James Moore - The Haunted Forest Tour

Now there was a brand-new tree. Within thirty seconds, it had grown to the same height as the others, as if it had stood there for centuries.

But this one wasn’t a pine tree. It had the shape of an oak, but it was black. Twisted.

Before anyone else could add their own “No way” or “Oh, shit” style of comments, the ground shook again. It was a slight tremor at best, but this time the vibrations were accompanied by another tree thrusting out of the ground.

And then another.

And then another.

Mark watched, his pulse pounding in his temples, as four more trees broke the ground and rose toward the heavens. No two were remotely alike and none of them were from a genus he knew.

Steve’s cell phone rang. Without taking his eyes off the new trees, Steve answered. “No. I know. It’s happening here, too. How far out do they go, so far?” Steve nodded his head and sighed. “Thanks, Mullins. Keep me posted.”

Steve killed off the call and moved himself to the closest available chair. He dropped into it as if all of his bones had suddenly turned to liquid.

Everybody stared at him expectantly. After about ten seconds, Steve spoke, calmly, almost resignedly. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, the forest is now growing in all directions. We’re all nicely fucked.”

Barbara’s eyes opened wide in the darkness.

I’ve gone blind!

No, no, you were asleep. Your eyes just need to adjust to the gloom.

Instead of letting her eyes adjust, she clicked the switch on the halogen flashlight in her hands. Then she really went blind as the searing white light assaulted her retinas.

“Ow!” Tina’s voice was shrill. “Careful with that damned thing.” Tina’s eyes were squinted nearly shut and her hand moved to block the beam that turned her pasty white. Barbara apologized under her breath as she moved the light away from Tina and into the room.

The light was still strong, for which she was thankful, despite the blue spots she was currently seeing.

Behind the blue spots, she could see Jean curled into a fetal position on the floor. Moving the light, she saw Brad holding Tommy in his hands, his mouth stretched to an impossible level as he prepared to bite the boy’s face off.

But as the light shone directly on him, Brad flinched and the deep black pools of his eyes narrowed in a field of pale gray mold that had covered his skin and his clothing alike. The mold even covered his tongue, but it had taken his teeth away. Where his incisors should have been, there were wavering pink protrusions that had reached out to flicker along Tommy’s face.

Tina cut loose with a scream loud enough to rattle the walls and promptly dropped the rifle Barbara had let her carry.

Barbara screamed too and almost dropped the flashlight. Considering the day’s events, waking up to the sight of something trying to eat Tommy was not altogether unexpected. Waking up to the sight of Brad trying to eat Tommy… now that was something she wasn’t quite ready for.

Tommy flailed around madly, his tiny face gone ghostly white and his eyes rolling in his head. He’d peed himself, and though his mouth was open for a scream, no sound came out of him.

Tina stepped toward the couple and shook her head, her eyes even wider than Tommy’s. “Brad? Is that you?”

“Tina, honey, I feel a lot better now. Right as rain.” Brad tried to smile, but the wiggling pink cilia that had replaced his teeth took a lot of the charm out of it.

The door flew open. Lee and Mindy burst inside the office.

Jean woke up and called for Tommy. She called a second time, a lot louder, when she saw where he was.

Mindy didn’t hesitate. She yanked a large framed picture of President Bush off the wall, rushed forward, and drove the edge of it into Brad’s head.

“ Get the hell away from him! ” Mindy’s voice was almost a roar.

Brad dropped Tommy immediately and turned his head to face Mindy. To Barbara’s knowledge, no one could turn their neck that far without doing themselves permanent injury, but Brad managed it just fine. She could see where the picture frame had creased his skull. Ol’ George Junior’s face was obscured by the darker gray, gelid crap that had exploded from the inside of Brad’s head, but the president’s smile was still in place as his photograph wobbled back and forth inside of the wound.

Mindy staggered back and tried to get away from Brad. She didn’t get far before his fuzzy gray hands grabbed her shoulders.

Tina picked up the rifle and started toward her husband. “Brad, you put her down! Put her down right now!” Her voice was too high; her eyes were too wide.

“Busy right now, Hon. Give me a minute.” Brad’s voice sounded phlegmy and the words were distorted. The wobbly picture kept on bobbing along as the shape of his head changed. The small tendrils that had replaced his teeth spread out and lashed onto Mindy’s head, catching in her hair and slapping against her face. Mindy screamed again.

Tina charged, swinging the rifle like a baseball bat. Either she realized that she would likely hurt Mindy if she fired, or she just didn’t think to point and shoot. Either way, it worked well enough for Barbara.

The rifle slammed into George W. Bush’s face and frame and shattered both before it broke open the back of Brad’s skull. More of the darker gray matter splattered away from the wound, moving with a consistency not unlike moldy chocolate pudding. She was almost certain she could see things slithering around inside the brackish goo.

Brad let out a grunt, but otherwise made no effort to stop his endeavors to eat Mindy’s face.

Tommy crawled away, grunting and whining as he scrambled for cover.

Tina looked at the gaping wound in her husband’s head and stepped back, horrified with what she’d done, even if she’d done it to a mold-covered, attempted-face-eating monster.

Mindy screamed once more, and that seemed to catalyze Tina a second time. She swung her makeshift club again, this time hitting Brad in his knee. His leg buckled and, despite his desire to stand still and keep on trying to feast, gravity got the better of him and he dropped to the ground. The tentacles that were wrapped around Mindy’s face pulled back as he collapsed and the older woman fell to the ground next to him, panting, shivering, her face covered with red welts where he’d touched her.

Jean charged in, swinging with one tennis-shoe-clad foot and kicking Brad in the groin. Just as with the back of his head, the area she kicked collapsed in on itself. More of the foul slop from inside him splattered across her leg and the lower half of her body.

It hadn’t been a mistake; there were definitely things moving in the black filth. Whatever they were, they perfectly matched the wriggling shapes that had filled his mouth, and as they landed on Jean, they immediately began burrowing under her skin.

Jean shrieked, not in fear, but in pain as the worm-things dug in deeper. She slapped frantically at them, but only managed to spread them across her hands where they once again began eating.

Brad tried to stand again, but Tina was on him, swinging the rifle up and down in a frenzy, driving the barrel into his soft gray skin and punching hole after hole through him.

Barbara kept the light on Brad, not because she was being brave but because she couldn’t make herself look away, couldn’t manage to move to help. She was too horrified. The writhing shapes that escaped from Brad’s ruined form turned away from the light, trying to hide, and Barbara caught on quickly. She moved in closer, aiming the light at the creatures that had probably lived in darkness for as long as they had existed. Maybe, she thought , they’ll burn if I hit them with the light.