Littleton Blues

Fated Ties

I woke up and Avery was sitting at a desk in the far end of the of the bunker. He was writing something quickly, with a stern look on his face. I took a look around, a bit taken back at how much had changed in here. I honestly hadn't paid it any attention once we first settled in, so I hadn't realized the things he'd put down here.
There was a fridge and small deep freezer. A full set of new dishes. A couch and TV with a shelf of all of our favorite movies, TV series, and documentaries. I was laying on a full sized bed and there was a night stand to the right of me. It was like being in an efficiency apartment.

"You're awake."
Avery was looking at me with worry in his face.

"Um yeah."
A tense silence fell between us.

"Let me explain." Avery said in a low voice.

I simply nodded.

"In 2025, I'd just graduated from college and had saved enough money to visit a few different countries so I could learn more about my condition. I found an old journal entry in one of the plant science books my mother had left me. It had a list of five countries where this so called gift had been documented.
I needed to know what I was, who I was."

"The last place I visited was an indigenous village in Indonesia. I spoke with the chief and he welcomed me after seeing we shared the same condition. He took me into their jungle and we stayed there for three days. Just the two of us.
He literally turned himself into a tree!
A whole fucking tree!
He was huge. It was the most amazing and terrifying shit I have ever seen in my life."
He could see the look of confusion in my face and he continued telling my his story.
"He told me that this was the legacy of the first tribes in the world. Throughout every generation, there will be one hundred of us selected by our bloodline. No one knows who it will touch in their lineage, but once you came of age, you were granted with your gift. He showed me the way. He showed me my family lineage from the beginning. Once we returned back to his village, he urged me to take more time in nature and nurture my inner tree.
So I did. And that's when I made the decision to start the neighborhood gardens initiative. I'm sorry I haven't been honest about how deep this really goes. I needed more time to learn how to control myself." He got quiet for a second, letting me process what he'd just told me.

Before I could respond, there was an enormous crash upstairs. Whatever beast that roamed the woods had gotten past the barriers and he brought company. Their screams could be heard faintly and Avery came to my side.

He leaned in closely and said, "I've contacted the military and they're on their way with a group of special ops agents. I can't say for sure how many of the animals are in the area, but I've been tracking the pack leader since March. That was what knocked me out yesterday."

I looked at him, really unsure of what to say.

"So you're in on this? You helped them create these things?" I asked in a hushed panic.

"Of course not! Do you really think I'm the only one the government has come for? At this point, they're holding at least four of the originals in a testing facility in Colorado."

"The originals? Oh so y'all got a lil name now?" I huffed, anxious about what else he could've been keeping from me.

"No that's not my lil nickname," he said with annoyance. "That's what we're called in their classified files." He joined me on the bed and looked me in the eyes.

"Look, I know this is some crazy ass shit but I need you to believe me when I say I was only trying to protect you. The agents don't know about this bunker. When they get here, we'll no longer be safe anywhere. This is my only chance to escape from their view."

I knew there was a chance shit was going to get real, but this shit was mind blowing. I couldn't believe what was happening right before my eyes.

This whole time I was thinking we were being monitored for his persistence in giving free food to black communities. All the threats and citations, they couldn't understand how we never seemed to run out of luscious organic produce all year round. Avery was adamant about giving everything he grew away for free or as little as possible. There was no such thing as not enough to him. Nature wanted us to thrive on her goodness, or at least that's how he would put it.

A shrilling scream permeated through the house and I was snapped out of my thoughts. We moved to the far end of the room and for a moment, time seemed to stand still. An explosion shook the ground above us and Avery whispered that the agents must have made it there. He signaled for me to stay quiet and with the flip of a button, all the electronics turned off. It went eeriely dark and I held my breath until he was back near me. Panic was stifled in my chest and I felt woozy from the anxiety of it all.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked him.

"For now, we wait. They're not going to leave immediately so we can't either."
He turned on a flashlight that was on the nearby desk and pulled me towards a small square cut into the wall.

"This is how we'll know when it's safe to go." He removed the square and there was nothing but dirt.

"I don't understand."

"I can talk to the trees through here. The roots in my fingers can act as my eyes and I'll be able to monitor the area."

He touched the soil slightly and whispered something to himself. Slowly, roots slid from beneath his fingernails and reached for the dirt. The tiny tendrils moved with curiosity until they made contact with the Earth.

Avery's eyes closed and the small roots that crept slowly from the tips of his hands just moments before were now much thicker. His smooth brown skin started to change and he was no longer aware I was there.

I stood in awe, afraid to break the connection between him and the soil in front of us. Until he came back to me, all I could do was wait.