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“What the ...? Rowan!” Jean-René gasped. Everyone leapt to their feet as Rowan holstered the dart gun.
“You got a better idea?” Rowan yanked the dart out of her thigh.
Jean-René clenched his jaw, judgment written on his features.
“What? It’s a sedative,” he said in his own defense. “I can’t treat her while she’s awake and in pain. What else was I going to do?” He went to work on his patient, peeling her out of the bloody jacket, before tending the wound.
“That stuff will put a full-grown grizzly bear down for an hour.”
“Well she’s going to be as mad as a grizzly bear when she wakes up. You better hope I’m done stitching her up before she does,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m the one that needs to be afraid,” Jean-René said.
* * *
Lauren woke, flat on her back, unable to move for the pain in her head and shoulders. She reached out, realizing Rowan was sleeping beside her. She wrapped his shirt in her hand, tugging on him as firmly as possible.
“What?” He was suddenly wide awake.
“Did you shoot me with a tranquilizer dart?” The words came through her clenched teeth, laced with impending wrath.
“Why would I do a fool thing like that?” He grumbled, sitting up and rubbing a weary hand over his head and face.
“What the hell did you give me?”
“A Benadryl injection. It’s all I had.” The lie came easily. He didn’t even blink. “Why would you think I’d shoot you with a tranquilizer dart?”
“I don’t know,” she let go of his shirt, finally. “I guess the Benadryl gave me bizarre dreams.”
“It always does,” he said. “How’re you feeling?”
“I can’t move,” she said. “I feel like I got hit broadside by a Mack truck”
“Close,” he said.
“What was it?” She asked, squinting as if to see into him.
“Wish to hell we could tell,” he said. “The thermal images are inconclusive.”
“Great. Just great.” She clenched her jaw in frustration, wincing at the pain it caused. “What was it the critic in TV Guide said? No one’s better at not finding the truth than we are?” she asked. “Leave it to me to get hit broadside by a Bigfoot and not get it on camera.”
“You think it was a Bigfoot?” Rowan arched a brow. He wanted it to be a Bigfoot, but the video was no help. It could have been a bear.
“It made a run at me. Not Jean-René. It was after me.”
“Why would you think that?” Rowan asked, reaching for the bandage and peeking beneath it.
“I’m not sure. Call it intuition.”
“I think you’re just being paranoid,” Rowan said.
“Maybe.” She closed her eyes.
* * *
The rest of the evening remained quiet. Lauren slept by the fire where Rowan could monitor her. He diagnosed her with a concussion and whiplash. It wasn’t life-threatening, but their expedition was in jeopardy.
It was near dark when the smell of food and wood-smoke woke her again. She was finally able to roll up to one elbow, still unable to turn her head. She groaned as she pushed herself up to a seated position slowly, with great effort. Bahati was at her elbow with a bottle of water and a pack of Tylenol caplets that Rowan had instructed her to give to Lauren.
“Where is everyone?”
“Rowan took Jean-René to collect the camera traps for analysis so they can reset them before it gets dark.”
Bahati returned to the fire. “I bet you’re hungry.”
“Starving.”
* * *
Lauren was eating a plate of fried eggs, potatoes, and biscuits when they returned.
“It’s alive,” Jean-René razzed.
She raised her hand, flipping him off. “I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing,” she grumbled.
“Looks like good grub.” Rowan glanced at her plate, taking a seat beside her, laying the cameras out around him.
“Want some?” She asked.
“I’ll get some once I download the film from the trail cams,” he pulled his laptop out of his pack, setting it up on the tree stump he used for a worktable. He connected each one to the computer, downloading the files from the cameras.
“Chance and I will go reset those when you’re done,” Jean-René said as he took a seat with his dinner plate. Jean-René turned to Lauren. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah,” she said. “My head is pounding, but that’s actually an improvement.”
“Did you give her the Tylenol?” Rowan asked Bahati.
“I did,” she said, and handed Rowan a plate.
“Thanks.” He set the cameras and computer aside in favor of a hot meal. As night came, the night air chilled and the sky was chalky gray. A warm meal, even if it was Bahati’s cooking, would carry him through a long cold night of Bigfoot hunting.
Rowan had reservations about continuing. The safety of the team was his utmost concern. Lauren’s especially. He’d been mulling it over all day. On the one hand, they’d hiked all this way, specifically for an encounter with the elusive Bigfoot. On the other hand, two members of the team had now fallen victim to the unknown. Safety on an expedition like this was a gamble. Everything was safe enough, until it wasn’t.
* * *
“So, here’s the plan for tonight. We’re going to stay together; one team. No one goes off alone. Lauren, Bahati and Rob will stay at base camp. Jean-René, Chance and I will go back toward Ape Cave. I want transponders on everyone, and I mean everyone.” Normally, this would be Lauren’s job. It amused her when he took charge. He was good at it. “We’re not having any more sneak attacks like the other night. Everyone stays on their toes.”
Lauren turned her whole upper body to glare at Jean-René. “What happened the other night?”
“You don’t remember?” He asked. When Lauren looked at him blankly, he told her the whole story. His voice trembled as he recounted the harrowing ordeal. Lauren seemed to sway. Her cheeks paled. “It was probably a bear or maybe a large wolf.”
“Or a Bigfoot,” Bahati said, dropping her tone. A distant howl broke the silence of the forest. “Speak of the devil ...”
“That’s no wolf,” Lauren said. “Where is my digital recorder?”
A grin dimpled in the corner of Rowan’s cheeks. “There she is. Welcome back, Lauren,” he rose. “Let’s get to work. The sooner we get this one in the can, the better.”