by Unknown
I realised that I’d lost many of them. There were more troubled frowns around me at this point than thoughtful expressions. Thankfully, Lin, the Chinese woman, came to my rescue. ‘The Lord of Forests,’ she said. ‘My people have legends speaking of such a one.’
‘Are you saying that you think our pest is a … Green Man?’ George asked.
I nodded.
‘But it’s not even green,’ someone said.
‘Yes it is,’ I countered. ‘Look.’ I brought the close up on screen again.
‘Seems more grey to me,’ the sceptic muttered.
‘You’re right,’ I agreed. ‘Grey-green: a sickly, unhealthy pallor, no question … because he’s not well. This is a denizen of forests and woodlands, not of the urban sprawl.’ And now came the most challenging part of all, where I touched upon my own unique occupation. ‘My guess is that somehow he’s stumbled across from a version of London where this area hasn’t been developed yet, where it’s still a forested wilderness, and he’s now trapped here, forced to survive in an alien environment however he can. That’s why he looks like that – unhealthy and discoloured. He’s having to forage for food – hence the raids on your bins – and I don’t doubt that he’s starving, maybe even dying, due to lack of the proper nutrients… So he now looks more grey than green.’
‘Grey…’ and George snorted. ‘How many shades does he come in, do you think?’
‘Don’t even go there.’
‘You’re not asking us to feel sorry for this Kirtimukha, this Green Man, are you?’ the man with his arm in a sling asked. ‘Look at what the monster did. It attacked me!’ and he raised the injured arm a fraction. ‘All I was doing was putting the rubbish out and it leapt out and bit me!’
‘When we took Ahmet to the doctor we had to say it was a dog bite,’ George added, ‘though I’m not sure he believed us. Chris, this creature is a menace. How long before it kills somebody? It’s already killing our businesses.’
There were murmurs of assent from all sides. I was quietly pleased that none of them had balked at my casual reference to different versions of London.
‘Everyone’s talking about it,’ George continued, ‘saying that the arcade is haunted by a dangerous monster; and word is spreading. Oh, ask anyone to their face and they’ll tell you that of course they don’t believe in such nonsense, but they’re staying away just the same. Our takings are falling by the day.’ More murmured agreement. ‘These are difficult times as it is. This sort of reputation is the last thing we need. The additional drop in trade might just be the final straw. We have to do something, because if this goes on much longer, none of us will survive.’
I nodded my understanding before asking, ‘You haven’t shown the video clip to anyone else – the police or the press?’
‘No, of course not,’ and he looked horrified that I would even suggest such a thing. ‘Why would we publicise proof that there really is a monster...? We don’t want to scare off even more customers.’
Actually, I suspected that, marketed properly, footage like this could bring a surge of people to the restaurants, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the feral creature – assuming it wasn’t dismissed as a hoax – but publicity was the last thing I wanted, so I moved on swiftly. ‘Have you tried simply chasing it off?’
George nodded. ‘It’s getting bolder though, and doesn’t always run off any more when we confront it. After the way it attacked Ahmet…’ He shrugged. ‘This is beyond us, Chris. Can you help us?’
‘We’ll pay, of course,’ someone blurted out, and others nodded.
I drew a deep breath and then said, ‘Yes, I believe I can.’
Right on cue there came a sharp rap at the door.
‘What’s wrong with these people? Can’t they read the ‘Closed’ sign?’ Ahmet grumbled, getting up and going across to answer the knock.
‘Actually,’ I said, ‘that might be for me.’
I caught a glimpse of the new arrival and asked Ahmet to let him in. ‘George, everyone, I’d like you to meet Danny,’ I said as a tall, dark-haired youth stepped into the restaurant. ‘The best free runner in all of London.’
‘In Europe, at the very least’ Danny quickly corrected.
George frowned. ‘And he’s going to help you get rid of our monster?’
I nodded. ‘By tracking the creature to wherever it’s holing up, which has to be nearby and somewhere green: a park or a garden. You’ve all seen how agile our Green Man is. Danny’s watched the clip and he’s confident he can follow wherever the creature goes.’
Danny grinned. ‘No problem. I like a challenge.’
‘So we track the creature to its lair … and kill it,’ George said. ‘Good plan.’
‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘We’re not going to kill anything. We’re sending him back to where he belongs. No violence; that way there’s no body and no awkward explanations required afterwards. If that’s not agreed here and now, I’m out and you can deal with this on your own. Okay?’
A few of the answering nods might have been a little reluctant, but at least they were nods.
‘Whatever you say, Chris,’ George assured me. ‘Just so long as that thing is gone.’
***
We whiled away another half hour or so before the kitchen door flew open and one of the Merhaba’s staff rushed in saying, ‘It’s here!’
The pronouncement signalled a great surge towards the kitchen.
‘Hey, slow down,’ I called out. ‘Let Danny go first. If we spook the creature before he can get close enough we’ll never find out where it’s based.’
‘Do as Chris says,’ George instructed in a booming voice. His words had far more effect than mine, and Danny and I were able to force a way to the front, entering the kitchen together. As we went, I handed him a mobile.
‘And you want me to keep this switched on, right?’
‘Please.’
He pocketed it.
Whatever work had been going on in the kitchen earlier was now abandoned, the staff clustered by the window. So much so, that we couldn’t see out ourselves.
George made his way past us to the door, where he paused and looked back at me, eyebrows raised. After brief hesitation, I nodded. George pushed the door open, letting us out. Initially I was acutely conscious of the others crowding behind us, but forgot them the moment I saw the Green Man in the flesh for the first time.
The brief clip had failed to portray his sheer physical presence. This was no cowering lurker but a proud and powerful beast, for all that it stood before us reduced by circumstance. He was beautiful, magnificent, and the tinge of green unmistakable, though it was only a tinge.
The creature was aware of us as soon as the door opened but didn’t attempt to hide or back down. Instead he regarded us warily, and as we stepped closer he snarled, the crest rising in an instant to frame a face suddenly dominated by impressively large and pointed teeth.
‘Bloody hell,’ Danny muttered beside me.
I knew what he meant. Only at that moment did the reality of the situation hit home. It was as if we faced an enraged lion with no bars to protect us, in fact with nothing between us and that mouthful of teeth except a scant few paces of empty ground. I knew without question that this creature could rend us limb from limb if it chose. The bite Ahmet had received could only have been a warning. Had the creature meant business it would have taken his arm off.
For a second things hung in the balance; I could see the calculation in the Green Man’s eyes: fight or flight? I think in the end sheer numbers tipped the balance, as the others filed out of the door behind us and spread out, some of them shouting defiance.
With evident reluctance the creature gave one final snarl then turned and leapt at the wall. This was no panicked retreat though, more a tactical withdrawal. Danny was after it in a shot, bounding onto the top of the bins and leaping, his fingers grasping the top of the wall. He pulled himself up in one fluid movement and disappeared. The chase was on.
&
nbsp; I was already running, heading for the road. I pulled out my own phone without stopping and summoned up a bespoke app which you won’t find advertised anywhere in this world. A simplified aerial representation of the surrounding area appeared on the screen – buildings portrayed as squares, terraces as oblong blocks – and Danny’s current position showed as a pulsing red dot. I‘d have to get a move on; he was already several buildings away. If he disappeared off the top of the screen I’d lose him.
Danny’s skill enabled him to pretty much go straight over any obstacles while I was forced to go round them, so his route was the more direct and mine the longer, but mine was also flatter. Hopefully, that trade-off would keep me in touch, but seeing the progress he had already made I wasn’t so sure.
George and the others were following in dribs and drabs, but only Sagnik – the lad who had filmed the creature – and a young fellow from the pizzeria whose name I couldn’t recall stayed with me. I didn’t spare anyone else a thought, to be honest. My only concern was staying as close as possible to Danny.
We tore recklessly across the mouth of a side street, splashing through a shallow puddle and narrowly avoiding an approaching car, while more than one wide-eyed pedestrian was left trailing in our wake. Within a couple of minutes three became two, as the young Italian stopping to ‘direct the others’. Personally, I reckon he was merely out of breath, which was understandable. I was quickly getting that way myself, but couldn’t stop. Sagnik and I charged on.
Mercifully, the chase didn’t last much longer. The red dot representing Danny came to a halt in an apparently open area – no grey blocks to represent buildings – and then started to come back towards us. Either his quarry had doubled back and was perhaps now chasing him, or he’d been successful.
Seconds later the road we were on opened into a square, the shape of trees looming ahead of me; and there was Danny, jogging across to meet us.
‘That was fucking amazing,’ he said, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Best chase I’ve ever had.’
He hardly seemed to be out of breath. Wish I could have said the same. I bent forward, hands on knees and my upper torso expanding and contracting like a set of bellows as I sucked in air. ‘And the creature went in there?’ I said between gasps, gesturing towards the square.
‘Oh, I can do better than that. I can show you the actual tree it took refuge in.’
The patch of parkland was ring-fenced by tall iron railings, and the gate in front of us was locked. No problem for Danny, but it would have been for me. Fortunately I’d come prepared, having packed a number of potentially useful items into my pockets and rucksack before setting out, just in case. Amongst them, a natty little something I’d first seen used by a lady named Cena as we hunted a werebeast through a very different London. I took out a palm-sized disc of gelatinous substance, slapping it onto the lock. Seconds later we were rewarded with a click and the gate swung open.
‘Neat trick,’ Danny said as I reclaimed the disc.
‘Comes in handy,’ I acknowledged, before turning to the boy, who was still with us. ‘Sagnik, stay here and wait for the others. Show them where we’ve gone.’
He looked disappointed but agreed, though I wouldn’t have bet against his following us in any case. No time to worry about that, though. Danny and I entered the park. At first we walked along a concrete path but Danny soon led me to the left, among the trees. It wasn’t large, this park, and was doubtless cultivated and tamed, but such distinctions were difficult to appreciate at night with only the moon and stars to light the way. I had a small torch but was reluctant to use it, not wanting to render myself night-blind.
I felt something even before Danny identified the tree our Green Man had taken refuge in: a stirring, an anomalous ripple in the fabric of the universe. There was a weakness here, a potential gateway to another London. In all likelihood this was how the Green Man had stumbled through to begin with. What had caused the weakness to rupture on that occasion was anyone’s guess, but I was determined to see it open again.
Whether the creature sensed my efforts or was simply reacting to our presence I couldn’t say, but Danny suddenly tugged at my sleeve, saying, ‘Chris, look!’ And it was there, crouching at the base of the big broad oak tree Danny had singled out, crest already raised and mouth snarling.
Two thoughts struck me: the first being that our Green Man really was ailing. Despite the current attempt at defiance it looked weary, weak, barely able to muster any menace at all. The second was that any creature is at its most dangerous when cornered. We were pretty exposed out here if things turned nasty.
‘We’re not going to hurt you,’ I said, in as soothing a voice as I could muster, knowing that he probably couldn’t understand but hoping that my tone would convey meaning. ‘We’re friends, here to help.’
Perhaps the message got through. Certainly the Green Man made no effort to attack us, though the snarl remained. Taking encouragement from this, I returned my attention to opening the gateway.
Just when I dared hope that events were destined to go smoothly and end happily, the beam of a torch fell across us and somebody yelled, ‘They’re over here!’
‘Stay back, all of you!’ I called out, but it was already too late. The silhouettes of people moved between the trees and the glare of more torches found us.
A mob. What was a cornered creature supposed to do? How could it fail to feel threatened? The Green Man lashed out, and how. All plans and good intentions went to hell in a handcart.
I’d always been a bit vague about what a Green Man was actually supposed to do. Oh, I know about its links to folklore and the wilderness, but what precisely was the creature’s function apart from adorning churches and giving pubs a name? I was now treated to irrefutable evidence that there was a lot more to it than that; we all were.
The creature let out a guttural roar. As if in response, the very ground beneath our feet began to tremble and then burst open. Thick coils erupted from the earth. Something hard struck my leg. Tree roots, I realised. Whether the creature was causing them to grow at an impossible rate or simply summoning the existing network forth to do its bidding I couldn’t be sure, but all around me men were suddenly cursing and struggling as woody tendrils wrapped around ankles and entangled legs. It was one of the most bizarre and terrifying scenes I’ve ever witnessed. Even as I took this all in, I was forced to concentrate on the very practical matter of keeping my own feet free of questing roots. I could only imagine how much more potent the chaos now surrounding me would have been if the cornered creature had a whole forest to call upon rather than just this oversized handkerchief of land. No wonder the Green Man was revered throughout the world if this was an example of its capabilities.
Reality came crashing back in with a loud, sharp bang, closely followed by a second. Gunshots. Who the hell had brought a gun along?
‘For God’s sake stop shooting!’ I yelled.
Too late. The Green Man uttered a squeal like a terrified pig and went down.
If the shooter had hoped to calm things with his actions he must have been bitterly disappointed. The tree roots went mad, flailing around indiscriminately and latching on to anything they encountered. Men screamed and I took a vicious cut to my left thigh, only narrowly avoiding getting my foot snagged by jumping high into the air. I saw George tumble to the ground, his legs captured by a thick root, and he wasn’t the only one. If this didn’t end quickly someone was going to get killed – potentially we all were.
Throwing caution to the wind I sprinted the short distance to where the Green Man lay. He was moving, thank goodness, and whimpering. The bullet had struck him close to the right shoulder and the wound was bleeding heavily. I couldn’t see his back to check for an exit wound.
The Green Man flinched at my approach and snarled defiance, his neck ruff rising again. ‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ I repeated. The effort of raising the roots must have exhausted him. He looked to be at death’s door and I suspected the bullet had me
rely hastened a process already well advanced.
The screams from behind me intensified. This had to end, and quickly. There was only one thing to do. Blotting out the surrounding cacophony and ignoring any concern for my own safety, I closed my eyes and focussed, reaching out with my mind for the disturbance I’d sensed earlier. There! I fastened onto the weakness and started to force apart the strands holding reality together.
Something knocked against my right ankle. I ignored it and kept working.
The knock became a scrape, slithering along the back of my leg. Still I kept working.
The slither wrapped itself around my shin and then tugged, yanking me down onto one knee just as I felt coherence surrender and the fabric of reality part. My eyes opened at the same moment the gateway did.
Bright sunlight poured through a ragged hole into another world: a narrow beacon drenching our patch of parkland in sunlight. I could see verdant forest, which had to be calling out to our Green Man – it was to me. The creature stared at the gateway, as if undecided or perhaps unable to grasp what was happening.
‘Go!’ I urged, shooing him towards the opening.
My leg was now completely immobilised and the grip began to steadily tighten, becoming painful. It felt as if my bones were about to crack at any moment.
‘For crying out loud, just go!’ Pain and desperation made the command far more forceful this time around.
Finally the creature stirred, climbing unsteadily to his feet and staggering towards the opening, one hand clasped to his wounded shoulder. He paused on the threshold and gazed back at me with an expression I couldn’t begin to interpret.
‘Please…!’ I implored, as the agony threatened to become unbearable.
I like to think that at the last there was a glimmer of understanding in his eyes, perhaps even gratitude. Either way, after one final glance at me he turned and stepped through. I let go immediately, allowing the doorway to slam shut and reality to flow back into its proper order.