Archie, Jake and Wes ran even faster now, waving and yelling, "Cynthia! Janie!" at the top of their lungs. Finally, they caught the attention of the girls below. The girls stopped what they were doing and started to run towards the guys. Cynthia was first to reach Archie and leapt into his arms, crying. Janie soon followed and jumped into Jake's. He never had a girl do that before. It was amazing! She was a little girl when she left. Now she was developing!
But both girls were skinny, dressed in oversize stained dresses that were near threadbare and pinned up in order to fit. They had no shoes. They were very tanned and their hair was bleached out, unkempt and scraggly. Still there was a toughness about them that didn't seem like they were little girls anymore, even though Cynthia was still only 10.
With all the hugging over for a moment, the questions began. "Are you all right!" Archie asked Cynthia.
Both girls nodded their heads enthusiastically, Yes, and declared at the same time, "Yes! We're so glad to see you. I thought we'd never be rescued!" Janie cried, her joy turning solemn on her face. "But we can't stay here. Don and Keith are out hunting. You don't want to see Don. Can we go back where you came from… Quick?"
They all started to walk back towards the tunnel door with Jake beginning to worry about water and food, when Janie yelled, "It's them! On the ridge over on the left! They're coming! They see us! What can we do?"
The guys strained their eyes in the direction that Janie pointed. They could see two figures coming up over a ridge about a half mile to the north of the compound. They were large and one was quite dark. They seem to be moving quite fast, although the darker one was moving at a much faster rate, ahead of the other, and coming their way. They looked human but as the one in front got closer, it was obvious that while he was running on two legs, this person was covered with brown hair like a bear.
They were all desperately running and trying to get back to the tunnel while watching the two runners over their shoulders, but it didn't look like they would win the race. The one in the front was just too fast, way too fast to be human. And then, suddenly, as everyone was stumbling while trying to get to the tunnel, the lead runner, now, way out ahead and starting to climb toward them, suddenly tripped and fell, rolling in a puff of dust like somebody ditching a motorcycle.
They all stopped to see if he was going to get up. Janie filled them in. "That's Don. He's dangerous. That one behind and still coming, he's Keith. He's okay. As much as I hate to say it, I'm worried about Don. Even though he probably would've ripped you guys to pieces had he caught up with us. Is he getting up?"
Everyone stood and watched as Keith came up the mountain and caught up with Don on the ground. From the distance it was obvious that Keith was about six-foot tall and very tanned, muscled, wearing a loincloth and covered with thin, wispy blonde hair that had been bleached by the sun. Keith slid to his knees in an effort to help his brother, lifted Don's head up a bit as if talking to him, but he was out of earshot.
"Let's go." Janie announced, and took the lead back down the mountain to where Don lay. Everyone followed.
The guys were amazed as they came upon the 7 foot tall young Bigfoot looking guy on the ground being attended to by a 6 foot tall young, but very hairy, guy with the same features of overdevelopment. Keith was shouting with a mature, booming voice, "Don, wake up! Wake up Don! Shaking him, showing great strength as he did it.,
But Don's eyes were rolled back and his tongue was half out of his open mouth. He didn't appear to be breathing. Jake had some Boy Scout training that told him to try to help revive Don. He pushed hard on Don's hairy chest, but couldn't move his rigid bones. Jake found himself jumping on Don's chest with his knees in an effort to revive him. But it was to no avail. Don clearly wasn't breathing and there was nothing that Jake or Keith could do that would get him breathing again.
Keith, resigned, finally said, "That's okay. Same thing happened to my dad a year ago. He came home from a hunt with a deer on his shoulder. When he put the deer down, Dad keeled over. I was only 11 and Don was only 12. Really scared us. But Dad and already told us that it would happen. Heart failure… damned heart failure." He shook his head in regret. "We'll have to get Don back to where we buried Dad."
They all walked together, solemnly and slowly, back to the compound to get a tarp so that they could drag Don's heavy body to the place where they buried Dr. Joseph Templeton, their dad, the year before. As they walked, Keith told the story he had learned from his father, Joe. Mature well beyond his years, Keith had learned a lot and had a lot to share in his 12 short years of growing up fast.
"Dad and Mom came here in the early 1950s with four other scientists and their families on a top-secret mission for the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense. The idea was to create an ideal poison to be used to eradicate undesirables in both small and large numbers, secretly, by the CIA. Dad said that this was necessary given the underhanded techniques used by the Soviets at the time.
"Anyway, one day, Dad was out of the laboratory for a few minutes while the other four scientists were working inside. When he came back and opened the door, he saw all of the other scientists on the floor and spotted a broken vial on the floor that had contained plutonium. Dad immediately closed the door and ran back to the house where Mom was. He made a quick call to his superiors at the AEC, and as he described it, 'All hell broke loose!'
"The military came and men in special suits entered the laboratory and removed the bodies, taking them away in a special truck. The wives and children were whisked away as well. Dad didn't know how much he had been exposed. He only knew that he had been exposed. He told his superiors that he wanted to stay and continue his work. Mom wanted to stay with him. They were newlyweds and she didn't want him to be there alone.
"The military sealed off the whole area and put up radiation signs 10 miles from the encampment. They permanently sealed off the laboratory with a detailed sign on it describing what was inside. Provisions were airdropped from time to time when Dad made a call. There was some interest in finding out what the radiation would do to Dad, but that died soon because the administration changed and the Oppenheimer hearings changed the whole structure of the AEC. Dad and Mom were all but forgotten.
"Anyway, I know this all sounds too detailed and even scientific, but Dad homeschooled us and wanted to make sure that we knew exactly what happened. And that's why I'm telling you exactly what he told Don and me. Don's dead. (Keith's voice grew ragged with pain) I may be dead very soon. You must pass this information on to others. I know you're young, but so am I, even though I don't look or sound it. You must listen and remember." Everyone was listening intently. Keith's words were quite strong. They all wanted to know, even the girls who had been kept in the dark even while being homeschooled with the brothers.
They had reached the compound and Keith took them to a supply building where they found a tarp that they could wrap around Don's body with grommet holes where they could tie ropes so that three of them could pull at the same time. They gathered up ropes while the three boys coveted the military camping gear they saw in the building. There were even a few motorcycles. Old and military brown. But the bikes looked like they had been recently used.
Wes was curious. "Say, Keith, anybody ever ride those motorcycles?"
"Mom and Dad did a lot of riding throughout this whole area and Dad taught us to ride these big bikes when we were quite small. I think Don was 6 and I was 5. I need to teach you before you go. You will need them to get home quicker."
"That's cool!" Wes was ready. Not sure he was able.
With what was needed, everyone started back up the slope to the place were Don lay. buzzards were already circling lazily overhead. They had to go get him before the buzzards did. Keith continued telling them what he wanted them to know on the way.
"While while Mom and Dad raised goats and had crops to provide them with fresh meat, milk and vegetables in addition to all the supplies and canned goods that the AEC had provided, Mom and Dad had a lot of time on their hands. They took the motorcycles on excursions as far as the fences, miles from here, would allow them. Camped out to get away from the compound routine sometimes.
"Dad began to change, gradually. The effects of the plutonium poisoning. The way he described it, and listen closely, was that the whiff of plutonium that he got when he opened the door, was not enough to kill him like it did the others, but it was enough to set off profound changes in his body.
"He started to eat a lot more and to grow like he did when he was a teenager. It was strange at first, but began to get alarming when he started to grow hair in places he had never grown hair before. At first it was blonde, but turned to a rusty brown, and then, finally, to a very dark brown, almost black. He shaved at first, to try not to disturb Mom, but after a while he had to give that up. The hair just grew back faster.
"And then, he told us the strangest thing. It was a couple of years ago, just before he died. Like he knew his time was coming. He said that that Mom and he began to have a lot of sex, much more than they ever had before, even when newlyweds. He figured it was an increase in testosterone, the male hormone. He figured the plutonium that he breathed in went to his lungs where it was absorbed into his bloodstream and transported to his brain.
"He showed us diagrams and stuff. Research he was preparing for the AEC. The radiation affected the pituitary gland the way it was triggered when he was a teenager, releasing hormones that caused rapid growth throughout his body and literally, he said, "Changed my DNA."
The boys were a bit dumbfounded listening to what Keith was telling them. Jake was trying to memorize some of these scientific terms that he never heard before, thinking. How was he going to explain this?
"Don was born nine months after that started. There was an Indian woman from a nearby reservation sent in by the AEC as a midwife for him. Mom and Dad were so happy to finally have a child because by then they were already in their 30s. With Dad's increased vigor, very soon, about 11 months later, I was born. Only this time the communication links were gone, and Dad had to deliver me himself. He told me there was some complication. That I was all right, but Mom died."
"Said that it almost killed him when she died, and he thought about suicide. But he had me, a newborn, and Don only a year old, and he couldn't let us down. He got me through teething on watered down goats' milk and well cooked and softened cereal and vegetables. He became both father and mother to us. We both learned rapidly because he was teaching us all the time he was raising us. For me, this past 12 years. Don had only 13. I may not make it even that far. I can feel the changes in me daily and I don't like it." He began to cry manly tears, sobbing as they walked. But he continued telling the story shortly after.
"Later, Dad said that he was okay that Mom died because of what he had become. He had grown to 8 feet tall and weighed over 400 pounds, almost all muscle. He could run like the wind and his sexual drive was so strong that he was afraid that he would've hurt Mom and killed her in his occasional fits of anger. He didn't like who he had become.
"But Dad wanted us to have wives. That's why he went out through the tunnel and captured you, Janie and Cynthia, to be brides for us. But I fear that I'm going to be just like Don. I can feel the anger growing in me. You have to leave me… all of you. I can fend for myself until I will die from a burst heart like Dad and Don. As soon as we get his body safe from the coyotes and buzzards, I want you all to leave."
They arrived at Don's body. They wrapped him in the tarp, tied three ropes to the grommets and began to pull him down the slope. Keith was in the middle doing most of the pulling, with Jake and Archie on either side. Took about a half hour, but they pulled Don up alongside the rock pile that marked Dad's burial right next to Mom's underground burial where he fell as if by plan. And then, it was only a matter of all of them going out and picking up rocks from the nearby landscape that was littered with them. After an hour or so, Don's body was completely covered like his father.
By that time, daylight was fading in the valley, and the girls rustled up some food for everyone. They were used to it and served up triple servings to Keith. As hungry as they were, Jake, Archie and Wes were still amazed at how much he was eating.
Wes again inquired, "How will you be able to eat with the girls gone?" (Jake and Archie snickered, couldn't hold their amusement at Wes's sometimes stupidity.)
"For the past year I've been doing most of the hunting. I can tend to, harvest and cook the food from the garden. Besides there's lots of canned food for me until I die. Don't worry, I can fend for myself."
Jake offered, "That's admirable. Wes still needs his mommy to get fed."
Wes was about to throw a fit, but Archie drew his hand across his neck that stifled him. It was time to grow up and face facts. There were girls to rescue.
But Wes always had another question, so he asked it. "How come, with planes flying over and you and your brother and dad out roaming around, nobody ever spotted you and reported you here. I could see Don coming a mile away. Scared me by the way he looked."
"There's basically a no-fly zone over this area. But sometimes planes did fly over violating the zone. They were generally off course, because crossing the Cascades here requires very high altitude. Planes usually take easier, lower altitude routes far north and south of here. And, no roads come anywhere near except the one leading into the valley from the south, blocked off by the fence, locked gate and stern radiation warning signs.
"But when a plane did come flying over, with our keen hearing, we could hear it when it was still over the horizon. Dad told us to assume the bear position. That meant that we were to go down on all fours like an animal, arch our backs, and keep our heads down low. Only had to do it a couple of times. Anybody looking down from a plane would think they were looking at a bear. There is no place to hide in this desert landscape."
Soon after they ate, the girls cleaned up the dishes and retired to their beds. Keith showed the guys a room with beds that were much more comfortable than sleeping in the tunnel or even in the campground. After all the exertion and excitement of the day, they were soon fast asleep.
When the first light of sun came over the hills to the east and shown through the windows, everyone was up and the girls had made breakfast including coffee, powdered cream, reconstituted powdered scrambled eggs and bacon, rye crisp and some canned fruit and boysenberry jelly.
When breakfast was over, Keith took the guys to the supply building and they started up the motorcycles that were still running. There was a lot of excitement, because none of the guys had ridden anything but a bicycle before. Archie had driven the family tractor since he was five, but that didn't count. They listened carefully to Keith's instructions showing them how to release the kickstand, turn over the engine with the kick starter, and keep the engine running upon starting it with the twist handle throttle. Wes had some difficulty with this because he was left-handed. He also was pretty light for kickstarting. But he was game.
After they rolled the bikes out onto the roadway in front of the building, Jake was the first to try and ride. He was a natural, and within five minutes, he was shifting gears and circling the others with a big smile on his face. He yelled as he pulled up, "My training is through! Your turn, Archie!" Archie took off down the road, wobbled a bit and had trouble shifting, but after about 15 minutes, was riding with some confidence, even if it was hard to hold up the heavy bike when he stopped.
As usual, Wes was last. Keith was just too big to show Wes anything. So, Keith had Jake get on Wes's chosen bike, and then, had Wes climb on behind, to watch how Jake drove the bike from over Jake's shoulder. When he got the hang of it, Wes went solo. After a few very wobbly starts where Wes would have ditched the bike had not Keith ran alongside and grabbed the handlebars keeping it upright. Internet are broke Wes finally got the hang of it and was circling the yard and shifting quite well on his own. Very good for a little guy. The broad smile on his face showed how proud he was of his accomplishment.
Soon, Keith had Janie riding behind Jake and Cynthia behind her brother, Archie. They broke practice for an early lunch and then prepared to leave. Putting all the things that came with them in the saddlebags and refueling the bikes for the long ride home.
When everything was set and Keith and Jake agreed on the plan, all three bikes and their riders rode up to the entrance. They then stuffed their ears with cotton before entering the tunnel. Jake and Janie led the way, followed five minutes later by Wes, and Archie and Cynthia took up the rear.
Keith waved them on and closed the door. He sighed. He was now all alone and on his own. Relieved for not having kept the girls hostage any longer. Ready to meet his fate. Early heart failure. Tears rolled down his face as he retreated to the compound.
Three hours later, Jake was excited to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel ahead. When they burst out into the sunlight he was nearly blinded and had to stop, but was grateful to have that constant reverberation in his body and ears that he had felt so long in the echoing confined tunnel gone and free of it. His only consolation during the long, dark trip was feeling Janie's womanhood pressed against his back as she hung on very tightly the whole way.
The others soon popped out of the end of the tunnel and they reconnoitered at the campground nearby. Hopping off of the bikes to rest their weary arms and butts to get a drink of water and refill their canteens at the spring.
Archie asked, "Jake, do you think we should fish for a while and see if we can bring some fish back to our parents like we promised so they won't be so mad at us?"
"No, I don't think so. The sooner we get the girls home, the happier they'll be. Right, Janie?"
Janie was almost in tears. "Oh, Archie, why would we waste any time. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad and tell them that I'm all right. Let's go right away. Let's go!" Cynthia threw a punch to her brother's ribs in agreement. Quickly, they packed the fishing gear in the saddlebags. Tore out of there like there was no tomorrow, throwing moss and dirt behind their spinning wheels.
In fifteen minutes they arrived at the farm making a lot of noise that startled Archie's parents. They came running out the door of the house to the shock of seeing three motorcycles and Archie and long-lost Cynthia on one of them, getting off. They ran to each other and hugged and kissed. Cynthia's mom asking all kinds of questions of Cynthia who was trying to answer them. Very soon, her dad was more interested in the motorcycles than all the hysterics from his wife and daughter, now thankfully returned in apparently, skinny, but good health.
Jake asked permission to use the phone. Janie and he went inside to call her parents. After that, they burst out of the door and jumped on the motorcycle for the short ride to Janie's house. It wasn't long before the whole town was in an uproar. The celebration lasted well into the night and there was a big picnic the next day where all the people who were important gave speeches. By that time, the media had arrived from Eugene and Portland with the news was going nationwide.
As promised to Keith, the girls said they were taken by the scientist on the other side of the tunnel who died after a long illness from radiation poisoning. The boys, whose mother had died in childbirth for Keith, had also died from residual radiation that was present at the site. The girls had stayed as far as they could from the laboratory, but were checked out anyway and were found without any trace of radiation in their bodies. Their parents were grateful for that.
The next day, Jake took charge and called his buddies. "Hey guys, let's get these motorcycles in the barn and out of sight. We don't want some government lackey to tell us that they are government property and take them from us." It was a good idea. There was a general store/hardware store in town where they found spray cans of paint. The next project for the club was to paint the motorcycles red, for Jake, blue, for Archie, and white, for Wes, who protested a bit, but was overruled. With those motorcycles to take them to junior high school and high school *later, when the other kids were bussed, gave them status, not to mention their part in rescuing the girls. Even though some students had cars.
Several federal agencies descended upon the town and questioned the girls and the guys, but they stuck to the same story. Heavily protected investigators went to the compound and nosed around, finding nothing and not even bothering to look at the two stone piles, taking the girls' story at their word. They didn't find any evidence of the boy, supposedly 12 years old, in the entire valley. The report couldn't account for his disappearance.
The tunnel was deemed unsafe and sealed on both ends. It was an area of volcanic activity and earthquakes. Besides, why would anyone from Shady Timbers want to take a long tunnel to the other side of the Cascades only to arrive at a radioactive compound?
Jake and Janie became a number in high school and started going steady. With the schooling she got from Don and Keith during the time she was there, Janie and Jake both qualified academically for Stanford and went off to college together to the delight of their parents. Cynthia did equally well and was admitted to Radcliffe. Nobody from Shady Timbers had ever gone out East to college like that before.
Archie enlisted in the Army and went to Vietnam, but it was soon over, and he returned to go to school at the University of Oregon under the GI Bill. Wes was too young to be drafted. After he graduated high school, he became a lumberjack in the Oregon timber industry. They all kept in touch over the years, occasionally returning home for holidays and spending time camping on the river kayaking and fishing.
There were new sightings of Bigfoot in the region. But who knows which of those sightings were true or not? They all hoped that some of those reports were Keith, still alive and still free. But they didn't really know, nobody does.
Copyright 2019 © Ronald W. Hull
9/24/19
