This forest looks weird

[The Organization]

(Written by KillerVole)

Judy had followed along behind Simon for about five minutes before she realized that something was wrong. Specifically, their group was down a member. Frederick had fallen behind, and, somehow, Judy and Simon hadn't caught on until just now. She stopped for a second, and glanced behind her. Not a sign of the boy in the wheelchair. Come to think of it, the terrain in the forest was pretty rough. It was possible that Frederick was stranded somewhere. Judy looked at Simon, continuing on, then back to the forest. She had to go find Frederick. The question was, should she let Simon know?

No. She'd catch up with him, instead of worrying him now. He wouldn't be of any use anyways. Thanks to his power, he couldn't help push a wheelchair, and if he followed her and got hurt, that wouldn't be fair at all, would it? So she just quietly slipped off, back into the forest. He couldn't have fallen too far behind.

It took her longer than she'd anticipated to locate Frederick. Finally, she heard him in the distance, grunting. She hurried in his direction, hoping he wasn't locked in a struggle for his life with some crazy person with fire breath or poison eyeballs or something like that. Maybe it was just an animal. She was good with animals. Maybe there was a big lion, and she could tame it and ride it away from here, with Frederick and Simon in tow, and she'd wake up in the real world again and tell Lydia and Shauna about the messed up dream she'd had.

And maybe the sky would open up and rain winning lottery tickets on her while, at the same time, she was crowned queen of the world.

No, it was nothing so extreme, so dangerous or helpful, as she had imagined. Frederick was on the ground, trying to tip his wheelchair back upright. It looked like he had gotten it caught on a protruding root, causing it to overturn. Judy rushed over to him, saying, "A-are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

Frederick paused for a moment and looked up at her. For a second, a look of annoyance and anger flashed across his face, but then he composed himself. "Yeah, just had a little fall here. Since the terrorists and psychopaths haven't gotten me yet, I guess a damn tree branch decided it wanted a go. Could you give me a hand?"

With a few minutes of work, they were able to get the wheelchair free of the snare, and Frederick seated in it once more. Unfortunately, one of the wheels had been somewhat bent in the process, so their progress through the forest was slow. As they moved, Judy explained her decision to return without Simon. She talked about other things as well, trying to keep the silence from stretching awkwardly between them. Frederick's mood seemed to have worsened considerably, possibly due to the high-pitched squeak his wheelchair made as she pushed it along (well, she was actually mostly just giving it stability, so it wouldn't overturn should they hit another rough spot. Frederick provided most of the propulsion with his arms).

The whole situation was distracting enough that it took her nearly half an hour to figure out that they were lost. In fact, Frederick was the first to catch on.

"Wait a minute," he said. "I thought you said Simon was just a little ways ahead, and that we were near the edge of the forest."

"We were. Uh, I mean, we are. I'm sure I came from this way."

But, as she looked around, Judy found her confidence slipping. One stretch of forest looked very much like any other, and she really had no landmarks. She'd always thought she had a good sense of direction, but apparently not. Then again, this was no normal forest. Perhaps it had changed its shape as she moved, spinning them deeper and deeper into a maze of trees. Judy knew plants. She had her garden at home. That had always been a comfort, but these plants were different. Maybe it was just the situation, but she ascribed a certain malice to them unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

She gave a little shiver as the wheelchair jolted along. Frederick had fallen silent. The quiet was only broken by the sounds of insects and birds, and even those were infrequent.

---

It was dark, now. They had stopped hours ago, when the sun fell, given up on finding their way free for the night. Neither of them was really ready to sleep, though. Not with the possibility of murder lurking behind every tree, in every ambient sound.

Judy was sitting in lotus position, facing away from Frederick. They had simply run out of things to say, and sporadic attempts to revive their discourse had felt forced. So now, they were waiting for sunrise. It was going to be a long, long wait. Why, she'd be surprised if it was even—

"Morning campers, it's 00:00am here in - hah, like I'd tell you! - and that means it's time for the first announcement! Alright!"

As they listened to the announcement, Judy shifted into Downward Dog. This was bad. People were actually killing. Not many, but with only twenty of them, it wouldn't take more than a couple. This was sure to complicate any plan Frederick had to get them free. And the information they had to guess these killers on was quite weak. A Latino and a girl? The only people in the clear were Judy, Frederick, Simon, and any non-Latino guys they might meet.

And then it didn't matter, because they were listing the places to stay out of, and she was so afraid it was going to be the tower, so their plan wouldn't work, or the cable car station, which would throw Simon off and destroy their chances of meeting up, or both. But it was worse. The forest became off limits. They had an hour to get clear.

"Oh, fuck." It was the first thing she'd heard Frederick say in half an hour.

After that, it was all a blur. They hurried to pack their scant possessions, then took off in a random direction. Judy figured if they ran in a straight line, they were sure to hit the edge of the forest before too long. How far could it be? So they ran, well, more moved at a quick shuffle since a battered wheelchair did not lend itself well to speedy locomotion.

At first, Judy wasn't so worried. As they moved, though, she began to get more and more nervous. An hour was a lot of time, yet, after half of it had passed (by her estimations) they seemed no closer to the edge of the forest. Everything looked the same. She was starting to wonder if she'd picked the right direction. No. It had to be. There was no way the forest could be that big. It wouldn't make sense to kill them arbitrarily, right? They were doing some sort of experiment, even if it made no scientific sense.

Seemingly sensing her hesitation, Frederick said, "We should keep moving. If you think you'll stand a better chance without me, you can leave me here. I understand."

"No."

So they moved again. On and on, until they reached a ridge. A bumpy, rocky, steep ridge, one there was no way the wheelchair would make it up. They had to be running low on time. Judy looked up the ridge. What was beyond it? Did this forest ever end? Had she gotten lost, gotten them turned around?

"Offer's still open," Frederick said.

She had to think for a second this time.

"No."

And then she felt it. A weird vibrating in her flesh. Soft. Subtle. They weren't joking, then.

"H-hang on," she said. "I'll go up there, check it out, and, uh, and see. Maybe you can crawl. Maybe it's safe right up there, and we can come back for your chair in a day or something."

Frederick nodded at her, gave her a strange little smile. "Bye," he said.

She didn't want to think about what that meant. Didn't want to know what he was assuming of her. She'd come back. She couldn't just leave him. Only, only maybe, if she didn't have time... No, she would come back.

She scrambled up the slope, dodging undergrowth. The vibration came again, more urgent. She kept moving. Coudn't stop. Finally, she reached the top, and looked out. It was enough to start her crying.

---

Frederick waited in his chair, fuming. He wasn't mad at Judy. Wasn't mad at himself, though there was some irritation at his predicament. No, he was mad at the whole universe, because he wasn't going to get a chance to pay back those bastards. He was going to die alone. All he could hope was that Judy managed to kill them for him. Small comfort, that.

The vibration under his skin came again. He was trying to ignore it. His last few moments would be nicer if they were peaceful. The vibration repeated, faster now. He heard rattling, loose gravel sliding down the slope, and there was Judy.

"You came back?"

He hadn't been expecting it. For a second, hope surged through him. They could do this. He'd be out his chair, for a while, but she could carry him or something. They could live.

She was crying.

"What's wrong? We can make it. We still have time."

"N-no... Frederick, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I must have gotten us lost, or, or something. All that's up there is... is... more forest."

He blinked. Impossible. To come this close, to have that last little hope taken away? It wasn't fair. Not at all.

"Hey," he said to her. "Normally I'd never say this, but, well, given the circumstances, I guess I can tell you you're awfully cute. Oh, and, uh, I'm glad I met you. Really."

Judy wiped at her eyes. Looked at him. Opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Said, "Y-you too."

The vibration in his body had been building, increasing, and now it was a constant hum. He looked at Judy. She looked back. The buzzing increased.

Subject C14, Frederick Slagenger: ELIMINATED
Subject C20, Judith Vibert: ELIMINATED