Evelyn Ford felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest. Her breathing grew heavy and ragged. The mask she wore restricted airflow, starving her brain of oxygen until her head started to throb.
The others were in a similar state. But if they took off their masks, they worried the flying insects in the black fog would get into their mouths, so they had no choice but to keep themselves completely covered.
"Hah, hah..." 'I'm like a stray dog,' Evelyn thought, panting heavily and telling herself she couldn't stop. She smelled a foul odor. A volcano was erupting. Magma was bubbling up from beneath the earth, and its fiery glow signaled that lava would soon cover everything in its path.
She could also feel a faint warmth in the air. 'I shouldn't have worn two thermal layers,' she thought. Now her collar felt like it was strangling her.
The path through the woods was even worse, littered with loose rocks, pits, fallen branches, and animal carcasses.
