“Very well, gather round. I shall tell you everything,” Lucas instructed them.
“Long ago, in 2103, our world faced a revolution, he began, “Our world leaders could not cope with humans’ constant drain on natural resources. Instead of finding a way to make resources more efficiently used they invoked a plan. This plan was to cull humans. They plotted to cull off those who were more costly to keep alive: the homeless, the unemployed, the disabled, first and then work their way up the classes.” He continued, “Parliament could not allow these actions and vowed to step in. Thus, with the help of bioengineers, the leaders hatched a plot to animate botany. They intended to give trees the capacity for human knowledge. In doing this they gave trees various senses; sight, hearing and touch.”
“This plan worked, for the most part,” Lucas elaborated. “While these uprooted trees did slaughter many innocent people, they didn’t stop there. The trees saw no distinction between lower class human and upper class. Even animals such as elephants and cheetahs were massacred.”
“But what about national borders? Oceans? Surely they couldn’t cross those!?” One of the group interjected.
“We abolished those when we decided to become one nation as opposed to many individual sovereigns. Each country erected bridges between themselves and neighbouring nations.”
“Surely their need for water, nutrients and soil hinders them?”
“Amazingly, no. As a result of the mutation, all they need is carbon dioxide and sunlight. In that regard they’re superior to humans” the reply came and my heart sank.
Lucas continued, “Which is why you all are here. There are few humans left in each sector of the planet and we, using makeshift telephones, are coordinating our efforts with those of the other clans. I’m in near constant contact with the leader of the neighbouring tribe and it seems we’re making a raid soon”
As the words came and my mind analysed them, a question nagged at the back of my brain. I wondered what would our part be. How could we help? Words left my mouth but they shared no relationship to what I was thinking. “But it’s too soon. We’ve only just found out what the hell is going on! How can be expected to fight these things that are invincible?”
Lucas seemed unfazed by my outburst. He merely gave me a curt smile and a nod then continued with his orientation speech.
“Naturally we cannot fight these monsters without appropriate weapons. Thus, we will be acquiring the technology necessary to hold our own.”
He paused and looked over the group, observing their faces. I looked round at my fellows to see their faces reflecting fear and uncertainty. I was feeling much the same way.
“The trees do share one characteristic with those of the past: They are vulnerable to fire. Therefore, first we will be liberating the technology needed to create flame weapons. That is, flamethrowers and explosives. From there we will get supplies from the old stores we had before we were driven underground. How we go about recovering these items is really a personal choice. There’s no definitive way to do it.”
“How will we know where these things are? How will we be able to avoid these trees?” The question came.
“I will provide you with a map before you leave and you can travel at night as trees will not be as active then. They get their energy from the Sun and that will not be up from dusk til dawn.”
Lucas strolled over to a small indent in the wall and removed 3 sacks. He brought these to us and handed them out to a tall man with dark hair and a shorter woman with long blonde hair. He told us that we would be the ones journeying to find the items needed.
We left the winding cave in silence. Although I could not see their faces I knew they were thinking exactly what I was: What were we about to face and how would we make it back?
As my head protruded from the cave’s opening I felt the night air blow gently across my face and through my hair, calming me. We crept over to a nearby wall. I pressed myself up against it and I noticed marks on its surface. I saw long scratch marks that ran deep into the wall as if some monstrous cat had slashed at it. I didn’t quite understand what they were or how they came to be so I dismissed them.
I followed the instructions of my companions (who had the map) and I was led to a building that looked as if it’d been around for centuries. I caught a glance at the sign as we walked in. From what I could make out this building was a Texas book depository. Why there would be weapons in here I had no idea.
We walked into an entrance hall. It was a large room with a desk in front of one wall and a lift on another. We strolled casually across the floorboards and entered the lift. I expected to rise to the top floor but instead my male comrade pushed the button for the basement.
The steel doors slid apart and we faced a dark room with books lining one wall and oil containers lining 2 others. As we scanned the room our hearts sank; we’d spotted a tree in the corner. Its hollow, dark eyes were obviously closed so we crept slowly. I let them collect containers as I investigated the books. I’d found a few on these new species of trees and slipped them into my backpack.
They motioned silently for me to join them back in the lift. We’d completed our objective and we were to head back. I began making my way to them. I took a step and felt the floor change, as if I were no longer standing on floor but a series of pipes. I looked down and saw my foot crushing plant roots and my heart raced. I wheel around to find myself face to face with a tree.
I leapt backwards to avoid any harm. Yet I noticed there was something about its’ expression. It looked almost pained. I didn’t dwell on this for long as I bolted for the lift. Panting, I collapsed to my knees as we ascended to the ground floor. The faces of my entourage were ghastly white and I could feel the panic in the air around us.
The second the doors opened we sprinted for the cave we’d come from. We darted across streets not paying attention to where we were going. At last we arrived at our burrow and crawled inside. We made our way through the labyrinth to the congregation in the main cavernous room.
We placed our oil tanks at Lucas’ feet and I threw the books to him too. “Well done!” he exclaimed, “this will serve us well for many weeks to come”
“Um… we met a tree” I began to explain, “and I stood on it’s roots but when I did it didn’t attack, it just looked as if it were in pain, as if it were dying”
As all those around me accepted my words their faces twisted into expressions of bewildered hope. Hope that we’d found another way to kill these things yet bewildered because no one had any idea what this meant for us.
As everyone lay down for the night and began to fall asleep, still pondering what their new lives would be, I left the cave alone. I strolled back to the book depository and took the lift to the roof. I stepped out onto the roof, 10 storeys up, and walked to the edge. I looked out over the city, that my knowledge of elementary history told me was Dallas, with dismay. I saw the trees slowly stalking along the streets, slashing at anything they came across…even if that was each other.
I sat on the ledge and surmised the situation I was in. Buildings being attacked and humans sneaking about as if we were insects, foraging for food, trying to find one way of surviving, for becoming the dominant species once again. ‘Is this the world we wanted?’ I thought to myself, ‘is this the world our technology created? A world where our technology has destroyed itself. Where would we go from here? How did we get here? Are humans just an error in history’s page that needs to be erased?’
