Forest of the Damned

by Lee Mountford

  ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this,’ James said, letting out a laugh of disdain. ‘You’re telling us you followed a fucking zombie?’

  ‘As I said, I know how it sounds. I’m certain it was a ghost or spirit of some kind, and it wanted to show me something. It led me to this tree, then disappeared behind it. When I looked up, I saw the same body swinging from a noose. And there was a black mark on the tree as well…’

  Ken trailed off as he looked at the bark, seeing no sign of the previous dark stain.

  ‘And that’s gone, too?’ Roberta asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

  ‘It would seem so.’

  ‘I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot,’ James said, ‘but that is insane.’

  ‘I’m telling you what I saw!’ Ken shot back. ‘I’m not making this up.’

  ‘See, that is the insane thing about it all,’ James replied. ‘I believe you. I believe you saw an entity of some kind. I believe it brought you here. And I believe you saw a body up there,’ he pointed to the branches above, ‘swinging by its neck. I also believe you when you say there was a village down there.’ Now he pointed to the head of the slope. ‘I believe all of it, Ken. What I’m worried about is that you willfully followed whatever the hell it was. That was stupid. And going down to that village, if it’s even there, could be just as dangerous.’

  ‘But Tony is down there,’ Ken said. ‘I just know it.’

  ‘You know it?’ James asked, shaking his head. ‘And somehow you knew that entity wanted you to follow it. And Roberta here knew the old woman she saw in the woods was Mother Sibbett.’

  ‘What’s your point?’ Roberta asked.

  ‘My point is, these intuitions we seem to be having are pretty strange, don’t you think? We seem to know an awful lot, without actually learning anything. Are we really coming to these conclusions on our own, or is there something else at work putting the ideas in our heads?’

  Ken gave pause and considered James’ words. Did the young man have a point? Were they all being toyed with by some unknown force that had taken up residence inside their minds?

  If that was the case, could Ken be sure that his thoughts were even his own anymore?

  James then slowly moved away from them. ‘Where are you going?’ Roberta asked as the young man walked towards the decline.

  ‘To see,’ he stated. ‘See if this village is still there, or if we are just being fucked with, as I suspect.’

  Both Ken and Roberta remained silent as James reached the edge of flat ground and looked down. He remained silent.

  ‘Well?’ Ken asked.

  James turned round to face them and shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

  19

  ‘That can’t be,’ Ken said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  James looked down the slope again to the ground below. He saw trees, shrubs, and a lot of mud, but certainly no buildings. Ken jogged over to join him and looked down as well, and James registered a look of confusion and disappointment on his colleague’s face. The bearded man’s body seemed to deflate and his shoulders sagged.

  ‘I just don’t understand it,’ he said.

  James put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. ‘I don’t doubt that you saw it, Ken,’ James said. ‘But we just don’t know what exactly it is you saw.’

  Ken’s head rose back up and his brow creased. ‘Maybe this is where the town once stood. Maybe that’s what I was being shown. And perhaps we can find some evidence of it down there.’

  James paused. ‘Evidence? I thought we were looking for Tony.’

  ‘And he could still be down there,’ Ken said with a sense of urgency. ‘We need to go and check.’

  James gave a firm shake of his head. ‘Hold up, Ken. The idea was to look for Tony in the village you discovered. We said that if we couldn’t find him, we were going to leave. There is nothing down there—you can see that yourself. So, that being the case, shouldn’t we be getting the hell out of here?’

  Part of him wanted to stay and search below, of course, to see if they could find evidence of this fabled lost village and their friend, but he knew Roberta needed to get out of here for her own sanity. And his overriding drive now—especially after the tongue-lashing she had given him earlier—was to get her out of danger. He turned to her and asked, ‘Do you agree?’

  Roberta stared at them both and gave an exasperated sigh, like a tired mother caring for two unruly children. ‘Let’s go down and see what we can find. But we make it quick.’ James was stunned at what she said, and even more so when she started down the decline, side-stepping steadily, using one hand for balance and the other to cling to reeds, vines, and clumps of grass on the slope as she descended.

  Where was her urgent need to get out of the forest now?

  ‘I don’t get her,’ James said under his breath so that only Ken could hear. ‘Does she want to get out of this place or not?’

  Ken shrugged and smiled meekly. ‘Well, let’s be quick, like she says. If there really is nothing down there, we’ll soon know.’

  James gave up, not sure what he was supposed to do anymore. He nodded, and the two men then followed Roberta, moving carefully down the hill and clinging on to the ground to ensure they didn’t tumble and fall. It occurred to James as Roberta reached the bottom—with them not far behind—that if they needed to get back up this steep bank quickly, climbing it would not be an easy task. Especially considering the slick condition of the muddy ground.

  Once he and Ken reached the base, they all began walking farther out into the area before them, searching for signs of, well, anything. The trees down there were not as densely packed together as elsewhere in the forest, and the ground was covered with long, knee-high grass. James could actually picture small buildings existing in that area, given the room, but it still wouldn’t have been a natural setting for a village, and the structures would have to have been wedged between trees. But still, out of all the places they had seen so far, this was the most likely to have been the site of the settlement all those years ago. Roberta walked off farther ahead, searching the area of long grass, kicking through it while keeping her attention focused on the ground.

  Where is that fear now? James thought.

  Not too long ago, she had been terrified of her own shadow. Not anymore, it seemed. Hell, she had even screamed at him, belittled him, and struck him. Now she just waltzed off ahead without a care in the world. He debated shouting over to her to tell her to stay close, but remembered what had happened the last time he’d dared say something that Roberta didn’t like.

  So he remained silent and searched the area himself, scouring the ground. The group fanned out as they moved ahead, unsure of exactly what they expected to find. James had a horrible feeling that they might actually stumble upon Tony down here, but not as they wanted. Images of coming across his corpse in the long grass, milky eyes staring skyward, played through his mind.

  However, in the half hour of searching, they found no body and no trace of Tony at all. And no signs of any former settlement.

  ‘Okay,’ James called out, kicking out at some weeds in frustration. ‘I don’t think we’re going to find anything here. I say we call it and head back.’

  There was a silence from the other two, with Ken in particular looking uncomfortable. ‘So are we just leaving Tony, then?’

  ‘He isn’t here, Ken,’ James said with a raised voice. ‘That was the plan. If we couldn’t find him, we go.’

  Ken let out a sigh, but nodded his consent. ‘You’re right,’ he replied, and cast another futile look around. ‘Let’s go.’

  First, they carefully made their way back up the hill, with Ken falling once as they went. But he managed to hang on, and stopped himself slipping all the way back down to the bottom. From there, they had the long walk back to camp. James noticed that Ken’s side, as well as the pack he carried, were now both slick with mud from his fall. But after James asked if he needed help, Ken insisted
he was fine. James kept an eye on him as they walked back to camp, and thankfully didn’t see any limping or signs of pain. Only an embarrassed and slightly bruised ego.

  ‘So we pack up and head straight out?’ James asked as they walked.

  ‘I guess so,’ Ken replied. ‘Though we’re still going to need to camp again at least once. Don’t forget, we’ve spent two nights here already, so even if we ran the whole way back, it’d still be well into tomorrow before we got out. Not that our energy levels would let us go on for that long without rest, of course.’

  James knew that Ken made a valid point, and it was one he’d already considered. He checked his watch, seeing that it was already past noon. ‘I agree,’ he said. ‘How about we get some food back at the camp before we set off? I’m feeling pretty weak already. Then, we discard what we can and make up as much ground as possible while we still have daylight to work with. We camp again come nightfall, and hope we get clear of the forest tomorrow. Then we can get back to Amaley and go to the police. They’ll be much better equipped to find Tony out here.’

  ‘And what if another one of us goes missing?’ Roberta asked. Her voice sounded distant, almost like she was talking in her sleep.

  ‘I don’t know,’ James admitted. It was something else he had been thinking about quite a lot, in truth. Given they had no idea what had happened to Tony, only relying on Roberta’s story—that the creepy old woman pulled him from the tent in the night—there was every chance it could happen again. James felt that the odds of having an uneventful night were slim at best.

  But what else could they do? Searching for Tony had yielded nothing, unless you counted Ken’s discovery as some kind of result, which James didn’t, and they couldn’t keep looking forever. Blindly wandering the forest, getting more and more lost, would not lead to anything good. And they certainly couldn’t just lie down and wait for help to arrive.

  So they had to try and escape. Which meant Roberta had been right that morning.

  ‘I think one of us should be awake at all times when we camp,’ Ken said. ‘We can take turns, do it in shifts. That way, if anything happens, the person standing guard can alert the others. At least that way we’ll get a little rest.’

  It was a shitty plan, but as fine a one as any James could see, given the circumstances. It still didn’t make him feel any better, or any less on edge, but at least it was a course of action.

  They eventually reached the campsite again, and it was a welcome sight to James. He had been half expecting to find that all of their tents had been destroyed during their absence, but everything seemed as it was before.

  The group quickly stored their packs, and then Ken got to work with the stove, cooking a dehydrated meal of chicken and noodles. After they had eaten, the camp was disassembled in less than an hour, and then they packed up the essentials, leaving behind a lot of very expensive equipment.

  It pained James to do it, knowing how much of their own money they had sunk into it all, but he knew deep down it was the right thing to do. Things had become much more serious since yesterday, feeling like life or death.

  They made sure everything was cased up as best as possible and stashed the equipment in a large bush at the base of a tree, which would at least offer it some protection. Maybe, one day in the near future, someone could come back out and reclaim it.

  For now, however, they kept their handheld cameras and Roberta’s digital audio recorder, as they took up next-to-no space and were not heavy. If they had to explain a death after their escape, perhaps the footage would act as evidence of some kind.

  With the campsite now behind them, the trio marched through the forest, following Ken’s directions as he guided them forward. The smell of pine intensified and the skies began to darken above.

  ‘Rain’s coming,’ Ken said. ‘We may have to camp earlier than we thought.’

  ‘Can’t we just get wet?’ James asked.

  ‘We can, but putting up our tents in the rain will be difficult.’

  Roberta was still quiet.

  ‘Let’s keep going for now,’ James said, feeling the wind pick up. ‘If we need to stop, then we can stop.’

  Ken nodded, and they pushed on.

  The wind got stronger and stronger and started whistling through the trees. The very air around them sounded angry and felt charged with energy. Whatever weather was coming, it was serious.

  Fuck.

  James knew the storm was going to delay things. He was about to suggest finding a good spot to camp when Ken cried out, pointing off into the trees to their left.

  ‘Tony!’

  20

  Ken was off and running before he had time to process the whole thing, and calls from James to hold on and wait were ignored—barely even registering.

  He had seen movement out the corner of his eye. And, after turning his head, he’d seen what he’d been hoping to since the previous night: there Tony was, standing off in the distance and waving—beckoning Ken to go to him. The image had taken a moment to sink in, and Tony had since stepped behind a tree, even before Ken had shouted his name out in shock.

  He heard James call out again as he ran, and also heard both James and Roberta running after him. But surely, if they’d seen what he had, they would have been matching Ken’s speed to get to their friend.

  Because Tony was alive. And, in the brief moment Ken had seen him, he looked fine and well.

  ‘Over here!’ Ken yelled back. ‘I saw him! I saw him!’

  ‘Wait, God damn it!’ James shouted back.

  However, Ken was in no mood for arguments or dissent in the ranks. His friend was alive, and Ken intended to help him. He reached the tree Tony had moved behind, with the others catching up in short order.

  But Tony was not there.

  However, when Ken looked up, it turned out Tony was farther ahead, again waving.

  ‘There,’ Ken said, pointing.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ James uttered in shock. Ken took off again, reassured that James had obviously seen him too. And yet, even in the face of that, James still shouted for Ken to stop. The weather continued to worsen, with the wind gaining strength, now sounding like a furious howl.

  ‘Ken, what the fuck are you doing?’ James shouted, running close behind. Ken felt James’ hand grab at his backpack, but he managed to shrug it off. ‘Just look at him!’ James screamed.

  Ken was looking at him. He was looking at a friend who needed their help, and who was beckoning them to him. But again, Tony stepped away, moving out of view.

  A pang of déjà vu sprang up in Ken as he remembered chasing down that walking corpse earlier when he had been led to the village.

  But this was different, he convinced himself, as Tony was not some decaying wreck of a body. It was their colleague, just as Ken remembered him prior to him disappearing last night.

  However, when Ken eventually reached the point he had last seen Tony—almost being blown from his feet by the battering wind as he did—he found that Tony was once again gone. And yet again, as before, Ken saw him up ahead. And so the sequence began once more, with James still yelling at him to stop.

  But it seemed that Roberta was not on the same page as James.

  ‘What’s your problem?’ she shouted at him.

  ‘Can’t either of you see it?’ James replied as he ran, out of breath and panting hard.

  Suddenly, Ken felt a great force hit him from behind, powerful enough to knock him over and drive him face first into the wet leaves and dirt. A heavy weight pressed into him, partially pinning him to the ground. Ken managed to wiggle over onto his back to see that James had tackled him and had now sat above him.

  ‘Just stop,’ James pleaded.

  Ken fought against the younger man in a fit of anger, reaching a hand up to James’ face to push him away. ‘What is your problem?’ Ken seethed.

  ‘James!’ Roberta shouted, pulling at him. ‘Get off, what’s gotten into you? We need to help Tony!’

  ‘That isn’
t Tony!’ James screamed. ‘Why can’t any of you see it?’

  ‘See what?’ Roberta asked as Ken managed to kick his way out from James’ hold.

  ‘It wasn’t Tony!’ James yelled. ‘Didn’t you see the state of him? There’s no way that rotting mess could still be alive. It wasn’t Tony!’

  To say that those words threw Ken was an understatement. To him, Tony had seemed himself and looked no different. ‘He was fine,’ Ken stated.

  James gave a confused look, then turned his head to Roberta, who nodded her confirmation. ‘He looked okay to me,’ she said.

  ‘Well he didn’t to me,’ James answered, shaking his head. ‘And doesn’t that seem fucking odd? That we are seeing different things? If it really was Tony, then we would have all seen the same thing. And he wouldn’t have been playing this fucking game, either, having us run after him only to disappear time and time again. Don’t you get it? Something out here is toying with us. And if we follow it and go where it wants us to, then we are fucked.’

  Ken’s heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and he still felt the urge to run after Tony. The sight of him had been so real that Ken’s instinct had been to run to his friend’s aid.

  Now, however, hearing what James had seen, and listening to what he was saying, it gave Ken reason to pause—his colleague was making sense. There was no reason for Tony to keep disappearing like that. And what the hell had James meant when he’d said, did you see the state of him?

  Rain started to fall, light and fine droplets that threatened to intensify.

  ‘Roberta?’ Ken asked. ‘Did he look fine to you?’

  Roberta nodded. ‘Yes. I didn’t see anything wrong. And I think we should keep going. Tony is obviously out there, and he needs—’

  ‘Ken,’ James said, interrupting. ‘Listen to reason. None of this makes any fucking sense. We are just going to get ourselves killed.’ James then looked to Roberta. ‘And why are you so eager to run off deeper into the forest all of a sudden? What’s changed?’