>>9970484 So the seven of them set out in two vehicles - a truck with whatever half-assed digging tools they'd thrown together and a station wagon. Alan made a sort of surprise detour into a little town they passed along the way to stop at a Christian bookstore. When they stopped, the other guys were justifiably confused about what they were doing and he told them that the old woman had told him that every man who came along needed some sort of spiritual protection, like a Bible, a crucifix, whatever; just something they had faith in, and that they were to keep them on their persons at all times. Well, these were all guys from the Deep South, so Bibles and crosses seemed a pretty safe bet. After Alan made sure that everybody had some form of protection, they set off again.
When asked if they should be watching for landmarks, Alan just told them that when they got close, they'd all know. So off they drove, the day rainy and overcast with a big storm brewing out in the Gulf.
It was a grove a glowing trees that they saw. I don't know who was the first to spot them, but once Alan saw them, he was convinced, a little grove of trees sitting back maybe half a mile from the beach, glowing with foxfire.
They got as close as they could in the station wagon, then prepared to transfer everything, men and gear, over to the truck. As they came to a stop in the car, they all became aware of a sound coming from the cargo area in the back. When they opened the back, they discovered the source of the sound to be a die-cast toy motorcycle scooting around on the top of a TV tray.
The toy had no motor. Apparently, the two or three guys who saw that kept it to themselves.
