A man, a woman, and a sculptor are running away from trees seeking to engulf them. In a hopeless situation, the woman tells the other two to abandon her and get a move on. Eventually, the trees take over the woman’s body, embedding her into themselves. The man tells the sculptor that human beings absorbed by the trees may still retain their consciousness and may simply be assimilated. The two of them then try to locate a station with supplies. On their way, they spot a dead body which reminds them of the woman they just lost.

At the station, the man and sculptor forage for materials. They walk about the innermost parts of trees, heartwood, which are dead matter. They then realize that such information is of no use to them. Humanity as a whole, even after numerous attempts to ascertain the nature of the engulfing trees, has yet to understand how to control their threat. Neither saws nor flamethrowers have worked. The two men then contemplate the inevitability of their deaths and, if they had so much as a choice, how they want to go out.

The men gather more supplies and then move further into the city. Soon enough, the trees are no longer the sole problem. The man says that there are rising tides, rising kelp forests ascending with them. By afternoon, there seems to be no hope in sight for anything.