Fungi
I lead my small group of friends through the dense, sprawling woodlands of Northumberland, the autumn leaves crunching hard and loud beneath our feet.
We’re on a high-stakes orienteering and foraging race against other scout teams!
At 15, I’m the one with the map and compass, and everyone looks to me for guidance.
“Cody, are you sure this is the right way?” Lucas asks, a hint of doubt in his voice.
He’s my best mate, always ready with a joke or a challenge, but I can tell he’s getting nervous.
“Positive,” I reply, trying to sound confident.
“We’re close to finding those mushrooms. They’re supposed to be somewhere around here.”
A gust of wind rustles through the trees, and I pull my jacket ever tighter.
The sun is setting, casting long shadows across the forest floor.
“Keep an eye out for anything unusual,” I say, scanning my eyes across the shadows of the underbrush.
“Unusual like what?” Izzy asks, her brow furrowed.
She’s the youngest in our group, always eager to prove herself. She joined our scout troop last year, determined to show she could keep up with the older boys.
Her resilience and enthusiasm quickly earned her a place among us.
“Like mushrooms with blue caps and white specks,” I explain.
“They’re supposed to be really rare and valuable.”
We trudge deeper into the woods, the air growing cooler and the light fading. My heart pounds hard in my chest, each step echoing in my ears.
I can’t shake the feeling of foreboding.
Suddenly, I lose my footing on a hidden root and go crashing down a small ravine.
“Cody!” Lucas shouts, his voice tinged with panic.
Pain shoots up through both my legs as I hit the ground hard. I try to stand, but my right ankle gives way beneath me.
Panic rises in my throat as I realise I’m badly hurt and separated from my group.
“I’m fine,” I call out, though I’m anything but.
“Just a bit of a fall. Can you help me up?”
They scramble down to me, concern etched on their faces. Lucas is the first to reach me, his strong arms lifting me up.
“What happened, mate?” he asks, his brow furrowed with worry.“
I tripped over a root,” I mutter, embarrassed by my clumsiness.
“But I think I’ve twisted my right ankle.”
Lucas looks at me, his worry deepening. He’s always been the one to take charge when things go wrong.
His father left when he was young, and he’s been the man of the house ever since, taking care of his mum and younger siblings.
It’s made him strong, but also really cautious.
“We need to get you back to camp,” Izzy says, her voice firm.
“You can’t walk on that.”
“Wait,” I say, desperation creeping into my voice.
“The mushrooms. They might be close. If we find them, it’ll be worth it.”
“You’re mad,” Lucas says, shaking his head.
“But fine, let’s have a quick look.”
I try to put weight on my damaged ankle but collapse back down, a wave of pain washing over me.
Desperation sets in as I try to think of a solution.
My mind races through everything I’ve learned in scouts about survival. Then, I remember the cluster of mushrooms nearby.
Some mushrooms have medicinal properties, right?
I hobble over to them, wincing with each step.The mushrooms are a curious shade of blue with white specks.
I don’t recognise them, but my options are limited, so I pick a few and chew on them, hoping for some relief.
Almost immediately, a strange sensation washes over me.
My vision blurs, and I feel an odd tingling in my limbs.
“Cody, are you okay?” Izzy asks, her voice sounding distant and distorted.
I try to respond, but my tongue feels thick and heavy – talking is useless. I collapse against a tree, my breath coming in ragged gasps.
What have I done?
The world around me fades in and out of focus, and a deep, primal hunger starts to gnaw at my insides. I can feel something changing inside me, something dark and uncontrollable.
Hours later, I hear voices again. My friends have found me. They gather around, their faces full of concern.
“Cody, what happened?” Lucas asks, his voice trembling.
I can see the worry etched on his face, but I can’t form the words to explain. They help me up, carrying me back to camp, unaware of the horror unfolding within me.
As night falls, the transformation completes. I awaken, no longer feeling like myself. My body moves with a mind of its own, driven by an insatiable hunger.
The campfire casts eerie shadows on the tents, and I can see my friends, oblivious to the danger I pose.
Inside, I’m screaming. I can see everything, but it’s like I’m trapped behind a veil, powerless to stop what’s happening.
My muscles twitch uncontrollably, my skin crawls with a sensation like a thousand ants marching beneath it. My mind is a foggy battlefield where my thoughts clash against the growing urge to feed.
“Lucas, Izzy,” I try to shout, but my voice comes out as a guttural growl. They turn towards me, confusion and fear flashing across their faces.
“What’s wrong with him?” Izzy whispers, backing away slowly.
Lucas steps forward, his face set in determination.
“Cody, whatever it is, we’ll get through this. Just hang on, mate.
”I lunge at them, the need to feed overwhelming every other thought. Lucas’s eyes widen in terror as I grab him.
“Cody, what are you doing?” he yells, struggling against my grip.
Screams of terror pierce through the night as my friends realise the nightmare they’re now trapped in.
Izzy tries to pull me off Lucas, her small hands tugging at my arm, but it’s no use. The fungus spreads from me to them, grotesque growths consuming their bodies as the parasitic infection takes hold.
“Cody, please!” Lucas’s voice breaks through the haze, but I can’t stop.
His eyes plead with me, searching for the friend he knows is still inside. One by one, they fall, their bodies writhing and contorting.
The woods, once a place of adventure and camaraderie, become our tomb. I watch in horror as my friends turn into the same monstrosity that I’ve become, their eyes vacant, their movements jerky and unnatural.
Inside, I’m a prisoner in my own body, my consciousness screaming in silent agony. I can feel every moment of their transformation, every spasm of pain, every flicker of fear in their eyes.
Lucas’s strong arms, which had always been a source of comfort, now flail uncontrollably, covered in bulbous, pulsating spores.
Izzy’s youthful energy is drained, her body a puppet to the parasitic force. Her last words, a desperate plea, echo in my mind, “Cody, fight it…”
The race against the other teams, our playful competition, is now a distant memory. Survival is all that matters, but even that slips away as the fungus exacts its revenge.
The friend they trusted has become their worst nightmare, and the woods we once loved have become a place of unimaginable horror.
In the end, the forest is silent except for the rustling of leaves and the occasional snap of a twig underfoot.
The fungus has won, spreading its dark influence through our bodies and minds. We are no longer scouts, no longer friends – just hollow shells, wandering the woods in a macabre dance of death.
As I roam the dark forest, the last vestiges of my human thoughts begin to fade. My final, lingering hope is that someone will find us and end our suffering.
But until then, we are lost to the fungus, forever trapped in a nightmare of our own making.
My consciousness finally fades into the darkest depths of nothingness, swallowed by the malevolent force within me.
The last thing I see is Lucas and Izzy’s faces, twisted in their final moments of terror. And then, there is nothing but darkness.
THE END
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Author’s Thoughts
The part of this story that unsettles me most is that Cody knows.
He knows who his friends are. He hears them trying to help. He wants to answer them—and something else answers through him.
I wrote this in the present tense because I wanted the reader beside him as it happens, without the comfort of knowing he survives to tell the story.
But beneath the transformation, this is a story about trust. Lucas and Izzy come close because their friend needs them. The very thing that should make Cody safe—their refusal to abandon him—puts them in danger.
That leaves me with an uncomfortable thought: if someone you loved became something you feared, how long would you keep reaching for the person inside?
And would they still be there, hoping you would?