Six months ago, I got laid off. About a month later, my former employer offered to hire me back as a contractor. Contractors were getting two thirds of the former wage and no benefits. Working for the company was a soul crushing experience. I decided if I was going to get less money either way, I was going to be less stressed working elsewhere.
I spent months scouring job boards and websites trying to find new work. There was enough money in my account to help me survive, but things were getting tight. Missing dinners out with friends didn’t bother me. Neither did drinking at home instead of meeting up at the bar. Reality sets in when ComEd threatens to shut off the power and Nicor threatens to shut off the gas though.
Even though I’d applied to numerous jobs, no one was getting back. I had seven years of experience at my last company, but that didn’t seem to be enough. The interviews I did have went nowhere. Day after day I was losing hope and what little money I had left.
Every afternoon I would go to the local forest preserve, Hobbs Woods. My trips to the preserve served as a tiny vacation from my job search. Some days I would run along the path, but most days I just walked. The rustle of the wind blowing through the leaves and the bird song brought me a little bit of peace.
About two weeks ago, there was a sign at the preserve’s entrance:
NOW HIRING FOREST RANGERS! COMPETITIVE PAY. WILL TRAIN. APPLY ON OUR WEBSITE.
I took a picture of the sign so I could check out the website when I got home. As I walked the path that day, I thought about how I could get paid to be here. It might not be glamourous work, but it’s better to wander the woods than be trapped in an office or factory. Once I got to the other end of the path, I decided to run home and apply.
When I saw how much the job paid, I lost some of my initial enthusiasm. The benefits weren’t great either. For a few minutes I sat there bummed out. I looked at my email to see if there were any new nibbles on my applications, but no one had reached out to me. My phone sent me a notification:
ComEd bill due tomorrow.
My heart sank. Staying home instead of seeing friends had turned into a steady diet of cereal and ramen only. There was maybe enough money for a month before I’d be living in my car, so I decided to apply for the ranger job. It wasn’t much, but I would make a few dollars less an hour than I would working as a contractor at my old job.
Two days later I had an interview at the county forest preserve’s office. The man who interviewed me had a stern look, but he was almost patronizing. After a brief interview, he shook my hand and welcomed me to the team.
The following afternoon I met with Ranger Jamie Martinez. He was going to train me in my new duties. His office in the center of the preserve was the size of a small hut. I met him by the bulletin boards located in front of the small building. The first thing Jamie explained to me was the notices on the boards.
First there was a list of upcoming events. To the right of the events notice, were the permit requests. Visitors needed to apply for permits in case they wanted to hold an event on the grounds, go fishing, or take photographs meant for commercial use.
Next to the permit requests, was information about the plants and animals that could be found around the preserve. A bright orange piece of paper warned visitors that it was tick season. Visitors were urged to take precautions like sticking to certain paths and wearing pants instead of shorts.
There were also notices for missing pets. Amidst the missing pet notices there was one about a missing baby. The baby was on the news about a month ago, though the story has been overshadowed by fresher tragedies. I asked Jamie if a lot of people went missing in the preserve.
He said people went missing, but it wasn’t a regular occurrence. Pets were more likely to go missing here. According to him, it was more likely to catch people fucking in the bushes or overdosing under a tree. Littering and unlicensed fishing were the majority of our human problem.
After explaining the notices, he told me what our shift duties would be like. In the day we would deal with visitors and perform basic maintenance. At night we would monitor animal activity and send trespassers on their way.
Jamie took me under his wing for my first few days. We spent most of our time on menial tasks. Picking up litter, putting up signs, and clearing obstructions on the side paths. One day we did a control burn. As the brush went up, I swore I saw some large animal scurry away from the flames.
If time allowed, we ate lunch by the pond. Fishermen lined the shores, but rarely caught anything. Jamie thought some predator had eaten all the fish a long time ago. I didn’t care, since I don’t fish.
A couple days ago Jamie handed me a walkie talkie. He said I was ready to do my own patrols, and to report back if there was anything out of the ordinary.
Most of that day was spent posting signs about pollen count and ticks. My human interaction was limited to a teenager and a couple. The teenager was smoking next to dry brush, and the couple was going at it in the back of their SUV. I told both parties to move a long and went back to my signs.
Late in the afternoon Jamie called me on the walkie talkie. A snapping turtle was lying in the middle of the path. He wanted me to coax it back to the pond. A woman was jogging around the turtle when I arrived. She smiled as she passed and did a “that a way” with her thumb.
Turtles are usually cute creatures, but this thing looked like something out of a monster movie. Its tail was long, and its skin was scaly. I reached down to pick it up, but it snapped at me. It had a long neck that belonged on a brontosaurus. For ten minutes I tried to pick the turtle up.
I could hear the jogger coming up from behind me. When she reached me, she leaned down and picked the turtle up by its sides. She carried it off the path and into the weeds by that lined the pond. Then she ran off without saying a word. I was grateful but embarrassed.
The turtle tried making its way back to the path, but I stepped forward. It raised its head and hissed at me, but I managed to shew it back into the water. There was a squish under my boot as I stepped closer to the water. I looked down and saw dozens of dead fish lining the shore. They were all partially eaten.
I radioed to Jamie, but he told me not to worry about the dead fish. Dead wildlife was a normal part of the job. It was rare for it to be a cause of concern. Then he thanked me for getting the snapping turtle back to the pond. I didn’t tell him about the jogger. He was glad I could handle myself on my own, especially since my next shift would be my first at night.
That night I got to the preserve right before dusk. Jamie had a serious look on his face when I saw him. I asked him if something was wrong. He told me that he found a deer carcass with most of its organs removed. Someone from the county office determined this was caused by a large predator. Hunters were being sent by the county office to find and cull the predator.
Jamie took me aside and handed me a can. When I asked what it was, he shooshed me. He told me the hunters would have rifles, but we aren’t given service weapons. The can was a strong pepper spray meant for wildlife. I wasn’t supposed to have it, but he didn’t want me out there defenseless. Jamie told me to radio him in case I saw anything out of the ordinary.
We set out into the woods. The sun sank behind the horizon, draining all the color from the sky. There was no sound but the wind blowing through the leaves. Trees and flowers become little more than shadows. Off in the distance, I thought I saw something large peering from behind a tree.
I reached to get my walkie talkie, keeping my eyes on the shape. It slipped from my hands and fell to the ground. The battery had busted out of the back and there was slight damage to the display. I knelt down and put the battery back in. When I tested it, Jamie’s voice came back garbled.
When I stood up, I pointed my flashlight out to the tree in the distance. Whatever was standing there was gone. I ran the light across the trees, but there was nothing. Child-like fears of the dark flooded my thoughts.
Further down the path I heard a noise. I flashed the light towards its source but didn’t see anything. It sounded like a whimper. I stepped closer to hear better. The closer I got, the more the sound became familiar. It was a baby crying.
I ran towards the sound, keeping my flashlight aimed at the origin. I could see some movement in the weeds as I got closer. The crying stopped when I was about ten feet away. As soon as I got to the spot, I spread the tall grass apart. No baby was lying on the forest floor.
The crying started up again, only this time it was thirty feet deeper into the woods. I ran into the woods, my flashlight bobbing all over. Looking down, all I could see was dried brush. I reached for my walkie talkie, this time with a death grip. It made squawking sounds, but I called out to Jamie all the same.
The crying started up again. Something primal in me made me approach slowly. I kept my flashlight fixed towards the source of the sound. When I was almost ten feet away from the crying, a twig snapped under my foot. I stopped in my place.
A large mass, about ten feet tall, stood up in front of me. The mass had purplish black skin that was partially covered in a charcoal-colored fur. It stretched out its long arms. Their ends looked like balls; that is until the balls opened up revealing long claws that resembled an eagle’s.
The eyes that peered back at me looked like they belonged to a crocodile. To crown the head, there were large horns or antlers. The thing had a large mouth. Once its claws were fully opened, the thing opened its large mouth and let out a noise.
“WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
Its large mouth was lined with blade sized teeth. In between them, I could see the heads and fins of fish, and maybe the tail of a snapping turtle. The smell that came from its mouth was unbelievably disgusting. Then the thing ran at me.
Within a few steps, I could tell there was no way I could outrun this creature. I ran for a few feet and started to climb the closest tree. The ground was shaking below as I made my way up the trunk. I climbed to the lowest branch and scrambled for the next.
A claw swiped six inches from my face, slashing into the bark of the tree. I made a narrow escape onto the next branch as the other claw swiped where I was just a second before. The branch cracked; a huge gouge scratched into it.
“WAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
I looked down and saw the thing’s mouth open a few feet below my feet. The creature wrapped an arm around the base of the tree. It did its best to climb it with its hooved feet, but it had no luck. The crocodile eyes stared at me with hungry intent. As I made my way up to the third branch, I saw the thing dig its talons into the tree bark. When it was sure its grip was secure, the thing stopped clawing and started climbing.
My walkie talkie fell to the ground, then my flashlight. Now I was climbing in the dark, hoping to avoid being eaten alive. There was a clang as I slammed into the tree. When I reached down to feel what it was, I found the pepper spray Jamie had given me earlier.
“WAAAAAAAAAHH!”
I pulled the tab on the can and prayed that I was aiming the nozzle in the right direction. The button went down. A hiss filled the air as I breathed in fire. Below I could feel the thing losing its grip on the tree. I looked through the haze caused by the spray and saw the creature swatting the air. It was making a choking sound and shaking its head violently from left to right.
After a few seconds, the creature stumbled backwards. I could see it running into the woods on all fours. It looked somewhat disoriented as it made its retreat. I was glued to the tree for a minute. Once I hit the ground, I ran back to the center of the preserve.
When I reached the building, I was almost out of breath. My eyes and skin were burning, and my lungs were struggling. Jamie practically caught me and told me to get inside. He sat me down and applied first aid. When he came back, he handed me a cup of coffee and sat down next to me.
He asked me what happened. I didn’t know how to respond. Lots of employers don’t take everyday hazards seriously. How would it sound if I told Jamie I was covered in pepper spray because I fought a fucking monster?
After a brief silence, Jamie told me he’d seen it too. I tried to play it off, like I didn’t understand what he meant. When he started to describe the creature in detail, I knew.
The first time he saw it was a year ago. It was burrowing into the soil late afternoon. He didn’t know if that was its home or where it laid in wait. Clumps of dirt flew into the air as the creature dug like a piece of heavy equipment. Jamie’s radio squawked, and the thing ran into the weeds.
His second encounter was more eventful. On one of his night shifts, another ranger had reported an intruder wandering the preserve. Jamie went to check the area out. When he got there, he heard a slurping noise. He scanned the area with his flashlight.
When he found the source of the sound his blood ran cold. The creature was slurping entrails out of the top half of the intruder. It’s crocodile eyes found Jamie. It didn’t run at him or even make a sound. The creature just looked at Jamie as it ate its gruesome meal.
Jamie told his superiors what he had seen, but they brushed him off. All that remained of the scene in the morning was a drying pool of blood. Instead of investigating the matter, the county office gave Jamie a few days off. They wanted him to take a drug test and a psych eval when he returned.
I asked Jamie why he didn’t tell me. He said he didn’t want to believe. Perhaps it was his imagination, just like county told him. Once he saw me rushing in though, he knew that it was all real.
When I asked what we should do, Jamie said we tell county there’s a large predator. We’d say someone let a pet tiger loose when it got too big or something. They might call bullshit but if we cry monster, they’ll just think we’re crazy.
I don’t know what to do next. I’m finally starting to have a little breathing room money wise. Living in my car is postponed for now. Jamie has been a good mentor and a good friend. I don’t want to leave him hanging.
Still, I get a chill up my spine anytime I hear a baby cry now. I don’t have that sense peace when I walk through Hobbs Woods anymore. Sometimes I see something out of the corner of my eye when I’m on patrol.
What should I do?