Page 5 of Gentle Giant

I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, “Hello, human female in the cabin!” even louder this time. “I will not hurt you!” But still, no response.

I walked around the cabin several times, peering into windows and tapping on the glass, hoping to get her attention. Hoping she would see that I meant her no harm. If I meant to harm her, my teeth would be bared, my eyes dark with rage. But I showed no such display and instead kept my expression calm and my movements slow.

“Hello, woman in the cabin!” I continued calling to her. “Open the door!”

HAILEY

Cold fear drenched me.I huddled on the floor beneath the window, too afraid to look outside again. Holy shitballs. I could scarcely believe what I’d seen.

A Sasquatch. A real live Sasquatch.

Not only that, but he’d pounded on the door for a full minute, and now he was circling the house as he tapped on the windows. As hard as he was tapping, I was surprised I hadn’t heard glass shattering. Large as he was, it probably wouldn’t be difficult for him to break into the cabin. I was honestly amazed he hadn’t done so yet.

“Hello, human female!”

My stomach flipped. It could talk. He could talk. The voice was deep and masculine, so I thought it was a male, though Icouldn’t be totally sure. I wasn’t an expert on Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeti. Whatever he was. Some sort of Cascade beast.

Oh, my God, was this really happening?

A weapon. I needed to find something to use for protection in case he finally broke in. Though my legs were weak with fear, I managed to stand up and look around the bedroom for a weapon, but I came up empty.

The kitchen. There were knives in the kitchen, as well as a big cast iron skillet that would probably give the beast a concussion if I wielded it hard and fast enough.

I reached the top of the stairs and paused with my hand on the railing. My heart wouldn’t cease racing and I couldn’t catch my breath. I’d never been so afraid in all my life. Even the fight with Nick hadn’t been this frightening. Or the time I was robbed by armed thugs on the street right outside my apartment building.

There was a creature that by all rights shouldn’t exist outside my rental cabin. And somehow, he spoke English and he kept calling out to me. He kept calling mehuman femaleorwoman. How did he know I was in here? Panic rose in my chest. Had he been spying on me? And if so, for how long?

The dreams. All the dreams I’d had about the hairy man-beast came rushing back. I clutched the railing and gasped. Then I gave my head a harsh shake and dug my nails into my palm, hoping the pain would wake me up if I were dreaming.

Please let this be a dream.

But no matter how hard I dug my nails into my palm, I didn’t wake up.

Oh God. This was real. An actual Sasquatch was trying to get at me.

“Human female, open the door!”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone, only to realize I didn’t have a signal. Fuckkkk. During the month I’dbeen here, I’d discovered reception was sometimes spotty. But there was a video comm downstairs. I’d used it just this morning to speak with Candy who was on another freaking planet. Maybe I could use it to call for help. I vaguely remembered seeing emergency numbers taped next to the screen.

But would anyone come to my rescue?

In Seattle, most of the time when you called 9-1-1, no one showed up anymore. It was that way in a lot of places around the United States. And out here in the middle of nowhere? My fear grew, knowing I was probably on my own, especially considering the nearest town was a good thirty miles away, and it was a small one at that. I’d booked a ride with a transport company that was scheduled to pick me up after my vacation was over, but that was a full two months away.

I drew in a deep breath and descended the stairs, moving slowly in the darkness as my eyes gradually adjusted to the lack of light. I didn’t dare use the flashlight option on my phone. The beast continued circling the cabin and tapping on the widows. I didn’t want him to see me walking around and decide to break in.

Feeling my way to the kitchen, I tried to keep my movements as quiet as possible. Relief spread over me when I found a knife on the counter. But I was so weak with fear that I could barely lift the cast iron skillet.

Sasquatch. Sasquatch was real. I thought about the funny touristy gifts that Candy and I had seen in the grocery store of the nearest town when we’d stopped for supplies last month. Before she’d dropped me off at the cabin. Bigfoot t-shirts, coffee mugs, and refrigerator magnets, as well as a baseball cap with the words ‘Gone Squatchin’ printed on the front.

To top it all off, the clerk ringing up my order had asked if we were new in town, and after I’d explained that it was just me and I was spending a few months in a rental cabin, he’d teasinglysaid, “Watch out for Bigfoot. My buddy saw one last time he went fishing on the Skagit River. A real large one, too.”

Thinking the clerk was joking, both Candy and I had laughed.

Well, I wasn’t laughing now. I was scared shitless.

I finally managed to lift the cast iron skillet, and I headed for the video comm. By some small miracle, it was located in a tiny closet in the middle of the house. If I closed the door and fired up the comm, I doubted the Sasquatch would see the light.

As I headed for the closet, I stubbed my toe on a chair. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. I pressed my lips together and tried not to cry out. Once the throbbing pain faded, I carried on and finally reached the closet. I shut the door and felt my way to the chair that rested in front of the video comm. After sitting down, I placed the skillet and knife on the desk and released a shuddering sigh.

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