Greta the Climate Goblin - Shadows in the Dark

THE BUS STOP

Dusty pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward town. The tension in the air was thick. The only sounds were those of the tires on asphalt and the purr of the engine. Greta sat up front in the passenger seat, giving Dusty directions and in less than five minutes, the van pulled up to the bus stop and its shelter. He parked and killed the engine.

Everyone sat quietly for a moment. Then Greta threw open her door and stepped out of the van. She grabbed the handle of the sliding door and pulled it open, allowing everyone else to get out.

The streetlight buzzed overhead, casting a harsh yellow-white glare. The glass shelter reflected everyone's movements as they piled out. Professor Avery switched on his EMF scanner and was sweeping the area. Max placed the oscilloscope on the front passenger seat and got it started before digging out a rugged-looking camcorder and hitting the "RECORD" button.

Greta pointed at the shelter. "That's where it was," she said quietly.

Chet and Dusty moved to either side of her. Ralph panted quietly, his tail hanging in a relaxed position.

Elliot circled around behind the shelter, searching the ground between it and the edge of the cornfield.

Avery's EMF flickered briefly, then stabilized. He glanced up, "Probably interference from the streetlight. Max, anything?"

Max fiddled with a knob on the oscilloscope. "Not yet, Professor. Do you want me to adjust the sensitivity?"

The professor continued to sweep the area. "Not yet, establish a base reading for later comparison."

Greta eased forward, her eyes locked on the images reflected in the plexiglass. Her reflection stared back.

One face.

She moved closer.

Nothing happened.

Dusty asked, "You see it now?"

She shook her head. Ralph padded forward, sniffing the ground, the shelter, the worn wooden bench.

Elliot returned, face serious. Chet glanced his way, "See anything out there?"

"Nothing."

Madame Celestine, who had lingered beside the van until now, stiffened. "It’s here."

The wind picked up. The bus schedule taped to the inside of the shelter fluttered for a moment.

Avery's EMF blipped once. Max called out, "Professor?"

Lionel checked the readout. "Temporary fluctuation. Still normal."

Ralph froze. His eyes locked on the field.

Then the streetlight went out.

Chet spoke first, "Alright, that's different."

Dusty switched on his flashlight and aimed it into the field.

Greta's reflection split. One face calm. The other smiling faintly. She inhaled sharply.

Avery's scanner emitted a sharp tone. Greta’s reflected faces both turned and looked out into the cornfield.

Celestine was at Greta’s side, a hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

The light turned back on.

Elliot pointed down the rows of corn. "Dusty, aim the light to your ten o'clock."

"Gothcha, kid!" Dusty turned, aiming his light as directed. For a fraction of a second, the corn stalks seemed to move against the wind.

Something vaguely man-shaped moved through the field.

Greta’s reflected faces pointed in the direction of the figure then returned to normal.

SOMETHING IN THE ROWS

"Let's go!" Elliot led the way into the field, moving quickly as he entered the corn rows.

Dusty followed quickly with Chet close behind. Celestine grabbed Greta’s hand and patted it reassuringly.

Avery and Max stumbled along at the back of the group, too busy with their detectors and scanners and electronic geegaws to watch where they were going.

Whatever the shadowy figure was, it moved quickly. Stalks bent against the wind. Tassels twitched.

Elliot had nearly vanished from view and Chet had pulled ahead of Dusty. Chet was carrying a sickle from his station wagon, one he used to harvest wild mushrooms.

At first, he was cutting a path.

Then, something grabbed the blade

The stalks tightened around it

He yanked back hard and cut through something.

It bled sap. Black sap.

Chet stared at it and murmured, "That ain't corn."

Greta caught up and slung her backpack in front her. She began rifling through it. "Dusty, give me your lighter."

"I don't know, man. I really don't like giving them out. I never get 'em back," the old roadie replied.

"Dusty!" Greta hissed. "Give me the dang lighter!"

"Awww man," Dusty passed a red Bic to her as a can of AquaNet appeared in her other hand.

She moved up to Chet's weird, bleeding corn.

She sprayed and flicked.

WHOOMPH!

The flame rolled down the row in a bright orange tongue and the corn screamed.

Not like a plant.

Like something inside it.

Avery, Celestine, and Max finally caught up. The electronics started going wild. Elliot came running back.

Celestine knelt, her fingers splayed in the dirt. "It’s not a beast. There's something... old in the soil."

"Hey, Chet," Dusty began, "let me get those shears from ya, man."

"Um, yeah, that's probably a good idea," Chet replied as he passed the clippers over.

Max called out, "Professor, the oscilloscope readings are all over the place!"

Avery squinted at the dancing needle on his EMF scanner, then at the oscilloscope's screen. "CORRELATION!" He had to shout to be heard over the hissing of the corn. "Max! Do you see that pattern?"

The gawky teen wiped dirt off of his face, "Yes! It's repeating! About every three seconds!"

"Exactly! That's not interference! It's a signal!" Avery pushed his glasses up his nose, excitement and fear competing for dominance in his voice.

A stalk twisted toward him.

Chet stepped toward him. "Professor, the corn is moving!"

"Yes! Plants can experience rapid turgor pressure changes--"

A stalk lunged at Max like a striking snake. Dusty stepped forward and snapped the clippers shut, severing it cleanly. The cut end of the stalk writhed on the ground. Black sap oozed everywhere.

"Yeah, Doc," Dusty replied dryly, "That ain't turgor pressure."

Celestine pressed her hand deeper into the ground. "It’s spreading," she whispered. "Not through the plants but through the ground underneath them."

Greta unleashed another burst of flaming AquaNet.

The corn shrieked in response.

Max’s voice rose above the turmoil. "Professor! The signal changed!"

Avery looked down. The waveform on the oscilloscope stabilized.

Clean. Regular. Uniform.

Beep.

Pause.

Beep.

Pause.

Beep.

Pause.

Max swallowed. "Um... Professor?"

"Yes?"

Max turned the oscilloscope so everyone could see the screen. "I think whatever it is, is counting..."

The corn stopped thrashing, each stalk perfectly still.

Ralph barked twice. Chet shifted uneasily, tightening his grip on the sickle.

Dusty looked around, a hint of unease finally starting to penetrate his cool detachment. "Hey... guys?"

He pointed down the row. All of the corn was moving, bending, not with the wind but toward them.

All of it.

Celestine, her hand still touching the earth, cocked her head to one side and opened her eyes. "We are standing in the middle of it."

Somewhere, something beneath the soil shifted. Not like a root breaking but a slow, massive movement.

"And it knows we're here."

The counting on the oscilloscope and EMF scanner stopped.

From three rows over, a cluster of corn bent forward like a reaching hand toward Dusty.

Ralph barked sharply and Dusty jerked sideways just as the stalks slammed the dirt where he had been standing.

Chet stepped forward and swung his sickle. The blade cut clean through two stalks. Black sap sprayed. More stalks rose behind them.

Elliot leaped forward. He grabbed thick tendrils of stalks in each hand and pulled, tearing them free of the earth. The corn screamed in protest. Roots rose from the ground to grasp at his legs.

Dusty was there a moment later, snip-snapping with his borrowed shears, chomping through the stalks.

Greta let loose with another burst of fiery hairspray. A chorus of hisses filled the air.

Celestine shoved her fingers into the ground, her voice was calm and steady, with no trace of her fake gypsy accent.

"Root to root and seed to seed,
I name thee not of rightful breed.
What walks in stalk and drinks in ground--
Be stilled, be slowed, be earthward bound."

The ground vibrated violently and a bulge began to rise and fall as if the field itself was breathing.

Max stumbled backward, eyes on his equipment. "Professor! There's a repeating electromagnetic pulse controlling the field!"

He shoved the probe of the oscilloscope into the ground. The screen erupted in jagged spikes.

Avery leaned forward, "If we invert the signal, we might disrupt it! Help me ground this thing!"

Stalks and roots slashed at Max and the Professor. Chet and Dusty stood their ground, slicing and snapping at the plants as they struck.

Ralph began barking at Elliot as the ground swelled again. Roots burst free, wrapping around his legs. Elliot grabbed them with both hands and tore them loose with adrenaline-fueled strength.

Greta laughed, "Remind me to never try arm wrestling you!" She sprayed and flicked once more. Fire washed across the broken ends of the roots, igniting the black sap. It hissed and popped like hot tar and seemed to shrink back from the flames.

Celestine continued her weird incantation, "Rot and Ruin in Root Concealed,
By turning earth, be now revealed.
What festers false beneath this land
Be cast away by root and hand!"

The earthen bulge begins to split open, revealing a swollen mass of knotted roots and twisted stalks hidden beneath.

"Hit it!" Chet shouted, chopping with his sickle.

Dusty dove forward, surprisingly agile for a man his age, and stabbed the shears deep into the pulsating mass.

Elliot leaped upon the ball and began prying it open with his bare hands. He was lashed across the face for his troubles but kept pulling as Greta hit it with another fire burst.

Max was twisting wire nuts into place while Avery feed tied the other end to the EMF scanner.

Celestine’s chant rose to a crescendo, "Back to the Earth!"

Avery heaved forward, shoving the probe deep into mass. "MAX! Hit it!"

The teen flipped the switch on the oscilloscope.

The signal collapsed. The root ball convulsed violently.

The entire cornfield screamed, and the twisted mass of roots and stalks exploded.

Everyone stood still for a moment, catching their breath, except for Elliot, who stared at the smoldering mass.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Dusty began, "but that was the weirdest gardening gig I have ever had."

While the rest of the group shared a laugh, Greta turned and looked back toward the bus stop. The shelter stood empty beneath the streetlight. 

Behind her, Max stared at the smoking heap of plant debris.

"Professor?" He asked.

"Yes, Mr. Donnelly?"

"Did we just fight a haunted cornfield?"

"I don't know if 'haunted' is the exact term I would use..." The professor looked over at Madame Celestine as she brushed dirt off of her dress, "but, I believe we did."

Professor Avery and Max gathered some samples before everyone made their way back to Dusty's van. As they drove away, nobody noticed the silhouette with two faces watching them from the edge of the field.