clan member do. she countered.

Orb looked at her and the human baby long and hard. I not banish if little ones clan go in water to die, but Zulia, he is one of ‘others’. Never be clan. ‘Others’ different from clan. Raise him not be easy… you do alone. Zulia no get help from rest of clan. None hunt or provide for you. No offer protection beyond most basic need. He never be permitted to take mate even if live that long. Hairless Others different. Not know if able to pass down memories to young, like clan do when born. He will always be misfit. He will break Zulia’s heart with shame he will suffer growing up ‘clan’. He not clan. Never be clan Orb growled.

Zulia understand. Accept challenge. He be new son. Replace one I lost to Long Tooth. Zulia said looking down at her new charge. Ab… I name him Ab.

"Ab… Small one? For now. When come of age to join the grown clan… what then?" Orb asked.

Let us see when time come. He must live that long first. Zulia replied looking at the child tenderly.

"We will still call him Small One for he will never be as big as one of us." Orb said.

We will see. Zulia replied.

CHAPTER 3

I t had taken Graham and Margaret Arness twelve long years to climb back onto their feet after the loss of their son. For eight years no one seemed interested in doing any kind of serious volume business with them. They managed to do just enough to stay in business and keep their name alive in the electronic component industry. During that time both of them had grown hard and bitter towards their competitors and the world at large. Margaret handled the company’s marketing and advertising along with the business administration. Graham handled the R&D side as well as all manufacturing. For many of those years it had been a struggling two person operation.

Margaret took the loss of their son and the bitterness they felt over how the law and judicial system had targeted them, out on the markets with creative innovations that left their competitors out in the cold and miles behind. Securing three major government supply contracts they carved inroads to newer and bigger markets. Markets where it was dog eat dog and the major executives all had skeletons in their own closets so no one cared about the Arness’ past difficulties with the law.

The business had grown to be worth billions leaving the Arness’ multi-millionaires in the bank but even so, fifty percent of everything they made went right back into the business. Now, with the past and their long lost son forgotten by time, society looked upon them as giants in the industrial world of commerce. Anyone who was anyone in the world of commerce and power wanted to be seen with them. To be counted among their close circle of carefully chosen friends. Many tried. Very few succeeded.

The Arness’s’ gave heavily to children’s foundations and foundations or organizations that helped people in search of lost or missing children. Socially they were polite enough to the general public and towards the charities they ran or supported. It was only in the business environment and towards how law enforcement treated people with unusual missing children cases like theirs had been that they were visibly cold and hard.

They created the Archaeological Research Institute, a hi tech research foundation focused on ancient and lost civilizations and their languages. While a highly respected research institute, it was also a front for study on the elusive Sasquatch. Were they fact or myth? The public wanted to know. The Arness’ already knew beyond any shadow of a doubt the creatures were real. While they seldom if ever talked about them, nothing anyone could say would ever convince them the creatures were fictitious or myths.

Hundreds of millions of dollars was set aside for this research program. The Arness’s were well aware some of the people employed at the institute were out to lunch with many of their theories, but there were also those who were level headed and approached their studies from a realistic and logical point of view. Regardless, the only thing they were interested in was the science supported by direct and unquestionable evidence.

To that aspect of the never ending search for their son, the research Centre they created also specialized in mythical races, ancient and extinct civilizations along with Neanderthal man, Prehistoric man, and other forms of early man. At its conception, Graham and Margaret wanted to know as much as possible about all of them on the assumption if they understood them, it might make finding their son possible provided he was still alive.

Over time, their direct intervention and participation began to lessen as more and more of their time and attention was required in their business. So far, several of the institutes key researchers specifically assigned to the Sasquatch project, claimed to believe Sasquatch were carnivorous and for their size, it was probable they might attack and devour large game, even livestock and possibly even humans if given the opportunity.

That was their educated assumption. However, when the Arness’s grilled them, all they really knew for sure was: Sasquatch were mythological creatures believed to have lived thousands of years ago, if ever at all. They were believed to be large, standing seven to eight feet tall, even though there was no hard physical evidence outside of poor quality and blurry photographs as well as the spacing between rare foot prints to support that assumption. Based on all known reported sightings, in every case without deviation, they reportedly walked upright with bodies like men, exhibiting hands with fingers and opposable thumbs and feet having toes, but their bodies were covered from head to ankle in a heavy coat of hair like a bear. They were said to be extremely powerful, based strictly on their overall size and from all reported accounts were thought to be more human than an ape or monkey.

However, that was all anyone had ever been able to come up with so far and that was sheer speculation based entirely upon blurry photos with images, many which were falsified. That provided the descriptions the world at large had of the large creatures, but nothing recent, and although there were no known ‘clear’ photographs of a living sasquatch the institute did have several photographs they blew up showing enough clarity to give them a reasonable degree of acceptability. The one key piece of physically hard evidence the institute had in its possession to work on was some of the long hairs Margaret had been left with after leaping on the creatures back.

The Arness’s found it rather ironic the police never once made reference to any findings with the hair samples they had been given at the time, to do DNA testing on. All that did result after that was the police investigation seemed to move away from them and after what seemed an eternity, was dropped as an unsolved cold case, even though they always remained the police’s strongest suspects. The institute had examined the hair and as expected concluded there was a human DNA link. Yet it was as much animal as not, giving support to the Arness’s and Cliff’s claim a sasquatch had or at least may have taken the baby. Police forensics did their best to establish the hairs were synthetically made to make the Arness’s story look plausible, but all of their testing disputed that theory. The hair was real and it was a strong mix between human and animal.

Graham kept several strands encased in an unbreakable glass display case on his desk at work as a reminder at all times that the creature had been real and as a long shot hope their son just might still be alive. They had turned his baby room into a shrine filling it with photos of him and ‘age enhanced’ computer generated possibilities as to what he might look like over the years. It wasn’t much but it gave them a sense of having hope and never forgetting him.

CHAPTER 4

"A b! I should have known it was you! If I get my hands on you!" Munk bellowed looking up into the stream of water pouring down on him and the young female he was trying to practice mating with. She was trying to fight him off, unsuccessfully, until Ab, squatting on a large tree branch overhead, poured water on them from a large leaf he was using like a bowl. As Munk leaped up in rage, Lukwinna jumped up, escaping his clutches and ran as fast as she could to join her other female clan members. Munk leaped to a tree limb and began to chase after Ab.

Munk was bigger and stronger than Ab, who, although a few seasons older was the smallest of any member of the clan, but was without question the smartest, fastest and best fighter any clan member could remember. That was due to his human side. His brain was far more developed and he could think and reason things out. Something which no member of the clan would have ever considered doing.

Ab laughed out loud at Munk. Laughing was something clan members were incapable of doing. Their vocal cords simply did not allow for such sounds. Their language itself was more a series of grunts, guttural growling and slight barking sounds. It did not sound so much like any language as a human might associate it with, but if a person took the time to actually watch and listen, it was obviously clear there was a form of verbal communication taking place, but to understand it, was beyond comprehension. The bulk of their language was made up of visual body signs, movements, and postures. If hunting or in hiding, they could communicate between each other very freely through these body movements, postures and other gestures. Movements so subtle their positions were never given away even if they were carrying on full conversations. Yet to members of the clan it was as plain as if they were shouting to each other.

Ab laughed and scampered to higher thinner limbs in the tops of the tree then swinging back and forth to gain momentum, would use the swaying motion of the tree top itself to propel him so he could leap from one tree to another anywhere from several feet to a few yards away. He could move through the trees with the speed and agility of a squirrel. No other clan member could do that. None could catch Ab if he did not want to be caught.

Anger in the clan lasted only for very short periods of time. An argument or fight might break out but minutes later it was completely forgotten. Ordinarily, clan members simply did not have the capacity to remember anger for long periods of time. As a rule, Sasquatch were very gentle giants. However, if cornered or provoked they were incredibly powerful and were capable of inflicting a lot of damage in a very short time frame.

Ab had discovered the advantages of swinging on vines at an early age when he was pushed from a tree limb by the clan bully, Munk. In falling he had reached out and grabbed hold of a vine to save himself from falling to his death. To his astonishment, the vine came loose under his weight and clinging on for dear life, discovered it not only supported him, but under his weight, it swung out and over, carrying him to a nearby tree limb. This new discovery excited him and he tried it again and again without the slightest hesitation or fear of a vine breaking or simply not working. Soon he was perfecting the fine art of swinging from limb to limb and tree to tree and swing he did. He felt like he was flying as he sped through the dense tropical like environment he lived in, high above the ground below, as he swung through the trees to land safely on another thicker branch sometimes as much as two trees further along. To add to his excitement, he discovered when a vine he was using failed to reach the next tree, leaving him hanging in limbo, he could often reach out and grab another vine to continue on his way. The exhilaration this swinging caused was incredible. Where a clan member would have been too scared to have understood what had taken place, Abs’ human brain allowed him to grasp the full context of what had happened. After that he made a habit of using vines as a mode of transportation if no clansmen were around to see it.

He did not want them to know how he got from place to place so fast. It was his secret. The clan used trees only for refuge from predators but did not really like using them to travel in because of their great bulk and weight. Clansmen found it safer to stay on or closer to the ground as much as possible. Ab on the other hand preferred to be up high, overhead.

Lukwinna and her female friends grinned at Abs antics and how it affected Munk. I think Ab like you. Ninik said nudging her friend slightly.

No. Ab different and special in many ways, but who in right mind ever mate with one as ugly as Ab? Lukwinna responded.

Never know. Every time Munk or his friends try to ‘play’ mating one of us… especially you… they like you… there is Ab to defend us. Help us escape. Somak noted.

Ab always there. Not just for young females but there for younger males too. It like he our protector. That good but if he think it soften my heart for him when the mating selections come, he wrong. I choose any other… even Munk, over Ab. Lukwinna said.

You would choose Munk over Ab?

Over Ab, yes. Over other males… no. Ab, bold and daring. Not know fear, but so hairless and ugly! Imagine baby by him? Hairless or patches of hair? No. Munk is brute and has no feelings for any other, but he is clan. Make good provider. Besides, Ab is so old. Lukwinna pointed out.

Older, but not so old. Still, he knows how females think. He no even try claim mate in the last two mating ceremony. Unlike other males, Ab not force, as is his right, as bull male on anyone.

Yes. Ab is kind. Not like other males. Still…

Would you take Ab as your mate? Lukwinna asked.

N… No. I no could live with him mating me. But I do like as friend. Somak said.

Yes. Too bad one so strong and brave so old, ugly and deformed. Lukwinna replied looking over at Ab who had returned from the tree tops dropping like a rock falling from the sky only to catch himself before hitting the ground and taunting Munk again.

Their attention was suddenly diverted by the hideous scream of a raptor. The bushes across the clearing started to move as did all of the Sasquatch, suddenly running for the lofty protection of the trees. One of the younger males ran but fell, tripping on a tree root sticking up, just as the six foot T-Rex looking predator burst into the clearing, its head swinging to and fro looking for something to attack. Its long tail twitched with jerk like movements back and forth. Seeing the young Sasquatch get up and, with a twisted ankle hobble for a tree, the raptor started to rush down upon its helpless victim.

Suddenly coming up from behind on its blind side was a dark haired blur as Ab swung out of a tree on a vine, coming up behind the dreaded killer. Releasing the vine Ab was propelled into the air