by Alexie Aaron
“Rescue her child from harm.”
“I’m betting the child is Rory Kline. He’s the only one that makes sense,” Ted said.
Mia looked up the hill and saw Murphy patiently waiting for them to catch up. “Let’s share our theory with Murph.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
~
“I first heard about this thing from our gardener Paul,” Blair said. “He’d seen it. Being a man of the earth, the thing let him live. I don’t expect it to do the same for us ballers. We are disruptive, smelly consumers of the worst kind.”
“You seem to want it to come at you full force,” Rory observed.
“Yes, I do. Otherwise, it’s just another boring video game where no one gets hurt. We’ve had our loses, but it only makes us stronger, eh, boys?”
The stoned Smithes saluted their Captain. Ethan spat on the ground.
“To each their own,” Blair said. He didn’t like Ethan Alderidge. He was undisciplined and reeked of bad blood. Blair’s mother hinted that Ethan had been the result from a dalliance with the pool boy, or some other blue collar soul. Blair would put up with his disrespect, until it suited him not to.
“What’s the monster’s weakness?” Rory asked, not really believing in the thing. He was sure Blair was playing him for a fool. No one, after losing a family member, would be so calm and happy. The Smithes were high, and Ethan always seemed a bit dramatic to him, so nothing new there. Rory fully expected to see Keith and/or Jason jump out at them at some point with the intention of scaring the crap out of Rory.
“Water. It weakens it. Ethan here fell in a stream, and well, I’ll let him tell you his story. I didn’t really pay attention at the first telling of it,” Blair said and yawned.
Ethan told his story. “It had me. There was no way I was going to get away. I stuck my marker in its side and pulled the rapid fire trigger. The impact of the pellets hitting the wood pushed us back into the stream. I felt the wood soften, and the thing let go of me.”
“Water weighs down plants, and our monster is made of wood, old thorny wood. You ever see roses after they have gotten too much water, Rory? Of course you haven’t, forgive me, I don’t expect the Klines can afford such luxuries on a soldier’s salary,” Blair apologized.
Rory gritted his teeth. If he ever got his hands free, they were going for the pompous ass’s throat. He’d show Blair a thing or two.
Blair launched into his tale, “The monster had me in its death grip; I feared I would soon be playing polo with Winston Churchill in the great beyond.”
“You weren’t afraid were you?” Vince asked, looking at him through bloodshot eyes.
“Not really. I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t be seeing the halls of Oxford after all the trouble my father went to, hiring a look-alike to take my tests for me, buying me a place.”
“Oxford, you? I’m playing the bullshit card,” Ethan spat.
“Ethan Ethan, if you so dislike me, why the fuck did you toss the bucket of water on the thing and rescue me from its thorny grip?” Blair asked.
“You owe me twenty-five grand, that’s why. I doubted your family would honor your debts after you were found mulched in the woods,” he answered.
“Smart lad,” Blair said. “My parents wouldn’t part with a dollar, let alone twenty-five thousand of them. If it weren’t for Grandmama’s trust, I’d be penniless.” He said and started laughing, “Now I don’t have to share Grandmother’s money with Keith. Shall I lower myself to quote, ‘Mine mine all mine’. Cue maniacal laughter.”
Rory didn’t find it funny. He looked at the other boys, and they were stone faced. If they disliked Blair so much, why did they follow him? Was it boredom, or was it something else? Fear? What did Blair have on them that they feared the exposure of? And how could Rory use this to free himself?
~
Mia crawled out from under the pine bow shelter. She got to her feet, brushing off the dry needles that clung to her pants and gloves. “This is where Rory spent the night. I found these,” she said opening her hand. Three round gelatin-covered balls of paint sat there.
“How do you know they’re Rory’s?” Ted asked, plucking one from her outstretched hand.
“We’ve seen a lot of orange and purple painting the woods, but I’ve yet to see blue,” she reasoned. “I’m thinking that Rory thought he was going to join the boys for a friendly game of war, or whatever the ballers call it. According to Tom, he purchased the marker and paintballs recently. He, no doubt, thought he had a day of fun ahead of him. I feel for the kid when he discovered that he was the fun. All that we’ve found so far tells a story of those rich bastards hunting him down. Your instincts that the entity is trying to protect Rory are right on, Kreskin.”
Ted applied pressure and managed to break the pellet. “It would take a lot of force to break these. Getting hit with one would hurt.”
“Think about six guys firing at once at you. I’d run too. Poor Rory,” Mia commiserated.
CRACK!
Murphy sunk his axe into some deadwood not far from the couple. He nodded to the ground beside him. Ted and Mia walked over. He pointed to the disturbed leaves.
Ted and Mia saw specks of purple and orange on the ground. Murph scratched his axe to their left. The couple looked up to see a splatter of paint six feet high decorating a young ash tree.
“Why so high?” Mia questioned.
Ted walked over and stood next to the tree. “See,” he said, pointing out the relationship of the paint to his body. “Those bastards were aiming for his head, and by the imprint in the leaves, I’d say they found their target. I fear Rory is either dead or captured. Those bullets hitting sensitive areas, like the temples for example, can do some damage.”
They heard movement to the right of them. Murphy raised his axe and positioned himself quickly in front of Mia, giving her time to pull her rock-salt-loaded sawed-off shotgun out of the back of her pants.
“Who’s there?” Ted called.
“Deputy Braverman and Carl Monroe!” an unfamiliar voice said.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you,” Mia said, raising her weapon, aiming at the area of the disturbance.
“Mia, it’s me,” Tom said. “We’ve been following you for hours.”
“Might as well show yourselves and join the party,” Ted said. “Murphy, you can stand down,” he ordered. “It’s Maggie’s puppy sitter.”
Tom’s face was red and not from the exertion of climbing out of the mire he and Carl had been walking through when they heard Ted and Mia talking.
“I’d rather be known as Deputy if it’s all the same to you, Martin.”
“Okay, Deputy,” Ted said, winking at Mia and Murphy.
“This is Carl Monroe. His family has been farming the land abutting the forest for generations,” Tom explained.
“Ma’am, sir,” Carl said, touching the brim of his John Deere ball cap. The muscled man stood six feet and change. The weathered face he bore was contradictory to his mid-twenties. Mia saw that a lot of hard work out in all climates had made him age before his time.
Ted discussed what they had found and listened to what Carl and Tom had to say about the evidence.
“I’m thinking you’re right about Rory being set up. I don’t think the kid went off his rocker and killed the Summerfield or Jones kid though,” Tom said.
“I agree with you. I think something else did,” Mia said, eyeing Carl.
“I’ve seen it,” he said quietly. “It ain’t human, but it’s about my height.”
“Tell me more,” Mia said.
“It’s rather hard to describe. My dad says it’s dangerous, but it never did me or my brother any harm. You respect the land, it respects you,” he stated.
Mia took off her gloves. “Would you mind if I looked into your memories? It won’t hurt, I promise. I’ll just hold your hands a while,” she explained.
Carl looked at the beautiful woman. Her eyes were so green, and her face was so
earnest. He took off his gloves and held out his hands.
Mia took hold of his hands and felt his calloused fingers curl around hers. “Think about the first time you got a real close look at it,” she instructed.
The grass was long, and the spring wildflowers decorated the fallow field with blue and yellow. Carl’s little brother was waving his arms around, talking about his tryout for the Big Bear Lake Cubs baseball team. Mia estimated by her distance from the ground that Carl was young, probably ten or eleven. They ducked under a string of barbed wire and walked into the woods. The scent of pine was overwhelming at first. Mia saw birds scatter as the boys plodded on.
“Dad says that if I make the team, he’ll get me a new mitt.”
“You’ll have to oil it. It will be too stiff otherwise,” Carl told his brother. “If you want, I’ll help you.”
His brother turned around. “Really? Oh that would be great. I’m going to be the best shortstop ever.”
There was a crackling, the sounds of brittle twigs breaking underfoot.
“Shhhh, maybe we’ll see a deer,” Carl whispered.
His brother turned around and slowly backed into Carl, who put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. Carl followed his brother’s outstretched hand and saw what had silenced him so quickly. In the brush moving towards them was a person made of twisted wooden vines. Leaves grew sporadically along the long limbs of the creature. It slowly moved towards the boys.
Mia felt Carl’s brother tremble under his hand. Carl swallowed and squeaked out, “We don’t mean no harm. We’re just going for a walk.”
The head of the creature tilted, and two green orbs appeared on it. It reached up an arm and pointed at a maple tree. Carl looked up and saw a large nest made up of twigs, leaves and dirt. He could just make out three little fuzzy heads there.
“See the baby birds?” he said to his brother. “It wants us to be quiet and leave the mother to feed her young. Come on.”
Carl grabbed his brother’s hand and backed away from the wooden creature. It looked at the boys and nodded its head and backed back into the shadows of the woods.
Mia opened her eyes and let go of the man’s hands. “Thank you. I understand so much more than I did before.”
“It doesn’t want to do no harm, but it has to protect its children,” Carl explained.
“What do you think it is?”
“My brother and I call it Ma Nature. I think it’s something old, very old. I think when God made the world, it was put here to take care of things. Those boys had no business being in here, defiling the beauty of these woods. I don’t think they should have been killed, but nature kills when it has to. Ma Nature does whatever she has to. She’s at war with mankind. She doesn’t have an off switch.”
Thoughts of the horror novel she read and believed made Mia feel a bit sheepish. She looked over at Ted, meeting his eyes. He didn’t care that she believed in Pumpkin space head or Pumpkinhead for that matter. What mattered to him was that she had opened her mind and was finally seeing what actually was going on in Sentinel Woods. She looked over at Murphy, and he smiled as if he was reading her mind.
“She’s protecting the woods from the evil that walked into it hell-bent on doing harm. But she’s not the evil I felt here the first night we passed through. I still feel its presence, but it’s not an ancient evil as what resided in the hollow. It’s new. The closer we get to the teens, the more I feel it,” Mia said absently.
“It could be residing in one of the boys,” Ted suggested.
“Or be one of the boys themselves…” Mia said, worried she hit the nail on the head. “And Rory is at his mercy right now.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
John Ryan listened to Ted’s position report. “You’re the only team that’s had any success. Continue on your present course. I’m going to recall the others. The sinkhole here is expanding. We’ve had to move the vehicles back down the road. Let the PEEPs team know that their truck is parked about a quarter mile west of here.”
“Will do, over.” Tom clicked off transmission.
John walked over to where Ed Monroe stood. “Ed, I’m not certain how big this thing is. You may want to head home to pack up your belongings…”
“Our home is three miles east of here; I’m sure we’ll be fine. Looks like the county may lose a road though. It’s a shame as it’s an alternate route to Big Bear Lake when the highway backs up. But I think we’ll all survive the inconvenience.”
“You actually look pleased,” John observed.
“Frankly, Sheriff, nothing but mischief, drag races and the like, happen on this stretch of Derby Road. Perhaps this sinkhole will save a few future vehicle fatalities, who knows?”
“If I were a suspicious man, I’d say the woods are shutting itself off from humanity,” John said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Can you blame it, Sheriff?” Ed asked.
“No, sir, I don’t believe I can. But I hope it lets us get in there and rescue those kids before nightfall. Rain is coming, and I hate to think of those boys roughing it another night out in the cold, and wet besides.”
~
A sinking feeling came over Rory as he listened to the group making their plans. They argued that they should move the bait to the stream. Ethan suggested that the water would even the playing field. Blair shook his head, reminding him that the lowlands would certainly be crawling with cops by now.
“You didn’t say anything about the law being involved,” Vince Smithe said. “I’ve got a future law career to think of. Stanford doesn’t think kindly on a kidnapping charge on one’s record, even a juvenile one at that.”
“Gentlemen, it must be the sobering hour, Vince is thinking about his future. Tell me, Sean, do you have any responsible insights to share?” Blair asked.
“Actually, this all seems wrong. We’re going to be questioned when this is all over. I’m sure our family lawyer can get us a pass, as neither of us have reached the grand old age of eighteen yet.”
“Neither of us has laid a hand on Rory either,” Vince added. “In fact, neither of us has seen this supposed monster we’re supposed to be hunting.”
“It’s real,” Ethan said, opening his jacket and pulling up his shirt. “What do you think left these?” Long red scratches and purple bruising encircled his torso. He dropped his shirt.
“You could have done that falling down a hill,” Sean said. “Come to think of it, how do we know Keith and Jason are dead? We only have your word for it, Blair. All I know is that I’m cold, hungry and bored of this game of yours.”
“Go ahead, leave,” Blair said. “But there is safety in numbers. Don’t scream for my help when the monster pulls your brother’s head off before it disembowels you.”
Sean and Vince looked at each other. Vince got up and nodded to Sean. “We’ll take our chances. Rory, sorry about all of this. I think we’ve been conned by a psychopath dressed in Polo.”
“Last night, you were leaving. What made you return in the first place? Was it not the thrill of the hunt?” Blair asked.
“Nah, Sean left our stash at one of the campfires, and by the time we found and sampled it - to make sure the weather hadn’t damaged it - the sun was rising, and we decided to stay. That’s when you stumbled in, Blair. Pray tell me, what were you doing all night? Murdering your little brother for Granny’s pin money?” Vince voiced what the others were thinking.
Blair looked at Sean and Vince and calmly raised his marker.
“Watch out!” Rory cried.
Vince turned and caught a pellet in the neck. He dropped his marker, grabbing his throat in pain.
Blair laughed observing, “That’s got to hurt.”
Vince looked over at him, anger flooding his face. He let go of his orange-stained neck and charged Blair. Blair reached into his pocket and pulled out a taser.
Vince saw it too late to check his advance. Blair reached out with the taser, catching him in the midsection and pulled the trigger.
Vince fell twitching to the ground.
“What the fuck!” Sean screamed. He ran to his brother’s side. He tried to help him but had no idea what to do.
Ethan ran over and pulled Sean away. “Run, kid,” he hissed, “you’re next.” He pushed Vince onto his left side. “Shit. Blair, I think he’s dying. What that fuck have you done?”
“Simply silenced his objections.” He dropped the spent taser, picked up the paintball gun, adjusted the velocity, and shot a few dozen pellets at the retreating Sean.
Sean stumbled around in shock, urine soaking his pants. Ethan lunged at Blair and managed to knock his weapon away.
Rory watched in horror as the two alpha males stared each other down. He felt the ground tremble under his body. Fearing that a sinkhole was opening up, Rory opened his mouth to warn the others but stopped as the fencepost he was bound to twisted twice, snapping the wires, and was pulled into the ground. Rory, not daring to stop to think what happened to the fencepost, wiggled out of the remaining barbed wire, gritting his teeth as some of the barbs ripped through his clothing. He kept an eye on the situation between the boys, looking for his opportunity to run.
“I’ll sue you, mother fucker!” Sean screamed.
Blair gut punched Ethan and pushed him aside. “Tell me, Sean, what for?”
“You killed my brother and…” he stopped talking. Vince moaned and tried to get up. Sean looked beyond Blair and opened his mouth, his expression confused.
“And what,” Blair demanded.
Sean pointed behind Blair. “Hardware Man’s gone.”
Blair whipped around. Ethan took this moment to tackle him and serve up a few blows to Blair’s ribs.
Sean ran back to his brother. He lifted him by the shoulders and dragged him into the brush.
Blair managed to push Ethan off. He reached for his taser and pressed it into Ethan’s neck and fired. Nothing happened.
“One time use, you fucker!” Ethan spat and delivered a blow to Blair’s shoulder.