James Moore - The Haunted Forest Tour

Dover’s Point was under siege, there was no other way to put it. The trees were rising from people’s yards, from the street, and through most of the structures in the small town, including the Baptist church and what had been the town hall.

Colonel William Tyson did not like what he saw. What was happening made about as much sense as a barbed-wire raft and looked almost as painful.

They didn’t try to set up a proper command post, because they couldn’t guarantee that any part of the ground would be safe from another tree coming up.

Tyson assessed the situation and called for more troops. He was promised that they were on the way.

In the meantime, he found out who owned the construction site at the edge of Whittaker Street and immediately got their people to start moving the bulldozers, forklifts of varying sizes, and the excavator on hand for serious digging. After a very brief argument about local regulations regarding the dispersal of explosives, Tyson had his men break down the door to the explosives shed and confiscate all of the dynamite.

The battle for Dover’s Point was loud, to be sure. Trees rose up and fell down almost as quickly, but like weeds, more rose to take their places. Still, the soldiers made slow progress toward removing the worst of the invading plant life.

Then things took a turn for the worse. With the sun lowering on the western horizon and most of its light blocked by the unexpected plant life, the soldiers didn’t see their attackers at first. They were looking at trees, and somehow the idea of searching the sky never crossed anyone’s mind.

That changed quickly enough when the flying creature dropped out of the sky and attacked, sinking powerful talons into Private Hugo Lee’s back as it captured him. Lee screamed for all he was worth but dropped his weapon.

The sleek, feathered beast lifted Lee high into the air and began feasting on him even as he struggled. It dropped the soldier around the same time that the bullets tore it and its meal nearly in half.

But there were other creatures in the air. Plenty of them.

The soldiers gave up trying to take out the trees when the black oak came out of the ground and crushed Colonel Tyson against the side of the Huey he was using as a mobile command. It kept pinning him until his chest caved in and smeared across the protesting metal side of the helicopter. A moment later, the whole machine slid sideways and toppled onto its side. The tree kept growing, not the least bit concerned about the colonel or the five-million-dollar flying machine it turned into scrap metal.

After the colonel died, the soldiers concentrated on rounding up the remaining citizens and getting them on their way to a safer place. Flying creatures plucked residents of Dover’s End off the ground as if they were choosing treats from a box of chocolates.

The trees kept coming, and by the time most of the locals had been pulled from their homes, the road leading into and out of town had been overgrown.

Countless beasts leapt from the trees, seeking prey. There was prey galore at first. But the food supply dwindled quickly and new trees brought new mouths to feed.

Chloe Harper dragged herself across the floor of her kitchen, which was difficult to do with only one arm. Three different animals tore chunks of flesh out of her legs as she frantically tried to get to the phone.

Her final thoughts were of her husband.

No …

Christopher’s mother was not dead. That was not acceptable. She was a kind, sweet woman who found joy in the smallest things and had an unparalleled zest for life. People like that did not meet their end in this manner. She was destined to pass away quietly in her sleep, not be decapitated by a fucking demon while mistakenly believing that she’d saved them all, instead of dooming them.

Not acceptable.

Christopher stood there silently, dripping blood from the seemingly infinite number of cuts he’d sustained during Pestilence’s extended torture session. He stared into the eyes of Lee, Barbara, and Tina. Their expressions conveyed sympathy, horror, and an intense desire to get the hell away from there.

Her blood had splashed all over the bottom half of Lee’s face. He looked as if he wanted to wipe it off, but wasn’t quite sure if Christopher would take offense to the gesture.

At this moment, the only thing Christopher wanted to do was throw his head back, let out an ear-exploding wail of misery, and rip out his hair in large handfuls.

He did not do this. His mother would not have approved of her son creating a ruckus and causing the death of the few remaining Haunted Forest Tour survivors.

So he remained silent.

Everybody continued to stare at him.

“Forgive me for stating the obvious,” said Lee, finally, “but the trees aren’t parting like the Red Sea.”

Christopher shook his head. “No. No, they aren’t.”

Barbara stepped forward. “Oh, Christopher, I’m so sorry. But she didn’t die in vain.”

Christopher couldn’t help but let out an incredulous laugh. “Actually, she died to fulfill part of a demon spell that, from what I understand, may signal the end of humanity. I may be exaggerating—I didn’t get all the details. So, no, her death wasn’t in vain, but it wasn’t one of those deaths that’s going to cause people to erect a statue.”

Barbara seemed unsure how to respond to that. “Oh.”

Christopher nodded. “Yeah.”

Lee looked down. “Uh, Tina? You’ve got… you’ve got something on your foot.”

Tina glanced at her foot. There was a small chunk of Mindy’s skull on it, with an eyeball attached. She gasped and kicked it away.

“Okay, so, so, so, so I don’t completely understand what has just happened here,” Barbara admitted. “How exactly have we signaled the end of humanity?”

“The demon that rules this forest needed a sacrifice,” said Lee. “He tried to get me to offer up Tommy, and then myself. After I refused I guess he went after, uh, Mindy.”

“He went after me before that,” Christopher said, turning around in a circle so they could all get a good look at his cut-ridden chest and back. “Oh, I had a jolly fucking time after the bird snatched me. Time of my life. Cut, cut, cut, slice, slice, slice. Do I sound like I’ve gone insane? I feel like I sound like I’ve gone insane. Stop me if I sound that way.”

“We really should get out of here,” said Lee.

Christopher nodded his agreement. “Don’t let the insane guy stop you. Did I just pass out?”

Barbara gave him a strange look. “No.”

“Oh, good. Thought I passed out for a second. Listen to me, all of you. For all of us, there comes a time in every man’s life—woman’s too—when he has to take matters into his own hands. We can’t rely on Eddie coming back with the Justice League of America to save us. Eddie didn’t come back, right?”

“Right.”

“Good. I mean, bad. I mean, I didn’t think so. So it’s up to us to save ourselves. I’m tired of letting this forest push me around. I’m tired of the bugs and the tooth-bearing things and the blood and the fur and the claws and the… the stuff. I’m tired of the forest stuff. Lee, could you hold me up for a second? I think I’m going to pass out for real.”

Lee rushed forward and placed his hand on Christopher’s shoulder. Christopher winced in pain.

“Sorry,” Lee said.

“It’s okay. You won’t find any uncut parts. Did I pass out?”

“No.”

“Good. That’s very good. This all goes way beyond a bunch of tourists who were too stupid to go to Disneyland. There is a human host, and that motherfucker is going to make it possible for a nasty-ass dimension to completely overtake our own. I think. Again, still not one hundred percent clear on the details. But we can’t let this happen.”