It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

by suzie2b

Do you believe?

Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Author's note: Needed to write something different.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

By Suzie2b

The Rat Patrol had been sent to the Ksour Mountains in the Saharan Atlas Range to locate and destroy a reported German supply and ammo cache. It had taken two days to get to the mountains and on their first night in the foothills it started to rain. They quickly used their camouflage tarps to set up a makeshift tent between the jeeps.

It was near midnight and Tully was on watch. He was standing under an evergreen tree trying to stay as dry as possible as the rain fell in sheets. A fat drop of water fell from a high branch, making a wet "splat" sound when it hit the top of his helmet. Tully sighed as it ran down and dripped off, just missing his nose. He shivered in his damp clothes as he stared out into the inky darkness. He heard a rustling sound and quickly looked around. A small flashlight came on by the jeeps and Tully realized it was Moffitt coming to relieve him.

Moffitt grumbled when he reached Tully, "Miserable night."

Tully quietly said, "That's an understatement. It's so dark you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. And the rain has sounds all distorted. I keep hearing things and can't tell if it's something walking around out there or just the rain."

Moffitt smiled. "Perhaps it's a Sasquatch."

Tully chuckled softly. "Come on, sarge. Bigfoot? In Africa?"

"Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, even Doolagahl—there have been sightings all over the world for hundreds of years."

"A Doolag … what?"

Moffitt replied, "A Doolagahl. It's what the Aborigines in Australia call their Bigfoot."

Tully was skeptical. "Do you really believe there are big, hairy, ape-like critters out there? I've heard people back home talk about 'em living in the mountains, but in all the times I've been huntin' I've never seen any evidence."

Moffitt said, "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they aren't out there."

Tully thought for a moment, then said, "Well, I still say this is one thing I'll believe when I see it."

Moffitt smiled. "All right. Why don't you go get some sleep?"

Tully took a flashlight out of his pocket and clicked it on. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Good night, sarge."

"Sleep well, Tully."

He started to head for the tent, then decided he'd better deal with his bladder first and detoured out behind a tree.

After relieving himself, Tully zipped up and turned to head back to camp. He suddenly smelled something that reminded him of the skunk he hit by accident with his father's truck—the smell had clung to the vehicle for days. He thought he heard something behind him and turned back as he shone the light around. What he saw made his eyes go wide just before he was hit by a giant fist.

##################

Troy exited the tent with the intent of taking over on watch. He noticed that the rain had let up some as he made his way to where Moffitt stood under the tree.

Moffitt greeted him with a smile and said, "Not that I'm complaining, but you're a bit early."

Troy sighed. "Yeah. It's hard to sleep when everything's damp." He looked around. "Where's Tully?"

"Last I saw of him he was headed in to get some sleep."

"He's not there and I would've heard him come in."

Moffitt frowned. "Huh, it's not like him to wander off in the dark without saying something first. Want me to take a look around?"

Troy nodded. "Might be a good idea. Just be careful."

It wasn't more than two minutes later when Moffitt returned with Tully's helmet and machine gun. "I think we have a problem."

##################

When Tully opened his eyes all he could see was blackness. He sat up slowly with a soft groan and touched the tender left side of his face. He felt something in his right hand and realized that he'd somehow managed to hang onto the flashlight. Tully clicked it on as he got to his feet. The beam of light showed him that he was in a cave, which would explain the lack of rain. He also realized that he was soaked to the bone and covered in mud, twigs, and grass, as if he'd been dragged.

Tully saw another chamber and followed his flashlight. As he entered the chamber, he immediately saw stacks of crates and it dawned on him that this was the supply cache they were looking for. Tully shone his light around the chamber, noting that many of the crates had been literally torn open. German ammunition and grenades were strewn about as well as the German version of field rations and other supplies.

Then he noticed a rather rank odor. Tully swung around and at first thought he was looking at a bear standing on its hind legs. He moved the beam of light upwards until it lit up a shaggy, ape-like face. Tully took several hurried steps back and stumbled, falling onto his back. The creature took a step forward and Tully scrambled backwards until he bumped into a wooden barrel that had been ripped open, letting black gunpowder spill onto the cave floor. It was a good ten feet at the shoulders and shaggy, brown fur covered it from head to toe. "Oh my God! I don't believe it and I'm lookin' right at it!"

At the sound of the human's voice, the creature let out a roar that shook the cave walls and jumped at Tully. It grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip and began tossing him around like a ragdoll.

##################

Troy and Moffitt heard a roar in the distance that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end. Hitch stumbled out of the tent and asked groggily, "What in the heck was that?"

Troy looked at Moffitt. "A lion? Or maybe a leopard?"

Moffitt shook his head. "That doesn't sound like anything I've heard before."

Hitch looked around with his flashlight. "Where's Tully?"

Troy said, "He's missing."

"Well … let's look for him!"

"Not until daylight. If there is something out there and Tully ran into it…"

Hitch's eyes got big. "You think something's grabbed him?"

Moffitt said, "Calm down. What we heard may have nothing to do with Tully."

Troy said, "It'll be light in a couple of hours. The rain's letting up. Hitch, get a fire going … the bigger the better."

##################

Tully opened his eyes slowly. He hurt all over. It felt like his right shoulder had been wrenched out of the socket and shoved back in repeatedly. His head was pounding in time with his throbbing jaw. He sat up carefully and gagged when the smell hit him. The creature was laying right next to him. As Tully listened to the snores, he realized that it was sleeping. He thought silently, "Now I know why they call you a Skunk Ape in Florida and Arkansas."

Tully crawled quietly towards the mouth of the cave. It was daylight and he could see freedom. Then he stopped as he remembered the supplies in the other chamber.

##################

Daylight came and the rain had finally stopped. Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch located tracks where Tully's helmet and machine gun were found. Hitch gasped, "Look at the size of them!"

Troy searched the muddy ground. "I don't see any tracks that look like Tully's."

Moffitt indicated marks in the mud. "Whatever got him dragged him in that direction. Further up into the hills."

They followed the tracks and drag marks uphill through the trees. Then the drag marks stopped when the ground became rockier.

Moffitt suggested, "Looks like Tully was possibly carried from this point. The tracks continue and appear to be slightly deeper than before."

Hitch stared at the huge tracks and asked hesitantly, "What in the heck is this thing that's got Tully?"

Moffitt remembered the conversation he'd had with Tully that night. "If you ask me, I'd say it's a Sasquatch."

"A Sasquatch?"

Troy frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Before he could answer they heard a small explosion followed immediately by a much larger one.

##################

Tully got unsteadily to his feet and crept to the second chamber. Outside light filtered in just enough so he could see. He quickly tore open a box of field rations for the book of matches. He then found a length of fuse and a grenade. He looked at the grenade and realized his plan wouldn't work with a German one. Tully set it aside and pulled one of the American grenades off his belt.

He'd seen Troy use this idea before and hoped he could pull it off. Tully tightly wrapped the fuse around the mud covered grenade to keep the lever depressed. He then carefully pulled the pin out. He swallowed nervously as he went to the crates of ammunition and set the device between two of them. Once he lit the fuse, Tully knew he would have less than a minute to get out.

With shaky hands Tully tore a single match out of the book and lit it. Just as he was about to touch the flame to the fuse, he was hit in the right shoulder. With a painful yelp, Tully fell, but managed to roll to his knees to see that his captor had woke up and found him. He stood up and looked at the creature, anger suddenly bubbling up inside his sore body. "I think I've had about enough of you!"

As the creature stepped towards him preparing to let out a bellowing roar, Tully took a step forward and swung his fist around and up with all his strength. He caught the huge creature under the chin. It took two steps back, clearly more stunned than hurt. Tully took that moment's advantage to lunge for the matches he'd dropped. He quickly lit one and then the fuse.

However, when Tully turned to run he was grabbed from behind. He struggled as the huge creature picked him up off the ground, trying to squeeze the life out of him. With a lucky kick Tully connected with the creature's knee. It grunted with pain and released its captive. Tully fell to his hands and knees, took two gasping breaths, got to his feet, and ran for freedom.

He was only a few feet outside when the grenade exploded, followed by the ammunition blowing up. Tully didn't stop to see if he was being followed. He ran as fast as he could in a downhill direction.

##################

Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch were rushing uphill in the direction of the explosion when Tully suddenly crashed through the undergrowth several yards to their left. Troy called out the private's name.

Tully heard the sergeant, but his forward momentum was such that he couldn't stop. He stumbled before tumbling to the ground.

Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch ran to Tully's side. The first thing they noticed as he sat there out of breath was that he was staring back in the direction he'd come with wild, terrified eyes. Then Tully blurted, "Is it coming?"

Troy knelt down as Moffitt and Hitch looked around for anything suspicious. "What? What are you looking for?"

Tully was nearly hysterical. "A thing … creature! A Big … Bigfoot!"

Moffitt knelt next to Troy. "There's nothing following you, Tully."

As the sergeants helped him to his feet, Tully kept looking around and asked, "You sure?"

Moffitt nodded. "Positive." He looked at the mud covered young man who was obviously injured and running on pure adrenaline. "Let's get you back to camp."

##################

It took some time, but Troy and Moffitt got the story out of Tully. They patiently listened as they rinsed as much of the mud off of the private as they could. Then they cleaned and bandaged the many cuts and scrapes they found. Tully was bruised from head to toe and was lucky there weren't any broken bones. However, his right shoulder was very swollen and would need to be x-rayed.

When Tully's story wound down, Troy asked, "So that explosion we heard was the supply cache going up?"

As the adrenaline abated and his shaking calmed somewhat, the pain of his injuries started to kick in. "Yeah, that was me. I really need to lay down."

Troy and Moffitt helped Tully to stand as Moffitt said, "You can rest in the back of the jeep while we get things ready to go."

When Tully was as comfortable as possible with blankets and a shot of morphine in his system, Troy said, "Moffitt, take Hitch and check out that cave. Make sure there's nothing left for the Germans to find."

Tully's eyes opened and some of the fear returned. "No! No one should go up there! What if it survived?"

Moffitt said sincerely, "If it was in there when the cave blew up, there's no way it could've survived."

"But what if it got out before the explosion like I did?"

"Don't worry, Tully. Hitch and I will stay together. We have weapons and we know how to use them."

##################

After making sure the cave was destroyed, and not finding any sign of the creature Tully had discrbed, they drove three hours to an American base south of the mountains. Tully was checked out by a doctor and his shoulder x-rayed, then put in a sling. With a little help from Hitch, he managed a shower. Moffitt requisitioned a clean set of clothes for Tully and Troy took care of the quarters they would share.

Once Tully was in bed and asleep, Troy said quietly, "Moffitt and I are headed to the mess hall. Want to come with us?"

Hitch shook his head. "I'd rather stay here."

Understanding, Troy nodded. "Okay, we'll bring something back for the two of you."

"Hey, sarge … do you believe?"

"Believe what?"

Hitch hesitated, then said, "Tully's story. I mean … it's obvious that something happened, and he did blow that cave … but Bigfoot?"

Troy sighed and looked at the sleeping private. "It doesn't much matter what we believe, Hitch. Something attacked Tully out there and I hope I never see that look in his eyes again."

Moffitt smiled. "There are a lot of things in this world yet to be discovered. Who knows what's truly out there."