“Uhh...”
My eyes opened slightly, and I stared up at the blue sky seeping between a thick forest canopy. I tried to remember where I was or what I was doing, but I couldn't. I went to stand up but instead I grumbled in pain and rolled onto my side. Focusing on my body I felt everywhere was emitting a dull ache, as if I'd been punched lightly all over. I must've really fell hard. As I came to terms with this new pain I smelled faint burning. My jeans looked a lot darker than normal and had small tears and burns at the ankles, with smoke still rising from the new holes. My boots looked similarly blackened but otherwise unharmed. A quick check of the underside revealed that the tread had slightly melted but still retained its shape. My thick black jacket was undamaged along with my plain blue shirt. Looking ahead I could see a dirt path cutting between the dense shrubbery and plant life that bordered the darker, thicker woodland around me. I turned my head and saw no familiar sights, and my last memory was going bed last night. What am I doing here? I'm a firefighter, so unless this place is burning I have no reason to be here. Or do I? I thought harder about what I was doing before, but this just seemed to worsen my already aching head. Slowly I stood up, and now confident that I wouldn’t stumble I looked at the surrounding area with greater scrutiny. There were no signs, litter, footprints or any other indication of human activity. I decided to just follow the path, knowing that eventually I would find something to gauge my location.
Not long after I began moving my stomach voices its opinion on hunger. I check my jacket pockets and find a paperclip, a red pen, my lighter, my keys and some loose change. My jeans provide better results as I find an open packet of chewing gum and my trusty multitool. It had my name engraved on the metal, and I've had it for about 7 years, a gift from my dad on my 15th birthday. However, the only use it has seen on a regular basis is for opening bottles of beer, but I keep it on me for sentimental reasons. After finding no food, I sighed and popped a piece of gum in my mouth and chewed. Hopefully this would help censor the constant rumbling of my unhappy body. A light rain began to fall, and I mumbled some unpleasant words about the “bloody British weather”. Sighing unhappily, I put my hood up, stuck my hands in my pockets and began walking at a brisk pace.
…About 2 hours later…
“HELLO!? ANYONE AROUND!?”
Fuck me. I've been walking for a few hours now but there has been no sign of anything other than more woodland.The fauna seems alien to me, but some of it I recognise such as wild vegetables and various flowers. I check my phone again, but unsurprisingly there is still no reception. This time I also check recent messages, Emails and the calendar app to see if I could jog my memory, but nothing helps. In fact, the last things on here is messaged about a fire safety course for a local company. I did this yesterday, but the calendar suggest that was four days ago. What the fuck is going on with me? Have I been lying here since then? Almost four days? No, that would be unlikely, I don't feel extreme hunger or thirst, so I've eaten and drank recently. The scarier thought is that I've forgotten the last few days of my life! This doesn't happen! Have I got memory loss? Have I been drugged? Hit in the head? Confused and slightly paranoid I continue my journey in hopes of making some sense out of this situation.
It's getting noticeably darker now and combined with the chill in the air and the ever increasing rainfall I began to feel unwilling to keep walking. I'd guess that there is about an hour of light left before night kicks in. Meanwhile, I don't have the slightest clue where I am, I've no shelter, no food and dwindling hope. I do have spades of uncertainty and fear though, not helped by the constant feeling of being watched.
”Fuck this forest!” I shout to my potential observers as I kick a small rock as hard as I can. I know that I am just being paranoid. More walking isn't going to do me any good, and with no shelter to stay in I will freeze in this shitty weather. I look around for a potential roof to rest under. Spotting a large tree (I think it's an oak) I stride over to it. I dig a little indent into the ground and pile in some dry looking twigs and sticks from around the base of the tree. I grab my lighter and try to start the fire, but it won't catch. I realised I needed something easier to burn to start it, so I cut the label off the inside of my shirt with my multitool and set it on fire. The synthetic material easily burns and I place it under some of the dryer looking wood and pray that it catches fire. The flames gradually consume the label and just as I was about to give up the flame catches the twig. Remembering a video from YouTube I gently put the stick at the bottom of the pit and begin to blow gently on the flame to help it grow. Soon the fire spreads into a crackling flame. I wouldn't normally start a fire as my job revolves around the extinguishing of said things, but it is necessary. With a smirk of accomplishment on my face, I enjoy the heat and wait to get dry. After several minutes of heating up I am warmer and significantly less damp so I sit a bit further back against the trees trunk. I take out my phone and check for service. No change in that department. The clock, however, provides a startling result. Apparently it is 9:17AM, despite the moon being high in the sky.
“What the fuck…” I mutter to myself as I try to think of a logical solution to this. I must be in a different time zone, but I don't know which one. I guess the local time to be around 7PM, so 10 hours difference would put me in… Australia? I can't think that a large forest would be in Australia, but having never been there I can't rule it out. I abandon that train of thought and instead think about food and water. If I manage to get to sleep no doubt I will be hungry and thirsty when I wake, so whilst I still have energy I look around to see if anything is edible. I spot a berry bush and hungrily grab several, but having no clue if they are poisonous or not I decide not to eat them, instead putting them in my jacket pocket. They look like blueberries but I don't want to risk it. More searching reveals some mushrooms, but these could be poisonous too so I ignore them. Finally I find something I can actually consume, several large leaves with pools of water on top of them. The pool is very small but there are lots of leaves on the plant. I drink as carefully as I can as to not waste the limited supply I have found, but with the rain still gently falling I expect them all to fill in a couple of hours. I go back to the fire and try to lean comfortably against the bark, which is near enough impossible, and close my eyes. Sleep doesn't come as easily but eventually I drift off, abandoning my problems until tomorrow.
CREAK
I woke with a sleepy “huh?” but was instantly thrown awake thanks to the nightmare in front of me. A creature with bright yellow eyes was stood a short distance away in the shadows of the trees. It creaked again and stepped out, allowing me to see it fully. It was made of twisted branches and sticks and vaguely resembled a medium sized dog, but it's claws and teeth looked deadlier than their flesh and blood relatives. Maybe it was more similar to a wolf.
“What the hell!” I shouted in a manly high pitched voice as I scrambled to my feet. “Get the fuck back!” I yelled in a much more aggressively. In response it tilted its head and continued to stare into my soul. I just turned and ran. ‘Fuck fuck fuck!’ Said my brain as I sprinted away. More yellow eyes seemed to appear from the surroundings which gradually got closer as I moved further along. After several seconds I could see them in front of me. I wanted to continue running but there was nowhere to go. I shifted to a defensive stance and tried to look a little more threatening. Slowly, one of the wooden monstrosities approached. Every step seemed drawn out as it creaked and rustled through the foliage it was hidden behind. In its toothy mouth it carried a…
An axe?
MY axe! My fire axe!
“Apologies for my rude introduction” said the voice in my head. I felt surprisingly unworried considering I had clearly gone insane. Thank you adrenaline. “It was significantly more difficult to communicate directly with your mind than I originally anticipated”.
‘Is this for real?’ I thought back at the voice. ‘Are you in my head?’ The wolf wordlessly began to approach and I was about to lunge at it when the voice spoke again.
“I have your weapon, you left it from the place you awoke”. I immediately realised the demon in front was responsible for the voice in my head.
“Uhh, thanks, I guess…” I said aloud as I shakily took the axe from its deadly jaw. I held it defensively, mildly trusting the calm looking creature. Jesus I really have gone insane, haven't I?
“You are quite welcome” it responded. “I am the magical manifestation of this forests consciousness, known as the Everfree. You may call me this, as my real name wouldn't mean much in your language”.
“Right…” was all I could utter as I tried to understand what the goddamn fuck was going on. “Wait, what?” I added intelligently.
“I see you have not quite recovered from your… Abrupt entry to this world. Completely understandable, I have a location you can recover at until you have a better grip of recent occuranves. Just follow this Timberwolf and you can rest”. The tree creature, or Timberwolf as if had just called itself, began to walk away. I almost responded, I had so many questions, but with no energy to fight this strange situation I just kept my mouth shut. After looking away I saw that all the other eyes that surrounded me had disappeared. I began to follow ‘Everfree’ as it calmly walked towards the mentioned location.
“Where am I?” was as all I cared to know. If I knew where I was I could find my way out of this hellhole. I tried to ignore this other information for the sake of my sanity, as I didn't quite believe anywhere on earth had friendly TELEPATHIC FUCKING DOGS MADE OF STICKS!
“I can sense that you are confused. We will talk after you have rested, and I will answer any questions you have, strange creature”
“O-ok then”. I silently chuckled at that, IT was the strange creature.
Mercifully, the trip only lasted about 2 minutes. It had lead me to a hole in the ground under some roots of a very large tree. The Timberwolf tour guide looked at me, then nodded its head at the hole. I crawled in, and found that it was warm and dry, a winning combination for me. The timberwolf had meanwhile formed a barrier with its body at the once open gap. I panicked a little at this but just decided to roll with it considering I could just axe my way through the wood. With this reassuring thought, I succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep almost instantly.