As I trekked deeper and deeper into the woods I could hear every breath from my dog that I'm sure was tired from the long walk. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon but because it was the middle of the winter the sun was starting to go down. The woods were so thick with leaves and snow that I didn't notice where the sun was. I was too lost in the beauty of the woods. Especially after getting into it with my wife a few hours earlier, I was almost high from the emotions. Honestly, I had no idea what the fight was about, but what I did know was that for some reason my pride wanted to win. Now look at me in the middle of the woods at night with my dog when all I had to do was apologize and I would be warm, comfy and with my wife. Oh well. I was in this situation because of myself and I would have to see it through. 

So we kept going further and deeper than we should have gone for sure then all of the sudden it was pitch black and we were nowhere near the truck. I started to panic a little bit and my dog Cat realized that and barked at me to get my attention so that I would follow him. Cat always knew where we were that's why I loved him. Once we finally found our way back to the truck we got in, started it, and started driving. That's when I looked at my phone and saw that my wife had texted me saying sorry and that the McRib was ready and that I should come back. I apologized and said I was headed home but I was so focused on getting out of there that I didn't even notice until later that the message didn't send because I had no service. It was pedal to the metal. We were getting out of there when all of the sudden my truck slowly started to stop. Very quickly we went from 100 to 0. We were just sitting there spinning tires. 

I wasn't worried at first because I had all kinds of things to get me out of this situation. That's when I got out and tried everything: blocks of woods, boards to help with the snow, and I even tried putting chains on the tires and nothing. It  appeared that when I pulled in I didn't realize that I had parked on a fat pile of snow and got myself high centered. Within a split second, I found out that none of the equipment I had was going to work. 

At that point, it had started snowing harder but I still thought it was ok because I could just call someone to come help me. I went and grabbed my phone, only to see that I had no bars of service. I looked over at Cat who was still panting from the long walk and said, “Looks like the McRib is gonna have to wait, buddy, and the chili is gonna have to make due.” 

By this time it was around 9:00 and it was dark dark. The only comfort was that my truck was covered bumper to bumper with top of the line LED lights. Cat and I sat outside for a bit and ate some chili and talked. After a little bit of sitting there trying to figure out a plan, I started to get a little nervous because I barely brought any food or water. I just tried to ignore the thought of it all going bad, like someone could come out and find us in the morning. But I don't know what it was. I just felt like I was being watched no matter what I was doing. I just decided to try to ignore it and not really think about it that hard. I was just about to close my eyes when out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. For a moment, it looked like someone was running on all fours. Right then, I wasn't so comfortable just staying the night out here. Right as I looked over at Cat to see if he was awake, I saw he was on patrol watching every corner of the woods, scanning looking for anything. 

We both sat there like that for a while, then Cat had to go to the bathroom I thought I could go too. We stepped out into the black and I reached in and turned on the lights. That's when I saw it. It had a dog-looking face and from the neck down it looked exactly like bigfoot. I was so struck with shock that I had basically no control. When I finally snapped out of it, Cat was barking like a wild animal and the creature started to come at us. I grabbed Cat and jumped into the truck and started blaring the horn to scare whatever it was. It thankfully worked and the creature ran off. At this point I was so scared and I don't normally get scared, I'm a 46-year-old veteran. I should be the last person to get scared. I think it was just the way that that thing looked at me. It had almost no fear in its eyes, almost like it knew that there was nothing I could do to stop it from doing anything. 

For the next hour or two I was on high alert because I just knew that thing was still outside watching and waiting for me to slip up once. It knew that's all it needed was one mistake and I'd be done for. Cat, at this point, had calmed down, and to be honest I didn't think anything was going to happen. Two or three hours passed in this manner. Then bam! Something came flying at my truck. When I saw what it was, I was even more scared than before. It was the giant pieces of the tree that I cut down earlier that day that I couldn't grab because they were just too big. Now I really had no idea what to do. All I could think about was that this thing was not afraid of me and had the muscles of a superhero. I was thinking, what's next? The truck? Is it gonna pick me up and throw me? 

I looked over at Cat and woke him up and said, “Hey, boy. I have no idea what's going to happen tonight and I'm sure you don't either but I'm goin’ to try to get us home and to our warm cozy beds” to which Cat replied, “Bark bark growl bark growl bark.” I shook his paw and we watched. I don't think that a human and a dog have had that much concentration ever as me and Cat. We sat and sat, waiting for anything to happen. That's when I got the bright idea to turn the lights back on and take a look. I turned them on and boom-- nothing, just the logs that were absolutely huge were just sitting in front of the truck. 

That's when I guess I passed out from just pure tiredness. By the time I had woken up, the sun was way up in the sky and it looked like the snow had started to melt. I got out to assess the damage and to my surprise there was nothing. All the wood I had cut the day before was gone like someone had unloaded it from my truck and walked off with it. That literally was the last of my concerns. Cat had even bigger concerns such as getting out of the truck ASAP and going to the bathroom. All I kept thinking about was how am I going to explain this to my wife or anyone. As a matter of fact I started freaking out thinking that no one was going to believe me and I'm just going to have this crazy story and no one to tell it to. After a while of sitting there contemplating, I calmed down. With the sun up, I was finally able to get my truck unstuck and get out of there. On our way back, I started to wonder where all of the wood I had cut went. There wasn't a single trace or track anywhere around my truck except two footprints that I had taken pictures of and they were what looked like a set of bigfoot tracks but with claws sharp and pointy like a hawk. That was the only evidence that I had from that fear-inducing PTSD-creating creature that I had seen that night. 

By the time I got home, it was about 3:00 and my wife was out. I went upstairs, took a shower, and passed out on the bed with Cat. A couple hours later, I woke up to my wife crying. 

“Honey, is everything alright?” I asked.

“Yes, I just thought something had happened to you out there and I wasn't gonna see you again,” she replied

“I don't mean to be so blunt, but something did happen out there.”

“What? What are you talking about? Are you ok?” 

I said, “Yes I'm perfectly fine. My truck just got stuck.”  That's when I told her the story and she was not amused. I can tell that she didn't want to believe me at first then she came around to it. That same night I took her out to eat and I finally got the McRib.