One week later.
The Northwest Wilderness.
Wind howled through the gap in the canyon, churning up a sky full of yellow sand that battered against the rock walls with a continuous hiss. The sky was a dull, leaden gray, the sun completely obscured by thick clouds. The desolate earth resembled an apocalyptic wasteland, vast and barren.
RUSTLE...
Amidst the subtle rustling, a tiny black lizard crept out from a burrow in the ground, its nostrils twitching as it sniffed the air. This was an abandoned mine at the end of the canyon. The massive pit looked like a scar torn into the earth, riddled with uneven craters and deep gouges. Steep peaks flanked the excavation site, their rock faces covered in weathered fissures.
With a soft scuttling sound, the reptilian creature quickly scurried away and disappeared. This scene was quietly captured by a detection device, transmitting as a holographic projection on a screen inside a base a dozen meters underground.
STOMP STOMP STOMP!
