A gentle walk down an easy slope
A gentle walk down an easy slope
By T.B Terral
After driving for six hours Lupe and Amos were looking forward to stretching their legs. Several wrong turns in the mountains had added an hour to their trip. Lupe couldn't help but to keep looking at her phone and the real estate listing that seemed like a gift from above. Sixty acres in the Appalachian mountains, with a large creek that ran year round, waterfalls that emptied into large pools perfect for bathing or fishing and acres of forest with a surplus of wild game, or so the blurb for the listing said. And all for a mere sixty thousand dollars. To say the couple was excited would be an understatement. The various twists and turns had made Lupe a tad car sick. She'd opened every window in the small car as well as the moon roof. The wind had whipped her long reddish gray hair into a wild tableau reminiscent of some wild wood elf from her stories and games. Amos hadn't fared much better. He also had long hair, though there was no gray to be seen. His long brown hair had tangled into his equally long beard, which was nothing but gray. Neither of them cared overly much how they appeared to others. They both enjoyed the wind in their faces and the scents of the forest and mountains it brought to their noses. The Google maps app told them to continue straight. "It's wrong" Amos said out loud as he took a sharp right turn. Lupe was even paler than normal. Even with the wind and pleasant scents swirling about her she could barely abide being in a box for so long, even if it was her beloved Amos behind the wheel.
After several switchbacks in the road they finally came to a dead end loop at the top of the mountain. A low growl emanated from Lupe's throat. "Ugh, people" she didn't even try to hide her disdain at the idea of having to make small talk and put on a friendly face. She had just been thinking about how perfect this place was, not seeing a house or any passing vehicles for miles. Here, at the end of the road, three vehicles were parked along the oval shaped dead end cul de sac. There was a man at the rear of a mid sized sedan as they came into view. Lupe made a half hearted attempt to brush her hair as Amos pulled in behind the man with the sedan, parallel parking between it and a landrover. Amos reached behind his seat, grabbing a cap he had tossed behind him and put it on without so much as running his fingers through his long hair. They both looked at the vehicle's clock before Amos shut the engine off. The trip had taken much longer than they had expected. Amos patted his wife's hand "it's okay hon, we'll get home before dark." The clock's digital display read 12:34. It was early fall and the sun sets around six pm.
"I think he's the realtor" she half whispered to Amos "I saw his picture on the listing" Amos shrugged and glanced at the "for sale" sign visible between two of the vehicles. He made a note of the name and got out of the small car, making slight barely perceptible whimpering sounds from the arthritis in his legs and back as he unfolded himself, stretching out to his full height of five foot eleven. Lupe did the same, though without so many sounds of pain. She was taller than Amos, as well as bigger. She put on a fake smile and said " hi there!" in a loud voice full of pretend cheerfulness. "Hey" the stocky blond man responded. "Mr …" Amos started as he quickly glanced back at the realtor's sign again. He had already forgotten the name "Anderson?". "No, I'm an investor up from Florida" he responded flatly while slamming the trunk down on the car. A Florida license plate visible. Amos and Lupe both glanced at the picture on the sign and exchanged looks with each other. "Oh,ok" Lupe said to the man. "I just came from the waterfall, it's an easy walk. It looks steep but it evens out into a gentle slope" He smiled as he added "There's a few other people down there now".
Amos and Lupe explored the minuscule amount of land around the road that had been cleared out as a build site. It was barely enough to fit an RV or maybe a single wide trailer. Not nearly enough for their dream home. Around the road and next to the small plot cleared out the forest began. Made up of mostly cedars, firs and hemlocks interspersed with the occasional pine, spruce and yew, the forest was thick and kept undergrowth to a minimum. The couple approached the forest with joy which quickly became disappointment. The trees hid the fact that the property they had placed their hopes upon was a mountainside. "This is too steep to build on hon" Lupe said to Amos sadly. "Maybe it's not like this everywhere" he replied, knowing it probably was. "Look, a game trail" he exclaimed excitedly as he pointed to a small path off to their left. There were dead limbs and fallen branches littering the forest floor. He picked up a sturdy looking branch, testing his weight on it and passed it to his wife. She looked at the stick with distrust. Amos proceeded down the path, Lupe a few steps behind. Rather than slow to a gradual slope the mountain path seemed to get steeper with each step. Amos began aiming for trees to stop his descent as he continued down the path. He stopped and rested against a large white oak, turning so his back was placed against the large sturdy tree. He glanced back up the path. "You ok hon?" He shouted. "It's too steep!" Lupe replied. "I'll wait here for you, just aim for the trees". Lupe came into view, taking baby steps and using the stick to help balance and slow herself. She half crashed into Amos, who released an audible "oomph". He grinned and gave her a quick kiss. She grinned at him and gave him a quick kiss in return. “I can’t go any further” she said between breaths “I won’t be able to make it back up before dark. Amos furrowed his brow in contemplation. After a brief moment he said “I didn’t come all this way not to see the creek and waterfall” “Of course not hon, I’ll wait here. If you feel it gets easier, just yell for me. Otherwise, if it gets harder, I’ll be here to help.” She paused for a moment “But you know it will be dark soon, and neither of us drive well at night” Amos nodded and headed down. Tree to tree he made his way down until he could hear the creek and the waterfall. “I’m close!” he shouted up the mountain to his wife. “I’m going back to the car!” she returned. Amos grimaced at that, but returned to the task at hand. Further down he went, a tree at a time. He could hear the rushing of the creek and the pounding of the waterfall, yet neither was in sight. He looked up, trying to see the sun's position through the trees. All that was visible was yellow through the canopy of leaves and branches above him. The ground had become steeper yet. Amos glanced back up the trail he had come down. It seemed even steeper looking upwards than it had looking down. “Lupe!” he shouted up the side of the mountain. A brief pause and then “Yeah?” came back down. “You okay?” he shouted back up the hill. “Yeah” she responded. “I’m almost back to the top. I hate this and will be glad to be back to civilization!”
Something about how she shouted back, perhaps the cadence, perhaps the word choices, seemed off to Amos, but he brushed it off and continued downward. It never got easier. They must have chosen the wrong path. Or the asshat had lied to them and there was no easy path. Regardless, he continued down the game trail, now easily a seventy five percent incline. He had been relying on the trees more than himself to descend without tumbling down the mountain in a free fall. He could hear the flowing water very clearly now, and something else. An odor or taste in the air that he knew well. Copper and iron. Non-ferrous and ferrous metals intermingling. The odor made his nostrils flare. He searched around himself, the ground, the impenetrable forest, the sky. He saw nothing that gave a clue to what his nose and mouth were telling him. He pushed himself further , harder. Tree to tree he descended until he had to use his stick to brake abruptly. Straight below himself, a good ten feet at least, was the creek. He marveled at the beauty. To his left was a waterfall. Below the waterfall to his right was a large pool. His pupils dilated as they focused on the blurry fish swimming in the pond. He glanced further to his left and saw another large pool, further up, that fed the waterfall. He took it all in, looking to his right to watch the pool with the fish narrow back down into a creek that followed the ravine between the two mountains down and out of sight. He sighed and closed his eyes, envisioning diving into the pool and catching the large fish, of swimming with his partner Lupe, and playing in the pond. He breathed in deep, with his eyes closed. The odor hit him strongly. It shocked him back to the real world and his eyes instantly focused on a carcass stuck on the rocks that created the lower pond, just before the creek continued. “Gawdammit'' Amos growled. He looked up into the sky, trying to penetrate the forest canopy. The sky seemed orangeish.
“ Motherfucker!” Amos shouted as he focused on the dead body, flayed to the muscle, stuck on a rock in the moving water. Then he thought back on what it was Lupe had shouted down that had bothered him. “Motherfucker!” he exclaimed out loud again. “Lupe hates fucking people, and civilization is people!”
Amos stood between a ten foot drop into his idyllic bliss and a one mile walk virtually straight up with arthritic hips and legs. He turned around and began trudging stoically upwards. Ten steps he made and he collapsed to his knees. “Jesus fucking christ” he exasperated. He crawled on his hands and knees, grabbing a tree trunk and pulling himself up, five feet at a time. He started counting down how many more feet he estimated. “Only one thousand fifty one of these to go…”
Amos’ arms were fine. He made good time pulling himself from tree to tree. The few intervals without trees within reach were the hardest. At one point, without trees to pull himself up on, he could go no further. He lay on his back during one of these intervals and pulled out a small bag of tobacco and a rolling paper. He deftly rolled his smoke one handed and flipped it into his mouth. He flipped his zippo on his pant leg and lit his cigarette. He gazed up at the canopy of tree branches above him and hoped he could reach Lupe before something terrible happened. There was barely any light left in the sky. He blew smoke rings while he thought it was unlikely he'd get to the top in time. He finished his smoke and resumed his climb. Another thirty minutes of pulling himself up a few feet at a time and it was dark . He could just make out the moon through the canopy. He was old, and could control himself. He considered the ramifications. Worst case, they’re just another dead couple, car abandoned on a lone mountain top, with at least three others. Best case, they drive out in the morning and no one dies. He pulled himself up a few more feet and the plateau was in sight. The stocky blond man comes over the ridge. “I could hear your heavy breathing way up here,” he said. “You old motherfuckers are the easiest.” Amos laughs. And can’t stop. A real belly laugh from his soul. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re laughing at old man, you’re about to die. I dun kilt yer wife. I’d take yer skin but yer too old ta be any good” Amos sees the skinwalker perfectly for what it is. A monster, a demon. Preying on people looking for a good deal. Lying about the ease of the hike and attacking them when they’re most vulnerable. He’s lit brightly in the moonlight. Amos’ nose crinkles and extends, as does his lower jaw,and the limbs of his arms and legs. Hair covers his body matching his beard. His teeth grow to three times their size and his fingernails grow and curl into thick sharp claws He twists and contorts,his insane laughing turning at first into a growl and then a howl as the transformation completes. He is the great grey wolf. He is in control now. The human, Amos, is mostly gone, becoming little more than Jiminy Cricket to Amoroks’ Pinocchio. In his place is Amorok. He snarls and growls at the monster in front of him, ready to do great harm. Their eyes are locked. The skinwalker knows he’s bit off more than he can chew. Amorok can smell the fear emanating from the creature. He can see the panic in the creature's eyes and a shadow creeping up silently behind it. From behind Lupe launched herself at the shapeshifter's neck, her attack left it paralyzed and bleeding out on the only flatland on the property. Amorok sits on his haunches and bows his head to his red and silver lady. She approaches his face and nuzzles the old grey wolf. They leave the creature to bleed out and run off down the mountain together to jump in the pools and catch fish and hunt throughout the night. It was a gentle run down an easy slope for them.