Gray stood outside the wide double doors of the ramshackle barn. It was almost dark, and the structure appeared long empty, except for the faint trace of abhorrent life hiding within, clinging to its existence. Gray knew this thing and he went to it.

Pressing his palm against the worn wooden door, he halted and could detect the thing moving just on the other side. He sensed that it too, was aware of his presence. He pulled the doors open and stared at the snarl of vines, which instinctively recoiled, the heavy appendages drawing further into the darkness.

Devoid of fear, Gray stepped inside, toward the thing. “It’s alright,” he whispered, trying to soothe it. “I’m here, mother.” He moved closer. Gray didn’t want to believe his mother still existed like this, inside of the Organism. He couldn’t help but wonder however, if some part of her had survived and now lingered among the network or orbs. Imprisoned. He’d made a terrible mistake leaving mother’s skull behind. But after his near defeat at the hands of the machine, his mind had been preoccupied with getting the twins to safety and he’d dropped the backpack.

It made shuffling noises as it moved in the shadows. The sounds were of something injured or sick, dragging itself with great effort. Like an animal cornered and…afraid.

Yes, Gray thought. It was afraid.

“You don’t need to hide from me,” he assured. He was, of course, lying to it. It was right to be afraid of him. He was different, now. A better Gray. An insight had been given to him; insider knowledge of how the Organism and its many vines worked. He had no idea when or how this had happened, but it had, whether by mistake or not. Full comprehension of it had not been achieved, but he had a deeper understanding than he’d previously possessed, and he’d become more in tune to the creature.

Creature…

He supposed that’s what it really was. It wasn’t merely a plant, but something more monstrous. A ravenous thing that devoured the lifeforce of everything around it. And its many orbs, he had learned from the mysterious knowledge bestowed to him, held different qualities. Some could open paths to other worlds. Gray believed that to be the sort of thing told only in stories and now it was a reality he’d been forced to quantify; the impossible made possible.

Other orbs could change or rearrange the properties of things…but to what purpose he didn’t know. The orb that had materialized next to him and Doris had been one of this variety. Gray looked down at his arms and hands. What was he? Tree? Stone? Animal and/or human? Maybe all of them, combined.

It was then that he sensed the other presence. When he turned to his right and slightly behind him, he saw the dog. The smart one that had urged him to leave the storm shelter on the Reece farm. The one that had spoken to him in his thoughts. He lowered to one knee, eying the dog and she padded over to him, sitting at his feet. She looked up at him with a quizzical expression. She had a face that even through the merging, had retained something of both dog and human.

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“Hello, Doris.”

Doris’ tail thumped twice on the ground.

He reached out with his hand and pet her, smoothing the coarse fur on her head. He saw the stone-like plates on her back. “I’m sorry it took me so long to understand who you were.” Gray smiled and noted that Doris, with a muzzle that was compact, featuring both canine and human characteristics, smiled back. Unconsciously, Gray raised his hand and felt his own snout/nose. “I know now, that you and I are somehow both Stanley and Doris.” As fantastical as it sounded, Gray recognized it; he was more Stanley and she more Doris, but with shared traits. She was still Doris, she just looked a little like Stanley now. Had some of his features.

Doris snorted in apparent agreement, her tail pounding the ground once. She then looked past Gray and growled. The giant swung around to face a strand of vine that had slinked out from the darkness, as if to spy on the two guests. It quickly retreated into the shadows again.

Gray got to his feet and walked back into the barn, the plank-flooring creaking under his weight. He walked past the hole in the wall – the one he’d thrown the machine through – and advanced into the murky center of the structure. The vines encircled him now. Before him, a great bundle lowered from the rafters; an oblong shape that unfurled one layer at a time. Then, finally, the skull appeared.

It wasn’t much of a skull any longer. Just bits of what remained, floating around an orb, which to Gray, was akin to a lightbulb about to go dark. It was incomplete, this orb. Part of it was missing…part of its substance had been separated.

Doris snorted again.

“Yes,” responded Gray. “The seed has moved on.” He sighed. “I should’ve destroyed it long ago, but it was my mother’s face. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

Doris sat beside him and nudged his leg with her head. She sat alert and issued a quick bark.

Gray glanced down at her. “Yes…you’re right. That was the old Gray that made that mistake.”

She barked again.

Nodding, Gray agreed. “Still time to fix it.” He smiled at her. “I missed you, girl.”

Doris wagged, then pawed the air, urging him to hurry.

“Okay,” he said. He turned and walked closer to the orb. Fragments of what had been mother’s face hovered around the softly glowing light, nestled within what was left of the skull. Gray now had the strength do what he’d once been unable to. He hated the Organism. “You took her from me,” he whispered. “You took everyone from me.” Then, he reached out and crushed the skull and the orb vanished.