“Once the flowers bloom, we’ll be doomed.”

Chuck said these words, but they weren’t to me. At least it didn’t feel like it. He was staring forward, like the others standing around me. He spoke to the vast garden of flowers just before us.

My eyes ping-ponged between Chuck and the bed of flowers. The colors of red, blue, pink, and lavender became nothing but a blur.

“Wait. What’s that supposed to mean?” The words practically fell out of my mouth.

I’d met Chuck and this civilization of roughly fifty people of various ages about three months ago. This was about six months after the apocalypse had happened. They invited me into their camp with open arms and taught me various skills. Such as hunting, extensive cooking, and elaborate crafting. They also had me take care of the massive garden of flowers that sat at the center of the camp.

“When they Bloom. We will be doomed.”

Chuck’s tone came off as condescending. A tone that he had never practiced toward me. He turned to look at me, and the first thing I noticed were his black eyes. He didn’t have black eyes a few minutes ago. They’d been a light green that I’d always found attractive, even for a guy.

But now they were black.

Black as tar.

“Watch the flowers bloom, Eddy. Look at the flowers.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of Chuck’s dramatic change, but I could hear the flowers bloom. I could hear them springing upward, their petals as they peeled. I could hear them come to life.

Then I heard the screams of the fifty individuals that I had called family for a handful of months. I could feel a radiant heat, and even though I didn’t look, I could see the flowers and the beams that sprouted from their centers.

“Watch the bl-“

And then Chuck’s head exploded.