Threnody (025).

(This is a 500-word-a-day novel project.)

We’re going to have to go in there, Jesse said.

Yep, Ryan agreed, unslinging his improvised pack and unfolding it, producing their torches; he managed to light them both with only one of the precious matches. They burned with a comforting blue flame. Next he checked his gun, making sure the safety was on, and kept it in hand. Sorry, he said. I’d rather keep it handy.

How did you get it? Jesse asked. She hated the ugly gleam of the thing.

Me and Maddy were at a party before we got lost, he said. My buddy Steve gave it to me. I was supposed to toss it in the lake. He sighed. I got sidetracked trying to propose.

I don’t like guns, Jesse said. Some note in her voice gave her away, because Ryan shifted it to his other hand, away from her.

Me either, he said. A few more shots and it won’t matter anyway, but in the meantime, I’m gonna try to keep us from ending up in something big and ugly’s belly.

She forced herself to nod, keeping her expression even. Since her resurrection she had more access to her memory, but it was confusing and jumbled, and many areas remained blank. She clearly hated the gun, but the memory that caused the aversion was still lost. And whether she liked it or not, he was right – they needed the protection.

They stepped under the first of the trees, paired on either side of the road like emissaries; from there the road was instantly swallowed by shadow – it was noticeably cooler inside the forest cathedral, and thankfully the canopy kept the rain from reaching them anymore. Insects fled from the light, some of them blinking communicative patterns of pink and blue; bats dropped from branches and took flight to higher ground (not exactly a bat, Jesse thought, more like bat, cat, and rat, if you could somehow smoosh them all together). The road remained evenly graded and firmly shored on either side by guttermounds of solid earth; beyond them giant purple ferns sprayed upward from the ground, and beyond them hovering foggy gaslight was vented from bioluminescent plants that glowed like fire within their stems. Delicate lattice hung from the branches that at first they mistook for moss, until they saw them disassembling into thousands of insects that descended on an unfortunate rodent in a heap, devouring it to the bone. Jesse had watched this in utter amazement, while Ryan excused himself to be quietly sick.

The forest seemed to seal itself around them – after walking for some time, they realized they could no longer see light at the other end of the road, just the dirt track disappearing into the gloaming. A cricket-like noise followed them, sounding like violin and piano strings being plucked repeatedly, stopping abruptly wherever they approached. We got to start talking about something, Ryan said after a while, switching the torch between arms, getting tired. I’m bored out of my skull.