Living Forest

by Lyle, Travis

  Slowly we flow down, the force dissipates and then we fall into the lake. I grab Amanda and pull us out of her window, swimming for shore. Thankful to be alive, I look up and see a cave hidden on a hillside behind some trees. Looking back at Amanda, she’s already gotten up and is walking around. I yell out,

  “Over here, I found a cave.”

  Amanda walks quickly to the opening, not even waiting for me. Walking down inside, it quickly gets pitch-black. Loosing hope, she sighs and says,

  “There’s no way we’ll be able to see down here. We should swim to the Jeep and see if there’s a flashlight to use there.”

  Agreeing with her, I shake my head back and forth saying,

  “I think that’s a good idea. We’re lucky to even be alive, even luckier the Jeep didn’t completely sink underwater.”

  There are three road flares and a green BIC lighter, nothing else of use. We walk back in hope that the three flares would be enough for us to see our way through. Walking down a small cavern opening, I see a manmade carved tunnel to my right. It’s perfectly flat on bottom with an upside down U shape top. There’s just enough room for us to crawl through. Reaching the end, it opens into a giant cavern.

  Hundreds of bats flock in front of our faces scaring the crap out of us. Keeping to the manmade tunnels this one continues to move straight. It’s a much larger hole than the rest of the tunnels. This tunnel begins leading us North, North-East. A collapsed wall blocks the path ahead. A large rock holds up the hole from completely collapsing. Moving the debris around, we create a hole big enough for us to squeeze through. If it wasn’t for the flares, we would’ve fell through a crevice leading to a lower level. The tunnel continues around the corner and so do I.

  Nearly falling down a seemingly never ending hole as soon as I turn the corner,

  “Shit! There should be a sign here. That was almost the end of me.”

  Turning around, we walk back to the small opening in the floor leading down to what looks like a small room from the top of the hole.

  Even though our last flare is almost gone, at least we didn’t fall down that giant hole. Amanda throws the flare down the crevice. Sizzling sounds ignite and crackle while a white bright light sparkles along the cavern walls as the flare falls past natural magnesium. The flare lands on a pile of human remains, still illuminating the crevice. She begins to climb down, then drops to the level below. Not knowing if she’s alright I yell down to her,

  “Are you okay? You should’ve let me go first.”

  No answer came from her. Climbing down, I ran out of walls to hold onto. Letting go of my grip, I fall and land on top of the pile of bones beside my dying flare. As the flare burns its last bit of light, I notice Amanda unconscious five feet away. With the breath knocked out of me, all I can do is lay here and hope my eyes adjust to this darkened environment. Inching my way to Amanda, I try everything to wake her, but I fear she’s dead or in a coma.

  Picking Amanda up over one shoulder, I carry her down the tunnel flicking the lighter with my free hand. The flicker of the flint and steel illuminates a few feet ahead for a few seconds, but it’s still barely enough for me to navigate through this tunnel. With each flicker of light I begin to notice the tunnel looks like a giant wormhole bored deep in the Earth. After a while of walking a glimmer of gold catches my eye. Suddenly I stop, frozen in my tracks. I can feel Amanda’s stomach move. Sounds of coughing come from Amanda just before she says,

  “What’s going on? Put me down!”

  Still frozen at what I saw, Amanda pushes away from me and onto the ground. Her legs are covered in blood. Looking where I’d held her, I’m covered in blood too. Instantly my stomach becomes queasy to the point of vomiting. Quickly I pull off my shirt so it can be used to stop her bleeding.

  “Take this to stop the bleeding. I’ll flick this lighter to give you some light, but you have to hurry as it’s only a flash.”

  A depressed tone comes from Amanda,

  “I can’t go any further. Hollister, I just can’t do this any more. I’m not cut either.”

  Still frozen, my knees manage to unbuckle. Flicking the lighter while stumbling forward, Amanda sees what looks to be a solid gold statue that lay upon a rock platform. Excitement embellishes from Amanda,

  “YES! I told you it was real.”

  Bringing Amanda back to the truth sadly saying,

  “Yes, we found it. It exists, but who all is left to tell and how long before we’re dead too?”

  Looking like a master chess player closing in on his King Amanda speaks,

  “We may be able to stop this. Let’s look around more. They would’ve left a way to end this hell.”

  Just past the statue it opens up into a cavern. Taking the lighter from my left hand, she moves quickly to the bright yellowish-orange entrance belonging to the temple made from gold. I think to myself,

  “What the hell does she think she’s doing?”

  Amanda finds an ancient torch which she some how manages to get lit with the lighter. The torch illuminates where she stands, but nowhere else. Walking and gazing at the ancient text with distraught, other torches are uncovered and lit giving a bright glow to the entrance. She begins to talk closely under her breath.

  “Oh my god, the Aztecs didn't build this temple. Who did?”

  My eyes widen at the sight of one monument resembling a Buffalo. Amanda quickly interrupts my moment of gaze,

  “This is pointless. I was so prepared for the Aztec language because of history. All my years spent studying is a complete waste of my life.”

  I speak serendipitously,

  “Not necessarily Amanda. I can read this. My father taught me how to read the language of my people and this is it. Apparently we didn’t just build mounds. My ancestors also built the Temple of Gold. This is how it would translate,

  This is a warning to all those entering holy ground.

  Those who don’t know the way to fly may enter yet die.

  Those yearning to take, will find it at the cost of an early wake.

  You may enter and stay fair, but only if your heart is clear like air.

  A final warning,

  If your world is torn to hell, go to the alter and pray you can birth life well.”

  A little stunned I say,

  “Wait a second here. Did that just say what I think it said?”

  Hunger pains shutter through my body, reminding me of not having eaten for a while. My stomach growling is sounding like a lion in the cave. Moans of pain echoes from me as I fall to the ground and sit down. Amanda walks in front of me and sits. Convincingly she speaks,

  “I know you’ll get blood everywhere, but it’s the only way to end the curse before he finds us and kills us.”

  Weakened at my stomach, I reluctantly respond.

  “I know there’s no other way. Didn’t it say something about we had to do this at the alter?”

  Amanda quickly replies,

  “Yes, but we must hurry. He will be...”

  The vicious sound of a snarling roar rips through the cavern walls as if near explosion, silencing Amanda’s tongue.

  “RRRRROOOOAAAARRRR!”

  My chest is hit with a burst of adrenaline making me feel like my heart is going to explode. Even with the way that I feel at this moment, I dare not move as I know that beast will rip me to shreds. Amanda is still in front of me frozen like a statue, though I can’t say much for myself as I’m frozen as well.

  Chapter Fourteen

  In this chapter, being very critical, we find out if Sleeping Star kills Hollister and Amanda. In the cold dreary cave they remain frozen in anticipation as if time’s stopped. Hollister and Amanda’s faces are plagued with fright, while Sleeping Star resembles more that of a manic maniac. We will continue as Hollister Wolf to see if death takes him on a ride, or if he evades that fate once more.

  Lightning arching from Sleeping Star, this intense feeling overwhelms me. Standing up, I dive over Amanda towards him. Sleeping Star st
eps out of the way. Striking me with lightning from behind, he forces me towards the head of the golden statue. Repetitively shocking me, Amanda, knowing it’s too late for me, escapes into the temple and seals herself inside. Two thick gold doors seperated her from certain death.

  With my life being zapped out of me, my vision... the pain... it all begins to fade away into the gold head. It’s all I can see because it’s the only thing I’m looking at before death. My life... I feel it fading away. I speak in my mind,

  “Hi mom, hi dad. I’ll see you soon.”

  At least I think I thought it...

  Hollister clutches his chest as his heart begins to shut down from electrocution. Hollister is dead. As his body falls lifeless to the ground, a bright thin strand of light can be seen left behind. The light resembles that of a long glowing hair lightly hovering in the air as if there’s a draft in a place where there is none. The strand of light softly and elegantly flows into the golden head. Lightning begins to be unwillingly drained away from Sleeping Star, and forced into the golden suit of armor.

  A blinding light emanates from the sword. A deep longing tone, it sounds like a Viking horn, echoes loudly through the tunnels under the Earth. It can be heard hundreds of miles away. Sleeping Star races out of the tunnel and transforms into the Giant Jaguar. He flees from the cave for his freedom. The quaking of the ground causes things to collapse, even a fault line shifts placing a large gap between many lands. The trench allows parts of Oklahoma to have ocean front property, changing the face of the Earth forever.

  I awake, but I’m not me. Different thoughts and different memories, other than my own. It feels like I’m sharing this suit with many other souls before me. Looking around, I can see like its day time in here. Not able to stand, I turn around and crawl out of the tunnel. Now upon what looked like a never ending hole before, looks like it’s made just for me. Climbing out, I stand on top the ground in amazement over my new self.

  My sight is more keen and clear than it’s ever been. When my soul bound to this suit I took an oath of protection and justice. My sword glows brightly once more. The sound of metal clanking and shifting roars from me as I raise the sword high in the air and force it into the ground. A loud tugboat like horn sounds out. A prismatic light rapidly races past the sounding of the horn. From coast to coast surrounding North America, the prismatic light shields this continent from any more oncoming naval artillery attacks.

  Their strongest missile can no longer harm us, giving us a safe haven for all eternity. Well... one threat does still remain, Sleeping Star needs to be brought to justice. Looking miles through the vast open land, I can’t see him anywhere. He may not have made it through the cave in time. The gold metal plating covering this ancient Goliath can desperately use some lubrication. It will take time, but I must travel to the oil fields that I own to bathe in crude oil so I can move without binding restrictions.

  Moving great distances with long strides, I feel the gravity of Earth forcing down on me. In the near distance, a safe haven can be seen. Walking forth, many stand in terror and shock. They’ve never seen anything like me before. Guns fire off. Holding my left hand up towards the survivors, the sounding of a loud horn concussioning the ground drops them to their knees. Walking past that safe haven, they stand in amazement on why they’re left alive.

  Continuing through the vast open hills, I see a few cities in chaos. People are rampaging throughout the streets like madmen. Destroying buildings and killing innocent women and children, this city is falling into total destruction. So badly do I want to walk away from this, but the souls trapped inside Goliath will not let me. Forced to walk in the middle of their disaster, in no time many begin attacking me.

  Covered in flames, they try to melt me down. A burst of power shoots out from me extinguishing the fire and knocking anyone near me to the ground. The horn sounds once more, dropping all that remain to their knees. Fear struck, they plead for mercy,

  “Don’t kill me, please don’t kill us.”

  Much weeping and terrifying screams continue to clutter silence. Multiple voices echo from me,

  “We are Goliath, the protectors of this realm. Heed our words mortals, stop killing and build your colony. The survival of your race depends on it. When we return, if there is not peace... All will die.”

  I move away from the city back to my original destination. After I put a few miles behind me, I stop and look back. The destruction seems to have subsided, though I’ll know more when I return. The land quickly changes to being flat and dusty. Running for almost an hour, in the distance I begin to see one of my oil refineries. A sigh of relief overwhelms me and even though the journey wasn’t all that long, this metal desperately needs an oil bath.

  Slicing the top off of a large storage tank with the diamond like sword, I climb inside and sit down. The gold plating squeaks and squalls even after I sit in the soothing soak. After a few minutes rest, I become curious on how long it’s been since this Goliath has seen any oil. A really angry female voice replies,

  “Never!”

  Stern male voice buts in,

  “Yes it has, I used Greek oil right before we were deactivated.”

  A kind male voice interrupts,

  “This arguing gets us nowhere. We need to focus on where our enemy is. We have to bring Sleeping Star to justice.”

  All voices besides my own speaks at once,

  “Agreed! Hollister, it’s time for us to end this threat once and for all.”

  Standing up like a track superstar, I start running back to where I came from. With each impacting stride, an oily footprint is left in the soft sandy dirt. Tracks follow behind me until the land shifts from soft sand to rock infested hilly terrain. Many miles pass me by before cities start appearing in the horizon.

  The city that was in massive chaos before seems completely deserted now. No deceased bodies pollute the streets any longer as they once had. Maybe the spirits harsh words provided the initiative needed to move forward, and now I can move forward.

  “BOOM!”

  A massive explosion quakes the upper atmosphere on top of the protective barrier. My free hand raises above my head as a natural protection mechanism. The sky turns red from fire for miles, coloring all I see in a fiery red glow. Someone tried to bomb us, but because of the prismatic barrier the attempt is a failure. I keep running towards where I last witnessed Sleeping Star.

  Running past the first haven I encountered, the survivors scamper out of sight. Within a few minutes I’ll be back at the golden temple top. In the distance, that direction, thick fumigating fog rolls on the ground like clouds pulling in for an April shower. Purplish-grey figures swiftly move through the congestion. The ground clouds part into two giant walls as if Moses is parting the red sea, but I still can’t see who it is that’s harnessing this otherworldly power.

  I’m preparing myself for Sleeping Star to surprise attack me. From between the two walls marched a big, beautiful, and proud woman riding on top of a horse which looks like a ghost. She holds a long wooden staff with a gold chalice attached to the top of it in her left hand. A royal blue and gold cloak with the hood up barely exposing a crown drapes over her body like a curtain covering a window from strangers. A familiar feminine voice yells,

  “Bring me the head of that monster. KILL!”

  Hundreds of thousand voices echo with shrieks and screams of rage from the clouds. The clouds flow across the ground stampeding towards me. The closer the clouds approach me, the louder the shrieks invoking terror become. Seconds before I’m engulfed in these clouds, my sword glows brightly. A sound resonates from it echoing back at the screaming in fluctuation of alto and soprano tones.

  “Wawawawa... Wawawawa... Wawawawa.”

  Stored electricity flows off of my golden suit, circling around me. Encapsulating me in an electrified ball. Holding my hand up, I go to sound off the horn.

  “............”

  Nothing came from me. Upset, internally I speak to the spir
its,

  “Ha ha, very funny, I can use some help now.”

  An angered female voice replies,

  “From where we stand it doesn’t look like you need any help. Don’t worry young one, the spirits can’t break through the electricity.”

  Confusingly I reply,

  “Spirits... I don’t see anything. Only clouds.”

  After saying that, the clouds just sizzle around me as I flinch and prepare for the impact. Ecstatic laughing proceeds from the other spirits inside of Goliath. A male voice mockingly says,

  “Are you scared of everything Hollister Wolf? You know you’re already dead right?”

  Quickly blurting, only to silence their joy,

  “I’m not dead. I can see, talk, and run. That tells me I’m alive.”

  A calming feminine voice I haven’t heard before speaks softly to me, nearly whispering though I can still hear her just fine.

  “Hollister, its okay to be scared, we all were at first. You don’t feel pain. Your heart no longer beats because there’s no heart in Goliath. Even though you can talk, it’s not your voice because you have no lungs to breathe and no vocal cords to speak with. My name is Joan, and I’ll guide you to greatness as I too have been bound to be a guardian in this suit. We’ve waited since the dark ages to be reborn.”

  The shrieking clouds stop. They part once more revealing the woman once again. I swear I’ve seen her before. It almost looks like... No, it can’t possibly be. The angered woman riding the ghostly horse responds in rejection,

  “I don’t know who or what you are, but nothing is going to stand in my way on getting revenge on that worthless immortal that killed my father and the man I truly love. I’m the new Queen of Souls, the Queen of North America. All those who’ve committed crimes will be punished.”

  If I had a heart it would’ve just stopped. If I had a body, chills would flow up and down my spine. A face I dreaded to see again stops and looks intently at me spirit to statue. A thought overwhelms me,