We stopped near the middle of the lake and turned off the motor. Sam and the two Todds left the dock and headed into the woods. The other Gretchen sat there for a minute and then walked over to the dock. She stood there watching us
Gretchen had wrapped her arm up with a towel that had been left on the boat. It had been bleeding pretty bad after Phoebe pulled the thing off of her.
We sat in silent shock for a while on the boat, just floating in the lake. After a while, Phoebe broke the silence.
“How are we getting out of here?” she asked.
“I’ve got the car keys,” I said. If we can make it to the car, we can drive closer to town where we should hopefully be able to get a signal and call for help.”
“I think we should park the boat on the other side of the lake. We can hide in the trees while we walk back to the house,” said Phoebe.
“Good idea, hopefully we can go undetected over there,” I said.
“What do you think is happening to Todd and Sam and why isn’t it happening to us?” Gretchen asked.
“They both inhaled that dust,” said Phoebe.
“I think you’re right…Todd said he was losing control of his mind. The same thing must have happened to Sam,” I said.
“I didn’t breathe in any, but it still copied me,” said Gretchen. “It was really big and it hurt when it was digging into my arm.”
“I don’t think anything big enough got onto me or Phoebe,” I said. “The big one on your arm was from the dust that came out of Sam, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah…maybe it is stronger or faster when it comes from people instead of the trees,” said Gretchen.
There wasn’t much more we knew at this time about the dust and those things, but we knew we had to get out of here quickly.
Phoebe started the engine back up and took us across the lake. There was a spot with a small section of sand that she found. She beached it as far as it would go and I took the anchor out into the trees just to be sure it wouldn’t float away.
“Looks like the other Gretchen is still on the dock,” said Phoebe. “I don’t know what else to call them.”
“The two Sam’s and two Todd’s went into the woods a while ago now so we’ll have to be careful of them,” I said.
The woods were pretty silent other than the crunching of the sticks and leaves under our feet along with the occasional breeze. I didn’t hear any birds or other animals, which I thought was odd.
We had walked away from the lake and into the woods before turning towards the direction of the cabin. We didn’t want the other Gretchen to see us coming. After a while we came to another section of dead trees. It wasn’t birch trees this time. These were a bunch of evergreens with green needles all over the ground. The needles remaining on the branches were all brown.
“Maybe we should get closer to the lake. There’s no way I’m going through that area,” said Phoebe.
We went closer to the lake, but stayed behind the cover of the trees lining the lake. We started seeing animal bones again on the ground along the path we were making. Leaves were also all over the ground. There were way too many for this time of the year.
“This is crazy,” said Gretchen. “I’m afraid no one is going to believe us, especially in the U.P. They are going to think we are on drugs.”
“I bet you’re right,” I said.
There were some smaller trees and bushes we went through that got thicker the further we went. We pushed through some and a cloud of dust escaped from the trees.
“Don’t breathe!” I shouted as I held my breath and ran towards the lake.
Gretchen and Phoebe followed closely behind. After I had taken a few steps into the water and when I couldn’t hold it any longer l, I took a big breath in. I felt something on my shoulder and ripped it off.
“Ow! It’s just me!” shouted Phoebe.
“Sorry, I thought one of those things had attached to me,” I said.
“It’s okay,” said Phoebe.
Gretchen came running behind her and dove into the water.
“That can’t be good,” said Phoebe.
Gretchen stayed under water for a few seconds and then came back up, brushing at her hair and body.
“Is it off me?” she asked. “I felt some of it land on me.”
“I think so,” Phoebe said after checking her over.
I looked back over to the dock. It was empty. “The other Gretchen is gone,” I said.
We walked along the water for a while hoping it would be safer than in the trees. When we got closer to the house, I could hear a car engine running.
“Do you think one of them is in the car?” asked Gretchen.
“Let’s stay by the house so we can peek over to the driveway and see what’s happening,” said Phoebe.
We ran over to the side of the house and slowly walked along it until the driveway was almost in view. I leaned over and saw the blue Jeep we had taken up here.
“There’s no one near it outside, but I can’t tell if there’s anyone inside it,” I said. “The windows look all fogged up.”
“We should get out of here…I’m sure that is the dust,” said Gretchen
Both front doors opened and there was a dust covered Gretchen emerging from each side.
I quickly backed up against the house. “Two of you just came out of the car,” I whispered to Gretchen.
We went quickly into the trees and headed back towards the boat. After finding another area of pine needles and leaves all over the ground, we retreated back to the lake for the rest of the walk.
“None of the dead trees are right by the water,” said Phoebe. “I wonder if that means anything or if the dust just hasn’t made its way there yet.
“The shower didn’t stop whatever those things are that grow from the dust,” said Gretchen. “But water seems to work before they start growing, otherwise I’d have things all over me.”
“Let’s stay close to the water then,” said Phoebe. “We’ll just jump in if anything gets on us.”
“Good idea,” I said.
The boat was still beached when we made it back.
“What now?” I asked. “There really isn’t anywhere we can drive the boat that will help us.”
“Plus, they’ll be able to hear it for sure,” said Phoebe.
I looked at my watch. It was almost six-thirty. “We’ve only got a couple hours until the sun sets. I don’t think any of us want to be out here in the dark.”
“Maybe we can find a DNR station…I would think there would be one at the state park,” said Gretchen.
It was a long drive into the property to get to the house along private dirt roads so I didn’t think there would be much of a chance of finding someone that way. The park did seem like our best bet.
“Good idea,” I said.
We continued to walk along the edge of the lake until we were about a couple hundred feet from the house.
“Look,” said Gretchen, pointing to the yard behind the dock.
There were two Gretchen’s standing in the middle of the yard. They were looking up towards the sky.
“What the heck are they doing?” asked Gretchen.
The three of us watched as huge clouds of dust were forcefully ejected from their mouths up into the air.
I could see it being dispersed in the air by the breeze.
“I know we keep calling it dust, but this reminds me of how mushrooms shoot spores into the air,” said Phoebe. “Maybe it is some kind of fungus .”
“I wonder how far those things can spread,” I said.
“Let’s hurry and find help,” said Gretchen.
We went off into the woods and took a similar path as this morning. We ended up on the other side of the small lake that Sam jumped in.
If we kept going the same way, we’d probably end up at the same birch tree area so we adjusted our course to try to avoid it.
There was the occasional dead tree, but not a whole section like we’d seen before. Still, we were extra cautious anytime we came across one. I could see a clearing up ahead and was about to step into it, when I felt someone grab my arm and pull me back.
It was Gretchen. She held her finger to her lips and pointed off to the right in the clearing. Todd and Sam were standing there looking up at the sky, just like the other Gretchens.
Before they began spreading more spores, we went around the clearing as quietly as we could. When we were almost around, I looked back and saw the spores shoot high up into the sky.
I wondered how long it would take for the spores to spread over us and how much it would take to take over our bodies.
“We should move faster,” I said. “Those things could be spreading fast.”
We began moving much more quickly through the trees until we came to a huge oak tree with green leaves in an almost perfect circular pattern on the ground beneath it. The bare branches stretched outward as if they were reaching out to grab us. Beyond the tree, I could see leaves floating down to the ground from other infected trees that continued in a straight line.
We followed the linen of trees, keeping a safe distance between us and them.
“Wait…,” said Phoebe. “I think someone is out here ahead of us.”
The air was still and the woods were quiet.
“There,” said Phoebe. “Did you hear that?”
It sounded like a stick being snapped in half. There was a pause and then it happened again.
“Sounds like it is coming from over there,” Gretchen said, pointing ahead toward the line of dead trees.
We moved a little further away from the dead trees and kept walking. The noises continued from the same spot.
Looking through the trees, I could see two people breaking the bark and branches off the dead trees. With each break, a puff of the spores was sent into the air.
“Hey, that’s Sam over there,” said Phoebe. “But I don’t know who the other guy is.”
They were collecting the branches and bark into one of those log carrier bags. We stood silently watching them for a while. When the bag became full, Sam picked it up and carried it back towards the clearing we had passed.
“What do you think they are going to do with those?” asked Gretchen.
“I’m guessing they’re going to start a bonfire to spread more of the fungus,” I said.
The other guy there turned to face us. “Hide,” I said and crouched down behind the tree.
Gretchen and Phoebe got down too. I could hear him walking towards us, his feet pushing through the freshly fallen foliage. I chanced a quick glance around the tree and he looked to be about fifty feet away. He was moving at a brisk pace.
I wasn’t sure if we should run or just hope he doesn’t see us. It sounded like he was slowing down, but I was too afraid to look again. We waited as his footsteps got closer and closer.
I grabbed the biggest stick I could find within arms reach so I’d be ready to hold my breath, hit him, and run if it came down to that.
He sounded really close now and must have only been a few feet away from the tree we were hiding behind. Then I heard the sound of sticks breaking again. Sam must have come back from dropping off the load they collected.
The other guy stopped and we all stayed as still as we could. Finally, he started walking away from us, back to the dead trees.
I set the stick down and took some deep breaths to try to calm my rapidly beating heart. After it sounded like he was far enough away, we got up and kept going.
We had been walking for quite a while when we finally came to a trail. The sun was just above the horizon and the clouds were turning pink and orange.
“Any idea which way we should go on this trail?” I asked.
Your guess is as good as mine,” said Gretchen.
“Let’s try this way,” I said, pointing to the right. “We should move quickly, we probably only have a half hour or so until it is dark.”
The trees looked normal along the trail. The sky was getting darker, but at least there were only a few clouds. Hopefully the moon would provide enough light for us to see where we were going.
Eventually, we came to a fork in the trail with a small sign. The sign showed the trail continuing to the right and there was a picture of a tent along with an arrow pointing to the right.
“The trail could go on for a long ways…maybe we can find some help at the campsites,” said Phoebe.
That seemed like our best option so we headed down the path to the right. After a while we came to a cabin. There was a fire pit in front of it and a trail that continued into the woods.
“Looks like there may have been a recent fire,” I said, looking at the ash and partially burnt wood inside it.
Phoebe went to the door and knocked on it. There was no light inside and it looked to be empty. She peeked in the windows before opening the door.
We all went inside.
There were two sets of bunk beds and a small table. A backpack was on the ground and there was a sleeping bag on one of the beds. There was also a notebook on the table.
“Doesn’t appear to be any electricity in here,” said Phoebe.
With the minimal light coming in through the windows, I found a propane lantern on the table. I turned it on and we were bathed in light.
There were two sets of bunk beds; a sleeping bag and pillow was on one of the beds. A large backpack was on the ground and there was an open notebook next to the lantern on the table.
There were three words written haphazardly on the open page, “I’m not me.”