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// Chapter 2: The Forest 
// Story: Devil's Regret 
// by All American 
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The desert’s song of dead wind blasted by as I drove down the trail. The road had long since turned into more of a bumpy mess than the nice flat ground that characterized the desert. Atlanta was plastered the roof as he took a nap and Dallas was staring out the window as we moved along. Sometimes I wondered what he was thinking about when he stared out that door for hours on end. He never did talk much since the attack on Ponyville. Come to think about it, he never really talked at all. He was generally quiet and relied on me and Atlanta to handle social situations. It kind of bothers me that he never really talks much, only giving me one word answers or a sentence at the most. At least Atlanta would give me someone to talk to but he much preferred the howling wind and sunlight of the roof of the H2.

The H2 gave a low hum as the exhaust started to give a loud roar. It seemed that was starting to go as well on the damn truck. I wondered how much longer the thing would last before becoming just a frame and engine. I placed my hand at twelve o’clock on the wheel and coasted north along the road. We had encountered a few griffon patrols through the past few days but it wasn’t really anything new. The land had become somewhat cooler and greener as we moved north, a nice change of scenery. Staring at a dead, brown landscape for years on end can leave a bad impression on you. After suffering dust storms almost every day, it would be nice to breathe clean, dust-free air. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a fine layer of dust coating the inside of my lungs.

Atlanta stirred from his nap and rolled over, looking down at us through the sunroof “Where the hay are we?”

Dallas looked at him with an unamused look “Heading north like we told you.”

“I’m so dang bored!” Atlanta said before rolling over away from view.

“I told you to get a book before we took off.” I pointed out with a smirk.

I wasn’t really sure anymore if it was healthy how much I enjoyed mocking my friends. It was all I really had to occupy myself anymore when I wasn’t taking pot shots at griffons. I guess it was better than giggling every time I killed a griffon. I used to know people like that.

“You know I don’t like to read.” Atlanta informed us from the roof as I looked in my side view mirror.

“Learn to like it.” Dallas said with a chuckled before returning his gaze back out the door.

Atlanta gave an annoyed grunt before rolling back over onto the roof. Dallas hummed a tune as I stared back out the dusty window. I seriously doubted the Hummer would ever be completely clean of the dust from the desert, no matter how many times I cleaned it. The sun beat down on the roof of the H2 as I scooted over a bit to avoid it through the sunroof. I hated the sun. I preferred a cloudy day or even snow for the matter. I guess you can take the boy out of the north but you can’t take the north of the boy. I reached over to the radio and shut it off as a forest appeared on the edge of the desert, a kind of buffer zone between the grasslands and the desert. It was strange to me because there was an almost immediate switch between mostly dead desert and greenery. I slowed down our approach as we closed in on the forest. 

The forest was around fourteen feet tall on average and was just open enough to let light in. The trail lead into the forest as I pulled in, vigilant of tree trunks and ditches. Animal moved around the Hummer as we moved into the forest and putted along at thirty miles per hour.

“What’s our heading?” I asked Dallas as I avoided a tree trunk in the middle of the dirt trail.

Dallas snapped back to our world and fumbled for the map that sat on the dashboard. He quickly opened it and traced a line with his hoof.

“Roughly thirty miles south of the grasslands and twenty miles south of the border marking the end of griffon territory.” He informed before closing up the map.

“Well, Atlanta.” I called out from the seat “Here is that change of scenery you wanted.”

“Well, hooray.” He said in a sarcastic tone.

“That’s the spirit.” I shot back with the same tone.

Atlanta waved a hoof in the air, dismissing me as I looked over at Dallas for some sort of back up. Once again, he was in his own little world. I huffed before looking back out of the dusty window and noticed the forest was getting noticeably darker. I flipped on the blinding fog lights and a few deer went running. The only thing my mind could think of at that point was dinner. The deer jumped into denser forest that I could only hope to get through with a tank. I curse in my head as I snapped back to the road and slowed to a stop. I dropped the H2 in park as Dallas and Atlanta looked over at me.

“Why are we stopping?” Dallas asked as he looked around the forest for any sign of hostility.

“We’re taking a break.” I informed them “Get out and stretch your legs.”

Atlanta jumped down from the roof as I stretched out and every joint in my body cracked with relief. Atlanta did the same, flaring out his wings as I turned in the direction of where the deer had gone. The truck rumbled as turned back around and walked over to the driver’s side door and reached in, grabbing the Dragunov. Atlanta gave me a looked before stepped out from in front of me.

“Where are you going?” He asked as he cracked his neck and walked in place.

“To get my dinner.” I said, pulling the bolt back a bit to check the round and holding the rifle off to the side “Wait here. If I am not back in twenty minutes, come after me.”

“You got it.” He said before walking over to the H2 and explaining everything to Dallas who came running over.

“You aren’t seriously going into the forest, are you?” He asked as if I was stupid.

“I’m scarier than anything we’ll see in here.” I pointed out before sliding through a few trees, not waiting for his response. 

I walked through the calm woods as my stomach rumbled. I had not eaten in days. Since there was only one town maybe every one hundred miles in the desert and even fewer non-griffon towns, food was hard to come by. Plus the desert wasn’t exactly good for gathering or hunting. I weaved through the woods as the area around me got darker and darker. I tracked prints in the mud for a few minutes before thinking I had maybe lost it already. I had always been a city boy, growing up in a concrete jungle. I remembered a few things from a couple nature shows I watched but most of it had gone in one ear and out the other. I looked around for a moment before cursing under my breath. I turned around and started back towards the rendezvous before hearing something snap behind me.

I spun around and brought the rifle to bear before the barrel smacked off a tree, the unwieldy barrel hampering me. I lowered it and brought it about before slowly making me way towards the noise. I could hear something trudging around in the mud as I searched for a deer. It was so dark that the only things I could really see were bright colors, like the pale of my hands and the orange-ish wood furniture of the rifle’s fore grip. This was hopeless. I wasn’t going to even get a shot, much less a kill in these kind of conditions. I lowered my rifle before a light appeared in the darkness. I raised my rifle again, scoping in the target. The light danced back and forth as I thought of dinner. It was then it struck me. What kind of deer carries a light? I knelt down, waiting for a sight of the light’s carrier.

A few seconds later, I could hear voices and laughing coming from the light source. I started to sweat as it moved closer to me but it suddenly turned away. I sighed in relief as the light moved away towards my left. The voices didn’t get any cleared as the light disappeared into the woods. 

“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I fought the urge to follow the light. 

I turned around and had the little fear in the back of my head that whatever that was may have gotten to my crew. I waited a few seconds before bolting through the dense woods, juking the trees. I dodged back and forth before the headlights of the H2 were visible. I stopped for a second to catch my breath before leaning against a tree and peering through the scope of the Dragunov. I ran the sight over the H2 and saw that it had been abandon for whatever reason. I stepped out of the woods, scanning all directions as I made my way towards the Hummer. I pointed the rifle down the road as I looked over into the backseat and saw it was empty.

“Dallas?” I called out in a hushed tone before turning the other way “Atlanta?”

I looked around before sadly lowering my rifle. I huffed before getting the panging fear of being alone. I always had them with me and now they were gone. I thought back for a moment of what we talked about for a situation such as this and climbed into the driver’s seat. I set the rifle in the passenger seat and pressed the horn three times in three second intervals. I was scared this would alert anything nearby but finding Dallas and Atlanta was more important. I jerked out one of my P226s and looked around, hoping to catch site of one of my crew. I looked around for a moment before finding Dallas’ map on the ground. It was then I realized something had happened. He knew that map was our lifeline and couldn’t be lost. To leave it on the side of the road, something had to have happened, but why the H2 still sitting here like I had left it? Why was nothing stolen? The bits still sat in the back and all my guns still sat on the rack in the back.

I felt the urge to cry out from the pain of being alone again but I knew better. I didn’t want to leave the spot in case they came back but something was awfully wrong. I didn’t even have a heading. I looked around for prints in the ground or anything of the sort. 

“Game on, birdies.” I mumbled as I looked around, expecting griffons.

I walked over and turned off the Hummer and walked forward, leaving it behind. I would leave it there in case they came back. I thought back for a moment and checked my watch. It was only fifteen minutes since I had left them in the first place. Atlanta may lack a bit of common sense but he wasn’t stupid. I knew he wouldn’t have left yet. Trudged down the path, mud clinging to my boots as I carefully watched the area around me. The trees seemed to peer over me, almost oppressively. My element had always been the concrete jungle, not a real one. I had a death grip on the Dragunov as I stopped for a moment and listened. I could hear the same voices I had heard from when I saw that light. I knelt down and looked for the source. It was almost impossible to see anything. I had a flashlight on my 1911 but I didn’t want to risk being spotted. 

The voices faded away again, what they were saying was still a mystery to me though. I stood back up as I noticed the light passing through the trees to my left again. I scoped in on it and adjusted the zoom to a lower magnification. Even though it appeared to be an oil lantern, I still couldn’t see anyone. It was odd because most of the locals used magic style lanterns but this one was putting off smoke, if only a little bit. It kind of reminded me of the old lanterns railroaders used to signal crossings. I followed it for a while, marking the occasional tree with my KA-bar to tell me the way back to my truck. The light dance as it swayed side to side and continued on to through the forest. I stopped for a moment and looked away, pulling my black knife out again and digging an arrow into the tree back towards the way I had come from. I looked back and saw the light was now gone again and the area was strangely devoid of life. No birds were signing, no bugs chirping, the mosquitos weren’t even biting. 

“Fuck.” I grumbled as I beat my fist against the tree.

I looked back towards the way I had come and looked down at my watch. It was now over two hours since I had started chasing that light. Maybe Dallas and Atlanta had returned to the Hummer. I pulled my boot from the mud again and started to march my way back. I took a few more steps before looking over at the tree and noticing none of my markings were there. I knew I had just marked this tree and it was a straight path. Something was seriously up here. I looked down the path but nothing but trees and darkness stared back. Even the sky was dark. I knew it had been daylight when we entered the woods and we had only been in them for roughly five hours at this point. I continued back down the path for another twenty minutes before the path started to change. It began to flair out, getting wider from side to side. I cling to my right hand side since I was left handed, giving me a wide sway with the rifle as I shouldered it and cautiously walked down the new trail. I had a feeling that someone was fucking with me.

I looked back up to the sky in a clear spot through the trees and saw that no stars were gazing down on me. Someone was obviously bringing their A game. The only time I had seen magic like this was when I was in the woods and first got Ulik. Man…. That was a long time ago and not a very pleasant memory. It made me shudder thinking of burning the body. I missed that kid. He never even said a word and his memory still haunted me. I just hoped I made the right decision pulling the trigger. He trusted me and I had to pull the trigger on him. This world may have the appearance of innocence but under that thin veil, it was no different than my own world.

I walked for what seemed like an eternity before the trail suddenly broke into a clearing with dense forest on all ends. I felt completely exposed. I turned back to the trail but where it had been was cut off by trees now. I lowered the rifle and looked around for the trail like a lost child looking for their mother. No sight of the trail was visible. I shook the rifle once in anger before turning around. I nearly had to pick my jaw up off the ground from what stood in front of me. My old apartment building stood in the middle of the field. It was a large, indistinct brick building that stood at three stories tall. It was an awful place from what I could remember. It looked exactly like it did back in Youngstown. Lights were on it every room that had the curtains open yet, there were no power lines running to it. A better question was what it was doing here? I had no explanation for it.

I looked over and the H2 sat off to the side of the building. I slowly walked over to it, spinning around looking for targets in paranoia. I slowly stepped over and noticed a white sheet of what looked like printer paper sat under the wiper blade. I took my right hand from the rifle and slowly reached out, pulling the paper from the blade. I set the Dragunov down on the hood of the SUV and opened the paper. It was in scratchy handwriting like a four year old with Parkinson’s disease let his hand fall asleep before writing it. 

‘We know what you did.’

That was all that was on the paper. I was puzzled. I folded the paper and stuck it in my pants pocket before grabbing the rifle. My mind was working on overdrive to figure out what the hell was going on. Smoke was ready to start falling out of my ears. I shook my head and knew there was a more important matter at hand. I grabbed the rifle and walked over to the apartment building. It seemed to give an ominous glow as I rounded it and walked over to the door. On the pale green metal door was a message written in the same handwriting in black paint.

‘Come inside to face it.’

I raised an eyebrow as I slung the rifle over my shoulder. I reached down and pulled my 1911 out, flicking the safety off. I fought with myself as I reached down and grabbed the handle. Was this really a good idea? Maybe I should just book it and forget this ever happened. I just couldn’t do that. I still owed it to Dallas and Atlanta. They didn’t abandon me. It didn’t even cross their minds. I turned the knob as it gave off a metal grind that made my spine curl. I pushed the door in a bit before lifting my gun and turning on the gun’s flashlight.