Jamie tried to beat the conflicted
feelings down as he and his mother went to the black Hummer. Of course he
needed to protect his family. Of
course. But at the same time, he was doubting
everything he’d just been told.
“You drive, Jamie. I’m going to keep firing; make sure
the road is clear.” She hefted another one of the weapons and pointed it out
the window. Jamie threw the car into drive and took off down the road.
“Where are we going, mom?”
“We need to catch up with your father. Head downtown.”
Jamie did as he was told, trying not to wince as she
took aim at any tree that looked suspicious.
“Jamie, honey, are you upset?” she asked him.
“A little. Well, a lot. I mean Jessica almost got
killed, and I think Gran did get killed. We thought you guys
were abducted by aliens or dead or worse, and apparently I can’t even trust my
own mind. I think that’s a little upsetting.”
“Slow down, Jamie.”
“My thoughts are racing because I’m upset, you can’t
just tell me to-”
“No, Jamie, slow the car down.”
I hadn’t actually looked a the speedometer before then, but I was pushing eighty.
“We’ll get there, but I want to get there in one
piece.”
“Oh. Right.”
We drove in silence for a while, my thoughts running
in furious circles. There was the anger at being manipulated, the desire to
save my sister, the sorrow at what had happened, and I filed all that away
under Real Jamie. Then there was the desire to protect the plants, my
creations, wanting to see how far things could go, and that was Evil Jamie.
There was also anger at my parents for leaving,
abandoning me to whatever this mind control plan was, and not even checking in
enough to realise what happened.
Then mom shows up out of the blue to tell me my whole
career, heck, my whole life is manipulated… I wasn’t sure whether that anger
belonged to Real Jamie or Evil Jamie.
Still, evil science corporation or not, I
had done this. The plants were my design. I should be able to think of a way to
stop them.
“Jamie…”
Mom rested her hand on my arm. “I know this is hard
for you. But I promise you, once this is over, you can ask us all the questions
you want.”
“Assuming we survive.” I kept my tone neutral as I
pulled on to main street. Everything was quiet so far.
Mom sighed and turned away, scanning the street for
movement. “I can’t expect you to forgive us immediately, I know that. But I
hope you will.”
“I hope I will too.” I parked the Hummer and we both
got out, taking the rest of the weapons with us.
“Are these trees infected yet?” she asked, pointing to
the shade trees that hung over Main
Street
They looked natural, but we kept our distance as we
walked down Main Street
The wind picked up. At first I thought I heard
wind-chimes, but after a minute I realised what it was – the leaves.
“Do you hear them?” I whispered to my mother.
She nodded. “Think they’re waiting for us to realise?”
“They might not be advanced enough to attack yet, or
they might be waiting to see what we do,” I told her.
As we approached the park, I started to notice more
signs of infestation: vines growing over buildings, hedges and decorative
plants that seemed oddly overgrown. If I hadn’t known what to look for, though,
it wouldn’t be obvious.
They were getting smarter.
Just before we reached the park, a loud cracking noise
cut through the air and I smelled smoke.
“Is that…”
“Your father!”
Mom yelled, and took off running though the park. I
followed her, not sure what would be waiting for us when we reached the copse
of trees. There were more noises, some like human shouts and some entirely
inhuman. I realised some of the trees were on fire just before a man walked out
of grove, a flamethrower at his side.
“Hi, son,” my father said, raising his safety goggles
to get a look at me.
That was when the giant oak attacked from behind.
*
If she had a name before this morning, she couldn’t tell you what it
was. If you could ask, she would tell you she was a tree, had always been a
tree, could conceive of herself as nothing but a tree. And if there was the
vague memory of something else behind that, she couldn’t have told you what
those shapes meant.
Most of the time as she worked with the other plants,
she hardly thought of herself as separate. They were all part of the same
invasive species, after all, growing and adapting together.
She felt protective of the others around her, as if
they were her grandchildren. When they came under attack from the humans, she
did her best to protect them, suggesting strategies to protect as many trees as
possible while hopefully putting the humans to rout.
One of the humans, however, kept catching her
attention. She caught snatches of sound from the human girl, as if she was
speaking the plants’ language. The girl seemed to hear and understand them as
well, which was unusual.
Then she said it.
“Gran?”
That one word was enough for old, half-drawn, memories
to fill in with colour and detail. The memory hurt, enough
that the other plants around her took notice. They recognised that the girl was
the source and moved toward her.
She reacted without any thought, calling them back to
her. They were reluctant, but followed her direction. Downtown, she told them. It was time to go help overrun the town.
These two didn’t matter. They should be left alone.
And after a minute, the two humans were alone in the
road.
*
“Gran! Don’t leave!” Jessica hesitated, ready to take off running after
the plant she thought had been her loving grandmother.
Before she could, though, Wanda grabbed her arm. “No!
We need to get to safety. Come on.” She pulled Jessica toward the Jeep.
