Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Shadow Puppets
Chapter 8
"This is it." Lester pointed to an area of dirt at the side of the road just outside the Red Lion town limits. It was full of ruts and tire tracks, and a muddy Land Rover was parked at one end.
Tank pulled the SUV in to a stop behind it and cut the engine. "Let's go."
Tank, Lester and Morelli climbed out of the SUV and walked around to the back, where Tank lifted the tailgate for them to each pull out a large framed backpack and rain gear. They carefully checked over their pack contents before slinging them onto their backs, locking up the SUV and walking back along the road toward a marked trail that led away into the forest.
"This is some weird fucking shit, man," Lester said as he stood at the head of the trail where it disappeared into the thick gloom under the tree canopy.
Tank nodded grimly, settling the pack more comfortably on his back. "But it's the best we've got. Let's move out."
The three men disappeared into the forest.
o0o o0o o0o
"That was it! There! On the left, you missed it. Stop stop stop. Back up."
"Shut up, Edna. I can't concentrate with you jumpin' around like that." Lula stopped her red Firebird in the middle of the deserted road and threw it into reverse, the rear of the car fishtailing from side to side as she backed up quickly before any other cars came along. She pulled up on the side of the road behind the black RangeMan SUV.
"That's them, but I don't see no sign or no gift shop. Hell, there ain't even a proper parking lot. This is way too much like the country for me."
"Don't you quit on me now, Lula. We have to catch them up. There's no way I'm being left behind and missing out on all the excitement."
"Okay, I hear you, keep your panties on. We can't be more than an hour behind, but as soon as we find them, I'm outta here. I don't know shit about no primeval forest or no witches. I'll be more use back in Trenton where I don't need to wear an ugly-ass plastic coat or boots that make me look like a man."
Lula looked ruefully at her shiny white cross-trainers. "Brand new and I'm visitin' a swamp. This ain't right."
Edna fished her brown-bagged lunch and a red vinyl rain poncho out from the footwell by her sneakered feet and jumped out of the Firebird. "I saw the trail back there; come on." She walked up the road and disappeared into the trees.
"Wait up. I'm coming."
o0o o0o o0o
"GPS just failed," Lester reported. "The tree canopy's too dense for the satellites."
"It doesn't matter," Tank said, turning in a slow circle to scan the gloom of the forest all around them. "Come on, you bitch," he murmured. "You know we're here. Come and get us."
He spotted a small deer path cutting across the main trail, a barely visible impression in the thick greenery covering the ground. "We need to get off the main trail. Hikers use this path all the time. We ain't out of our territory and into hers yet."
He was running on gut instinct, pure and simple. How did he find the hedge-witch, Milly? Answer: he didn't. You won't find the witch. Let her find you.
He pulled a short machete from his pack and started widening the trail to force a way through. Lester and Morelli followed suit, and they started cutting in towards the heart of the primeval forest.
o0o o0o o0o
Tank looked back over his shoulder to check on Morelli. He was forcing his way though the dense undergrowth without complaint, but his movements were becoming labored and his face was shining with sweat, as Lester's and Tank's own were. Mosquitos whined around the three of them looking for exposed skin to land on, and the boggy ground sucked at their boots with every step.
When he found a small clearing where a tree had fallen he declared a rest stop. "Halt. Let's take a break here."
Tank watched Morelli discreetly as he sat on a large log and wiped the sweat from his face before taking a long pull at his water bottle.
He had to hand it to the cop; he was good. Within three days of forcing himself into the mission, he had come up with the first real, solid lead for them.
Helen Silverlock's1 paper about Ryhope Wood and the interconnection of the world's primeval forests may have gotten her laughed out of her research position, and maybe she was now barely scratching a living around the edges of the New Age movement, but when Morelli had interviewed her she had stood by every word. According to her story she had used the primeval forest at Ryhope to find and fight the mythical Trickster made flesh and lift his curse on her family, and she had won. If she believed it, it was a good enough place to start, because if her story was true, she held the key to a world where they could find their real-life wicked witch.
That lead alone would have forced Tank to respect Morelli, but now this city-bred cop was pushing doggedly through the wildwood beside two seasoned soldiers without complaint, just grim determination. He had taught himself how to cut a path with the machete just by watching them. His first few minutes had been painful to watch, but now he was swinging the vicious blade with skill and economy, although his shoulder had to be in agony by now. As far as Tank was concerned, Morelli was wasted on the Trenton Police Department.
"Let's move on."
The three men stood up and pushed further into the forest.
o0o o0o o0o
"Stop!"
Edna's shrill voice jolted Lula out of her dogged, head-down plod along the trail. She stopped, keeping her eyes fixed on the trail in front of her. "What?"
"I don't know. Just something."
"Are you shittin' me?"
Edna glared at her. "After everything you've seen, humor an old lady and let me think for a minute."
Edna turned to look at the forest on either side of the trail before moving to an opening in the thick undergrowth. "Here. They went this way."
"How'd you know that? There's been a couple of other trails coming off this one."
"I just know. Hungarian gypsy genes, remember?" Edna pushed through the newly cut gap and disappeared in a flash of red vinyl.
"That old lady's startin' to give me the creeps too," Lula muttered to herself as she followed her through the gap.
Lula had done a good job of ignoring her surroundings until now, just concentrating on placing one sneakered foot in front of the other. It was just a path. The ferns could be next to the pool in an upmarket spa. The ridiculous chatter of the birds could have been in the zoo or a local park, and there were no wild animals. If she couldn't see them, they weren't there. Easy. Just look at the path, Lula. Watch your feet. One, two, one, two. Easy. You could be anywhere.
But now the forest closed itself around them and forced itself into her vision, unwanted.
"Oh my Lord," she murmured as the sheer scale of the forest drew her eyes upwards.
Huge black gum and swamp magnolia trees dwarfed them on all sides, reaching up and clawing at a sky that was almost lost to view behind a dense canopy that shivered where high breezes made the leaves dance. Most of the light was provided by occasional clearings where these giants had fallen and lay dead on the ground. Holly trees formed darker pockets, thick and impenetrable with their prickly, glossy leaves, and straggly bushes and leggy saplings stole whatever light remained to form a barrier that they would have to push through.
Even the bodies of the fallen trees were a riot of vegetable life. Brightly colored fungi bracketed the rotting wood in places and rich green moss swathed the rest, forming hummocks that looked like burial mounds for the fallen giants. Cinnamon ferns formed a rich green carpet under the trees as far as the eye could see, interspersed with pretty white fly poison flowers.
It was as beautiful as it was overwhelming.
Once Lula's eyes were truly opened to her surroundings, her other senses clamored for attention. She could hear the whine of countless insects drawn by their sweat, and the chattering of birds and squirrels in the canopy. The fresh, green odor of leaves and humus overlay everything, strong but not unpleasant.
"I guess we really ain't in Trenton any more, are we?… Edna? Edna! Wait up!"
Lula's awe was quickly shelved in favor of the urgent need to catch up with the only other human being visible in this other world, who was currently picking her way though the wilderness following a path of cut undergrowth and trampled ferns.
o0o o0o o0o
"Tank! To the right."
Tank turned in the direction that Morelli had indicated. "Damn."
An ancient oak tree sat in its own clearing, so dark and heavy that the only things living under it were a few straggly ferns. A series of tiny bird and animal skulls were suspended from its lower branches and carved masks stared out sightlessly from its gnarled, ancient trunk.
"I think we're on the right track. What did Helen Silverlock say about when we reached it?" Tank asked Morelli.
"She said they were two days in Ryhope before they started to encounter anything unexpected."
"Then we set up camp as soon as we find somewhere dry enough. Let's move on."
o0o o0o o0o
They found a reasonably dry, flat spot in the lee of one of the large rocks that scattered the area. The ground had gradually dried out as they had travelled, and the thick coating of swamp mud that covered their boots and reached their knees was gradually starting to dry up and crumble away.
Tank was relieved that they weren't going to have to camp in swamp conditions, but concerned that they didn't know anything about the wildlife in this otherworld forest. For all he knew, there were saber-tooth tigers around the next bend. There were no caves to be found, so he'd have to settle for having his back up against a big rock. After that, all they could do was set a watch and keep weapons handy. He comforted himself with the fact that the last time men faced saber-toothed tigers, they didn't have automatic weapons.
They were clearing stones and branches from the ground when there was a loud crack of a branch snapping somewhere to their left. Something exploded out of the ground cover, and in an instant all three men had their guns out and firing. It fell back into the ferns and was lost to view.
They stopped firing and waited for signs of movement.
Finally Lester walked over cautiously and inspected whatever it was that they had brought down. "Well, there's some good news and some bad news."
"What?"
"The good news is, it's not a saber-toothed tiger." He lifted a tattered bundle of brownish feathers above his head for them to see. "The bad news is, I doubt if we can find a mouthful that isn't full of lead. We've still got trail rations for dinner."
Tank shook his head in disgust. "You'd better bury that thing. I don't want anything sniffing around here tonight."
Lester eyed the carcass in his hands sadly. "Well, at least you get an honorable burial, my friend. Would it help if I told you we were a little on edge?"
A shrill female voice came from the nearby trees. "Can we come out now?"
They all recognized that voice, and Tank and Morelli lowered their weapons immediately. Lester, on the other hand, whimpered slightly and his posture shifted from confident warrior to hunted herbivore as he hugged his gun tightly to him.
A familiar hunched body covered in a shiny red rain poncho emerged from the trees, grinning happily. She was caked with swamp mud to the knees, and more mud was spattered across the front of the poncho.
Morelli was the first to speak. "Grandma, what the hell are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I was going to miss all the excitement did you? Did you see that tree with all the masks? Isn't that a pip?"
"But how did you find us?"
"It was easy, you left a trail a mile wide. Of course, I didn't think it would take so long. We've been following you for hours."
"We?" Tank cut in.
"Lula brought me. Where is she? Lula?" Edna spun and looked back in the direction she had come from.
Lula's muffled voice filtered out from the trees. "I ain't comin' out till somebody tells me all the guns are gone."
Tank put his gun on the ground and strode out in the direction that Lula's voice had come from. He found her face down in the ferns with both hands over her head and her eyes tightly closed. He reached down and lifted her to her feet before squeezing her in a bear hug.
"You are as crazy as that old bat you brought with you, and don't ever do that again. I could have shot you."
"Why do you think I was down there?" she asked as she brushed at the mud and leaves that coated the front of her clothes. "You think I just decided that a coating of swamp mud would help this outfit? God damn, this shit ain't never gonna come off."
A single shot rang out and Tank dived to the ground, pinning Lula beneath him and covering her body with his own.
They both lay still on the boggy ground, holding their breath.
"Report!" Tank yelled after a moment.
"Sorry, boss. All clear."
"I'm going to kill Lester," Tank growled as he got to his feet.
"Get in line," Lula answered grimly as she shouldered past him.
Tank followed in his girlfriend's wake as she went looking for the unfortunate Lester.
"Hey, you! The asshole with the gun! Are you tryin' to perforate my ass, you idiot? What the hell are you playin' at? You see these jeans? Do they look clean to you? Do you see any other clean clothes for me around here? So help me, if I see that goddamn gun pointed in my direction I'm gonna take it and shove it up your ass…"
Tank smiled to himself. Love her he might, but it was always good to see Lula's temper directed at some other poor fool instead of himself.
Lester was grinning triumphantly despite the torrent of abuse pouring in his direction as he emerged from the woods in the other direction.
"Chill out, I got us dinner."
He lifted his hand to show another limp bundle of feathers. This one, though, looked a little more intact than their first unintentional victim.
Lula looked at his prize, unimpressed. "When it's got a crispy coatin' and fries sittin' next to it, then it's dinner. Right now it's just a sorry-assed bunch of feathers.
Tank summed his feelings up in three words. "You're cleaning it."
"But I did the hardest–" Lester started to object, before catching Tank's raised eyebrow. "Yes, boss."
"You two can go ahead and eat that sorry bag of feathers if you want. I'm outta here anyway. I said I'd bring Edna here, that's all. I ain't stayin' here with all the wild animals. I'm goin' home." Lula started walking back into the woods.
"Lu, wait!" Tank followed her. "You won't get back before dark."
She stopped.
"You need to stay here tonight. We'll take you back in the morning."
Lula turned back towards him but didn't return, and her voice contained a panicky edge. "You don't get it. I don't camp. I was never a girl scout. I ain't even been in the country before. You gotta take me back tonight."
"Not in the dark. It's too dangerous. You stay here until morning."
She returned reluctantly, walking like she expected to see the firing squad at any minute. "There's animals and shit out here."
"They won't come near the fire. You'll be safe. Come on."
"I ain't eatin' Lester's bird."
"We have other food."
Finally Lula reached the others again. Tank took her hand reassuringly.
"This is going to be so much fun," Edna declared. "We can sit around the fire and play truth or dare. I can think of some great dares."
Lester's shoulders stiffened and feathers flew into the air as he started cleaning his bird with sudden intensity.
o0o o0o o0o
"How are we all gonna fit into those?" Lula asked Tank as she looked dubiously at the pair of small two-man tents. "No way they're big enough for all of us."
"You and Edna will take two of the sleeping bags. Two of us will take the spare blankets and sleep out here."
"No!"
He looked at her curiously.
"I can't sleep on my own. There's things out there. I can hear them movin' around."
"We'll have a watch posted."
"Please." Her voice carried a slight tremor.
"You're really afraid," he said softly.
"I ain't afraid of nothin'," she snapped, showing a spark of the old Lula. "I just don't like all the noises. They ain't natural."
Tank thought about pointing out that they were more natural than the city, but thought better of it. "Then we'll figure something out."
"So who do I get to share a sleeping bag with? My partner?" Edna asked excitedly.
Lester shook his head frantically behind her back and mimed putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger, closely followed by pulling an imaginary noose tight around his neck.
Tank hid a laugh. "You get a sleeping bag all to yourself, Mrs M. We're posting a watch, so we'll be able to share."
"I'll take first watch," Lester jumped in.
Tank nodded agreement and tried not to smile. He'd bet his blankets that Lester wanted to make sure that Edna was asleep before him just in case she decided to crawl into his sleeping bag anyway.
"I'll take the next," Morelli volunteered.
"Fine. I'll cover the last one."
o0o o0o o0o
Tank took one of the sleeping pads and all the spare blankets into one of the tents for himself and Lula, leaving the better insulated sleeping bags for the lone sleepers. Morelli and Edna took the other tent, leaving Lester to sit by the fire on first watch.
Tank gave Lula a couple of minutes to get settled in the tiny tent before joining her in the nest of blankets. She immediately snuggled up to him the way she always did, as though she couldn't bear the idea of air between them.
"You okay?" he whispered.
"I will be." She reached out and trailed a manicured fingernail down his back and across his ass. It had its usual, immediate effect on him, and he felt himself stiffen.
"Bad idea, Lu," he whispered reluctantly. "Lester's about ten feet away."
"He won't care, and neither would you normally. What's the problem?"
"We're in the middle of the forest hunting for an unknown threat. That's the problem."
"Bullshit," she hissed. "Seems to me like this is our first time since meetin' that herb-woman, and surprise, you don't want me. You promised. You promised me that I could keep my choices. You make them for me and Ramirez might as well have killed me."
"That ain't the reason."
"Like hell it ain't." She rolled away to face in the opposite direction and curled up into a tight ball.
Tank growled under his breath and dragged her back against him. She resisted him for long minutes until the chill of the night air finally drove her back for warmth and comfort.
Author's note:
Bear Swamp is an actual piece of primeval forest located in New Jersey.
nj.gov/dep/njnlt/bearswamp.htm
query./gst/fullpage.html?res9C00EED71039F935A1575AC0A9649C8B63
1 The Hollowing, Robert Holdstock, 1994