CHAPTER 02

A few minutes later.

Gary opened his eyes and found himself lying on the street. Next to him was his girlfriend.

“Leah!” He quickly got up and tried to wake her up. After patting her cheeks a few times, she opened her eyes.

“Gary…” she was saying, and she noticed the giant portal-like thing high in the sky and immediately sat up at once. “W-What’s that?”

“That’s not important,” Gary was looking around, but there weren’t any. There were only trees around them with blood-red leaves. Trees in the middle of the road. Trees growing out of the vehicles and buildings. A nasty revelation crossed his mind. “I think that the people… turned into trees.”

Leah covered her mouth in shock. “How can that be?” Even though she said that, she felt the same because some of these trees were almost the size of the human, though a little taller on average. Why would these trees be in the exact positions where humans were supposed to be? “What sort of magic is this? I’m not dreaming, right?”

Just then, they heard a growl. Something walked out of the restaurant. It was a cat that was walking upright and looked like a humanoid beast. It was almost four feet tall.  “Humans… what in the meow did you do to me?” the cat furiously sprang toward them.

“Kyaa!” Leah screamed in horror.

Gary covered her.

The cat was about to claw at them, but a thunderbolt rang in the sky, causing the cat to be startled.

The cat flinched, then used Gary’s back as a footing and jumped over them and speedily ran away into the distance. It was so fast, it disappeared from their view in a couple of seconds.

“W-What was that?” Leah was visibly shaking. Her heart pounded against her chest like never before.

“That brown cat had a bell around its neck… I think one of the customers brought that pet to the restaurant,” Gary said. “But how did it turn so big, and it… talked.”

Leah was still shivering. She checked her mobile, but it was switched off, and it wasn’t turning on, even though the battery should be more than fifty percent. “Let’s go home. I want to see my dad.”

“Yeah.”

Their home wasn’t too far from there, so they hurried. As they were on their way, big worms the size of pythons began to break free out of the drainage holes. They came across a couple of humanoid dogs as well, but the dogs hid themselves quickly, terrified of the lightning bolts streaking all across the sky.

Soon, they reached Gary’s home first. Gary rushed in first and froze after seeing a tree grown out of the sofa, and another tree in the kitchen. Both of them were the same trees with blood-red leaves. “No, no…” he rushed upstairs to his sister’s room, and he couldn’t find her. However, the bathroom door was locked. He burst it open, and there was a tree that almost filled the space of the whole bathroom.

Gary fell to his knees in disbelief. Even his younger sister had turned into a tree.

Leah came into the room just now and was stunned to see a tree in the bathroom. “Sasha…” she couldn’t even breathe freely. “Gary..” she put her hands on his shoulders from behind while her lips trembled. “I’m sorry.”

Tears flowed down his cheeks nonstop, but he swallowed all the pain and got up. “Let’s check on your dad.”

“But… What about Sasha… and your parents?” she asked, her cheeks turning red from the overwhelming sadness gripping her heart.

Gary wiped his tears and grabbed her hand and pulled her away with him. (If they really turned into trees, what can I do with my strength? I must find out what’s going on first. But before anything, we should keep ourselves safe.) Once they went downstairs, he stopped at the door and told her, “You stay here, Leah. I’ll go and see your dad’s situation.”

“What?” Leah shook her head.

“Listen,” Gary grabbed her shoulders tightly. “It’s not safe out there! You should stay inside. If I don’t come within an hour… then, do whatever you want, understand?”

Leah’s eyes were clouded with tears. “No. Don’t do this. Let’s go together.”

“It’s too risky,” Gary said. “Stay here if you love me.”

Leah hugged him tightly. “If it’s that dangerous, then don’t go. We can… check on my dad later in the morning.”

“Your home is not far. It won’t take long, and I’ll be careful,” Gary reasoned with her and then grabbed a metal rod from the fence before leaving.

Leah clenched her fists. She wanted to go with him. The sky outside was still rumbling with hundreds of lightning streaks lighting up the sky like never before. It was so scary to behold. “Please be safe, Gary. Please be safe, Dad,” her hand was still slightly shivering.

About five minutes later, Gary reached Leah’s house. It was a smaller house compared to his house, so it didn’t take him long to find her dad who had become a red-leaved tree in the swinging chair in the back verandah. Only Leah and her father Jericho lived here, so it couldn’t be anyone else but him.

Gary touched the tree emotionally and leaned on it. “Sorry, Uncle. I’m sorry, Leah. Your dad…” He had a few fond memories with Jericho, so his heart ached even more.

Thunderous explosions shook the sky, and two streaks of light—one bright and another dark—came shooting and spinning down at a great speed. The bright streak of light crashed on the lawn in front of Jericho’s house and created a massive crater. The shockwave sent Gary flying back into the wall. “AHHH!” This was much more physical and destructive compared to the shockwave he had experienced not long ago.