The morning came with a crisp reminder that winter was on its way. Everyone worried about winter. The four men got up, ate quickly, and decided to search the north side of the lake. Anders explained how they lost Sarah. They had been hunting for turkey on the south side of the lake and they were starting to see signs of the bird. Sarah had to pee and walked off while Anders and Troy waited. The two men were laughing and telling jokes when they realized it had been quite a while since she left. They yelled a few times and heard nothing. Anders had told her “Only go until you can’t be seen and no further. These forests are dense, and it is easy to become lost.”
“So, we went looking for her, of course” Anders explained as they hiked on the edge of the lake, “Troy stayed about twenty feet back and I led. We looked all over. Nothing! There was no trace of her. We searched through that first night and all the next day. But we had to go back to camp at night or we’d all end up lost out here.”
The three of them had been at the lake for almost a month and Sarah had been missing for the last eleven days. Anders and Troy had been searching mostly the south and west sides of the lake, the area where they lost her. On the north shore they decided to split into two groups, Anders and Marcus, Bodhi and Troy. Calling out to each other every few minutes ensured they were not getting too far apart.
Once away from Anders, Troy opened up. “I’m glad you guys showed up. Anders has been losing it. I didn’t know what I was going to do. He isn’t going to leave these woods until he finds her, even if that means we stay till winter.”
The forest floor was thick with overgrowth. Areas would open up for a few feet and tease them with easy progress then clog up again making the way nearly impossible. Troy continued, “I’m worried Bodhi about what we’ll find when, if, we find her. What will Anders do?” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “She’s probably dead by now, and Anders won’t be able to handle that. He says they were going to get married.”
The morning stretched on and finally gave way to afternoon. The land rose and fell as they covered the forest with their cries. “Sarah!” They stopped around noon for a few minutes to eat from their packs. Marcus pulled Bodhi aside and reported his observations of Anders. “I have never seen him like this, he’s really messed up. Sometimes doesn’t make a lot of sense when he talks.”
“Yeah, Troy says they were engaged,” Bodhi added as he shook his head in disapproval.
Hours went by with nothing but rustling leaves, snapping twigs, and birds making an occasional appearance, and the shout of, “Sarah!” The forest was not silent. It was peaceful and massive and full of bird songs. Marcus found it unsettling at times to have visibility of only twenty feet before the forest blocked all view. The view of the next twenty feet he had was exactly the same for almost a hundred miles. “Sarah!” Creeks and streams occasionally crossed and obstructed the path allowing them to filter some water and then move on. No time to stop, and little time to rest. “Sarah!” Afternoon rolled over into evening and Marcus started to think about the need to head back. They had searched in a giant arc, moving north in the first part of the day and then east in the afternoon. “Sarah!” This meant they could head south and get back to the lake by dark.
They repeated this for the next two days. On the third day a slight breeze picked up cooling the sweat on Marcus’ neck and back. “Sarah!” The breeze brought with it the smell of rain. If rain clouds are coming it would darken sooner than expected. Then Marcus smelled something else. It was the smell from the farmhouse. Rotten and slightly acidic and his heart dropped. Marcus hurried through the forest with Troy close behind.
It was Sarah. She was lying face down. A startled cry escaped from Troy, being surprised by what he saw. A large chunk of flesh was missing from the back of her neck exposing the spine, and her skin was white as snow. They turned her over to make sure. Yes, it was Sarah. She didn’t look human. Her body was swollen from the sun. Her eyes rimed with blood. The same deep red vomit they saw at the farmhouse slid from her mouth down and around her to the ground. Her blouse was torn open and her skin marred multiple places with deep scratches.
“Oh God…” Troy trailed off.
Marcus looked closely at the injuries but couldn’t determine what kind of animal had attacked her. He wondered if Bodhi would know. Then he heard the sounds of movement in the brush behind them. Anders was coming.
“Marcus!” It was Bodhi calling, warning.
Marcus quickly took off his jacket and dropped it covering Sarah’s head and chest. Troy was staring at the lifeless body of the woman, still shocked. Marcus pushed Troy towards the direction of Anders and commanded, “Stop him!” It was too late. Anders came out of the trees with determined stride. As he approached, Marcus grabbed him around the chest and pulled him backwards. “Anders, wait!” The man was powerfully strong and began pushing Marcus backwards. “Troy, help me!” Troy came to life and grabbed the arm of Anders, pulling him away. The group lost balance and toppled to the ground, arms and legs flailing.
“Get off me!” Anders yelled.
Marcus grabbed his face and held it, “Anders! Stop! You don’t want to see her like this.” Anders was still struggling. “Stop,” Marcus yelled again. Pushing and shoving. The pile rolled and Marcus felt a rock jab into his back. “Anders! You don’t want” —grunting— “to remember her like this!” Anders went limp. “Not like this, she’s gone.” Marcus repeated.
Anders closed his eyes and sobbed deeply for a minute and then fell silent. The scuffle had scattered the birds, and the forest now held an eerie quiet. Anders lay on the ground, breathing heavily with a blank vacant stare gazing to the heavens. The three men waited and watched their friend grasp the reality of his loss. They had all been through this before. Each time a different heart breaking. Death was common and loss its eternal companion. It never got easier to watch. The feeling of helplessness seeping through the soul until eventually acceptance came and time could move on.
The sun moved along the sky and stretched long the shadows of the trees. The men eventually gained their feet. Looking at the half covered lifeless body. They said nothing. Anders face was dirty and stained with tears that marked his cheeks like temporary tattoos of stolen loved ones. With sunken shoulders he began to walk away towards the lake.
“Anders…” Marcus called after him, not knowing why.
Anders looked back over his shoulder, with eyes towards the ground, “Shovels.” No one wanted to admit it, especially Anders, but they had known many nights before what they would eventually find in those woods. That’s why Anders had cried in the days prior. He knew he would not abandon her to the forest, but he knew. He had grieved every night since she disappeared and now the reality of that grieving was sealed.
That night in a quiet place among a young grove of trees inside a small clearing, the four men had a humble graveside service for Sarah. Through a dark and quiet forest, they made their way back to camp and sat silent. Rain came after dark. Lightly it tapped on the canvas shelter they had raised to keep themselves dry. None of them slept well that night. Each haunted by dreams of dying friends and missing loved ones. Tomorrow they would return to Washburn.
In the earliest morning light, the rain had stopped. Troy stood and walked into the woods to relieve himself. A few rays broke through heavy clouds and were slowly warming the forest. The dark stormy sky was giving up its grasp on the world to a clear soft blue sky from the east, but the dense canopy of the forest would deny them the full power of the sun for a few hours still.
Suddenly, sounds of a struggle broke the forest air and startled the men at camp. Troy yelled out. The sound of snapping branches echoed. Marcus, Anders, and Bodhi leapt to their feet and ran towards the sound. Rain droplets from the brush soaking their clothes as they ran. A loud hissing scream cut through the trees and met the men in stride. It was a sound unlike any animal they had known, and it pained their ears and almost brought them to a stop. Then another scream, this one belonged to Troy. The source was difficult to find in the deep blues and greys of the dense forest and a couple times they had to turn this way and that.
They ran as fast as they could battling branch and root and came upon a tangle of two men struggling violently on the ground. Troy was crouched with his attacker on his back. They spun as they fought, and Troy pulled violently at the long dark hair of the stranger. As the other men ran onto the scene, the attacker lifted his head. His eyes were deep silver and filled with a controlled malice that seemed to look right into Marcus’s soul. His hair was black and straight, more than shoulder length. He wore dark grey clothing that looked like the finest of leather. His skin was pale and his mouth bloody. Troy had a vicious bite mark on his shoulder near the back of his neck. The men swung their guns around toward the attacker, but he was only there a moment and then dashed into the woods.
Anders ran after the man with Marcus close behind. The thick woods came at them quickly as they ran, wet branches and leaves whipped at their faces. They scrambled into a dense thicket of willows and pushed through. They heard the splash of a small brook running under their feet. Seconds later, as they scrambled up a small rise after the man in grey, and they could feel the discomforting squish of waterlogged shoes. Their enemy was hard to follow and seemed to slip through the hazy forest with a grace they found astonishing.
They reached a meadow that opened up and they accelerated to full speed after the man who was already at the far side. They stopped only once to fire a shot, but the distance was too great, the light too poor, and they were breathing too hard for good aim. They kept running. On the other side of the meadow, exhaustion met them as did dense undergrowth reinforced by a wall of branches and bushes. They stopped, not knowing which direction to continue the pursuit. Marcus was unsure how far they ran or even the exact direction. Their attacker had disappeared, and Marcus grabbed Anders by the arm to keep him from diving into the wooden labyrinth. The dark-haired enemy had outrun them, and was gone, swallowed by the forest.
“We got to keep going!” Anders demanded.
“He’s too fast! He was into the trees before we even crossed the clearing. If we keep going, we’re going to get totally lost.”
“He killed Sarah!” Anders yelled.
“He’s gone!” Marcus shouted in finality.