Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre(91)

Maybe I’m totally grasping at straws here. Maybe they did just get caught in a storm. For all I know, their bodies are on a Tacoma slab. I check every week, and so far, no remains match.

But if by some miracle they kept stalking those things, killing them one by one…living off them long enough to…find the others? We haven’t talked about this till now. There can’t just be one troop out there. That wouldn’t be enough to sustain the species. What if Kate and Pal let those young mothers live just long enough to lead them to another troop? Hard to believe, I know, but so is everything about this story.

At this point the figure from the game trails has come down to meet us. It is Gary Nelson, McCray’s formerly estranged husband. The two men share a long embrace. Gary shows McCray the map in his gloved right hand, and the red grease pencil marks he’s made. McCray utters a resigned sigh and unslings his rifle.

Hard to accept why she left the journal behind. She never said it, but I know. One journey ends, another begins. Hard to reconcile the memories of my soft, sensitive baby sister with the predator that might be out there now. Mother of a tribe of two. The killer apes.

The wind howls in the distance. At least I think it’s the wind.

You hear that?





*1 NOAA: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

*2 POES: Polar Operational Environmental Satellite.





       To Henry Michael Brooks: May you conquer all your fears.





First and foremost, a giant, Sasquatch-sized thank-you to Thomas Tull, who generously gave me back the novel rights for a movie I once sold to him.

To my editing team, Julian Pavia and Sarah Peed, for their relentless diligence and objectivity.

To Carolyn Driedger (USGS), Leslie C. Gordon (USGS, Ret.), and Professor Barry Voight of Penn State for their technical help with the Rainier eruption.

To my friends Kevin and Jo for introducing me to the town that inspired Greenloop, and to Jo’s brother John for his technological guidance in turning that inspiration into reality.

To Rachel and Adam Teller for their advice on glassblowing.

To Diana Harlin and Jonny Small for their culinary and pop-culture references.

To Nate Pugh for his knowledge of home construction, Cousin Robert Wu for kitchen knives, and Arigon Starr for her navigation through the world of Sasquatch in Native American cultures.

To Rosemary Clarkson at the Darwin Correspondence Project for setting me straight on the real author of that Darwin quote.

To Major John Spencer (US Army, Ret.) for his military language.

Professor Lionel Beehner (United States Military Academy at West Point) and Major Michael Jackson (US Army) for introducing me to my Bosnian experts.

And to those experts, Jasmin Mujanovic and Leila Disdarevic, who expertly brought Mostar to life.

To my agent, Jonny Geller, who filled some very big shoes.

To my childhood friend Richard Cade, for his unforgettable, second-grade declaration that “Bigfoot is indestructible!”

And, always, to my brilliant, supportive, and superhumanly patient wife, Michelle.