Erika Miller had an enemy and its name was 411.

She was one of the few who actually loved her job as a Ranger in Yellowstone, yes, her position was rather remote, but it brought her some kind of peace in a weird day.

Obviously most of her work partners disagreed wholeheartedly, they wanted to be near the people, be part of the touristic  teams that got to have a pretty booth and sell pins, and caps, and crappy t-shirts but not Erika, nope, she loved nature in a very personal level, her daddy had brought her fishing and kayaking ever since she was a tiny tot, she belonged here, near the wilds , the other guards could disagree and give her cruel nicknames all day, like “the crazy bear lady” but that would not shake her own confidence.

She gave a small glance to a family photo she had on her phone as a wallpaper, a pale and blonde teen with massive brackets proudly showing the first fish she ever caught, besides her, there was a giant of a man, who seemed  like an extra in a Viking movie, her mother was diminutive and of Asian descent, Erika loved this photo, her dad dragged them all to the wilderness and experience nature, and although at first she found it  annoying, it soon rubbed off on her, she went to the camera App and pressed the selfie option, she took a glance at herself for the sake of it, her blonde hair was pristine  as it held in a pony tail, her teeth now were perfectly symmetrical and pearly white, in a way she disliked that she did not inherit much more features of her mom, Erika thought she was gorgeous, even now  that she was older, but  for all terms and purposes Erika looked like any other white woman…well... maybe she was a bit more buff and toned than most girls, she was quite athletic and it showed in her build, still any guy would be lucky to get a piece of her, if she was at all interested in guys, or girls,  or anything really, she was a proud asexual.

she smiled at herself by instinct…she liked the girl on the other side on the screen, she nodded with confidence at herself and put the phone back in her pocket.

Erika’s only wish was that those stupid 411 maniacs could leave her precious park alone.

As if summoned by her thoughts, her radio turned on and she heard it clear as day, “Erika…”  she grumbled as she picked up her radio “again?” the other voice, probably Samantha sounded just as annoyed as her “yep…again, lemme give you the coordinates…”

Disappearances were a sad occurrence in Yellowstone Park, then again it was a sad occurrence... all over the world, maybe it was a cynical point of view but keeping an eye on every single human being on earth and expect none of them goes missing ever sounded a bit too absurd to Erika.

However she could not deny that lately there had been an escalation: trekkers, mountaineers , and even a geologist, have all disappeared in the last month, the rangers managed to find abandoned tents, and clothes, but nothing else, to make things worse, the basic forensic analysis told them that there was no struggle, no forced abduction or kidnaping, there were signs of sexual activity trough, a lot of it, Erika knew that her park was a perfect place for tourists to get frisky, but even that had escalated recently.

This sad turn of events was depressing enough, but of course, things could only get worse.

All had started with a biology enthusiast, the girl loved to upload constant videos of herself as she wandered different forests or jungles, she was a rich kid, rich enough that she could just do this as her career, and she had amassed quite the following.

“Hello guys! Im Sally Sandoval! here in freaking Yellowstone park!” started one of her most recent videos, her brown skin glistened on the shining sun, she was clearly of latino descent, despite being merely a twenty year old kid her lips were very full and her hips ended in a pronounced and delightful curve. Her raven black hair flowed from her shoulders softly, there was no right for a girl in the middle of the forest to look this well “come with me! as I will show you the precious creatures one can find in this luscious ecosystem! please don’t forget to give a like to this video!” at least she seemed honest on her love to animals and nature, all that only made it sadder, when mysteriously she disappeared leaving in the middle of a livestream she could be seen murmur something offscreen, and then  she just decided to walk alone.

Thus a new victim had disappeared in the park, but she just happened to have over 8 thousand followers worldwide, and a very rich and pissed of dad who just happened to be Wyoming’ Governor

The search was on, and a whole lot of rangers were sent all over the park to find her, the feds came and tracked the area with their dogs, the helicopters swooped around the mountains again and again, but it seemed like the ground had just swallowed her whole.

Eventually using her own videos to pinpoint landmarks the rangers were able to find her abandoned tent, equipment and phone.

Erika still could remember her father’s shouts as he swore, he would make everything in his power to hurt the “INCOMPETENT BASTARD IN CHARGE OF THAT GOD FORSAKEN PARK!”

Erika could only sigh as she made her way down south, as if the park was not underfunded enough, hell… there was barely enough personnel to try and fill the different watch towers and the ranger cabins.

That was a disaster, but then came the real enemy…411, a conspiracy theory about the disappearances, at first it was merely some dumb redditors here and there, but with every disappearance being more public, social media started painting the rangers as these incompetent fools , incapable to keep the people safe, the conspiracy theories  started to gain strength

411 could be anything, from the motherfucking sasquatch, to mole people on the center of the earth, the Chupacabra, and of course, aliens, impossible to have a conspiracy theory without little green men.

Now the park was getting a new wave of popularity, but it was undesired popularity.

Conspiracy nutjobs started to slip into the forest, filming footage on their own, with backpacks filled with “equipment”, these conspiracy theorists officially had lost any semblance of respect for the rangers, they would pretend to play nice and then  go on their own, ill prepared, paranoid and quite deluted, Erika had to escort these morons constantly out of the park, just to see them return soon later, emboldened by their stupid beliefs.

Erika was making her way towards the coordinates, a new trio of idiots got themselves lost, or more accurately, they decided they wanted “the real answers”, now it was Erika’s job to track them and make sure the useless pricks did not get themselves eaten by a bear.

She started seen the littering of candy bars and she knew she was on the right track, she could almost hear them as they talked between each other, two males and one female, Erika knew damn well that “crazy” came in all shapes and forms but a part of her was very disappointed that girls could also be deceived into such nonsense.

Believing in the super natural, sounded like a very “man” thing to do, but probably it was just her own preconceptions.

She was very near now, she could almost hear their words, when she saw her. Naked and barely standing, she seemed lost, Erika rushed closer and there was no doubt about it, she picked up her radio and called the Base Cabin “Guys…you are not gonna believe this…but I just found Sally Sandoval… she is whole, I can take her there, prepare some clothes, towels and bedwarmers… the kid is naked.” Erika rushed to her side, Sally saw her as her head wobbled, the girl looked, drugged, but surprisingly healthy, Erika wanted to ask a million questions, but there would be time for that “Hi miss Sandoval…I’m officer ranger Erika Miller, let me take you someplace safe”

Erika heard the three buffoons in the distance, maybe she should…no.

Sally was the priority now; they could find someone else to track these morons.

Erika picked the naked girl with ease and started taking her back north to the Base Cabin, Sally was not saying anything, but she rested her head on Erika’s shoulder, Erika then saw that the girl seemed to have developed some rash or something on her forehead in its very center. Maybe it was a scab, it looked perfectly circular.

Erika conversed with the girl all the way to the cabin, but Sally seemed comfortably by just leaning on Erika, Sally did not answer a single question, probably it was shock, she had survived a month more or less on her own in the wilderness.

But Erika felt that something was off, maybe the girl was not talking but her body told much, she was barely dirty, or hurt, besides the bruise in her forehead, that much could be attributed to various factors, but there was one that simply did not sit well with Erika.

Sally looked bigger and fatter than the last time she was seen, Erika was no expert but she saw the footage in her videos, the girl was rather thin but well built, a body suited for what she loved to do, but how did she got, bigger in merely a month? alone and isolated on the forest? Erika’s mind reached a sinister conclusion, and the implication send shivers down her spine.

“Raped!?” was a general shout of surprise as Erika told the reunited rangers what she thought “I think someone has some cabin out there, someplace safe and away from the prying eye, look at her,  she is not how a wilderness survivor looks like…someone took her somewhere to use her…  they kept her fed, and probably they…” the worlds died in her throat but she pressed on “She looks slightly pregnant, probably her first trimester…”

The mood around the cabin had suffered a brutal shift, everyone was much jovial just five minutes ago when Erika arrived with Sally on her arms, now sally was in another room as they solicited a doctor to arrive and take a look at her.

“Impossible” said Lewis, a male ranger on his forties “even if we were to believe that all of this happened like you said… the *rape cabin* could not be very far…she would have gotten dirtier on her way toward you…”

“Precisely this is why we need to send a search party and find that roach! He needs to-”

But other ranger interrupted her “I’ve been in that area a thousand times, all of us have… we searched for that girl with trained dogs, for goodness sake! there was nothing, and now she just prestidigitated in front of you? just like that?” Erika’s anger kept increasing

“Are…are you accusing me of having something to do with her abduction?” the guard realized he had gone a step too far and back down quickly “NO! NO! what I mean is that this whole thing is strange…there is not much logic to why she appeared where she did…but I’m not accusing anyone of anything!”

A woman came from the other room “I’ve called the medic, but she says she can only arrive here tomorrow” That much was expected, given the distance, a while ago the park could afford to have its own medical staff, but times were hard, so it was deemed unnecessary by the government.

Another female ranger finally said the thing that was dangling in everyone’s minds “if this happened…its over… like… hella over…like… her father will make sure we can’t get hired in a fucking Burger King…”

Other ranger interjected “what do you mean? Erika saved her daughter.. he should be grateful!”

But Harold Smith the district ranger, their superior, replied coldly, “No one on our side these days Wilson, if what Erika says really happened… this will only make us lose whatever credibility we had, I can read the newspapers already: *Rapist and sex maniac on the loose in Yellowstone*

The District ranger, scratched his beard he looked terribly uncomfortable, and even more pale than usual, and that was a lot, Erika suspected he had some Russian, or Scandinavian blood in him, he could camouflage perfectly in a mound of snow, his brown eyes darted left and right, as he tried to think, finally  he grabbed  one cigarette from his coat and  turned on his lighter “This…is a fucking mess…”

Erika grew frustrated as that seemed to be the only thing, he was capable to say “Sir…at least it’s a lead… we need answers and send a search team…just give the order and I and-”

“We will stay put Miller, this is final”

“Sir…will all due respect…we can’t keep this a secret…she was-”

“She looks strange!” he outshouted her “I will give you that, but you are making conjecture, until she says something we can’t proceed searching for imaginate rapists… its quite enough with these buffoons going around searching for yeti and ET”

Erika so wanted to punch that man, even if he was on the older side “But sir…I”

“Erika…” said Miriam, one of the few partners who Erika respected, Miriam looked conflicted, but she finally spouted “You are wrong…you…have to be wrong…”

Erika looked around, it was clear that there was a line been drawn in the sand right now, but no one was gonna stand on her side.

An hour passed, Erika wished she could just leave, return to her watch tower and pretend nothing was happening, she tried to not look at her partners, she could only feel disdain as she saw their faces.

She was aware that the District Ranger was right in something, she lacked proofs, her theories fit nicely, but they were only that, theories.

Still the way everyone had just decided that she was wrong, only because the other option meant a massive scandal, it made her feel sick.

Then came another Ranger, Samantha, usually in charge of the radio tower.

“We gave her a bath and some clothes…she probably is still in shock but she is talking again…and she requested something”

The silence in the room was absolute, Erika could have sworn that she heard every single one of their asses clench.

“Sally wants to speak with Erika…alone”

Erika now felt the many stares stabbing her all at once, it almost felt good in a twisted kind of way, she stepped forward trying her hardest not to sneer as she walked towards the true victim in all of this.