Pitch Episode 27: Tree Tree
#31 of Pitch
September 1st was a Daybreak holiday. In celebration of the town being built, it was a tradition for everyone to plant a tree in the woods. No one ever explained how the tradition started, but there were a few rumors.
One such rumor was a story about the old settlers taking up so much land that the woods came alive and started killing people. The only thing that made the massacre end was the remaining survivors planting trees to make up for what they cut down. It wasn't a happy story, but if it was true, it explained why the tradition lasted so long.
We still had school, but everyone took a field trip to The Dead Woods. We were told to stay with our homeroom class for the day. For me, that meant spending the day with Velmer. Everyone was paired up in groups of two before we were given plants and shovels. From there, we were on our own, but no one was allowed to go home until all the trees were planted. Velmer carried the tree, and I brought the shovel. It dosen't take long to plant a tree, but everyone knew if we finished too soon, we'd have to go back to school and actual deal with classes. That's why we took our time searching for the perfect spot.
"So you finally had sex," Velmer said.
"What!" I exclaimed.
"Wes has been singing your praise all morning," he said.
"Fuck," I said.
"It's good you two finally got around to it. You wouldn't believe how many relationships fail because of bad physical chemistry. I could pull up the statistics if you want," he joked at my expense.
"You're an ass; you know that," I said.
"Why so hostile?"
"Its nothing," I said.
I was on edge all day, even before finding out Wes couldn't keep things between us.
"So its something big," Velmer dug.
We were on our way up a hill. I didn't realize how far from the rest of the class we were, until then. The mountains were a good distance from where we arrived. I suppose I was following Velmer, and he was following me, so we were walking blind.
"I don't want to talk about," I said.
"We're still friends, aren't we?"
"Yea, we're still friends," I answered sarcastically.
"Then tell me what's going on," he pressed further.
"We should finish the assignment first," I answered.
We kept hiking until we found ourselves at a cliff. It wasn't the highest point, but it was high enough to see above a good portion of the woods. It was as right a place as any to plant a tree. Or was it? Despite partaking in the yearly tradition, I knew little about what plants needed, at least not beyond water and sunlight. Regardless, that's where I dug the hole.
"Why do you even go to school, don't you have a doctorate or something?" I asked Velmer.
"My parents thought it would help if I did normal things like going to school with people my own age," he said.
With the hole finally dug, Velmer planted the tree, and we were on our way.
"So?" He said.
He wasn't letting me off. We were alone, so I figured it couldn't hurt to have his opinion.
"I'm thinking about joining this club called 'The Ring,'" I said.
"You know about The Ring?" He asked, implying that he already knew about it.
"How do you know about it?"
"I'm a goblin."
His answer wasn't much of an answer. Lucky for me, he saw that I didn't understand and continued.
"The Ring was started by creatures hunted by humans. Anyone like my family and me are automatically added to the list if we request it," he said.
On our way down the hill, I stopped us.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" I asked.
"You joining The Ring? I think it's 'an' idea. You could help a lot of people. And a lot of people could help you," he said.
"So, it's a good thing?"
"Depends on the people," he answered without giving a clear indication of right or wrong.
"I don't understand," I said.
"The Ring is like a help number. If you're the one people are calling to help, then there are bound to be good encounters and bad encounters."
"But I get to chose who I help, right?"
"More or less," he said before turning to keep on our path.
"What does that mean," I asked as I followed behind him hanging on his every word.
I didn't want to get myself caught up in anything stupid or dangerous. With magic no longer a part of my life, I needed something new. I couldn't take Nerf at his word that The Ring was a good deal. I didn't know the troll well enough. Talking to Velmer about it at least gave me a chance to think things through before making a decision that was hyped up to be so serious.
"When you're a full member, you can turn down anything, but if you're new, they'll want you to accept everything," Velmer explained.
"So, it is like a cult?"
"If it is, then it could be worse," he joked.
Our walk back to the bus was secluded. We didn't pass any of our classmates. I didn't hear anyone in the woods around us. At first, I thought everyone was somewhere outside my range of sound, but then we made it back to the bus. Or should I say, we made it back to where the bus should have been?
"Wasn't the bus here," I said as we met the edge of the woods.
"I think they left us," Velmer suggested as if he knew for sure but didn't care enough to be surprised.
There were tire tracks in the dirt. They definitely left us.
"Guess we can go home then," I said.
I scratched my head at the assumption that our class would actually leave us. Regardless of how infamous Velmer and I were, it was a new low. It was a dick move. Most locals knew the woods well enough to get home, and I was no exception, so it wasn't like they left us stranded. Still, something didn't feel right. I took the time to look around for a moment longer, and things weren't adding up. The tire tracks we found were so odd. They seemed to start and stop abruptly, as if something picked up the bus as it was trying to drive away.
Being at the edge of the forest, we were only a few feet away from walking pavement and concrete, but something told me to wait. It might have been the shock of disbelief. Sure enough, I got an answer to my suspicion.
"Did you hear that?" I asked, turning around to find that Velmer was on his phone unconcerned.
As I turned back to the woods, I had to jump for my life to escape the missing school bus. It shot out from the green like a bullet and nearly ran me over. On my back, I watched as everyone drove away from what I could only describe as living trees chasing them from the scene. I didn't see Velmer.
With the bus gone, the trees gave up their chase. But I was still within their reach. I scrambled to get back to my feet and leave, but I found myself picked up by the collar of my shirt. An oak tree held me up to what I assumed was its face.
"Shit," I said.
I thought for sure I was about to die, but thank God Velmer hadn't gone so far as to abandon me. Thank God he wasn't dead. He shot the tree branches with some kind of ray gun until I fell free.
"Why do you have a Ray gun?" I exclaimed as I rushed over to get behind the goblin.
He shot an onslaught of trees that tried to get too close. They were like octopus. They didn't have legs. They moved with their roots like tentacles. Their limbs were easy to break, but they grew back just as fast. It was hard to tell if where we stood was safe because they could move roots under the earth or attack out in the open with their branches.
"How do you have a Ray gun?"
"Do you want a Ray gun?" He asked before pulling a spare from his jacket pocket and tossing it over his shoulder to me.
My gun was smaller. I almost couldn't work the tiny trigger because my fingers were too big. It took me forever to get off a single shot. The kickback punched me so hard in the chest I gave up and let Velmer do the rest of the shooting. He seemed to be in his element. I'm not sure he was taking the situation seriously. The way he held his gun, I thought he was playing a game. I had to grab his free arm just to make him move enough for us to get away.
We made our way out to the street, and once we were off the grass, the monsters stopped coming for us.
I was still in shock. Watching as the trees went back into the cover of the woods, I couldn't believe the stories were true. I looked over at Velmer, and he was putting his gun away while he walked down the street. He didn't seem phased at all. I caught up with him.
"I didn't know this town was a 'Stri' migration point," Velmer said.
"Stri?"
"Living trees, though, technically all trees are living," he informed me.
Of course, someone who used to live outside of normal civilization would have experience with exotic creatures like living plants. It was easy enough to laugh about the experience considering we got out of it. Neither of us bothered to check in with school. We went home. If our classmates cared about what happened to us, they might have tried to save us. Of course, I checked in with Wes. His class had already left before any of the Stri showed up, so he didn't know about anything.
When Velmer and I made it back to our houses, he stopped me before I passed him to get to mine.
"If I ever had to give up science, I don't know what I would do. So I don't understand what your going through without magic," he said.
"Magic wasn't my life," I said.
"But it could have been, and that can be hard to let go. For all the drama it may bring, The Ring can help you," he offered with a hand on my shoulder.
"If you're a member, then I guess it already has," I said.
It might have been cheesy, but I meant it.