by Otto Schafer
“Well, what now?” David asked anxiously.
The trees lined up several rows deep, filling the road. Garrett looked down the river’s shore, but the encroaching trees were crossing the road and hemming them in from both sides.
“They’re flanking us!” Paul shouted.
The popping and groaning grew louder until they could only communicate by shouting. “We need a plan!” Garrett yelled. “We need a boa—”
Then, just as the trees reached the water’s edge, boxing them in, everything went instantly still.
Garrett drew in a breath and held it. Waiting. Something was coming. He felt it in the swelling stillness, a pregnant anticipation that couldn’t hold. He looked at Lenny, questioning.
Lenny shook his head, his eyes darting left and right.
Finally, the mass of trees groaned again. But not all of them – only the ones at the entrance of the parking lot. The trees there moved, lurching sideways, as a small path opened from the center.
“Look,” Pete breathed.
A woman’s shadowed silhouette appeared in the gap.
“Shrub woman,” Lenny gasped.
“We can swim,” Ed said, glancing over his shoulder toward the river.
“Swim across the Mississippi? Maybe you can, but there is no way they can make it,” Paul said, looking directly at David.
“Hey!” David started, as if offended, then said in a quieter voice, “Yeah, that’s way too far. Besides, I’m not swimming any rivers ever again – ever.”
Shrub woman’s hips swished as she strode toward them like a runway model, a long sword in her right hand pointed at the ground.
Ed drew his pistol and racked the slide. “Get behind me. If she gets past me, go to the water and swim out far enough to get around the trees and then make a break for shore and run like hell.” He turned to his brother. “If I don’t make it, get our sister back!”
“Ed, you saw what she did to all those men! Let’s all just go!”
Shrub woman stepped into the parking from the road and paused. The trees closed in behind her and the path disappeared.
“Don’t argue with me, Paul! I will buy you the time—”
“No,” Garrett snapped.
“What did you say?” Ed demanded. “I’m trying to save your ass, kid!”
“I said no!” Garrett said again, this time with more confidence as he turned to face Ed and Paul. “Paul, the story about you on Oak Island, when you lifted the crane. I need you to tap into that now.”
Paul pressed his lips tight and nodded sharply. “What are you thinking?”
“Ed,” Garrett said, looking up at the big man and speaking fast. “You have the ability to fly, but I don’t need you to. I need you to use your ability steer the boat.”
“What the hell are you talking about – we don’t have a boat!”
Garrett pointed at the ferry. “Pete. David. Get the bikes onto the ferry. Take me and Len’s packs and bikes too,” he said, nodding at Lenny.
Shrub woman, starting forward again, called out, “Nowhere to go, Lord Garrett Turek, descendent of Turek the sage, god of humans?” Her voice carried with it a disdain Garrett could feel.
“Go now!” Garrett shouted, spinning back to Paul. “Launch the ferry, Paul! Use your focus and shove it out into the river.”
Paul’s eyebrows lifted at the request, then they knitted tight as he hesitantly considered the giant floating platform connected to the double-decker tugboat. It had a big box truck sitting on it as well as a couple other abandoned cars. Garrett could see the wheels turning, and that was all the confirmation he needed, but Paul gave him more.
“I’ll try,” he said, turning to run, but Garrett grabbed his arm.
“Do it, Paul! There is no try. Make it happen – I know you can.”
Paul nodded, turned, and ran toward the ferry as David and Pete started rolling the bikes on board.
“We’re going to talk about you quoting Yoda later. But right now, what’s the plan for me?” Lenny asked.
Garrett smiled tightly. “You and I are going to handle this shifty stick chick!”
“That was an absolutely horrible line,” Lenny said, laughing, “but come on, let’s show her what’s up!” He began spinning his staff.
“You are insane, kid. Get back there with the others!” Ed ordered.
“Go, help your brother, Ed, he needs you. We got this,” Garrett said, drawing the ancient sword Phillip had given him from its sheath with a soft swish. “Yell for us when the boat starts to move.” Garrett didn’t wait for permission or acknowledgment as he and Lenny stepped forward in front of Ed and began walking toward the strange creature.
“What do you want, Shrub Lady!” Garrett shouted, pointing his sword.
Lenny held his staff at the ready and glanced over. “Shrub Lady?”
Garrett shrugged.
The creature took three more seductive steps and stopped just out of reach.
Up close, the shrub woman was striking. Her pale skin was flawless, and auburn locks the color of autumn leaves spilled out from her tunic’s hood, effectively shielding her eyes. Fastened around her collar with a silver clasp was an insignia in the shape of an unfamiliar leaf or maybe a flower – Garrett wasn’t sure which. The clasp secured a long cape, dark as black walnut. Underneath the cape, she wore a tight tunic, which did little to hide her shapely breasts, and skintight leather pants, bound around the calves with leather strappings.
Her head turned slightly, giving Garrett a glimpse of emerald eyes. They were bright – almost electric. The color of green as spring set foliage aglow.
She’s not real, he reminded himself. She doesn’t really look like this. Not in the sense that she was a woman or human – not even her clothes were real. She’s not even a she, she’s an it, and it’s a monster, by god. Remember the field, remember what she’s capable of. He sucked in a steadying breath and repeated it to himself. She’s not real.
“What do you want?” Garrett asked again.
She nodded sagely. “Not what I want, my lord, but what the one I serve commands. For if it were simply what I want, you would die, here – and now.”
Her head twisted slightly, emitting a small creak as she considered Lenny. “You too, Sir Lennard Wade, sage to the chosen one of Turek. I would see you die as well – if the choice were mine.”
Lenny swallowed hard enough that Garrett heard it.
“What do you want?” Lenny asked.
“What do you want?” she mimicked in Lenny’s precise voice. Back in her own feminine voice, she continued, “It is said sages are wise. If this is true, I find folly in your selection, Lord Garrett. Are you not capable of more intelligent questions, humans?” The shrub woman tilted her head to the side like a curious dog.
“Wait… what?” Lenny asked.
“I already told you, stupid boy. I want to kill you,” she said, lifting her hand to examine her nails, as if bored with the conversation.
“Okay, what does the one you serve want?” Garrett asked.
“Ahhhh,” she said, dragging out the sound. She glanced up, a mischievous smile sprouting from her lips. “That is better.” Stiffening and becoming serious again, she waved her hand in a flourish and lifted her chin. “My queen requests your presence. I am to accompany you to her. She wants you alive – all of you if possible, but at least you.” She pointed a finger at Garrett, sounding somewhat disappointed at the last part.
“And who are you?” Garrett asked.
“Mmm, yes, names.” She nodded. “Humans are attached to those. Your kind have given me many names over millennia, but the one I like today is Governess. You may call me that,” she said, bowing formally.
“And if we refuse your queen’s request?” Lenny asked.
“Also injudicious, Lennard. That is two for you, oh wise one,” Governess said sardonically. “Requests from my queen are never refused.” She looked past them toward the ferry.
Garrett wanted to look back, but he d
ared not. Mr. B had always said, “Never take your eyes off your enemy.”
“Be a good lord and order your companions to stop. It is time to go.”
“Sorry to disappoint your queen, but we’re kind of busy. Maybe some other time,” Garrett said.
“Yes, please, give your queen our best and tell her we simply must do brunch,” Lenny said, tipping his head in mocking formality.
The sword came up with no warning toward Lenny’s face.
But Lenny’s reflexes were even faster as he leaned back, his own staff going into motion, as Governess’s sword just missed his chest and face. As he reacted, he let his staff slide down through his hands all the way to one end before bringing it down in an extended strike against Governess’s head.
There was a loud crack of breaking wood.
As Lenny avoided Governess’s sword strike and countered, Garrett also went into motion, stepping in close enough to front snap kick Governess’s sword hand as she brought it back down. The force of the kick pushed her into a spin, but the sword didn’t fly out of her hand as it should have. Garrett understood instantly. Her clothes, the sword, all of it was part of her, an extension of herself.
Lenny looked away, turning his attention to the end of his staff, surely expecting it to be broken.
Governess continued to spin away from them, catching Lenny in the face with a left hook as she went.
Lenny fell back onto his ass.
While her back was momentarily to Garrett, he squared his shoulders and raised his own sword high above his head, striking down before Governess finished her rotation.
Garrett’s sword connected, biting into the cape covering her back. But there was no sensation of slicing cloth or parting flesh. Instead, he felt like he had connected with a tree. Chips from her cape flew as the sound of metal thudding into wood sounded hollowly, only confirmed by the vibration he felt through the hilt of the sword.
Governess hissed, and Garrett couldn’t tell if it were a sound of pain, anger, or both.
As Garrett ripped his sword free, he could see a newly formed notch across Governess’s back. She isn’t real.
When Governess completed the turn, Garrett saw it wasn’t Lenny’s staff that had cracked – it was Governess’s skull. The awful fracture started above her ear, zigzagging like a lightning bolt across her forehead and down through the bridge of her nose.
All the surrounding trees shook violently, edging into the parking lot from all sides.
Governess raised a hand, and they all went still once more.
“Magical weapons? So, you must be in contact with your god! This news shall please my queen greatly.”
As Governess spoke, Garrett frowned. The crack in her skull began to move. At first, he thought she was shape-shifting, but he quickly realized the fracture on her head was the only thing moving. It traveled down her body, closing behind itself as it went along toward her abdomen. God, it was moving the wound somehow. Once it settled into her stomach, the wound glowed green, sealing into a pale scar the color of white pine.
Somewhere behind Garrett he heard shouts.
“Push!”
“It moved a little, Paul.”
Rahhhhh!
“I saw it move! Don’t stop!”
Lenny pushed himself up, rubbing his jaw. “Bitch!”
Garrett lunged forward, sword raised again. Rather than square his shoulders and leave himself exposed, this time he stepped forward into a guarded fighting stance and struck downward at a forty-five-degree angle. The strike was both hard to duck and even harder to jump – if you were human, that is.
With insane speed, Governess shape-shifted into a creature with tentacles, somehow diverting the sword strike altogether. It took Garrett a second to realize what he was seeing. The sudden shift into an octopus-like creature startled him so much that he fell off balance when he missed, nearly causing him to drop his sword. Keep it together, she isn’t real. But dropping the sword wouldn’t have been worse than what happened next: one of eight tentacles wrapped around the wrist of his sword hand and yanked.
Unlike Governess’s sword, Garrett’s sword wasn’t attached to him, and it went flying. He watched in horror as it sailed over his head toward the muddy Mississippi somewhere behind him. Garrett kicked out, hoping to land a blow.
Governess shape-shifted, but only her lower half. A leg appeared and matched Garrett’s kick, blocking his own.
Jesus how do you fight this thing?
Lenny was there now, swinging his staff in a double underarm spin.
Garrett stepped forward to punch the octopus in its face, but another of its eight tentacles wrapped around his throat.
Lenny swung.
Governess shifted again.
The staff cracked across her back as Governess the grizzly bear turned and swiped Lenny across the chest with a giant clawed paw.
Lenny screamed.
“Garrett! Lenny! Get to the boat!” David’s voice rang out from behind them.
Garrett ran forward two steps and leapt into the air, kicking the grizzly with a two-footed jump-kick. Both feet connected, tipping the grizzly sideways. Garrett landed on his hands and knees.
Governess twisted and blurred as she shifted again.
“Run, Lenny!” Garrett shouted, turning to the ferry to find it was already moving away from the bank. Pete was holding Garrett’s sword as he was being pulled onto the ferry. Nice, Petey!
Garrett ran. As he neared the edge of the bank, he could see two busted spots in the pavement the size of Paul’s feet. He ran past them, crashing into the water without slowing. Garrett frowned when he didn’t hear Lenny hit the water next to him and looked back over his shoulder.
Across the lot, Governess had shifted into a wolf, pinned Lenny to the ground, and was on top of him with her jaws locked on Lenny’s staff. Lenny lay beneath her, the staff held out horizontally in both hands, the only thing keeping her jaws from reaching him. But his elbows were bent, and the wolf’s teeth were pressing in, too close.
Garrett turned back.
“No!” Paul yelled. “If you go, you won’t make it back!”
Paul was probably right, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t leave Lenny.
“Lenny, push! Push with all you got!” Ed shouted, taking aim with his pistol.
Garrett paused, frowning as he looked from the ferry and back toward Lenny, trying to gauge the growing distance with his eyes. The distance across the water plus the distance all the way across the parking lot, while the ferry was in motion. Garrett’s heart swelled into his throat. That was at least a sixty-yard shot and growing.
“Come on, Garrett, move!” David shouted, reaching out from the edge of the ferry.
But he couldn’t. He was stuck fast in the waist-deep water as if frozen there. Lenny! Oh, Lenny!
“Lenny, bench press, now!” Ed shouted, leveling the handgun.
Lenny grunted and pushed, straightening his arms just enough to create a small space between his own head and the wolf’s.
Ed fired three times. Clack! Clack! Clack!
Garrett flinched at the shots, his breath catching.
The wolf’s head splintered apart as Governess tipped sideways.
Garrett let out a breath. “Run, Len!” he shouted.
All around the parking lot, the trees burst into motion, flailing their limbs and yelling like an angry mob. Pavement exploded upward on all sides of the parking lot as the trees rushed forward.
Lenny shuffled back away from the wolf, feet kicking, and rolled over, scrambling onto his hands and knees, trying to get his feet under him.
Garrett turned toward the ferry and dove, splashing forward. By the time he was climbing on, Lenny was nearing the water’s edge.
To Garrett’s horror, Governess, still in wolf form, was right on Lenny’s heels and closing.
“He isn’t going to make it,” Paul said, adding, “and even if he does, she will get to him before he gets three strides in!”
“W
e’re too far away! We’re moving too fast away!” David shouted.
David was right – they were moving too fast. The distance from the shore to the ferry was thirty yards, easy.
Come on, Len! Garrett looked on, wanting so badly to help but feeling helpless. If Lenny didn’t make it, Garrett was going in headfirst to get him. Garrett stood poised, ready to dive in, but as Lenny ran toward the water, it quickly became obvious he had no intention of slowing. Garrett saw it then – and he knew.
Golden light cracked in Lenny’s eyes as he leapt out onto the water – not into the water, onto the water. A smile stretched across Garrett’s face as he remembered David telling the story of how Lenny had saved him from the busted dam. He landed on the water – then he ran across it, feather light.
Garrett held out his hand. That’s it, Len. Be as light as a skipping stone! Lenny’s foot touched the water, but it didn’t sink as he leapt again. His opposite foot touched the water and again he leapt, and then three more times. Each footfall sent out small rings, like a stone skipping across the river, but like the stone, Lenny stayed above the water.
A moment later, Garrett clasped his friend’s hand in his own and pulled, and together they fell back onto the ferry, gasping for breath. They looked at each other, all smiles, and fist bumped.
“How in the hell did you do that?” Ed asked.
“I told you these kids were special, Ed,” Paul said.
“Guys,” David said, his voice cracking as he pointed toward shore. The wolf was once again shifting. “What’s to keep her from shifting into an eagle and flying over here to kick our asses?”
“She can’t fly,” Garrett said evenly.
“How can you be sure?” Pete asked.
“Back in the field, she changed how many times? She even changed into a dragon and jumped up, but she never flew. Besides that, if she could fly, she would have caught us that day. But she didn’t, hence she can’t fly.”
“I buy that,” Paul said.
“Okay, fine, but what if she shifts into a river monster and swims over here and then kicks our asses?” David said, panic gripping him.
“She can’t swim either,” Garrett said.
“And how do you know that?” Pete asked.
