Tyler's warning had barely finished before everyone understood the danger for themselves.
They ran.
Not because Tyler ordered it again, but because behind them the advancing wall of energy had already begun swallowing the city block they had just left.
Buildings disappeared the moment the barrier touched them.
Concrete cracked, windows shattered into white dust, and entire structures dissolved in silence inside the moving light as though erased rather than destroyed.
It did not explode.
It simply removed whatever it passed through.
That made it even more frightening.
Tyler ran first, with Tansy beside him, Rose close behind, and old man Rudd keeping pace despite his age. The road ahead stretched through abandoned intersections and broken signs while the pale glow behind them continued approaching at a steady speed.
No one wasted breath speaking.
Every few seconds Tyler glanced back just enough to judge distance.
