Suddenly, I hear movements behind me. I turn around just in time to see the rotting tree getting uprooted and in its demise, something comes out. Something much larger. It’s six feet tall with black skin, the same as the rotting vines where it comes out from. Its head is made of tubers. Its upper torso is the shape of a man, while its lower torso is crooked, but powerful-looking muscles run along its limbs.
“What in the seven hells is that!?” Charlie exclaims.
I stare at it dumbfounded. If a scientist like Charlie doesn’t know what it is, then it must have been something alien aboveground.
Then it switches its attention to us. Its hand grabs the top of its own head, where the rotting vine is, and tugs on it. I don’t even understand why it did that. So the rotting vine hangs at the top
