And Then the Trees Came Knocking

Chapter 10

The building manager Corwin acted as king in the community room. After he introduced himself to me, he made a show of calling the building his and how he will work on a plan.

Of course his first course of action was trying to take over the food rations. With Leon's duffel bag taking all the attention, no one touched my backpack. 

Corwin tried to drag the duffel bag over to the corner of the room to stack and divide the food, but Leon wouldn't release the strap. 

"Let's keep the bag in the center of the room where everyone can access it," Leon said.

Corwin's eye twitched but he nodded in agreement. "Of course."

We gathered in a circle to eat and talk. Each person took turns sharing their stories. Most of them were the same: They heard the commotion and witnessed their neighbors and loved ones getting eaten. No police. Nothing.

The phones didn't even work. No radio broadcasts. Again, nothing.

"Some of the people get turned," Emmett said after practically drinking a can of sweet corn.  He glanced at Olivia and nodded. She covered her face with her hands.

"What do you mean turned?" Corwin asked.

"Some people aren't eaten," I chimed in. "They are implanted and the bloodwood grows from inside them."

"I've seen that happen," a woman named Tatiana said. She was a dentist before all this, and she lost her elderly mother during the first night. "Out in the parking lot. I tried to make it to my car but the bloodwoods were everywhere. I hid and saw it."

"Saw what?" Corwin asked.

"I saw one of them breaking a person, crunching them up until they were barely able to move, and sticking something into them. A red bulb attached to a branch. I ran away the first chance I got. And ended up here."

What I saw matched up to her story -- how it broke a person into almost a ball. 

"Why crack all the bones?" I asked, more to myself than anyone else. "Why does it need to cripple us that much?"

"Maybe so that we can't pull the bulb out," Leon said. "Maybe it needs to completely incapacitate us, but keep us alive, to ensure its offspring is able to use us."

"Use us?" Emmett asked. "As what?"

"Fertilizer," Jane murmured absently. "An incubator."

"I think you're right," I added. "The humans that were turned were nothing more than skin by the end of it. The bloodwood might've eaten everything on the inside and grew from the inside out. The bones, blood, organs, muscles. Either that or fused with us to evolve into a bloodwood. It's confusing."

"But it doesnt do that to everyone, only some people," Freddy asked. "How does it choose?"

"What did the victims all have in common?" Corwin responded.

"How many of you had family members who were changed?" I asked.

Ernestine, Emmett, Olivia, a woman named Melody, and a man named Norman raised their hands. For Melody it was her wife and for Norman, it was his twin brother. 

"Ernestine, can you tell us a bit about your husband?" Freddy asked her. "If the rest of you hear something similar, let us know."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Well, uh, he was 59 years old. He was born in the U.K. on a military base. He loved the Chicago Bulls..."

"Medical stuff, Ernie," Corwin snapped. "Knowing what his favorite fucking flowers were or where he took a shit every day isn't going to help us."

"Ease up, man," Freddy growled.

Corwin rolled his eyes and waved at Ernestine to continue.

"He was diabetic," she continued, her voice cracking. "He took antidepressants for a while last year after his mom died. He's been off them for a few weeks now."

She paused to see if anyone else would chime in. Nothing. Nothing in common yet.

"He had insomnia. Uh, he got into a car accident a few years ago and injured his hip but he's fine now. Uh, let's see. He's O-blood type, and--..."

"So was Paul," Norman said. 

"Jenny too," Melody said.

They looked at Emmett and Olivia. The siblings glanced at each other. 

"I think dad was O too," Emmett said. "I am O and dad gave me blood when I got in an accident when I was little."

"That's a bit far-fetched but it's possible that that's the link," Leon said. 

I clenched my fists and tried my hardest to steady my breathing. It was no use in freaking out. I couldn't lose it, not now. 

"Who else here is type-O?" Corwin said.

I raised my hand.