The Haunted Forest Tour

by Jeff Strand

  A few frantic seconds to find the number and he was dialing again.

  When somebody finally answered he breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Yes, Bea? I need to speak to the governor right now please. It's most definitely an emergency." He waited a few moments and cringed as the tree kept rising. His grandkids and his son and daughter-in-law all looked at him where he sat on the phone. He waved them to silence as the governor picked up.

  "Tom? It's Al Gantry. Yes, that's right, from Dover's Point. Remember a couple of years ago when we talked about what might happen if things should suddenly change out this way? Well, it's happening." He paused for a moment. "Tom, I think it's growing again. Fast."

  He listened and nodded his head, as if the governor could see him on the other end.

  "Yes, Tom. I'd say now would be the best possible time to call in the reserves." He shook his head. "Tom, I have a fucking tree growing into my house, pardon my French. I don't think we can afford to wait any longer. I'm ten goddamn miles away from the edge of the Haunted Forest! Yes, I thought you might see it my way. Thank you. Thank you very kindly."

  Al hung up the phone and looked at his family. "Get your things. We're leaving town, right now."

  As he moved, he made one more call, this one to Albert over at the fire hall. "Al? It's Al. No, the other Al. Mayor Al. Notice the trees, did you? Yes. Set 'em off. We're evacuating right now."

  Forty-five seconds later, the air raid sirens cut through the October heat and sent a chill through most of the citizens of Dover's Point.

  They'd lived next to the Haunted Forest for four years; they'd long since been prepared for the chance that things might go very, very wrong.

  Another tree came out of the ground like a gigantic fist, shattering the concrete walkway that led to the driveway where the cars were parked. This one was covered with thorns that were easily as wide as Al's finger when they first showed up and quickly grew to be as thick as his wrist. Al shook his head and cursed, looking back over his shoulder to call for his son.

  The words never escaped his mouth. The thorns hooked into his broad back and sank deeply through layers of meat and bone before sliding almost gracefully through his face, neck, and chest.

  The last thing he heard were his granddaughter's screams.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Though his situation had presumably improved, Eddie was terrified. He and Booth walked along the tracks, moving as quickly as they could while still allowing Eddie to keep control of his hostage. He never took his hand off the back of Booth's collar, and the gun stayed firmly in place against the back of his head. Booth stumbled every couple of minutes, but Eddie kept him from falling.

  Monsters were everywhere.

  On each side of them, behind them, in front of them, above them...everywhere. Things that crawled. Things that slithered. Things that growled. Things that hissed. They never came close enough to touch Eddie or Booth, but the two men only had a few feet of personal space, if that.

  If his hostage got away from him, the creatures would rip Eddie apart within seconds. He was sure of it. He'd be strewn all over the forest floor, and shortly after that he'd be in the bellies of eighty different monsters.

  Not a fun way to go.

  But he had to think positive. They were making excellent time. Since they were following the tracks, he knew for certain that they were headed in the right direction.

  He might just make it out of here alive.

  Hopefully the others were doing well. It would take some of the joy out of his survival if he found out that the others were all dead. Not all of the joy, but some of it.

  "You're making a mistake," Booth informed him.

  "You've already said that."

  "I'll keep saying it until you realize what you've done."

  "And I'll keep saying that you're full of shit. Most likely you're the asshole responsible for this whole mess."

  "Suppose I am?"

  "Then I'm right. Cookie for me."

  Booth stopped walking. "Suppose this is all my doing, and I make you an offer you can't refuse."

  Eddie shoved him forward. "Talk while you walk."

  "I had nothing to do with the forest's appearance," Booth explained. "But after it did, I made a deal with the Devil. Or at least a demon. It spoke in my head, called me to the edge of the forest one month after it sprouted, and said that it would make me the most powerful human on the planet."

  "Eh, it probably tells that to everybody."

  "It explained that nothing in the forest would leave, and none of the creatures would harm anybody who went inside, and I could profit from it as I wished, as long as I was willing to keep my end of the bargain at a time of the demon's choosing."

  "Gotta watch out for those demon bargains," said Eddie, flinching as a two-foot-long mosquito came inches from his arm. "Why'd he pick you?"

  "I owned the land."

  "Good reason."

  "So I got countless investors involved, and set up the Haunted Forest Tour. Let other people run it. At their insistence, spent a huge amount of money on safety precautions that we didn't really need.”

  Well, that would explain how the track was built without the loss of a single human life, Eddie thought.

  “The tour was wildly successful. Life was wonderful. Until..."

  "There's always an 'until’."

  "Yes, indeed," said Booth. "The demon returned. Said it was very pleased. And now it was time to fulfill my end of the bargain. Said that I was to provide it with three-score sacrifices to the forest creatures."

  "How many is that?"

  "Sixty."

  "Oh."

  "Twenty times three."

  "Gotcha."

  "It worked out very conveniently, since two tram cars filled with people provided the three-score sacrifices with twenty-four to spare, in case anybody escaped. That would provide the demon with the power necessary to 'transfer dimensional space' or something like that."

  "You didn't ask for clarification?" Eddie asked. "This seems like a situation where you'd ask for a shitload of clarification."

  Booth ignored him. "The demon needed two more things for the transference. A willing human sacrifice, and a willing human host. It said it would take care of the sacrifice. I would be the host."

  "Let me guess: The demon said you'd rule by its side."

  Booth shook his head. "No, but he promised me power beyond compare."

  "And you believed him?"

  "Whether I believed him or not is not the issue. The issue is whether he would rip my intestines out and strangle me with them if I refused. The answer to that issue is 'yes’. Maybe he plans to kill his willing human host. Maybe he plans to grant him power beyond compare. I'm willing to take the risk."

  "And kill all of those innocent people?"

  "I was not the demon's only option for a host. Somebody else would have done it, and those people would have died anyway."

  "Whatever helps you not feel like a complete scumbag asshole." Eddie wanted to kick the son of a bitch to the ground, but of course that would be unwise. "Another question for you. Let's say I was attacked by a bunch of alien-looking things, and when I blew one of their heads off, all of the other heads blew up, too. What would cause that?"

  "No idea."

  "Doesn't that sound weird to you, though? I was thinking that there was some sort of deal going on where they were all part of the same organism, but then they all should've died when I killed the first couple of them, right?"

  "I have no answers for you."

  "Fine. Just keep walking then."

  * * *

  Tommy's just a little boy. Lee focused on that thought. It was hard to do when his body was almost singing with vitality and his heartbeat was thudding strong and solid in the chest where it normally liked to flutter. Damned hard to do, actually.

  He looked over at Tommy, hanging on to Barbara's back as they continued to walk in slow motion, blissfully unaware of the Proof Demon's bargain.

>   He'd lost his aunt and uncle. Quite possibly he'd already lost his parents, which might explain why they hadn't taken him on the tour. He'd seen so much death and horror today, felt so much pain, that he might never be able to function like a normal child ever again.

  Youth, safety, and the girl of my choice, all in exchange for one broken little boy's life...

  Lee took in a deep breath and looked back at the Proof Demon.

  "Fuck you."

  The branch swept up in a savage arc that caught the creature squarely in its chest and shoved it back, stumbling on its multiple tails. A powerful hiss erupted from inside the cowl, and the demon reared up again, growing almost a foot in height.

  Good. When it was bigger it made an easier target. This time he didn't bother with swinging the stout club. Instead he just lanced the end of it into the hood and felt the impact as it hit whatever was hidden inside there.

  He didn't let himself think. Lee had been in combat several times, yes, but seldom in hand-to-hand and never with a demon from one hell or another. He trusted his instincts to save him, instead of trying to rationalize or dwell on the fact that he was trying to beat an otherworldly monster to death with what amounted to an unpolished broom handle.

  The demon screamed as the stick plucked out one of its eyes. Then it lashed out in fury. Serpentine limbs seethed out from under the tattered cloak and wove around madly as it sought the best way to strike back.

  Lee stepped back and swung his makeshift staff in a lazy figure eight, holding it close to the center. Each time the demon tried to strike he used his free hand to balance and direct the branch, letting him block the blows.

  "You could have had everything!" The voice came not from the nominal head inside the cowl, but from the whipping limbs themselves, each of which had a mouth. "You could have had your youth and your safety and all it would have cost you was one little boy."

  "Again: Fuck you."

  The demon slid back, seeming to expand again as the shapes within its cloak stretched further away from the center. Lee doubted there was any real solid body in there at all. Whatever it was that hid away seemed to be made of nothing but an endless knot of snake bodies.

  Why did it need Lee to give up Tommy anyway? If the demon needed Tommy, why not just take him? Pluck him right off Barbara's back. It didn't make sense.

  The Proof Demon stayed where it was, weaving slightly, maintaining its new size as the eyes underneath the hood glimmered like stars. "Very well, Lee Burgundy. You will not sacrifice the life of a small child to save yourself and the others. But will you sacrifice yourself? Offer yourself willingly, and I will spare them. All of them. On this, you have my word."

  "What good is the word of a demon?" Lee spat the words, both amazed by how calm he felt and unsettled by his willingness to die.

  "Your soul in exchange for their lives, their health. Give yourself to me, a sacrifice, an offering to me, and they are all spared."

  It hadn't answered the question, but then he hadn't really expected it to. There was a different sibilance to its voice, one that seemed to border on the desperate. For whatever reason it needed him to lie down and die of his own volition.

  Lee had no desire to accommodate the damned thing.

  "Gonna pass on that, asshole. We're just fine without you."

  "I'll see you dead, Lee Burgundy. I'll see you dead and all those who stand by you as well." The eyes blazed, and a thin drool spilled from the cowl. Where the spittle touched the ground, the soil blackened.

  He had little to lose, really. Lee was old and even if his body felt young at the moment, he knew it couldn't possibly last. Whatever the demon had done, it had to be temporary, either because he had denied it or because the youth was a lie.

  In the long run, that was the deciding factor. He'd studied every religion known to man in his quest for proof of the impossible, and one fact never changed from belief system to belief system: Demons lie. Whatever promises they make always come with too high a price.

  Lee charged forward and rammed his stick into the center of the body underneath that cloak, striking air at first and then finally hitting something more solid. The thing hissed again and Lee pushed forward, driving the tip of his club into that solid spot and feeling it start to yield.

  "Lee!" Mindy shouted.

  Lee's body no longer had its youth, but adrenaline rushed through his veins. It let him push on when all he wanted to do was run away. The tip of the stick splintered, he could hear it as well as feel it, but it also pushed in deeper at the same time, sliding past whatever sort of scaly hide the demon had and striking the meat underneath.

  The limbs that had been waving in the air moved down fast and struck hard. Teeth punched into Lee's right calf, left thigh, both hips, and just below his left shoulder blade. The pain was incredible.

  Lee screamed and pushed forward again, as one of the thicker snake bodies coiled around his waist and began to tighten. He caught one more breath and then did his best not to let it out as the constriction continued with bruising force. Another tentacle of muscle caught him at the ankle and slithered up his leg.

  The mouth at the end opened wide and started snapping.

  Lee opened his mouth wide and started screaming.

  Barbara grabbed the thing just below its jaw and pulled back with all of her weight. She was screaming too, and had never looked lovelier to Lee than at that moment.

  He shoved forward one more time, throwing all of the weight he could into it, and heard the Proof Demon scream. The contractions around his waist slackened a bit and he lunged, sucking in another breath and driving his stick even deeper into the center of the thing. Every muscle in his arms and across his back wanted to twist and tear, but he kept pushing, grunting with the effort.

  Barbara let out a yelp as the serpent she'd been fighting with tried to take a bite out of her arm. A second of the powerful limbs had wrapped around her as well now, and she fought hard to keep from being trapped.

  Lee felt something hard give, and the serpentine extremities around his body convulsed before letting him go.

  Barbara let out a sound of pure disgust and kicked at the twitching limb that had almost managed to wrap around her throat. The teeth that had been snapping for a chance to bite her flesh finally quieted, and she let the thing drop from her hands as she scrambled away from the dying demon.

  Lee felt the sudden weight that gripped his branch as the thing finally died. The multiple limbs stopped moving, and the shape towering above him fell to the ground in a heap. He stared long and hard down at the shadowed face and saw the light fade from the eyes that had only seconds before seemed like beacons in the night. Dead.

  At least he hoped with all of his heart that it was dead. He didn't think he could do much more to the damned thing.

  Lee stepped back and promptly tripped on one of the snake bodies. He barely even had time to notice before he was falling and landing on his ass in the dirt.

  He looked down at his hands again. His temporary youth was gone. But he still had his soul.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Christopher lay against the ice wall, covered with blood. The wounds thus far were all superficial, but there were a lot of them. Pestilence had spared his face—mostly—but the rest of his body bore countless red streaks.

  Pestilence crouched down in front of him and smiled. "Does it hurt?"

  Christopher spat some blood at him. It was from where Pestilence had slashed his tongue. "Go to hell."

  "I bet it does. I bet you're just wishing you could die, huh? Look in my eyes and tell me that you want the pain to go away."

  Christopher stared directly into the demon's eyes. "I thought I told you to go to hell."

  Pestilence clapped his hands together in delight. "Just what I wanted to hear! What fun would it be if you gave up this easily? I still have body parts to sever. Organs to puncture. Eyes to devour. Eye sockets to lick clean. You would be quite the party pooper if you succumbed this early, don't you
think?"

  "You'll never get me to kill myself."

  "I might. You never know. Tell me, Christopher, would you sacrifice an innocent young boy to save yourself?"

  Christopher shook his head.

  "Neither would your friend Lee. He's a good man. Better than most. A lot of people his age would've said, sure, kill the little brat, he'll probably just be a vegetable for the rest of his life anyway, I want my youth back, but not Lee." Pestilence grinned. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

  "None."

  "Then let me explain. While I've been slicing and dicing your poor body, Lee has withstood plenty of temptation provided by one of my alter-egos. If he'd caved, I would've killed you quickly and moved on with my little scheme. You see, my power here is growing. The forest is growing. But I still need my willing sacrifice for the real thrills to begin, and after that I've got a nice little human host waiting for me to set off the grand finale."

  "Which human host?"

  "Some guy. You don't know him. Anyway, Lee would've been a nice sacrifice. I would've liked to see him offer up a helpless little kid to save his own ass. Alas, he was too strong. Hmmmm...who else do we know who's strong?" Pestilence tapped his forehead. "Let me think...let me think...oh, I know! Your mother is strong, isn't she?"

  Christopher stiffened. "If you touch her, I'll kill you."

  "Is that so? Then why not be proactive? Kill me now."

  Christopher lunged forward. The demon easily moved out of the way and Christopher landed on his stomach on the ice.

  "So close, and yet so pathetic. Yes, yes, yes, I think there'll be plenty of entertainment value in seeing if your mother will sacrifice herself for her son. What do you think? Will she do it? Want to put a wager on it? Hmmmm...I'll say two-to-one odds that she goes for it. How much money do you have on you?"

  "I'll kill you," Christopher repeated.

  "Yes, I know, we've already established that. So do we have a bet? No? You sure? Pity." Pestilence whistled loudly. "I guess I'll pay Mommy a visit. I wish I could carry you along with me, but unfortunately I don't have the power to bring passengers. So you'll have to return to a slightly less comfortable mode of transportation."