The Vendeleer Brothers Book 4: The Plagued Forest

In South Carolina

I pity the city

That houses the demon

That lives in the woods

He lies and he waits

Until it’s too late

Consumer of souls

And destroyer of lives

Trapped in the city by thorns and by vines

Trapped by the demon

Who has sealed your fate

He lies and he waits

He lies and he waits…

“There are a lot of really weird old songs and poems about this town…” Joey commented as she flipped through an old book in the library. Jordyn scrolled through a site on the computer with interest.

“No kidding. I’ve noticed several articles myself of people telling stories and singing songs about this thing. It goes waaaay back.”

“Did you notice that it even mentions this demon or beast thing in the records of the town’s findings?” Joey asked.

“Yes. I’m sure that whatever it is, it’s what’s causing all of this. So we need to figure out how to find it and how to kill it.” Jordyn said resolutely. At that moment, she glanced over at Roderick, who had his head buried in a book.

“Do you think maybe we should go talk to him?” she whispered. Joey gave a little sigh.

“I don’t know. He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk though. I think he just might need a little space so he can focus on a solution. We don’t have time to grieve or be frightened by all of this. The sooner we figure this out and fix this, the soon Brian and Ian can get better.

Jordyn looked over at Roderick again and also sighed.

“More research it is then…”

Jordyn and Joey were sure that Roderick was thinking about Brian and Ian and the vines slowly wrapping around their lifeless bodies back at the hospital, but he had actually just found something very interesting. The library had photocopies of an old journal from back in the early 1800’s that had things about the town. The journal had many drawings of some creature in the woods, something that could have resembled the child’s drawing they had collected during their interviews.

Underneath one picture were the words Prthviko Atma. Roderick wasn’t even sure how you pronounced it, and he was currently deep in thought about what it could mean. He was sure it was some sort of clue, but he still couldn’t connect the dots…

A few feet away at the computer, as Joey sat next to Jordyn and continued to look through records, she suddenly felt goosebumps make their way over her arms, and a shiver ran up her back.

She grabbed onto Jordyn’s arm.

“Something’s going to happen.” she whispered. “It-it actually may already be happening. I can feel it.” Jordyn regarded her with concern and then stood up.

“What do we need to?” she asked resolutely. Joey closed her eyes, trying to focus on her ability.

“I’m… not sure… but… for some reason, I feel like we should start heading to the roof…”

Jordyn did not like the sound of that, for she knew that they needed to take any feelings Joey had seriously.

“Roderick. We need to move.” she told him, not bothering to whisper in the library. Roderick looked up at them in confusion as a couple of people looked up in aggravation.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Jordyn climbed up onto one of the tables and whipped out her PDU badge.

“Everyone in the building, PDU business. All of you need to start making your way to the roof of the library. NOW.”

The few people in the building started to come out of their books and headphones to look at her incredulously.

“Why? What’s going on?” an older man asked.

“For now, that information is classified.” Jordyn said curtly. “Up to the roof. That’s an order. Or would you rather get a citation for refusing to follow the instructions of an officer?”

The people in the library started to mumble in annoyance, but soon, they were all making their way up the stairs towards the roof. Joey smirked at Jordyn’s ability to bluff and get people to do what she wanted. It really came in handy sometimes. The three of them stayed in the back, making sure everyone got ahead of them.

“So uh… What’s actually going on?” Roderick whispered to them.

“Don’t know. Joey just got one of her feelings and said to get to the roof.”

“Ah. Ok.”

The three of them started to climb after the old people and introverts, unsure of why they were doing so, when Roderick suddenly stopped and listened.

“Do you guys… hear that?” he asked.

Joey and Jordyn paused and listened as well. They could suddenly hear a creaking and groaning from beneath them. They leaned over the rail and looked down the stairs they had just climbed just in time to see a rush of water tear through the first floor. Vines were wildly squirming around in the water as well, and starting to make their way up the stairs.

“RUN!!” Roderick screamed to the people above them as they started to quickly climb the stairs. “There’s a flood!!”

At the sound of a flood with water that could put you in a coma, the people above them started to take haste and hurry up the stairs.

“Well, now we know what that feeling was!!” Roderick gasped.

The vines swirled around the bannister and snaked their way up the steps. Roderick already felt like his lungs were going to burst in this extreme stair climbing in supercharged humidity, but he forced himself to keep going. When everyone reached the door for the roof access, there was a tense few seconds where the librarian had to pull out her keys and unlock the door. Once through, they slammed the door behind them, catching a few vines in the process.

“Aren’t you all glad you followed orders now?” Jordyn panted, still trying to catch her breath. Roderick took in a few deep breaths himself, and then looked out over the town with the view they now had. The library wasn’t the only thing under attack. They could hear screams and cries in the distance and nearby as the poisoned water made its way through the streets and buildings.

“Things are escalating rather quickly now, aren’t they?” Joey commented as they watched a thick vine crush the car of a person who had just been swept away by the flood. Roderick suddenly had a horrific thought as he remembered the patients lying in comas at the hospital, unable to move out of the way of any floods.

“Do you… think Ian and Brian are alright?” He asked, his lip trembling. Joey and Jordyn looked off in the direction where the hospital was, as did several of the people with them.

“I sure hope so…” Joey whispered.

Roderick had been expecting some kind of relief force to come and help them from this supposed natural disaster, but help never came. The sky was helicopter free, and the city below them became more and more silent as time went on. It was downright eerie. As it started to approach nightfall, it was evident that help was not going to come. With a grunt, the older man who had spoke up earlier stood up.

“I think we all need to get moving and see if we can find shelter for the night.” He said. Jordyn regarded him a little skeptically.

“Isn’t it pretty safe up here though? If you go down, you risk tangling with those vines again.”

The man then pointed to the sky, where great billowing storm clouds were rolling in.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of that.”

“Is the rain contaminated too?!” Roderick asked in disbelief. The old man scoffed.

“You must be newcomers then. Yes, the rain is contaminated. You can’t even step in the puddles a storm leaves behind. And have you ever been in a southern thunderstorm Boy?”

Roderick swallowed, starting to realize how dire their situation was now.

“Then let’s head out.” A black woman in her fifties spoke up, pulling out a gun. “Stay behind me.”

Jordyn saw a flash of a police badge on the inside of the woman’s jacket, and felt grateful that they had an off duty cop with them.

“I’ll head up the back.” Jordyn announced, pulling out her own gun.

So step by step, the group started to make their way down the stairs and passed the vines that were motionless for now. They expected to find remnants of the flood in large bodies of water at the bottom, but it was surprisingly dry as they slowly made their way out of the building.

Roderick covered his nose at the smell and tried not to look at a few motionless bodies that were strewn along the street, vines already starting to grow out of their orifices. The road was cracked with the plants that had overtaken the town, and it reminded Roderick of one of Brian’s post apocalyptic games.

He missed Brian.

And his brother.

Ian would have probably been complaining about something by now.

As they made their way through the denser part of the city, they picked up people here and there that had managed to escape the incoming flood. Roderick felt relieved when they found Lori Evans. They eventually made their way to the local high school and settled in the auditorium. Minutes later, thunder roared, and they could hear the pitter patter of the contaminated rain hitting the tin roof above them.

With nothing else to do but wait for the rain and night to pass, Roderick and the others lay on the school bleachers and fitfully tried to get some sleep.