A Small Town

Chapter Twenty-Four\ Axe

Bax plunged into the forest, his boots entering and then obliterating Lisa's small footprints. He moved purposefully, forcing himself not to run, the last thing he needed was a fall. An image flashed in Bax's mind, he was lying in the snow, his leg twisted beneath him, obviously broken. Snow was covering him and soon he would be invisible... literally dead and buried. He forced the thought away, gritting his teeth.

There had been two or three feet between the trees nearest the road but after only twenty steps they seemed to pack close together. Lisa had left the trail almost immediately and Bax found it hard to follow her zigzagging course as it slipped between tree trunks less than a foot apart.

He was forced to abandon her footsteps at a, particularly dense thicket, searching for almost ten minutes until he finally picked it up again on the other side and receiving a deep scratch on his face for his trouble.

He began calling her name, his voice muted and thick in the depths of the forest, as if the sound itself was being gobbled up by the thick blanket of snow. The huge flakes continued to float down all around him making the entire scene surreal and he realized with horror that Lisa's footprints would soon be completely covered.

He increased his pace. Fuck being careful... fuck the broken leg... fuck-fucking Agathe LeTour... and as the thought formed in his brain his foot caught on a hidden root and he stumbled violently forward, arms akimbo. His shoulder bounced painfully off of a tree trunk to his left and he spun, completely out of control to the ground. His right leg bent and then folded awkwardly beneath him and he waited for the inevitable crack of breaking bones, even as the wind was knocked from his lungs, but it did not come.

Bax lay there panting in the snow, staring up through the bare branches to the grey sky far above. The plump flakes of snow floated down around him like fluffy white parachutes.

After a moment's hesitation, he forced himself to sit up and extricated his leg, which was sore but otherwise intact. He used the trees to either side to pull himself up and brushed off his jeans which were now wet and cold.

Bax turned and began moving again, noting how little of Lisa's footprints were left. He could just make out the back edge of her heal now and nothing more. In a few minutes, they would be completely gone.

Shit!

He marched ahead not knowing what else to do, and now finally her trail was gone. He could head in this direction, roughly northeast, but if she had turned or doubled back he would never know. Then, staring ahead into the tenebrous forest he felt a wave of excitement.

This was familiar. He had been here before. The trees that had all seemed exactly the same, like grey wooden clones pressing in all around him suddenly shifted and he remembered the dreamscape of this place.

He closed his eyes and could picture himself moving through this part of the forest in the shared dream. Holding fast to Lisa in both places... warm and safe in her bed and here amongst the trees finding Agathe LeTourneau praying to the spirits of the earth. 

The clearing was just ahead and now he could smell the bonfire and hear the faint pop and whoosh of the burning wood. He moved slowly, carefully ahead limping on his sore leg until he was on the edge of the tree line.

The fire was small this time, no more than a campfire. Lisa was moving slowly around it, naked and unbelievably beautiful. Her eyes were open but didn't seem to register his presence.

The giant tree stood as just as he had dreamed it, with its thick grey bark and outstretched armlike branches. That other branch was there as well, standing like a nightmare erection, its mushroom shaped head pointing towards the sky. Deep gouges were slashed into the tree, long healed scars... scars.

It hit Bax all at once and he opened his mouth to scream, to break Lisa's trance but a hand clamped across his face pressing his lips back against his teeth. He could taste blood and he turned as another arm locked around his chest pinning his arms to his sides with amazing strength.

He was looking into Teddy's eyes. He had never been this close to the man and now Bax could see the scar and knew that it was the same as the one that cut across the face of the tree. It couldn't be but it was, Teddy was the tree or it was Teddy. Bax's mind threatened to let go then, to lose the thread of sanity, but he fought against the dizzying truth that was staring at him.

He twisted but Teddy was strong, so strong and grinning at Bax with that horrible mouth, gums pink and wet on the side where the teeth were all missing.

"Now, now Baxsssh," Teddy lisped. "I've waited a long time for thisssh!"

Teddy forced Bax's head around and now he was looking back into the clearing at the tree, the Teddy tree. Lisa was dancing towards it and he knew what came next. She took two quick steps and placed both hands lovingly on its gnarled bark then rose on her tiptoes and tilted her pelvis towards the terrible wooden branch that served as its manhood.

Bax struggled, twisting and turning and Teddy's hand was ripped away from his mouth.

"LISA!" He screamed. "LISA STOP!" 

It had no effect. She continued to mount the tree as if nothing had happened.

A movement to his left suddenly caught Bax's eye and then a figure was bolting out of the trees and running towards Lisa. Sarah Massie looked like a mad woman. Her long black coat trailed behind her as she ran waving a ridiculously large axe over her head.

Lisa was completely oblivious to the danger and Bax screamed again in horror as he pictured Sarah planting the huge axehead in Lisa's back.

"Nooo!"

The axe came down in a deadly arc, he could hear the whistle of the air as it passed less than an inch in front Lisa's face and cut cleanly through the base of the penis branch before embedding itself in a massive root at her feet.

Lisa dropped limply to the snow-covered ground and Teddy let out a bloodcurdling scream releasing his grip on Bax. Bax pushed the writhing man away and ran to Lisa, scooping her up. She seemed to be unconscious. Sarah was struggling to pull the axe out of the tree but it was jammed. As Bax watched the severed base of penis branch started to regrow, sending out a thin twisting shoot which began to thicken and squirm before his eyes.

"Forget it!" he yelled to Sarah. "Let's go!"

Behind them, Teddy had stopped screaming and was slowly getting back to his feet. The front of his jeans were wet with something like blood but not blood. He stared at them with eyes full of hate.

Bax led them away deeper into the forest, he was carrying Lisa and Sarah was running beside him. The trees seemed to close in around him and he slowed to a quick walk, struggling between the close-packed trunks. The thick snowflakes had changed to a blizzard now and visibility was beginning to diminish.

None of them spoke. Bax risked a glance over his shoulder and he saw Teddy pull the axe out of the tree one-handed and set off after them.

Carrying Lisa was too slow. Bax knew this, knew Teddy would catch them but had no idea what to do about it.

They were passing another huge tree, this one almost as big as the penis-tree, when Sarah disappeared.