Part 18 (1/2)

”Looks to me like we've got a good hike to reach where you've marked,” Steven said.

”Come on,” Roy said, ”let's load up.”

”Maybe people still come out here,” Roy said, holding a bit of plastic tape in his hand. The tape stretched into the forest beyond him and twisted out of sight.

”What's that?” Steven asked, looking at the tape Roy was holding.

”They'd use this to find their way out,” Roy said. ”The trees in this part of the forest are different. They spread out at the top to make a canopy. Everything starts to look the same. You can't just look up and see Mount Rainer or the sun and have some idea of which direction is east. If they got inside and changed their mind, they could follow this out.”

”Wouldn't they remove the tape as they came out?” Steven asked.

”Look,” Eliza said, ”there's another tape over there, heading in a different direction.”

”I don't know if they'd remove it or not,” Roy said. ”People are lazy. But I know I don't want to follow one of these to its end. I'm pretty sure they lead to something unpleasant. I'm surprised rangers haven't cleaned these up.”

They followed Roy as he followed the tape deeper into the forest. He had a heavy backpack and was carrying several large planks, as was Steven. ”Watch your step,” Roy said. ”The ground here can be full of holes. You don't want to get your foot caught in one.”

The trees around them began to all look the same, and except for the red plastic tape running ahead of them, the green and brown of the forest blended together.

”It's peaceful in here,” Eliza said. ”And beautiful. I guess if you were going to go out, this is as good a place as any.”

”More tapes,” Steven said, pointing through the trees away from them. ”Over there.”

”Christ,” Roy said. ”I thought this place was long forgotten. Looks like some people still use it.”

Under the canopy it was dimmer and a little cooler. They were higher in elevation than Seattle. Hiking through the woods kept them warm. Steven trudged behind Eliza, trying to keep up. She was behind Roy.

”How much further?” Eliza asked.

”I'd say we're halfway,” Roy answered. ”The place I've marked on the map was a clearing I remember from a visit here many years ago. We should be able to set up there.”

”If there aren't people camping there already,” Steven said. ”These tapes trailing off into the distance are unnerving, and they make me think there must be people around.”

”Oh no,” Eliza said, stopping. ”I think we've run into someone.”

”Where?” Steven whispered, walking over to her.

”There,” she said, pointing upward through the trees to the right. ”About a hundred feet. Do you see it? I think those are legs.”

In the distance a body was dangling from a rope. The unfortunate victim had climbed the tree some twenty feet off the ground before tying their noose to a branch and jumping. It was far enough away that they couldn't make out anything but its shape.

”Christ,” Steven said, observing the image, unsure if it was a body until he noticed it sway in the breeze. ”Can you see if it's a man or a woman?”

Roy set down the planks he was carrying and removed a small set of binoculars from his backpack. He glanced up into the trees. ”Can't tell,” he said. ”The body is too bloated.”

”Should we cut it down?” Eliza said, sounding somewhat reticent to do it.

”Not right now,” Roy said. ”We'll report it on our way out.”

”I've been in some creepy places over the years,” Eliza said, ”but this has to be one of the worst. Everything is so quiet and peaceful, then you run into that!”

”That's the effect we're hoping to recreate for the demon,” Steven said. ”Extreme reaction from peaceful to shocked.”

”So this forest is haunted with demons already?” Eliza asked, looking around.

”Yes, that was always the reputation,” Roy said. ”I remember talking about it with my father. He said the holes in the ground combined with the high levels of human misery and death were perfect for them. He told me to never come here.”

”And here we are,” Steven said.

A mist began to develop in the forest, causing trees in the distance to become fuzzy and disappear. Now they couldn't see quite as far as before. The effect heightened Steven's claustrophobia and he swallowed to keep his anxiety in check.

”I hope it doesn't rain,” Steven said. ”It'll make being out here even more miserable.” He stepped over a single tennis shoe, lying on its side, partially overgrown with moss. He wondered to whom it had belonged.

Steven decided to drop into the River and see if he could detect anything. The effect startled him instead of a flow around him, there was no movement in the River at all. Things had come to a stop.

”You might want to try jumping in,” Steven said to Roy and Eliza. ”Something's wrong here.”

Roy and Eliza both stopped walking, and Steven saw them enter the flow with him.

Boy, really wrong, Eliza thought. Nothing's moving.

It's like everything's dead here, Steven thought.

The trees aren't dead, Roy thought. The forest is completely alive. I think the River is just different here. It doesn't move the same way. Probably why animals don't care to hang out here.

And probably why people feel compelled to die here, Eliza thought. It's not normal. It feels so stagnant, like nothing has changed in years, and nothing will ever change. Just the kind of feeling that makes you depressed.

Come on, let's keep moving, Roy thought, slipping out of the flow and continuing his trek.

Steven and Eliza dropped out too, and began to follow him. After another ten minutes the tapes began to disappear. The monotony of the forest began to make Steven feel tired.

”Here it is,” Roy said, emerging into a small clearing around ninety feet in diameter. The sun was able to get through here, lighting up the middle of the area. Steven looked up and saw little beads of mist moving through the sunlight, reflecting and refracting the light as they moved. It looked like the sunlight was full of a fine, powdery dust.

”Things are flat enough here that we can set up a tent and our trap,” Roy said, walking to the center of the clearing.

”I can honestly say I hate this place,” Eliza said. ”And I love forests.”

”I know what you mean,” Steven said. ”This is nothing like when we dug up Samuel Stone.”

”Well,” Roy said, ”that was a normal forest. This one is abnormal. Demonic.”

”Hope we can get this done and get out of here soon,” Eliza said.

”Let's not waste any time,” Roy said. ”Steven, give me a hand. We'll arrange these planks and the mirrors.”

”You're going to need trees for the ropes,” Steven said. ”We'll have to set it up just inside the periphery.”

They scanned the edge of the clearing. ”How about over there?” Roy said, pointing back towards where they'd entered. ”It looks relatively flat.” He started carrying the planks toward the spot.