Page 24 of Silent Shadows

“Exactly.”

Maya gestures to Miles, who's currently staring at six monitors as if he were a park ranger hired at NASA.

“Miles takes decades of reports and overlays them. Sightings. Elevation. Water sources. Caves. Old logging roads. Places people disappear. Places they don't.”

I blink. “That's… actually kind of impressive.”

“Don't tell him that.”

I laugh. “So what are we looking for?”

“Depends on the expedition.” She points toward the screens. “This one? We have a cluster of sightings over the last few years. Similar descriptions. Similar elevations. Similar times of year. We don't go in expecting to see Bigfoot, but we go in expecting something.”

“Such as?”

“Tracks. Hair samples. Audio anomalies. Broken trees. Structures.”

“Structures?”

She nods. “Large branches woven together. Not nests exactly. More like markers. Sometimes arches.”

“Okay, what exactly are markers?” I asked, trying to keep up.

“Great question! A marker is really any physical sign suggesting that Bigfoot may have been in an area. I know it’s confusing. The definition is intentionally broad because it’s rare for research groups like ours to have true, definitive proof. We’re more focused on patterns of evidence.”

I nod. “I can get down with patterns.”

“Good,” Maya smiles, and I feel a connection forming. “Have you heard of wood knocks?”

I look at her, feeling slightly dumb.

“Like knocking on wood?” I ask.

“Mm-hmm. Sharp knocks against trees. Lots of theories. Territory. Communication. Could be people. Could be something else.”

I squint. “That's actually a thing?”

“Very much a thing. Bigfoot enthusiasts have recorded them for decades. Doesn't mean they're supernatural. But they're weird,” Maya explains.

I glance toward Miles, hunched over at his desk as he scrolls through a webpage. I squint at his screen. “Is he on… Reddit?”

“Always,” she sighs.

I give a tight smile. “Ah, gotcha,” I say. No greater benefit to society than a nerdy white man on Reddit.

“It’s research. He cross-references everything.”

“With Reddit?” I ask, my alarm thinly veiled.

“With databases. Relax,” she says, chuckling. She points to another screen. “Thermals. Drones. Topographic maps. We narrow areas down to likely corridors and then hike them.”

“And the weird screaming?”

Jax perks up at this. “Sasquatch vocalizations!” he shouts with glee. He’s got the energy of a kid in a band at Warped Tour, excited to be wherever he is at that moment.

Taylor groans from the driver's seat. “Please don't,” she calls out.

“No, seriously!” Jax says, his interest palpable. “There are reports of infrasound too.”