The Long Weekend in the Woods - Chapter 6

Pollock

The trip to what used to be the sullen girl's village wasn't a fun one. She walked just a pace or two behind me, out of reach if I tried taking a swing at her, but close enough it would be hard to escape. Even more so since she had all the gear I'd brought. She stayed silent, ignoring my attempts to get any information about what was going on here. She'd hum occasionally, to get my attention when I was started to go the wrong way. I'd mention that it didn't make sense for me to lead since I didn't know where we were going, but she wasn't impressed.

What was most irritating, though, was her cloak. Somehow she drifted through without getting it caught on anything. She had my cape stuffed in that satchel along with the rest of my possessions, but I recalled how I could not walk ten feet without getting hung up on something. She didn't even seem to be making any effort to avoid limbs and thorns. Curious.

I'd given up trying to get answers and was starting to wonder if all this was a trick to get me to walk quietly to a place she would execute me, when we reached the clearing. Really, it was less a clearing and more a moonscape. We stopped and looked out over it. Other than the insects buzzing around us (at least she wasn't immune to that nuisance), and a few birds soaring above, things seemed quiet.

"No clever panda, and no Calvin."

I considered suggesting we could try waiting more than 10 seconds before making that determination, but I wasn't going to grovel. As she made eye contact, I remembered that groveling could also be called negotiating, and unless I came up with a better plan, pride might be a luxury I couldn't afford. Unfortunately, I seemed short on better plans, other than simply fighting her. And the bruises on my face made me question if that was any sort of idea at all.

"Cassanee! Pollock!" Oh thank goodness. I've never been so happy to hear that musical, cheery voice. We turned to see the panda emerge from the woods to our left, one raccoon on their back, another one on the back of another bear that followed a moment later. As they drew closer, I could tell the panda got a look at my face because there was a note of concern in the next question.

"What's going on? We've been looking for you, Cassanee."

"Did you bring her with you?"

"She kind of showed up as we were leaving." Those dark eyes fell on me again. "What did you do to make her angry Pollock?"

"Why assume I did anything? Maybe she's a violent sociopath?"

"I didn't have any reason to trust you. Still don't."

"Because you won't tell me what's going on so I can explain I'm not responsible!" Why are people so dense sometimes?

"Cassanee, what is happening? I know there are some. . things running around causing trouble. They run in packs, tear things up, wear armor, but that's about it." The panda had better luck than I did, because she actually answered.

"They showed up in late winter. We'd hear things deeper in the forest, but could never find the source. Then they charged out of the woods, tore through our homes, the fields, uprooted trees. They were looking for the crystals, the ones Guyamo used. It was so fast we had to run at first. Once we regrouped, we could never catch them, except for one here or there." She reached into the satchel and pulled out an oblong object, which she tossed to the furball. I leaned over to get a look.

It was a helmet, definitely made of the ceramic armor. Inside it was a head, severed clean at the neck. It had some big incisors and an upturned nose, fine dark hairs all over its face. The panda looked at it, sniffed it, and turned it over in their hands, only to stop and stare at the back of the helmet.

"Pollock." The back of the helmet said "ExpanCo" on the back. Curses. "Care to explain?"

I could sense the sullen girl tensing behind me, and I could almost picture her getting ready to pull out my spine or turn me into food for the winter. I tried for a bored air, like it was all so obvious. "You'll recall I mentioned earlier my company was working on a ceramic armor."

"You said you never perfected it."

"Not to my tastes, but that doesn't mean someone else couldn't have sold it, either on the sly or more openly. I wasn't running things when it was called ExpanCo, remember?"

"Oh right, when you were hanging around Calvin a lot being mopey and whiny."

"That is, one way to describe it, yes," I said through gritted teeth. "I have no idea what contracts they may have signed to produce anything, or what else they got up to. They isolated me on meaningless projects involving adding clocks to existing items that did not need clocks. The records were shredded by someone as they went out the door as I retook control." 

Just then, I recalled something Captain Androzier had said in passing when Deadpool showed up. I hadn't thought much of it then, but wished now I had thought to press the issue. It might have saved me from walking my head into a potential noose.

The other bear and the raccoons looked skeptical, and I knew the sullen girl was ready to pounce any second, but I kept my gaze on my old foe, the only one who might believe me. And, remarkably, after a minute of searching my face, they sighed and nodded.

"I shouldn't buy this, but you're a terrible liar."

The girl was outraged. "How many times has she tried to kill you already?"

"I know, but I can't see how she would have found out about this place or the crystals. Calvin and I never mentioned them, and you haven't said anything about them to her, either. If she was responsible, why risk coming here with people that wouldn't trust her and no backup? If the creatures are hers, why aren't they here, or some of her useless security guys?"

"I don't mind taking responsibility for the things I did, but I won't accept blame for things I wasn't responsible for. Don't believe me if you want, but I intend to find these things, stop them, and then perhaps I'll accept your apology."

That might have been pushing it, because she looked ready to strike, but the peacemaker stepped in again. "I want to find Calvin first. If he got here before all of us, he might have found something."

The other bear spoke up, ear cocked towards the opposite ridge. "Something's coming this way. A lot of somethings."

Calvin

I followed at a safe distance from just inside the treeline. My (hopefully) unknowing guide would turn back occasionally, but didn't show any sign of noticing me. It kept up a steady pace, except it would stop occasionally to sniff at the ground. It might scrape a bit of earth aside with one hand, then rise and keep moving in the same direction. South, I think.

Finally, though, it found something on one of these stops and began to dig in earnest. When it stopped, it came up with a piece of that crystal the size of a football. To my surprise, it immediately threw it to the ground, shattering it. Even at a distance, I felt a little of that familiar wave of dread and worry I remembered from Guyamo. But then it fell to the ground and rolled in the pieces. When it came back up, several shards were embedded in its armor, both the chest piece and the bits covering the upper legs.

It would be really nice if they just wanted the crystals for decoration, but it picked up the remaining shards and threw them in a pack it was carrying. It sniffed the ground some more, then they looked around expectantly, which made me glance over my shoulder. I was sure I'd see an army of them behind him, but my luck hadn't turned. Yet. The fellow gave a disappointed grunt and after making a slash in the nearest tree, started deeper into the woods. They'd stop from time to time and leave another gouge in a tree, made with one massive incisor and a casual flick of the head. Lot of power in the neck and shoulders on this one.

As we continued on, me maintaining as safe a distance as I could manage, I started to hear noises ahead. There was a small natural clearing, not one caused by them, although they'd made themselves at home. No buildings, but a lot of small foxholes lines with leaves and grass. Several of them held one, sometimes two, of the creatures snoozing peacefully. There were maybe 20 there at the moment. All between 5 to 6 feet tall, broad in the shoulders, narrowing sharply as you looked south. All of them wore the same armor, and all of them had pieces of the crystals embedded in it.

In the center of the clearing was a pile of crystals maybe three feet high. It was large, but not as big as I'd expect for how much ground they'd trashed. There's not telling how much what was in their armor would add up to, though. Or maybe the crystal was rarer than I thought. Fingers crossed. My guide approached the pile and added what was in the pack. They conversed with a couple of others nearby. It sounded like grunts and snorts to me, but went on for a minute or two. The one I followed gestured in the direction we'd come from, so I guess he or she was announcing their find.

I heard a shuffling sound behind me and turned to see another one. Just one thankfully. They looked surprised, and I remembered what Rafe and Jerry said about how they scatter if you catch them off-guard. As long as the alarm wasn't raised in the process I might be OK.

Then one stepped out to the right from behind it. Another stepped out to the left. Another, then another. It didn't seem like they planned to retreat, so I decided I would. That line about not knowing how many people it would take to whup my ass, but knowing how many they would use flickered across my mind. It really is a handy piece of information.

Another handy thing to have? A gas gun. I fired a canister as they started to advance. They were enveloped in seconds, as I sprinted around and past them, back the way I came. I hoped to make a clean getaway, but someone must have taken a breath before I fired because a loud squeal from the cloud behind me. Several more in response from further behind me, the clearing. I sped up, loading another canister, really wishing for knockout gas about now. The branches whipped my face as I jumped onto and then over downed trees in my path. The last thing I needed was to step on a rattlesnake.

One of my landings was less than perfect, and as I stumbled I glanced back. There were several in pursuit. Not all the ones from the clearing, but enough I wasn't stopping. One in particular was more sure-footed than the others, in the lead and closing fast. As they gained ground, I noticed the crystals in the thigh guards starting to glow. There was a sudden, massive increase in speed as they barreled towards me. I was able to turn my stumble into a forward roll to my left. Hit my shoulder on a rock, but I didn't get run over.

The oak he slammed into wasn't so lucky. The trunk basically exploded and the tree fell, not on me fortunately. Not on them either, unfortunately. I did see the impact shattered the helmet and he slumped to the ground. Dead? Unconscious? No time. I fired the next canister at the rest that were closing in rapidly and got moving. I spotted one of the gouges my guide had made, then another. Keep moving. My foot was killing me. Stupid Deadpool. Keep moving.

The trees ended up ahead. There's the dig spot to my left. I reached the clearing and. . . now what? I'm in the open. I kept moving, crashing through or around brush, jumping over trenches and holes. There's what's left of the village. Hide? I heard my pursuers come bursting out of the woods behind me. Too late to hide. Run or fight? Barricade in the rec center? Down one slope, up the other towards Guyamo's old home. I spared another look back. They were nimble, clearing obstacles with easy bounds, but the uneven ground seemed to cause more problems. Weak ankles, maybe.Well, they had no one to blame but themselves.

I reached the doors and turned. Might make a decent choke point, if they didn't just plow through the walls. Or through me. I grabbed the wrench from the bag, not eager for this. They slowed and fanned out. Whether they planned a cautious advance or a full charge, I don't know, because what they got was a black-and-white missile barreling into the whole line of them. An orange swirl of wind moved through them from the other end, shattering armor with one strike, then moving to the next.

A few turned to retreat, only to meet a dark, looming shadow with a bandana. The shadow swung a club into the head of one of them, as a smaller figure leapt from its back, hissing curses and fired a metal stake at another. That one blocked the stakes with its arm guards, but that left the torso exposed to the shadow's mace.

I'd always heard bear mace was no joke.

Meanwhile, Jerry's leap had landed it on the third creature's head, where he was either shooting it or clawing the hell out of it. Either way, it ran about in a panic until Rafe's club silenced it. The four of them surrounded the last two, and those shards began to glow. Knowing what that could mean, I shouted, "Use the grenades!"

We've been at this long enough the fur boulder (furball no longer seeming size appropriate), trusts my judgment, even when they shouldn't. The grenade flew in between them, and when it went off, they both spasmed violently and the glow vanished. It wasn't difficult to subdue them after that.

Things having calmed down, I tried to catch my breath, putting my hands on my knees and hoping I didn't hurl. Pollock sidled over, a different raccoon perched on her shoulder. "Are you well?"

"Ran too far, too fast, I guess. Thanks for all the help," I added sarcastically. I will be sarcastic right up to my death, and that'll probably having something to do with it.

"Oh, but I thought you enjoyed hiking in the woods? And I was not trusted to help." At my raised eyebrow, Pollock elaborated on what I had missed. She spent a lot of time on how badly Cass had treated her, and how she feared she would be killed and eaten.

I let her get it out of her system, since it gave me more time to catch my breath. "Well, there's a bunch more still over there, so I'm not sure we can be picky about who helps."

"That's what I told her!"

"Are you still complaining?" CAP and the others walked over, dragging their two prisoners with them. Well, the others walked. My panda friend rushed up and gave me a Hug, which raised my spirits a bit. "How did you know the grenade would work?"

I described nearly being run over. "They draw power from the crystals. The grenade disrupted those Darkles that were made of the same energy, I figured it might work here, too." I saw Pollock's confusion. "Darkles were the faceless chainsaw guys."

"That's an awful name."

I pointed to Cass. "She told us, direct your complaints there." Pollock eyed Cass, but said nothing. I told them about the rest of what I'd seen, the pile of crystals in the clearing.

"They only saw you, so they don't know there's a group of us. We should go find them. Strike before they know what hits them."

"How many of those grenades you got?"

"Five." I inhaled sharply. Get them all in one place, it might work, but if they were scattered. . .

"Perhaps you shouldn't have suggested using one to deal with just two of the creatures."

"Oh, excuse me. I wasn't sure how strong they'd get, and I wanted us to avoid injuries."

Cass spoke up. "We should see what's there, then we can decide."

Jerry cut in. "Yeah, count us out. Claire, you want to come back with us?"

"Jerry, be serious!"

"I am!"

As usual, CAP tried to keep things calm. "We do need someone to watch these two."

I sighed. "I'll mention they're still looking for crystals. Any place they get a whiff of them, they tear apart. They might stop before they reach your turf, but you've already fought them, I wouldn't bet on it. My pal," I patted CAP's shoulder, "is a hell of a problem-solver. Your odds are better if we work together. Your call, though." I turned to the panda. "You want to roll?"

"Yeah!" Thumbs up.

"You in Pollock?"

She's surprised, didn't even bother to hide it. "You're extending the offer?"

I shrugged. "You tagged yourself in. You can tag out if you want."

"But you might notice something we don't, so you'd be a help." Being the diplomat is boring, so CAP and I take turns.

Pollock was silent for a moment. "I want my possessions back." She didn't even look at Cass, just held her hand out expectantly. Given the look Cass gave it, I expected her to pull the arm off at the elbow. Instead the reached into a bag, and removed a few items. She held them towards Pollock, then dropped them on the ground.

"Very mature."