By now, the group had grown uneasy about the strange messages. They sat around a dim lantern, the phone resting in the center of their circle like some ancient artifact.
As if on cue, the phone powered on again, the feed now showing Elon standing in a wind-blown field, clutching his phone. His face was pale, his expression one of pure desperation.
“MOM!” he screamed, spinning around. “Where are you?”
The video glitched, his face freezing mid-scream, eyes bugging out. Then the feed stuttered: stop-go-stop-go, until finally, Elon’s image disappeared entirely, leaving only static.
The phone screen went black, and the eerie silence that followed was deafening.
“What the hell just happened?” Jas whispered, their voice barely audible over the crackle of the auroras outside.
The ground beneath them rumbled faintly, as if in response.