The Earth Stood Still

Vincent

An old huge tree in line with a couple of houses was on the verge of collapsing. From the looks of it, it was enough to annihilate six houses simultaneously. The three houses, where we moved people from earlier that day, were closest to the tree. They were going down for sure. The additional three still had patients and their attendants inside.

The tree had wide branches, so it was bound to touch other places aside from the houses. This created a frenzy. Everyone wanted out, and everyone wanted to save everyone. We weren’t fighting a virus now. It was a fight against nature.

In seconds, we had begun moving patients from the houses in line with the tree. The patients groaned and grumbled at the discomfort. Some of them even struggled to stay back, but were dragged off their ass and out to safety.

It was during a struggle with a particular patient that we began hearing a low, steady grumble from the tree, signaling the beginning of its slow descent. One of the patients, an old la