Murder in the Forest, Chapter 53
On the way to the vehicle, which was parked some 250 yards from the cave, Melissa stumbled and almost fell. Having her hands bound as they were prevented her reaching out to balance herself, and she was frightened. Mason came forward to steady her, and she was surprised to see how quickly he could move. He was middle aged, but still in excellent shape and sharp of mind. He held her tenderly for a moment and then told her to walk closer to him. In fact, he was only a couple of feet behind now and told her to watch where she went.
"The last thing we need is for you to break an ankle. I'd probably have to shoot you like I would a horse with a broken leg." He laughed, but Melissa feared that he might do just that if she became a burden to him.
They were about a hundred yards from the recess where he'd hidden the car when they heard something moving off the trail, to the left. Melissa looked back to see that Mason had also heard and he walked up and whispered in her ear that he was going to tether her to a sapling growing off the path, so that she wouldn't be seen by anyone coming that way. He complained that he hadn't brought a gag for her, the one time that he really needed one. He warned her to behave, a stern look on his face.
She nodded and knelt as he wrapped the light lead chain around the small tree and secured it with a padlock.. He drew a Browning 9mm pistol and checked to see that the chamber was loaded. He started quietly forward to see what was making the rustling sound in the brush, and she said softly, "Be careful, Master."
He gave her a dirty look and she was afraid that he was going to slap her for even this soft sound. But he just patted her on the head and moved forward again.
He had gone several yards away and was swallowed up in the thick trees when she heard him shout in raw alarm, followed by two quick shots. A few seconds later, he ran back into sight, a large hairy apelike creature in hot pursuit, howling with rage. Mason turned to fire a third shot and then the animal was on him. It grabbed the arm with the gun and swung Mason off his feet and slammed him into the trunk of a tree. He screamed in pain and Melissa knew in her heart that that arm had been broken, probably also the shoulder. The beast then lifted the man and holding him by the ankles, effortlessly swung him hard into a larger tree. The snapping of bones was quite audible and Mason screamed harder, the scariest sound that Melissa had ever heard. A final such swing slammed the man's head into a trunk and from the nasty thudding sound she heard, Melissa knew that the skull had been crushed and that her captor was probably dead. And that his savage killer was within feet of her!
She shivered but tried to remain quiet, lest she be detected and also slain. But the animal, some eight feet tall, saw her! It walked over holding a hand to its ribs where she saw the red stain of a bleeding wound. Mason must have hit it at least once, but not fatally. She began sobbing, terrified as the huge animal stood over her, glaring and growling. She was certain that she would be dead in seconds, but the creature snarled and seemed to mumble something unintelligible. It was clearly angry, but regarded her with what she realized was curiosity.
She heard more rustling in the forest and a man shouted, "Police! What's going on up there?" The Bigfoot, for such it surely was, growled more loudly and made a roaring noise. It looked again at her and ran back into the shadows of the old growth timber.
It moved quickly and was gone in seconds. She heard another such creature call and she shook with terror. The first beast answered, and then came silence.
The noise in the other direction approached and Melissa saw a tall man in the uniform of the Elk Pass sheriff's department and a blonde woman in a blue jacket with "FBI" lettered on it and carrying a submachine gun run toward her, their eyes and their weapons sweeping the surrounding area.
Melissa leaned back against the sapling and screamed. The woman reached her and knelt to look at her face.
"Melissa Winters? FBI. You're safe now. Where is the man who took you and what was that horrible noise?"
Melissa murmured something incomprehensible, the sound of a woman going into shock, and collapsed. She was fortunate that the chain slid down the trunk with her as she passed out.
The last thing she heard was the man saying, "I think I see Mason, or what's left of him. We won't need to file any charges against him. He's already on his way to judgment in a higher court than we have in this life."