Forest Shroomy's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Forest Shroomy stepped out from behind the purple and pink tree. The machine was moving now, its blade arm lowering toward the ground. She had minutes at most before it tore through the first root channel and started the cascade that would kill everything connected below. She ran toward the old oak at the grove's edge where she kept her emergency post. The treehouse platform gave her height and a clear line of sight across the eastern section. From the deck she could see the damage already done. A line of fresh stumps cut through the grove like a wound, the earth between them churned and torn. Where the machine had passed, pale clusters of mushrooms pushed up through the disturbed soil, their caps covered in delicate webbing. The mycelium was trying to reconnect what had been severed, but it was dying faster than it could repair. Forest Shroomy pulled the test tube from her pocket and unscrewed the lid. Inside was the last viable spore sample from the healthy western network. If she could get it into the ground at the breach point before the machine cut through the main channel, the spores might take hold and create a bypass. The network would survive, weakened but intact. But she would have to cross directly into Luke's path to reach the spot in time. She climbed down the ladder and started running. The machine's engine roar grew louder as she moved through the grove. Luke saw her when she was twenty meters away. He pulled a lever and the blade arm stopped, hovering just above the ground. Forest Shroomy dropped to her knees at the soft earth between two ancient roots and dug with both hands. She poured the spores into the hole and packed soil over them, pressing hard. Behind her, Luke shut off the engine. The silence felt like a question neither of them knew how to answer. The spores were planted, but the machine was still here, and Luke was still watching.