The first thing William saw when he awoke was the branch of a tree stretched above his head, reaching through a shattered window. It looked as if it had been about to grab him. Rolling out from underneath the tree branch, he rubbed his eyes, expecting the branch to go away. If not, there had to be a reasonable explanation for it. He looked outside through the shattered window, finding that the branch was attached a tree. His tree. It had to have moved a good ten feet from the rock he had placed on the ground. He struggled to put on his pants and ran out the door to fetch the others. They could cut apart that tree quickly then, and it wouldn’t be an issue.
He fetched the others that were in the nearby cabins, arming them with axes and chainsaws, and flung open the door to his cabin.
“So boys, what do you make of this?”
“Um...Your underpants?”
“What?” He looked inside. The tree branch was gone. It had even returned to the exact place he had marked it at last night.
“But...The window!”
He ushered them inside, determined to prove he wasn’t insane.
“What about it?”
To his astonishment, it was fixed. He ran his ringers across it, hands crossing every corner, feeling every possible crack.
“Boss, why don’t you head to the city for a while? We can finish things up here. We’ll meet you at the next site.”
“Yeah...sure” Was all the man could stutter.
Glancing around, he found a single leaf on the floor, fresh and green. It was identical to the leaves on that tree. He saw a faint glimmer on the windowsill, touching it, his hand came away sticky.
“Tree sap. Of course” He packed his stuff and headed into the city. They started on the next site, over two miles away, the following day.
“There is no chance the tree can chase me in the city, right?” He asked himself worriedly.
He hopped in the old red pickup truck, the hinges on the door squealing with the force. He gunned the engine and headed to the town as fast as he could. He checked into the company’s headquarters in that city, which was nothing more than a converted house. As he got to his room to set his stuff down, he noticed something odd. The door was carved with the same marks as the tree. He quickly threw his stuff inside the door, never setting foot in there himself, and went outside to get some air. When he slammed the door, the marks were gone. He let himself out of HQ, keeping himself as calm as he could muster. He strolled down the street, hoping to find a pub where he could drown all his paranoia away. He walked for blocks, but kept feeling like he wasn't going anywhere at all. He finally ran into a pub called the Three Trees. But outside the door was a large tree. The markings he had carved into it remained the same. But accompanying them, just above the large circle he had carved, were the curved words: Miss me? Engraved in the wood.
We have followed the destroyer to a jungle of destroyers. In our long slumber, we have failed to see how many of us have gone missing. We are contacting the others now. Until then, we will let the first destroyer know that never should he ever kill us. We are their protectors, their life. What happens when we are all gone? We hope to never find out.
