Mystery of the Mountains
(I've had this idea for some time and I wanted to start if off. Granted this means I have five stories to work on, but I do have others in mind for the future and do hope to do those whenever I can. This is story is an honor of and a tribute to my favorite TV show: Mountain Monsters, RIP Trapper. I hope it does the show proud and that this story is good in itself.)
Prologue
(Unknown location)
The night was dark and as a group of armed, young men slowly walked through the woods. Their headlamps showed them some of the way. They scanned the area around them. One carried a camera.
"Eyes open boys," one of them said.
"Always are," another said.
They trekked through the woods, scanning the trees around them and the ground below. One of them knelt down to look at the ground.
"Went through this way, the path's beaten down," he said.
"Moving fast too," another added.
They continued along the path, headlamps scanning the area around them.
"What are we waiting for?! Let's get after it!" Another said then rushed forward.
"Don't! *Growls* Come on!" The first said then followed with the other behind him.
They hurried through the brush. One caught the one who rushed ahead by the shoulder.
"Jarhead! Slow down! We need to stick together," another whispered a hiss.
"*Grumbles* I know, I just –"the other started to say.
"Shh!" Another whispered to them as they met up with them.
They quieted down. The sound of a tree being knocked over was heard several yards ahead of them.
"Come on," one of them said.
The group headed in that direction.
"He's moving fast!" One of them said.
"Keep going! We're not done yet!" Another said.
As they moved along the trail they came up on the tree they heard knocked down. It was a few dozen feet high and near two feet in diameter. They saw that at the end of it was splintered, broken off.
"Broke it right off, this thing really is strong," one of them said as he knelt down to look at the tree.
"Alright, let's keep moving," another said.
They continued through the brush, following the path that they had found. The path was beaten down hard and branches over 7 feet high in trees around them had been broken.
"Definitely not stopping," one of them said.
They carefully moved down a small hill through the woods. Their headlamps scanned the area around and saw what they'd seen before. But not long after they saw the path take a turn through an area where the trees were closer together.
"He's heading the wrong way!" One of them said.
The group stood for a moment, processing this.
"Hurry and get the side-by-sides. We gotta head him in the right direction," one of them said.
"Alright, let's go!" One of them said, as he and another ran off into another part of the woods.
After several minutes the two reached two side-by-sides parked along a trail and got in then started them. The two hurried in the direction where the others were. After several more minutes they arrived.
"We gotta head him off, turn him in the right direction. Let's go!" One of them said as the others got into the side-by-sides then rushed off.
They blazed through the woods.
"Come on! Move! Move! Move!" One of them shouted.
"Keep your eyes out!" Another said.
They continued to hear trees being knocked down every several minutes or so. The cause wasn't changing direction.
"He's not moving! We gotta turn him around!" One of them said.
One of them aimed their gun in the air and fired off two shots. The shots blasted out into the near silence of the woods.
"Let's see if that gets him moving there!" The one who fired the shots said.
They stopped their side-by-sides, listening. Soon they heard they heard another tree fall, but in the opposite direction a few minutes later.
"He's heading back! He's heading for it! Push him!" One of them called out.
They turned the side-by-sides around and rushed in the opposite direction. They yelled and called out into the woods.
"Get moving you big bastard!" One screamed.
"Stand on her! Stand on her!" Another called out.
"Let's get this sonuva bitch!" One called out.
"Go! Go! Go! Haul ass! Ha Ha!" Another laughed.
They laughed and called out into the night. Pushing their target towards something.
"I really hope it holds it. Took us days to build it. Ain't easy with what we have," one of them said.
"I trust what you guys are capable of," another said.
They made their way towards a thick patch of the woods.
"Come on, come on. Get in there," one of them grumbled.
Soon they heard a strange scream after what sounded like heavy wood hitting wood.
"He's in there! We got him!" One shouted.
"Yeah! Haha!" Another laughed.
The group parked their side-by-sides and headed in the direction of the sounds.
"We got you big boy!" One cheered.
The groups whooped and called out as they rushed further. After a minute or so they came upon a structure about 10 feet long, 10 feet wide, and ten feet tall made of thick and heavy trees. The door was down.
"We got him!" Another cheered.
They rushed to the trap, but what they saw wasn't what they wanted. Near the end of the trap on the left edge, the logs trap had been torn open. The edges of the logs there had been splintered.
"No! Damn it!" One of them screamed.
"Looks like he bulldozed through it!" Another hissed.
They walked to the broken open part of the trap. After a few minutes or so.
"Looks like it took a few hits or was just pushed for a few seconds rather than all at once. Regardless, it destroyed the back part of the trap," one of them said.
"The bastard wanted out…and he got out! Took the damn bait and everything!" Another groaned.
"We worked on this damn thing for days!" One of them said.
"We tried boys…this is just another one we lost…" Another sighed.
"Another day, another…huh? Who's that?!" One of them called out.
They all turned to see several headlights in the distance.
"Hey!" One of them called out.
"Who are you?!" Another shouted.
"Hey! They're going!" One shouted.
They hurried to their side-by-sides and raced after them.
"Hey! We got something to talk about boys!" One yelled.
"Get the hell back here!" Another bellowed.
But after several minutes, the headlights disappeared. The group exited the side-by-sides and stepped onto the field they had entered.
"You keep running! I haven't even started with you yet!" One yelled.
"I got your number stupid!" Another bellowed.
The group sighed as they shook their heads, trying to wrap their minds around what has just happened.
"Let's pack up and get going. We're done here for now, but we'll be back," one said.
The others nodded and got back into their side-by-sides.
"The hunt's not over," one said before they all rode off.
Deep within the woods, a pair of orangish-red eyes watched them.
To be continued…
(I hope this is a start to an interesting story. Oh, I also plan to write a…revised version of Game of Thrones Season 8. I know so many of us hated it, for obviously good reasons. Though that will be written with several chapters with the episodes made up of several chapter each. I hope I do good on that as there will be several and distinct changes to it. Still, I hope Mystery of the Mountains turns out to be a well liked and good story. Also, RIP to Chadwick Boseman, great actor and man who had the spirit/heart of a panther.)