Monsters in the Mountains Ch. 03

"Yes, he was very helpful." Jordan answered for Megan.

"I'm glad to hear it." Dr. Stein replied. "He has agreed to partner with us on our medical needs, including freeing up a nurse, an OB/GYN and a pediatric doctor to be your instructors three days a week."

"Thank you. I'm actually looking forward to that!" Megan said enthusiastically.

"I'm glad to hear that. Where do we stand on the horse situation?" Dr. Stein asked.

"We bought three yesterday, and are going to pick them up after we finish breakfast." Jordan answered.

"Glad to hear it." Dr. Stein said. "We'll make arrangements for boarding there in Gunnison."

Jordan and the two women thanked Dr. Stein, and said their goodbyes.

"Now that I've confirmed I'm driving to Denver, I want to call my parents." Jordan said.

He went and found his phone in his bedroom, and dialed the number.

"Hi, Jordan!" His mother answered congenially. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Good morning, mom. I'm coming down to Denver tonight, and thought I might take you and dad out to dinner." Jordan replied.

"Nonsense. If you're driving all the way down here, I'll make you dinner. What time will you be coming, and how late are you staying?" She asked.

"I'm visiting a friend at the hospital, and will probably be there around six tonight." Jordan said.

"You're not driving back to Gunnison after dark, are you?" His mother asked.

"No, I was hoping to crash at your place." Jordan said.

"Of course, sweetie, you're always welcome here." She replied. "This friend in the hospital, guy or girl?"

"She's a female friend, her name is Jane." Jordan attempted the truth.

"Are you getting her flowers?" His mother asked.

"No, mom. I'll be riding my motorcycle down, and she's in a coma." Jordan replied irritated.

"Oh my! What happened to her?" She prodded for details.

"She was grabbed by a pair of guys and kidnapped and beaten." Jordan stuck to the truth, as much as he could.

"My god, what's this world coming to?" His mom wondered.

"Seriously. I feel so bad for her." Jordan answered.

"Which hospital will you be at?" His mother asked.

"It's a private facility attached to the Rose Medical center campus." Jordan answered.

"Alright, Jordan. We'll see you around 6." She said. They exchanged goodbyes and hung up.

***

An hour later, Jordan pulled his pickup truck up to Jason Kabat's farm west of Gunnison. Carol Kabat came out of the main house as they pulled up.

She was a beautiful older woman with long, jet black hair and deep lines in her dark skin. She looked to be at least part Hispanic or Native American.

Jordan introduced himself, and explained that he was there to pick up the three horses.

"So you're the one who finally broke Brutus, huh?" Carol asked. "Jason left early for an exposition down in Fort Collins. I can help you get loaded up. The trailer you bought is over here."

She led them around the barn to a row of horse trailers along the outside wall. "Yours is this one." She said, pointing. "Jason loaded your tack and your hay bales last night, you just need to hook up your truck and go get your horses."

Jordan pulled his truck around and backed up to the long white trailer, letting Carol guide him until the ball was in place. She showed him how to lower the tongue of the trailer onto the ball, and hook-up chains and electrical connections.

The three women climbed into his truck and Jordan pulled away, driving towards the pasture where Brutus, Dixie and Rose were kept.

"Can I ask how you managed to ride Brutus?" Carol asked Jordan in the front seat.

"I just climbed up on his back." Jordan answered.

"Yeah, that's what Jason told me. Still..." Carol seemed to contemplate something for a moment. "Jason thinks I'm crazy, but I believe that horses can read people. After all the riders I've seen that idiot buck off his back, I just thought Brutus was a stupid bastard. Maybe he was just waiting for the right person to ride him."

"I normally don't believe in all that mumbo-jumbo either, but there is something about that horse." Jordan said. "I could just see trust... respect in his eyes the first time he came walking up to me."

Carol smiled at him. "So what's y'all three's relationship to each other?"

Megan sat forward, sticking her head between the seats. "We're both fucking him." She said matter-of-factly.

Carol laughed. "We're selling our stallion to a stallion." She said. "And you're both okay with his relationship with the other?"

"Definitely." Megan said happily. Jordan could see her put her hand on Kaitlin's in the rear-view mirror.

"I was a little weird with it at first, but I don't think I could imagine being with Jordan without Megan at this point." Kaitlin admitted. "They were a package deal when I came along, and I find I like them better that way."

"So you two are like..." Carol left the question hanging in the air, to be interpreted by the two women.

"Nope." Megan said. "Not lesbians or bisexuals, just good friends who share a boyfriend."

"Jason was wondering about that last night. He got the feeling you both were sleeping with him, but felt too awkward to ask any of you about it." Carol said.

"It's unconventional, but it works." Kaitlin admitted.

"You're awfully quiet about all of this." Carol prodded Jordan.

"Not at all. I'm the luckiest man alive." Jordan said.

"I think Jason would agree with you." Carol said. "Just pull up here." She pointed at a metal gate in a barbed-wire fence. "I'll open the gate for you."

Carol hopped out of the truck, and swung open the black metal pipes that made up the gate. Jordan pulled through, and waited while Carol closed the gate behind the trailer, then climbed back in the truck.

"There's no need to go chasing them, just get the trailer turned around, and I'll help you round the horses up. Dixie for sure will come when called." Carol said.

Jordan drove in a big circle until the truck was once again pointed at the gate. Carol hopped out, and Jordan, Megan and Kaitlin followed.

"DIXIE!" Carol called, and the chestnut mare came trotting over. "ROSE! BRUTUS!" Rose came slowly plodding, but Brutus only raised his head, watching Rose approach the humans. "Are you sure you want him?" Carol asked. "I'm not sure we've ever had a more stubborn horse. I asked Jason to castrate him just out of spite, but that man's a sucker for a pretty silver horse. He claims Brutus is just spirited."

"BRUTUS!" Jordan called, and the large silver came running, passing Rose on his way to greet his new human rider.

Carol jumped out of the way as Brutus barreled towards Jordan, nearly pushing Jordan out of the big horse's path. Jordan merely extended his hand, and Brutus skidded to a stop, leaping with joy at seeing Jordan again.

"Oh, sure, now you're a playful foal!" Carol yelled at the big horse who was prancing around like a small dog whose owner just came home.

Jordan reached a hand out and the big horse pressed the top of his head against Jordan's chest. Jordan put both hands on his head, and scratched behind his ears.

"Well I'll be dammed. That horse really has taken a shine to you." Carol said. "I wasn't even sure he knew his name."

The four humans worked to get the three horses loaded. Carol tried pulling Brutus into the trailer last, but he shook his head and fought her.

Jordan came up on his other side and put one hand on his neck, talking calmly, and gently pushing the silver stallion into the trailer. Brutus took direction from Jordan, lowering his head and walking calmly into the trailer. cCarol closed the door.

Carol walked up to Jordan and pulled him into a hug, whispering into his ear.

"It's not mumbo-jumbo. Some people are old souls, they create and attract love in their lives. Brutus can see you for what you are. Those two women see it too. You're a good man." Carol kissed his cheek and then took a step back.

She spoke louder then, "Alright, I think that's about it. I'll ride back to the house with you, and let you be on your way."

They rode in silence to the house, where Carol got out and waved goodbye. "Enjoy those horses, and call me if there's any questions you have."

Jordan waved back as Kaitlin climbed up to the front seat.

"What did she whisper to you after we loaded the horses?" she asked Jordan.

"I'm not sure." Jordan replied uncomfortably.

***

An hour and a half later, Jordan was pulling through the gate that accessed his property.

There was barely enough room between trees for Jordan to turn the trailer around before he parked.

Megan helped Kaitlin saddle two horses, while Jordan disconnected the trailer and got the motorcycle out of the bed of his truck.

He unloaded most of one of the boxes of food into his saddlebags, and strapped the other box to the rear seat of his motorcycle with bungee cords.

"You really should take your truck to Denver." Megan offered. "Your shoulder isn't up for four hours each way of riding.

"Just leave us the motorcycle, and we can ride it back to town if we need anything."

"I'll be fine." Jordan protested. "I'll save gas, and the bike is fun to ride, plus it's faster."

"You're a millionaire with a bum shoulder who's worried about gas money?" Megan scolded him.

Jordan found it strange to waste money like that, but Megan made an excellent point. The thought of riding his motorcycle for hours today and tomorrow made his shoulder ache.

"Alright. You win. I'll take the truck." Jordan relented.

"You came all this way. At least tell me that you are going down the trail to see the girls." Megan pleaded while Kaitlin checked the saddle on Dixie.

"Of course. I don't want to miss the Bigfoot's first encounter with horses." Jordan replied.

"They'll love them." Kaitlin argued. "The Bigfoot on my parents' ranch are a lot calmer with horses around."

"They also see horses regularly." Jordan replied. "To my knowledge there haven't been any horses up here since Enoch was killed. This will be something new that none of these girls has ever seen."

Suddenly Jordan was worried that he was pushing too many changes too fast on his Bigfoot family. It was too late to go back on the horses though.

He did wonder how they were doing with so much upheaval in the last month. A new, human Alpha, two new human females, a cabin being built, Jane's two near-fatal beatings, and now horses.

Any normal group of Bigfoot would have fled for quieter territory by now. Jordan wondered again why the females stayed, even though they had to be under intense stress.

Kaitlin finished saddling the two horses, putting only a bridle on Brutus, and they were off. Megan rode Rose, and Kaitlin rode Dixie, leading Brutus by a rope attached to his reins.

Jordan rode the motorcycle, and it had the intended effect of rousing all of the Bigfoot out of the mine to greet them as they rode up. They stopped at the small cabin that his uncle Ira had built.

Jordan saw them first, brown blurs moving among the trees. He climbed off his motorcycle and removed his helmet.

Wilma was the first one to reach him. She greeted him like always, leaning down and burying her face in Jordan's neck. Little Pebbles was in her arms, and Jordan took the baby from her, embracing the fuzzy little girl, and stretching up to nuzzle Wilma back.

Sarah came next, carrying Bam-Bam. Jordan took the second child, now holding a small Bigfoot in each arm. He was surprised when Wilma gave him up without a second thought.

He turned and saw the two mothers carefully studying the three horses, and watching the two human women on their backs.

There was no fear in their expressions, nor was there excitement or happiness, merely curiosity. The rest of the Bigfoot ladies gathered in a semi-circle around the horses.

If the Bigfoot were nonplussed by the horses, the horses were made nervous by the presence of the furry giants.

"Brutus!" Jordan called, and approached the big stallion.

Brutus walked past Dixie and Kaitlin, and Kaitlin let out rope to allow Brutus to approach. Jordan reached the big horse and touched his forehead to Brutus's, since his arms were full of the toddlers.

Bam-bam reached a hand out and touched Brutus's head, and Pebbles followed suit, pulling on his mane. The big horse tossed his head, but allowed the children to pet him.

The rest of the adult Bigfoot came forward and each placed a giant hand on the horses. Brutus was calm, but Rose and Dixie required reassurance from their riders.

Kaitlin tossed Brutus's rope to Megan, then called "Back!" and Dixie shuffled backwards a few steps. "Alright girl, let's show them what you can do." She said, turning the horse, and then she urged Dixie forwards.

The Bigfoot hooted as Kaitlin tore off down a footpath through the high grass. Wilma took off after her, racing at first, but then running alongside Kaitlin and Dixie.

Jordan watched them with a pang of jealousy, wishing that he was tearing across the valley on horseback running with the Bigfoot.

Then he looked down at the toddlers in his arms. Bam-Bam lay a head on his shoulder, cuddling tight, and Pebbles clung on around his neck, watching her mother run in the daylight. Jordan felt suddenly very grown-up.

He looked up at Megan who was watching him with a content grin on her face. He looked around at the Bigfoot, and saw Sarah and Ginger watching him with the same smiling eyes.

Missy and Jill watched Kaitlin and Wilma running until they disappeared up the hill behind a copse of trees and over the ridge.

Megan's smile was so beautiful that he had to preserve the moment. Jordan struggled with one hand to pull out his phone and snap a picture. Pebbles stirred uneasily, so Jordan returned his phone to his pocket and hugged the little girl.

The four remaining Bigfoot turned and started heading back for the mine entrance. Jordan followed, still carrying the children.

"It looks like you'd make a good father." Megan said with a smile.

Jordan's first instinct was to argue, to make light of it. But he felt the little arms around him, and knew that was his responsibility as alpha: he was the provider, protector, husband, father, and friend.

The duty settled on his shoulders, and he held the two closer in his arms.

"I've always liked kids." Jordan said. "I just... can't teach them to grow up like a Bigfoot."

"It's a good thing you aren't raising them alone, then." Megan said with a smile. "You let Sarah and Wilma worry about their Bigfoot education, and you worry about keeping them fed and alive."

Jordan thought about that for a while.

"Megan?" he wondered aloud. Megan was riding Rose still, and looked down at him. "I've estimated that Jane is about 19. Pebbles and Bam-Bam are toddlers. Why aren't there any Bigfoot children here between those ages? What happened over the last.. 15 years that no children survived?"

Jordan looked up and saw Megan's face darken.

"I have a theory, but it's not pretty." She said.

Jordan walked in silence for another moment while they started climbing along the hill, up towards the tailings at the base of the mine.

"There are quite a few analogies in other species that have a single male leading a group of females." Megan broke the silence.

"Ungulates, such as deer and elk gather females during mating season, and fight each other for mates. Galliformes- the birds like chickens, turkeys, pheasants etc., some seals, bats, some fish, lions and baboons can live part or full time in social groups with a single male leader. Even gorillas usually are led by a silverback male.

"In some of those groups, lions especially, when a new male alpha rises, he might practice infanticide. He would kill the babies that aren't related to him, so resources would be spent on his offspring.

"Jordan, the pieces fit. Why do you think Sarah was so nervous around you for the first few weeks? She thought she had to protect her son from you." There were tears in Megan's eyes, and she choked on the last words.

Jordan looked up at Megan, then kissed little Bam-Bam on the top of his head. He could never hurt the little guy, or allow anyone else to hurt him.

"And the baby in the mausoleum, Missy's baby, he was crushed. It was a recent death, too, probably in the last three or four years. That means that the alpha who lived here, who you fought, was a baby-killer. Missy didn't fight him to save you... well, not that first time.

"Missy hated her alpha, for killing her son, and beating her adolescent daughter nearly to death. When he hit Jane after Jane tried to protect you, Missy was fighting her son's murderer, protecting her daughter.

"I think last weekend she trusted you enough to take your side over the males that took Jane, but the moment you won her over was when you honored her son with a stone. You proved that you respect life and her family, and are not a killer." Megan finished softly.

"Are they all like that?" Jordan asked. "Are all the males of the species murdering, abusive psychopaths?"

Megan was silent for a long moment as she rode and Jordan walked through the trees and up the hill.

"I can't believe that they are." Megan finally answered. "The truth is that we just don't know. We haven't seen or witnessed enough to know for sure." She was silent for another minute before she spoke.

"What do you think an alien species might think of us?" She asked rhetorically. "If you knew nothing of humans, but you discovered us living our little lives, what would you think of us?

"We're terrified of spiders and snakes and bears and lions and sharks. We kill them by the hundreds or thousands, but do you know what species actually kills the most humans every year? It's us. Humans are the most dangerous animal to other humans. That's probably why fear of Bigfoot is so deeply ingrained in our psyche, their like bigger deadlier versions of our own worst enemy.

"But knowing humans as you do, do you think we're all murdering, raping thugs? An irredeemable species?" Megan wondered.

"Of course not." Jordan answered when Megan had been silent for a while.

"Of course not." Megan repeated. "There are good men and bad men. Therefore I have to believe that there are good Bigfoot males and bad Bigfoot males.

"It sucks that you've only had experience with the bad so far. It sounds like the male that Kaitlin grew up with might have been one of the good ones. He was gentle and curious, but he never tried threatening her.

"My fear is that to save the species, we may have to change the species to our own acceptable version." Megan said. She was silent for a little longer before she continued.

"Do you know where cats were first domesticated, like housecats?"

"Middle east somewhere, wasn't it?" Jordan remembered.

"Yeah. At some point thousands of years ago, a cat or group of cats moved into an early human farming settlement, and found lots of rats and mice that lived off of the farmers' grain. The farmers tolerated the cats, and the cats tolerated the farmers, eventually growing into the pet relationship that we have today.

"Those few cats that first wandered into that settlement were the ancestors to all modern housecats. Their descendants number in the billions. They live everywhere in the world that humans live.

"The population of wild cats that couldn't make that transition still exist. They're critically endangered, trying to survive in diminishing habitat and avoiding humans.

"The same thing is true of wolves and dogs. A species can thrive in the good graces of humans, but will shrivel and wilt trying to avoid us.

"One day the world will know that Bigfoot exist. You and I, alongside Dr. Stein and the BFRO are the front line standing between the terrified public with their torches and pitchforks. The kidnapping, raping, infanticide-committing males that you have seen so far would doom the species. They would be hunted to extinction within a decade: the monsters in the mountains that steal your women and children.