Chapter Text
The world was still dark when Gilda hit the ground. She stood up with only some difficulty, it was a far fall but the dirt beneath her was soft. As Gilda looked around, she was barely able to make out her surroundings. “Thoma? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here!” The voice of a little boy said back. Gilda’s eyes adjusted a bit more and she could see what looked like Thoma next to her.
Gilda could make out another person, “Gilda! It’s Anna! I have Emma, but I need help lifting her!”
“Hold on, I’m coming!” Gilda ran over to the silhouette and helped her pick up Emma. The two girls walked back to where Thoma was standing, Gilda reaching out a hand to the boy as to not lose him in the darkness. “Anna, do you know where the others are?”
Anna seemingly shook her head. “No, I don’t. I fell shortly before you did,” as she said that a light appeared ahead of them.
“Gilda?! Anna?! Are you over there?!” It was Don’s voice.
“Yes! We’ll come to you, stay put!” Gilda, Anna, and Thoma made their way towards the light ahead of them, the two girls still holding their sister in their arms.
When they made it to Don, they realized that everyone was there. A quick count of heads confirmed it—wait. Someone was missing. “Don, you’re missing someone.”
“Two kids, actually.” Gilda frowned. Where could they be?
“Who? We have to find them!”
Don shook his head, “It’s too late. Chris was carrying them but set them down for a break. They were one year olds. They didn’t—couldn’t, survive the fall.”
Realization struck Gilda like a bus. Tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t the only one on the verge of tears. Anna looked like she was about to break down, and Chris was breaking down. Don had tears in his eyes, as well. Everyone else was grief stricken, however not as much as them. Gilda, Anna, and Don all felt responsible for the children’s safety since Emma was out of the picture, and they had failed to save everyone. Chris had killed his little siblings. Even though it was an accident, he was still at fault. Gilda made a mental note to check in on him when they were safe.
Alas, they had no time to sulk or process their grief, as the group still had to find out where they were. They were no doubt in some underground cavern. The walls didn’t necessarily look like typical cave walls, however Gilda had never actually seen a cavern before, so maybe this was normal? They couldn’t see the ceiling, even with Don’s lantern, so there was no telling how far they had fallen. No one (besides the two one year olds) seemed to be too injured, which was good.
“Hey! Look! I see light!” Someone yelled. A few kids agreed and began running towards the dim light ahead. Gilda and the rest followed.
There was light, however it didn’t come from an opening in the ceiling. It came from small flowers in the center of an opening, surrounding a large tree-like structure. Bugs swarmed around the flowers, and vines hung from the ceiling, although they were too weak to climb. Gilda looked around. The space was beautiful, but something told her they shouldn’t stay here for long.
If Ray were here, he might’ve been able to give Gilda some insight on what they were seeing. He always had his head stuck in books, after all. Gilda had also read some informational texts about the ecosystem and what she knew as the outside world, but so far nothing was adding up. She knew Emma, Norman, and Ray had all speculated that something had happened in 2015, and that it had possibly been the start of the demons, but could an ecosystem really change that quickly?
Someone screamed, pulling Gilda from her thoughts. “Look! Above us!”
Gilda looked up, only to see more than a few hanging corpses of varying animals above the group. Shock struck Gilda as her eyes went wide, “Quick! Everyone, back the way we came!” She turned to rush back the way she and the children had come, only to see the entrance was blocked off by large roots.
Everyone cowered into the center of the room, finding themselves surrounded by vines and roots that wanted to kill them. This tree was carnivorous. It had to be. The dead animals, the flowers in the center that smelled nice and glowed in the dark, the ground underneath them pulling them down into the ground, it was all a trap. A trap for living organisms, made by a tree to ensure its survival.
Don was shouting something, he had no doubt come to the same realization as Gilda, but no one could hear him over the cries of the younger children. A two year old clutched Gilda’s leg, crying, “I don’t wanna die!” Gilda hugged him back, but she would have to leave him soon. She was still carrying Emma with Anna, she had no time to help the kids.
“Gilda!” Don shouted, “what do we do? Burn the tree?”
Gilda looked back at him and shook her head. “No! Burning the tree will fill the room with smoke! We still don’t know how to get out!”
“And the smoke will lead the enemy right to us!” Anna commented.
“Wait!” A younger voice said. Gilda turned to see it was Phil, “I’ve read about this! In a book Emma read to me a while ago!”
“Phil, look, books can’t really help us now!” Don called back to him.
Phil shook his head, “No! It was one of Mr. Minerva’s books! ‘The Adventure Log of Ugo,’ I think! Ugo goes on a ton of adventures, and one of them involves some snakes! They lured people into a cave using treasure and then killed them, I think! If Mr. Minerva helped us get out of the farm, maybe he also wanted to help us get out of demon territory?”
Don looked back at him and nodded. “That actually makes sense, good job, Phil!” He paused, “but do you know how he got out of the cave?”
“I,” he paused, thinking, “I don’t remember!”
Gilda looked at the roots. “They don’t have eyes or ears, how can they even track us?” This tree was smart. If Emma was awake, Gilda was sure she would’ve already figured this out.
“No eyes, no ears, no taste, no nose… could it be touch?” Anna asked, “Is it navigating and finding us by touch?”
Gilda looked over and grinned at her. “Anna, you’re a genius!” She searched through her bag and took out her cup, throwing it at the roots. The plant eagerly destroyed it.
“That’s great,” Don said, “but we have to climb to get out of here. How do we do that without touching it?”
Gilda bit her lip. “I don’t know. We’ll just have to climb quickly and hope they don’t sense our touches on the tree’s trunk. I think only the tip of the root can feel us, so we should be fine.” She turned to Phil, “do you remember anything else from that book?”
Phil nodded. “The snakes died due to the chilly air of the outside world or something.”
“Ok! Everyone, we trained for this! Up we go! Kids five and older should grab a younger buddy to help out!” Don picked up two younger kids and began ushering the others up the tree. Gilda and Anna went up last.
“Come on, you guys! Help me break the ceiling!” Jemima called. She was hanging from a vine attached to the ceiling. A couple other kids reached the top and hung with her, the weight causing the roof to break. Cold air rushed in, and the vines shivered back.
All was good, until a shrill scream ripped through the kids. Jemima had fallen. She would’ve survived the fall if not for the sharp root sticking straight up from the ground impaling her through the chest. Blood splattered everywhere, and Gilda had to take a moment to recover before she dropped Emma and herself.
Three kids, all in one day. Gilda had failed Emma. She had failed Ray and Norman, too. As she pulled herself and Anna out of the cave, she couldn’t help but look down again at Jemima’s limp, bloody body impaled down below. She walked over to the trees and promptly threw up. Hopefully everything will get better in the future. For now, though, Gilda had a job to do.