The day the world ended, it was quiet. Like all the sound had simply gotten up and left. The silence crashed like drums and screamed like sirens, pressing in, muffling, smothering, until there was nothing left but the steady tempo of blood against our eardrums.

Or maybe that's just how it was for me as I watched the trees uproot themselves and begin to walk. Maybe the silence was a product of my mind. I've been known to have a dramatic imagination.

The moving trees, though, were not something I had simply imagined. I could not blink them away.

Their leaves rustled as they walked through the streets, seemingly oblivious to the screams of the people whose cars and houses and selves they crushed. I stood on the sidewalk, staring. An oak stomped straight toward me.

At the last minute, the sound came rushing back, along with my sense of self-preservation. I threw myself out of the way. The oak continued on, bursting through a shiny storefront with an explosion of glass.

What.

The.

Hell.

I fumbled for my phone, cursing as it snagged on the edge of my pocket. Quickly, I dialed my mom's number. She picked up only a moment later.

"Sharon!" There was a crashing noise, and her breathing became heavy.

"Mom? Are you running?"

"It's the trees!" she panted. "They're alive. They're everywhere. I'm going to be late for my dentist's appointment."

I smiled. Typical Mom. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. They... they ruined the house, but I'm fine. Do you think insurance covers apocalypse events?"

"I don't know."

"Ah, well." Her sigh was a rasp of static. "I'd better call you back. Things are absolutely mad here."

"Love you, Mom. Stay safe."

"I will."

The phone beeped as she hung up. I shoved it back into my pocket.

I still sat on the ground, where I had fallen after throwing myself out of the way of the rogue oak tree. Now that I knew Mom was safe, my breath was slow and steady. Really, I shouldn't have been worrying quite so much. Mom was tough.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you all right?"

I looked up. A police officer stood above me, looking down at me with no small measure of concern in his eyes.

I shrugged. "As well as you'd expect."

"Ah." He offered me a hand. "Everything's gone crazy, eh?"

I took his hand and pulled myself to my feet. "Yup. Crazy. So, now what? Are the trees all going to try to kill us now? Does it extend to other greenery too? Am I going to be murdered by a pepper plant?"

"Uhh..." He frowned at me. "Ma'am, are you sure you're all right? You sound like you might be in shock."

"I'm fine," I said firmly. "I've always had a slightly macabre sense of humor. So? Any answers?"

He shook his head. "Not a single one. In a small town like this, we'll probably be the last to hear of any solutions. So far, though, it seems to be just the trees that are trying to kill people."

"Good." My eyes grew wide as I spotted a sapling galloping toward us. I grabbed the policeman by the shoulder and yanked him roughly to the left.

"Wha-" he began, but he was cut off as a root from the passing tree caught him behind the ankles and sent him tumbling to the ground. The breath went out of him in an explosive whoof.

"Need a hand?" I asked, offering mine.

He took it with a smile. "Thanks. You saved my bacon there."

"No problem." I thought for a moment. "There don't happen to be any fallout shelters nearby, do there?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "As I said, it's a small town. We don't have much of anything."

"There aren't any places where we can take shelter?"

"Nope."

"Ah, well," I said with a shrug. "We'll have to make do." A grin split my face as I thought of something. "At least we don't live anywhere near the redwood forests."