Forsaken An American Sasquatch Tale - By Christine Conder Page 0,28

the vow of freedom at the end of their journey.

The group intended to shelter near the creek through winter and then, in the spring, break camp and head southwest. They believed the woods, located a stone’s throw from the creek and dense with evergreen and wildlife, would protect and sustain them for the next several months.

Two of the men, Joshua Thomas and Henry Fleming, considered themselves leaders of the group and laughed the loudest. Responsible for robbing the first U.S. Mint in Plymouth two years previous, they’d made out with four sacks of silver pine tree shillings.

Two of the other men in their party had acted as lookouts, Jeremiah Brewster and Samuel Flood, and therefore were each promised a share. All four men brought their wives, children and other various members of their families, and each man would get one bag of silver to divvy up when they got to the Promised Land they’d heard so much about.

The Indians intentionally encouraged the colonists to stay beside the creek because they knew a handful of their people, other refugees, had established in a valley just beyond the woods, and waited for them. First one, and then the other, took the opportunity when matters became especially raucous and slipped away into the shadows. They probably would have gotten away unseen, except the smaller of the two, the one missing an eyebrow, tripped over a pitcher as he made off with a bag of silver.

* * *

Liberty gave a wan smile, it was almost perfect. Except the smaller Indian hadn’t been missing an eyebrow, but rather an eye. Just as Sarah had told it to her, she’d passed the legend on to her own daughter.

She skimmed the rest.

* * *

The colonists, both the men and the women, gave chase. Grabbed up weapons, followed the rogue Indians through the forest, down into the valley, and launched a frenzied attack against the tiny establishment. Outnumbered, the Indian tribe was slaughtered in swift fashion. Afterward, the colonists raided what little the Indian tribe had for possessions. With blood lust and greed in their eyes, they gathered up fur blankets, calf skins filled with sweet wine, dried meat, and along with the recovered silver, hauled the supplies back to their camp.

When they arrived, Joshua’s wife, Constance, discovered a young Indian woman had escaped somehow and made it inside their campsite.

They surrounded her, kicked and stabbed her countless times with knives that still dripped with her kinsmen’s blood. Without remorse, they left the body where it crumpled to the ground, a short distance from the campfire.

They rejoiced at their good fortune. Laughed, rolled around on the fur and drank themselves full of the tribes’ spirits until they collapsed in a state of oblivion. Each believed they were dreaming when the young Indian woman rose from the dead.

They heard the sound of a drum, and watched in mild amusement as the wounds in her chest gaped and puckered with every beat. She flashed in and out of their sight. Quick as they’d turn, she’d appear in front of another. She began to sway, a most provocative dance, and sang words they didn’t understand. But her voice, a soothing harmony, calmed their fears.

Behind them, the woods burned, but they saw it as an incredible sunset. Fire flowed down the river and they yearned to jump into the current. Their children screamed, a joyous hymn to their ears, as the fire reached and then engulfed the lean-to. As if they’d imbibed on too much goodness and their bodies couldn’t handle another minute of it, they each fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of a Promised Land.

Constance--the first to come to--found herself surrounded by beasts. She thought it was a nightmare at first, until she stood up and saw her own arm, large and covered in fur. With trepidation, she looked down at the rest of herself and screamed. Only it came out a roar and woke the other beasts. Amid a flurry of fear and chaos, they began to attack one another.

There were a few casualties before they eventually scattered. Some fled to the woods, others down the creek and into the water. All sought answers, but none were found. Over the span of days, they came to the realization they’d been changed, cursed somehow, and the survivors banded together for comfort.

Later in winter, when they stumbled upon a cave, they discovered they transformed back into human form when they went below the ground’s surface. They searched far and wide for