| Episode 016 | |
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Woodn’t you?
The early morning street was lined with construction workers.
Dressed in denim and flannel, they carried steel lunch boxes in
their hands, the light from the early morning spreading around them,
crossing over the street of the tiny town in the mountains.
The single-story stone buildings shone with the early-morning
brilliance, while the windows came to life with the golden harmony of the
rising sun in the east.
Walking
together, a pair of friends laughing as the town around them slowly woke. “<So get this Lucas.
My son’s got a school play, >” said the Frenchman on the
left, smiling as he spoke, motioning with his hand.
“<And he’s playing the part of the star. >” He looked
at Lucas, dumbfounded. “<How
do you play a star, huh? >”
“<I
know, Joseph, >” Lucas grinned.
“<When they’re that age, they do all sorts of weird stuff in
school. But wait until you
see him in his costume. Your heart will melt. >”
“<Yeah,
>” Joseph laughed. “<Until
I see how much my wife spent making it. >”
“<Well,
yeah, >” Lucas laughed as well in agreement.
“<It’s a good thing they’re so cute, cause you’d
strangle them otherwise. >”
“<Absolutely,
>” Joseph said as they started down the steep hill.
Coming to the edge of the town, they could see down the steep road
into the massive forest that spread out as far as the eye could see.
“<Hey, speaking of strangling, have you seen Esaias today?
>”
“<No,
>” Lucas admitted, scratching his thick beard as he walked,
negotiating the steep road. “<I
haven’t seen him since last night.
He was still working on that big tree towards the back of the
number 4 road. >”
“<Still?
>” Joseph exclaimed as they neared the gathering of construction
workers. At the middle of the
road, the makeshift construction site entrance was filled with the other
workers, taking their time making it through the stalls to get into the
site.
“<Maybe
he stayed late, >” Joseph proposed, muscling through the tight crowd
of burly men in warm clothing as they gathered their working materials,
picking up industrial chain saws and related logging equipment.
“<I know that he’s trying to get his wife a new car for
Christmas. Saving every way
he can, I guess. >”
“<She
sure does like those Japanese cars, >” Lucas agreed.
“<Yeah, >” he finally agreed uncomfortably.
“<Maybe that’s it. >”
The
two friends were the first to come out into the open space beyond the
entrance. Barren ground made up of dirt and dried mud stood between
them and the tree line. A few
stumps littered the cracked ground here and there, but nothing else marked
the featureless space.
As
they walked, Lucas glanced back at the entrance.
“<Seems like this walk is getting longer and longer everyday.
>”
“<No,
that’s not it, >” Lucas continued uncomfortably.
He turned to the tree line, unable to distinguish the narrow spaces
between them. He glanced
along the edge of the forest, counting the thin passages that led into the
trees. “<Aren’t there
eight roads? >”
“<They
probably logged away at one of them, >” Joseph insisted.
“<Stop acting all weird and stuff and get your mind on the
work, >” he said, holding up his chain saw demonstratively.
But as he turned back to the trees, he froze.
Behind him, Lucas slammed into him, just as stunned.
The two stood with huge eyes, their faces going pale in traumatic
fear. Amongst the closely lined trees, they could make out body parts. Clearly human and spaced evenly amongst the trees, the dangling limbs and human remains were matted with dried blood and the first signs of degradation. |
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