Panic erupted around us as the air filled with the deafening sound of cracking wood; trees erupted into splintered chaos, sending shards of bark flying in every direction. Jack's grip tightened around my hand, and without a moment's hesitation, he pulled me deeper into the shadowy embrace of the forest, where the underbrush tangled around our feet. Around us, others scattered in a frantic bid for safety, their faces painted with fear as they ducked behind the stout trunks that strained to stand amidst the mayhem. But as the chaos escalated, it was clear that our brief moment of clarity wouldn’t hold for long.
We barely made it a few hundred yards when the swirling dust began to settle around us, thick and suffocating. In the midst of it all, Thomas’s voice pierced through the haze—a frant
