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Attack of the Stump Things They stood silently, these guardians of the forest. They had been standing for years, watching the comings and goings of the humans. To those humans they were just square stumps, presumably put there by park workers. Indeed, the forest rangers *had* driven the posts into the earth, but the souls that slowly crept into them had been present in these woods for centuries. They stood now, mute while the sun made its journey across the firmament, murmuring their plots and observations once darkness surrounded all. Tonight these spirits were unusually agitated. There had been rumors coming from the top of the hill. Elders were making plans for something big, something they had never done before. The official word came down at last. Attack. Humans were to be eliminated from these woods. The surprise and excitement pulsed through the forest, and had anyone been present they would have felt the ground trembling. As dawn broke, the woods became deathly still. Leaves didn't rustle, trees didn't groan, wind didn't whisper as loyal spirit animals took up sentry positions further down the hill. They waited. The entire forest waited for the first target to appear on the trail. The sun had climbed fully over the horizon and was beginning its long pull to the top of the sky when it happened. Scouts signaled the approach of three humans, and a few minutes later the family passed the lowest stump. A few steps later, the child caught her foot on a tree root and fell to the ground. As the parents turned to help their daughter, a quick wind tossed leaves around them, obscuring their vision while a stump spirit made its move. It floated low over the dirt and stones to the girl's side, then suddenly and violently infused itself into her soul. The young one was easily subdued, and quietly stood up and looked at her parents. They asked if she was okay, and she nodded. The parents smiled and each one reached out a hand for the girl to take. Her hands took hold of theirs and the spirit spread itself into the two adults. So toxic was this spirit to human souls that the three sunk to the ground, their figures wilting like parched flowers. The spirit withdrew its tendrils from the parents and oozed out of the child's body, creeping back to its post as silently as it had come. The bodies were moved off the path and covered with earth and leaves, and the wait began again. It was not long before another target made its way past the first stump. This time a different spirit took its turn to eliminate a victim. The hiker's limp form was pulled to a different area of the forest and covered like his predecessors. Throughout the day people came up the hill and were possessed by these stump spirits. When night fell, reports of complete success were sent up the hill to the elders. The response was simple... do not waver. The eliminations were to be continued for as long as necessary to drive the earth-breakers from these woods. The next day saw more hikers disappear into the underbrush. Around midday the officers began to come up the hill looking for the people whose families had reported them missing. They were overcome like all the rest. As weeks passed, more officers and fewer hikers ventured up the trail. Eventually even the police stopped their treks into the woods. Months passed, seasons changed and changed again. The occasional group of cocky teenagers came up intending to prove that the stories now told about this hill weren't true. They fed the forest as the other bodies had. Long after the first attacks, the council of elders discussed the change in their woods. They were pleased at the progress of the new saplings filling in the trails that so many human feet had carved into the soil. They noted the arrival of new animal spirits who had come to seek refuge in this "safe" forest. They planned a slow expansion down the hill, uprooting the asphalt roads and metal fences they had seen put in place years ago by loud men and louder machines. Nature had conquered man, and would continue to do so until the world was healthy again. And to think, all this came from some tree-identification posts we saw on a hiking trail. Content Copyright © 2002 L. Force unless otherwise noted. You hear that? It's mine. All mine! Steal it, and I'll come after you with a rusty spoon. Then I'll make you drink water from that rusty spoon and you'll gag because drinking water from a rusty spoon is disgusting and you'll get really upset because you should have known better than to steal my friggin material. So, um, don't steal. If you think I'm brilliant enough to quote, tell me and provide a link back here. Thanks muchly. Want another disclaimer? Click here. |