The Immovable Beast (A Flash Story)

The Immovable Beast

"Alright boys!" Hal shouted. "Time to cut that baby down! Trunk, limbs and all!"

Chuck smiled at his supervisor's words. Hal was an ex-military guy and relished the role of drill sergeant, even in civilian life.

"Yes, sir!" Bobby muttered with a mock salute while getting out from the passenger side of the pickup truck.

Chuck glanced over at Bobby and was glad Hal was too far away to hear them.

"What the heck are we doing here?" Bobby asked. He slurped down the last bit of coffee from a paper cup and tossed it into the truck bed.

"Same thing we always do," Chuck replied. "Cutting down trees and clearing away brush for a living."

"No, no," Bobby said shaking his head. "I mean, what the heck are we doing all the way out here? Working an overgrown neighborhood lot is one thing, but this is way out in the middle of rear-end nowhere."

Chuck closed up the back of the truck and began to put on his orange safety vest, chaps, white hard hat, and glasses. They had driven on a dirt road through the woods for at least twenty minutes before parking in a clearing about one hundred feet in diameter. The clearing had only two things of which to boast; a small rundown cabin ("shanty" would have been a generous term in Chuck's mind), and a gigantic, ancient, ugly tree standing a short distance from the cabin.

"Morning, gents. Shall we get started?"

Chuck and Bobby turned to find Juan, the third and final member of their work crew walking towards them, fully dressed in his cutting gear and ready to go.

"You ever been out here before, Juan?" Bobby asked.

"Never been to this particular spot, but heard about it," Juan responded. "I heard there was an old lady who used to live here. Folks said she was over a hundred years old. Real hard case. Everyone says she loved that big ol' hulking giant over there," Juan motioned towards the large tree, "said it was like the totem of the forest or something goofy like that."

"You mean that tree's famous?" Chuck asked.

"I guess so," Juan said. "Folks around here call that thing the Immovable Beast, and they called the old lady the Immovable Bi..."

"Alright, boys, time to get started!"

Hal inserted himself amongst the three men and nodded his head towards the gigantic old tree.

"C'mon, boys! Daylight's a wastin'. A developer bought this piece of land and wants that big tree and some of the surrounding ones removed. Let's get to it!"

Chuck, Bobby, Juan, and Hal walked up to the Immovable Beast and stared upwards for a moment. The tree looked like a bloated old man with a trunk about ten feet in diameter. The base was surrounded by a chaotic system of roots that sprung forth from the ground and into the trunk. The branches on the upper half of the tree reached outwards in every direction and were leafless.

"That's a big sucker," Juan commented.

"Nothing we can't handle, boys," Hal said.

Juan was the first to fire up his chainsaw and step towards the tree. He selected a spot and placed the chainsaw blade on the bark. At first nothing happened, then the blade began to slowly sink into the trunk.

"This one's tougher than usual!" Juan called out after a few seconds while also readjusting his grip on the chainsaw.

"C'mon sweetheart," Hal said. "Put some muscle into it!"

As Juan continued to work, a gust of wind swept through the air and a loud, creaking groan came from within the tree...

Without warning, the tip of Juan's chainsaw blade dislodged from the trunk and flew backwards into his face. The blade struck his hardhat then fell downwards onto his right arm.

Juan screamed as the blade cut through his coat and blood began to gush from beneath.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Juan screamed after dropping his chainsaw.

Hal was immediately at Juan's side and began wrapping the wound with his own jacket.

"You're gonna be alright, Juan. That blade got you good. Let's get you to the hospital and have that looked at."

Juan stopped screaming and began hyperventilating as Hal escorted him back to one of the pickup trucks.

"Chuck! Bobby!" Hal shouted while looking over his shoulder. "What are you staring at? Back to work!"

Chuck and Bobby watched as Hal and Juan drove away then stared at each other.

"Well, let's get to it, I guess," Chuck finally said. He picked up his own chainsaw and approached the tree.

"If you say so," Bobby muttered, grabbing his chainsaw as well.

The two men circled the tree, looking for a place to start.

"Check out this crazy root structure around the trunk," Bobby said. He knelt and reached into one of the small openings with his arm. "These crevices are almost big enough for a..."

There was a brief scream accompanied by a "whoosh" sound. Chuck watched in horror as Bobby was sucked into the root structure like a piece of lint into a vacuum cleaner.

"Bobby?! Bobby?!" Chuck shouted while firing up his chainsaw. "Hold on, I'm going to..."

The chainsaw was ripped from his hands. Chuck looked down and realized a bunch of decrepit roots had sprung forth from the ground and were wrapping themselves around him like a python around its prey. Chuck didn't even have time to scream as the roots sucked him downwards and he disappeared deep into the earth.

Two hours later, Hal pulled into the empty clearing in his pickup truck.

"Lazy sons of...where did you boys go?" Hal muttered as he walked up to the tree. "Never mind...I'll get another crew out here tomorrow and we'll get this sucker cut down properly."

As Hal began to walk away, a gust of wind swept through the air and a loud, creaking groan came from within the tree...

THE END