[WARNING — DISTURBING IMAGERY]
[WARNING — DISTURBING IMAGERY]
trees
At 4 AM on day 203, Egon, Abi, and Professor Kastner readied themselves to leave for the water purification station in the heart of the city. While the rest of the team filtered and loaded supplies into the trucks, Abi and Egon packed weapons, supplies, fuel, and essentials into one of the small faster vehicles parked near the helicopters. Professor Kastner worked connected the vehicle's communication system to the trucks' setup, for easier future contact. These small vehicles had a unique feature: two detachable radios that could now connect not only to itself but also to the trucks.
They got into the prepared vehicle and set off. It took approximately four hours to reach the outskirts of the city. The smaller vehicles were much faster than the trucks. Once inside the city, they drove for another two hours until they reached their final destination: the water purification and distribution station.
The vehicle's navigation system was not advanced, yet it was no issue. The roads were relatively clean, with not many black rocks. Only the occasional overturned cars and destroyed military trucks.
As they drove, the city revealed itself. The buildings lining the streets were drained of life and color with faded grey walls and blackened roofs. Doors and gates were breached, as if by some unseen, inhuman force. These houses had once been vibrant and futuristic. Modern with a touch of medieval European charm.
The lush trees that once adorned the streets now stood dark and lifeless. Their branches twisted and contorted like the ones they they had seen before. Most were small, spindly, and sharp with their branches growing towards the sky.
Amongst them, a few were strangely larger and thicker. On some, human heads were impaled by the branches. Unlike the previous corpses, the eyes were different. Still full. Still colored. And not a single crack around them. From the skulls, thin black branches sprouted outwards with small curling violet growths. Fragile as leave yet to be.