A pattering noise diverted his thoughts and Joe looked around for the source; thinking perhaps it was dripping from the roof of melting snow. It wasn’t all that cold, at least not compared to earlier in the day, but he didn’t think it was up to thawing temperature. The noise went on and he cocked his head to try locate it, taking a step out of the shelter of the porch as he did so. Movement in the dark of the road caught his eye and his hand went instinctively to his gun.
Through the thickening mist, he made out the shape of a man moving faster than walking but with a limp that gave him the look of a polio sufferer. It was a gait he didn’t recognise and a stranger coming into town on foot made no sense at all. Now he drew his gun and called out,
“Who’s there?” The pattering stopped and for a moment silence solidified the air.
“That you sheriff?” the voice of Sam Brainard came back.
“Sam?” The pattering started again as the young man moved closer to emerge from the curtain of mist.
“What happened to you?” Joe asked when he could at last see the dishevelled Sam, covered in cuts and bruising; his clothes torn and his shoes thick with snow.
“It’s the trees!” Sam whispered harshly as he fell on Joe and grabbed his shirt front. His eyes darted about in all directions, and what Joe saw in those eyes was akin to madness. He eased his hands onto Sam’s wrists and pushed them gently from his clothes.
“Sam?” he said softly. “You’re freezing to the touch. I don’t think you’re well; we need to get you inside and warmed up.” Sam stepped back like he’d been shot.
“You have to listen to me,” he said. “We’re not safe here; we all need to leave, now!”
“Come inside so we can talk about this,” Joe said trying to sound friendly and supportive.
“My whole truck was crushed to nothing!” Sam called out plaintively. “Like it was made of paper!”
“What?” Joe said. “Crushed by what? You had an accident?” This would explain the state he was in and also why he was on foot.
“There was no accident,” Sam said rushing forward again and speaking in that harsh whisper once more. “The trees closed in over the road and when I tried to go through, they took the truck right off the ground and crushed it!”
Though it was insane to think this might be the truth Joe couldn’t help but let his own eyes fall over the trees that surrounded them on all sides. There was something not right about them and he’d known this for days now but surely it was nothing like what Sam was saying; it just wasn’t possible. Joe realized that same sense of fear that had overcome him out where Susan Bloom had been attacked was seeping back inside him moment by moment. He played along with Sam to get him inside — or so he told himself he was only playing along.
“We better go inside so we can talk better,” he whispered to Sam conspiratorially. Sam nodded and seemed relieved that Joe was listening to him.
“Right,” he said, and they drifted inside.
Once in there Joe went straight to the kettle and put it on the boil.
“Get out of those clothes,” he said. “You’ll get sick. I’ll get you something of mine, we’re not far off the same size I’d guess,” he added looking Sam up and down. “Are you hurt seriously anywhere?” he then asked as he was about to go get the clothes.
“No, I’m fine,” Sam answered through chattering teeth. “We need to hurry; is Susan alright?”
“She’s much better now,” Joe said. “She’s woken up and told us she was attacked by a wolf.”
“A wolf?” Joe nodded in answer to this. He felt it was better to steer it away from the idea the trees could have been responsible. “She’s lucky to be alive then,” Sam said. The fact that he thought Susan was better seemed to have a very calming effect on him.
“I’d say she’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep,” Joe said to further this calming and then left to get the clothes.
A little while later when Sam was in clean clothes and held a hot coffee mug between his hands Joe decided he’d try finding out what happened again.
“So you say the back road is blocked by trees?” Sam looked up over the rim of the mug and nodded until he swallowed,
“Yes, there’s no getting out that way unless you want to get killed.” Joe nodded at this.
“I better go out and have a look,” he said standing up.
“No!” Sam said grabbing him by the arm.
“It’s my job, Sam,” Joe said quietly. “Don’t worry; I won’t try to drive through it. I just need to see what we’re talking about.”
“To hell with your job,” Sam snapped. “You go out there and you’ll be killed. I was only lucky to get away!”
“All the same,” Joe said pressing on Sam’s arm now to get him to let go. “I’ll take my chances.” Sam let go of him and pushed back into the chair in disgust.
“Go ahead then; go get yourself killed and see how much use you are then to anyone!” Joe felt it best not to say anything else at this juncture and he took his hat and left.
The police jeep was pulling out from the building when Joe had the thought he’d better check the other route to Emerson first, in case Sam was telling some variation of the truth. He set off down the hill to see what he could find out.
Only a mile out on the main road he had to come to a halt, and he looked through the windshield and the most incredible sight yet; even after what he’d seen at the Thorndean place. In the beams from the headlights he marvelled at the white limbs of the trees as they arched up over the road ahead and had then formed an intricate design like a thick web that wouldn't allow anything smaller than a rabbit though. It was both breathtaking and terrifying at the same time. Fear filled his heart and yet he was glued to the seat staring ahead. Whatever this was, it was not good. There was clearly incredible power and — dare he even think it — some kind of beautiful intelligence at play. It made no sense to him in any form.
A shudder from the cold woke him from his trance and Joe backed up with a new sense of respect for Sam for having escaped the clutches of the trees. He turned the jeep and headed back for town. The two roads to Emerson were no longer accessible, and that left only one way out of Mercy. He drove straight through town and up the winding mountain road, past the Thorndean house and up over the crest of the hill. Here, at the highest point he stopped and looked down the steep slope on the other side. As far as he could see in the moonlight the road looked clear, but he didn’t feel he could see far enough to be in any was confident it could be an escape route if needed. He set the car in gear and set off intending to go out two miles to make sure.
At first, Joe thought the moving white at the corners of his eyes was just the snow covered ground but when it overtook him in the trees on either side, his stomach tightened up in terror and he slammed hard on the brakes. The jeep slid and tossed all over the road and at one point went up on two wheels against the embankment on the side of the road. The vehicle stopped dead, and the engine cut out. The jeep teetered a moment before crashing back down on its four wheels again.
For an instant all was silent as Joe shook out the dizziness in his head but then a horrible cracking, twisting, grinding noise filled the air, like nothing he’d ever heard before. He covered his ears and saw the trees not twenty feet in front of him bend and expand to form an arch over the road. Then more limbs curled and wisped from the forest and formed the mesh that he’d seen on the Emerson road. The idea that these limbs had the power to crush his jeep as well as him within it filled him with doom.
Then to his surprise, something new caught his eye. In the trees to one side of the road he suddenly saw a twisted and moaning face! He looked in horror as he saw the face, though like that of a man’s in many ways, was in fact made of wood and was attached to a large collection of branches and bushes that must have served as the creatures body. It looked as though it was howling or wailing but the noise of the tree limbs was so deafening that Joe could not make it out. Nor did he want to!
<
br /> He freed his hands to turn the key in the ignition and felt his heart sink even further down into his stomach when the jeep didn’t start. He tried again and again and again and at last he felt the vibrations of the engine come to life and the headlights clicked on and Joe caught one last glimpse of the creature before it dashed back into cover and Joe set off at speed back to Mercy.
As he raced back towards town, his eyes frantically looking all around waiting for a ferocious assault from any direction, one thing ran over and over in his mind — Cut off. No matter what he tried to think of only snippets of an idea would come to him before that same phrase — Cut off — would press to the surface again.
The image of what he’d seen flashed before him. What had it been? Was it a man, and if so who was he? Most importantly, what did he have to do with what was going on around Mercy?
It was with great relief that the tiny hamlet that was Mercy appeared once more in his headlights. He didn’t let his thoughts dwell on what it was — a relief. This was after all the centre of things, a place surrounded by something sinister and inexplicable. He pulled in at the door to the tavern and got out. He was about to rush inside when he stopped and took a deep breath. He couldn’t go in there shouting and frenzied about the trees. They would think he was as crazy as he’d thought Sam was. Besides, he was the sheriff and a certain way of reacting to things was expected of him, of his office.
Looking around the road Joe saw it was deserted. What was the best thing to do? Perhaps it would be best to go back to the station and talk to Sam some more, find out what else he might know, if anything. This idea led him to think that there was possibly a whole lot of information he could gather from almost everyone in town. These things have been going on right under his nose and he hadn’t mentioned it to people. It was very possible that everyone had seen or noticed something that they thought was so strange they must have imagined it and told no one else about it.
“A town meeting,” he said as the idea struck him.
Joe did his best to compose himself and tidy up how he looked before going into the tavern. He’d seen Mouse Allen’s truck, and the out of towner’s car outside and he was hoping everyone else in town save Sam would be in there too. He wasn’t to be so lucky.
The eyes of Mouse, Jeff and Sally met him as he entered the room and none of them greeted him in any way that he’d come accustomed to.
“I’m calling an emergency town meeting, in here, in half an hour,” Joe said.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Sally asked.
“What gives, Joe?” Mouse asked at the same time.
“Are the young couple here?” Joe asked ignoring their questions. Sally nodded. “Can you tell them to come too?”
“Of course,” she answered. “What is all this Joe?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “But I’m hoping that getting us all together will start giving us some answers.”
“Is this about Susan’s attacker?” Jeff asked.
“That and a whole lot more,” Joe said and then looking to Sally said, “If Susan is up to it, can you get her to come in here too?”
“I’d rather she didn’t, but I see this is important,” Sally said gravely. Joe nodded and without another word left the tavern to round up the last couple of people in town.
Chapter 20
The room was still and all faces apprehensive when Joe and Sam entered the Lone Wolf Tavern. Ava saw through the sheriff’s calm facade and was sure there was great fear in his eyes. She gripped Jarrod’s hand tightly and regretted once more ever coming to this terrible little place. The other man, Sam, was covered in cuts and scratches and looked completely worn out.
“What the hell happened to you?” Mouse asked him.
“We’ll get to that,” Joe said. “First is everyone here?” He looked around the room. Ava looked with him and took in the faces of Mouse, Jeff, Sally, Jarrod and the hunched up Susan in the corner by the fire.
“Alan is not here,” Sally said. “I knocked at his house but there was no answer.”
“Has anyone seen him?” Joe asked.
“Not today,” Jeff said and everyone else shook their heads to agree with this.
“Who saw him last?” Joe asked and Ava saw worry in him.
They looked around at one another before Sally said,
“He was in the night before last.”
“Has anyone seen him since then?” Joe asked. No one had. Mouse stood up after a few moments of silence,
“What’s this all about Joe, spit it out!”
“Take it easy, Mouse,” Joe said, and he sighed glancing sideways at Sam. “Tell ‘em what happened to you,” he said. Sam looked back at him and then took in the room.
“Joe thought I was crazy when I told him,” he started and now it was the sheriff’s turn to nod in agreement. “But he’s seen the same thing now and knows it’s true.” Everyone in the room gave Sam their utmost attention and Ava could see that they were all beginning to understand the gravity of something that had taken place.
“I was driving out of town, on the Emerson back road, trying to get to town to get a doctor for Susan,” he looked at her at this point and smiled. Susan smiled weakly back to him. “I noticed the whites on the trees, that disease I’d see in a few places around the forest. At first I didn’t think anything of it, my mind was too occupied but then more and more trees seemed to be completely covered in it until I realised it was spreading on both sides of the road, and faster than my truck was able to go!”
“Bullshit!” Mouse said.
“What are you talking about?” Jeff asked looking bewildered.
“I’ve seen this white on the trees,” Sally said, “but didn’t think much of it. What is it?” her tone was flat and there was no trace of the jovial timbre Ava had come to know in the woman.
“It’s something alive,” Sam said, “It got ahead of me and then branches closed over the road in front of me and when I tried to go through it with the truck, it caught hold of it and crushed the whole thing like it was a piece of paper!”
At this, everyone in the room save Ava, Joe and Sam talked at once, disclaiming it as rubbish or asking questions that couldn't be made out fully in the noise of joined voices. Finally, Sally rang the old bell that hung behind the bar to get everyone to settle down. Silence fell over the room as everyone looked at her.
“Normally I‘d be laughing along with this waiting to see how people were going to react, but I can see in your face Joe that you put some stock in this story.”
“I do,” Joe said softly. “When Sam came up looking like he did and raving this madness I thought he’d caught some fever from exposure to the cold, but I felt there was something honest in his way and thought it best to go and check.”
“What did you see?” Jeff asked.
“I had the idea if Sam was telling the truth the only way out of town was the road over the mountain, so I thought it best to make sure that was clear before checking on Sam’s story.”
“It wasn’t was it?” Ava said, and she knew she was right, she could feel it before he even started to talk about it. Joe looked her in the eyes and shook his head.
“I went out, and I saw what Sam was talking about. The white rushed past me and the road closed over and I couldn’t go anywhere. I didn’t drive into it so I still have my jeep but there was something else I saw.” Joe looked at Susan when he said this last part.
“What?” Susan asked, her lip trembling.
“I saw something, someone, I got the feeling they were behind this and they were who attacked you.”
“Who was it?” Susan asked.
“I don’t know,” Joe said after a slight pause.
“That’s not true,” Ava blurted, and all eyes fell to her.
“Excuse me?” Joe asked.
“I don’t mean about the trees, as crazy as that might sound I believe you, but about you not knowing who it was, I don’t believe that.”
“Who was it?” Sally ask
ed and Ava felt vindicated that someone else had sensed what she had.
“I don’t know what you're...” Joe trailed off as he spoke and a look of surprise came over his face. He looked to Susan again,
“You said you had a sense of something familiar when you were attacked?” he said to her and she nodded. “I felt the same, I didn’t understand it at the time but I feel it now, like it was someone not something.
“What are you talking about?” Mouse said, he was clearly very agitated by all that was going on and Ava could see that he didn’t know what to believe at all.
“It was Maul, wasn't it?” Sally said.
“I think so,” Joe said, “but also not him.”
“What the hell do you mean it was him but it wasn’t him!” Mouse shouted.
“It was!” Susan exclaimed just then.
“I knew it all along, that man is trouble! His whole bloodline always has been from what I’ve gathered!” Mouse said.
“This is ridiculous,” Jeff said looking at the floor. “I hate Maul as much as the next fella but this is not like him, and it doesn’t explain anything about the trees.”
“I don’t understand what it happening with the trees either,” Joe said, “but what I do know is that there is no road out of town, the phones are down and the radio is not working. We’re cut off and nobody knows anything about it.”
Silence followed this statement and each person let their own thoughts come to them in some effort to understand the situation. Ava couldn’t take it anymore and tears streamed down her face. It was the end; if not what else could it be. They had come to this place to die.
“It’s alright, baby,” Jarrod said taking her in his arms.
“It’s not alright,” Ava said looking furiously at him, so much so that he was completely taken off guard and took a step back from her. “We’re going to die here! Don’t you understand that! I told you we shouldn’t have come, we should have stayed the night in Emerson.”
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