THE EVENT

by Jamie Heppner

"I have some things for your trip as well. You might not need them but I would rather you have them just in case."

  With a flourish he pulled out his sword and handed it hilt first to Dawn.

  "It's a mostly decorative blade, but it is still strong enough. If you happen upon a better one I would upgrade as soon as I could." She took it with a smile and the General helped her strap it to her back.

  "Keep it back there so you don't trip up on the blade. You're getting taller but it's still a bit long for you to wear on your hip just yet."

  Then he reached down, pulled something from his leg, and handed it to Shade.

  "You're not as good with the long blades as Dawn is and I only have the one sword. This isn't as good but it might be useful if it ever comes down to it."

  In his hand was a dagger. He also turned it hilt first to Shade. The blade was longer than normal, about six inches long and sheathed in leather.

  "You can fasten this on your hip. It's nothing special either but the blade is sharp. I sharpened the edge myself last night. Keep it close, it won't turn away a sword but it shouldn't be disregarded either."

  Shade gave his father a nod and strapped it to the belt on his hip. He only felt a little jealous at not getting the longer blade from his father. Maybe I should have practiced a little harder.

  The excitement of the pending trip soon made him forget about blades as they said their goodbyes and began down the road that would lead them in a day or two to town.

  Their steps were quick and light at first. The forest was already trying to take back the road they had driven up almost a year ago. It seemed to be pushing at the edges of the pavement as if to reclaim what it had lost. Cracks riddled the pavement as roots and other plants had broken through and started reaching up to the sky. The life in them shone bright to Shade's eyes and even without any kind of rain, they grew strong and healthy. After a few hours, some of the excitement started to wear off and the two began a healthier pace. They didn't speak often at first. Dawn would simply project an image of something she saw that was new, a plant or animal, an oddly shaped tree, anything that caught her eye. Shade would search around for what it was she was showing and appreciate the differences. After a while, her projections became fewer and fewer until they too came to a halt as the reality of the journey ahead sunk in. Around noon, Shade called for a stop at the first intersection they had come to.

  "This is the main highway. Dad said we had to take a left here and just follow the signs."

  The young couple looked down the road at the forest that had grown up over the highway. Normally the trees kept back from the road, but these had all pushed in close. It hadn't taken them long to reclaim the distance usually cut back for cars and snow clearance. The surface of the road cracked here as well. Large roots broke though the surface and then drove back down into the earth again like giant tentacles.

  "I guess it's a good thing we aren't driving, these roads are almost impassable already." Shade said as he opened his pack and made himself a small lunch while Dawn did the same.

  They both sat on the grasses beside the road looking around them as they ate. Something dawned on Shade as he listened to the sounds around him.

  "Hey, do you hear that?"

  Dawn stopped a moment and cocked her head to the side, the movement not unlike that of Shade's mother.

  Dawn's eyebrows raised in indication she heard it as well. The noise was all around them and it was hard to discern it from any one distinct direction. In frustration, Shade began circling around and around the intersection trying to trace the noise all around. He circled farther and farther out listening intently while Dawn just stood listening, her eyes closed in thought. Shade was just about to give up when he noticed a movement next to a tree. He stopped his searching and focused on the spot he had seen something move. Dawn walked up behind him her sword already drawn and held ahead of her. Shade silently cursed himself and belatedly pulled out his own dagger as he walked closer to the tree to investigate. The forest was thick and didn't allow much of the noon sun to penetrate down to the ground. Only when they got closer could they see what was under the canopy of green.

  Chapter 7

  The Oracle watched as the two children practically danced down the road on their vacation. She found this decision harder to deal with then she had envisioned. It was clear that the children would be safer not being here for the next few days but things were shifting so quickly. It was almost as though the future was changing from minute to minute. It was jumping back and forth with indecision, like a rabbit trying to escape a hawk. Once she was sure they had gone out of earshot, she turned to her husband. "We have to get ready quickly."

  Her seriousness of tone made the General start as he looked at her black eyes with his own golden-rimmed ones.

  "Ready for what?"

  "Our future...or the end of it. One way or the other the next two days will decide."

  The General looked down the road the children had gone. Nothing remained of them now as the trees had swallowed them up.

  "That’s why you didn't want me to go. Something is coming here now isn't it?"

  "Yes, No, I'm not sure, but something is changing, it's almost as though decisions are made, then changed repeatedly. I only get a sense of what is happening. If you had gone away though, you would have died somehow. I saw your grave when you talked of leaving this valley. The children though, they seem safe outside of here. I think."

  "What is coming then?"

  The Oracle shook her head in resignation."I can't see, just, that extra room you were going to build will have to wait. We need to prepare some kind of defence. Something is coming soon. It's not coming for a friendly visit either."

  The General looked hard around their cabin."Tell me what I need to do."

  He began that instant. It started with clearing out all the extra items in the cabin that they couldn't use. The electronics that were useless, the camping supplies used up. Then he dug a hole. It wasn't that big but it was large enough for one person to hide in.

  "I will be of no use to you when it comes. You need to know that I am safe so you can do what you have to. If I try to help you, I see my own gravestone alongside yours."

  The General simply nodded and started to dig. His new strength made short work of it and the smell of fresh soil covered him when he was finished. Life teamed inside of the soil. Worms and bugs were everywhere as he moved the fresh dirt out into the trunk of the car.

  "We can't hide the fact we dug this too easily, but it's best not to leave too big a hint." The Oracle had suggested when he asked why they should throw it into the trunk.

  The General gently lowered his wife into the hole to make sure it would be large enough to hold her when the time came. She could stand or sit as she saw fit, but without help, it would be hard for her to climb out with her bad ankle. He suggested as much but she waved him away with a hand.

  "It won't be important." was her only reply.

  They worked out how to place the table overtop so as not to trap her but still disguise the hiding place should anyone come inside.

  "Now it is time for the outside." The Oracle spoke as she ushered her husband out.

  She had him board up all the windows so no light got inside.

  "Darkness might help inside. It won't hurt me at all." She instructed and began pushing him to work faster as the sun began its downward slant in the sky.

  By the time darkness had fallen, the cabin had changed from a warm, inviting place, to a miniature fort. The door had been doubled in thickness with a barricade set up inside. The General had all the windows boarded up tight, so much so that light had a hard time passing through.

  Outside the cabin, the General had pushed the derelict car up closer to give the house some cover should they need it. All around the cabin, in a giant ring, he placed trees. Some were stacked precariously on top of others forming giant piles while he placed others into the ground and had their exposed tips sharpened. Stashed here and
there were sharpened branches; spears, placed where someone could reach them should the need arise. The General had worked non-stop all day, and sweat covered him, even though he didn't breathe any harder than if he had been standing still for hours.

  "It's the best we can do for now." The Oracle said. "Let's get something to eat. You will need your strength I think. Whatever is happening will happen tonight."

  The sun set golden behind the mountains, almost the same color as the General's eyes. He had worked all day without question. He didn't understand the changes that had happened in the world, but he did know that his wife was special somehow. The changes in her were too obvious to ignore.

  He didn't get to think too much while he worked, but now the waiting was gnawing at him like a bug inside his head. For all his life, he had been a man of action and now he was sitting, waiting, in a poorly defended cabin. For a foe that he didn't know, from an attack he couldn't see coming.

  All his military training was screaming at him to run, and fight, from somewhere more defensible. Somewhere better prepared, more armed. He crushed the feeling down, this was all he had and it would have to do.

  The sky grew darker a shade at a time and his eyes adjusted. The stars provided ample light for him to see by. In fact, with his changes it was almost as bright as day. That had caused him some trouble sleeping at first, but he soon grew accustomed to the change.

  His wife had moved into her hiding spot below some time ago and he had arranged everything the best he could to hide her. She sat completely silent below not moving or making a sound. She told him it how important it was she stays hidden, and he wouldn't let that happen. He whispered, "I love you." and stepped out of the cabin closing the door behind him.

  He had found a large steel pole behind the cabin, perhaps a left over from clothesline long ago and fashioned it into a barricade for the outside of the door. Putting it in place, he turned to sit and wait. Nothing would get by him this night if he had anything to say about it.

  The General closed his eyes and listened all around him for any sign of something approaching. His ears picked up the swaying of the trees in the night breeze, the bare whisper of the lake farther down, its waters gently lapping against the shore. Then there was something out of place, a snap of a twig from the woods. It could have been an animal, but tonight was not the night to dismiss anything. The General snapped his eyes open to look where the sound had come from. He only saw for a second before all the stars winked out, plunging him into darkness.

  #####

  Shade stood staring at the tree, the base of it covered in a bright green moss, and it looked carpeted all around. As he inched closer, Dawn now at his side he saw that the carpet seemed to move. Then the source of the noise became clear. It was bugs. Hundreds upon thousands of them everywhere, spiders, beetles, worms all kinds of insects crawling around. As Shade's eyes adjusted to the dimmer light under the canopy, he saw that the forest floor littered with them.

  They didn't appear to be harming the plants. In fact, the plants seemed the healthiest where there were the most bugs. Shade slid his dagger back into its sheath and Dawn did the same with her sword. Shade looked down at his own feet suddenly conscious of the fact they must be climbing around on him as well. He took a step back preparing to brush them off. Not a single bug was on him. They were in fact giving him quite a healthy distance. A small circle formed around him and Dawn, each area clear of the insect life.

  "Ok, that’s weird." Shade said as he stepped back again. The insects formed back to where he had been standing without getting too close to him. Shade stepped forward carefully towards the tree base once again and the insects parted the way for him as he moved. Dawn stepped closer to the other side of the tree and the same thing happened for her.

  "Somehow they can tell we are here, but they aren't bothered by us. I wonder how?" Shade said as he moved slowly but carefully around under the canopy, the bugs continuing their movements away from him. Dawn did the same but with a little less enthusiasm. It was obvious she didn't like bugs that much. After a moment, the two stepped back to the road and left the bugs to themselves.

  "We didn't bother them at all and whatever they are doing under the trees, it doesn't seem to be hurting them. I would say that these trees here are even healthier than the ones around our cabin."

  Dawn looked to the forest and nodded her approval. She knelt down on the ground and dug her hand down into the soil beside the road. Pulling up a handful, she held it out to Shade to look at. Admittedly, Shade was no farmer but even he knew the look of healthy soil when he saw it. The land all around practically glowed with the life in it.

  "We should look for seeds in town as well as cloths, any we can find. With soil like this, I think we will be able to grow anything."

  Dawn nodded as she dropped the dirt back and brushed off her hands. Some of the soil stuck to them causing her hands to turn a little darker. She nodded again to Shade and reached up to put her hands on the side of his head.

  "Why do you think the bugs are there, and why do they move away from us like that?"

  "I don't know for sure. However, I remember reading in class once that the soil needs insects to keep it healthy. Maybe that’s what they are doing, working with the soil. However, why they moved away? I don't know. Perhaps we can ask mom and dad when we get home."

  Dawn dropped her hands, and nodded. She started to move down the broken up road towards the direction of town, indicating she was ready to go. Shade hurried to catch up with the scent of the earth rich in his nostrils.

  The General held perfectly still and looked up to the sky. How can the stars just go out? He thought in panic as he stood in the darkness. The distant snap of the twig forgotten for a moment. He twisted himself side to side looking for any kind of light then he saw it behind him in the earth, the light of his wife. This is what she sees! He thought to himself as the realization of how trapped she must be feeling sometimes swept over him. Then he swung back away from the cabin searching the darkness for more of the lights that might betray others approaching.

  With his concentration, he could just make out the outlines of the trees. The General rubbed his eyes trying to see more. Staring hard he saw the dimmest lights all around pushing through and around the trees. There movements were so slow; yet steadily they moved as one heading towards him and his wife. Little by little, the natural light improved. Not even close to his normal sight though. More like a vision through the fog with a distant streetlight the only source. Then the lights stopped at the edge of the woods. A low howl broke from the distance and a single voice yelled into the night.

  "You, you killed the leader, I smell his death here! We waited, but you didn't come to take his place. With your death, we will pick a new leader. I should have been the one to kill him, now it will be me!" The voice paused a moment in the silence then yelled again loud. "Get him!"

  A wall of lights rushed from the woods howling and snarling as they moved towards the General. Something still blocked his vision, but he could see enough to know where the enemy was coming from. The General reached behind him and grabbed one of the poles he had laid out in preparation.

  The first of the lights reached him and leapt into the air. The General spun the pole around with his enhanced strength and brought the end to contact where the head of the beast should have been. The resounding crack was rewarding, as the end struck home. The beast fell before him and didn't move. Its light dimmed a little as it lay still and a fraction of the General’s eyesight returned to him as it did.

  A fuzzy outline of the beasts appeared to him as they started attacking in groups of two, three and sometimes more. Their fighting unorganized, the General was able to hold them off. Every time one would drop its guard, he would take it hard with his staff. The dull thuds of the blows, and his steady breathing were the only sounds he made.

  The beasts were getting frustrated at their inability to get in close enough. The General was quite proficient at keeping them
at bay. A few cuts on his arms or legs were all that showed of their efforts and none of them serious. Each time one of the beasts was knocked out or their life was taken by the staff a little more of the General's vision came back. Soon he was able to see almost as well as normal.

  One of the beasts that was on the outside of the battle soon became tired of not being able to get close enough and started looking around the battlefield. It didn't take him long to see the General was fighting a defensive battle with the cabin always behind him. His stance showed there was something inside he was trying to protect. The beast moved around the side of the battle until he was behind the cabin. All its windows boarded up, and there were no doors on this side. He continued to circle around looking for another way in.

  The General was winning. Not many of the beasts remained, barely half a dozen, with another dozen left dead or dying at his feet. It was getting harder to move around with the bodies blocking his way, but the fight was going well regardless. His vision had almost fully returned now, and the lights inside the beasts were barely visible as his own vision was taking over again. He paused a moment as the remaining beasts looked for a way through his defences. The General risked a quick glance behind him at the door that was still intact. Through the cabin's walls, he saw a single light moving on the far side. If he had taken down one of two more beasts, he might not have been able to see it.

  "NO!" The General screamed out as he heard the ripping of a board from the wall. The beast had found a way inside.

  The board came loose easily, but the noise was louder than the beast had wanted. He heard a person yell with a loud noise from the roof above. The beast looked up on the roof to see a man standing over him. His moment of surprise had passed so the beast reached inside the cabin and pulled hard. The wood splintered and broke as the window itself pulled free from the wall, leaving a gaping hole to the darker inside. The beast lunged in as a thud landed behind him where the General had landed intending to crush him underneath.