I'm an SaR Officer... (3)

I'm sorry I haven't been around for so long. I had an accident, a pretty bad one. I'll talk about it some other time.

There's been an outbreak here. It started about three weeks ago, when the leaves were just turning. Tourists poured in from all over the country-it happens every year-to go camping before the first snow and take pictures. It's our town's last tourist season before everything shuts down for the winter, and we're used to handling the influx of people. But with that many people, of course you're going to see a big increase in accidents and reports. A lot of the reports are the usual bear, Bigfoot, wildcat, and serial killer sightings. An equal amount are fires, gunshots, disorderly conduct, and basic first aid calls. I cannot stress enough how mundane most of our days are, in terms of unusual events. We can go months, sometimes years, without any really huge incidents. But, that being said, we seem to be in the middle of an outbreak.

In the last three weeks, we've had more unusual reports than we have in the past eight months combined. Maybe it's because people are paying attention. But isn't it equally possible that people are hysterical? Maybe they just want to see things because they've hear about them and want their own stories to tell. A lot of them are probably just that.

This is one of the ones that fit into the tiny percent of reports that we we can't shelf and dismiss as coincidence. One of the few with physical evidence.

I got a report about a possible body sighting and was dispatched to check it out. The callers were waiting out by the trailhead for me, a mom and her two daughters. One of the girls-the taller one, who I'll call MK-was talking about how she instantly recognized the bones as human, and made it clear that they hadn't disturbed anything at all. The shorter one-bright-green-haired SK-was quiet. I asked her if she'd seen anything. She seemed visibly upset by the experience and didn't say much.

MK explained that they'd been out hiking to do some scouting. I didn't ask what she meant, so she continued and clarified that they had been looking for anything unusual. Her mother broke in and assured me that they weren't looking for trouble. They'd heard stories about things going on in the woods, and were simply using it as an excuse to get out and do a bit of hiking before winter. SK stayed close to her mother and only nodded in agreement at the appropriate points.

At about the half-mile marker, MK pointed off the trail ahead of us. The bone stood out against the orange and reds of the fallen leaves where it had fallen and it was easy to spot. Long, curved, it was completely clean of any flesh or muscle. A foot away, leading into the trees and away from the path, a slightly larger one, also clean, lay haphazardly on top of a fallen branch. We were careful to skirt around it as we passed. Four more behind that led into the thicket they'd described, and tucked up under a bush was the torso. The mother backed away and SK took her arm and held it tightly. MK knelt beside me, frowning. We inspected it together.

Whoever he had been, he hadn't been toned. Bits of dead leaves and bark were stuck in the thatch of thick chest hair. After a brief survey of the area, we both felt certain that the rest of the man wasn't nearby. Nothing had been disturbed. What we had was a segment beginning slightly below the armpits and ending just below the last rib.

"That's not all though. Look." MK got to her feet and retrieved a small branch that she used to lift the flesh with. Doing this, we could peer inside the body cavity to see that it had been hollowed out. The remaining ribs rattled loosely, attached to nothing. The spine was gone. The wound was bloodless and surgical in precision. We inspected the edges, which were impossibly clean. There were no toolmarks, no bruising. Aside from the obvious, it wasn't clear what this man had died of. MK began offering her own theories, ranging from specialized equipment to some kind of 'cold' laser, when behind us a small voice piped up.

"Why are you lying?"

MK turned the stick over in her hands before snapping it and throwing it away. I got to my feet and looked at SK. Her arm still locked around her mother's, they held each other tightly.

"It was the stairs. That's why we're out here." SK glanced at the trees. "And that's what this was. Right? It's like the hand... That tree..."

Her eyes were watery and wide.

"Isn't that what this was?"

I could feel MK staring at the back of my head.

"Let's go." I finally said. "We can't be here."

SK's face tightened and she turned, leading her mother in a brisk walk back to the path. MK didn't follow.

"That's it?" She called at me. "Aren't you calling it in?"

"Let's go." I said again.

I could hear her charge up the path and pass me with a furious glance. She passed her sister and mother, and beat us back with time to spare. I walked them back to the car, leading them carefully away from the station without letting them stop. Before they left, SK turned to me again.

"I was right, wasn't I?"

I didn't say anything.

She looked at me for a little longer before climbing in her car. She watched me until they were too far for her to see me anymore.