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  When Logan finally sat up, it was barely light, and he was hoping to see Lauren somewhere in their little camp. But when he realized she had not returned, he headed into the forest. He thought about calling her name, but was afraid that she might go into hiding, ashamed at what had happened the day before. Logan followed the game trail until he came to the wider path, but instead of turning left as Lauren had, he turned right. With the dark tarp overhead restricting the light, the dried branches and leaves crackling under his boots, visions of zombies, vampires, and aliens soon formed in his mind. Every ten minutes, he would stop and listen as he followed the winding path through the dead forest, but he heard no sounds from his sister. He had been walking for about an hour, growing more worried about Lauren, when he thought about turning around to check the other end of the forest. Then a bend in the path ahead showed a large clearing with several large bench-sized stones, and Logan proceeded with caution, until he could see the entire space. A dozen large stones, each about twelve feet long formed a circle. In the center, also lying flat on the ground were two large stones of similar size, about two feet apart. Even though the meeting place was in the dead creepy forest, it seemed to have a peaceful or serene quality to it.

  Logan first walked around the perimeter of the circle, seeing if there were any clues as to its purpose. He wandered into the inner circle of the stones, overcome with fatigue, hunger, and worry. Confused and exhausted, he sat down on one of the middle stones to collect his thoughts. Lauren presents a strong front on the outside, but I know she is still fragile on the inside. Now we’re here, ripped from our effing world, and plopped down in this god damn strange land. At home, while I may have been a pain in her butt, it was normal and expected. But at least I could protect her. If she needed time to be alone, I could distract Mom and Dad to provide Lauren with the personal time that she required. What can I do to help her here?

  Images of Lauren flooded his memory, good and bad. Birthday parties, holidays, summer vacations and more. How he could make her so mad, she would threaten to call their parents. But she would always give him to the count of ten. Logan got so good at pushing her buttons, that he claimed the credit for teaching Lauren fractions. When he would not back off, she would start counting the final two numbers in quarter fractions; 8, 8 1/4, 8 1/2, 8 3/4 and so on, and he would usually wait until 9 3/4 before he would leave her alone. Logan imagined what this strange place would look like if the forest was alive, bursting with colors and fresh fragrances. Lauren would love it. So now broken Lauren is in a broken world, on a ledge facing the wrong way. What can I do to help her? How do I protect her? Without realizing it, the fatigue overtook Logan, and he lay upon the stone slab, quickly falling asleep.

  Images of Lauren quickly filled his dreams, but not Strong Lauren. Instead, he dreamt of Hurt Lauren. Listening to her cry outside of her bedroom door, watching as she wandered in circles in their backyard, holding her hand at the funeral as she cried. The images invaded his sleep, the desire to see her smile in his dreams, battled with the images of Lauren crying. Then he rolled off the stone slab, and landed flat on his back between the two stone benches. Winded, with his head spinning, he reached out to the two stone benches, and as his forearms connected with the cold surface, his body convulsed, an intense burning sensation travelled through his arms, across his body. His vision filled with a white light, and then everything went black.

  *******

  Lauren woke with a smile, felt happy, butterfly hugs. She blinked her eyes open, as there was at least one sun high enough in the sky to wake her, stepped out of her tree, and was surprised to see a burst of color. The plants that had been dead the night before were now alive, the most unusual flowers were blooming, and tree leaves were green. She saw berries on the bushes, bugs buzzing around, and even heard birds, though she could never spot them.

  Lauren wandered over to a fallen tree, sat down, pulled a few berries off a nearby bush, and ate them. In her hand was the small dead tree from the night before, which she examined closely. It was actually three trees, which had grown in such a way, that they had wound around each other. It was very odd looking, especially since it still had a root cluster on the bottom. However, to Lauren it didn’t matter, as she decided she liked it. She felt as if she was still in a dream, and sat for a long time, inhaling the intoxicating air, and visually drinking in the vibrant colors. She went over to a large broad-leafed plant, plucked one leaf from it, and folded it into a pouch shape. Then she started gathering flowers, berries, pinecones, grasses, and some small fruits. Before she would pick one, she would sit for a few minutes in front of it, caress the plant, inspect it, and in some cases, talk to it.

  *******

  Logan had no idea what time it was when he finally woke up. He looked up to the tarp that still stretched overhead, saw the two stone benches at his sides, and it was then that he remembered falling off, onto his back. As he sat upright, an intense burning sensation in his arms slammed into his brain, making him wince in pain. He examined his forearms, and found a large tattoo of a red feather on the right arm, and a similar blue feather tattoo on his left. When he rubbed one of the tattoos against the flow of the feathers, the little segments would separate, and when he rubbed the feather upright, the segments would marry back together. As he sat looking at the strange sight on his skin, they slowly began to fade, and then disappeared completely, leaving no trace that they had ever existed.

  After a short period, Logan raised himself from between the two stone benches, making sure not to touch either one, and stumbled back down the path. A number of times as he was looking for the game trail back to the camp, he examined his arms, must have dreamed it. Eventually he found his way, stumbling into the camp around lunchtime.

  Eric had prepared a simple meal of buns and fruits, “Where have you been?”

  “I was looking for Lauren. Where is John?”

  Eric replied, “He is watching the road. Did you find her?”

  “No.” Logan went over to his blankets, pulled them over his head, and fell into a deep sleep.

  *******

  It was late into the night when Lauren began to think about Ryan and Zack. She reached for her entwined staff and leaf pouch, pulling out one of the collected berries. When she crushed it on the head of her staff, the juices flowed down, and a soft blue light came forth. She then headed in the direction of the boys’ camp, where she found John, Logan, and Eric sound asleep. She knelt beside Ryan and felt his forehead, fever, pulled a berry from her pouch, squeezing it hard so that the drops of liquid fell onto his tongue. Lauren pulled back Ryan’s clothing, was shocked by all of the scars she saw, as when John was stitching him up, she did not get a good look, as there was too much blood and confusion. She knew about the extensive surgeries, but she could not believe all of the scars, as every part of his body had one. Maybe that is justice enough. John had cut most of the fabric to expose the injuries on his legs, so that he could stitch up the wounds, and while he had done a good job, an infection had set in. Ryan had large cuts on his legs from the metal debris, the infection was causing pressure to build, as the areas around the stitches were extremely red, and she could see signs of blood poisoning setting in. If he was lucky, he had a few days left to live. Lauren squeezed the cuts on the legs, sending white pus erupting like some sort of human volcano, continued to squeeze, until the wounds released fresh blood cascading like lava. Ryan moaned in pain, passed out. Good, it will be better this way. As a watery red liquid began to seep from the tended wounds, she grabbed some pine cones from her leaf pouch, breaking them apart and removing their seeds. Then reached for the small pot from the chest, added some water, and put it on the smoldering embers of the fire. To this, she also added flowers, berries, leaves, tree bark, and once the brew had simmered, Lauren tasted it. She looked back at Ryan, so much damage, and then one by one, she cleaned each infected wound. John’s stitches held, and slowly you could see the skin color return to the injured areas. Lauren retrieved some dressi
ngs from Mirtza’s medicine bag, then pulled the pot off from the embers, and let it cool. She examined Ryan for any other wounds, and when she rolled him onto his side, he opened his eyes.

  Ryan, partially asleep, looked up, “Samantha, what is going on?”

  Lauren knew that she looked like her sister, but also knew he was delusional, burning up with fever. Still, it was like a hot iron spike through her heart. She pulled a berry out of her leaf pouch, and placed it in his mouth, “Sleep.”

  Once Lauren was sure she had cleaned each wound, she maneuvered his legs so that she could apply the poultice, and for the smaller wounds, she simply smeared the thick ointment on them. She toiled for hours on Ryan, making sure that every nick and cut received treatment, and while Ryan needed more healing, the rest would have to wait for later, but she knew he should be able to walk in a day or two. She covered him up, and went over to Zack.

  Lauren pulled two berries from her leaf pouch, and squeezed them into Zack’s mouth. The burnt shirt, no longer covered his torso, as he had retrieved the black hoodie that was in his backpack, and after waiting a few minutes, she undid the zipper. Zack had been picking the burnt plastic from his wounds, which looked the worse for it, and she was stunned to see Zack’s torso covered in multiple patches of fur, which were growing from his skin. There were a few that she was able to identify, like skunk and polar bear, but over a dozen remained a mystery, and over half of his torso was now a crazy quilt of different animal furs. Between the furs, pieces of plastic, fused into scabs were still present, some small, some large. She slowly opened his hoodie, exposed more of his chest and abdomen, and was shocked to see his upper right shoulder covered with snake-skin. She rolled Zack onto his side, and was surprised to see a large feather firmly attached into his back, with several smaller ones growing beside it. What sins have you committed, that your reward is such a horrific curse?

  From the leaf pouch, she pulled out a dozen different items, and added them to a fresh pot of water. She stirred the contents until she had a thick green cream, which she applied to all of the raw wounds, and then ran her hands over his body, and could feel the toxins inside him. Zack needs purification. To a third pot, she added water and some of the beans from that coffee-like drink, that Logan enjoyed so much. Lauren pulled out a much larger pine cone, smacked it on the ground, and shook loose three seeds. She ran her hands over his body again, had heard rumors about Zack, and his fondness for illegal substances. Over the pot, in her right hand, she held two of the pine cone seeds, and in the left hand, she held one. Then, ever so silently, she mumbled, “Help me.” After a minute, she dropped in all three seeds, and waited for it to boil, eventually straining the contents into a mug, and for an hour, she sat spoon-feeding the dark liquid to Zack.

  Tired by her nocturnal healing activities, the tarp overhead growing brighter, it signaled that pre-dawn was arriving, and she wandered back to her little patch of bliss. Again, she crawled into the tree cavity with her tri-wood staff, smiling as she fell asleep. The staff lay across her body, the root cluster resting on the ground outside, and slowly fresh roots extended from it, drinking in nourishment from the ground.

  She was on the stump again, as twelve multi-colored butterflies circled her. Then to her amazement, one by one, they started to join each other, and in the end, one giant butterfly floated over to her, embraced her, and rocked her back and forth. It was the embrace of a mother, and she wept as relief flooded over her.

  *******

  The night before, when Mirtza finally went to sleep, he tossed and turned, as his head filled with nightmares of plague. It was dark out when the sound of magic startled him awake. So quick was the noise, that he was unable to identify its direction or distance. He awoke early the next day, still tired, the nightmares having fought off the restful sleep. Without having a morning meal, he climbed onto the back of his steed, leaned forward, and whispered, ‘find people’ into its ear. A slow trot quickly turned into a blistering gallop, countryside flew by, and in the end, he visited eight small communities, but once again, not a single soul found. Barns and cold cellars, stocked to the rafters with harvested crops, the expectation, bare floors the unexplained observation again, and could not even find hay or straw. Around noon, he thought the magical horse might have a malfunction, instructed it to find water, but just as quick, it took him to a bubbling spring. He continued his search well past dusk, but to no avail, and that night, too tired to find a secured location, he slept in the open.

  *******

  Lauren got up late in the day, was surprised to see how the forest had grown, as a little bit of light and rain had made a magical transformation to the once dead place. She wandered over to a green-leafed tree, plucked several large leaves from its branches, and then sat down in the warm sunlight. She removed her jacket, unzipped the mesh lining, and then for several hours carefully weaved the leaf stems into the mesh, and reassembled her jacket. She knew that she would leave soon, but now at least, she could take a small part of it with her.

  *******

  Eric felt the need to do something, even if it did not accomplish anything. He let John and Logan sleep, as he made breakfast, hoping the smells would attract Lauren back to their camp. The smell of fresh food did wake up John, but the rest remained asleep, so Eric went to watch the road, and left John in charge of the camp, in case Lauren did return.

  John went over to one of the food chests and opened it. Inside were over one hundred gold replicas of food items, but the chest was empty of any food. He examined each side, but on the outside, it was just a wooden box. He put on the large platinum ring, waved his hand over the box, as he thought of an apple, and when he opened the box, an apple was waiting for him. So much for science. As he sat on the log eating the apple, he looked at Zack, remembered how intrigued he was the first time he saw him at school. John was always terrified in some ways of going into a new class, was never sure what to expect, but when Zack walked into a room, he was a force of one, a dark shadow which confidently stated ‘Leave me alone.’ Zack neither needed nor wanted friends, and in some ways, he fascinated John. A few times, kids would try to get at Zack, call him names or such. He in turn would just walk up to them, stare them down, would never say a word, and the other students would back off, unsure of what Zack was capable of doing. It did not help with the rumours, but John felt pretty sure that Zack had little interest, in what others said.

  John had performed an Internet search on Zack one night, and found more than he had anticipated. Given up for adoption by his birth mother, Zack had been in and out of foster homes for years, one bad adoption after another, and what should have been his last adoption, became final in a different way, as three years ago, his parents filed for divorce. During the proceedings, it became apparent that neither wanted custody, as the judge was preparing his recommendation, both of his adopted parents died in a freak car accident, so the courts awarded custody of Zack to his uncle. The way the story sounded, it seemed that the uncle was more interested in the large financial settlement, and inheritance that Zack was entitled to, rather than his nephew’s best interests. John felt that there was more to the story, but only Zack would have those answers. When Logan woke up, he went to sit with Eric at the roadside, and the rest of the day was quiet in the camp.

  *******

  It was early dusk when Lauren wandered over to the boys’ campsite, all of whom were absent, so she walked over to the road entrance, and found them having an argument about Mirtza. He said he would be back in three days—did that mean he would be back on the third day, or the day after? She left them there, and went back to check on Zack and Ryan. Lauren pulled a berry from her pocket, squeezed the juice into Ryan’s mouth, felt his forehead, smiled that his fever was gone, and even Zack looked healthier. She then went back to her tree, sat at the base, and leaned against it for support, as she watched the sunsets, mesmerized by the colors, slowly the smile on her face faded, as a dreamless sleep welcomed her.

  Chapter 7
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  John was the first to wake the next morning, and went to watch the road without Eric having to kick him awake. Eric woke an hour later, and started the fire in preparation for the morning meal. Logan woke up, helped with the meal, and soon smells of fresh meat, and bean juice brought John back from the road. Lauren also wandered in from the forest, with her tri-wood staff in hand.

  Eric was both pleased and surprised to see her, “Lauren, I am sorry for what I said. I was just upset. I didn’t mean any of it,”

  “I know. We were both upset.”

  “Mirtza should be back soon, and then we can get out of here.”

  Laurens words were blunt. “And go where?”

  John looked at them both, “Please don’t start fighting again. It won’t accomplish anything.”

  At this point Ryan rolled over, “Will you guys please be quiet. I have a terrible headache.” He sat up, pulled his blanket off, and they could see the dressings on him.

  Eric smiled, “Mirtza must have come back last night and brought a healer. We have good news, the dead rise.”

  “It's because you guys are making so much damn noise, the dead cannot get any rest,” said Zack as he rolled over.

  Eric was almost giddy, as he thought that Ryan would surely die, and was not placing any bets on Zack, so the sight of both injured parties now awake cheered everybody up. As Eric dished out breakfast, he said, “Now all we have to do is wait for Mirtza, the elves, and get to civilization.”

  Ryan tilted his head to one side, “Elves? Can somebody please explain to me what has happened? And where are we?”

  Lauren, while pleased to see Ryan awake, offered to sit watch while the boys updated him, and did not know how they were going to explain what had happened, or how he would never see his parents again. Part of her wanted to stay, watch the tears well up in his eyes. Watch Ryan cry uncontrollably, the way she cried when they told her about Samantha, how she had died in Ryan’s car. Wanted to hear him scream at the injustice of what was happening, wondered if he would scream as loud as she did. She heard the first sobs before she left the new camp, heard the first screams as she passed through the old camp. Part of her wanted to smile, part of her wanted to cry, but there was no part of her that wanted any of them to be stuck here. After lunch, John came out to relieve Lauren from the watch, but she did not rejoin the boys, and instead returned to her little camp, to avoid another fight.