WnW 2.13

Beth was pinned to the porch beams and railing like a butterfly on a board. Her pale face gaped at me, like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. 

Julie lay on the floor, looking up at her mother. Blood dripped down Beth’s chin and landed on her. Julie didn’t react, just stared curiously at the branches that connected me to Beth. Eventually Julie looked at me, the planets reflected in her eyes.

Pain pulsed through my body in an unsteady rhythm, matching my struggling heart. My legs were weak but I was held up by the bones coming out of my arm. The sound of people shouting and screaming was deafening. I could feel the animalistic rage in those utterances, like a cornered animal.

Turning, I saw that the mob had turned on each other. A large woman without a leg was sitting on top of another, pounding his face into pulp, screaming obscenities at him. A pair of men wrestled for control of a pistol. Something thrashed like an eel underneath the clothes of another. A woman was trying to pry someone off of her who had bitten her in the shoulder and refused to let go, his teeth were unnaturally sharp and looked like they had sunk deep into her flesh.

The only one who stood still was Aaron. He looked to the heavens, the red light making him look like his face was covered in blood.

“It’s begun,” he said. I could barely hear him over the crowd. “The Tree has awoken.” 

His head dropped and he seemed to view what was in front of him for the first time. “You killed my wife,” he said, a vein pulsing in his forehead. A gunshot went off behind him and he didn’t so much as blink.

Revulsion sunk into my gut. I tugged on my arm affixed to the bone, wanting desperately to get away from the horrible sight. “She tried to kill me,” I said quietly.

Aaron took a step towards me, hands balled into fists.

I wrenched my arm, trying to pull free of the bone.

“You’ve ruined this family,” Aaron said, taking another step.

“No,” I said, heat rising to my face. “You did.”

Another pulse of alien rage hit us, stopping Aaron in his tracks, the muscles in his arms bulging.

“Aaaaaron!” a voice roared. Several heads turned, eyes glinting madly as they found a new target for their ire. “He abandoned us!” “Kill him!” they shouted as they charged.

Aaron turned around to meet his assailants. A woman reached him first, screeching with a knife raised above her head. He stepped to the side with practised ease and punched her in the side of the head, making her drop like a stone. Another figure charged and was beaten down. Bill approached with a hammer, swinging wildly. Aaron stepped in and tripped him before another person tackled him from the side. More angry farmers grabbed at him, drawing Aaron into a throng of violence. I couldn’t make out what was happening within, only moving shapes and the occasional glints of weapons in the mob.

Another pulse and my head snapped up to look at the sky. The two planetary shapes looked like hearts, imperfectly round and the pulse seemed to make their positions shift slightly.

“Thief!”

I looked down to see Bill picking himself back up. He had murder in his eyes and I couldn’t say I didn’t feel a little of the same.

“Can’t you all just leave me alone?!” I shouted, twisting as I pulled. The bones cracked and broke apart into pieces that rattled on the porch. I was left with a nasty assortment of sharp broken ends poking out of my arm.

Bill climbed the steps, swinging his hammer. I swung too, slamming my arm into Bill’s head. The sharp bits broke against his face, which twisted into a sadistic grin as his hammer crashed into my side. Pain flared and my vision flickered for a moment as I fell backwards, bumping the front door open and landing on my back inside the entrance.

My heart pumped fitfully. I feared it wouldn’t last much longer.

“Nick?” a voice from upstairs asked, pitched high in fear.

That brought me back to my senses. “Stay in your room and block the door!” I shouted up the stairs, before struggling to my feet. I retreated into the living room, looking for a weapon.

Bill appeared at the doorway, a piece of antler embedded in his scalp. Even as the red lighting from outside left his face, the anger remained. “You shouldn’t be here, stranger,” he said. He stalked towards me, knocking pictures off the wall with his hammer. “Now you’re gonna pay the price for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

I grabbed the fire poker from the fireplace and swung it through the air, trying to keep him away. He ignored it, taking the hit and grinning with the pain. “Pussy,” he spat as he tackled me into the wall. I leaned out of the way as the claw of the hammer came down, piercing into the wall by my head, cracking the paint.

I struggled against his body weight. “Get off!”

He breathed heavily, satisfaction in his voice, “I waited so long. Slaving away at my work without an ounce of thanks. I earned this. So I’m going to take my time and enjoy it.”

Rage pushed through my thoughts like a breaching ship until it burned at the front of my mind. Antlers broke free from my chest, punching holes in my shirt. Bill was driven off of me, forked bones striking into his flesh.

He roared in pain and pulled away from them. I took the fire poker and started to break off the branches.

“Long haired bitch,” he spat, holding his free hand over a wound.

The branches were thinner and could be broken easily, the ivory pieces falling to the floor between us. Bill crunched on one as he stepped over them. I ducked under another swing, dropping the poker and running back to the stairs. “Stop running!” Bill shouted after me. Fingers stretched towards the stairs, I urged myself to grow antlers.

“C’mon. C’mon!”

Nothing happened. Bill struck my outstretched arm and I heard something crack.

I’m so done with this.

I staggered backwards into the kitchen, hands scrambling blindly for something to use as Bill blocked out the doorway with his large frame. My fingers curled around the back of a chair. I lifted it, pointing the legs of the chair forward before running into Bill. The legs caught Bill around the chest and he lost his footing and fell onto the stairs. “Fucking sissy!” he screamed. “Fight me like a real man!”

I pointed my finger at him. “Fuck that,” I panted. Another pulse of anger hit and the antlers burst forth from my wrist, crackling like wildfire. I directed the surge, pushing it out with my wrath. Bill was buried in a tangle of branches.

My vision flickered again and I wrenched my arm free of the new structure. Bill was motionless, now a part of the barricade on the stairs. Hopefully that would deter any invaders. 

I left through a window and as I placed my foot on the sill, I noticed a silhouette in the distance at the far edge of the field, lit by the blazing horizon. Flower girl was watching us. The grove was yet untouched by the flames. She hasn’t been saying much, or I can’t feel her over whatever this is.

I made for the wheat field, breathing heavily. Every step took its toll on me.

A pair of shadows rolled across my path, kicking up dirt as they fought viciously, pulling hair and gouging eyes. I stepped quietly past them and into the rows of grain. Unsteady on my feet, I tried my best to stay on course, but it was difficult, at times I couldn’t see further than the wheat stalks right in front of me. 

It felt like there was a wounded bird in my chest, flitting around in its cage, sporadically attempting to fly with a broken wing. Then the bird went still.

I gasped, sinking to my knees, the world growing dark. No. No. No.

Just a little further, I told myself. Please.

I continued to suck in mouthfuls of air, trying to clear my vision. My fingers felt numbingly cold. An eerie green light sweeped over my hands, the shadows bending. 

“Hold on, I heard something. There’s someone there.”

My heart stuttered back into action, warmth flooding down my limbs. I rose, then took a few steps forward before stumbling off to one side. I emerged onto the path and three people turned to look at me.

“Told you,” one said. He was thin, wearing a straw hat that was pulled low, hiding his face. Ghostly green light, like a traffic light, glimmered beneath.

“I don’t recognize him,” an older teen boy sneered. He rested a baseball bat against his shoulder.

The third man said nothing, although he towered a foot taller than the others. He looked like a stereotypical lumberjack, powerful biceps barely concealed by a red flannel shirt. One of his arms ended in a stump at the elbow. He glowered at me.

“A stranger? Heading for the Tree?” The teen chuckled. “Wanting to meet God? We can help you with that.”

I shook out my arms and breathed in, bracing myself for what I knew was coming.

The man in the straw hat raised a hand, showing the stumps of three of his fingers.

“We don’t really care about the whole meeting God thing. Aaron promised us blood. Pay up.”

I said nothing, waiting. Then the pulse came, sweeping over the field. The teenager rushed me, bat raised high, a manic grin plastered on his face. He swung downwards and I stepped to the side, anticipating the arc of the bat. The teen was thrown off balance for a moment. I didn’t hesitate. Violence was the only answer. I moved to hit him then reeled back as green light flooded my vision, blinding me.

A hard object glanced off my head. I spun away from the light source, trying to protect my head while recovering my vision. White stars danced across my sight. The bat crashed into my stomach, knocking the air out of me. I coughed and fell into a roll. There was a whoosh of air as the bat swiped past me. I sprung to my feet and blinked furiously, trying to get the bright spots in my eyes to go away. The night seemed darker now, but I could still see due to the distant blaze. My assailant wasn’t in front of me. I spun and a blow deflected painfully off my arm. Straw Hat was still standing further back. His eye’s light was dim and flickered like a burnt light bulb. The next bat swing was easy to track. I jumped forward and seized the man’s wrist before he swung, then drove my elbow into his face. A resounding crack sounded and the man toppled, clutching his face.

“Jonah!” Straw Hat shouted.

The Lumberjack stepped towards me. He looked more like a bodybuilder than a farmer. I was dwarfed in size, the man was a giant. My vision flickered and my body was overcome with numbness. Not now. The man seized me by my shirt and lifted me up. His hand was huge, he could’ve enveloped my head with just one hand. My feet left the ground. I tried kicking him, but he didn’t react. My heartbeat was getting softer. I couldn’t see properly. I had no strength left. Concern shot through my foggy mind. You do something about this.

My heart thrummed and clarity flooded back to me. I looked over, spotting Straw Hat standing a few meters away. I raised my hand, pointing my palm towards him. I suddenly realized I could reach him. Like this? Antlers shot from my arm, cracking and bending, growing fast. They shot forward, forking like lightning. Two points stabbed into Straw Hat’s face. He cried out.

The Lumberjack’s face grew concerned and his grip on me loosened. I set my feet on his chest and pushed. Several of the antler points had struck into the ground, giving me more leverage to pull on. I broke free and my full weight broke the antlers. The Lumberjack didn’t pursue me and instead moved to Straw Hat’s side.

“Fucker!” Straw Hat snapped. “He got my eye…” he trailed off.

I sensed danger and shut my eyes. Green light flashed across my eyelids. Even with my eyes closed it was staggeringly bright.

“But it wasn’t my good eye. Get him Jonah.”

I felt the ground shake as the Lumberjack ran towards me. I ducked low and felt the wind of his arm passing over my head. Searching for the green light with squinted eyes, I found it and sprinted towards the source.

 I heard Straw Hat curse and the light went out. I was momentarily blinded again, as I tried to readjust to the darkness. Something cold slid into my side. My anger flared in tandem with another mind-bending pulse that washed over us. I yelled and felt my body shudder as new growth exploded out. My heart went still, my vision going fuzzy.

After several long seconds, where I wondered if it would return, the heartbeat came back to me. My sight cleared.

A straw hat fluttered down to the base of the structure I had created. Several arcs of bone had shot downwards into the ground. A thick antler extended skyward at an angle, splitting into many different points. The man with the glowing eye was strung up, impaled by several points across his body by branches of the antlers. He didn’t make a sound. I looked down. A knife protruded from my side.

The Lumberjack made a distressed sound. I turned to eye him. He looked confused, staring up at his friend.

I broke my arm free of the “tree” I had made and felt the numbness spread across one side of my body. The knife had fallen free and blood spread across my shirt. 

“I’m going to that forest,” I growled. “Just try and stop me.” The Lumberjack’s hand balled into a fist.

I needed another obstacle. Something to keep my heart pumping. Without that push, the engine would sputter and die out.

Another pulse hit us and I moved forward, daring him to strike out. The Lumberjack let me pass. Only the grove remained in front of me.

I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The shadows of the trees seemed to reach out across the field to embrace me. It was heavy. As if the shadows were pressing down on me, I sank, my legs unable to bear the weight of fatigue. My heartbeat grew ever slower.

Beat…

Beat…

Beat…