Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25037672-20140608060800

The year is 2045 we have harvested all but a small portion of the trees in the world. Those that are left are protected by federal law. The lumber industry has been planting its own trees for ten years now but their growth is to slow and the demand to high. Through the use of questionable ploys and tactics the lumber industry has been given permission to harvest trees in an old growth located in the cascades of Oregon.

This forest is ancient and has been untouched by man for a centuries. There are many Native American stories surrounding the forest which may be the reason there isn't so much as a path through the forest. Most stories tell of this forest as being a sacred place where the spirits of nature live and that man is forbidden to enter this sacred place. But these are just stories and superstitions from a dying culture. And so we got together a small group of experienced lumber jacks and set up camp at the edge of the forest.

It was obvious that the forest was ancient. All of the trees were massive and they all had moss qnd other flora growing off every limb. Each tree could have sustained its own ecosystem with how much grew off of the limbs. Then there was the dense underbrush that carpeted the ground everywhere making it impossible to see your feet once you stepped into the forest. This made for an erie work place it didn't help that every morning the forest was shrouded in a fog, though it usually burned off by noon.

We began cutting trees two days after we began setting up camp. It was a good thing that we began to cut because even though the group we had was veteran lumber jacks they were a supertitious group and began talking about the woods almost as soon as we got there. But once we began cutting they shifted their focus from superstition and lore to the work at hand. We had been cutting for two days without incident and were well on our way to filling our quota when that night at dinner we heard a knock at the door to the cook shack. This startled many because we were miles away from any house and no one was suppose to be here but us. We opened the door slowly to reveal a Native American man standing on the step.

He looked as if he were a tribe elder because he had to have been seventy at least. He was wearing only leather pants and mocosins which was strange for fall weather. His bare skin was a deep brown color almost the color of bark which is what it looked like due to the cracks all across his body. Then there was his hair, it was dredlocks which seemed out of place considering his nationality. His voice was raspy and deep like he needed water.

He said "What are you doing in this sacred place?"

"We were given permission by the federal government to clear cut this forest" I replied.

"This forest is not the property of your government. The spirits of the earth demand that you leave immediatly." He rebuked.

I told him, "Our paychecks depend on us cutting these trees."

"But your lives depend on you leaving this sacred place. You have been warned." He then turned and left without another word walking staight into the forest. I tried to stop him because no one but us was sappose to be here but the moment he entered the forest he vanished. We searched for him for a short time but couldn't find a trace of him. His warning was disconcerting but we had work to do and how much damage could one seventy year old man do?

The next two days were nightmares it was almost as if the trees suddenly became iron. Our axes could not cut them any more, we even had a few axes that broke when they hit the tree. So we brought in chainsaws which worked for a day then they began to break. I ended up sending two guys to the hospital when their chainsaws broke and the chain links hit them like shrapnel from a frag grenade. One of them would need complete facial reconstruction while the other had to have his right arm amputated. I didn't know it then but they were lucky they got out when they did.

That night I was trying to figure out how to boost morale and find a way to cut those infuriating trees. Then one of crew burst into my office saying that the Indian was in the forest watching the camp. I jumped out of my chair and ran out to confront him about being in the woods and spooking my men. When I got out to him I was thirty yards infront of him with the whole camp behind me.

"I gave you plenty of time to leave and now you will face the consequences."

"Now wait a minute!" I shouted as he faded back into the forest. Two of my men went in after him. After about five minutes one come back saying that he could find anyone. 