The river exploded.
The sound was enormous.
A wall of black water tore itself from the riverbed and surged toward the bridge, swallowing the banks beneath it. Trees vanished beneath the flood. Boulders rolled like pebbles. The earth trembled beneath the force of the approaching wave.
But the water was not empty.
Hundreds of faces floated beneath its surface.
Men.
Women.
Children.
Their pale features twisted in terror, their mouths stretched wide in endless screams that no human ears could hear. Some slammed their hands against the invisible barrier between themselves and the living world. Others simply stared upward, their eyes filled with an ancient despair.
Then the silence broke.
Panic erupted.
"Run!"
"The bridge!"
"My child!"
"Keep moving!"
The orderly line dissolved into chaos.
