So now we thought that this is the world we need to live in without many of our closest and dearest people, we should make ourselves habitual to the situation. But to survive in this world we need to gather people so we can grow stronger, support and help each other. Although I knew only a few students from our school and we could bring them along. We first decided to go to our school as there could be more students trapped or left. But before that, I even grabbed some weapons from a shop. When we got there, we saw completely different living beings. I don't if I should say them monsters, aliens, beasts or something like that because I haven't seen such things or heard about them. We quietly walked around the school, keeping out of those monsters' eyes, to find anyone. And we did! Our crazy inventor, Jacob, was found fainted in the grip of vines, all covered with blood. We were shocked when we saw him. We tried to get him up but he could not. His situation was worsening every second. We tried to stop the bleeding by tying clothes to his wounds but it did not help. He was struggling for his breath, for his life and we could do nothing. Even the school nurse wasn't present who could have saved him. His bleeding wouldn't stop, moreover, the colour of his blood changed to purple, as if the vines had reacted in his body. We failed in saving him, he died in our hands. He was one of my closest friends and it was more than depressing to lose him.
Thinking about Jacob all the time, I lost notice of Adam. He just vanished. I went looking for him and found that a group of insect-like creatures had captured him. He was kept in a cage made up of those vines and laid there still. I have to come up with an idea to save him. They won't keep him alive for long. I was panicking very much, not knowing what to do. I didn't want to lose one more friend of mine. I was blank at that moment. Then I heard some sounds, probably of explosions and glass shattering. I followed the sound and reached our chemistry lab. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Kevin! I was delighted to see him, alive. People are still left in the city. I was regaining my hopes. Kevin was a mad science guy. Always up to some mischief with his experiments, but the results were mind-blowing. At that time also he was experimenting with something. It was the vine! He was working on the vine. I entered and stood beside him. He was so indulged in his work that he didn't even notice me.
"Hey, Kevin! You are alive! Glad to see you, man."
He trembled as soon as he heard me. The glass tubes from his hands also slipped. Then he cried out, "Robert! It's you. You are here, alive."
"Yeah, and may I ask you what are you doing here with all this stuff?"
Kevin replied, " I am studying these vines so that I can figure out how to kill them. These vines are killing many people."
"So have you achieved something yet?"
"Sadly, no"
I was in despair. I told him everything about Adam and that he was trapped by some creatures. I asked him for help. But after listening to me he did not tell me how would he help in getting Adam out of that trouble, instead he got nervous and scared.
"Bro, what's the matter, you are shivering. Everything okay?" I asked Kevin.
"Huh, yes I am fine. So, yes, let me think about how we can save Adam" Kevin looked baffled.
I guess the situation is serious and he knows what it is, but why isn't he telling me. But at the time, I got something else to worry about. We were not knowing how to stop these creatures and how can we bring back Adam safely, without getting noticed. He asked where was Adam kept. I showed him the way and we reached there, but the hall was empty now. They went away, they took Adam and we don't know where they went. But as I said, Kevin was amazing. He had studied the mucus left by some of these strangers, and these creatures were one of them. He quickly ran up to the lab, took a solution and came back. He dropped a very little quantity of the solution on various places outside the school gate and Woah! A miracle happened in front of my eyes. A trail of mucus was forming successively from one point where he dropped the solution. It was the mucus left by these insect-creatures. We followed the trail to find them. At every 3km, we had to drop the solution because the used quantity was not effective anymore. It took us to the woods. Even the sight of the forest also changed completely, old trees with holes inside, roots crawling everywhere on the ground, branches extending from everywhere and the leaves turning purple.
"I guess the purple-coloured vines and these leaves turning purple have the same source" Kevin was observing these things very attentively. For some time we forgot why we came here as we were perplexed by the scenes in front of us. Suddenly I recovered myself and told Kevin, "Hey! Kevin, c'mon we have to find Adam, you remember?"
Kevin made himself normal again, "Ya, I remember. But wait, let me collect some leaves to study. Maybe we can find the root." And we resumed. Our solution was about to finish and we don't have it more. But, lucky us we found it. It was a cave. We entered, it was dark, we couldn't see anything in front or at the back. The light coming from outside the cave also disappeared. Suddenly I shrieked.
"What happened?" Kevin asked.
"I just felt as if something went past through my side."
"It's just dark so you are feeling these things. Nothing is there. And don't shout, you don't want them to know we are here right?"
But I am sure something was there, almost of our size. We were walking blindly and we didn't notice that there was a hole coming in our way. We fell and lost consciousness. We woke up in a well-lit room resting on a bed but our hands and legs were tied to its handles. We could hardly open our eyes for the first few seconds. But when we did, we saw that we were surrounded by the creatures. Kevin was beside me, still eyes closed but we lost Adam. I tried to wake him up but not even his finger moved. I was trying to recollect what happened after we fell into the hole but all I could remember is waking up in this room. We two were not the only humans there but many more were lying in the bed. I looked around and found Adam standing in a corner. He also saw me. Our sorrowful faces lit up with a smile. Kevin also woke up by the time. He came to us.
"Why aren't you tied up. Have you befriended them?" I asked Adam.
"No, I will tell you why is this so" Adam replied, "First you both lay down or they will get suspicious of you."