Chapter 1 #2
I usually preferred to be on the front lines of manual labor, running the machines or hooking chains around the newly felled logs to haul them away. I especially preferred the moments when I could pick up an axe or saw and hack away at the wooden trunk with the strength of my own hands.
Today was not that kind of day.
We were on a time crunch, so I jumped behind the controls of a harvester machine and got to work cutting down whatever trees were within safe reach.
Since we’d moved to a new area, there wasn’t much open space yet.
That would change as we cleared out more of the trees, but for now, we were still surrounded on all sides by a towering wall of greenery.
The shadow of the canopy cooled the area by at least an extra ten degrees, and never let the forest floor property dry out, so there was a constant smell of clean, damp earth and fresh pine.
The control cage of the harvester vibrated around me as the saws bit into the wood of the next tree, and with each passing moment, I felt the irritation draining out of me.
I shouldn’t have gotten so angry earlier.
The whole reason I’d chosen to work for this company was because of their dedication to sustainable logging.
A less ethical company would have simply ignored the presence of protected plant life and continued harvesting the area as planned.
I should be thankful that my bosses were willing to uproot and move their whole operation to protect the forest around us.
If only they didn’t try to make up for their losses by putting impossible demands on their workers.
There was a shift in the controls under my hands as the saws of the machine finished cutting through the tree trunk, and I pulled the harvester back.
Ropes, which had already been tied to the trunk, directed it to fall in a safe direction away from the works, but there was always an element of unpredictability once gravity took over.
With a resounding crash, the large tree trunk hit the ground, crushing smaller bushes that there hadn’t been time to clear away under its weight.
At that exact same moment, my phone started ringing. The ringtone was barely audible over the noise of the falling tree and other nearby machinery, but the moment those familiar musical notes reached my ears I instantly darted my hand down to the phone at my hip.
That ringtone was connected to only two numbers. Magnus and Creed. No matter what was going on, even when I was in the middle of work, I would always pick up their call.
“Creed,” I greeted once I’d looked at which number was calling. “I’m working right now so I can’t talk long. What’d you need?”
Creed’s familiar voice was undercut with static when he spoke, an unfortunate effect from the many miles that separated us.
“Any more news about the body?”
He didn’t need to specify which one.
“No. We’re certain that the body isn’t Jacob Thornley like we originally thought, but they still haven’t managed to identify who it belongs to.
Although, I don’t think authorities are trying very hard.
A cold case more than a hundred years old isn’t exactly a priority, especially when they aren’t even certain if a crime actually happened. ”
The static picked up, completely cutting off his voice for a moment, but I still caught the end of his statement.
“…no one buries a body under concrete for no reason.”
“Probably not,” I agreed. “But so far, we’ve got things handled. It’s fine.”
Magnus and I had mutually agreed not to tell Creed about his last trip out to the secret mausoleum.
If Creed knew that Magnus had been drugged and left wandering around the forest hallucinating for an unknown about of time, he’d probably do something drastic.
Going AWOL to sneak back stateside and check on Magnus for himself was not outside the realm of possibility for Creed.
The man was a walking bundle of extremes, always running either too hot or too cold.
He didn’t need that kind of distraction during his last few months of service.
In the background of the phone call, I could hear the faint sound of a pen scratching over paper. Creed tended to doodle when he was nervous. It was an oddly endearing habit for the otherwise intense man, and a clear sign that he was more stressed over the situation that he was willing to admit.
“Still, I hate that you guys are dealing with all this without me there. I’ve asked around about a way to get discharged early, but so far, no luck.”
His voice twisted tight with frustration until he was merely grumbling under his breath.
Creed wasn’t a man who was regularly told no.
He had a way of always getting what he wanted, one way or another, even if he had to strong-arm the solution into existence.
However, military bureaucracy was a different kind of monster.
No amount of threatening would make it bend to his will.
“What?” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “You think we can’t handle one dead body without you? Or are you jealous that you’re missing out on the fun? Military life’s gotten too boring for you?”
Although I couldn’t see Creed, I could easily picture his stony expression and the way he was probably crossing his arms right now.
“Shut up. I’d prefer a little boredom. They’re sending me out on another mission soon.”
“Oh?” I sat up straighter behind the controls of the harvester. “How long?”
“Don’t know. Don’t have all the details yet, but I’ll probably be out of contact for a while. I don’t want to say this’ll be my last mission, but…”
Creed was retiring in just a few months. If this upcoming mission was as big as he was implying, it would likely eat up the last of his service time. However, calling something your “last mission” out loud was just asking for trouble.
“Be careful,” I said, putting as much weight behind my words as I could. “Don’t do anything stupid. Just keep your head down, do your job, and get out. This is a three-man operation that Magnus and I are trying to set up by ourselves. We need you here.”
“Hey. You know me. When have I ever done anything stupid?”
“Do you want that list alphabetically or chronologically?”
“Ah, fuck off. You and Mag take care of yourselves, and I’ll talk to you later.”
After saying our goodbyes, the phone line went dead, and I stared at the black screen with a heavy heart.
Magnus, Creed, and I had met early in our military careers, and always had each other’s backs from that point on.
It certainly wasn’t the first time we’d been on different missions, but it was our longest stint of separation.
I felt unbalanced. A third of my life was missing, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
It was a miracle that Magnus and I managed to retire at the same time, but I couldn’t help being greedy and wishing that Creed could have come with us as well.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of sudden shouting. One of the other machines up ahead had come to a sudden stop, and at least a dozen people were running around in all directions.
Sighing, I turned off my own machine and jumped down from the controls to see what the problem was.
I grabbed one of the more experienced lumberjacks as he was running by and demanded to know what was happening.
This man had spent most of his life working as a logger.
He’d seen just about every emergency this job could dish out.
Yet, there was fear in his eyes now.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded again when he didn’t answer me the first time.
“We didn’t…” He pointed out past the line of freshly cut trees. “We didn’t know anyone was there.”
I started running, dragging the other man along with me.
He tripped over his feet as he tried to stay with me while also continuing to explain. “They must have been camping out here illegally. The whole area is restricted. No one’s allowed out here. We had no reason to double check.”
Charging through mud and vaulting over fallen logs, I quickly arrived on the scene.
Several people stood at the edge of a small cliff, about thirty feet high.
We were working on a slope, and just as I’d predicted earlier, some of the fallen trees rolled downhill once cut.
It shouldn’t have been a problem since all our workers were carefully stationed uphill, but one of the logs had slid far enough to tumble right over the edge of the cliff.
Down below, I could just see the colorful canvas of a smashed tent sticking out under the body of the fallen trunk.
“Fuck! What are you all just standing around for?”
Grabbing onto the lip of the cliff, I swung my body over the edge.
Several hands tried to grab me at once.
“What are you doing?” someone shouted.
“Climbing down there. What’s it look like?”
This deep into the forest, the ground was always a little wet, but it hadn’t rained recently, so I still managed to find some decent handholds on the sheer surface.
“We’ve sent someone to fetch climbing equipment,” another person called down after me.
“That’ll take too long,” I called back, keeping most of my focus on the placement of my hands and feet as I carefully climbed my way down. “This is faster. I’ll go take a look and see if anyone needs help. Make sure someone calls emergency services.”
I’d scaled plenty of tall cliffs before, and often without proper climbing gear, but that had been in my youth when I was at the peak of fitness. This climb was harder than it should have been, and as I felt the strain in my arms and legs, I vowed to double my usual workout time.
I was running before my feet even hit the ground. The fallen tree and the smashed tent were farther away than it had seemed from the top of the cliff, but the distance practically disappeared under my feet, and I was soon kneeling beside the wreckage.