Chapter 21 #4
They both break through the trees without speaking.
It’s strange, entering the forest realm with dozens of people not far away from them.
The sound is muffled, as if it has been sucked into a vacuum, or perhaps it’s them who have been sucked into oblivion.
It’s darker than a cast-iron skillet and just as hot too.
The trees hold all the heat inside, baking everything like a slow cooker.
Any fresh air offered by the open space they left behind is gone, and now it’s like a wall of sticky heat is keeping them from whatever moans in the distance.
Even inside, with the sound pushed out, the moans are soft enough to make them believe they may be rushing into the abyss after nothing, that their wishful thinking has led them astray.
Wren pushes ahead, focused on the mission.
She looks like she knows exactly where she is going, and Leroux allows her to take the lead.
Every now and then she pauses, stops in her tracks, and listens for something that he can only sometimes hear.
One thing he has learned is that he will follow Wren into the dark, but tonight he does so with gun drawn.
As they cross into a small clearing, it’s like the entire world goes still.
The insects get quiet, and all movement stops.
They both stand together, the expansive night sky above them, a clear blanket of stars—too clear for this night.
Then there’s a sound coming from their left, and this time it’s obviously a human moan.
They take off running, side by side, holding branches aside for each other and lighting the way with their phones and flashlights.
Suddenly the light touches something moving up ahead, and they both stop, panting and trying desperately to see the form more clearly.
“Police!” Leroux yells, beginning to walk toward the thing in the trees. It’s upright with its arms extended above its head. As they get closer, they see the rope holding the figure in that position. It’s a young woman wearing only the tattered remains of a shirt, filthy and wet.
“Help me,” she whispers, struggling with her own body weight and trying to keep herself from leaning too hard into her bindings.
Her feet barely touch the ground below her body, just enough to tease her into thinking she might find relief, but there was never enough slack in the rope to allow her to escape the pain.
The dirt beneath her has been kicked away by the very ends of her toes.
The flashlight beams cast over angry red skin encircling her wrists, where the rope has done its damage.
Blood has trailed down her arms and dried in a pattern resembling a macabre pair of evening gloves.
Dried blood and dirt cover almost every inch of her.
She shivers. Although her hair is wet and matted to her neck, Leroux can make out the dark blunt bob haircut and an ear with too many earrings in it to count. The jewelry glistens in the beam of the flashlight.
“Beth Landry? Are you Beth Landry?” Wren asks, leaning in close to her and brushing a piece of matted hair out of her eyes.
Beth nods almost imperceptibly, too weak to do much else. “Please,” she breathes out. There’s a raspy husk where her voice should be. The desperate plea is followed by a low moan, the same moan they were hearing in the wind.
Wren unscrews a water bottle hanging from her shoulder and carefully wets Beth’s lips.
She begins to check Beth’s body for injuries while Leroux examines her bindings.
The lengthy piece of rope has been slung over a large, high branch and then wrapped around the base of the tree and tied.
He finds the place where it meets the trunk.
“I’m cutting her down!” Leroux says loudly. holstering his gun. He begins to saw through the rope with his pocketknife, holding his flashlight between his teeth.
Wren throws down her water bottle and sticks the flashlight into a pile of leaves near the tree trunk. She wraps her arms around Beth’s midsection.
The rope is thick, and it takes Leroux several minutes of sawing before he finally snaps off the last piece. As he does, he grabs the end still connected to Beth and helps to ease her down into Wren’s arms.
Beth’s body limply falls, sending Wren stumbling back into the tree. She stays upright, holding Beth’s head to her shoulder as the girl begins to sob.
“We’re here to take you home, Beth,” Wren says gently, sliding herself down the tree trunk to come to a seat with Beth laid out across her.
Beth sputters out, “Thank you.” It’s clear she’s missing a couple of teeth, and blood has dried over her cracked lips, making it difficult for her to speak.
Leroux calls Will, telling him to get a crew to their location in the woods immediately. When he ends the call, he sees that Maya had sent a text just moments earlier:
That last bible quote is from the book of Jude. I just looked it up and there is a clearing northeast of the original haunt location called Jude’s Hollow. It’s a long shot but maybe he got clever?
Here’s the coordinates
As the rescue crews come crashing through the trees and the helicopter surges above them, shining its impossibly bright spotlight down, Leroux can’t help but relax his shoulders for the first time in months.