And Then the Trees Came Knocking

Chapter 12

It didn't take long for the bloodwoods to find us. They banged on the southern door, hard enough for the furniture to shift.

We didn't have a plan. We didn't have time.

Leon gave my gun to Freddy and handed me my taser back. It was hot from charging.

"What do we do?" Freddy asked me. 

"Run!" I shouted.

A split-second later, the southern door burst open and three large bloodwoods came barreling in. Norman, who was closest to the door, got snatched up by two different bloodwood. They tore his limbs apart.

I worked with the others to push the furniture from the northern door. We cleared it in seconds, but not before Ernestine was taken by the third bloodwood. 

Once the door was open, everyone ran away. They bolted at speeds that rivaled professional athletes. No one looked back. In the lobby, the large windows were shattered. 

Several bloodwoods were scattered outside. I didn't see the huge one from earlier.

"Help me!" Ernestine's voice rang out. 

Freddy, Jane, Leon, Junior, Emmett, Olivia, and Tatiana headed towards the stairs while Melody and the others made a dash towards outside. 

Melody managed to dodge a fast bloodwood and ran around the building, out of view, with it hot on her trail. A few others made it to the edge of the empty lot and beyond a line of trees. The rest were caught by two of the community room bloodwoods and those outside. It happened faster than I could blink.

I skidded to a stop and turned around back towards the community room. Ernestine's screams would haunt me more than these monsters if I left her. 

"Dani, no!" Freddy called. 

I ignored him.

Back in the community room, I saw the bloodwood bending Ernestine in ungodly ways. The bones in her arms and legs were snapped and protruding beyond her skin. Her pelvis was now the size of a soda can. Blood gushed from her mouth. Her shrill screams made my skin itchy.

It was preparing her. 

"I'm O!" she shouted when she saw me. "Run before I..." It crunched her shoulders. Her head flopped back. 

A blood-red wet bulb formed at the end of one of the branches. The branch itself detached from the bloodwood. The trunk trembled at the mouth and glances of teeth could be seen. This took effort from the bloodwood, this expansion. 

I jumped towards the bloodwood and Ernestine. I knew it was too late to save her, but I wouldn't let her end up as one of these creatures.

I dared to get close to this creature. My body drove into its branches and its grip on Ernestine was lost. In between heartbeats, I drove the taser right into the oily-black eye of the bloodwood.

Ernestine dropped to the floor. I caught myself before I could fall too, and drove the taser into it again.

The bloodwood thrashed in pain, its eye sizzling. The mouth opened with a strange watery sound. Was this the way they screamed?

Pushing harder towards it, the taser sank into the eye. This must've been their weak spot, this small opening. Maybe I could kill one this way. It squirmed like a centipede on a stick. It swung at me, but I ducked. 

The next swing caught me on the side. I flew into a nearby table, almost knocking it over. The bloodwood snagged Ernestine again and drove the bulb towards her.

Without thinking, I shoved myself away from the table and covered Ernestine with my body.

A pain like no other hit my system. The bulb stabbed into my chest. A wet organ-y exterior of the bulb was merely a cover for a sharp barb inside of it. That barb penetrated my flesh and stuck right into the bone. I shocked the bloodwood.

Instead of attacking me again, the bloodwood stumbled backwards. Its roots fumbled over each other. Black grease oozed from its eye. I hurt it. Bad. But not enough to kill it. 

Immediately, I tore the branch from my chest. My fingers scraped at the bulb, ripping it out of my open wound. The barb itself was harder to remove. 

The thing had already started to spread. A wood-like material crusted over the scar. 

I brought the taser to my chest and shocked myself. 

Electricity set my insides on fire. The central focus of the pain was my chest, which felt like a bomb being detonated. But it weakened the infection, if only for a moment. The wood material cracked enough for me to dig at it with my fingernails. 

I got the barb. It was thick enough to grab, even with slippery fingers, wet with blood. 

With all the strength left in me, I pulled. I yanked at the barb, jerking my arm hard enough to dislocate my wrist.

It shifted. I twisted and eased it out. 

When I got to the very last, tiny bit, the barb snapped. Most of it was out now, in my trembling hand. But a piece was still there, inside me. I scratched at the wound. I could feel it there like a steel splinter.

And I could feel its vines, growing. The pain never stopped. It throbbed hellishly now. I tased myself again. 

The bomb detonation feeling had spread beyond my chest now. It was in my stomach, my arms, my neck. The infection was growing. 

Shit. Shit! I was turning.

Managing to stumble to my feet, I looked down at Ernestine, who was still alive. 

"Kill me," she mumbled.

I found my backpack, discarded from the earlier commotion and removed one of my stashed knives.

And I did it. I sank the knife into her throat. Her body wiggled for a few seconds, then stopped.

Nothing felt real after that. Nothing except the burning of the bloodwood's vines throughout my veins. Every few steps, I tased myself to feel where it had grown to. My forearms. My back. My thighs.

It was a miracle I was still walking. 

I found myself on the second floor with Freddy in the hallway waiting for me. I collapsed against him. 

He picked me up. His skin felt ice cold. 

"You're burning up," he said, but his voice was distorted. He took me inside an apartment where the others were. They barricaded the door behind him.

"I'm infected," I wheezed. Speaking was never this difficult before. My skin was on fire. Anguish prickled at every crevice. Heat boiled my guts. Someone took my taser.

Through blurred vision, I saw Leon standing over me. He drove the taser into my chest, shocking me.

It felt like my whole body was being blown apart.