Another twig snapped behind me. I turned my head toward the sound. At first I thought it was nothing but my jangly nerves.
But then I saw him.
Except it wasn’t the kid.
My pulse skyrocketed. I could just make out the shape of a lone figure in the distance. More twigs snapped as the figure took a step toward me. Moonlight fell over him, and I gasped.
He was covered in… fur.
My head shook in disbelief as my brain tried to make sense of what I saw. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. But there he was.
A whimper escaped my throat. I broke out in a cold sweat.
And then I bolted.
In a blind panic, I ran as fast as I could through the thick woods, the underbrush scratching my bare legs, my mind racing. The Pacific Northwest was full of stories about these large humanlike creatures who lived in the woods, but that was all they were. Made-up stories. Nobody believed they were real.
There were crashing sounds behind me, and with terror, I realized he—it—was chasing me.
I was being chased through the woods by a Sasquatch.
Chapter Four
~Leah~
I have to reach the road. That was my one pervasive thought. Or maybe I should run back toward the bikers. Dealing with outlaw bikers is probably better than a Sasquatch, right?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure.
So I kept running. Fear pumped through my veins, fueling me. My thigh muscles burned with exertion as I tried to maneuver through the heavy vegetation. My sense of direction felt askew, and I worried whether I was even headed toward the road anymore.
There were noises behind me that sounded like a yell. Was the creature bellowing at me?
With surreal panic, I ran faster, pushing myself as hard as I could, but then the unthinkable happened. My foot snagged on a tree root.
I cried out with alarm as I went down. Hard.
My hands flew out to brace the fall. Pain exploded through my body.
I gasped as the wind got knocked from my lungs, my mouth filling with dirt. I coughed and sputtered, trying to get up.
The creature was still behind me, hurtling through the trees, moving closer with each giant step.
I scrambled onto my back, but I wasn’t fast enough. To my horror, it was looming right over me.
It must have been at least eight feet tall and covered in thick variegated fur.
My mind went blank with terror. I could see no way out of this crazy situation.
I thought of my farm. Would my animals miss me? My mom and Lars would surely sell the place. They’d be delighted to get rid of it. I hoped the new owners were nice and would still let the barn cats inside the house.
The Sasquatch appeared to be studying me. I decided to kick it in the nuts if it came any closer, then had a strange thought. What if it doesn’t have any nuts?
“It’s you again,” the creature above me said in a deep voice.
I blinked at it with surprise. The Sasquatch was speaking. It could speak English.
“I remember you from last night.”
I was confused. “Wha… what?”
“You were that chick hiding outside in your underwear.”
I stared up at it.
The creature bent down and, before I knew it, was kneeling beside me. “Hey, are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you hurt?”
“You’re not a Sasquatch.”
It chuckled. A low rumble that made me feel funny. “No, honey, I’m not. I’ve been called a lot of things but never that.”
I swallowed and tried to catch my breath.
“What’s wrong with her?” There was someone else there with a British accent. He was looking over the creature’s shoulder. “Is she going to be okay?”
“You were right to come get me, Little D. I think she’s okay, but we scared her.”
“Sorry,” the accented voice said to me, and I realized it was the kid from earlier.
My mind began to clear. It was dark out, but up close, I could see what I was dealing with. It wasn’t a Sasquatch at all but one of the bikers from last night. The blond one.
He was covered in hair, not fur. There was a lot of it too. His mess of curls framed his face like a mane and then fell down around his shoulders. And, of course, there was that long beard.
“Can you stand up?” he asked. “We should get you to the house.”
I tried to stand, but my whole body ached. Then a muscular arm slipped around my waist, nearly lifting me off the ground. We walked slowly out of the woods together.
As we approached the fire, people noticed us.
“Who’s that?” a guy with a bushy black beard asked. I recognized him from last night. He was the asshole who pounded on my door.
“I found her in the woods. She fell down,” the non-Sasquatch told everyone. “I’m going to take her inside and clean her up.”
I heard more curious mutterings as people watched us walk toward the back of the house.
“Leave it to Josh to find a hot chick roaming the forest!” some guy said with a laugh.
In a daze, I took in my surroundings. The house was large and built in a log cabin style. I could just make out a small lake a short distance away. We went in through some French doors in back, then through a living room and down a long hallway. There were moving boxes stacked everywhere. It smelled faintly of a recent meal with curry.
I followed him into a fancy bathroom. It was large and done in lavender and white tiles.
“Have a seat,” he said, pointing toward a wooden bench. “There’s a first aid kit in here somewhere.”
I sat down, still looking around. The kid was with us, too, watching me with keen interest.
My adrenaline had worn off and was replaced with anger. “Why were you chasing me?” I demanded to know. “You scared me half to death.”
The guy sat on the floor to my right and opened the first aid kit. “Put your legs out. Let me clean up some of these scratches for you.”
I did as he asked and saw my legs were a mess, both of them scratched up. My right knee was oozing blood.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He took out some antibacterial spray. “This might sting a little.”
“Ouch!” I sucked in my breath as he sprayed both legs.
“Sorry.”
“That hurts,” I muttered.
He glanced up at me, and I saw the hint of a smile.
“What are you, a sadist?”
He seemed to consider this. “No, I can’t say I am.” Reaching into the box, he pulled out a packet of sterilized cloth, tearing it open. “We should clean the dirt off these scratches and then spray some more.”
I bit my lip and saw he was right. I braced myself for more pain as he began wiping, but he was surprisingly gentle.
The three of us were silent as he worked on getting my wounds clean.
I took the opportunity to study him under the bathroom light. He wore a brown sweater and dark jeans. His blond hair hung down to his waist. His beard was mostly dark blond, as was the hair on his knuckles where he held the cloth. Fingernails were short and clean. No wedding ring, I noticed.
“Let me ask you something,” he said. He had a nice speaking voice. Nearly hypnotic. The guy should do commercial voiceovers. “You want to know why I chased you in the woods, but why were you following Damian?”