Park Ranger Finds Massive Nest In Forest, Then He Looks Inside

Brian listened, the pieces finally falling into place. "So you ran out here. Unmapped territory." "It's the only place they wouldn't look," she said. "What about the black smoke?" Brian asked, remembering why he was sent here in the first place. "And the knife up there... it looked like it was covered in blo-"

Ruth let out a dry, humorless laugh cutting him off. "Pine resin. I was boiling down raw sap and charcoal over a fire to make waterproof pitch glue for the roof. It burns thick, black, and smells awful. The knife is what I use to spread it." Brian let out a long exhale, the tension finally leaving his chest. He looked up at the massive nest. 

"When you ran earlier... I thought you jumped forty feet straight down. How did you survive that drop?" Ruth walked over to the trunk and pulled aside a thick layer of moss, revealing a heavy marine rope looped through a rusted iron pulley. "Counterweight," she explained. "I clip in, step off, and a sandbag pulls me down safely in about three seconds."