The Cabin at the End of Herrick Road
Derek Wachter
Copyright © 2020 Derek Wachter
All rights reserved
First Edition
NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING
320 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020
ISBN 978-1-64801-178-8 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64801-179-5 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
The Day Their Lives Changed Forever
The First Season’s Snowfall in Elwha
The Last Stand on Herrick Road
I choose to neither confirm nor deny, to give credit for, or discredit against, the existence of those things that which we don’t fully comprehend in this world. To say we know everything, and to discredit what we can’t see or understand is naïve. I do, however, have full faith in the ability of God, in his infinite wisdom as the divine maker of this world, to create whatever he chooses to create in this world.
It is merely up to us to coexist with and share this world with what he so chooses to give life to. Known or unknown animal. Do we not do this already with our fellow humans in society already?
—Derek Wachter
I believe in everything until it is disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?
—John Lennon
To my sister Elizabeth, and new brother-in-law, Sean McEwan. May you both read the pages of this book and realize that there are many terrible and frightening things that lurk in the darkness of the world that try to thwart true love. But love, partnership, camaraderie, faith, and trust conquers all the evil in the darkness when you both rely on each other and work together as a unit of one. I love you both with all the love a brother and brother-in-law can give. May god bless your lives together to stand firm and guard your hearts against all the terrible and frightening things that lurk in the darkness of this world—even a Sasquatch.
Chapter 1
Dr. Craig Irving
An old rickety camper trailer pulled into a gas station along Highway 101 in Port Angeles, Washington. Highway 101 is a western coastal highway that usually gets more rain than any other weather during this time in the year. Today though was an unusually warm day in the month of March in the northwestern corner of Washington state, just above the Olympic Mountain Range. It nearly reached fifty degrees this day. The trailer that rattled as it pulled up to a gas pump came to an abrupt stop as the driver put his foot down on the brake, screeching the brakes to an abrupt stop. A white, middle-aged man, slightly husky in stature, with long brown hair and a beard to match, jumped out of the driver’s side door of the five-wheel trailer. The man walked around the corner of the front of the trailer and toward the gas station one-stop shop center. The locals saw the man approaching the station through the gas pumps from their bar seating area by the front window in the gas shop, where they had their morning coffee every morning together for the past twenty years into their retirement.
“Christ Almighty. Here comes that scientist guy for the dozenth time. What the hell was his name again?” said one man to the other three.
“Oh, shit…what was his name? Jim, do you remember?” said one of the men.
Jim thought for a moment, holding his cup of hot coffee with both hands grasped around the cup. “Irving I think it was. Craig Irving.”
“Craig! Yes, that’s it. That crazy lunatic son of a bitch. Wonder where he’s going to camp out at this weekend.” said one of the men.
“Well, Mark, last weekend his dumbass went down the 101 to Colville,” said Jim.
“Reckon he may go south this time, Forks maybe? He comes from the east there. I think all the way from that school in Olympia.”
At that moment, Craig Irving walked into the gas station. The men stopped their chatter and went silent as he walked by their sitting area. Craig walked up to the counter and up to the attendant. Craig looked around the convenience store before speaking with the attendant. Shopping around, Craig picked up some snacks for himself and his pet dog, Max. After he had a look around the small convenience store, Craig walked up to the cashier behind the register.
“Forty dollars on pump 2 please,” said Craig. “As well as these dog treats and sticks of jerky.”
The attendant took a fifty-dollar bill from Craig and ran up forty dollars’ worth of gas for pump 2.
“Do you want the change?” asked the store clerk.
“No, what’s left just put it into the gas please,” said Craig.
“All right,” said the store clerk.
Craig finished his transaction and turned to walk out of the store when he heard a