Dead Woods

by Raylan Kane

  “What are you talking about? You see any vehicles around here?”

  “So, what?” Bill said, “we just gonna live out here, that it? No. I say we hike the hell out of here.”

  “You were the one wanted to stop carryin' Winters here a long time ago,” Lindsay said. “We've gone all of what? Three miles? If that. Now you wanna carry him another hundred?”

  “I think Marsh is right,” Tessa said. “We should stop, set up camp here. We've got a water source. A little bit of visibility.”

  “What visibility?” Bill said. “Can't see for more than fifteen yards into these damn trees.” He glared over at Wally. “You agree with these-”

  “These what?” Marsh cut him off. “Finish that sentence, asshole.”

  Bill went to fling his rifle off his shoulder when Marsh grabbed hold of it. “What are you doing?” He said.

  “Don't you try anything stupid,” Marsh said. “We've already lost one person today. Another one badly injured. Be a shame to add you to the list.”

  She and Bill stared at one another for a moment. Bill broke his gaze away first. With a defiant grunt he slung the rifle back over his shoulder. He could feel the Deputy's eyes watching him like a hawk.

  “I think Deputy Marsh is right, Bill,” Wally said. “We're so deep out here in the Canyon. Would take days to walk out of here. We can only do what we can.”

  “If we're through talkin',” Lindsay said, annoyed. She flung her pack to the ground and yanked the ten-person tent out in three heavy thrusts. “Let's do this, people,” she said. “We're burnin' daylight.”

  14

  Bill grabbed a tent pole, but then dropped it as he slapped his palm to his neck. “These mosquitoes are ridiculous.”

  Wally spit one of the bugs from his lips while Lindsay flung a few from her eyes. “Agreed. They're absolutely brutal right now.”

  Marsh attempted to step out of the way of a cloud of mosquitoes, but the disappearing sun made them more difficult to see. “Who's got the repellent?” Marsh said. No one answered right away. She frowned at the group as the ten-person tent began to take shape. “Come on, seriously? No one thought to bring bug spray?”

  “My pack,” Lindsay said, “there'll be plenty.”

  Marsh tossed two duffle bags aside and seized the one with L. Lindsay stenciled in white. Immediately, Marsh could feel moisture on her fingertips. She shoved her hands into the bag and felt around for a spray can. She found two, and both felt empty when she shook them to check for liquid inside. Then she held her fingertips to her nostrils and realized the moisture soaking the outside of the pack was bug repellent.

  Marsh held the bag up in front of her. “Correction,” she said to Lindsay, “you had plenty of bug spray.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think the cans ruptured in the crash and they leaked out.”

  “Dammit.”

  “Yeah.” Marsh swiped a few bugs off the back of her neck. “They're relentless.”

  “Somebody should check on Winters,” Wally said.

  Marsh walked slow, watching her feet as much as she could in the growing darkness, about twenty feet from the flat area where the group was setting up the tent Winters laid unconscious on the aluminum stretcher. “He's still out,” Marsh said, calling back to the group.

  “Keep your voice down,” Bill scolded her with a whisper-yell. “Those things are out there.”

  “You don't need to tell me,” Marsh said. “I have a lot more experience with them than you.”

  “Would both of you shut up?” Lindsay said, swatting a mosquito. “You're not making this any easier.”

  “What are we gonna do with Sal?” Bill said. “He shouldn't be left back there.”

  “There's not much we can do right now,” Marsh said. “We'll deal with it in the morning.”

  “And what about him?” Bill said, pointing at Winters. “You really think he's gonna make it? He's lost so much blood. If we have to carry him all over these woods it's gonna slow us down. Could get us all killed.”

  “Well, what would you have us do, Bill?” Wally said.

  “Y'all need to stop talkin' and finish with this tent,” Tessa said. “I need to lay down and we gotta get out of these bugs. I don't wanna think about nothin' right now.”

  Marsh helped the group finish with the tent. “Finally,” she said. “Good to get that done.” A few stars became visible overhead and the full darkness of night enveloped them.

  Lindsay unzipped the front flaps and held them tight together. She stopped Bill as he attempted to duck inside. “Not yet,” Lindsay said. “Let's toss the bags in real quick, let in as few mosquitoes as possible, then we'll go get Winters.”

  Bill let out a loud sigh. He resented taking orders from a woman.

  “Deputy Marsh, Tessa,” Lindsay said, “you guys toss over those bags, I'll shove 'em in fast, alright?”

  Marsh and Tessa chucked everyone's belongings over in front of Lindsay. Lindsay rapidly shoveled everything into the tent and zipped up the flaps. “A few got in,” she said, “but I don't think it'll be too bad.”

  “We'll see when we move in Agent Winters.”

  The group retrieved the Agent from the edge of the site and lifted him into the tent. They laid him on one end of the structure. Bill tried to check the man's wounds with his flashlight, but the device would not turn on. He slapped the side of it, to no avail.

  “What's wrong with this thing?”

  “Same as everything else,” Lindsay said, shining her flashlight on the man. “If I had a backup I'd give it to you.”

  “I've got one,” Marsh said, handing Bill her backup light. “Here.”

  “I just realized y'all,” Tessa said, “I ain't got no sleeping bag. I wasn't prepared to be campin' out here.”

  “Got that covered,” Lindsay said. “I brought two. And good news is, they're both soaked with repellent.”

  15

  “For Pete's sake!”

  Marsh jolted awake hearing Bill's exclamation. “Bill?” She was groggy and could hear the buzz of a few mosquitoes somewhere in the darkness above her head. “What's going on?” Then she could hear a long, low moaning coming from the end of the tent.

  “You're telling me you don't hear that?” Bill said.

  “Shhh!” Lindsay had woken up too. “Keep your voice down.”

  “Tell that to Agent Winters,” Bill said. “He's been doing that for at least ten minutes now.”

  “Someone wanna check on him?”

  Marsh slid out of her sleeping bag and approached the gravely injured man. She held her flashlight up and scanned over his body. Wally had also brought an extra sleeping bag and he'd zipped it open and laid it over the Agent like a blanket in hopes he would retain some warmth through the night. Marsh lifted the blanket to have a look at Winters' leg, the graphic nature of the wound still shocked her every time she looked at it. She could see clear to the bone, huge flaps of skin and muscle tattered around it. She waved her hand over the man's leg, disgusted to see mosquitoes scatter from the gaping injury. Marsh shook her head, she couldn't keep the thought out of her mind, the idea of the Agent not making it out of those woods alive. Maybe he's a fighter, she thought. She was surprised as every other breath, Winters would emit a moaning sound, a sound that said, 'I'm still here'.

  “Well?” Bill said. Marsh flashed the light into his face. “What are we going to do?”

  “What do you mean?” Marsh said. “He's in bad shape, we know this.”

  “We can't keep letting him go on like that, he's going to attract one of those giant bears.”

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “I'm not suggesting anything, I'm just saying.”

  “What about this conversation?” Lindsay said. “You think one of them couldn't hear us right now?”

  Wally was the last to wake up. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine, Wally,” Marsh said, “go back to sleep. We're fine.”

  “Hey!” Bill shout
ed.

  “Shhh!”

  “Hey, what?”

  “Did you hear that?” Bill said, his eyes wide. “It was coming from outside the tent.”

  “I didn't hear anything.”

  “Listen.”

  Everyone paused for a moment. The only thing anyone could hear was Winters moaning.

  “Where's my gun?” Bill said.

  “What? You don't need that right now, Bill.”

  “Don't tell me what I need. Where is it?”

  Lindsay pointed near the front flaps at the middle of the tent. “Over there.”

  Bill slid his legs out from his sleeping bag and went to retrieve his rifle.

  “Bill, what the hell are you doing?” Marsh said. “Go back and lay down. There's nothing out there. Nothing more than a squirrel anyway.”

  “You don't know that.”

  “Put it this way, Bill. If it was one of those grizzlies, you think we wouldn't have all heard it?”

  “I know you all heard it, I know you did.”

  “Bill,” Marsh said, “just calm down, alright? I get that you're upset. We all are. Winters injury, what happened to Sal, the crash, the grizzly, all of it. I get it. But you need to keep your head about you, alright? Now just forget about your gun and come back and lay down like the rest of us.”

  “I can't deal with this right now,” Bill said. “You don't understand. We're so screwed. Shoulda had my dogs out here with us.”

  “I do understand,” Marsh said. “Trust me, Bill, I do. And we're gonna get through this, alright?”

  Bill stood for a few seconds staring at his gun on the ground.

  “Bill,” Marsh said, “look at me.” She held her flashlight on him. Eventually, he turned to face her. “You're going to be okay. We all are. We've just got to deal with this situation right now and then we'll figure it out.”

  “Look,” Lindsay said, “I get that none of this is ideal, Bill. But this is the best we can do right now.”

  “The best we can do is gonna get all of us killed.”

  “No, Bill, it's not,” Marsh said, “tomorrow we'll hike to a Ranger Station, probably find some more supplies. Things will take shape at that point and we can start to deal with some of this stuff, alright? But there's no point in getting worked up right now. We all need to rest after everything that's happened. I'm sure you can agree with that, right?”

  “What Ranger Station are you talking about?” Bill said.

  “I have an idea of where we are,” Marsh said.

  “Me too,” Tessa said, “she's right. I think there's one not too far east of here.”

  “You're certain?”

  “Pretty certain, yes.”

  Again, Bill looked down in contemplation. Then he exhaled slow. “Alright,” he said. “Let's do that then.” He turned and walked back to his sleeping bag and Marsh felt a wave of relief wash over her as she had kept her hand about a foot away from her pistol.

  “That Ranger Station sounds good. Here's hoping you're right,” Lindsay said. “For now though, I'm going back to sleep. You should too, Bill.”

  “I'm sorry,” Bill said, “I'm just having a hard time listening to him.”

  “Not much choice right now,” Marsh said. “It's just something we've got to deal with.”

  Bill ignored her and laid back down in his sleeping bag.

  “Okay, Bill?” Marsh said. “Bill?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Bill rolled onto his side and muttered something under his breath.

  Marsh clipped off her flashlight, shaking her head as she laid back down in total darkness.

  16

  The following morning, the group ate bits from their protein bars and shared handfuls of trail mix. Marsh watched Wally pull his water canteen from his bag and cautioned him before drinking. “I know you probably know this,” she said, “but, go easy on the water. I don't know for sure when we'll find a good usable source.”

  “I have purification tabs if we need,” Lindsay said.

  “Me too,” said Bill Brothers, his mouth full of sunflower seeds.

  “I'm just saying, conserving our water and our food is probably a good idea.”

  “You don't think they'll have supplies at that Ranger Station you're talking about?” Bill said.

  “We'll see.”

  It had sprinkled rain about an hour before the first of the group, Wally, had awoke. That made for a slimy operation in gathering up the ten-person tent and stowing it away. They'd once again laid Agent Winters off to the side of the clearing before doing so, and Marsh couldn't help but feel slightly pleased that the man was unconscious once again. At least that way he isn't suffering, she thought.

  With the group fed and the tent packed, Marsh nodded in the direction they'd be traveling to reach the Ranger Station, and so everyone grabbed a part of the stretcher and began carrying Winters into the thick woods, headed east. They stopped to rest four times over the span of an hour. Another hour after that and Wally Simpson was breathing pretty hard. Most of the group had wet tree bark splotched on their faces and clothes. Tessa realized she had a leak in the bottom of her left boot. After two and a half hours of walking through brush and up, over, and around tightly grouped trees trying their best not to knock Winters around too much, they'd reached a small clearing.

  “Now can we stop?” Said Bill.

  “Yes,” Marsh said, “good idea.”

  The clearing was almost perfectly square-shaped with two downed spruces forming an 'L' around tall green grass, still damp from the night before. They laid Winters down in the center of the clearing and Lindsay flung her bag from her bag in front of one of the logs and she sat down to re-tighten her boot laces. The others all sat eagerly on the logs, oblivious to their rain-soaked nature.

  “My foot is soaked,” Tessa said. “Stupid boot's got a hole somewhere.”

  “I have extra socks I can give you next time we make camp,” Marsh said.

  “Dry socks would be amazing.”

  Marsh looked over at Wally. His face was flushed and he sat forward with his elbows on his knees. One of those knees he'd had replaced only a couple of years before. “You alright, Wally? You're breathing pretty heavy.”

  “I'm okay, Deputy. Just need to catch my breath is all.”

  “Would help if we didn't have to carry him,” Bill said, pointing at Agent Winters, still out cold on the gurney.

  “Yeah, sure,” Marsh said, “we could've just left him to die in the wild. What a great solution.”

  “I'm not sayin' that,” Bill said, “I'm just sayin'.”

  Tessa looked up at the white overcast sky and could see the faintness of the sun, trying to fight its way through the cloud cover. “Good news is, I think it's going to clear up,” Tessa said. “Rain would be a nightmare right about now.”

  “We're already in a nightmare.”

  “Bill,” Lindsay said, scolding in her tone, “that's enough. Seriously, your constant negative comments aren't helping anything.”

  “Gee, sorry,” Bill said sarcastically. “Just when the hell are we gonna get to that station, anyway?”

  “Soon,” Marsh said. “Memory serves, it should only be another hour or so.”

  “Great. You hear that everyone? Only another hour.”

  Marsh didn't bother responding, she didn't want to hear Bill's voice anymore. Maybe if I stop talking to him, she thought, he'll just fade into the background, like the squawking of ravens somewhere in the distance.

  “So, which way outta here we walkin'?” Tessa said.

  “That way,” Marsh pointed, and she noticed the concerned expression on the chopper pilot's face, and when she really concentrated on looking into the trees in the direction she'd just pointed, she understood Tessa's look. “Oh,” she said aloud.

  “Yeah,” Tessa said. “Oh.”

  “What?” Lindsay said. She stared off into the forest due east and saw what the others could see.

  Marsh jumped off the downed tree where she sat and bounded thr
ough the brush. She'd walked a hundred feet east of the clearing and the pit in her stomach gave way to full on nausea. The green healthy spruce trees changed as she had walked into a black, charred hellscape of barren forest. “Dammit,” she hollered.

  “What is it?” Lindsay called to her from the clearing.

  Marsh didn't answer and instead walked briskly back to the others. Lindsay interpreted the frown twisting the Deputy's face as confirmation of what they could make out from where they sat.

  “We're close to where the fires were,” Lindsay said. “Aren't we?”

  “Yes,” Marsh said, then emitting a loud sigh.

  “How bad is it?” Tessa said.

  “Bad,” Marsh said, “about a hundred feet through there's where it starts. Everything due east of here is gone.”

  “Gone?” Bill said. “What do you mean gone?”

  “I mean, gone,” Marsh said, “burnt up. There's no forest to speak of. Just stripped trees and bare ground.”

  “That'll make for easy walking at least,” Bill said.

  “You don't understand,” Marsh said.

  “What?”

  “The Ranger Station,” Lindsay said. “It's likely gone too.”

  Bill looked to the sky and shook his head. “Are you kidding me? Please, tell me you're kidding.”

  Marsh glared at him with sternness in her eyes.

  “Fantastic,” Bill said, “this just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?”

  “Bill,” Lindsay said, “don't.”

  “Don't what? State the obvious? State what we're all thinking, about how screwed we are? We hike all the way out here instead of staying with Sal back at the helicopter and now this one leads us straight into forest fire territory after she'd talked up this Ranger Station that was magically going to have all these supplies. And I'm just supposed to be quiet when it turns out after all this hiking we've been led on a wild goose chase?”

  “That's what you think, Bill?” Marsh said. “That I'd just led you all out here, for what? Just for kicks?”

  “Well, I don't know, Deputy, you tell us.”

  “I don't have to tell you anything.”