Maja stumbled backward, feeling the ground tremble beneath her once more. Nana reached out to steady her, her expression

etched with concern.

"It's an aftershock. No telling how long it'll last. From the looks of it, the entire mountain's been decimated. See those broken bricks

over there? Those must be from the research base, just blasted apart by simmense force."

In the face of nature's might, human innovation seemed insignificant.

Maja and Nana stood there for an hour, waiting for the tremors to subside before they began to navigate the rocky path that led

deeper into the chaos.

Among the stones, twisted pieces of modern machinery lay scattered - the remnants of the research base's equipment.

Sweat beaded on Maja's anxious forehead as she thought of Dylan, who was also inside. Her pace quickened, and she nearly

tripped over a jutting rock, almost tumbling down.

Nana caught her, and together they glimpsed the horror below: a mass grave in the crevice, bodies piled upon each other,

distorted beyond recognition.

Maja couldn't hold back any longer, bending over to retch beside a tree.

The dead were unidentifiable, their features twisted, causing a sourness to rise in Maja's stomach. She vomited for a full minute,

her eyes reddening before she rinsed her mouth with bottled water.

own dark deeds, felt a

was deep, snaking down for miles, filled with the dead. It was too much to

crack here. The base must have been underground and

It means not everyone inside got buried deep.

was at a loss for words, simply trudging

becmore numerous as they walked on, apparent victims

at the sky as if pain

sky, it's been so long

since I've seen

green. I can hear water flowing. It

least a decade, with no plants, strict control, and no permission to

They looked at the sky with an

in this state. She and

What on

Maja questioned, the man just stared at the

if he was breathing purely on instinct,

get any answers, and they

area was vast and endless; even though half tress had been devastated, there were still many fallen

found a rock to sit on. Nana joined her, both

barely alive on one hand, and

survival.

to a relatively flat spot not too far off, "Let's

for the night and continue searching

on

grass to provide sprotection from the wind.

of

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