Chapter 24: Tragedy
"What?" the two echoed.
"It explains everything!"
"The more you go deep inside the forest, the more the plants mutate. The farther in the forest you'll be, the worse a phone will work. Don't you know? if someone calls you from inside an highly irradiated area, one of these 'effects' would be a static or muffled sound, exactly what we heard from Steph's phone!"
"Does this mean…" Arnold glanced back at Mia, his expression darkening.
"Yes." she nodded. "If we want to save Steph, we'll have to go deeper inside the forest. There, we'll have to fight off against the waves of radiation."
Mia looked at the two, and with a somber and melancholic voice, she spoke.
"Please, don't follow me. I'm the one who created this mess—I should…I should be the one who fixes it.
Arnold flatly refused.
"What kind of brother would I be if I left Steph alone in a place like that? What would I say to our parents then?"
He turned to his girlfriend and said,
"But you…Marina, you should stay here," Arnold smiled weakly, caressing her cheek with his rough, dirtied hands.
Just as Gray expected, Arnold was truly a good person.
The young woman smiled back and closed her eyes, as if she wanted to stay like that, embraced by her loved one, forever.
"…I can't." she fluttered her eyes open.
"In sickness and in health, until death separates us, am I right?" she added, winking at Arnold.
"Y-you knew?" he asked, looking dumbfounded.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"
"So…" Arnold shivered.
Taking a ring from his pocket, he bent down and asked.
"Is it a yes?"
"Of course I will marry you, dummy," Marina leapt into his bear-like arms, a smile plastered on her face.
Arnold expression also softened, turns out he really needed this.
Mia then interrupted them.
"Are you aware of the effects that radiation has on the human body?"
"Don't worry." Marina glanced at the girl. "I'm sure that my fiancée wouldn't mind if I were to lose my hair."
Arnold blushed, not used to being called in that manner.
Marina shot a murderous glare at him.
"You won't…right?"
Arnold shook his head furiously.
"Well, we should go now," she chuckled, pleased with her now fiancée's response.
…
The trio looked at the nightmare inducing forest.
It was filled with roots sprawled in all kinds of directions and positions. Tree branches looked like thin arms, ready to snatch them away.
Now that they truly knew what had induced the changes in this cursed forest, they weren't afraid of this view anymore.
Instead, they were more worried of what was causing the changes.
Radiation is an unseen phantom that mutates everything it touches, an invisible threat that causes everything to turn to ashes, hair to fall, skin to rot, and decay all living.
Marina and Arnold started to move forward.
Mia stayed behind, muttering something that was almost unheard, covered by the whooshing wind.
"—you…"
"Hm?" Arnold turned around, facing her.
"Thank you for not getting mad at me when I deserved it."
The man shook his head and smiled warmly, gesturing for the girl to come forward.
When Mia did, Arnold came up close and whispered,
"Let's keep this between us, but I'm certain; Steph feels the same as you."
"R-really!?" she brought her hands over her beating heart, trying to suppress her excitement.
"Shh… Steph is waiting for us," Arnold chuckled. "Especially you. Let's not make him wait." he winked.
In the meantime, Marina stared at the two, a warm smile plastered on her face.
…
The trio had been walking for approximately thirty minutes, venturing deeper inside the forest.
"Are you girls alright?"
The roots, just like before, were intertwined between themselves to entrap the animals unfortunate enough to meet them.
"I feel fine, but there is an awful metallic taste on my mouth." Marina stuck her tongue out.
"The ionizing radiation is starting to have an impact on us. A geiger counter would've helped." Mia cursed out loud.
"Yeah." the man replied.
"You know, Mia, once we are done with this, I would like Steph to be the best-man in our wedding." he smiled.
"You have to invite me!" she replied.
"Well, talking about that…"
"Would you like to be girl who scatters petals down the aisle?" Arnold scratched his cheeks, slightly embarrassed to ask for something so personal.
"It's an honor!" Mia exclaimed with happiness.
Marina chuckled lightly, happy to see his loved one become comfortable with her once again.
As she wiped a tear from her face with a paper towel, she suddenly stopped.
"Look at the ground…" Marina said.
"How come there's a small passage, not filled by any roots, trees, or even grass?"
Just like the young woman said, Mia moved her camera towards the ground, revealing a passage lacking any specks of nature, or rather, vitality.
Upon further examination with the aid of her flashlight, Mia was able to see many indents on the 'road.'
Mia started running, following the road.
When she reached Marina and Arnold, she proclaimed, "It's footprints—fresh footprints!"
Even though they were going towards the centre of the forest—one of the most dangerous places on earth, where it was plausible that life other than the roots couldn't sustain itself, the two lovers started running, uncaring of what would happen do them.
As they did, they looked at each-other and smiled, holding their hands tightly.
Mia kept on following the footprints as the couple tailed behind her.
After twenty minutes, they stopped abruptly.
The girls started to cough heavily, while Arnold, thanks to his sturdy physique, could fare off better.
Marina, at some point, fell to the ground.
Arnold ran to her side, coursing his trembling hands through her hair.
"I just need… a couple of seconds." she said.
As he kept on caressing her head, chunks upon chunks of hair became stuck to Arnold's hand, causing him to stagger.
"I-If I told you to stay back, would you listen to me…?"
Marina winked.
"…I think you already know the answer."
Mia stopped coughing.
The girl stared wordlessly at the pale Marina, feeling worried and guilty about her dire condition.
It was clear, they were going to have permanent repercussions.
Although Mia thought it was too soon for her to get any children, she was afraid that the couple couldn't go forward with their plans.
The radiation poisoning could make them either infertile, or make their children more prone to cancer, leukemia, mutations, and other life-threatening dangers.
This only made her worry more about Steph, who had been around the most radioactive areas for more than one hour.
Once Marina caught the girl's worried gaze, she smiled softly. With a deep breath, she stood up.
"Let's go. Steph isn't going to save himself, isn't he?"
…
"The imprints end right here," Marina muttered. "But it doesn't make any sense… How come Steph isn't here? Did he decide to wander off towards the roots?"
She shook her head.
"Regardless, we have to search in this zone. He may have passed out from the high levels of ionizing radiation contained in this place." Mia explained.
Arnold nodded and proceeded to walk with the girls, his hand still holding Marina's.
The look on his face was stern, yet hopeful.
The trio kept on walking.
To save a life, they all had to face death first.
By now, every root created intertwined, intricate pillars that were over ten meters tall.
Inside them there was a cascade of dogs, foxes, deers and even wild boars.
They didn't attack though, they stayed motionless, only digesting their foods silently.
As they looked around, they all saw a familiar figure, standing behind a dark shadow.
Mia pointed her flashlight at the being, who slowly covered its eyes in response.
It wore a torn, green sweater paired with a pair of jeans, that too, were torn.
Strangely, although the girl had just flashed her light at the figure, the darkness behind him didn't recede.
Woosh!
The wind made his blonde, dyed hair ruffle slowly in the hair.
As Arnold recognized Steph, he immediately ran towards his brother, releasing Marina's hand from his firm grip.
The young woman tried to grasp his bear-like hand once more, but he was already too far.
They had found Steph.
After hours of being in that damned forest, they finally had the chance to get out.
While everyone on the group knew they needed urgent care to their injuries and poisoning, they all were sure of one thing.
It was worth it.
For him, they came this far.
For him, Marina and Arnold had finally agreed to strengthen their bond, forever.
For him, Mia decided to endanger her life, facing permanent consequences.
"Steph!" Arnold blurted, glad that his brother—his dear brother—was fine.
Steph slowly moved his hand from his left eye and slowly brought it towards his brother.
His movements were stiff, almost mechanical.
Mia too, was extremely happy.
…Yet, she felt that something was off.
She kept on feeling a strange, uncanny sensation inside her heart.
Wanting to get a clearer view, she zoomed on the darkness behind him, using her camera.
Mia started to tremble.
Her eyes started to water.
She saw a twenty meters tall figure wearing the sliced head of a brown bear, blood still dripping from it, holding something similar to puppet rig.
From it, thin roots came down like a waterfall.
And they…they connected to Steph's body.
"N-no."
Mia repeated to herself.
"NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO."
Seeing the girl's reaction, Marina immediately urged for Arnold to stop.
Yet, the man didn't listen.
He had just found his brother after hours, and now they wanted to leave him? They all decided to risk their lives for Steph, and now they wanted to go back to safety without him?
"Arnold, I'm begging you, stay away from him!" Marina insisted, tears streaking down her pale face.
She too, had seen it.
Steph stayed unmoving, his hand still raised by the thin roots.
"Look at you…"
"My brother, my poor, little brother… You must have felt really scared, haven't you?" Arnold mumbled under his breath.
"Let's go. Everything is alright now—everything is finally alright now…"
"Dear, please, come back." Marina fell to the ground, her knees giving out.
"Quit it!" Arnold turned around and snapped, his eyes furious.
But once he saw her face, and the way she was awkwardly stationed the ground, he felt his heart grow soft with regret.
"I'm begging you, Marina—don't say anything else. We'll get Steph and then we can finally go away… I promise—and I always fulfill my promises, don't I?" he smiled weakly at her.
"Arnold." Mia said, her voice hoarse.
"That's not Steph—That's not our Steph, anymore."
However, the man didn't listen.
"We'll take these damned roots off your body, and then, we'll all go home."
Arnold looked at his brother's inexpressive face and laughed weakly.
"You know, I wanted to propose to Marina. I spent so much time and money to make it all perfect. Turns out that she knew all along. Isn't that funny?"
"Even though you never said it, I always knew you wanted me to find someone who didn't care about my appearance, loving me for who I am."
"Well, I'm happy to announce it to you."
"I found someone like that."
"But now it's your time to do that, don't you think? Mia has been waiting you for a long time, my little brother. She really likes you, did you know that?"
He smiled.
"Well, I'm pretty sure you did. She was really bad at hiding it. You are pretty dense sometimes, but even then, you aren't a fool."
"You are pretty stupid sometimes, though. Always caring about impressing others—especially Mia."
"You always spent a lot of time dressing in the ways you thought she would like, when really, she didn't care about the clothes you wore. You were the one she truly cared about."
"You should have seen her earlier—you should have seen how worried she was about you. And even now, she is tremendously worried about you."
"So, are you going to move, or are you going to let her worry once more?"
"You know, women don't like a man who makes them wait. But even then, I'm sure she wouldn't mind waiting for you.
"She likes you that much."
Arnold raised his hand forward and started to ruffle his brother's hair.
"Even dyeing your hair for her…You really are hopeless, aren't you?"
Something unexplained happened.
Even though Steph was unable to move without the assistance from the roots and the orders from his bear-headed master…
He had tears streaming down his face.
He tried to speak, but no words came out.
His gaze became blurry.
He tried to muster all the strength needed to avoid to come.
But.
…It wasn't enough.
Instantly, his pale, root-covered arm pierced through Arnold's chest.
Arnold slumped to the ground, blood streaming from his mouth.
Steph wanted to free himself, to move and tear apart his master's body, but he was stuck, utterly unable to move.
The only thing remaining of his humanity was his rage-fueled, almost deliriant glare.
He wanted to scream, to tell Marina and Mia to get away, but the only sound that came out was an unintelligible, muffled noise.
His master silently moved the cross-shaped structure that connected to all of the strings.
…Soon, Steph moved with it.
The roots that intertwined with his body flailed wildly, shooting in every direction.
Marina was on the ground, crying her eyes out.
She couldn't believe it.
She couldn't believe that Arnold, her soon-to be husband was gone.
She simply couldn't accept it.
Instantly, a sharp pillar made of roots pierced her body, destroying her heart, ending her painlessly.
Mia's camera dropped on the floor as she tried to run away, wailing uncontrollably at the scene.
The bear-headed master saw the scene.
In a sick and sinister way, he commanded Steph to chase the girl—like he was a dog, and a rabbit was his prey.
Being augmented by the many roots, he quickly caught Mia with one of them.
Feeling his body move uncontrollably, his hands were soon placed on Mia's neck.
He began to strangle her.
Mia thrashed around, trying to escape. She slapped, kicked, and even punched Steph, but it made no effect.
She begged and pleaded with tears in her eyes, but Steph wasn't able to stop.
His muffled screams and her shrieks resounded within the forest.
This was Steph's punishment.
After a minute of prolonged suffering, her neck broke.
The camera was still recording.
Steph stood alone near the bodies of his loved ones and the same roots covering the forest.
Once again, his face became inexpressible.
Steph had lost everything.
He lost his ability to fight, losing the will to yell or cry at his situation.
What was the point of doing that now? What would change?
The ones he was meant to fight or yell for were already gone.
Even his body had long died.
And now, the roots were the only thing supporting and sustaining him.
The same creature that made him survive was the same creature that had commanded him to kill his own brother, his brother's soon to be wife, and even his loved one.
The same one who gave him life, was the sole reason for his need to perish.
What an horrible fate that was.