Hello, guys!

I know that the story is kinda slow but please bear with me here because things are going to pick up really soon.

Well, without further ado, please enjoy!

Volume 1 Chapter 5: Tremors

“Damn, that thing is ugly as fuck!”

“Indeed...”

“It’s not ugly! It’s just misunderstood!”

““...””

One day has passed since our encounter with the bloody tree monster and things got even weirder than before. How is that possible? Well, yesterday we recovered that thing’s remains for Sy to study. In the end, after one long night, we got some interesting results.

First of all, it’s not entirely a tree. It has muscles that allow it to move and even a stomach and a mouth situated somewhere in the upper part of the trunk. To put it bluntly, it’s a mix between an octopus and a tree. And, of course, all that red substance was blood. But the strange part comes only now.

This morning when I and Jake went to check on Sy we saw her analysing not the bloody tree monster but a small creature the size of a cat with black fur, six legs and more eyes than I can count. I swear to God it looks like someone took a spider and a black cat, threw them in a mixer and let them blend together for ten minutes.

The creature was discovered by Sy inside the stomach of the bloody tree monster. With this discovery, Sy’s theory from yesterday about animals going extinct has been busted. The reason why we couldn’t find any living things around looks to be because that tree monster has been eating them.

“Oh, by the way, guys, there is something interesting that I need to show you! Come!”

Leaving the ugly spider cat’s body behind, we start moving towards the control room. There, on the big screen can be seen a 3D map of the house, the outer wall and everything in the vicinity as it is picked up by the sensors.

“Look! Can you see it?”

“Not really...”

Jake responds almost immediately. I look closer starting from the right corner of the screen and making my way towards the other side inspecting everything. Then, when I reach almost the top left corner, I spot a small anomaly.

“What is that? An earthquake?”

The sensors have picked up a small vibration that is displayed as small waves coming from N-V.

“This is what I thought at first, but the replicas are too fast. It looks more like a series of smaller earthquakes or explosions. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what it is.”

“Could it be another tree like the one from yesterday moving around?”

Jake’s idea might actually be possible. I mean it really looks like one of those trees moving around, although this one looks to be way lazier than the one from yesterday because the tremors are more than thirty seconds apart.

“No, that’s completely impossible. Whatever it is, it’s big. For one of those trees to be able to create this kind of tremors it would have to be the size of a mountain.”

“I have a bad feeling about this...”

“Calm down Jake, let’s go eat something!”

“...”

..............................

Another day passed without anything spectacular happening. We are all in the living room playing a game on the console. Even Sy needs to rest once in a while.

Yesterday we discovered a strange tremor coming from N-V. Although we couldn’t determine what it was, we decided to send a drone in that direction to see if we can find anything. So far we did not find anything although the tremors did not stop either.

“Jake, duck! Reload! Reload! Sy flank them!”

“I don’t have any more ammo!”

“Here you go, use it wisely!”

“Faster! They are getting close!”

“Noooo!!!”

“I can’t hold any more!”

‘GAME OVER’

“Damn it!”

The score table appears showing Sy in first place followed closely by Jake and me on the last position. I can’t understand how can these guys who have played less than 5% the amount of games I did be so good...

“Calm down, I am sure you are going to win next time!”

“Hahhh...”

My shoulders drop in defeat. So far I’ve never won against those two. No matter what game we played, they’ve always come on top.

‘Ding ding ding... Ding ding ding...’

“The alarm... The drone discovered something.”

Sy is the first to react. She gets up and basically runs towards the elevator followed by Jake. In the end, I rise to my feet as well and follow them. To be honest I really hope the drone discovered something interesting. The bloody tree monster from two days ago was a good distraction but I need more! Fortunately, the world is big so there definitely are a lot of awesome stuff lying around.

Reaching the elevator door, I have to wait a bit because it looks like Sy and Jake did not wait for me. Well, it is going to take the elevator at least five minutes to come back up. In these conditions, I should use this time to get some fresh air.

Outside the sun is up in the sky. The temperature is over fifty degrees Celsius, although I am used to this kind of weather considering I’ve been living in a dessert for quite a few years. The thing that I can’t get used with is the freaking humidity. It is literary unbearable.

I turn my head around looking towards the sky. In the distance, black clouds can be seen.

“Hahh... It looks like it’s going to rain today...”

I murmur those words with a depressive voice. All my life I hated rain. It’s so melancholic. It makes me remember things that I would like to forget. My past has been quite boring, excepting all the kidnappings for ransom that I had to go through in middle school.

Now, something interesting happened to me but the price is so huge that I would like it never happened. Unfortunately, time is absolute. Or at least this is what Sy always says.

While contemplating I keep my eyes on the black clouds in the distance. They are moving slowly, rising up like a funnel. The top of the cloud changes its colour to a lighter black, with some red mixed in. It’s beautiful!

“...”

“Wait a second... Why is that cloud red-ish?”

Now that I think about it, the movement of that cloud is quite unnatural. I mean it moves up and then down in waves. The movement is rhythmic with a certain tone. From what I remember, the weather is not that precise.

At this moment, an insane thought pops up in my mind. Without waiting even one more second, I rush towards the elevator. Two minutes later I enter the command room with a ragged breath. Jake and Sy are looking at a monitor not reacting in any way at me entering.

“Guys, we might have a problem!”

They turn their heads towards me. At this point, I can finally see their faces which are devoid of blood and filled with dread. Looking behind them towards the monitor I see one of the most terrifying scenes in the world.

The drone is moving at a distance of ten kilometres or so from a huge tree. Its size is unbelievable. The trunk is bigger than a small city and the branches go up in the sky so high that the camera can’t even see their end. The leaves are a combination of red with a lot of blacks mixed in. The huge thing is moving slowly by putting one branch on the ground, lifting its huge body and then moving a few kilometres at once.

“Sy...”

“Trunk diameter: 5.4 km; maximum height: 29.6 km, approximate weight: 35.0178 trillion tonnes, moving speed: 192.3 km/h; current direction: straight towards us!”

Damn... That is big! That is way too big. Can we even fight against something like that?

“Do we have enough firepower to subjugate it?”

“Not even by close!”

Fuck! What the hell are we supposed to do then?

“Sy, are we safe in the bunker?”

Jake asks Sy a pointless question... The bunker is 800 metres under the ground and has been designed to resist any kind of nuclear attack. Even that tree shouldn't be able to...

“No! It could just rip the whole bunker from the ground and turn it to shreds in seconds!”

“FUCK!”

I couldn’t hold myself from uttering that word... I mean we can’t kill it and we can’t hide from it. Then, what are we supposed to do? Run?

“Seth! Hey, Seth!”

But I can’t run. This is my house and I refuse to hand it over to that thing.

“Seth! Answer me!”

Then what can I do? Fight to the death with it? No, that is not an option either! Then maybe...

‘SLAP’

“Snap out of it, you idiot!”

My thought process is interrupted by a slap on the right cheek. Bending my head lightly I can see Sy with a worried expression looking straight at me.

“Seth, you are still the head of our team. Whatever you decide, we are on your side!”

“...”

“Sy is right Seth! Whatever happens, we are with you in this!”

“Thank you.”

A lonely tear moves slowly on my cheek and falls to the ground. They are right. I am not alone. And I must choose the best course of action that favour all of us, not only me.

“Jake, prepare the hovercraft. Load in the weapons, ammunition and the nano-suits. I am going to get the food. Sy, prepare everything down here for the encounter with our little friend over there.”

“I see. We are running away while the house’s defensive system is going to keep it busy.”

“It’s a good idea, Seth. We can always create a new home as long we are alive!”

Jake puts his hand on my shoulder with a wide smile on his face. He is right, we can always build another house, but if he thinks I am going to let an ugly tree monster take over my house he is gravely mistaken.

“Sy, how is project Firefly doing?”

“Eh?!? The prototype is ready, but it’s still too unstable to be moved. In these conditions, we can’t use it...”

“No, we can! We will just have to activate the prototype without moving it!”

“Ooohhhh!”

‘GRIN’

“I see. Leave it to me ‘boss’!”

Facing the mountain like tree monster, all three of us have huge grins on our faces and eyes filled with bloodlust.

“If that thing wants my house, I am willing to sell it to him. The price is going to be HIS LIFE!”