We watched as the hairy creatures tore through our camp. They shredded our bags, our clothes, and ate all the food. It took them less than a couple minutes to destroy and devour everything. It looked like we would be able to wait them out until I watched one of them, the tallest of the three, pick up Sabrina’s camera and fiddle with it. Just when the beast had the flash pointed at its face, it went off.

The creatures freaked out.

I burst out laughing.

Bad move.

The two that weren’t blinded by the flash spun, spotted us hiding in the woods, and started running toward us. They had faces like gorillas with sharp teeth and flat, leathery, black faces. I’d always wondered how these creatures had maintained their legendary status and avoided being photographed or captured. Watching them run at us I began to understand . . . everybody who ever saw one had died.

I wasn’t planning on becoming their next victim and I sure as shit wasn’t gonna let them get Sabrina. I stood my ground and aimed at the charging wild men, screaming for Sabrina to do the same as I fired.

I hit one in the shoulder and the other in the leg. They both stumbled and slowed, but they didn’t stop. Sabrina emptied the .38, but didn’t hit a thing. I evaluated our options, then grabbed her and ran like hell into the darkness with those things roaring at our heels.

It was a crapshoot. Either we’d smack into a tree or those things would get us. We needed time to hide. I turned, without giving Sabrina warning, and fired. One of the creatures’ ears exploded. The other flailed and fell because of the flash. I could have finished them, but I wasn’t alone. Time was more valuable than a kill. Lucky for the Bigfeets.

By now, my eyes had adjusted to the dark enough for me to make out where the trees were and where they weren’t. I steered us through the forest as fast as we could move, but within seconds we could hear the creatures again. From the sounds of their growling I could tell the third had joined them in the hunt. I could also tell they’d fanned out. Sounds came from behind, right, and left. They were going to surround us. They were as smart as they were ugly.

Then up ahead I saw something. It looked like a tower of some sort. I pointed it out to Sabrina, and we ran toward it as fast as we could. As we got closer I could see there was more to the structure, that most of it was obscured by ivy and other overgrown foliage. As we came up on what was a short guard tower, we also saw a long stretch of rotted chain-link fence and beyond that, a bunker-like structure embedded and abandoned in the woods.