I decided to join the posse, consequently Sylvia's not a happy camper! We had a heated argument about it last night and she ended up in tears. I don't want to disappoint her, but at the same time I feel that I have to take part in making this area safe and secure for everyone. I can't just stand by and let everything go to hell if I can be of help. … Hopefully I will be writing about our successful hunt when I get back. …

Feb 24th, 2005, Continued:

I just got back, missed our wedding and I want to get this down on paper. It is actually Tuesday the 1st of March now, but I will write this from memory.

When we formed up at the corner and waited for Mr. Jacobsen to check our gear we found that there were only 4 of us! I couldn't believe how few people showed to hunt down this thing that killed at least 4 people! This wasn't going to work well at all! I was committed to helping out, … but I began to have doubts. Mr. Jacobsen told us all that we were the only "Real Men" in the area and that no matter what happened we should be proud of what we have done today. He told us that he wanted us to call him 'Hal' and that we should be on first-name basis with eachother for the rest of our lives because we were now brothers-in-arms. It sounded kind of sappy and melodramatic at the time, … but it felt good to hear.

Just then the geekie kid from down the street 'River' came running up dressed in camo-gear and caring some wacky gun with a hose running to a backpack. He apologised for being late saying something about it taking longer to get the plunger to seal properly then he had expected!? Hal asked him what he was talking about? River had built what he called a Byzantine flame-thrower to help us fight the monster. He explained that it was something that he had been 'working on' and that it had an effective range of 15'. Hal was sceptical until River lit up a cardboard box that was lying in the street. The gun shot a stream of some kind of oil that a burning wick lit up as it came out of the nozzle. He had to re-pump the canister on his back after a few shots, but it worked pretty well. As we were watching the box burn and starting to feel a little better about our mission Sylvia walked up with her dad and a large wooden chest on a dolly. I wasn't sure where this was going to go, … I expected Sylvia to chew me out or try to convince me not to go.

What happened is even weirder, she helped me put on some armour! It turned out that her dad had 'played' in the SCA 10 years ago and wanted to donate me his gear. He had a chainmail shirt, a padded leather gambeson, leather arms and legs, heavy leather boots with steel plates, steel clamshell gauntlets, a boiled leather gorget and a spangen helm that had Viking-style goggles decorated with engraved brass! He had a large wooden knight's shield and some weapons too. I was shocked, … but as the armour went on I found that it fit really well and I felt a good deal safer in all the gear. He had a rather big Scottish broadsword with a long handle in 440C stainless steel and a matching spear and dagger. He even had this wicked compound bow with hunting arrows. I had been doing archery for years at school so I figure I can put these to good use.

I gave Sylvia a huge kiss and hug and hugged her dad too. I felt like I was invincible, … I knew that I wasn't, but it was a cool feeling. So, with all the gear on everybody started laughing, … until I pointed out that bullets hadn't done anything to the thing we were hunting. Then people started asking Sylvia's dad where they could get armour too. He told them about people he knows in the area that know how to make armour and how much it cost. It isn't cheap, and the demand would certainly make it even more expensive now. A couple of them went home to put on hockey and lacrosse gear, and Hal came out with a kevlar vest and a black leather motorcycle outfit right out of a B-Biker movie. A few of them came back with axes and stuff, and one guy had a naginata he bought from one of those replica weapons places. Except for River most of us were the active types, most of us had played contact sports and had some kind of fighting training in martial arts, boxing or kendo like me.

Anyway, … Off we went.

We headed right up the trail that the looter had run and the posse had been attacked by the big green thing. It felt weird and spooky right off the bat. Hal had taken point because he had been in the army 20 years ago and was an experienced hunter to boot. He found the spot where the previous posse had been attacked. We just stood around there feeling a little nervous while Hal tried to pick up the trail. It had been just long enough that all he was able to find were these huge footprints. I put my boot inside one of these things, … it was about twice as long and wide as my boot, and I have size 13's!

Hal headed off after getting our attention following the footprints. It wasn't too hard to follow in the dirt where it attacked the posse, but Hal had trouble following it where the trees opened up and grass covered the ground. It took a few hours but Hal was able to track it through the forest and out onto a back road. At that point we were screwed. How are you supposed to track anything on asphalt?! Luckily we were able to find where it crossed and slid down the side of the road on the other side. We made our way after it again and the trees were pretty close together here. This thing must be huge?! It had scuffed up against the trees as it passed, and left a trail that was easy enough for any of us to follow.

We followed it for hours as it made its way into the bush on the outskirts of town. Along the way we found a dog that was torn to shit and almost completely devoured. River puked his guts out, I hate to admit it, but I almost hurled too. Hal told us to keep focused, that the thing could be anywhere. He yelled at us for a few minutes because people were not paying attention to what he was saying, and then gave us a pep talk. We got our shit together and kept going.
As we got further out of town it started to get windy and clouds rolled overhead. After another hour of hiking it started to rain. None of us were very happy with this development. We were pulling out our rain ponchos when Hal spotted something moving in the trees ahead of us. We all pulled out our weapons. Hal pulled out his rifle and through himself up against a tree to brace himself. River whipped out a lighter and lit the wick on the flame-thrower. I raised my shield and drew my sword. It felt funny drawing a sword, like I was playing D&D or something, but it sure felt good in my hand! Hal told us in a stage whisper to be quiet. We all held our breath and tried to see what he was looking at.

All of a sudden his rifle went off, we all jumped out of our skins. We heard this tremendous roaring yell, full of rage and pain. It was much too deep and loud to be human, but it didn't sound like any animal I had ever heard. Hal was saying over and over, "I got 'em, I got 'em!" Just as we were going to go over and take a look as we saw this huge thing coming running down the hill toward us. It had a nasty hole in its chest just where it's heart should be, but it didn't seem to be slowing it down.

Hal popped off a few more shots at it, as well as Rick and Tyr. It stumbled and ran into a tree as one shot took a huge chunk out of its neck but it kept coming. I was practically shitting myself as it ran up to us. It was roaring like a bull elephant with its dick caught in a leg-hold trap. It took a swipe at Hal with its huge clawed hands and took his left arm off at the elbow as he raised his rifle up defensively! Rick was knocked down and rolled into a tree a few yards down the slope. River opened up with the flame-thrower and toasted him pretty good. The burning oil stuck to him like glue, burning him all over his chest, left arm and head. It roared again and slashed at River. He tried to jump out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. The thing ripped his head off and it went flying into the bushes. His body dropped like a sack of potatoes. I took a swipe at it and hacked a nasty gash in his thigh. He began to totter back and forth and then fell down.

I started hacking at it, chopping and chopping at it, … but I could see the tissue knitting back together as I watched. I grabbed the flame-thrower and lit him up as Rick and Tyr watched. They were in total shock just standing there with their mouths hanging open. Hal was cinching his belt tight around the stump of his left arm, blood running down his chin from the tip of his tongue that he had bit off. The claws of the thing had shredded the severed part of Hal's arm into a bloody mess. I emptied the canister of oil on that thing and we stood back and watched it die. One of the thing's fingers was wiggling around on the ground as Tyr kicked it into the fire. We stood there watching it burn for what seemed hours. At last Hal loosened off the tourniquet on his arm for a couple of seconds and told us all we had to get help, … somebody to help with River's body.

continued…