James Moore - The Haunted Forest Tour

“How do we stop it?” Tina asked.

“No clue.”

“Find the host,” said Lee.

“That works,” Christopher agreed. “Are any of you the host?”

Nobody responded.

“The host isn’t here,” said Lee. “Look, I talked to the Proof Demon—”

“What’s a Proof Demon?” Christopher asked.

“I think it’s either part of the demon that killed your mother or a follower or whatever. I’m not sure.”

“Why is it called a Proof Demon?”

“Because it’s proof of the supernatural.”

“Why would Pestilence need proof of the supernatural?”

“That’s what I named it. Christopher, I know you’ve just lost the most important person in your life and you’re losing a lot of blood, but stay with me.”

Christopher nodded. “My elbow hurts.”

“Anyway, I’m not saying that we did a Vulcan mind-meld or anything but—”

The trees shook, sending down a shower of pine needles, as a demonic voice howled: “ Wheeeere aaaaaaare yoooooooou?” The force of the voice was enough to knock Lee and Christopher to their knees.

“What the hell was that? ” Tina demanded.

“Pestilence is pissed,” Christopher noted.

Lee stood up and then pulled Christopher to his feet. “Maybe something went wrong. That has to be good for us, right?”

“Yeah, because we’re not in any danger standing out here in the middle of the forest,” said Tina.

“Look, we have to get out of here,” said Christopher. “We can’t count on anybody to do it for us. Did I already say that? Anyway, we have to assume that help is not on its way, that Eddie is lying dead somewhere without his nose. We are the last remaining survivors of the Haunted Forest Tour, unless any of the people who stayed behind in the tram made it, which I’m pretty sure they didn’t. Lee, Barbara, Tina, Tommy… Tommy’s still alive, right?”

The little boy opened his eyes, peeked over Barbara’s shoulder, and nodded.

“Cool. Lee, Barbara, Tina, Tommy… we’re it. We’re the only people who are going to get ourselves out of this mess. And we’re not going to get out of here by standing around talking. Lee, I’m feeling barely conscious again, could you prop me up?”

Lee put his hand back on Christopher’s shoulder.

“I’m not good at big speeches, and I’m not good at inspiring people, and I’m not good at oral exams, but goddamn it, I know when I see four people who deserve to live. You all deserve to live. We all deserve to get out of here. And we’re not going to let that scaly prick who murdered my mother win. We’re going to get out of this, and we’re going to do it ourselves, because nobody is going to help us. ”

“Do you hear a helicopter?” Barbara asked.

Everybody listened.

A familiar voice boomed over a megaphone: “ Ladies and gentlemen, this is Eddie Turner, here to save your asses! ”

Booth squeezed his eyes shut and winced in pain. Mark stopped the car and looked back at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m—ow, shit! ”

“Migraine?”

“Something like that.” Booth rubbed his forehead with both hands. “Don’t worry about me; just get me out of here.”

Mark glanced over at Hannah. “Do you have any aspirin?”

“I don’t need aspirin!” Booth shouted. “I need for you to start driving!”

“Yes, sir.” Mark applied the accelerator again, hoping very much that it was Booth instead of himself who went to prison. The way things were going, they’d end up sharing a cell and have to alternate bitch duties.

“ It wasn’t my fault! ” Booth shouted. “ They made me! ”

“Who made you?”

“ I swear, it wasn’t my fault! ”

Mark glanced up in the rearview mirror. Was Booth actually crying ? He and Hannah exchanged a concerned glance.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Booth repeated, although now Mark couldn’t decide if he was speaking to some unseen presence or to himself. “Not my fault.”

Eddie would’ve loved to fly over the forest in a military chopper, armed with missiles and tear gas and gallons of monster repellent made from Booth’s blood. Swoop down, snatch up the survivors, then be the one to press the button that wiped this forest right the hell off the map. Then he’d fly over to the MapQuest offices and make them revise their online directions to the forest at gunpoint.

But he wasn’t in a military chopper. He was, in fact, in the Eye in the Sky Traffic helicopter for Channel 8 news. The young pilot was not thrilled to be flying over the Haunted Forest after hearing that the last helicopter to do so had been torched by a dragon, but the traffic reporter was ecstatic about the idea of covering the potential rescue.

They did not have missiles or tear gas or monster repellent. They did have one hell of a nice rope ladder that the military let them borrow, and plenty of guns.

Eddie pointed down at the reclamation plant building. “Any chance we can land on that thing?” he asked, shouting to be heard above the noise of the aircraft.

“Are you kidding me? It has a rounded top!”

“Just asking. I drive a tour tram, for Christ’s sake. Get down as low as you can.”

The pilot shook his head. “I’m staying above the trees. Gotta watch for dragons.”

“Okay, okay, whatever you need to do.” Eddie leaned out of the open helicopter door as far as he could without vertigo setting in and peered down at the ground, two hundred feet below. No sign of anybody, but they were probably inside.

“You sure they’re still alive?” asked the reporter.

“Of course not. If they are, I hope they stayed put.”

“I told you we should’ve stayed put!” said Tina.

To be honest, Barbara couldn’t remember if Tina had been in favor of leaving the reclamation plant or against it. Not that it mattered. All that mattered now was to get back to it before Eddie gave up and flew away.

They’d make it. They hadn’t walked far, ten minutes tops, and they’d been going slowly. If they really picked up the pace they’d be okay.

Christopher stumbled and almost fell, but Lee held him up.

Tommy on her back felt like he weighed four hundred pounds.

“I’m going to run ahead,” said Tina.

“No, we shouldn’t split up,” Lee told her.

“Why? Are you guys going to protect me?”

“She’s right,” said Barbara. “Run ahead; make sure Eddie knows we’re on our way.”

Tina nodded.

Then she screamed.

She pointed at something behind Barbara. Barbara spun around to see what it was. Nothing there. She spun back around to face Tina.

“What? What is it?”

“It’s on Tommy!”

She twisted her neck around so quickly that it hurt. Tommy’s eyes were closed, but she couldn’t see anything on him.

“On his shoulder!”

“I still can’t see it! Tommy, you have to let go!”

The little boy’s arms were wrapped around her in a death-grip. She frantically tried to pry them off… how could a six-year-old be so strong?

“Tommy, please! Let go so I can help you!”

Something scraped the back of Barbara’s neck.

Lee rushed forward. Christopher wobbled a bit but didn’t fall over.

“It hurts! ” Tommy squealed.

Barbara grabbed Tommy’s wrists and pulled as hard as she could. “Tommy, I can’t get it off you while you’re on my back!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it!” Lee assured her. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but Tommy’s squeal suddenly intensified.

Barbara counted three—no, four—sets of glowing eyes watching them through the trees.