The War Comes Home: The Kandahar Giant War Part I

The War Comes Home: The Kandahar Giant War part 1

 

              A four-wheel drive SUV drove down the dirt road kicking up dust at the bottom of a trailhead leading up to the wild backcountry of northwestern Wyoming. Pulling up to the parking area there was only one other vehicle waiting. Two men got out after an afternoon of driving from the closest airport. Jackson really was further away than they had expected. Walking up to the other vehicle, an older model pickup that looked like it’d been through Afghanistan itself, the two other men that had been waiting on them stepped out.

              “Really Matt, you sure took your sweet time,” said Adrian with a sarcastic smirk. He and Gavin had been waiting since lunch time. Always the early bird.

              “I told him we were going to be late, but you know how he is,” Travis got out and threw down his pack to start pulling out layers he had packed for weeks. He was excited to be here. He had never been this far from civilization before. “The cold is a different kind of cold up here.”

              “Eh,” Matt shrugged. “A wizard is never late, he arrives precisely…”

              “Dude, we have less than two hours to make it to the first basecamp we planned,” Gavin interrupted. He and Adrian were already walking down the trail to at least pressure Matt into getting a move on.

              “We can do gear checks on the move then,” Travis started going through his mental gear checklist he had memorized after months of staring at his packing list. “Radios?”

              “Check,” Adrian nodded.

              “Yep,” Gavin replied in the affirmative.

“Um… Oops,” Matt gave his signature ‘Oh well, it’ll be fine’ wave.

              “That’s cool, Matt. Three is more than enough,” Travis said encouragingly. “Let’s see… first aid kit, yeah. Maps, of course…”

              “I made sure to bring the Glock 10mil, I couldn’t ‘bear’ to see you guys eaten by a bear,” Adrian made the dad joke and everyone else got a laugh. “I’m glad you brought the radios guys, the cell service here is basically non-existent. I heard online they were going to add some towers but with less and less people coming out here I’m sure they don’t feel a rushing need to get it done.” He continued, “There isn’t a ranger station close to this trail. I wanted to have as few interactions with others as possible. What’s a boy’s trip if we’re worried about nosey neighbors?”

              A few minutes later Matt asked “Who chose October for this trip again? I feel like I’m still shivering and we’ve been hiking for like 45 minutes now.”

              “I did,” Adrian answered. “There are basically zero other backpackers out here this late in the season. It’s perfect because it’s super cold and the snow has yet to start falling in meaningful amounts where we will be the next few days.”

             

Setting up camp was a little rushed, but the team had set up camp together before, so it wasn’t too bad. Headlamps and practice made it easier as darkness had already settled in on the desolate mountains. A fire was forgone for the night as it was too late to run around gathering the materials. Plus, the guys were hungry. Late evening saw both eagles and hawks roaming the skies. Squawking back and forth to one another. Likely hunting for the same food source.

“Ya know, I’ve never tried the cheese pizza MRE, actually I’ve never even tried an MRE,” Travis said. He was filling up the heating pack with water from his military surplus canteen. Propping the package up on a rock he settled down near Gavin who was heating up his own water on a JetBoil. The small fire was the best warmth he could find.

“I bet it tastes like school pizza, that’s what I’ve heard anyway. MRE’s are like if school lunch had a baby with baby food,” Matt was already in the middle of his MRE. “I like the Beef Stroganoff, I know it’s not everyone’s favorite. But I like it.”

“After having to eat those on and off for years in the Army, I swore to myself I would never eat another one,” Adrian was also heating up water for a Mountain House meal but was using a surplus canteen cup and a small solid fuel camp stove he had lit a fuel tab that smelled like rotten fish.

With a heavy hiking day in front of them, one by one they retired to their tents. Adrian with his trusty but heavy milspec sleeping bag. Matt with an ultralight weight kit he had found for sale on Facebook. Each one of them happy to be anywhere but going into the office the next day.

Gavin was one of those guys that could snore with the best of them. If there was a competition he’d take home first place every time. They had been camping together enough over the years that they knew Gavin would have to be slightly secluded, at least to where the snoring was a dull roar. Adrian was used to sleepless nights. Between his upbringing and the kids, he was raising now. Sleep was something he could literally only dream of.

Lying on his back, hands behind his head, he could finally relax. Listening to sounds of nature was about the only time Adrian could come to terms with his life decisions. At least he was back in the states, away from the constant vigilance of his two tours in Afghanistan. But something interrupted his relaxed musings.

A sound, slowly, quietly at first caught is attention. It sounded like a staccato feline growl. Extremely low. Very deep. Only interrupted by outbursts of Gavin trying to catch his breath while snoring.

Adrian listened for it again.

Where did it go? What kind of cat was that?

 

The sun rose on the group with Travis and Gavin already packing away their equipment and heating up breakfast they planned to share with the others. The frost on the ground was a brilliant white over the grass that was still green in places.

“Tonight, I’m sleeping even further from you, Gav. I swear you’ve gotten louder,” Travis teased his good friend of many years. This was not the first time he had said the exact same phrase.

“As long as I still get to sleep with your sister when we get back into town,” Gavin joked but had been happily married to the love of his life, who just happened to be Travis’s younger sister. The fact that Gavin and Travis were truly brothers only made their friendship that much stronger. Who else could you count on more than someone who chose to be your family, not just someone born into it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Travis went off to do the morning duty while Adrian and Matt finished packing.

Heading out just after eating and making sure they were following the Leave No Trace policy they all agreed with, they found the right trail heading further up the mountain. Hopefully reaching the high tree line by dusk that evening.

Hours passed. Lunch was quick and jovial. The friends truly loved being with each other and in the middle of nowhere. This was home away from home.

Paralleling a stream a couple of hundred yards away. The sun was high in the sky but no real warmth came from it.

“You guys notice we haven’t seen any birds or foxes? Nothing since yesterday,” Adrian was not the best animal tracker in the group. He could barely tell a fox from a coyote but there was something obvious to him. The silence.

Matt, the most prolific hunter of the group, spoke up. “It’s probably just the late season; animals are smarter than we give them credit for. God did an amazing job at programming their little minds to instinctively know what to do and when.”

“I bet they are all warm in their little Hobbit holes,” Gavin smiled. That made about as much sense as anything else.

Without warning, a burst of static came from Travis’ radio. It echoed like reverb on a guitar amp. The static overlapping itself repeatedly. And then it was quiet. The men couldn’t even hear themselves breathing.

“Ay, what the fuck was that, Travis? All that money you spent on that radio and still gives you shit,” Matt was laughing aloud with Gavin doing the same right next to him. Adrian was not laughing, however. He knew comms equipment could be finicky, even the expensive radios the military use. Something familiar about that noise though.

“I don’t fucking know. We can just switch frequencies though. Stupid radios,” Travis wasn’t fed up with the radios. He genuinely enjoyed tinkering with them to get them just right. Besides, nothing was perfect.

 

That evening was especially calm. Falling into the rhythm was a silent way to reassure themselves that this was a relaxing time. In fact, there was plenty of time to search for dry wood and kindling for a fire. Experienced hands made light work between the four of them. The fire was warming both to the body, the soles of their feet more than anything, and to the soul as well. Ancient man had a love affair with fire, after all. It kept the cold at bay. As well as many of the things that went creeping through the night.

Full bellies and tired bodies made for a happy group. “You know guys, after all these years, camping and being outside, I’ve never gotten tired of it.” Gavin was propped up in a camping chair he insisted didn’t weigh as much as it looked.

“Yeah, you’d think we’d get tired of it. Or the alure and appeal would fade. But, yeah, you’re right,” Adrian was still alert. Leaned over, elbows on his knees. Some things never change.

“Personally, I hope to never get tired of this. Brings you closer to the Almighty more than anything I’ve found on His earth,” Matt was correct. The boys couldn’t get enough of their yearly ritual.

Fiddling with the teams’ radios, making sure each was charged and ready for the next day’s hike, Travis sat on a small mound of mostly dry grass. There were parts and batteries strewn all over the fire lit ground.

“Ok Trav, I don’t know what you’re doing over there but enough with the radios. That noise is freaking me out,” Matt said.

“That’s not me. It is coming from downslope” Travis replied. There was an awful sound coming from beyond what they could see between the fire light and the moon.

“Oh shit, is it wolves,” Gavin asked.

“Nah, it has to be an elk,” Matt said. “There is only one, and it’s only coming from the one direction. Wolves would be all around us. Like the coyotes back home.”

“Well, as long as it stays the hell away from us,” Travis said. Putting away the loose gear he had strewn about.

A tree branch snapped higher up slope in the opposite direction of the rhythmic sound.

“That was too high up to be a branch. The fuck. There aren’t even any trees up that high,” Gavin stood straight up out of his comfortable camping chair.

“Guys, it was just the wind. We’ve been beaten up by it since we got out here. This high up its basically always windy,” Matt explained. “I’ve been hearing branches sway back and forth all day, its about time one of them broke.”

“Well, now that I have the heebie jeebies I’m going to crash out. I sleep the best when it's this cold,” Gavin packed up his chair and started walking off to his semi-secluded tent. All the better to snore to himself with.

They all agreed that it was time to get some rest. No sense in staying up late when they still had three more days to hang out together. But no one slept. Anytime someone was awake they knew that Gavin was awake too. It was too quiet from his end of the tree line.

 

The next morning came with notable stillness and silence. Both from the gang and from the very mountains themselves. Usually, during a good and heavy snowfall that is to be expected. But snow hadn’t fallen here for at least several days. There were patches of snow under the far trees where the sun doesn't get much during the day. But the open areas seemed to be quite free of snow.

Travis slowly opened his tent, knowing that he would be in a bad mood. Sleep was a necessity that only was for gone in the utmost of emergencies. Spooky noises were not such an emergency. Walking over to the tree that they had hung the food in the night before; he looked up and found nothing. Deciding that Gav or Matt must've grabbed it already, he headed back to the camp and was ready to tear into some breakfast. 

“Travis, you walked all the way over there and didn't even grab the food,” Gavin accused.

“Yeah dude, what the hell,” Matt rolled his eyes with a smile. 

“I thought you guys already grabbed it. It’s not over there.”

“What do you mean ‘it's not over there,’” Matt got up and started toward the tree. “I pulled it up there myself last night.” By that time Adrian was now interested and they all four marched over to see what had happened to the food. It was a short march, probably only eighty yards. Well under the recommended distance to hide your food from grizzly bears. 

“Well shit on me, where the hell did it go,” Matt said with sudden surprise.

“Ok, not cool. I'm too hungry for games guys, for real,” Gavin rubbed at his empty stomach.

“Yo, look at this,” Adrian walked out from behind the big piney tree the food had been tied up in. He was holding a climbing rope that looked like the end had been pulled apart in strings.

“How could a bear eat the rope,” Matt asked. “I’ve never heard of one doing that before. I've seen black bears whine and cry trying to get to the food. And even climb trees but not even get to any food then.”

“I guess there are smart bears out here,” Travis said with a shrug.

“No, I don't think so guys,” Adrian was shaking his head. “Wouldn’t a bear just bite through the rope? Maybe the rope would look frayed and gnawed at the end. But here look.” He showed the rope to each of them. “It looks like something pulled the rope apart. Not chewed it. The strings look like a tassel.”

Gavin turned to head back to camp in disbelief, determined to find something to eat. “Okay, now I know y’all are messing with me. Tracks in the snow really? Look Matt, come here.” Matt headed over with Gavin waving him over.

“The tracks are huge! Haha. Like someone was dragging their feet with the weight of the food bag,” Matt said. “Adrian, is this one of your ‘what would you do’ tests?”

Adrian retorted. “Man, I haven't done anything like that in years. Y'all kept acing the tests so I stopped giving them. This wasn't me.” 

“So, it must've been Travis then, trying to bring back the tradition,” Matt and the rest looked at Travis with questioning eyes.

Travis bent down to look at the tracks. “Nah guys it wasn't me, I was trying to stay warm. I've been freezing since we got up here. I was bundled up in my sleeping bag all night.”

“Yeah, I was up most of the night,” Adrian spoke up. “I didn't hear any of us unzip our tents. Let alone all the noise trudging through this snow would've made. With the girls being so young I've learned to sleep with one eye open.”

“Well, it was someone,” Matt said.

“Adrian,” Travis was pointing at the wide end of the largest track in the snow. There was mud underneath the snow, marbling the deepest parts of the track. “Does this look like toes to you? Look at how the left side is higher, and the whole thing narrows down like the back of a foot?”

Squatting down, Adrian eyed what Travis was pointing at. “I mean, it could, I guess. I mean, yes I see what you mean. But I don't know. That'd be the biggest bear I'd ever heard of. Matt, you're the hunter-dude, what do you think?” Matt was hesitant to take a look. He was about as fed up with this as Gavin was.

Standing above the supposed track Matt said “What are you even talking about? It's snowy and muddy. A bear came and snatched our food…”

“Dude, I told you I was up all night,” Adrian interrupted.

“Well, you must have fallen asleep at some point and missed the huge bear snacking on all our food,” Matt said accusingly. He had already started to turn back to the camp. Ready for this situation to be over with.

“If a bear ate all of our food wouldn't there be trash everywhere? Especially my MRE’s, there is all kinds of wrapping for them,” Travis was wondering out loud at this point. Still down on one knee looking at the tracks. 

I don't know man, they probably just ran off with it. Maybe I scared it off snoring,” Gavin half answered and then went to follow Matt back to camp.

Gavin didn't snore last night. Adrian was intensely concerned.

Returning to the camp Adrian and Travis found Matt packing his tent and Gavin sitting in his camping chair staring at the burnt-out fire. The wind was beginning to really pick up now. The sun was getting higher, almost cresting the mountain tops had kicked up the air and had it stirring more than the night before.

“With no food I think we should head back,” Adrian stated flatly. Loud enough to pull Matt out of his tent. “This is getting to be too much.”

“You mean we really have no food,” Matt asked. 

“It’s a two-day hike back to the trailhead,” Gavin visibly crumpled into his camping chair.

“Oh,” Travis started. “I have some Mountain House in my tent. I didn't put all my food in the duffle last night. Maybe we can eat those.”

Matt stood up out of the vestibule of his tent, “Enough to get us back to the trucks?”

“Wait, you broke the food rule? There’s BEARS out here dude!” Adrian was not happy about this news. Shaking his head, he went to sit down on the rock by the fire pit he had occupied the night before. “What were you thinking?”

“I completely forgot about them. They’re stuffed at the bottom of my ruck sack. I was so exhausted last night and then the whole tree branch that broke. And that noise! I just went straight to bed.” Travis’ story was believable enough. Everyone was bothered by the events from last night. “I have enough to get us through until we circle back around to the trail head. We could keep going if we wanted. Once we hit the river we will be in the valley and the ground is flatter there. That's how we planned the trip. So, the last couple of days would be easier than walking up the mountain.”

Adrian said, “I think we would make better time heading straight down the mountain from here. Gravity will help, plus I think we are all done with this trip.” Matt was already shaking his head in disagreement.

“We can shoot over to the river by evening and boom flatter ground to head out on,” Matt had already made up his mind. “Plus, we get to see exactly what we came all this way for. Who wants to spend all the money we did to get here just to turn back now. With the food Trav has we should be golden.”

Travis said with his head down, “At least there is enough to get us back to the trucks. But just barely.”

“Either way we are going to be hungry, this way we at least get to do what we came to do,” Matt made sense.

Gavin spoke up, “We are going to be hungry either way, let's just finish this.” And with that final word the boys packed up and headed up the trail trying to crest the ridge before afternoon so as to make the afternoon easier with the view of the river down in the valley. The hiking was rougher this high up. They hadn't expected so much mud. This was the ‘Rockies’ after all. 

Trudging through a particularly wicked crevice, slipping every three or four steps everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Matt was on all fours after having slipped and cursed into the mud.

“You heard that too, right,” Travis asked. 

“The snow crunching down below?” Gavin was leading and even he had heard the noise distinctly.

“Holy shit, look!” Adrian was pointing down into the depression they were trying to climb out of. There was a set of boulders with snow at the base. Just inside the tree line.

“What’d you see,” Matt stood up and was looking in that direction.

“There was somebody watching us. They saw me look over and ducked behind those rocks. I swear they are still down there,” Adrian was still squinting trying to see if he could see something around the rocks.

Matt kept staring at the rocks. His jaw flexed once.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Let’s get the hell off this ridge.” Matt was wet and tired. The top of the ridge wasn't far now. Soon they would cross it, and then not too long after that they would be at the next camp site at the tree line on the other side. 

 

Crossing over the ridge only had one surprising obstacle in the way of the planned tree line camp: snow. There was a foot or more of the powdery stuff all on this side of the mountains. While it took some of the group off guard it did not surprise anyone with the way this trip was going. 

Steadily slogging through the snow that hadn’t had enough time to solidify into something easier to walk on, down further into the next valley, the guys remained quiet. Focused on the task of beating the sun to the next rendezvous. 

There was no lunch. Not today. And not tomorrow either. Matt felt it would be worth a hungry belly to finally see the river and hopefully, maybe a herd of elk. Adrian could only think of his two little girls at home. Every step was another step closer to being back to them. Having two daughters wasn’t the easiest life to live. But they had pulled him out of a deep dark hole he had found himself in after leaving the military. A little hunger and a little cold were easy to deal with knowing what was waiting for him at home.

Travis tried to distract himself in the mental gear lists he always ran though. Making sure everything was as prepped as it could be. Trying to conserve battery, he would only use the scan function on his radio for five minutes once an hour. If there were other hikers or campers on the mountain he wanted to know about it. Maybe they could share food. Or at least share some company to help Travis and his group to forget about the last two days. 

Gavin just wanted everything to feel normal again. He would try to crack jokes and make everyone laugh. Although it had no effect on the boys, at least he was trying, and they were appreciative of that. Seeing the tree line was a huge motivator around 5 o’clock. The sun still had a good hour before it was too dark to navigate by. Perfect timing for them to get down and get set up. 

Tonight was going to be the coldest night. And they knew it. Between the lingering snow and the cloud cover, they had expected additional snow at any time. Though it hadn’t started yet, experience told them it would be an inevitability. 

“Gavin, why don’t you stay over here with us tonight,” Adrian asked as he passed around the single Mountain House they all shared. The familiarity of sharing a warm meal was a bastion of normality they basked in. Another meal, another mountain. Getting home was just one more day away. 

“Honestly, I was going to ask. I’ll try sleeping on my side or something guys,” Gavin was grateful he didn’t have to walk out into the dimming light to find a flat spot for his tent. He shared a tent with everyone in the group at one point or another. And if push came to shove another night wouldn’t break anyone. Their friendship was bigger than one night of uncomfortable snoring.

After dinner, it was back to routine. Using melted snow in their canteens and Nalgenes to rinse off their utensils and get the camp cleaned up for the night. Between the exhaustion from the hard days hiking and the anxiety of the odd occurrences the routine was comforting although silent.

“I’ll go find a tree to run this trash up into guys, I need to take a leak anyway. I’ll be right back,” Matt picked up the empty Mountain House bag and the wrappers from the last of the MRE snacks.

“Yeah man, I’m going to help Travis get his tent up and ready,” Adrian replied. Matt turned and headed off with his headlamp already switched on in the fading light. Adrian and Travis started to put the tent poles into the grommets of the single person tent. “Bro, I cannot wait to get to the trucks tomorrow. I’m going to crank that heat so far up ha-ha.”

“Yeah, but what about that fried chicken place we saw coming in from the airport? They had a sign on the window that said tendies and fries was the lunch special,” Travis was already tired of hearing his stomach growl. One meal between four grown men wasn’t enough to take the edge off.

“That’s what you’re gonna get? Nah man, a bucket of chicken thighs is what I’m getting. I don’t even care about the sides.”

“Both,” Gavin chimed in, grinning from ear to ear. “That way we get to try everything. Trust me, there won’t be anything left by the time we get back to the airport.” Gavin set up the propane heater he had brought at the last minute. A little heat would go a long way to making this trip easier to bear.

“I’m glad you thought to ask Gavin to bring that heater, Trav,” Adrian finished helping Travis set up his tent, then sat on the snow next to the heater and held his hands out

“It was my wife’s idea. She said that if I had to pack less food it’d be worth it. She said I could stand losing a couple pounds and stay warm,” it was Travis’s turn to sit down on the snow next to the little propane heater. He was ready to get back to his normal life. His normal wife.

Silence filled the group as they warmed up. For the first time that night, their minds wandered forward instead of back, away from the trees, away from the dark.

“Guys…” Adrian said into the quiet.

“Hmm?” Gavin asked almost half asleep.

“Where the hell is Matt?”

Gavin’s eyes shot open. “He’s not back yet? Well, what has it been five minutes?” Gavin looked at his watch, willing the time to tell him how long his friend had been gone. “That doesn’t seem that long.”

Travis roused from his thoughts too, “Is he not in his tent?” Adrian was already on his way up and grabbing his headlamp, clicking it on as he went around the side of Matt’s tent. Bending over he said loud enough to make sure the other two heard him, “The door is open and he’s not in here.” Looking back at the others as they approached the tent to look for themselves.

“I don’t know, man. I feel like it’s been longer than that. That heater really had me relaxing,” Adrian had straightened up and was already looking around with his headlamp in hand, spot lighting as best he could with the soft white light. “It’s way too dark to be out there. How far could he have even gone?”

“Let me grab my flashlight and we can go look for him. I’m not going to wait around expecting Matt to come find us,” Travis jogged back to his tent and pulled a smaller pack out of his rucksack. Within it he grabbed his flashlight and radio clicking it on.

The trio headed out in the direction Matt had gone to tie up the food and relieve himself. The tracks weren’t hard to follow in this depth of snow. Along the way they all three took turns calling out Matt’s name. Even if Matt had decided to take longer to empty his bowels, the boys still wanted to at least get in contact with their friend.

Not even that far from the camp, just under a hundred yards, they found the food trash duffle tied up neatly in a tree.

Matt’s tracks ended there.

There was a small cluster of tracks just under the hanging food, where he had bent over to tie everything up and have ready to pull into the tree.

“YO, MATT!” Adrian cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling for at least the twelfth time. “Now what do we do? Fan out?”

“I’m not splitting up, no way,” Gavin said shaking his head side to side. “All this crap and now we can’t find Matt. No way. I’m sticking with you guys.”

Travis had begun doing a spiral pattern out from the clump of tracks at the center. Keeping his flashlight glued to the snow, looking for any other tracks or any piece of evidence of what happened to their friend. Not far from where he started, in the direction of the thicker woods Travis kneeled in disbelief. He couldn’t even get his words out his breath was so quick.

“G…Guys, look.” All he could do was point, not able to take his eyes off what he had found half buried in the snow.

Adrian was the first to move over to Travis. “Is that Matt’s boot? What the…”

Gavin was concerned before he even got eyes on the object the other two were staring at. Hurrying over to them he immediately straightened in shock, hands in his hair. “Bro, what in the actual fuck is going on!”

“Guys we have to stay calm...”

“Calm!? Where is Matt, Adrian! He’s gone dude!” Gavin interrupted while pacing back in forth in the snow, alternating between balling his fists at his sides and running his hands through his hair.

Then, there was the same burst of reverbed static from Travis’s radio.

This time, there was something beneath it, a voice buried under the noise. The sound raised the hair on their arms, freezing the men mid-reaction, shock still fresh from the realization that their friend was gone.

An explosion of noise followed so close to the group that they couldn’t tell the direction it came from. Sounding like thunder and crackling of trees being pulled out of their roots.

The reverb voice surrounded them.

They ran. Not turning to see exactly what they were running from. The sound like a wall pushing them away, moving them fervently further down the snow-covered mountain.

After running through the knee-high snow for longer than their lungs could bear, they stopped. Blackness and stars clouded around their vision. Coughing and breathing the frigid air in short, stuttered breaths.

“We can’t stop… we have to keep going,” Adrian had already started trudging through the powdery ground impeding their escape. Gavin was right behind him.

Thirty yards ahead of them there was small clearing. The half-moon lit the open area like a moody oil painting. The snow reflected the moon except in the deep blue shadows beneath the trees.

There, in the clearing, a silhouette stood in the open, making no attempt to hide.

But it was wrong.

It was too tall.

Too thin.

“Holy shit, look!” Travis was pointed. The exclamation slipped before he could stop himself. Self-preservation hadn’t even entered his mind.

Adrian unholstered his Glock 20. “There is no way that’s a bear. Get ready to run again.”

The shape moved unnaturally quickly towards them. Silently. Almost floating over the loose fresh snow. Adrian swore, aimed, and let off two rounds. The sound of the 10mm blasting through the trees and echoing in their skulls. After the flash of the shots the three had to wait just a second to get their night vision back.

And the thing was gone. No sign of it anywhere. No snow crunching, no tree branches moving or breaking.

“Adrian, did you hit it,” asked Travis quietly.

 

Hours passed. Moving as fast as possible, almost high stepping through the snow, moving downslope, the landscape finally started to flatten out. The snow thinned out. Making the newly incomplete group of friends move even faster. The desperation in their urgency was clear. Determination to get to the trailhead unwavering in the face of what had happened.

The sun was coming soon. For some reason that meant safety. The ancient need to fight the night to see the sun rise was unwritten in the minds of the men. The horizon over the distant peaks was turning light gray. The roar of the river was distant but closing fast. Almost there.

The first rest after hours of hiking, jogging really, was at the bank of the flowing river. By that time the sun was almost visible, but the sky was a cool blue. Almost an ocean itself, the clouds having cleared out after dumping their white payload. The snow on the ground was basically nonexistent now, replaced by knee high grass that felt effortless to move through compared to what the exhausted group had just endured.

Gavin was the first to break. The thirst from the hours long exertion was too much for him. “This water is going to taste so good.”

“Don’t drink the water,” Adrian was just as thirsty but knew better.

“I know. But we are so high up, there can’t be much upstream of here to contaminate the river.”

“Adrian is right,” Travis chimed in. “We can at least take a break though. At least we can see a good distance at the floor of this valley. The tree line is, what, five hundred yards away?”

“I’d say further than that. But yeah, let’s catch our breath,” Adrian sat down on one of the boulders lining the river.

Gavin lay down on his back in the grass, arms over his eyes. “Guys… what was that thing? Do y’all think that’s what took Matt?” The other two looked at each other. Travis wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to think about it either way. The trucks were too close for him to dwell on what happened last night. There would be enough time for that after they got off that mountain.

Adrian, hesitantly, spoke up softly. “Yeah, Gav. I think that’s what got Matt. Too many coincidences over the last few days.”

“What was it,” Gavin wanted to keep talking. It soothed him in a weird way. The sound of their voices filling the void of the mountain’s silence was comforting. Familiar.

“When…” Adrian struggled to start. He hadn’t forgotten. He just didn’t think he’d ever tell this story or live to see it happen again. “When I was in Afghanistan, back in ‘09, our unit heard rumors about things, creatures like that living up high in the mountains over there.

We would always laugh when we heard other units talk about them like they were real. Four months into my second rotation, we had a whole COP go quiet. No comms. No check-ins. Nothing.”

“What happened,” Travis asked looking towards his long time friend.

“We were sent out to investigate and regain contact, or at the very least have their Lieutenant get his ass chewed out.”

Gavin raised himself onto his arms, absorbed. Adrian had never told them this, and Travis’ reaction confirmed it.

Adrian continued knowing that what had happened to him up there so many years ago was happening to them here and now. He struggled to get the words out. “After trying comms the whole way up the steep pass, we got to the gate and tried hailing for the guard. But…” Adrian put his head in his hands. “But no one answered. After yelling and banging on the gates and the wall it was decided that we would cut the locks and go in. We finally got into the COP. And there wasn’t anyone there. No one. And it wasn’t like the movies. There was nothing there. No bodies, no blood. Not even shell casings, no evidence of a firefight at all…”

“Adrian, the hell dude? Wouldn’t that make the news? Wouldn’t somebody have said something,” Travis was asked in disbelief. But his friend wouldn’t lie like that. Adrian wouldn’t make this up. Adrian was always the most serious of the group.

“No one said anything because there was nothing to say. The brass moved us all to different bases after that. That’s when I got moved to Germany. One of my buddies, Isaac, you know him, moved to Alaska. He hated it then, and he still does. That’s why he moved to Florida when he got out. No one talked about it. I had a closed-door meeting with the company CO about it. It was very clear he didn’t want us to ever talk about it again. He never said it outright, but the look on his face and the tone of his voi…”

 

Just as Adrian was finishing his sentence, the low, throaty growl of an engine echoed through the valley, cutting him off mid-word. Before they could stand up an ATV rolled up from behind a boulder. They were so wrapped up in Adrian’s story that none of them heard the park ranger arrive. The ranger stopped after seeing the men. The neatness of his fresh dirt-free uniform was in stark contrast to the group’s muddy, sweaty clothing.

“Howdy,” the ranger stopped the engine and raised a hand. The same way the cliché Native Americans did in those old cartoons and TV commercials.

“Holy shit! A ranger,” Gavin jumped up, finally able to feel some semblance of safety.

“You gentlemen, okay? How long have you been out here?” He stayed seated on the ATV, unmoving, like getting off hadn’t crossed his mind.

“Just a few days. Man, are we glad to see you. We saw this huge…” Gavin got cut off by a look from Adrian who hadn’t made a move.

“We got separated from our friend last night,” Travis spoke up, taking over for Gavin. “We came down the mountain over night to get our trucks. We were going to report him missing as soon as we got into town.” The ranger didn’t look at Travis as he spoke. He nodded slowly, but his eyes never left Gavin. Not curious, not concerned, just measuring. Like he was deciding something that had nothing to do with their answers.

After an uncomfortable silence, just a heartbeat too long, the ranger spoke, finally turning to Travis. “Where was this?”

“Just on this side of the ridge,” Travis pointed up the mountain

“Okay, well… Let’s get you all back to the trailhead. I assume those are your trucks parked there?”

“Yes, sir,” Travis answered.

“If I stand, I can get all three of you on this,” the ranger gestured towards the back of the ATV. “None of you are injured,” he asked. “You can ride?” The men nodded and climbed awkwardly onto the small vehicle.

The ride down the valley to the trailhead was quiet. Nothing but the faint sounds of the running water from the river that was almost all but drowned out by the hum of the small vehicle’s motor. Pulling into the parking lot the boys were happy to see their trucks. A true sign of the normalcy they desperately desired.

“I have your information from your license plates. You are free to go,” the ranger said confidently.

“’Free to go’?” Travis was confused. “We aren’t going anywhere until we find our friend.” Travis said defiantly. The ranger turned to him, staring him down with that look only lifelong authority figures seem to have mastered.

“There will be a search party, I assure you. Like I said, I have your contact information. If we need any further information from you, we will get in touch.”

“Why aren’t you on your radio or phone? Call someone, damn it! Go find our friend!” Travis couldn’t believe this. This didn’t feel right.

The ranger’s hand rested casually on the edge of the ATV seat. Not reaching for anything. Just there.

“That’s enough,” he said. Calm. Flat. “You’re exhausted, you’re shaken, and you’re leaving.”

“But…”

“You better leave before I start to think you had something to do with your friend’s disappearance. Get in your truck. Now. This isn’t a game.” No hesitation. Only finality.

“Trav, let’s go dude. Fuck this. I’m not dealing with this,” Gavin was halfway in the passenger seat. Adrian was already in the driver’s seat, engine running.

His mind was made up.

The ranger hadn’t needed details. Not the coordinates. Not the trail. Not even the name of the ridge.

Travis knew his friends knew what was best. After a decade or more relying on each other, he could tell when he was being irrational. It was time to leave. Adrian floored the truck, throwing gravel all over the back side of the lot.

Gavin looked out the side window at the mountains as they headed to the highway. He didn’t know why that bothered him more than anything else, only that the farther they drove, the more certain he became that Matt wasn’t missing. Somewhere up there, the food was hung right. The camp was clean. Everything had been done the way it was supposed to be done.

He turned his face back toward the road and said nothing.