Banshee Worm King: Book Five of the Oz Chronicles (5 page)

I searched the tree for a way down, and found that the
branches below were spaced perfectly for an easy descent.
 
I stepped out on the first branch and said,
“Still don’t appreciate you firing off at those things without warning.”

“Taking the time to warn your friends and neighbors when it
comes to these things will get you and them killed.”

***

Getting Gordy up the tree was no easy task.
 
There was no elevator to hoist him up.
 
It took the help of everyone to carefully
pass him from branch to branch until Ariabod could use his long reach to pull
him up.
 
Gordy screamed in agony the
whole way.

Once he was up, we all gathered around him on the platform.

“Boy looks done in,” Bostic said.

“Who the hell are you?” Wes asked.

Bostic glared at him.
 
“I’m the proprietor of this here treeway.”
 

“His name is Bostic,” I said.
 
“And don’t bother introducing yourselves
because he knows everyone’s name already.”

Gordy coughed and groaned.

“We’ve got to get him out of this chill,” Lou said.

“Did you find shelter?” Wes asked Tyrone and me.

“They found me,” Bostic said.
 
“I can provide shelter.
 
Ain’t free though.
 
You all will have to earn your keep.”

“How?” April asked.

“I’m in need of food most of all.
 
You help me on a hunt or two, and we’ll call
it even.”

Without telling the others what it was that Bostic intended
to hunt, I agreed.
 
Had I told them we
would be going after the creepy-crawlies that took over this world, they may
have hesitated.
 
Gordy didn’t have time
for that.

Bostic lifted Gordy up and draped him over his
shoulder.
 
“I’ll carry him as far as I
can, but I’m most likely going to have to switch off with one of you at some
point.”

“How far can it be?” Wes asked.

Bostic thought the question over.
 
“Close to two miles,” he said.

“In the trees?” Wes nearly laughed at the notion.

“Something wrong with that?”

“It’s just hard to believe there’s two miles worth of
treeway ahead of us.”

“There ain’t,” Bostic said, heading for the bridge expanse
to the next platform.
 
“There’s a hell of
a lot more than that.”

We walked and I explained what I knew about the Banshee
worms.
 
Bostic shouted out corrections to
my description as needed.
 
When we
reached a platform that had three different bridge connections to it, Bostic
set Gordy down and stretched out his back.

“Can’t lug the kid no further.
 
Someone else’s turn.”

Wes picked Gordy up and, with less ease than Bostic, put
him over his shoulder.
 
Wes was breathing
heavily just from the effort. I had my doubts that he would make it across the
next expanse of bridge, but I didn’t say anything.
 
I got the idea he was trying to let Bostic
know we could take care of our own.
 

“It’s three platforms away,” Bostic said.
 
“It’s going to be fun getting to the last
one.”

“What do you mean?” Lou asked.

“You’ll see.”

We continued on and to my surprise Wes carried Gordy until
we got to the next-to-last platform.
 
He
was spent.
 
As he stepped off the bridge,
his foot caught on a warped piece of wood and he almost dropped Gordy as he
struggled to keep his feet.
 
Luckily Ajax
steadied him.

“Whew!” Wes said.
 
“My legs have near give out.”

Bostic smiled.
 
“Luckily you won’t need them for this next crossing.”
 
He pointed to a pair of thick cables that
were connected to the tree and stretched out as far as the eye could see into
the canopy.

“You think we’re tightrope walkers?” Wes asked.

Bostic reached up to a strap attached to the tree by a hook
and pulled it forward.
 
It moved easily
across one of the cables.
 
“This here
pulley will do the work for you.
 
Strap
yourself into this harness and just let gravity do its work.”

“A zip line,” April said.

“Exactly,” Bostic said. “This cable is for going.” He
slapped the other cable with his hand.
 
“And this one’s for coming back. I got three harnesses.
 
The third one over will have a rope on his
harness.
 
Once you’re across the way,
secure the other two harnesses to the pulley and yank on the rope.
 
I’ll pull the harnesses back with the rope,
and we’ll send the next three.”

“Why in the hell didn’t your folks just build a bridge to
the platform like all the others?” Wes asked.

“Security,” Bostic said.
 
“It’s our base of operations.
 
Needs to be difficult to get to.”

“Is it safe?” April asked.

“Safer than traveling on the ground.” He handed the harness
to Wes.
 
“You’ll go first, big hoss.
 
We’ll harness the dog in behind you.”
 
Pointing at Tyrone he said, “Angry fella,
you’ll be the third one to go over.”

“I ain’t angry.”

“Ok then, happy fella.
 
It don’t make a damn to me, just get harnessed up.”

Tyrone did as requested while I helped Bostic get Kimball
in a rig.
 
The hefty German Shepherd
wasn’t very pleased with the contraption.
 
He fought us most of the way, but we finally got him in it.

Wes was standing on the edge of the platform ready to
go.
 
Bostic connected Kimball’s harness
to the second pulley and tried to help Tyrone.

Tyrone moved away from him.
 
“I can do it myself.”

Bostic stepped back with hands in the air.
 
“Fine.”

Wes looked over the edge of the platform.
 
“How far up are we?”

“Not too far,” Bostic said.
 
“Twenty-five feet.
 
Maybe thirty.”

“Looks higher.”

“Everyone says that right before their first zip line,”
Bostic said.

“I’m ready,” Tyrone said.

“Okay, Wes, I know it don’t look like it, but that cable
runs at a decline. All you gotta do is give yourself a little push off the deck
and gravity will take over.”

He nodded, took a deep breath, and then pushed himself off
the platform.
 
An involuntary squeal
leapt out his mouth as he did indeed zoom across the cable.

“Let’s get your pooch on his way,” Bostic said to me.

I pushed Kimball to the edge of the platform by his rear.
He pushed back against me and whined.
 
“It’s all right, Kimball.
 
I
swear.”

Bostic wrapped his hand around Kimball’s harness and picked
him up off the ground.
 
“Don’t ask him
for his damn permission.
 
Just send him
on his way.”
 
With that Kimball yelped as
he was gently tossed past the platform.
 
He squirmed and kicked when he first started to glide out into the open,
but it wasn’t long before he calmed down and almost seemed to enjoy the ride.

“You’re up, happy,” Bostic said. “Remember, just a little
push...”

Tyrone was off the side of the platform before Bostic could
say another word.

Bostic shook his head.
 
“Someone should really explain the difference between angry and happy to
that boy.”

I ran to the corner of the platform to watch them go.
 
I got the chills when Wes disappeared into
the canopy.
 
It was as if he’d
disappeared into the mouth of a cave.
 
It
wasn’t long until they were all out of sight.
 
I could only hear the faint sound of Wes giggling.

The rest of us stood on the edge of the platform and peered
through the sinking fog and tree branches.
 
We waited for some sign that they had made it across safely.
 
We didn’t look to each other for assurance
that they were okay because none of us were willing to say they were.
 

I scanned the ground below us.
 
I didn’t have a choice.
 
Banshee worms or not, I was climbing down and
searching for my friends.
 

“Woo-hoo!”

It was Wes.

“That was awesome!”

It even sounded like Tyrone was laughing.

Bostic felt the tug on the rope and started pulling the
harnesses back.

“We should send Gordy this trip,” Lou said.

“Yeah,” I said.
 
“Ajax, too.”
 
I turned to
April.
 
“You up for it?”

She shook her head.

“No need to be scared, sweetie,” Bostic said.
 
“It’s safer than driving on the Interstate...
you know, back when that sort of thing was done.”

“I’m not ready,” she said.

“Fine,” I said.
 
“Lou?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked.
 
“I’m dying to do this.”

I patted Ajax on the back.
 
“How about you?”

Ajax nodded his huge head and flashed his trademark gorilla
smile.
 

“Will the harness fit him?” I asked Bostic.

“Hell, kid if it’ll fit me, it’ll fit him.”

I nodded even though I had my doubts.
 
I honestly didn’t think it would do the job
until I saw Ajax disappear into the fog on the zip line.
 
He groaned in agony the whole way.
 
We knew they had made it to the other side by
the sound of Lou’s madcap shrieking.
 
I
had the sense that given the opportunity she would gladly do it all over
again.
 

Once Bostic had pulled back the empty harnesses, he
approached Ariabod with one.
 
The giant
gorilla sneered and let out a growl.
 
Bostic stepped back.
 
“Is there a
nice way to ask him not to break me in half?”

I smiled.
 
“He’s just
a little moody.
 
My guess is he’s just
telling you to get it over with.”

Bostic hesitated and then bent down next to the great
ape.
 
“Sure wish that was more than a
guess.”
 
With shaky hands, he quickly
assembled the harness into position and fastened it around Ariabod’s
waist.
 
Once he heard the clasp click, he
stumbled back and wiped off his brow.
 
“Quick enough for you?”

Ariabod moved to the edge of the platform without
acknowledging the question.

I held out the remaining harness to April.
 
“No choice now.
 
Time to go.”

She stared at the harness and then shook her head.
 
“I can’t.
 
I won’t.”

“You have to,” I said.

“I don’t.
 
I’ll climb
down and walk.
 
Let me walk.”
 
She wiped a tear away.

“You don’t want to do that,” Bostic said.
 

“I do too.
 
Those
worm things won’t get me.
 
They don’t
even know we’re here.
 
We’ve been in the
trees for hours.
 
They’re probably back
at our old camp. It won’t take me very long to run from here to there.”

“The Banshees are here,” Bostic said.
 
“You can count on that.”

“What makes you so sure?” She asked.

“Because this is their feeding grounds.
 
There are hundreds of those things underneath
this ground. Maybe thousands.”

Her face went ghost white.
 
“Thousands?”

“Is that true?” I asked in disbelief.

“Why would I lie about a thing like that?”

I looked at him dumbfounded.
 
“The better question is why would you bring
us here?”

He shrugged.
 
“Your
friend there, Gordy.
 
You said he needed
shelter.
 
I’ve got it and some medical
supplies.
 
What else was I supposed to
do?”