The Garden of Heathen

Here There be Monsters

Gally was not having a good time. The woods were dark and creepy and anything could be just outside the beam of light his flashlight produced.

BYLH? What else would get him out here in the woods at night? He sighed heavily as he realized he had been thinking more about Aussie than Lanie who had both her legs chopped off by a bottomless shaft in the ground, Hedy the dangerous predator, or even poor Gertie, though she did come in second place.

If Aussie was anything like this back when he was making that note to himself he could understand these left over feelings a lot better. He could see more clearly now that Aussie was made up of love. And not just one kind of love either, oh no. She was the love of broken things and finding beauty. She was the love that's kind and that takes care of others. The love that wants the best even for the worst people. The love that would fist fight the devil himself to get justice. Her kindness, insecurity, and anger- every other emotion was driven by love.

What the shuck was he doing in the woods? He needed to be with her. Everyone else just took the love she gave out to them, no one thought to give anything back. After everything that happened today she must be empty.

He turned on his heel and started making his way back as quick as he could, careful not to trip on roots or rocks. He felt a weird feeling in his chest, like when you come off a diet and are about to go eat all the foods you'd avoided and missed and craved for so long. It was release and relief and he felt like he might do something stupid like kiss her, God, he wanted to, but it would not be good timing. He couldn't ruin it by being impulsive, he had to wait till she could think clearly, right? So what would he do? Oh crap, what would he say? Even though touch seemed to go a long way with her she needed more. She was always saying the right thing for other people, she needed to be on the receiving end for once.

He thought about the things he might say to her as he traversed the tricky grounds of the woods, and was caught completely off guard when the flashlight illuminated something moving. Hundreds of maggots were writhing in the dirt by his feet. Confused and creeped out he scanned around with his flashlight and realized he was standing under the tree the goat had been in. They'd done their best to clean up, but there was so much blood on the ground and not much they could do about it but kick some more dirt over it. He sighed in relief though his heart continued to pound. Sure it's creepy to find maggots, but at least there was a reasonable explanation.

He turned to go, ready to put that far behind him, and he saw something there was no reasonable explanation for. At first he thought he was coming face to face with a griever, because he could not recognize it as human at first. But, just at the edge of the beam of his flashlight, there stood Hedy. Black veins pulsed beneath translucent, waxy skin as she breathed heavily.

In his surprise he took a step back, and that's when she charged. Her teeth were bared like an animal and the way she moved was disturbing. There was no strategy, no conserving energy or sense of self preservation. No, she was aiming to take him down like a kamikaze, at the highest risk possible, and that in itself struck him with terror.

She was bearing down on him with frightening speed and he knew he missed his window to flee, he'd have to stand his ground and fight. He dared not waste time swapping the flashlight over so he prepared to throw a punch with his left hand. He took a more balanced stance and timed it as perfectly as he knew how. But she was quicker. She grabbed his arm and twisted it, coming alongside him and sweeping a backward kick to his knee, bringing him to a kneeling position. From there she had enough leverage to dislocate his shoulder.

His cry of pain rang through the woods before it was cut off by Hedy pushing him onto his back. He dropped the flashlight, plunging himself into darkness as it skittered away and shined in a useless direction.