Shelter Bound |9,700 PCS|

flash sliced through the dusk, turning night into an unnatural, searing daylight. Time seemed to pause, holding its breath as a monstrous mushroom cloud erupted, stretching skyward in a fiery bloom. A heartbeat later, the shockwave followed, ripping across the landscape with a deafening roar that shook the earth, rattling his very bones. The air grew hot and thick, even from miles away, an invisible hand pressing down, forcing him to his knees.

He watched, wide-eyed, as the world he knew was swallowed by this infernal blaze. The distant mountains stood dark against the blaze, solemn witnesses to the devastation. Awe and terror tangled in his mind, grounding him in that singular moment. He had seen what humanity could achieve, but he had never imagined this. Every fiber in his being screamed to run, but where? There was no place left untouched. In his chest, his heart pounded like a trapped bird, desperate for an escape that did not exist. But then, a thought surfaced—a whispered memory of a place, hidden and forgotten, where he might survive.