Dead Woods

by Raylan Kane

  Marsh chambered a slug as she tasted acid on the back of her tongue. She brought her knees towards her chest and she stood up on wobbly legs. A terrible smell overcame her senses and she could hear heavy breaths, like mini wind storms unto themselves in the forest behind.

  The deputy stood, legs apart, with the shotgun across her chest. She glared at the great beast fording the river. Make a move, she thought. Come for me. I've got something for you. Marsh frowned, almost accepting that death was inevitable now. A strange sense of relief coursed over her and caused her to relax in the moment. 'The Zone', Sheriff Lake would call it. The time when shit had hit the fan and things were at their worst and everything just slowed down and you knew you were probably done for, but none of it seemed to matter. You just took it and eased into a relaxed state. Autopilot. Marsh had experienced it plenty of times before.

  The giant grizzly bear stood up on its hind legs and the thing dwarfed everything around it. Trees rose to not even half its height. Marsh looked up at it, set against the blue sky. A monolith. A tower covered in fur. The ground shook as it landed back down on all fours and then the animal charged.

  Marsh's jaw dropped, her eyes froze, fixated on the beast. In two strides it was right there, and it stopped suddenly directly in front of the deputy, kicking up a blast of muddy water that drenched her. She kept an iron grip on the shotgun and didn't move from her spot on the river bank.

  A false charge? It was all Marsh could think. She was confronted by a wall that the animal presented as it towered over her and completely blocked her field of view.

  The creature exhaled and the force of it and the nasty odor knocked Marsh backward onto her butt. Slowly the bear lowered its head and its nose, the size of a compact car, neared Marsh's tiny body. It blocked out the sun and Marsh was totally enveloped by its shadow. The grizzly's nose was a paler brown color and covered in slime. Marsh instinctively reclined back to the dirt as the bear sniffed at her, each nostril large enough she could crawl inside if she'd wanted to. Closer the bear pressed it's snout to her.

  This thing could crush me like this, she thought. Fire. Do it.

  Marsh, now fully on her back, pulled the butt of the shotgun in tight to her shoulder and she aimed the barrel into the dark void at the center of the bear's left nostril as it lowered closer to her. Do it, she yelled at herself internally. Pull the trigger.

  Just as the bear's nostril had lowered far enough that the end of the shotgun's barrel was actually inside its nose, Marsh felt the cold metal against her skin and she pulled back on the trigger with her index finger.

  Blam!

  The kick punched through her shoulder and was absorbed by the ground. The huge bear howled and blew out both of Marsh's eardrums. Blood poured from her ears and she screamed in pain and the giant grizzly rocked its head back in reaction to the shotgun slug ripping into sinuses like a bee sting in some imperceptible unreachable area with no method of relief. The thing was back on its hind haunches, swatting incessantly at its beak as though a wasp had burrowed into its face.

  Marsh stopped hollering and she touched a hand to the side of her head and saw blood on her fingertips. The sound of the world around her had become airy and similar to what it was like walking through a long tunnel.

  Unable to find relief, the grizzly screamed again and then turned and ran for the sanctity of the woods. As it rumbled away and out of sight, the other bear followed suit, not seeming to want any part of the tiny creature holding the exploding stick.

  Whether it was out of extreme stress or the remnants of a probable concussion from going over the falls, Marsh fell back against the river bank once again and she was out cold.

  The next time she came to the sun was high overhead and she squinted as she could feel the shotgun resting on top of her. Then the sun was blotted out for a moment and she saw Lindsay's smiling face looking down at her and could hear her voice through the fuzziness of her blasted-out ears. Wally came into view as well.

  “Hey,” Lindsay said. “Can you hear me?”

  Marsh nodded.

  “She's okay,” Wally said. “Thank god.”

  “Can you move?” Lindsay said.

  “Yes.” Marsh sat up, with the assistance of the other two. “How long was I out?”

  “A while,” Lindsay said, “you put quite a scare into those grizzlies.”

  “I'm glad you're alright,” Marsh said. “I can't hear too well.”

  “Yeah one of them let out a hell of a scream. Me and Wally had found a place to hide soon as they came.”

  “I plugged a slug in its brain, I think.”

  “You did good,” Lindsay said. “Now, can you walk?”

  “I think so.” Then Marsh remembered Tessa who had been in a bad way on the other side of the river. “Tessa,” she said.

  “Yeah, we got her,” Lindsay said. “Broke both her legs going over.”

  “Oh no.”

  “Wally gave her three Tylenol-3's. She's out right now.”

  “Didn't even know we had those,” Marsh said. “Might've given 'em to Winters.”

  “Didn't know either,” Lindsay said. “Bill had them in his pack.”

  “Where is he?”

  Lindsay lowered her eyes and then looked at Marsh gravely with a slow shake of her head. “Didn't make it.”

  “The falls?” Marsh said.

  “Yes,” Wally said, “he drowned.”

  Marsh sighed. She wasn't particularly fond of the man, but she recognized how terrible this whole experience had been, and the loss of human life is the loss of human life. “So,” she said, “what's the plan now?”

  “All we can do is keep moving,” Lindsay said. “I think the only option is to follow this for as long as we can.”

  “The Ryback?”

  “Yes. We can walk along it until sunset, then we can set up camp. Try again the day after. Until we can hike outta here.”

  “We got all the bags?”

  “I think so. Might be missing one. I'll have to check again.”

  “We'll have to carry Tessa,” Marsh said. “Like we did with Winters.”

  Lindsay nodded. “Actually,” she said, “even with the leak, that green canoe survived. We could probably use the rope, tow her along the side as we walk. Might make it easier.”

  “Good thinking,” Marsh said.

  “It was Wally's idea.”

  “Good thinking, Wally.”

  “Anyway,” Lindsay said. “You sure you're good to walk. You're in pretty rough shape. Got a pretty nasty lump on the side of your head.”

  “I'll be fine,” Marsh said. “I'm good to go.”

  “Good,” Lindsay said, “we'd better get a move on. I don't wanna have to deal with one of those bears again, if we can help it.”

  Marsh couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. “You're tellin' me.”

  22

  The weight of the rope on Marsh's right shoulder from pulling the canoe had reached the point of a sharp ache. An unexpected ache given how light the craft had seemed at the beginning, but after hours of pulling the boat along, the rope had begun to dig in. She switched the rope to her other shoulder and looked forward to when it was someone else's turn to pull.

  “What time have you got, Wally?” Marsh said. She noted the sun's position had lowered a fair bit, and she knew they were into the late afternoon.

  “5:30.”

  “Another few hours I suppose,” Marsh said.

  “Do you need to switch off?” Lindsay said. “I can pull Tessa for a while.”

  “No, I'm fine.”

  “We've made pretty good progress,” Wally said.

  “I'd say,” Marsh agreed, “better than I thought we would.”

  “Stop talking for a sec,” Lindsay said.

  The other two immediately fell silent. The three stood listening. Wally and Lindsay could hear the crisp sound of broken twigs over the noise of the babbling river. For Marsh everything came with the accompanying annoyance of TV static. She didn
't hear any breaking branches, but she could see the other two share a concerned look.

  “What is it?”

  “Shh.”

  “I don't hear anything.”

  To their horror, a gray canine emerged from the tree line. Larger than any dog they'd ever seen, with a ragged pelt and long limbs. The three stood motionless and watched the wolf walk to the river's edge, accompanied by four others.

  “Jesus,” Lindsay murmured.

  The lead wolf lowered its head down to the water to take a drink. Then the other wolves did the same.

  “What should we do?” Wally whispered.

  “I think we need to move away from the river.”

  “What about Tessa?”

  “Let's carefully lift either end of the canoe. We'll move into the woods.”

  “You don't think those things'll chase us.”

  “As long as we don't run,” Lindsay said. “Keep facing 'em.”

  “Probably shouldn't have packed the gun away.”

  “No. That was stupid.”

  Lindsay grasped one end of the canoe, while Marsh took the other. They slowly lifted the boat carrying Tessa from the water and groaned at the weight of it. The three of them watched the wolves drink and seem to have more interest in the river than in them. Carefully they stepped over large rock outcroppings and then through the tall grass towards the trees.

  “Are they following us?”

  “No.”

  “Good,” Lindsay said, grunting with each breath as she held the canoe up with her right hand. “Let's keep moving.”

  “This is heavy,” Marsh said. “I hate this.”

  “I hear that.”

  With the sound of the river a good distance away, Lindsay led the group through as clear a path as she could find through the tight spruces, doing her best not to pick lines that led them through thick brush or branches that scratched against them as they pushed through. She and Marsh stopped every few minutes to set the canoe down and allow blood back into their arms.

  “I'm going to sleep good tonight,” Marsh said.

  “Wish I could help,” Wally said. “But, my old bones. I don't know.”

  “It's fine, Wally,” Marsh said. “We understand.”

  “We're just a couple of whipper-snappers,” Lindsay said, trying to find some levity in the situation. “Well,” she said, pointing to Marsh, “she is anyway.”

  They walked that way for another half hour and then something caused Lindsay to stop and she set her end of the canoe down. Marsh could see a lot more blue sky through the forest ahead of them then she'd become used to, where before it had been nothing but miles and miles of endless trees.

  “What is it?” Marsh said.

  “We can't go this way much farther,” Lindsay said, “well, I mean, we have to figure something out.”

  Marsh laid down her end of the canoe and walked up to Lindsay's position. About thirty yards in the offing, the forest dropped suddenly and she could see a rock face in the distance.

  “Is that?”

  “A cliff? Yes. It is.”

  They looked to their left and right and the ridge seemed to extend as far as they could see in either direction.

  “That's a problem,” Marsh said.

  “No kidding.”

  “I have worse news than that,” Wally said, causing the two women to look back at him.

  “Oh?” Lindsay said.

  “Those wolves are back.”

  “Where?”

  “Right there,” Wally said, and then the three of them could see their dark silhouettes looming in the shadows about a hundred feet away. “They've been tracking us.”

  Marsh nearly jumped out of her skin when Tessa burst back to consciousness with a loud holler. “What the?” Tessa yelled. “Where? Where am I?”

  “Shhh!” Lindsay tried to quiet her.

  “Help me!” Tessa cried.

  “Tessa, we're right here.”

  The girl's eyes came into focus. Then a look of recognition. “Lindsay?”

  “Yes.” Lindsay then held her index finger to her lips to indicate to Tessa she needed to be quiet.

  “Are they coming closer?”

  “It appears that way, yes.”

  “What's going on?” Tessa said.

  “We need to stay quiet. You think you can do that?”

  “My legs really hurt. I can't move them.”

  “They're coming closer,” Wally said.

  “Why am I in the canoe? Where's Bill?”

  “That lead one's walking real slow,” Wally said.

  “I don't think that's a good sign,” Marsh said.

  “No. You're right.”

  “So, where do we go?”

  “Can't exactly go over that cliff.”

  “Cliff,” Tessa said, “there's a cliff?”

  “About thirty yards that way.”

  “Guys, keep your voices down,” Marsh said. “So, what's the plan?”

  “Well, those things are blocking our path from going back that way. And we've got the cliff here behind us,” Lindsay said. “We don't have a lot of options. Might have to try and shoot our way out of this.”

  “That might attract those bears,” Wally said.

  “What are y'all talkin' about?” Tessa said. “What things?”

  “The cliff might be our only option,” Marsh said.

  “That's no kind of option at all,” Lindsay said. “This one can't even walk.”

  “Folks, I don't like how close he's getting.” Wally pointed at the lead wolf who kept inching forward in their direction.

  “How close who's getting? Can y'all tell me what's going on? And you got anymore of them pain pills?”

  “I'm not so certain the cliff's 'no kind of option',” Marsh said.

  “What did you have in mind?” Lindsay said.

  “Well, I don't know. How much rope have we got?”

  23

  Marsh stared down into the deep, grassy gully bounded on two sides by tall rock walls. “That's gotta be about sixty feet,” she said.

  “Can we get down it?”

  The group looked back at the wolves looming thirty yards off in the forest.

  “We don't have much of a choice.” Marsh studied the drop and ran her eyes along the gray and white rocks that comprised the wall on their side. Thick tree roots jutted from the wall and smaller saplings had taken hold in the spaces where softer soil resided. “There's enough hand-holds and things for us to grab onto.”

  “We've got just enough rope for that distance down,” Lindsay said.

  “I think we should use it for Tessa. Lower her down with it.”

  “Make a harness for her, you mean?”

  “Exactly.”

  “They're coming closer,” Wally said.

  “My legs really hurt,” Tessa said.

  “I know they do, dear,” Lindsay said. “We'll get you help once we get outta these godforesaken woods.”

  “I just want some more pills.”

  “We'll take care of that once we get down,” Marsh said. “We'd better get a move on.”

  “Hurry.”

  “Wally, I think you should go ahead of us.”

  “I'm going.”

  “Think you can handle these two bags on your back, too?”

  “Yep. Give 'em here.”

  Marsh glanced at the advancing wolves and she ran around the side of the canoe. “Help me with her,” she said to Lindsay.

  The two women lifted Tessa out of the boat and carried her to the edge of the cliff. Marsh began wrapping the rope around her in a make-shift sling. “We can brace ourselves against these trunks, lower her down that way.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “How you doing, Wally?” Lindsay called to the old man who'd managed to get about ten feet down the side.

  “I'm okay,” he said, “hard on the knees though.”

  “Watch out for Tessa, we're gonna start lowering her down.”

  “You sure you've got me?�
�� Tessa said. “This don't feel right.”

  “We've got you.” Marsh could see the lead wolf, its head cocked a little out of curiosity. He was only fifty feet away. “Let's go.”

  Marsh planted her feet with each one up against the base of a tree. She leaned back with the rope held in both hands. Lindsay stood in front of her doing the same thing, and she had the vantage point that allowed her to see both Wally and keep track of how far they were lowering Tessa. The two women worked the rope outward, hand-over-hand, Tessa grimaced with each bump against the side of the cliff and pushed out with her arms to avoid outcroppings and spruce roots.

  “How are those wolves?” Lindsay said, “they getting close?”

  “Just keep an eye on Tessa. I don't wanna look back myself.” Pretend they're not there, Marsh told herself.

  “A third of the way,” Lindsay said. “Doing good. Looks like Wally's made it.”

  The older man waved his hands overhead as he reached flat ground and stood in a patch of tall weeds. “I'm here!” He shouted. “I made it!”

  Lindsay and Marsh grunted and their hands shook as they kept working the rope forward.

  “Where are those wolves at?”

  “Stop worrying about it, let's just get her down.”

  “Hey!” Tessa screamed, a little more than a third of the way down. “Hey! The rope, something's wrong!”

  Wally waved his arms again. “You should stop!” He yelled, though his voice was hoarse enough it made him hard to hear at the top. “Something's come loose.”

  “Stop,” Lindsay said to Marsh.

  “What is it?”

  “What's wrong, Tessa?”

  “I'm falling out of this thing,” she said. “I'm comin' untied. Help me! I'm just hangin' here!”

  “Jesus,” Lindsay said. “Hold on, honey. Just hold on a minute!” Lindsay turned to look over her shoulder at Marsh and as soon as she went to speak to the deputy they both nearly fell backward as the rope loosened entirely from their grasp and they heard Tessa scream.

  “Oh my god!”

  Wally gasped as he witnessed the young woman plunge down the rock wall and she smacked into the bottom of the ravine head-first, a bone jutting out through her neck. She was gone in an instant. Lindsay and Marsh rushed to look over the edge and saw the grisly scene.