🌋 Day 23 – Inside the Cave
The temperature dropped as the ash continued to fall outside 🌫️.
But inside the cave, it felt strangely calm.
Roman sat near the fire 🔥, eyes narrowed in concentration.
Jas was hunched over the hand-crank radio 📻, slowly turning the dial, listening to the faint hiss of static.
“It’s been days,” Ivy Mae said, her voice cracking slightly. “Shouldn’t we just give up on that thing?”
Jas shook their head, cranking the handle again.
“I know it’s still out there,” they muttered. “I can feel it.”
Suddenly—
⚡ CRACK!
A burst of static erupted from the small radio. All three of them jumped.
Jas froze, their fingers hovering over the crank.
“Wait,” Roman said quietly. “It’s coming through.”
A faint, broken voice pushed through the static:
“—n this is an emergency transmission—if you can hear this—please—stay inside. It’s not—safe—please—”
Ivy Mae’s eyes widened. 😳
“Did you hear that? Someone’s out there!”
The signal collapsed again into a garbled storm of static.
Jas’s hands trembled as they twisted the dial, searching desperately for the signal.
“Come on… come on…” they whispered.
Then—
⚡📻 CRACKLE
The voice returned, louder this time.
“—We’re near the mountains. The ash is rising… the volcano’s— please—if you hear this—stay inside. Don’t—”
Silence.
Only static remained.
Ivy Mae slowly leaned back, staring at the radio.
“What… was that?” she whispered.
Jas shook their head, heart pounding.
“I don’t know… but we have to find out. They said the volcano’s—”
Roman grimaced, the thought clearly unsettling him.
“We’re already near the volcano,” he muttered. “But I didn’t think… it’s not possible, right?”
Jas looked up, their eyes reflecting the firelight 🔥.
Determination burned there now.
“We’re not staying here forever,” they said.
“That was a message.”
“We can’t just ignore it.” 🌋📻