The drive was uneventful; no head-on collisions, no creatures running out of the woods at me, just a nice, relaxing drive. I dropped my pylons, rolled up to where I needed to work, walked 100 meters up the trail, and dropped a few more pylons. My arm was beginning to pain me and I knew I couldn't hold out much longer, but I wanted to get this section – the worst one – done before I went back up to the cabin to treat my wounds more properly, take some painkillers, and brace my arm more properly. It took about two hours to get this area repaired. Water from the melting snow had actually created a stream that eroded an 18-inch divot across the trail. A few well-cut logs, a lot of stone, and some sand and it was good as new.
I was going to call it an afternoon and head back to the cabin. I needed some beer, though, and I knew there wasn't any cold at the cabin. Considering I was only about 20 kilometers from town and 10 kilometers from the cabin, I figured I'd head into town since I could assess what else needed repair, and I could move quicker in the Rhino than my dad's F350. Once the Brady Trail turned into an actual improvised road, I was aware of a shortcut that would save me about five minutes of drive time. It was a narrow trail that had two wooden bridges running across a river that would drop me within a kilometer of the center of town.
I put it in four-wheel and started down this heavily rutted trail. Thankfully, the rain hadn't made much mud, so the Rhino had no problem negotiating the first stretch of trail. I nervously slowed down as I approached the first bridge and began to ride across it slowly.
THE CREATURE
Then I saw it... again! It was on the far side of the river, which would be the side that I was heading to. It was stooping down low next to some felled trees. "You have got to be kidding me," I said in disbelief. Seeing this creature in daylight is much more terrifying than seeing it in low-light conditions. It was scraggly, dirty and looking right at me. My mind shot back to that period almost a year ago and how quick it could move and how it wasn't intimidated by anything.
I had two feasible options: haul straight ahead at top speed and hope that it didn't decide to pursue me, or put the Rhino in reverse and traverse almost a kilometer of rough terrain with the possibility of getting stuck or rolling the vehicle. I chose the first option and slammed the accelerator. As I reached the crest of the bridge, I noticed that the creature had disappeared. Not good. I put my foot all the way down to the floor, crashed down off the bridge, distinctly hearing my shovel fly off the bed of the Rhino and into the brush. In the heavily rutted terrain, I couldn't go any faster than 20 mph.
I kept scanning the area around me and couldn't see any movement. After about five minutes, I reached the second bridge. Safe ground. A new bridge with a nice road on the other side. I slammed the front wheels into the bridge, flew up it, and dove off the other end. Panic and adrenaline make you do stupid things, and when I approached the road I didn't even think to look either direction and almost slammed into the side of a Dodge pick-up. I got behind him, gunned the engine and passed him going down a blacktop road.
After another minute or so, I slid into the parking lot of the lumber yard where we had been a few hours earlier. The owner gave me a look as if to say, "Punk kids and their ATVs" until I popped the door, dropped to my knees, and started vomiting. I'd had no back-up, no weaponry, and no one to tell me that I hadn't just seen that creature. I went into a fog again. I only remember taking a fistful of rocky dirt and using it to wipe the vomit from my mouth, then collapsing.
Next page: Feeling insane, and wanting proof
