Spores

by Ike Hamill

  “What?” Leonard asked, eyeing Jake.

  “I was just going to say that I agree with both of you, to an extent. Yes, Andrew is right, the guy had some kind of serious infection. But, I agree with Patrice that we shouldn’t run off and call in the CDC. I don’t want to spend the next three months in some government facility while my blood is being drawn every hour and they’re waiting to see if I’m coming down with a fever.”

  “So, what? You think we should return home and infect everyone we know and love?” Andrew asked.

  Jake shook his head. “Why don’t we do our own quarantine, just for twenty-four hours?”

  “What if we get sick?” Andrew asked.

  “We won’t,” Patrice said.

  “You don’t know that,” Andrew said.

  “He has a point,” Leonard said, putting up his hands to try to quiet the escalation. “We were going to be here until the end of the week anyway, right?”

  “Yeah,” Andrew said.

  “We can’t be sure if we’re exposed or not, or if there’s anything to be exposed to. If we hadn’t met that lady, chances are we would have sat tight. This is no different,” Leonard said.

  Jake shook his head. “You’re forgetting about the body out there, Len. If it were just us, I would say maybe. But what about the body?”

  “Exactly,” Leonard said. “Forget about the body. Let’s just suppose, for shits and grins, that this morning we went our separate ways. You went to hunt down near the bend in the creek. Andrew went to spot across the field. Me and Patrice were getting packed up to go to the tree stand when we heard the snowmobile. You guys came back when you heard the snowmobile.”

  “And?” Jake asked.

  “And, nothing. If someone finds Tyler’s body, then we all shake our heads, play dumb, and stick to the story. If that happens, Andrew confesses and says that he didn’t say anything to the rest of us. It’s all between him and the cops.”

  “What about the snowmobile guy?” Patrice asked.

  “I never saw him,” Leonard said, shrugging his shoulders at Patrice while he shook his head. “You?”

  “Nope,” Patrice said.

  Andrew exhaled a big breath.

  The room went quiet while they all looked to him.

  “Yeah,” Andrew said. “Okay. You’re right—I did what I did and I have to live with that. There’s no reason that the rest of you have to be dragged into it.”

  “But we’ve already been dragged into it,” Jake said.

  “Listen,” Leonard said, “we’re not saying you have to give him an alibi or anything. Andrew’s a standup guy and I trust him to take the heat if it comes. All we’re agreeing to is that he should be able to roll the dice on the body being found without the rest of us ratting him out.”

  Jake shifted from one foot to the other as the weight of this idea settled on him. It was an enormous load that somehow seemed heavier because they were all trying to carry it.

  Patrice busied himself spying through the window at the woman outside. Andrew was only looking at the floor, maybe considering his odds.

  “Well?” Leonard asked. “This only works if we’re unanimous.”

  Andrew looked up.

  “Fuck it,” Patrice said. “I never saw anything anyway. I could probably pass a polygraph saying that I don’t know a thing.”

  “You won’t have to,” Andrew said. “If they find the body and anyone comes asking, I will come forward. I swear on my son’s life.”

  Gradually, all the eyes landed on Jake. This was, legitimately, the most interesting thing that had ever happened to him. It was probably the most interesting thing that had happened in a two-hundred mile radius, and he was never going to be able to say a single word about it or he would implicate himself in the coverup. Andrew seemed like a good guy, but was he worth it?

  Jake looked at Patrice and Leonard. They were much closer friends. He had known them for longer and they shared the same social circle. The question had to be whether or not they were worth it.

  “Yeah,” Jake said with a sigh. “We do that.”

  “One more thing,” Andrew said. “I’m going to swallow that risk, but I’m going to have to hedge my bet a little.”

  “What do you mean?” Leonard asked.

  “I’m going to see what I can do about hiding that body. I’ll go out in minimal gear, a scarf over my mouth, and burn my clothes after. Hell, I’ll even take a dip in the lake to wash off. But I don’t want to leave Tyler out in that field. It looked like it was hayed last year, so at the most I would have a few months before he’s discovered.”

  “Less if Marie goes wide with her story,” Patrice said.

  “Good point,” Andrew said. “But right now she doesn’t know that Tyler is dead, and we won’t tell her, right? I’ll go deal with his body and you guys won’t have any involvement. I’ll make up an excuse for leaving.”

  “Okay,” Patrice said.

  “Yeah,” Leonard said.

  Again, they turned to Jake.

  “Fair enough, but I’m going with you,” Jake said.

  Chapter Fourteen - Lying

  (Andrew)

  “DO YOU THINK SHE bought it?” Andrew asked.

  They were jogging to try to keep warm. They had both ditched their outer layers back at the trailhead.

  “Who cares,” Jake said. “As long as we stay consistent, we have the numbers.”

  “It’s an outlandish story.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “People don’t get caught because their stories are outlandish. They get caught because they’re inconsistent. As long as we all say the same thing, and the story doesn’t change, then we’re good.”

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” Andrew said.

  “Save it. If we do our job right, we’re not going to have to lie about anything. Nobody ever finds Tyler and nobody gets questioned.”

  “I mean I appreciate you coming to help me.”

  “Oh,” Jake said. “It only makes sense. I’ve already been close to him. If she’s right, and he’s contagious, then…”

  “Yeah.”

  They came to the edge of the field and picked their way through the barbed wire. Slowing down, the wind found them, biting through Andrew’s long johns. Back at home, he would have gone running in leggings and a compression shirt that provided less protection, but it was a colder out in the woods and he didn’t have the luxury of keeping a decent pace. The footing in the field was terrible. Andrew followed Jake as the man retraced his steps from earlier. The air was burning Andrew’s throat by the time they came to a stop on the small hill.

  Jake’s breath was puffing out in white plumes through his scarf.

  Andrew followed Jake’s pointing finger.

  “What the fuck?” Andrew asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  The t-shirt was caught in a tangle of grass a few feet away from the rest of the clothes. That was the closest garment. Andrew shivered as he pulled out the garbage bag that was tucked into his long johns. He stepped forward carefully, like the t-shirt was going to jump up and make a run at him.

  “Circle west,” Jake said. “Stay upwind.”

  “Does it matter if I’m going to touch it?”

  “Just do it.”

  Andrew shrugged and followed directions. Less arguing might get them out of there a little quicker. He reminded himself that cold was a temporary hardship. Incarceration could last a lifetime. Turning the bag inside out, like he was collecting dog shit, Andrew gathered the shirt into the bag. Some pink dust fluffed out from the cotton as the wind blew.

  “What the fuck?” Andrew said. “Could you have been wrong? Did he survive and then tear off his clothes like a madman?”

  “Nope. He was dead.”

  “A predator? Coyotes?”

  “No way. They don’t tend to strip a person naked and leave behind the wrapping. Look.”

  Andrew had been creeping towards the jeans. He paused and looked
to where Jake was pointing. There was a pair of shoes flopped down on the grass. They were still tied and both had socks sticking out from the shoes.

  “This is fucked,” Andrew said. “We should get out of here.”

  “No,” Jake said. “Get all that shit. We’ll put it with your gloves and our scarves and we’ll sink it all in the lake. No reason to leave any evidence out here.”

  “What about the body? We don’t even know where it is.”

  “I have an idea,” Jake said. “Just finish gathering that up.”

  Andrew shook his head and went along with it. Jake’s plan didn’t make much sense to him, but he didn’t have a better plan to suggest. He picked up the shoes and moved towards the jeans. More of that pink dust shot out of the jeans and was carried downwind. A stray gust blew some back and Andrew closed his eyes and held his breath until the wind shifted again. Opening his eyes again, he saw that there was another surprise for him inside the jeans. Tyler’s underwear was still in there.

  With everything gathered in the bag, he forced out all the air and twisted the top.

  He was about to put a knot in the top of the bag when he thought better of it. They still had to add their scarves and the gloves and maybe a few rocks to weigh the bag down.

  The men nodded at each other and started to jog back.

  * * * * * * *

  (Patrice)

  Patrice stood by the window, waiting to spot the moment that Jake and Andrew returned from their mission. A flash of white through the trees made him catch his breath. It was Andrew’s long johns, but it could have easily been the flash of a deer’s tail as it bounded away. People had been shot for far worse deer impersonations. Andrew was lucky to have not encountered any other hunters. Neither man was wearing any orange at all.

  “I need to go back outside again,” Marie said.

  Patrice narrowed his eyes at Leonard.

  “Hold on, there,” Leonard said. “I wonder if you could do me a quick favor first. I found a little notebook and some paper. Could you write down a quick summary of the story you told us before. It’s not that we don’t trust you…”

  Patrice tuned out the request and turned back to the window. Jake was waiting on the ice while Andrew dragged a plastic bag out towards the center. None of that was part of the plan. Patrice had no guess what was in the bag. It was way too small to be a body, and it looked heavy as hell. The ice must have been cracking under the load, but Andrew didn’t slow down. He swayed, unsteady on his feet, when he approached the thin ice. Then, twisting around as he swung, he heaved the bag towards the center of the lake. It skidded after crashing down and part of the bag slipped over the edge into the water. Momentum rolled the contents and the rest of the bag tumbled over. The bag disappeared into the water.

  Andrew was already on the move. After one or two paces back towards the shore, something else must have occurred to him. Instead of heading directly back, he veered over to the blue jumpsuit that was still out on the ice. Patrice held his breath. He knew how fractured and weak that part of the ice was. Andrew was even lighter than Leonard, and he made it over to the jumpsuit no problem. Leaning down, he inspected the snowsuit, even unzipping it a little. Andrew turned back towards shore and said something to Jake. Whatever he said, it was lost to the wind before it reached Patrice through the glass.

  On the other side of the cabin, Marie was obediently writing her account as Leonard watched. She glanced up and Patrice looked away, trying to appear nonchalant. She knew something was up—Patrice could see it in the way that she kept glancing towards the door.

  “It’s too warm,” Marie said. “I have to cool down again.”

  “Just finish up what you were writing,” Leonard said.

  While Leonard occupied Marie’s attention again, Patrice took another glance through the window. Jake and Andrew were wiping themselves down and putting their outerwear on again. They only needed a few more seconds.

  “I cannot afford to get too hot,” Marie said. “I explained this to you.”

  “I understand,” Leonard said, “but I know how easy it is to forget something if you don’t write it down. It’s important that we get a physical record of what you’ve been through.”

  “I’m not going to forget my own history,” she said, getting up. “Please. I must step out for a few minutes.”

  Patrice gave Leonard a tiny nod to tell him that it was okay.

  “If you insist,” Leonard said.

  She opened the door just as Andrew and Jake climbed the stairs. They passed in the doorway.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

  “Yes, we did,” Andrew said, pointing at Jake. The other man held up the canvas bag they had pretended to go searching for. In reality, Jake had hidden it under his coat and they had taken it out with them. Nobody had offered her an explanation of why it was so important or why it would take two of them to fetch a nearly empty bag, and she hadn’t asked.

  “I’m going to get some fresh air,” she said.

  Jake closed the door behind her.

  * * * * * * *

  (Leonard)

  “I’m fucking freezing,” Andrew said. He raced to the wood stove and danced next to it.

  Jake moved slowly but drew just as close to the source of heat. The men shivered as they unzipped their jackets and tented them in the warm column of air.

  “Success?” Leonard asked.

  “Yes and no,” Andrew said between chattering teeth.

  “Well, fucking fill us in while she’s outside. Where’s she at?” Leonard asked.

  “She’s walking out onto the ice. I think she’s going for the snowsuit.”

  “Maybe she’ll fall in. That would solve a problem or two,” Leonard said.

  Patrice shot him a look.

  “Kidding. Guys, what happened?” Leonard asked, raising his eyebrows and looking to Jake.

  “We found where he was,” Jake said. “But he was gone except for the clothes.”

  “Vanished,” Andrew added.

  “What do you mean? Like someone took him?” Leonard asked.

  Andrew shook his head.

  “Maybe,” Jake said. Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Technically, we have to say maybe. It’s more like he evaporated.”

  “The fuck does that mean?” Leonard asked.

  “The clothes were empty,” Andrew said, “but still together. Like, the socks were in the shoes and the underwear was inside the pants. Shoes were still tied and pants still zipped.”

  “Like the snowsuit,” Leonard said. He remembered pulling the snowsuit up from the lake and how certain he had been that there was a body inside. Then, he had been certain that there couldn’t have been a body because he hadn’t seen a head or hands.

  “Yes, exactly like that,” Andrew said, surprising Leonard. “Did you notice that the clothes were still inside the snowsuit that dragged up onto the ice.”

  “No. I didn’t,” Leonard said.

  “Well, they were. Somehow, Tyler and Nelson managed to vanish from inside their clothes, leaving no trace.”

  “Maybe,” Jake said.

  Andrew’s cheeks flared red and he raised his voice. “Come on, Jake! Do you think that someone ran off with the body and took the time to undress the corpse first and then put the clothes back together like that?”

  “No, no. That’s not what I mean. I’m just saying that maybe there was a trace. Did you see that pink dust that shook out of the clothes when you picked them up? I didn’t say anything before because I thought I was just being crazy, but when I went to look at that guy…”

  “Tyler,” Andrew said, filling in the missing name.

  “Right. I swear that body was already starting to decompose before my eyes. Like, remember how I said that the flesh was spongy. I guess I mean that it was already starting to turn to dust and blow away in the time it took for me to cross that field.”

  “Impossible,” Patrice said.

  They all looked at him.
>
  “Bodies don’t turn from walking around to blowing away in seconds unless we’re watching a movie,” Patrice said.

  The room fell silent.

  “This whole fucking day is like a movie,” Leonard said, eventually. “Won’t do any good to deny it, Bub. We have to take it all in and figure out what the fuck to do.”

  “What’s wrong with your hand?” Andrew asked.

  “Nothing,” Leonard said. He was still holding a pencil. It was a stubby thing, last sharpened with a knife, by the looks of it.

  “Not your hand, Jake’s,” Andrew said, pointing.

  Jake looked down at his own hand, seemingly noticing it for the first time.

  Leonard took a small step backwards.

  “Jeezum Crow, Jake, you’re gonna lose that thing if you don’t get some blood in it,” Leonard said.

  They all gathered around Jake. Even Patrice came from his position near the window to come look at it.

  “That’s as blue as the summer sky, Jake. Can you feel your fingers?” Patrice asked.

  Jake flexed his fingers and turned his hand over and then back. Parts of his fingers, like the creases between the joints, almost looked bruised. They were darker than the rest of his skin. He had a cut on the tip of his index finger that went right across the pad. There wasn’t any sign of blood where the skin was parted. Everyone watched while Jake used his other hand to separate the flesh. Andrew sucked in a breath between his teeth when they saw how deep the cut was.

  “I can feel them,” Jake whispered, “but it doesn’t hurt at all.”

  He flexed his fingers again.

  On the other side of the cabin, the door banged open.

  “It’s the fungus. It’s inside of him,” Marie said.

  * * * * * * *