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After we'd been sitting with Gracie Layne for a while, the female bigfoot approached. She looked at me with my arm around Gracie Layne and tilted her head to the side. "She's my sister," I said then wondered why I was talking to her when I knew she couldn't understand.
She bent down and touched Gracie Layne's shoulder gently. It was the same way we might touch someone's shoulder in a show of support. The female stood up and held her arms across her body as thought she was cradling a baby.
"She thinks Gracie's your child," Cassie said.
"We're nearly the same age," I started to argue my case before realizing I was trying to explain a familial link to a Sasquatch or something similar. I just smiled up at her and hugged Gracie Layne tighter.
Cassie and I talked about whether we should try to escape or stay put. It was strange, but we didn't feel threatened by the creatures. It actually seemed like they were trying to keep us safe.
"Cassie, when we were in Dr. Belamy's lab in Arkansas you found a journal that had notes about the bigfoot experiments at the BITES lab. Do you remember any of what you read?"
"I didn't get to read much of it. It sounded like they were trying to combine human and Sasquatch DNA. I can't imagine what they were trying to accomplish."
"I guess I can see how it might be interesting genetically, but it's tough to see a real-world application."
"Based on what we now know about the people involved, I suspect they were trying to create some sort of super soldier or something," she said.
We heard a commotion and our guard or hostess or whatever function she was serving, backed away from the entrance, putting herself between us and whatever was coming. That made it all the more obvious that we were being protected although the skeptical part of my brain added the thought, yeah, like protecting your dinner.
A male bigfoot ducked under the covering. I was shocked when I looked up and saw Chance and Jared following him. Jared looked like he was in shock while Chance grinned like he'd gotten the end piece of brisket at a barbecue.
I started to rush toward Chance, but Cassie put out her arm to stop me. "You don't want to seem like a threat," she said.
The men walked over to us, while the bigfoot female walked off beside the male. Chance put his arms around me. "Are you OK?" he asked.
"We're fine. Gracie's pretty upset. I'm not sure if it's this," I said, waving my arm around our little clearing, "or what happened with Wainwright."
Jared and Cassie had exchanged hugs and greetings before joining us. "Did you get a message out? How did you end up here?" Cassie asked.
"I've got good news and bad news," Chance said.
"Before we get into that," Jared said. "Have these creatures been at all aggressive toward you?"
"No. They seem to be protecting us," I explained. "Like everyone else lately, they examined my arm where I was shot."
"I don't think they're a threat," Chance said. We saw movement at the entrance and watched as another creature couple entered. They didn't approach us but stood aways off with the other pair. There were a lot of sounds, so maybe they were communicating with each other.
"What's the good news?" I asked, turning back to our own conversation.
"I know where we are," Chance said. "At least the general area. I think we're in the jungles of northern Argentina near the Parana River south of Iguazu Falls."
"Why is that the good news?"
"At least I have some idea what's around us," he said.
"OK. What's the bad news?"
"We did find a small native village. We couldn't find a radio or a phone," Jared said. "We couldn't contact anyone."
I guess the disappointment showed on my face. "Cheer up," Chance said. "We have a plan."
The guys sat down on the ground with us, and we passed around a bottle of water. "Before we get into discussing this plan of yours, does this seem a bit odd to anyone?" I said, waving my hand to take in our surroundings. "We seem to be sitting in the midst of a bigfoot family group. Should we be concerned? How did you find us? Or how did they find you?"
Chance put his arm around me and pulled me tight against his side. "Those are all really good questions, but we need to concentrate on finding a way out of here right now."
"You do think they're a threat then?"
"Not the bigfoot," Jared said. "Braun and his people."
Our situation was getting so surreal I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to hold myself in check. Hysteria seemed very likely to overtake me at any moment.