Chapter 8: The Root of Evil

The basement was loud.

The heads on the tree were screaming. It wasn’t just noise. It was a weapon.

“Help me! It hurts! Please!”

A dozen different voices yelled at once. Men. Women. Even a child.

Chloe covered her ears. She fell to her knees.

“Make it stop!” she screamed. “They’re alive!”

Ren didn’t cover his ears. He gripped the fire axe.

“They’re not alive,” Ren shouted over the noise. “They’re fruit. Don’t listen to them.”

A root shot out of the concrete floor. It was thick as a leg. It aimed for Ren’s chest.

Ren side-stepped.

[Dash.]

He swung the axe.

Thwack.

The blade cut deep into the root. Green sap sprayed out. It hissed when it hit the floor.

The tree shrieked. All the heads opened their mouths wider. The sound was deafening.

“Intruder! Meat! Eat him!”

Three more roots burst from the ground. They moved like whips.

One grabbed Ren’s ankle.

It pulled. Hard.

Ren fell. He dropped the axe.

The root dragged him across the floor. It was pulling him toward the trunk. The bark split open. A giant, toothless maw waited there. It was dripping with green slime.

“Ren!” Chloe yelled.

Ren kicked the root with his other foot. It didn’t let go. It was too strong.

He clawed at the concrete. His fingernails broke.

He was five feet from the trunk. He could smell the breath of the tree. It smelled like rotting flowers and copper.

“Chloe!” Ren roared. “The chemicals! Throw them!”

Chloe was frozen. She was staring at the faces on the tree. One of them looked like her math teacher.

“Throw it!” Ren screamed.

Chloe snapped out of it. She grabbed a bottle from her bag. Hydrochloric acid.

She didn’t aim well. She just threw it hard.

The bottle smashed against the trunk, right above the open mouth.

Hiss.

The acid burned the bark. It burned the faces near it.

The tree screamed in pain. The roots went loose for a second.

That was all Ren needed.

He rolled. He grabbed the axe from the floor.

He didn’t run away. He ran toward the trunk.

“You want to eat?” Ren yelled. “Eat this!”

He swung the axe into the open mouth.

Crunch.

The blade buried itself in the soft, fleshy wood inside.

Green blood gushed out. It covered Ren. It was warm.

[Warning: Corrosive Sap.] [Health -5%]

Ren’s skin started to itch. The sap was acidic.

He needed to end this fast.

He saw the heart of the tree. Inside the split trunk, pulsing behind the wood, was a glowing green organ. It looked like a giant grape.

The hunger roared.

Mine.

Ren let go of the axe. He reached inside the tree.

The roots lashed at his back. They whipped him.

[Health -10%]

Ren didn’t care. He grabbed the glowing green heart. It was slippery. Hot.

He pulled.

The tree shook. The heads screamed so loud the glass on the chemicals in Chloe’s bag shattered.

Ren ripped the organ out.

It was the size of a football. It throbbed in his hands.

He bit into it.

It exploded in his mouth.

It tasted sweet. Like honey mixed with battery acid.

He swallowed huge chunks. He didn’t chew. He just ate.

Gulp. Gulp.

[Gluttony Activated.] [Consumed: Heart of the Flesh Tree.] [Critical Absorption!]

A wave of energy hit Ren. It knocked him back. He fell onto the wet floor.

His veins turned green for a second. Then they went back to normal.

[Vitality +5] [Strength +2] [New Skill: Regeneration (Low)] [Description: You heal slowly over time. Can reattach small limbs.] [New Passive: Bark Skin (Low)] [Description: Your skin is tougher. Minor resistance to cuts.]

Ren lay on the floor. He felt his back itching. The whip marks from the roots were closing up. The acid burns were fading.

The tree stopped moving. The heads went silent. They dried up instantly, turning into grey husks.

The green light in the room faded.

Ren sat up. He wiped the sap from his eyes.

“Ren?” Chloe whispered. She was hiding behind a shelf. “Is it dead?”

Ren stood up. He felt heavy. Solid. His skin felt thicker.

“It’s dead,” Ren said.

He walked over to the trunk. The metal chest was still there, tangled in the dead roots.

He kicked the roots away. They snapped like dry twigs now.

He pulled the chest out. It was heavy. Military grade.

“Open it,” Chloe said. She walked over. She didn’t look at the dried heads.

Ren smashed the lock with the back of his axe.

Clang.

The latch broke.

He opened the lid.

Inside, there were no weapons. No food.

There was a single book. And a vial of blue liquid.

Ren picked up the book. It wasn’t paper. It felt like skin.

[Skill Book: Analyze (Rare)] [Class Requirement: None] [Do you want to learn?]

“Yes,” Ren said.

The book dissolved into light. It shot into his forehead.

Ren blinked. A headache spiked, then vanished.

He looked at the vial.

[Item: High-Grade Mutagen (Type: Mental)] [Description: Forces a mutation in the brain. High chance of death. Low chance of awakening a psychic skill.]

Ren put the vial in his pocket. “Dangerous,” he muttered. “Save it for later.”

He looked at Chloe.

[Chloe (Lvl 1)] [Status: Traumatized] [Potential: High]

The new Analyze skill gave him more info. “Potential: High.” That was interesting.

“We need to move,” Ren said.

BOOM.

The ceiling shook. Dust fell on them.

The Crusher was still upstairs. And now, without the screaming tree covering the noise, Ren could hear something else.

The heavy steel door at the top of the stairs groaned.

SCREECH.

Metal tearing.

“He’s coming down,” Chloe whispered. Her eyes went wide.

Ren looked around the basement. There was no other exit. Just the stairs.

“We can’t fight him,” Ren said. “Not yet. Even with the new stats.”

He looked at the dead tree. The roots had ripped up the concrete floor when they attacked.

Under the tree, there was a hole. A dark tunnel.

It looked like a sewer line. Or a maintenance shaft.

“There,” Ren pointed.

“Into the hole?” Chloe asked. She looked at the slime.

“It’s better than being flattened,” Ren said.

He grabbed the bag of supplies. He grabbed his axe.

CRASH.

The door at the top of the stairs flew off its hinges. It landed on the steps with a loud clang.

The Crusher stepped onto the landing.

It was huge. It barely fit in the stairwell. Its hammer arm dragged on the wall, carving a groove in the concrete.

It saw them.

“ROAR!”

It charged down the stairs. It was clumsy, but fast.

“Go!” Ren pushed Chloe.

She jumped into the hole under the tree.

Ren followed her.

He slid down the muddy tunnel just as the Crusher’s hammer smashed into the spot where he had been standing.

The impact shook the ground. The tunnel entrance collapsed behind them.

Darkness.

Ren slid for a few seconds. Then he hit water.

Splash.

He stood up. The water was waist-deep. It smelled like old rain and rust.

“Chloe?”

“I’m here,” she coughed. “I lost a shoe.”

Ren activated Night Vision.

They were in a round tunnel. Brick walls.

“The old storm drains,” Ren said. “This runs under the whole campus.”

“Where does it go?” Chloe asked. She was shivering in the cold water.

Ren looked down the tunnel. It went on forever into the dark.

“Away from him,” Ren said.

He checked his status.

[Name: Ren] [Level: 4] [Health: 90%] [Hunger: 40%]

He was getting stronger fast. But the enemies were getting stronger faster.

“We need to find the city exit,” Ren said. “The campus is done. We’ve looted everything we can.”

He started walking.

“Ren,” Chloe whispered.

“What?”

“Something is following us.”

Ren stopped. He used Tremor Sense.

She was right.

Small vibrations in the water. Ripples coming from behind the collapsed rocks.

Not the Crusher. Too small.

Hundreds of them.

Skitter. Skitter.

Ren looked at the walls.

Cockroaches.

Mutated ones. The size of shoes. Their shells were hard.

And they were hungry.

Ren gripped his axe. He grinned in the dark.

“Good,” he said. “I needed a snack for the road.”

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