by R. W. Ridley
Tyrone leaned in and whispered, “Where’s Gordy?”
“What do you mean?” I sat up and looked at Gordy’s empty bed. The sight of it startled me. I stood up. “Where is he?”
As soon as the question left my mouth, we heard voices coming from the back of the house. Tyrone was halfway across the room before I could even stand up. When we got closer to the voices, we realized they were coming from outside.
Tyrone pulled the backdoor open, and we both rushed outside. We were met by the quick sound of footsteps running on the wood deck. We turned to see who they belonged to, but it was too dark. We saw a figure dash around the back corner of the house.
“Who was that?” Tyrone asked.
The sound of the shaking branches and leaves distracted us for the moment. When we reached the railing of the deck, we saw a figure climbing down the tree.
“Hey,” I said.
A pale sickly face looked up at us. “Oz?”
I leaned over the deck to get a better view of the person. “Gordy?”
“Hey, boss man.”
“What are you doing there?”
“The man with the monkey told me there was food down here. I’m starving.”
“Man with the monkey?” Tyrone asked.
“Don’t go any farther,” I said to Gordy.
“You got food?” Gordy asked.
“No,” I said. “Not on me.”
“Well, the man with the monkey said there’s food down here and I’m starving.”
“You go down there and you are the food,” Tyrone said.
Gordy laughed and continued to climb down. It was pretty clear he was delirious.
“What’s going on?” Lou asked from the door.
“Gordy’s up,” Tyrone said, “and he’s climbing down the tree.”
“What?” she said running to the railing.
I jumped to the tree and had a vivid flashback of the last time I had been there. That white worm with the half moon scar surfaced in my mind, but I shook it off.
“Gordy!” Lou yelled.
He stopped briefly to look up at her and smile. “Lou, Lou, the blue Lou.” He giggled madly and reached out for a limb to support himself, but slipped and crashed down to the next level of limbs.
“Stop,” I said. “I’m coming to get you.”
“Whatever, dude,” Gordy said pushing himself off the limb. In a move that looked way too acrobatic for Gordy, he gripped another limb and swung clear of the tree and dropped down to the ground. He groaned in pain, but still managed to hobble a few feet away from the tree. “Where’s the food, monkey dude?”
Ariabod appeared out of nowhere above me and quickly climbed down the tree. Ajax appeared right behind him. He stopped on the limb below me, blocking my way.
“Move, Ajax,” I said.
He didn’t acknowledge me at all.
I climbed down a limb and attempted to pass him. He grabbed my wrist. When I attempted to work free from his grasp, he growled and let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going to allow me to go after Gordy.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked. “Are you going to let Gordy get eaten, too?”
His determined glare turned dark and then sad.
I heard the thump of Ariabod hitting the ground and watched as he sniffed the air.
“Ariabod,” Gordy said excitedly. “My main gorilla. Where’s the food?”
The ground began to rise and fall around him. The Banshee worms were circling him.
“Gordy,” I said sounding frantic. “Get out of there!”
Ariabod plodded forward. He was huffing and pounding the ground with his fists with each inch of ground he took. I realized he was trying to get the worms’ attention away from Gordy.
They weren’t going for it. They were focused on Gordy. Bostic had said they wouldn’t bother eating Gordy because he was sick, but that didn’t seem to matter to them.
A worm surfaced at Gordy’s heels.
“Gordy!” Lou screamed from the deck.
The worm raised up slowly until it towered over Gordy.
“Run, Gordy! Run!” I jerked my arm trying to free myself from Ajax, but he wouldn’t let me go.
Gordy never even turned around. He stood and swayed from side to side. “Hungry!” he said. “So hungry!”
“Ajax,” I said trying to pry his fingers off my arm. “You have to let me go.”
He didn’t budge.
The worm’s mouth opened. Drool hung from its teeth as it bent forward to take a bite out of Gordy.
Inches from Gordy’s head, the worm jerked back as Ariabod grabbed it. It twisted and writhed under the gorilla’s bearhug. Ariabod let out a ferocious roar.
Gordy finally turned. He was dazed out of his mind. “Is that what we’re eating?”
Ariabod squeezed and squeezed. The worm squealed in protest. Another worm raised up on the side of Gordy. Ajax let me go and leaped to the next tree. In a flash, he swooped down and scooped Gordy up off the ground.
Ariabod let out one last ear-blasting roar and squeezed so hard the worm exploded in his arms. Guts and goo sprayed everything within a twenty foot radius.
The other worms quickly turned their attention to the now slime-covered gorilla. He scrambled back and made his way up the tree I was in before they had a chance to get close. He spit and groaned as he climbed up to the deck.
Ajax dragged the half limp body of Gordy from his tree to mine. They passed me on their way to the join Ariabod on the deck.
“Still hungry,” Gordy said, “but I’m not eating that stuff that Ariabod made. Looks gross. Monkey dude said there was real food down there.”
I climbed up after them, anxious to find out who this monkey dude was.
***
Gordy sat on a stool at the kitchen counter and sipped from a cup of water. He mumbled “monkey dude” to himself over and over again.
Wes and I stood apart from the others and studied him as he lifted the cup of water from the counter and tilted it toward his lips.
“What do you make of it?” Wes asked.
“Not sure,” I said.
“Monkey dude? What does that mean?”
“He said a man with a monkey told him there was food in the woods.”
Bostic set a plate of jerky on the counter. Gordy reached for the plate with a shaky hand and pulled it closer. “Monkey dude said there was food.” He lifted a piece of jerky from the plate and bit into it only to recoil almost immediately. “This ain’t food.”
“It’s Bashir jerky,” Bostic said. “I know it tastes a little like spoiled pork, but it won’t kill you.”
Gordy grimaced and tore a chunk of jerky off with his teeth then chewed with a scowl on his face.
Bostic saw Wes and me and joined us. “Guess I was wrong about your boy there. Looks like he’s going to make it.”
“Can’t believe he’s up and about,” Wes said.
“He’s running a little fever,” Bostic said, “but otherwise he’s about as tip top as you can you expect.”
“Are you sure you’re the only one left from your group?” I asked Bostic.
“Positive,” he said. “Worms got every last one of them.
I leaned back against the wall and folded my arms in front of me. “Then there’s somebody else out there. Somebody who hangs out with the monkey thing in the trees and apparently has an interest in feeding the Banshees.”
Bostic raised an eyebrow. “That don’t seem likely.”
“Why?” Wes asked.
“Because I would have run into him by now. I ain’t the most observant guy, but I think I’d notice some guy running around with an evil little monkey creature and tossing down human food to the Banshees.”
“Then who’s the monkey dude?” I asked.
“Nobody,” Bostic said. “The kid’s loopy as hell. He was probably talking to shadows out there.”
“I saw something,” I said.
“What?” Bostic asked.
I hesitated before saying, “A shadow.”
Bostic rolled his eyes. “Right, a shadow. Like I said.”
“But this was a shadow of somebody, a person.”
“Kid,” Bostic said, “shadows in the forest can look like anything, a person, a bear, Bigfoot. That’s just the nature of the get along between a shadow and someone’s brain.”
I groaned and stepped away because I was growing frustrated by the conversation. I knew what I had seen. It was a shadow of a person. I was positive of it. Tyrone saw it, too. He could verify my story. I looked around the room, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Tyrone?” I asked no one in particular.
Everyone else turned to me and then did their own search. Lou went from corner to corner of the large room checking behind furniture and supplies. “He’s not here,” she finally said.
“Not here?” Wes said doing his own survey of the treehouse. “Where in the hell could he be?”
I saw April pass the front entrance to the house. She reached out and pulled the door back with her finger. “Guys,” she said.
Everyone but Gordy joined her.
“This door was open.”
“You opened it,” Bostick said. “I saw you.”
“No,” she said. “I mean, I did open it, but it was already open a hair.”
Bostick studied the door. “I locked it. I always lock it.”
I stepped outside and looked for signs of Tyrone. He wasn’t anywhere to be found. I spotted the hook with the harnesses for the zip line and counted two. There should have been three.
I motioned for Bostick to join me on the deck. When he stood next to me, I pointed at the hook.
It didn’t take him long to notice a harness was missing. “Damn.”
I started for the hook, but he stopped me in my tracks.
“Hold on.”
“What’s going on?” Lou asked joining us on the deck.
“Tyrone took a harness. He must have zipped back across.” I freed myself from Bostick’s grasp and retrieved a harness from the hook. Lou was right behind me.
“You two figure on going after him, do ya’?” Bostick asked.
“He can’t be far,” I said.
“I got news for you,” Bostic said. “That boy’s been a hundred miles away from the start. Bringing him back here won’t fix that. You best let him work out what he’s got to work out.”
Wes stood in the doorway. “Take that harness off, Lou. You too, Oz.”
I fastened the harness. “Tyrone’s out there...”
“I heard,” Wes said. “Bostic is right on this. Let him be.”
“Let him be?” Lou said astonished. She fastened her harness and reached up to hook up to the zip line.
“Damn it!” Wes said stomping towards us. “I said take those harnesses off! You’re not going after him! No one is! It’s dangerous and foolish, and I won’t allow it!” His face was red. Spit formed on the corner of his mouth. He was madder than I had ever seen him.
“But we can’t just let him run off like that.”
“We can, and we will,” he said. “The boy’s full of mad and hate and him taking off was pure selfish. You going after him will just make what he done worse because you’re liable to run into trouble and pay for his stupidity. We gotta start acting like a team. That only works when all the parts are working together. You understand me?”
Lou looked at me and waited for me to respond. I held the hook up to the zip line and then let it drop. “Wes is right.”
“He is?” Lou asked.
“More or less. Besides Tyrone can take care of himself,” I said stepping out of my harness.
Lou hesitated and then followed suit. She would have gone out on her own looking for him if she didn’t agree with us. He’s probably lucky she didn’t go looking for him because she would have come down hard on him when she found him.
We walked back into the house and gathered around Gordy. He was struggling to eat his jerky. His head snapped back every time he tore off a chunk with his teeth.
“You feeling better, Gordy?” I asked.
He looked at me glassy-eyed and nodded. “Little fuzzy on where I am and how I got here.”
“You’re in my humble abode, young man,” Bostic said stepping forward.
“I kind of remember that.” Gordy tilted his chin up and squinted his eyes as he examined the tree-sized man. “Good Lord, you’re big.”
Bostic chuckled. “So I’ve been told.”
“You’re the one who gave me the jerky?” Gordy asked holding up a piece of the dried meat.
“I am. How is it?”
“Awful and disgusting and horrible,” Gordy said sliding the empty plate across the counter. “You got any more?”
Bostic picked up the plate and approached the pantry.
“You remember about the man with the monkey?” I asked Gordy.
He took a sip of water. “Man with the monkey?”
“He told you there was food in the forest. Remember?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell...” He snapped his fingers. “Monkey dude!” His eyelids fluttered, and he grabbed hold of the counter to steady himself. “Head rush.”
April put her arms around his shoulders and helped him off the stool. “You should lie down.”
He nodded and then gazed at her momentarily. I could practically see him get a vision of April biting his leg. He yelped and pushed her away. “Get away from me!”
April’s face drained of all color. She was devastated by his reaction.
“Gordy,” I said, “take it easy.”
“Take it easy? She tried to eat me!”
“We all tried to eat each other, buddy-boy,” Wes said.
“Yeah, well nobody else took a bite out of anyone.”
April reached for him, but he pulled away. “I’m sorry, Gordy. I’m truly, truly sorry.”
Lou stepped between them and draped Gordy’s arm over her shoulder. “I think he just needs some rest. That’s all. He’s not thinking clearly.”
“Lou,” Gordy said excitedly. “Pretty, pretty Lou.”
April looked even more hurt.
“Oh my, someone definitely is not feeling like themselves,” Lou said.
“If you weren’t Oz’s girlfriend I would have totally kissed you by now,” Gordy said.
April couldn’t take anymore. She stepped out the backdoor to get away from everybody.
Lou helped Gordy sit down on his cot. “I’m not anyone’s girlfriend,” she said making a point not to look my way.
“Please,” Gordy said, “you two love the crap out of each other. You’re just too stupid to know it or show it.” He laughed. “I rhymed.”
Bostic brought him a plate of jerky. “Here you go, son.”
Gordy took the plate and stuck a piece of jerky in his mouth before lying back. “You’re like a giant or something.” He settled back and chewed the jerky. He swallowed and closed his eyes. “Almost as big as monkey dude.”
***
Lou pulled me outside to get me away from the others. She looked right and then left before whispering, “You heard what Gordy said.”
I was momentarily distracted because she leaned in so close to me. She smelled amazing. I cleared my throat and said, “I heard.”
“Well?”
“Well, what? He said Bostic was almost as big. He didn’t say he was as big. Almost. That doesn’t mean it’s him.”
She worked to hide her frustration. “I think we should consider the possibility that it is Bostic.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Why would Bostic help us only to send Gordy down on the ground to be eaten by the Banshees?”
“I don’t know,” she said backing up slightly. “Maybe he’s their caretaker. Maybe it’s his job to feed them.”
I moved in closer for no other reason than I missed her smell. “No offense, but that sounds a little crazy.”
“Does it? Really? Have you forgotten whe
re we are?” Her voice got louder with each question.
I put my finger to my lips to urge her to be quieter. “I’m just saying you’re kind of jumping to conclusions. Gordy isn’t exactly the most reliable witness right now.”
“Maybe not, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea to ignore coincidences.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
She started to speak a few times but then stopped completely. It was clear she didn’t have any ideas.
“Look, we’ll keep an eye on him,” I said.
“That’s it?”
“There’s nothing else we can do.”
“Should we tell the others?”
I considered her question. “Ariabod,” I said, “but not the others.”
She furrowed her brow. “Ariabod? Why not Ajax?”
I shrugged. “Ariabod’s... He’s just...” I couldn’t give her a reason. I had lost faith in Ajax. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but there was no denying it. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that he’d let Kimball die.
“He’s just what?”
“Just nothing. I just think we should keep Ajax out of this. Ariabod makes more sense, that’s all.”
She leaned back and gave me the evil eye. “If you say so.”
She started to walk away, but I grabbed her arm. “You’re not still mad at me are you?”
“Mad?”
“About April. The kiss?”
She smirked. “Who says I was mad? You kissed April. Who cares?”
“I didn’t kiss her,” I said. “She kissed me.”
“Whatever. It’s none of my business. Besides we’ve got way bigger things to worry about than who you decide to kiss...”
Something came over me. I couldn’t help myself. I just leaned in and kissed her. A thousand tragedies were exploding all around us, but all I could think about was kissing her. It sounds insane and stupid, and I couldn’t explain why I did it if you gave me an eternity to think it over. I just had to kiss her. It felt... perfect.
She gently pulled away. “Why did you do that?”
“Because if I really do have a choice in this screwed-up world, I choose to kiss you.”
She initially looked stunned, but she slowly smiled.