The team moved together with a pace that didn't feel rushed, but carried the weight of purpose behind every step.
They weren't just reacting anymore. They were responding, watching, adjusting, and pulling students into the fold as they passed, not out of duty, but because there was simply no time to wait and hope someone else would do it.
The forest wasn't getting better. If anything, it was still falling apart. The deeper they moved, the stranger things got.
Trees that had been upright just an hour ago now leaned at awkward angles. The ground felt uneven in strange ways, not soft like mud, but swollen and cracked beneath the surface, as if something underneath was moving slowly and without permission.
And everywhere around them, the students were struggling.
Some ran when they saw the group, not knowing who they were, just trying to escape from anything that moved.
Others dropped to the ground in exhaustion when they realized they weren't being chased anymore.
