"The Octopicklefintreeod"

                   The weight was so heavy, my foot disrupted nature's peace, echoing the branch beneath my feet. Staying quiet was the safest option I could think of; stumbling upon this unknown creature. I should have never come out here so unprepared, especially not alone. Before I could look toward it, it was gone. With fear in my heart, I ran out of the trees back to the Lazareth Lab. Here I was an intern studying under Precious Pope. 

Precious had been a scientist for, On The Spot Studies. A lab dedicated to studying unidentified creatures since the early 1900's. The operation was underground, but had several pop up sites, to capture as much research as possible. Pope was one of the ten scientists to originally search for bigfoot. She inherited her place in the lab from her mother, who died doing what she loved. It's her right to finish what her mother Balinda started. 

As their operation believed they were close, Pope was banned from all research. Luther, a senior scientist, accused Pope of having a hand in her mother's death. As if she wasn't hurt already, they tried to convict her. Once all charges were dropped, she used her inheritance to open The Lazareth Lab. Not only, discovering unidentified creatures, but duplicating them. That part was left out of the papers.

"Precious I--"

"This must wait, Lillian, I am so close to--" 

"I think I found him, or her.. or something.." I began to ramble. "I was going for a walk when--"

"Lillian do you know where we are? Why would you go out alone? Do you think this research is for nothing!?"  Pope yelled. 

"Gather your gear we're going out now." She insisted. 

"Shouldn't we wait for James?" I asked with concern. 

"And lose the one chance we have to capture the creature my mother has studied her whole life for and missed?! I don't think so. Radio him in, tell him; code red quiet feet. He will know what to do."

Moments later, we headed out of the tent. Cameras recording the next few feet. I walked in front of Precious trying to tell her quietly the description of what I saw.

"I don't think this is what you're looking for Precious. This creature was strange. Smart. Fast." I tried to explain.

"Why do you think we never caught him? Now hush, eyes peeled!" She whispered. 

The night was dark, the air, cold. I held a glocktrapper, three tranquilizers, 5 empty specimen containers with an AK 47 on my back. As we proceeded closer to the destination where I had seen the creature, a loud splash caught our attention from the nearby lake. We ran as quickly and quietly as possible. By the time we got to the lake the water had calmed down significantly before the creature flew straight up out of the water, into the air. 

I glanced at Precious, but her eyes were glued. As the creature spun all eight arms into the air, he floated, for what felt like a year; scientifically, seventeen seconds. Which is thirteen seconds longer than a human can. As it landed, it's arms hardened and a trunk sprouted from it's head releasing the leaves and branches of a willow tree. As quickly as they sprouted, the creature was gone. Right before our eyes, he, she, it vanished. 

"Run!" I said

"No wait wait wait, did you see that?!" Pope said curiously as I started to head to the lab.

When I turned around James stood before me.

"What's going on?" He asked as Precious walked toward him.

"James, this is bigger than we thought. This is a code blue"

"Blue?" He asked.

"Blue!" She nodded. 

"Prepare us for extraction now, quietly, inform the crew."

The crew consisted of three other scientists, who left with James to support Precious Pope. Code blue, according to my notes, is the extraction of an unidentified creature not yet thought of, let alone spotted. James and the crew locked down the area and set up motion cameras throughout the camp. Trip wires, traps and tree-captors were put in place to catch what would later be identified as the Octopicklefintreeod. Once the land was secured we all headed back to the tent. As we walked inside, Precious Pope started the briefing. 

"What do we know?" She said heading to the white board. 

"This is a code blue. Unidentified new species. We have no idea how long he has been around. How dangerous he is. Or Where he comes from as well as why he, she or it is here. Also, sex is not confirmed. Lillian, what can you tell us?" Pope said, pointing to me. 

"I was smoking a cigarette when I heard a strange noise." I said.

"Details intern. Every single detail." Said Rita, one of the scientists. 

"Ok, I was smoking a Newport by the North tree when I heard a strange noise. It sounded like branches snapping, or a heavy foot causing the branches to break. I shut my phone off and listened." I described. 

"So you're saying the sound could have come from your phone then intern? Is that about right?" Said William, part of the crew.

"You all aren't listening." I insisted.

The room broke out in an argument blaming me for being out there in the first place. The crew was under the impression, with my lack of knowledge, that I had somehow mixed up the truth. From the computer, Bernie was studying the motion cameras. 

"Precious, you should see this." He said.

Everyone was too loud and self occupied to pay attention to the situation at hand. 

"Pope!" He yelled. 

As Precious looked at the camera, she held up her hand in a fist, as motion to silence all sounds instantly. 

"It's here." She whispered slowly leaning toward her glocktrapper. 

"Where?" Asked William

"Right behind you." She motioned. 

As William reached for his glocktrapper, Bernie reached for his specimen container.

"We don't know that he is dangerous!" Said Bernie right before the creature stretched one of his arms fast to grab William’s glocktrapper. Just then, everyone's guns and glocktrappers pointed toward it. 

"He's an Octo! He can outsmart us!" Someone yelled. 

"Do not shoot him, I repeat, glocktrappers only! This is a rare creature you capture and hold!!" Said Precious Pope.

The crew all shot at the same time the octo opened his willow tree cover from his head. He was afraid and preparing for defense mode. The nets trapped him just as his invisibility cloak covered him. At this point, The only reason we knew where the octo was, was because of his outline under the net. 

“Seal the exits, he can not get out!” Said pope.

“How do you seal a tent from an invisible unknown octo!?” Someone yelled. 

“You do what you gotta do, and you get it done!” Said Pope. A saying her mother repeated all these years.

Once the octo was secured, he was placed in a large clear box. That’s when we saw it’s true face. It was indeed, a male, unmistakably.  It’s face was pickled and his eyes were green. His teeth were sharp, protecting his long slithering tongue. 

His arms had breathable fins on the top and octopus tentacles on the bottom. One of his arms was injured in the struggle to contain him, which is when we collected his blood. It was blue and it floated from his body any time it existed. Containing it’s blood in a specimen container; the Octopicklefintreeod’s body pulled it back inside. 

That was a sign of distress. It had lost enough blood that it needed to save itself before it was too late. It hardened it’s willow legs, sprouted it’s willow head, and broke the glass container it was held in. The blood followed the Octopicklefintreeod out of the tent as we all tried to get out of the debris. What remained of the motion camera footage showed he was gone. Precious Pope and the crew were desperate for more answers. Where was his home? The lake, where willows are planted to absorb overflows of water. Or where an Octopus could live above and under? It seemed this had been the permanent Lazareth Lab set up until they found him again. In this time, Precious Pope packed up her mother's work on bigfoot and began her own journey to find the Octopicklefintreeod.