The investigators traveled to Delilah first thing in the morning. The town was small and ugly, in a plain and boring way. There was an open convenience store and service station, so they stopped there to get their bearings. Simon checked the Farmer’s Almanac and found weather was unseasonably warm.
Once oriented, they headed directly to the farm. Simon photographed the area from the gate before they entered the grounds. Connor scanned the area with an infrared camera as well, but there were no signs of life.
As they drove up the driveway, Connor noticed that the chicken coop had been torn apart. Inside it, Simon noted signs of recent occupation, but only feathers and broken eggs remained.
Next, they went toward the greenhouse. In the intervening field, they discovered plants growing out of dead animals. The greenhouse itself was overgrown and plants burst out when Connor unlocked the door.
Eric hacked a path through the vegetation to the side shed, where they discovered a variety unnatural botanical combinations. Among the foliage Connor found a leather notebook that Eric had to cut free. When Connor picked it up, it was full of yellow-green caterpillars. He dropped the book and it crumbled leaving a scrap of paper in its wake.
I watched, and at last I saw nothing but a substance as jelly.
It is my creation, a product of my work, and malevolent.
I believe it wants to k-
Connor left the greenhouse and went to the equipment shed. There he found a generator and tubs of weed killer. Eric started the generator and restored power to the farm. Connor found an agricultural sprayer loaded it with weed killer.
Next they checked barn. Eric heard a hissing noise from the hay loft. Simon climbed the ladder and found a terrified cat that hissed and growled as it avoided him. Searching the stalls Connor discovered an unusually large pile of hay. When he investigated, tendrils lashed out at him from the corpse of a horse. Connor sprayed weed killer and seemed harmed. Eric shot and missed several times. Simon tried to slice with a scythe ineffectively. Connor closed the stall door with Simon still inside.
The horse thing lashed at Simon. Connor shot it, but the bullet just passed through it. Eric set the hay on fire and a horrifying squeal disturbed Connor and Simon, who vaulted over the stall door just in time. The barn burst into flame and quickly spread to neighboring trees, which started also screaming.
Quickly, they went to the farmhouse and peeked in the windows. Everything looked normal inside. There was an open newspaper on the kitchen table dated a few days before Tait went missing. Eric climbed into basement and was attacked by plant-animated dog-corpse. He barely escaped, and Simon tended to the team’s wounds.
Connor noticed something odd about the scarecrow in the far field. The three investigated and found that a teenager was lashed to crossbeam by vines that whipped at them as they approached. Connor sprayed weed killer, and it seemed to kill what it touched, but only what it made direct contact with.
Suddenly bushes attacked them, and as the fled, the pushes pursued them. Simon fled to the equipment shed to find of another agricultural sprayer but did not see one. Eric followed looking for a welding torch, but instead found a flamethrower.
Connor retreated to the car while Eric held the foliage at bay with the flame thrower. Simon noticed that the farmyard was alight and that the garage would go up next.
They climbed into their car and left the blazing farm behind to return to Delilah.