Six

Shane knew a route to safety. He was faster than me, my arm’s pain kept me from running. He noticed, and in a gesture of… I don’t know… generosity? He ripped part of his shirt to make an impromptu sling for me.

There were a series of tremors, each worse than the last one.  They levelled the zone, destroying many houses, cracking the ground… And with each tremor, we saw the visions… And each time, it was getting harder to distinguish between the reality and hallucination.

Eventually, we arrived to the designated safe zone. Giant steel double doors made a wall. There was a small keypad; Shane tipped a few numbers… And another quake struck.

No… it wasn’t a quake… It was more like someone trying to break the ground. Pushing, trying to emerge…

The metal was giving away. There was a loud banging sound. The militiaman stood dumbfounded as huge black tendrils tore the ground apart. The tendrils wrapped on each other, forming a body. It looked like the trunk of a tree, and in fact looked like a tree, with branches and all.

With its branches all spread, I saw in amazement as small red leaves blossomed. The canopy of the tree was now full of a scarlet colour, and it was waving, as if blown by an inexistent wind.

“No! Not that!” Lieutenant Shane said, his face pale with fear.

A voice flew through the air. “Whenever there’s smoke…”

From the canopy of the tree, emerged the unnamed officer and other man. the tree raised some roots for them to stand on. His companion was a massively muscular man with huge broken chains hanging from his body... In fact... He looked like... The man from the riots!! Oh God...

“You!? How could…You betrayed us!” The lieutenant roared.

The officer simply smiled, before affecting a voice. A voice I knew too well… “The thing… it killed all of my platoon. If anyone hears this… please send help!”

The lieutenant… he was petrified. The tree then lowered its root, so the man could be on the ground.

“No… But… But… We saw your body. You were dead!”

The officer or whatever it was… it was smiling. It massaged its throat, as if trying for a different voice…

“We saw yours too.” The thing said in an intercut way, as if the words were repeated from a damaged recording… a recording of Shane’s voice.

I didn’t believe what the man said. Lieutenant Shane was alive! He was standing in front of me! Maybe they mistook Clark’s body… He was alive too! Maybe… Maybe… He betrayed us! He went mad!