And Then the Trees Came Knocking

Chapter 7

As I crept down the hallway, I found most of the apartment doors were broken open. Blood painted the walls in large splatters. I avoided most of the apartments due to the wreckage inside. 

I popped into a few apartments for food. Everything was pretty much intact. No signs that anyone else had been hiding for days. No signs that anyone survived the first few nights like me. 

On this level, the elevator door was torn open. The metal bent unnaturally with past claw marks. I found the stairwell beside it. Dried red fluid coated the handle. 

I traveled downwards. I made good progress, but a sound stopped me in my tracks. 

Scratching. Thumping soon followed. Something was coming up the stairs and it was close. Maybe a floor or two down.

I readied my spear and slowly opened the stairwell door to the 15th floor. 

This level was the worst I had seen yet.

Blood was soaked into the walls, from the floor to the ceiling. Even the hallway lights were dimmed and glowing bright red. Chunks of what looked like organs textured the walls and ground. Almost every surface of wood held deep scratch marks. I could almost hear the past screams of terror.

In the middle of the hallway stood a boy. He faced away from me with his head bowed and body stiff. His skin and clothes matched the walls.

Several doors down, the shadow of a bloodwood lurked from a broken down doorway. I leaped forward and snatched the boy by the back of his collar. Oddly enough, he did not even jump in surprise. He merely let me drag him into a nearby apartment.

This apartment had furniture thrown about everywhere. I ducked behind an overturned couch with the boy, keeping our heads down.

Shortly after we hid, the stairwell door burst open. I peeked from behind the couch. My heart stopped.

My instincts were right. It was a bloodwood. But... this bloodwood looked different from any other I'd seen before.

Human flesh hung from around its trunk, stretched and hollow. The eyelids were gaping empty holes and the mouth opening had a branch jutting from it. The bloodwood moved in a grotesque manner, shifting the skin suit. It looked wrong. 

Once it passed, I moved back behind the couch. When I looked at the boy, I found him crying. That close to him, I realized he was no more than 15 or 16 years old. He was taller than me and awkwardly skinny.

I put my hand over his mouth and listened for the bloodwood. 

The skin-suit bloodwood and the other one moved in unison further down the hall. I waited until I could not hear them anymore. I then grabbed the teen and took him to the bathroom. This apartment was the same layout as the one I woke up in.

I closed the door behind us and stuffed a towel under the door's lower gap to further muffle any sound. I turned on the faucet gently until water trickled out. Grabbing another towel, I wet it and began wiping the teen's face.

He looked at me with wide blinking eyes.

"Speak quietly," I whispered. "What's your name?"

"Emmett," he said.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"What happened to you?"

He brushed my hand away and sat on the floor. I joined him. 

I said, "Look, I don't know what's going on either. But maybe we can help each other. I got knocked out by one of those things two days ago and just woke up. And now there's one out there with human skin on--"

"I've seen those before," he said, his eyes vacant. "Some of the trees--"

"I call them bloodwood," I said. 

He nodded. "Yeah, the bloodwood... Some of them used to be human. I don't know how but it grows from the inside out."

I remembered that not all humans got eaten. So that what was happening to them. They were getting turned, mutilated. I didn't know what was worse -- being eaten or turned into a skin-suit.

"Are there any other survivors?" I asked. I took his hand and squeezed it.

He nodded. My heart jumped. "Yeah, there are other survivors. They are boarded up in the community room on the first floor."

"How do you know?"

"I was there, with my sister. But I left to find my dad and a cord." Tears welled in his eyes. "That--that bloodwood that just passed... That's my dad. I last saw him just three hours ago. He distracted those monsters so we could escape. And now..." He wept.

Three hours.  I wanted to give my condolences. I wanted to hug this kid and cry with him. But I couldn't. There was no time for that. "You said you left to find a cord?"

"Yeah, a guy there needs it to charge a taser," he said. "Tasers hurt them but it's out of juice. We only have an iPhone cord in the community room. We need an android plug to charge it."

I grabbed his shoulders. "Is the taser pink?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"That's my taser. And the guy, is his name Freddy? Is he with a woman named Ernestine?"

"Yeah. Is he dangerous? How did he get your taser?" Emmett eyed my bandaged head.

I sighed in relief. "Freddy isn't dangerous. I'm just glad he's okay. Did you get the cord?"

Emmett nodded and patted his pocket.

"Emmett, I'm going to need you to be strong, okay?" I said. "What's your sister's name?"

"Olivia," he sniffled.

"I'm going to get you back down to Olivia." I removed my makeshift camera taser from my pocket and gave it to him. "This won't do much, but it might buy you time if you need it. We are going to go back out there."

He shook his head and refused to accept the camera taser. "No. I can't. I can't."

I gripped his jaw and brought his eyes to me, shoving the camera taser into his chest. "We are. I need you to be strong, quiet, and fast."

More tears. Shit, I was terrible at dealing with kids. 

"Look, I'm scared too. I am terrified. And honestly, I don't want to go back out there alone. I know you don't want to be alone either. So come with me. We'll make it to the community room and find a way to survive with everyone."

I hated to admit it, but being around other humans sounded amazing at that moment. I thought I was okay being alone, but my heart felt like it would give out at any moment. Having this kid near gave me a sense of minor security and focus. 

Emmett gave me a forced yet reassuring smile. He took the taser. 

"Okay," he said.

I stood up. "Let's go. It's only 15 floors. We'll be fine." I knew I was lying, but Emmett seemed to believe me. That's all that mattered.