Chap #2 The Bark and Wood

The earthquake had finally ended. Keneric stood up and looked around. A buzzing noise filled both his ears, but at least his mind was sound. He patted himself down, checking for any major injuries. A few scars here and there, but he was fine. Thank god.

Next, he searched for his phone in the rubble. Turns out, just before he could pick it up from the pile of dirty clothes, the earthquake had hit. And now the whole place was covered in dust, dirt, and debris. After a minute of digging around, he found his phone buried under glass shards from the shower panels near one corner. The screen was cracked, but somehow, it still worked.

When Keneric saw the rows of missed calls from friends and family, he was shocked. Then he noticed the earthquake emergency alert—and realized why they were trying to reach him. He quickly dialed his mother's number, but the call didn't connect. Worried, he tried his father next, then his friends, one by one, on campus.

Absolutely nothing.

No bars. Not even a flicker of signal. The college Wi-Fi was down too. Keneric couldn't even get online to check the news. "Maybe the earthquake took out the cell towers in the area?" That was the only explanation that made sense.

He had no idea how big this disaster was. Without the internet, he couldn't tell if just Melbourne was hit or if all of Australia was in chaos. And waiting for help in a situation like this felt like a bad, bad idea. The whole thing felt more like the beginning of an apocalypse than a regular natural disaster.

And Keneric had watched enough movies to know—you don't wait around to get rescued in an apocalypse. Because what if the worst-case scenario was true? What if the whole country had collapsed? Who would come save them then?

It was better to collect supplies and find law enforcement (if they still existed) on his own rather than sit around here and die.

He turned on his phone's flashlight. In the beam of light, he finally saw the real damage. The gymnasium was somehow still standing, but barely. Cracked glass and broken ceiling panels littered the floor. The tiles were split and jagged like confetti.

It was bad. And Keneric didn't want to stay any longer than he had to.

But there were still things here he could use.

Instead of heading out, Keneric walked back into the locker rooms and opened the few lockers that hadn't toppled over. Within minutes, he found a backpack, a first aid kit, some chocolate, and a metal mop. He snapped off its plastic head, turning it into a makeshift spear.

Just as he was considering whether to check the fallen lockers too, a sound caught his attention.

It came from outside. It sounded like barking.

Keneric relaxed. He recognized that bark.

He slowly walked toward the gym's shattered glass entrance, careful not to step on anything sharp. Outside, a strange new world greeted him. Everything was green and wet, with barely any dry ground to step on.

The barking was louder now—just a few meters ahead.

There, next to a fallen tree, was Bear. Not a wild bear, of course. Wild bears don't bark. This was Bear, the dog adopted by university students a few years back. The girls loved him for his soft brown fur. The professors tolerated him. The most unique thing about Bear was the area around his eyes—darker than the rest of his body, forming two perfect circles that made it look like he had dark circles. Fitting name indeed.

"Bear… come here," Keneric called.

But the dog ignored him, still barking and mauling at the uprooted tree in a frenzy. Confused by Bear's behavior, Keneric used patches of straw grass like stepping stones to walk closer.

"Ugh..." Water seeped into his shoes. Gross. He had just taken a shower, and now his shoes were waterlogged and his body was covered in dirt. Truly a bad day.

Using his makeshift spear to test the ground's depth, he finally reached Bear.

"What's the matter, boy?" he asked.

Bear kept barking and scratching at the tree trunk. Keneric reached out, intending to pull him back—but then something changed.

The tree shivered.

Keneric froze.

Before his horrified eyes, the tree began to shrink in length and grow taller, the sound of cracking wood echoing all around.

His heart dropped.

He grabbed Bear and bolted toward the gymnasium, not caring how dirty he got. Water splashed. Mud stuck to his pants. None of it mattered. The dog twisted in his arms, barking at whatever was behind them.

Keneric heard it too—the groaning creak of wet wood twisting and shifting.

When he reached the gym's entrance, he finally dared to turn around.

And then he saw it.

A one-story-tall humanoid creature stood where the tree had been. Its body was made of wood. Its face—if it could be called that—had one single eye, half the size of a human. The golem stood still, unmoving, unresponsive.

Keneric used the moment to try and calm Bear, but failed. The dog leapt from his arms and landed on the gymnasium floor, barking again.

That did it.

The golem's head—shaped like an avocado—twisted. Its single eye locked onto Keneric.

Fuck…