by P. T. Hylton
“You know, I actually like you. You’ve got a lot of fight. This is gonna be fun.” He smiled a toothy grin, his misshapen face wrinkling like a rotten apple.
Sophie looked around, searching desperately for her backpack, but it was gone. Her gun had been in there. She felt her belt. The knife was gone too.
Taylor got to his feet. “The challenge is to see how many times I can hit you in the head and keep you alive. Sort of an exercise in self-restraint. I gotta hit you hard enough that it’ll be satisfying, but not so hard that you die. Understand?”
“Go to hell!” Sophie yelled. She crab-walked backwards away from him. He followed, the ax over his shoulder, taking one long slow step at a time.
“I’m betting I can do four. Maybe five. But, like I said, I do get carried away sometimes.”
Behind Taylor, Sophie saw Nate’s body roll over. That was impossible. She’d seen the way his head was split open. There was no way he could be alive. It was almost as if someone were moving him.
Taylor shifted the ax to a two hand grip. “Okay, ready to get started?”
Something flew through the air and landed on the ground next to Sophie. A knife.
Taylor squinted at it. “What the hell?” He spun around to see who had tossed it. That was all the time Sophie needed.
She grabbed the knife, tucked her feet under her, and sprang up. Taylor turned back, a confused look on his face. The confusion quickly melted into shock as Sophie brought the knife around and stuck it in his neck.
He staggered backwards three steps and collapsed. Sophie picked up the ax off the ground. She paused wondering if she should say something. Something like, This is for Heather. But no, there was no joy in this. It was just something that had to be done. She wouldn’t gloat.
She lifted the ax and finished the job.
Looking toward the doorway, she said, “Thanks.”
Suddenly Frank was standing there next to Nate’s now face-up body. “You’re welcome.” He stepped forward. “I, uh, thought about taking him out. Seemed like maybe it was something you needed to do yourself. From what he said about your sister and all.”
Sophie shuddered. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to leave, to be away from all this death and destruction. “So, you got a Bilbo Baggins ring or what?”
“Huh?”
“The invisibility thing.”
“Oh. Come on, I’ll show you.” He ducked into Jake’s office. Sophie followed him, carefully sidestepping the bodies in her path. The old lockbox was sitting on the desk.
“I found this under the desk. I put the book inside,” Frank said. “Now watch this.”
He pulled a strange metal object out of his pocket. It was a silver hoop hooked into a metal square.
“What is that thing?” she asked.
“It’s a lock. To open it, you twist, squeeze, and then pull. Watch.” He demonstrated, and the lock popped open. “Now, here’s the cool part.” He put the lock on the box. When he snapped the lock shut, the box disappeared.
“No way.” Sophie reached out and touched where the box had been. Her fingers passed through the air as though nothing was there.
He looked at her. “It’ll be safe from Zed.”
“You sure?”
He smiled weakly. “I’m from the future, remember?”
She grunted in reply. “So you trust me now?”
Frank ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Turns out the info I had on you was a little off. I trust you more than Zed. I know that much.”
“What do we do now?”
Frank shook his head. “Mason told me you were dead by the time he took the compass from you. And he didn’t mention me being here. I don’t know how this ends.”
“Mason,” Sophie said. “We need to find him. Before Zed does. Then we need to search for survivors. Maybe try to put out the fires. I don’t know. I wish I still had the compass.”
“I’ve got mine.”
“What do we do if we run into Zed?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve got another lock. We can hide if we need to.” He pressed the broken clock symbol and closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay. Let’s go.”
They made their way out of the house, past the bodies of the people Sophie had known and the unbanished that she hadn’t. Past the bodies of strangers and friends.
“What are we gonna do when we find Mason?” Frank asked.
“I don’t know. But we can’t leave him alone out there.”
They didn’t have to walk far before they saw a figure standing in the middle of the trail. Zed.
“Well, this ain’t good,” Frank muttered.
Zed wore a set of loose, ill-fitting khakis and a tee shirt.
“Good Lord,” Zed said, a quizzical smile on his face. “Is that Frank Hinkle?”
“Nice outfit,” Frank said.
“Thank you. I got it out of one of the cabins before that idiot burned it.” Zed said. “Where in the world did you come from? I take it you came through the mirror?”
“Where’s Mason?” Sophie said.
“The kid?” Zed asked. “He’s hiding in the woods a little way from here. I’ll deal with him next.”
Sophie pulled out her knife. “Leave him alone.”
Zed waved a dismissive hand toward her. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Frank? You see now what I had planned for Rook Mountain. After the people are gone and the town is disconnected from reality, there are so many wonderful things you can do.”
Frank spoke through gritted teeth. “This is your master plan? To turn towns into weird little forests?”
Zed chuckled. “They’re so much more than that. These weird little forests are the only places I’m safe. Think of it as building a castle with a moat around it. And, the forests provide me what I need to do my real work.”
“What’s that?” Frank asked. “Babysitting Larvae?”
Zed’s smile wavered for just a moment. “The Larvae are an unfortunate side effect. They grow up to be the Ones Who Sing, after all. And trust me when I say I don’t want that.”
Sophie glanced at Frank. “What do we do?”
“I am still getting re-acclimated to my body,” Zed said. “My original plan for getting back to Rook Mountain today failed. I’m the weakest I’ve been in a long, long time. You might even be able to kill me right now. That’s why I’ve decided to deal with you later.”
Sophie felt something like a meat hook tear into her back. The air rushed out of her lungs. She felt herself flying through the air, and then the world changed.
IN THE WOODS (PART EIGHT)
“Glad to see you both,” Zed said.
Frank doubled over, gasping for breath. He saw Sophie next to him, doing the same. After a moment, he looked up and blinked hard. It was like decades had passed in a moment. Zed stood in the middle of the path, exactly where he’d been a moment ago. Now Mason—sixty-year-old Mason—stood next to him.
The path had changed. It was thinner now, and partially grown over.
The only thing unchanged was Zed. He was wearing different clothes, but, other than that, he looked exactly the same. No, that wasn’t quite right. He hadn’t been holding an open book in his hands.
Zed had the book. Jake had died bringing Frank to the past. And for what? The people of Sanctuary were still dead and now Zed had the book. Zed had won.
White light poured out of a door in the tree next to Frank. “You pulled us through the tree?” he asked.
Sophie shook her head. “Jake said that couldn’t be done.”
“It can if you know what you’re doing,” Zed said. “And if you don’t mind hurting people a little.”
Frank’s back felt like it was on fire from whatever mystical force had grabbed him and pulled him through. It seemed to be intact though.
“I’m in a better position to deal with you now,” Zed said. “A much better position. I’ve been waiting more than fifty years to be strong enough to pull you through and save my younge
r self.” He pointed toward Frank’s hand. “Is that the compass? If you don’t mind…” He slid a finger across a page of the book, and the ground under Frank shifted. It was like being on a moving sidewalk at an airport. The ground carried him twenty feet down the path, and in a moment he was standing in front of Zed.
He grabbed Frank’s wrist and squeezed with hellish strength. Frank cried out and dropped the compass into Zed’s outstretched hand. “Glad to have this one back. You know, if I’d had this in Rook Mountain, things would have gone very differently.” He glanced down at the compass. “Well, now, isn’t this interesting? The compass is pointing at Ms. Porter.”
“What does that mean?” Sophie asked. “Why does it do that?”
Zed’s smile widened. “It only points to the worst of the worst. If you press the broken clock symbol and concentrate, you can move the needle in another direction for a while, but evil is this compass’s true north. It would seem you have the potential for great evil, my dear. Maybe we should keep you around for a while.”
Mason raised a pistol and pointed it at Sophie. “You killed my mother.”
“What?” Sophie asked. “I’ve never even seen you before.”
Zed sighed. “Catch up, Ms. Porter. This is little Mason Hinkle, all grown up.”
“Mason, I was there,” Frank said. “I saw it. She didn’t kill your mother. Zed’s been lying to you.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Like I’d believe you.”
Zed pushed the pistol down. “Mason, please. Not now. There’ll be plenty of time for killing her once I leave.”
Mason’s eyes widened. “You’re leaving?”
He nodded. “I have to finish the work I started before your uncle and his friends stopped me.”
Zed’s hands flew over the pages of the book. With each stroke of his finger, the forest changed. Trees zoomed around, reorienting themselves. Hills flattened. Paths grew and twisted and disappeared.
Frank wanted to throw up. It was like the world was spinning around him. It hurt his eyes, his brain more so. Even after everything he had seen, this was too much for him.
“What Jake didn’t realize when he…banished me,” Zed said, working the book as he talked, “was that he was connecting me to all sorts of other places and times. The roots of the trees here reach far beyond this soil. I found I could influence things very far from here. I could even appear briefly in an almost physical form with a little help. I did that a few times in Rook Mountain. So, I created the legend of Sanctuary and put it into as many times and places as I could. Sanctuary is the book’s secret name for this place. I knew the book would make sure Jake heard the people when they called for his help. And, kind-hearted fool that he was, I knew he’d help them. The more people he brought here, the better the chance someone would screw up and I’d be able to make my escape.” He smiled at Sophie.
Sophie glared at him. “Is that why you brought me here? Is that why you left me messages? So I could help you escape?”
A dark cloud passed over Zed’s face. “My powers were limited when I was banished. I could influence things in small ways. I left a few messages for my friends in Rook Mountain, but it hurt every time. Someone else brought you here and left you those messages.”
Sophie laughed. “Right. Who was it then?”
Zed grimaced. “The same man who killed your friends. The man who drove the banished people to attack. The man who started the fires.” He glanced at Frank and saw the skeptical look on his face. “Come on. Why would I kill all those people? You know I love working a crowd. I’m an idealist at heart. I believe in people.”
Zed tapped his fingers on the page like a pianist coaxing out a complicated concerto. Suddenly a man stood next to Frank.
It was the bearded man. The man Frank had seen over Mason’s shoulder when he first arrived here.
The man looked around, confused.
“I don’t understand,” Sophie said. “Jake banished him. Did you change him back?”
“Noooo,” Zed said. “I was the one who transformed him into a tree originally many years ago when this place was still called Sugar Plains. And then you released him. And Jake did his half-assed job of changing him back into a tree. It took a while, but our friend Vee here broke free. He did that…what was it, Vee…two years ago? That was impressive. He’s been sulking around the woods since then. Thinking he was hiding from me. Waiting for his chance to take me out. Well, here I am, Vee.”
The bearded man smiled, revealing dirty teeth. “Zed. I have a message for you.”
Zed waved his hand at the man. “I don’t want your message.”
“You need to hear it, nonetheless,” Vee said. “Come home.”
Zed scowled at the bearded man. “I am home. You tell them that. I am home.”
Vee said, “That message will not be well received.”
Zed shook his head as if dismissing the idea. “You gonna tell Frank and Sophie how you killed their friends? How you brought poor little Sophie to Sanctuary? Tricked her with your messages?”
“Why should I tell them anything? You’ve been living among them far too long if you think they matter.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Zed said. “They are wonderful tools. You just don’t know how to use them properly.”
Vee let out a bark that might have been a laugh. “You were always the smart one.”
Zed’s smile widened. “And you were always the strong one. The way you did all those things while you were in tree form, it was mighty impressive. I watched in awe as you made things happen here and in Rook Mountain. Your message even helped my friends locate the hammer.”
“I wanted them to open the door, same as you. I want out of this place as badly as you do.”
“I couldn’t have done all that,” Zed said. “Like I said, you’re the strong one. We both know I’m no match for you in a straight up fight.”
“Then why are you smiling?” Vee asked.
“Because I’m the smart one.”
Zed slid his fingers across the page in front of him, and light burst out of the two trees nearest to Vee. He flipped onto his back as if his legs were being pulled in one direction and his arms in the other. He hovered three feet off the ground, a pained looked on his face, his arms and legs stretched in opposite directions.
Frank remembered the irresistible force that had pulled him through the tree moments ago. It appeared a similar force was pulling Vee. Toward two separate trees at once.
Vee groaned, his eyes wide.
“You had to come after me,” Zed said. “You couldn’t leave well enough alone. They need me even if they don’t know it. Screw the Ones Who Sing. And screw you. They need me. You tell them that.”
Vee grunted, as if he were trying to speak but was stretched too far to let any words out.
Zed flicked the page, and Vee cried out, releasing a guttural shriek of pain. His body quivered, and then his arms were ripped from his body and flew through the door behind him even as the rest of his body flew through the door in front of him.
Vee was gone. Only a splatter of blood on the ground remained.
“There,” Zed said. “That’s taken care of.”
“Jesus!” Sophie yelled. “You tore him in half.”
“Hush now,” Zed said. He put his hand back on the book and his fingers started dancing.
Frank looked around and let out an involuntary gasp. The trees were lined up in orderly rows as far as the eye could see. White light poured from each of them.
Frank stumbled backwards toward Sophie and put his arm around her. As they clung to each other, he realized they were both shaking.
“I’m pretty good with this thing, right?” Zed asked.
“Who was that man?” Frank asked.
Zed grunted. “He was no one. Someone who thought he was entitled to power.”
“What is that book?” Frank asked. “Where did it come from? Did you make it?”
Zed paged through the book as if trying to fi
nd a particularly interesting passage. “No. Every special place has a book. I’m just skilled at finding the important ones.”
Frank asked, “Even Rook Mountain has one of these books?”
Zed looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. “Frank, your mind is a strange and beautiful thing. You really don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
Zed tilted his head and squinted at Frank, as if trying to figure out if the man was kidding. “Rook Mountain did have a book. You burned it.”
Frank shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He suddenly felt like the world was twisting again. Something strange was happening in the back of his mind, but he didn’t know what it was.
Zed chuckled and shook his head. “And that’s exactly why I’m not going to kill you. I might need some of what you have locked away in your head. If either one of us can ever figure out how to access it.”
Sophie nodded her head toward the tree next to her. It was an especially tall tree with a complex and twisted root structure. Frank didn’t know what she was trying to tell him.
Zed flicked the page with his finger, and the white light coming out of one of the trees disappeared. He flicked again, and another light went out. He did it again and again, faster and faster.
“Frank, give me your lock,” Sophie whispered.
Frank squinted at her, wondering what she was talking about. Then he remembered there were two locks. The one he’d brought with him from Rook Mountain and the one he’d taken off the lockbox. He still had one in his pocket. He passed it to her.
“Zed, what are you doing?” Mason asked.
Zed kept moving, putting out lights as he answered. “I only need one of these doors. And I might not be the only person trying to use them. Better to destroy them. Besides, there’s only one place left I need to go.”
Frank noticed Sophie was crouched near the ground, but he couldn’t tell what she was doing.
Finally, when all the lights were out but the one on the tree directly in front of Zed, he closed the book and looked at Frank. “I’ll come back for you,” he said. “I may have work for us to do together.” He stepped toward the doorway, and then paused. “I’ve set this door to burn out after I step through. But you have food and supplies. Try to stay alive until I get back.”