Chapter 05.2: Blackwood Forest

Elise parked her cruiser in a makeshift lot among the trees. There was a decorative gate that was either made of pearls or ivory. It was pale white with a sign big enough so people could see it from the highway that heralded it. The road itself leads to multiple parking lots before splitting off into trails and different subsections of the park. Blackwood Park, known for its Blackwood Oak trees, was the natural jewel of Muruya. Blackwood trees were just like Bristlecone but could grow in Muruya and were plentiful. Inside, the wood was dark enough that its sap was a good alternative for ink, but outside, it was like something out of a horror movie. The branches and trunk twisted like the hands of a mad Goddess had tried to wring them out repeatedly. Blackwood Park had the standard national park amenities: track, trailer park, and fishing holes. The hundreds of Oak provided decent shade even in the afternoon sun. When Elise stepped out of her car, she motioned for him to follow.

The walk was unnerving. Usually, there was the sound of tens of people flying their bugs or playing, but there was no one today. Occasionally, the sound of a bird or shuffling in a nearby Bricklebush made the two officers simultaneously reach for their holsters. However, that was the only sound they heard until a soft splash trickled their ears. Max barely registered the sound before Elise dashed off towards the lake.

Elise was fast and had the added benefit of hardening her skin enough to dash through slithering branches and thorny bushes. He saw her disappear through the tree line.

Thorns tore open Maxie's baggy pants, and branches whipped his face. The distorted sounds of confrontation turn his careful dodging and weaving into a mad sprint. Knocking a bough with a sickening crack just as a gunshot rang through the air. Max had his F-124 Pulse Shot out before he even scoped the scene.

Max's eyes landed on the crumpled man on the ground in a fetal position, clutching his shoulder. He fingered the man out as Note. 'Note' was a man of Merican descent with a rather gorgeous mane of black hair. It fell over most of his face, but Max saw enough features to show he was human. Besides Elise with a smoking gun, three other things stood out to Max. A spilt vat of pinkish liquid ran off into the lake. The Goo Lake was not its regular calming bluish colour; instead, it was a grey-green with bubbles that constantly fizzed and popped over its surface. Last but most importantly, there were two other people. A Goo female crawled from the lake towards Note, and a Slime male shuffled toward Elise despite her repeated warnings to shoot.

It was strange to see all the members of the G.G.S. family before his eyes, as the differences and similarities were stark. Elise was the most solid out of the three, and the Goo was the least. The Slime boy was in the middle of the road as he and the Goo were a hazy green like the corrupted lake they spawned from. Once the Goo finally rose from the lake, it looked like she was barely holding her form. She had no legs but a mass of goop that she moved on. The nameless Goo's skin and hair constantly flowed in large waves like she was continually dissolving.

Despite that, he could still make out the subtle features of hers. Gooey had a face that looked about half the age of the shapely, womanly body that struggled to hold its form. Sounds of splashing grew with how she crawled on her hands, excess goop splishing about before rushing back to her form. Maxwell trained his F-124 at her, "Don't move!"

Max was startled when she turned her head from Note to him with lifeless eyes. A broad, toothless smile on her lips resembled a newborn's. Stone struggled to see any trace of intelligence in her mannerisms or movements.

Slime Boy had all of Elise's attention and had a reaction that did not bode well for his standoff. He was the same hazy green as the goopy woman but held his form somewhat better. Slimy was not dissolving in large waves but in tiny beads. If Elise looked like she was made of gelatin, then he was glue. A bird's chest and flat stomach were visible through the dripping fluid. It was weird to see a nude human form that was smooth between the legs, making Max's skin crawl. Elise's reaction to his zombie-like shuffle was to step back with her wavering gun. Her gunshot made everyone jump, including Note. Everything else happened so fast.

Elise's shot sent the slime boy stumbling backwards with a bang that left a crater in his form. Slimy recovering and charging at Elise regardless. He took the next bullet like it was nothing as it took off a chunk of his face. Gooey jumped at Note, which made Max flinch, stepping back out of fear, remembering the Chiefess' warning from earlier.

Elise's screams were more rage-filled than terrified while she wrestled with the gluey male. Chief's entire body turned that threatening metallic sheen while Slimy clung to her every punch. Note's scream took Max's attention more. His wails sounded like it was shredding his throat. Birds scattered when Maxwell pulled the trigger on his taser gun. The goopy horror did not respond to anything like the slime boy. Her entire body rippled, not too unlike a cross between the tides and jello, before exploding in an unnecessarily fiery, Black Flame-laced display. Then, Max finally registered the sound of Elise's screaming stopping. He looked just in time to see her crush two stones between her fingers, "Check on Note!" Elise shouted over the sizzling, evaporating slime around her.

Elise ignored the fact that she was not looking so hot herself. She struggled to sit up as one of her arms took on a hazy green hue and was not solid enough to put her weight on.

'Note' was worse. The very sight of him now was what Stone had expected to happen when he touched Elise. His clothes and flesh had melded together in a way that baffled Max's brain. Where cloth and skin were not one, a pinkish, throbbing substance that took him forever to recognise was raw muscle. Max only identified one feature, a clean whiteness on his cheek, unmistakably a jawbone. Every jagged breath Note drew made his teeth, and the flimsy skin left that connected it all stretched like a rubber band. What finally made goosebumps run down Max's arms was not the sight of the human who looked like he tried to swim in a vat of acid. Several shimmering black roaches crawling from Note's face broke Stone's mind. They did not even have time to unfurl their wings before Max ran into the forest.

Elise's voice faded into the wind. Once he arrived at the car, he radioed into nonhuman support. Ambulance and police were there within minutes. Note managed to live until the ambulance arrived and did in transport as well. There was never an official reason for his actions, and Blackwood Park was closed for the foreseeable future. Elise was taken to a hospital for her arm. She kept good on her promise and got him a new ride. When he arrived back at M.N.P.D., Susa was nowhere to be found, and report filing took the sleep-deprived cop hours to finish. Chief Elise falsified her report to omit all details about his harassment and cowardice. It was dusk by the time he finally returned to his department. Cornwell allowed him the night off and his Dragoon.