On The Savage Trail

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Book excerpt

Chapter One

            It was night in the outskirts of the city, a warm summer Saturday. A light breeze from the west was keeping the humidity away and it was dark enough to see the stars

Tonight, four longtime friends had gotten together as they did most weekends. But tonight was different. Maybe it was the wind, maybe it was the stars or just the quiet nature of the dark. The dying light of the fire pit they all sat around on an old cement driveway.

The alcohol had long since kicked in and old stories were starting to come out of the past. A ghost story seldom told outside of the region of its origin and the distant past of a childhood whose memory refused to go away.

“There is no such thing as Bayok, you’re out of your mind, Matt,” Jennifer said as she took another drink of the generic white and blue can of beer in her hand.

“No, woman I am telling you the God’s honest truth. it’s a real thing, real like Bigfoot and the lake monster, what’s it name?” Matt asked and finished his beer and crumpled the can between his hands with ease.

“Do you know any other stories or just that one because I think I spaced out all the important details. I couldn’t tell if my beer was flat or not,” Nick replied and stared into the dark area of the metal can as if he was inspecting it for something important in a drunken haze.

Matt rolled his eyes and threw the crumpled can towards the trash can and missed with a clattering metallic sound against the floor but no one cared. “Alright, tell this story one more time so I can catch it all this time,” Nick said and laughed again.

Nick was entertained by stories like this and this was the one of the strangest one he had ever heard but it was so crazy that he wanted to hear it one more time. This time he swore to himself he would do his best to pay attention.

Matt shook his head, ran his hand through his brown hair and Jennifer leaned in close, revealing too much cleavage from her white shirt. Matt couldn’t help but take a look but he pretended he didn’t notice. He wasn’t very good at pretending and it was obvious.

Nick knew better than to look because Mia would have punched him for it, so he just kept staring into his can. Mia glanced at him and couldn’t help but smile, at least he was trying not to be a total dog tonight. Mia was bigger than he was and even her playful punches could hurt.

Compared to her, Nick was pretty fragile, she was taller than both him and Matt. He felt very lucky and it was easy to keep his eyes from wandering too far.

Mia laughed at her as she pulled Jenny back for both of them, ending the show she was giving and didn’t even know it.

“Let the boy tell his story one more time, it gets better every time we hear it. He doesn’t need any more distractions from you,” Mia said to Jenny as she did it.

“Fine, I’ll be sure to make up for it later tonight,” Jenny replied and adjusted the ring on her finger. She was his and didn’t see how a little thing like this would distract him anymore after six years of marriage. Mia pretended she didn’t hear that.

Matt sat up and took a deep breath. He was doing his best to remember all the details, but his beer addled mind was beginning to have troubles remembering them all now. But he was going to give it one more go. He brushed off a wandering piece of ash off his green shirt and began his story, he stared into the dying fire as he began the story one more time.

“Back in 1868 in a small town in Colorado, by the mountains you know, a hunter named Jason and his guide went up to kill Bayok. It was the man-eating bear that the natives up there said was more than just an animal, but a protector of the snake people and the Great White Spirit,” Matt said this as if he knew something more about it than he was letting on.

The great white spirit to him might as well been a man under a white sheet pretending to be a ghost, he didn’t know anything about stuff like that. Snake people sounded like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon he used to watch as a kid.

He almost laughed at the thoughts in his mind but he made sure to keep his composure to keep the tension building the best he could. The others, especially Nick, was paying close attention to every word this time around.

“Jason was a white man; like myself, and Jason was sure he could kill this or any other beast. He was far from the first one to try this task. The story was, even back then, that anyone who went into the mountains never returned because Bayok killed and ate everyone,” Matt said and widened his eyes at this part.

He thought about slamming his hands together to make a jump scare effect but he decided not to do that. The beer was making him feel like a much better story teller than he actually was and his listeners were hooked. Matt didn’t know why, though. This story was as generic as they came. The only thing special about it was the monster was a bear.

Otherwise it’s been told countless times by countless people, the story of a million different horrors in the dark. Matt continued on, regardless of what he thought.

“The monster bear beat the best and the worst and everyone in between, it was his mountain and the legend only grew. Jason and his nameless guide ventured into the mountains against all the warnings of the people. No one really knows most of the details from here. But the story goes that out there in the dark, Jason found that old bear and managed to shoot him dead after a titanic struggle between man and beast,” Matt said and continued.

“As cruel luck would have it, of course, the bear fell on top of Jason as it died and the two died together out there in the mountains. The native guide picked up the hunting rifle and realized in horror that he was still not alone here in the dark,” Matt said and smiled the best evil smile that he could manage right now.

He really wasn’t sure how it looked.

“The guide looked up and he saw the shadow of a bear standing before him with fiery green eyes that were not the reflection of any moonlight, they were burning with hellfire and rage, but I never imagined hellfire being green,” Matt added and almost lost his momentum he quickly got it back. “The guide was terrified and he ran for his life. He did not stop until he made it back to town,” Matt said and grabbed another beer out of the red cooler that was close to him.

“The guide was quite insane when he got back to town. It’s said that all he could do was grip the hunting gun in his hands and say the words over and over just one thing. Bayok lives, Ghost bear,” Matt said as an eerie silence came over the group. The idea that someone could lose his mind just by seeing something alone was terrifying.

“My dad always told me that story when I was a kid to scare me. He said if I wasn’t good that the Ghost bear would creep into my room and eat me,” Matt said and leaned back slowly as he recalled the memory.

“Good old dad always knew just how to make the nights just a little creepier, thankfully now he doesn’t do that so much,” Matt said mostly to himself. The idea of a bear was scary enough.

One that could walk through walls was so much worse.

“Anyway, legend has it that anyone who goes up to those mountains, his mountains, are never seen again. As luck would have it more people have disappeared without a trace there than anywhere else in the country in the last one hundred and fifty years or so,” Matt said and smiled, but it left a lingering silence behind when he finished.

“Well, with that, I am tired. I need get home without dying or being arrested or both,” Nick said at once and tried to stand up but immediately sat back down in his lawn chair breaking the mood. Nick was interested in the story but other things were dictating his needs.

“Looks like my boyfriend drank too much, it seems like I am driving home,” Mia said and almost laughed about it but the truth was she hated driving at night. The headlights always seemed to be aimed right in her eyes no matter where she looked and it was painful. She tossed her beer can in the trash, brushed the ashes off of her green shirt and made sure that she was ready to go.

“Yep, looks like you’re driving us home. Sounds like a plan, a good plan. I like plans,” Nick said and began to ramble on and this time successfully stood up. Mia rushed to his aid so he wouldn’t fall over.

Jennifer and Matt stood up then nearly at the same time they had. It was getting late and it was time to go.

The four of them started down the driveway.

“Why don’t you two just stay here tonight. Are you sure you’re okay to drive home?” Matt asked and waited for an answer, but it was the same time every time they did this, but he always asked just the same just in case it changed.

“You two be careful and as always avoid the red, white and blue on the way home,” Jennifer said to Nick and he just waved in response as he wandered towards the car. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll be alright,” Mia said and the two of them made their way to the car. Matt just sighed and had to smile, he was sure they were going to be fine, it was a short trip home.

He picked up the hose, twisted the nozzle and blasted the fire pit to make sure the fire went out. Thick white smoke billowed into the air, the fire was almost out anyways so this didn’t take very long at all. A few seconds later he turned the hose off and threw it into the lawn.

“Only you can prevent city wide fires, I guess,” he said was quoting something he saw on television, adding his own spin to it. He waved at them but neither of them saw it. “Put your hand down, you goof,” Jenny said to him and he did so.

“Damn, that Mia sure is hot don’t you think?” Matt asked as the two of them were walking way, the only response he got was an elbow to the ribs.

“Oh, shut up, making me jealous isn’t going to work, besides you don’t need to do that anymore. I already got you,” Jennifer replied to him and he just smiled.

Life was better than good, it was great as far as he was concerned, but the beer inside him needed to talk a little bit more. He decided to open his mouth because he didn’t think he was going to remember any of it anyway, and with any luck, neither would anyone else.

“I know but look at the ass on that chick, why can’t yours be that big, it really is hot,” Matt said to her but the beer was making him say things he otherwise wouldn’t. “Well, I’ll work on it and eat chocolate to see what I can do, but now we need to go to bed,” Jenny said and smiled, looked at Mia as she faded away into the dark. The two of them got into their car and drove off.

“Oh, that’d be good,” Matt said and stumbled into the house first.