You and Ron had smashed the car into the branches of an old tree.

Something hit the side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending you lurching sideways into Ron, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.

“What’s happen-?” you started, before a branch as thick as a python smashed into the windscreen, breaking it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and it gnarled boughs were pummelling every inch of the car it could reach.

Another twisted limb punched a large dent into Ron’s door; the rear view mirror was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in.