It was like nothing I’d seen before and definitely not what I had built-up in my mind. For one thing, it was a weird shape. About a foot and a half long with three toe indents that were slightly bird like, complete with a touch of claw marks. The heel was very narrow and deep, like it pressed down hard, while the middle part of the foot was barely perceptible.
“Wow,” I said in an exhale. “What the hell is this?”
Rigby raised his head, a twinkle in his eyes. “Not what you thought you’d see, is it?”
“I was expecting, you know, Bigfoot,” Dex said, looking over my shoulder.
“You’re expecting the hoax,” Rigby explained. “Hoaxes come from somewhere, that’s what I say.”
He had a point there, which actually made the whole thing more believable. Of course, my mind was cycling through a list of things that could have made the print. It really could have been anything. Perhaps the toe area was caused by an eagle or a bear that was running and the rest was something else. It was found in a forest – albeit a creepy one – and I could imagine there was more than one animal walking around out there. To me, the print didn’t say “weird beast creature” but a mix of a forest’s inhabitants, much like the look of a freshly-cemented sidewalk on a busy street.
After I got enough footage of the print and Rigby prattled on about his theory and the unusualness of the shape, he snapped the case shut and gave us a wink. “So I saved the best for last.”
I couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. No matter what lurked out in the woods, hoax or not, Rigby believed it fully and it was his belief that would fuel the episode. Even if nothing else were to happen to us during the trip, even if we never saw any other signs and it turned out to be nothing more than a scary hunting expedition with Mitch, it would still be entertaining.
Rigby put the case away in his pack and we went back outside into the cold as Christina was done readying their horses for the jaunt back home. I wanted nothing more than to stay inside with my ass parked by the fire, but I didn’t want to be rude either and not see them off.
I was just leaving the cabin when Christina came up to me, thrusting a small vinyl bag into my hands.
“Here,” she said, zipping it open. Inside was a folded piece of paper and two walkie talkies. “I know Rigby gave you his map but I thought you’d want my map. I don’t want to tell him how often I’ve been out before and after the accident or he’d freak. But I circled some spots that I thought were kinda weird.”
I eyed her carefully, seeing sincerity in her big eyes. “Kinda weird?”
She looked over her shoulder at her father who was getting on his horse, and took a step closer. “The other day I found a deer gutted from belly to neck. All its organs were gone.”
I both frowned and grimaced. “The other day? You came back out here?”
“I had to know,” she whispered harshly. “Dad was in town so I thought I’d explore. Nothing happened to me, obvs, and I was on Taffy. I didn’t tell him cuz he’d be totally mad but I thought you might wanna know where it happened. It looked like it had been dragged a few feet too and then left behind. I don’t know why. It was too gross to look closely and smelled raunchy, so I booked it home after that. Anyway, I circled it on my map for you.”
“Oh,” I said uneasily. “Thanks, I guess.”
“And the walkie talkies are also for you guys. I know your phones don’t work here and Rigby and I have a set back at the cabin. In case you get into danger. Mitch doesn’t even carry one so, you know, thought it would make you feel safer.”
Actually, it kind of did. I thanked her and she beamed in response before running back to Taffy.
“Well,” Rigby said, leaning lazily on the horn on his western saddle. “I’ll be leaving you guys for a few days. I probably should have packed some walkie talkies for you all…”
“I just gave them to Perry,” Christina piped up as she swung up on Taffy.
He looked to me in surprise and I picked up one of the talkies out of the bag and waved it at him.
“Oh, good,” he said, straightening up. “Glad I’ve got a daughter with bigger brains than I. Well, God forbid anything should go wrong, but if it does, just use those and I’ll come a running. I’ll leave it on all day and night, just in case, so don’t you worry.”
I swallowed hard at the thought but managed to look confident.
“Safe ride back,” Dex said to them with a wave, before coming toward me.
I watched Rigby and Christina coax their horses into a walk and soon they were out of sight, leaving only me, Dex and Mitch. Alone. It took Dex standing in front of me and staring down at my hands to realize I had been gripping the bag until my knuckles had turned white.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dinner that evening was stiff and awkward between the three of us. Dex decided to take over Christina’s role of making dinner, which normally would have been quite sexy, but him being preoccupied meant that I was alone in the living room with Mitch, both of us staring at the fire.
Well, I was staring at the fire. Mitch was staring at me. And he hadn’t stopped staring at me for the last fifteen minutes. It would have been creepy on its own, but it was made worse by the incident we had earlier.
After Rigby and Christina left, we all went inside to get warm and plot out the rest of the day. Mitch had toyed with the idea of going hunting, for what I didn’t know, while the sky was still clear. He invited me to come and be his spotter and when I immediately declined, he decided he wasn’t going to go after all. Just great.
So Dex took the initiative and began to plan out the next few days. Over bags of Rigby’s homemade venison jerky and cups of coffee, the three of sat around the table figuring out our shooting schedule. Mitch wanted us to go camping the next day but Dex decided that it would be best to have the cabin as a home base for as long as possible and maybe ditch the whole camping idea all together. Mitch was used to the outdoors but we weren’t and we didn’t want to camp in this weather until we absolutely had to. There was still plenty of stuff to film around the cabin and we couldn’t ignore the fact that Rigby mentioned it would snow for the next 48 hours.
Mitch relented, though he told us in order to reach some of the places on the map, we’d have to pack up the llamas and make a night of it. I didn’t like that idea at all, but from the quick look I had at the map, I knew short journeys were out of the question. At least Dex and I had convinced him to be in the cabin for the next few days.