Another rumpled hunk of garbage was tossed to the side of the raging campfire. The sounds of clinking eating utensils mixed with the shouts and whoops of the small group of boys that sat in random formation around the blaze. Amongst them, the smallest, was Shaun.
“Great idea on camping out, Shaun!” one of the boys stated, his toothy grin stained with bits of food, “This is way cool! A freaking forest right in your backyard!”
The smaller boy merely nodded as his eyes couldn't help but focus upon the garbage that had just been cast aside. It twinkled a bit in the dim firelight. He longed to retrieve it.
“I could be like this when I grow up,” the other, larger boy suddenly piped up, “Just live out here with nothing but a pack for some food and the clothes on my back!”
With a smirk, he rolled up a large piece of plastic.
“Wanna see how far I can throw it?” he suddenly stated, the ball of plastic cradled in his sausage-like fingers.
As if to answer, a deep rumble sounded from the earth. It shook the trees around them, sending pine needles into the fire and draining the color from the boy's faces.
“Earthquake?” one of them had asked sheepishly.
Shaun merely stood by and watched. The other two were looking all about the small area. Another, larger boom shook an area to their left.
“Holy shit!” one of them said, a word likely parroted from an adult.
Shaun looked on with wide eyes. A mass of shadow was slowly approaching them from the darkness beyond. The boys were frozen with fresh terror. The noise grew steadily closer.
“This forest will not go tainted from the likes of a few mindless youths!”
The voice was deliberate, hoarse and slow. It bellowed with a sullen deepness that seemed to rattle within the trees surrounding them. It filled the space wholly, as if several had spoken the sentence at once. Then, a towering figure was caught by the dim light offered by the flame. Two, luminous slats shown along a congruent, featureless plank of tree bark. Leaves rustled from above, sending more foliage downward to effectively snuff out the fire. Long, spindly protrusions jutted from the being, two larger ones resembling arms. It walked upon a series of roots that shattered anything beneath.
“You shall leave this place,” it spoke once more, a great maw opening below the glowing orbs, “Immediately!”
The boys ran from the thing, each letting out a pure cry of terror. The camp was a mess of packaging, burnt logs and thinning smoke. The monster walked carefully between the trees while jabbing it's feet into the ground.
“I'm sorry it is so difficult for you to make new friends, Shaun,” it spoke as a new root system began piercing the ground beneath.
Shaun was seated upon a nearby rock, his face looking up in somber at the great being. With the gentlest of movements, it patted at the child's shoulder with a bark-covered limb.
“You have to understand the necessity for what I do, however,” it went on to say, “We cannot have such destructive things harming the forest.”
Shaun nodded.
“It wasn't my idea to start the fire, Wynn,” he explained with a sigh, “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anything.”
He propped his knees upon the cold rock.
“I thought that they might be different,” he stated while looking into the infinite green of the being's eye slats, “They seemed so understanding.”
“You will find someone, someday, Shaun,” Wynn explained with finality, “Perhaps even a female, eh?”
The branch nudged at him, this time in playfulness. With a smile, Shaun looked to his old friend.
“You and I both know that's a long way off,” he replied with a smirk.
“You and I both know I have a long time to wait,” came his light response.
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