POV: Jenna
Jenna barely had time to catch her breath as more zombies surged toward them. Carl was doing most of the heavy lifting, his elemental powers flaring in bursts of fire and wind, while Jenna's zombie gang continued their haphazard attempts to fight. Occasionally, Jenna managed to hoard a stray piece of debris or zombie limb, but she was mostly just trying not to get in Carl's way.
"I can't keep doing all the work!" Carl shouted over the din of battle, frustration evident in his voice. He swatted away a particularly feral zombie with a blast of air. "You've got to pull your weight, Jenna!"
"I'm trying!" Jenna protested, fumbling as she pulled a broken shovel from her space. She swung it wildly at a zombie, only to miss and hit a tree. "Okay, maybe not that hard, but I'm helping!"
Carl shook his head, muttering something about lost causes, but before he could complain further, the ground began to tremble again. Jenna felt it, too—an ominous rumble that wasn't just from the zombies. Something bigger was coming.
The roots of nearby trees began to shift, twisting and writhing like snakes. One massive root shot out from the ground, wrapping around the carcass of the bear they had defeated earlier. With a sickening crunch, the root began to pull the carcass into the earth, devouring it whole.
"Uh, Carl… are the trees supposed to be eating the dead stuff?" Jenna asked, pointing with a shaky hand.
Carl's eyes widened. "No, they're not."
More roots began to surface, moving toward the fallen zombies, pulling them into the ground one by one. Whatever mutation was affecting the plants, it was growing stronger—and fast.
"We need to go," Carl said urgently. "Now."
Jenna didn't need to be told twice. She quickly hoarded what she could—mostly random supplies she had already collected—and signaled to her gang. They followed her, growling and stumbling, as the group retreated deeper into the forest. But even as they fled, Jenna couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Something far more dangerous than zombies was lurking in the trees.