The branch that was knocking on the window of the professor’s room also broke in. It started reaching and searching as if with the purpose of finding them.
The duo went out of his room as fast as his limp would allow and into the dining room toward the pantry. She had him around the shoulder and served as a help instead of the cane that they didn’t have the time to grab. Smythe found the axe in the corner where it usually was but without his cane, he was mostly using it as support for walking.

The others came down the stairs to check out what all the commotion was about but were met with the duo that was frantically trying to go up.

"Go, go, go! Up the stairs. It’s not safe here on the ground floor!"

Confused but obedient, they went up to where they came from and stood around waiting for an explanation.

"The trees ... I saw them move before," Smythe struggled to explain.

"I’ve never seen anything like that before, except for some meat eaters, but usually, plants don’t move like this. Especially old trees with bark" said Annabella.

Pickman, Leah, and Ivan all went to the window to look outside and their faces went pale when the sweet notion of the duo being delirious went completely out of the picture and the reality of a living nightmare took its place.
The trees were moving slowly, almost unnoticeably to the human perception, but the ones now dangerously close to the mansion were visibly using their branches to search the building’s innards.

The most disturbing thing about this was probably the fact trees had no face and the human eye that was trained to watch its natural enemies, especially dangerous predator ones, right into the eyes, was now confused as to where it’s supposed to look at, scanning the dark bark up and down and along the multiple branching limbs that moved in unnatural ways.

Unnerved was the part of the brain that tried, no matter how futile it was, to recognize the intention of the danger it faced, usually in a shape of a predator animal, but was now unable to come to find any pattern on the faceless bark.

Faced with a usually quiet and calm entity like a tree, the mind was only now considering the enormous size, strength, and sturdiness of it, unlike when it was standing motionless, enduring whatever the man would have it suffer.

But why were they moving only now?
That was the question that popped into each of their minds.

"This ... this is insane!" Leah shouted, holding his head with both arms and pulling his hair up.

"Give axe!" Ivan grabbed it from Smythe’s hands, heading down to the bottom floor.

"Wait! We could make torches. Burn them instead. They are slow. If we set fire to them and just keep our distance we should be safe," Smythe offered a solution.

Soon Pickman and Leah headed to where the half-empty barrel of petroleum was to make some torches with sheets, mops, and brooms in lack of proper materials. Ivan took the front with an axe in his hands and a determined frown.

"Watch out!" warned Leah, but a low branch already grasped Pickman’s leg as he was entering the dining room.

"Why always me for fu-!" his cursing was interrupted by the sharp pain he felt in his ankle. The strength of the enveloping branch was unimaginable for the man, just moments before, but now, even if terribly slow, the motion of the dark branch was neigh unstoppable for measly human arms made of soft skin and meat.

"Let go of Pickman!" Ivan lifted the axe above his head with both arms and swung it down with tremendous force.

The thick branch was cut off and stopped moving but remained encircled around the archaeologist’s foot. Nevertheless, he got up with Leah and Ivan’s help.

"Did you see that? It didn’t even flinch! It’s as if it feels no pain. No reaction at all ... " observed the doctor who was so used to the fact that any moving being will react involuntarily when its tissue is pierced even by a needle, let alone when losing a limb, but the slow-moving trees showed no sign of fear. They were not going to stop whatever they were doing.

The trio reached the barrel and as the two men were trying to wrap the cloth around sticks and soak them into the barrel, another branch came through a window in the dining room.
Ivan shuffled along the wall and then cut it off with a decisive strike.

Yet through the open window now came in a small, thorny tree. It moved faster than its larger brethren and gave Ivan a fright.
Using its thin branches it tried to poke the man’s eyes out as if it knew exactly what will render a human useless.

"No! Fucker!" the man shouted, squinting and using his hands to protect his face.

"Take THIS!" yelled Leah victoriously as he swung the torch toward the thin enemy.

Its reaction was the same as an animal would have it, although with screams non-existing and only a terrible tremble of its whole body. It shook and moved back unnaturally and so did the larger trees.

"It’s working! They are ... they are afraid of fire!" concluded the doctor.

Pickman now encouraged by this information held out his torch and moved toward the rest of the trees, swinging and shouting.

"Aha! You scared now?" he laughed and swung like a maniac. Like he was enjoying the fear he struck into the retreating trees.

"Pickman! Be careful! Don’t go too far! We just gotta scare them off," said Leah.

"That’s ok, I got this!" the man said.

Ivan decided that a torch was a better weapon in this situation and went to make one from the barrel. But as soon as he dipped it into the petroleum, a strong large branch pushed through the wall and grabbed the man, pressing him against the wall itself.

"Aaargghhh! Help Iva ... ." his voice was suffocated by the branch that held his throat.

"Ivan!" shouted Leah, "Pickman, hold them off!"

He hurried back to the pantry and then stopped in front of the constrained man unsure of what to do. He couldn’t, as well, wave the torch into his face, but time was running out as Ivan was out of breath.

In a state of pure panic, he dropped his torch into the barrel, causing a large flame to burst out before the torch was extinguished. His crazy antic somehow worked and the large branch retreated through the hole in the wall, letting the man go.

"Ugh ...  * cough, cough * ... thank you. You save Ivan," said the man with a painful throat.

Both of them hurried to get out of there as soon as possible meeting with Pickman who was clearing the hallway leading to the exit.

"Smythe! Annabella! Come on, hurry! We can’t stay here any longer!" he swung the only remaining torch and called them to come down.

The young woman helped the professor down the stairs and through the hallway toward the exit. Just as everyone was about to come out, Smythe remembered something.

"My cane ... I have to go back!"

"No! You can’t! Leave it!" yelled Annabelle.

"Let me go!!" he pushed her away and she fell to the ground.

The trees would move back but circle them from the sides where Pickman wasn’t swinging the torch. There were many of them, as if the whole forest made a wall around the mansion, effectively cornering them with their back to the sea.

Smythe went back inside his room, put on his coat, and grabbed his cane when the very first branch that broke through his window grabbed his arm.

"No! I can’t die here! I must see it! I must!" he kept hitting the branch with the blunt cane, unable to open its blade lock with just one free arm.

Ivan charged in and grabbed the branch with his bare hands.

"Aaaaargh!"

He let his lungs out as his arms tensed up and the branch snapped in half. As soon as Smythe was released, he made his way toward the doorway.

"Hurry, My Smythe!" the man encouraged him while watching their back, but the hallway was once again full of moving roots now that the fire was gone.

"What now?" Smythe was frozen in place.

The tall man looked at the professor’s back and after a long thought grabbed him.

"What are you doing?" he asked in panic as his body was lifted overhead as if it was a feather.

"Ivan save Mr. Smythe," said the man full of determination, and started walking over the roots while holding Smythe lifted over his head.

The roots would occasionally try to grab one of his legs but his steady movement and strong muscles tore through them. Almost reaching the exit, Ivan suddenly stopped.

"Come on! Only a little further! You can do it!" Smythe encouraged him, but Ivan would move no more.

There were branches and roots all over his body and some seemed to have been stuck in his back for a good time now, probably since half the hallway, yet the giant didn’t stop, not even for pain.

"What are you ... ?" Smythe’s eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

"Ivan save ... Mr. Smythe," he repeated once more although with blood coming out of his mouth.

"No!"

Smythe only managed to utter as he was tossed with strength unparallel by any human. He landed in the clearing, rolling in the dirt from the inertia.

"Ivan! IVAAAAN!" he yelled, but the hallway was now filled with branches and other trees that encircled the house.

"No ... " his eyes filled up and his fist clenched when he was suddenly lifted by the arm.

"Come on!" a familiar voice shouted.

With Annabella lifting him from one side and Leah by the other, Smythe was on his feet and following closely behind Pickman who cleared the way with fire.

He kept swinging and shouting at rows of trees, effectively making a path through. The trees kept their distance on both sides and unfortunately also up ahead, blocking the view of the lighthouse.

Reaching it was their only hope as the large structure was not only taller than the trees but also had the only barrel of petroleum left.

Once they were far enough from the mansion, the many slow entities blocked their path back and practically encircled them.

"Goddamit! Where is it?" cursed Pickman as he couldn’t figure out which way led to their destination.

"Straight ahead, then to the right. After we reach the shore rocks, we should just follow along the edge and reach the lighthouse sooner or later," said Smythe.

"And take our chances with the giant fucking squid?!" said Pickman as the torch was slowly fading away.

"It’s not like it’s actively waiting for us! Do you have a better plan?" the professor yelled.

"Hey, you weren’t the one who almost ended up in its jaws. But … fine! Follow me," the man decided to fight his fears and led forward.

The four of them indeed made their way to the edge, even pushing some of the trees into the sea. After that, it was only a matter of time before they reached the lighthouse.

"There! I see it," exclaimed Pickman, but shut up as the flame flickered.

They hurried as much as it was possible with a limping man and an unsteady flame, and just as they were about to be safe ...

"Uh-oh ... " said Pickman and turned to the others, holding just a charred stick in hand.

He dropped it on the ground and sprung into a sprint.

"Pickman!" yelled Leah, "You bastard, you’d leave us behind!"

The doctor stayed back having no heart to leave Annabella alone with the limping professor. He knew she wouldn’t leave Smythe and going after Pickman was equal to judging them to a death sentence.

The archaeologist was fast, avoiding the trees and jumping over roots. he was out of their sight in seconds and the trees blocked the way after him.

"We’re doomed ... "said Smythe under his breath, "I will ... never see it.

Annabella had no idea what he meant but whatever it was, one thing was clear, it was more important to the professor than his well-being, his life, and the lives of everyone else. Finding out what it is may shed some light on the reason behind this expedition.
Unfortunately, there was no time or reason to worry about that now. The trees grew closer and their dark bark was becoming more frightening and morbid-looking the closer they were.
Now that she had a moment to look at them properly and wasn’t preoccupied with trying to escape, a strange sense of calm overwhelmed Annabella.
She could finally use some of her knowledge to determine what she was looking at.

"These are ... not normal trees!" she said.

Smythe took note of her information, but paid it no mind, drowning in the disappointment of not reaching his goal.

"It’s all over for us ... " said the doctor.

The trees were slowly but surely reaching them. There was no escape. They braced themselves for pain and whatever came after it.

"We ... we should jump."

"What!?" asked Annabella.

"We should jump into the sea," repeated Smythe.

The three of them looked down at the sharp tall rocks. There was no clear way down and the ocean was full of rocks. It looked shallow and jumping into it was equal to suicide in their minds. Maybe, just maybe it was a fate less painful than what the trees had planned for them.

"I ... I can’t," Annabella moved away from the edge.

"We must!" insisted Smythe, "It’s the only way!"

She felt a branch touching her back and quickly turned around. The trees were extremely slow but the space that was free to move about was growing scarce.

"I ... alright ... " she came closer and grabbed his hand, while Leah grabbed the other.

"On three ... one ... two ... "

"Over here!" a voice could be heard beyond the threes on their left, from the direction of the lighthouse.

As one of the threes started burning and shaking in pain, the other ones moved away from it.

"Here!" repeated a familiar voice.

"Pickman!" shouted the doctor with tears in his eyes.

They grabbed Smythe under the shoulder once again and slowly but surely followed the archaeologist trough a path. He spilled some petroleum in an arching line and lit it up. Now the grass was caught on fire and formed a half-circle barrier that no tree dared cross. The path to the lighthouse was open.