The heat woke Amina first. It wasn't the usual African heat. This felt different. Wrong. She pushed aside her thin blanket, the straw mat rough against her cheek.
A low rumble vibrated the earth beneath her. Not the familiar roll of distant thunder, this came from the core of the world. It trembled like a nervous beast. Her small house, made of mud and sticks, shivered.
"What's that?" Her younger brother, Jabari, whispered. Eyes wide. He clung to their shared sleeping mat. He always did when he got scared. She never would.
Amina glanced towards the window opening. A dull, red light flickered. She pulled Jabari to his feet, pushing him toward their mother's room. Outside something terrible was happening.
"Mama?" She nudged the thin door. It wasn't normal for her mom not to wake with the dawn's light. Usually, she had already made the meal for the morning. Now, nothing. Only silence.
Their mother wasn't in bed, though. It was neatly made with just the sheet and a folded up light fabric. Her clothes for the day sat ready in a pile on a small wooden table beside. Everything was orderly and proper. The way Mama liked things.
They walked outside to their tiny yard. The red glow had grown brighter. Jabari hid behind Amina's small form, his little hands tugging at her shirt. What was this?
From beyond the small collection of trees at the edge of their little village, came a sight that made Amina's stomach clench. A new mountain, where flat savanna used to be, fumed a sick, dark red.
"A fire," Jabari breathed. Not fire, she knew, deep down she knew that. This was more. This was angry.
Black smoke billowed upward, blotting out the faint morning light. The smell that rode with it made Amina's nostrils burn. Sulfur and something else, something hot, something foul.
Others from the village spilled from their homes, all pointing toward the rising plume. Each one filled with terror she felt too, she saw it, raw and brutal. "What now?" Their neighbor shouted to her as she clutched her head. It rang with an unheard pulse.
The mountain roared. A guttural sound, as if a beast were trying to claw its way free from the earth. Molten rock spilled over the rim and a shower of sparks rained on them all.
A hot blast of air hit them. Their clothes felt paper thin. They gasped, struggling to draw breath into their tight lungs. People around them yelled, falling to their knees in sheer fear. She forced herself not to join.
The world was becoming a nightmare, a new type of terror none could prepare for. Amina had known hard times. They'd seen famines. This, though? This felt different. It was biblical.
A form started to churn within the river of molten rock. A giant, twisted silhouette began to pull itself out. She stared, unable to look away from the horror that was emerging. This could not be.
It was made of cooled, black rock with glowing rivers of magma flowing beneath its jagged shell. Eyes, like furnaces, glared at the world. Her mind simply could not comprehend this moment, so her heart simply dropped to her belly with no thought at all.
Other volcanos appeared. All across the horizon. From every new scar in the earth, similar horrors crawled. A monster out of a child's wildest nightmare had come to live amongst them, to end their simple lives.
The people screamed, running blindly. Their village became a path for death as burning magma dropped down in trails behind these rock creatures.
Amina grabbed Jabari's hand, pulling him after her as she darted past burning structures. Her mother was lost in the confusion, forgotten for a moment, until Amina stumbled to a sudden halt.
"Mama?" she shouted, over the escalating chaos. Where was her? Could she not see these vile terrors rising in the sky above their land. They looked straight at it with open fear. How could her mom be missed amongst this, why couldn't she?
Her heart hammered. She would not let fear grip her now, she knew if she faltered, they both could die, right then and there in this very moment, there wasn't any question at all. Not for one small second.
The ground bucked again, a deep sound, then another volcano sprang into existence. Almost as if the Earth was in pain. Each one of them coughed up those monsters she'd seen already, every last one of them now rising, burning with inner rage.
One magma beast turned toward them, eyes like embers fixing on her. They could smell their own cooked flesh from that beast so close to them. There was only panic now. Pure terror washed over her and her brother as the monster started to step in their direction.
"Run, Jabari!" Amina yelled, yanking his small arm, she did not wait to check if he moved she only ran forward at what she knew. They darted through the remains of their village, the heat making each breath torture.
The beasts began smashing homes, stepping on structures that used to be home and hearth for so many of the little towns folk. Their screams had a certain timbre that spoke of their complete hopelessness in their current moment. Their words were useless here.
They sprinted through what used to be a field, their village vanishing behind them. Jabari's breath hitched in sobs. She tightened her hold on his hand. Never let go. That became her new motto. They would survive if they just did. If they only followed what she commanded in her head and felt with her beating heart.
Other villagers ran alongside them. A group now, scattering before the onslaught, each of them only as good as they next held in their hand, and all held only a terror no person was meant to withstand, yet, they somehow could, each stride a fight, but could they out run those who chased from the dark pits of hell.
The beast's molten legs were quicker than they should have been, every footfall a thud that made their ribs shudder. Amina looked to the sky, wondering why there was so little movement. Why the wind never reached them, no sign from above was heard either, did it not care at all?
Jabari stumbled, his little leg giving out. She quickly hoisted him up. No time. They would all be burnt here if they dared stop to rest their tired muscles, not a moment for rest at all for their young legs now carrying them on this mad run to who knew where.
Another volcano. She never would have known so many existed in one plain. The earth split, releasing another plume of thick smoke and its disgusting beast. These monsters, where did they come from and how long could the human race last amongst this dark nightmare. This had to stop now. She wouldn't allow this.
"Up ahead." A man yelled next to them, pointing toward the tree line. It looked so distant now but felt it was her best shot, so she had to take it and push for all they both had now and not falter from the chosen direction, forward. That was their best shot at a future, to have a future they must fight now.
They struggled, their small limbs working to their absolute limit. A searing heat ripped the very oxygen from the air making their next breaths feel as though fire were entering into the space and it grew too painful with every inch forward.
They broke through the brush, collapsing on the other side into the deep shadow and shade the trees created. Panting, chests heaving. This moment to catch their breaths gave her some strength back, she never doubted herself but in moments like this she thought hard, if she could manage this for long.
Jabari sobbed, hiccuping out, "Where Mama? Where did mama go?". His words stung more than any blade. It hit her then and she held his gaze to share her loss as they clung close to each other's broken hearts now both carrying more loss in her small arms.
Amina pulled him closer, held his small hand tightly in hers and looked around through the trees as she made new calculations in her mind. The forest floor had already been scorched with ash, everything in it felt like they were breathing death. Where should they go?
The trees offered only slight cover. From every direction the horizon flickered with fire and burning embers. All direction looked like their impending death. Why continue then if there was no direction left to even look.
She pressed her small ear close to the tree roots. An eerie, silent vibration echoed deep. Another one. Each a warning sign of new birth of something horrific. More creatures were now being born beneath her feet. Each meant to end all who held breath around them.
"We need to move." She whispered it but felt the heavy thump in her ears. Each a stark reminder she was alive here. In the heat, amongst the monsters. So, too must her brother stay and they had to leave again if she could command her muscles to follow the orders given so freely to them.
She pulled them deeper into the woods, away from the other running people. No point now to go anywhere that others ran as those places meant the monsters had also chosen them for death. Find her own direction, it would give them an edge now, that she now needed.
They climbed over fallen trunks, stepping carefully around singed grass, the whole forest already smelling burnt and bitter and full of all death they could possibly think of and taste as the heat dried every moist surface she had.
A small path opened in front of them, weaving deeper amongst the trees. She turned toward Jabari and she had to push through this dread she had to not make any faltering movement in her walk so that she held his fragile composure so close, only that had to survive with her at her command.
They started down it, unsure but driven on now with every step taken now was closer to an escape to survival, to anything else other than this place of horrid death that had settled on all that surrounded. Their home, everything, burnt to dust now.
The heat behind seemed to drop slowly away, their bodies started to recover with each movement away from the scorched lands they fled from. Maybe there was still a hope of escape. She felt in every bone it was their only option and that it was for them, this chance had to mean something now.
The path turned, taking them down a gentle incline and past a clearing that revealed a huge cave, almost buried underneath some dense vegetation. Here was the hope they both were wishing and maybe this little moment of calm, before it all came again. It was so precious and must hold dear and not falter as her thoughts would now.
Amina peered into the black entrance, feeling a weird cold blast that rose from deep below, almost icy and stark and cold. "Stay close, little brother" she said as they both moved in a hushed breath toward the opening. Her words felt soft against her mouth, it almost wasn't her saying them at all.
They squeezed past the vines, crawling inside slowly, every step so slow so no movement was made to gain the eyes of another beast of rock and lava, deep down into what she could see as their small hideout amongst all the death and fear that had now become their new earth and new lives.
A small ledge extended above an almost bottomless abyss inside the deep cave. The path dropped sharply beneath them and the vibrations became even stronger in this new place. Deep groans started to fill their ears. This wasn't right at all now.
They started down into the darkness. A dull glow began to seep from far down below and she knew they could not be hidden there amongst this chaos as something, now was happening in here. Something that was bad she felt it grow and build up under them as they went.
The ledge stopped, opening up into a large chamber where a river of molten rock pooled at its center and those same grotesque beings she'd seen before emerged from these glowing pits of liquid magma. More monsters, more death. No safe space at all here now either. This was meant for the end of their small hearts now.
Amina's own breath started to hitch again. Every small muscle started to shake in its own slow form. "Jabari." She looked at him, to check her orders as they stood here. His small frame had been holding up so well. It hurt more than anything she had known in all of her short life. This moment, these moments.
They began to close the space, every lumbering step made every heart around them drop lower in every little space in each soul. There was a deep humming, in every limb as well and nothing now was safe and no place left to go. This could be the end for them both now.
Her little brother grabbed hold of her clothes. Each one was an understanding in all that wasn't said. They had come this far, maybe that was enough for any people at all.
What could any heart wish more. Only survive she knew, it always would have been for all that now knew this new hellish land, these times they were destined now for.
The biggest creature, at the very edge of this lava pit, stretched forward. A long claw reached for her. Her small heart could have beat harder in that second and there would have been nothing at all that anyone could ever be told of it now.
She felt she should have given up then, but now, here now and always until the end, this new order was her everything and no other would hold such importance for her, ever.
Amina stepped in front of her brother, closed her eyes tightly shut and wished for her to see him again. All her power that she had collected now felt for this. A tear pushed passed, her final act for herself in this moment, all the rest would forever be for her baby brother to carry and remember her for all she now had done. It was all. Her everything.
She was torn apart with one swift movement of a huge beast and her brother never knew, he had become forever frozen to that single spot in her, so nothing after was heard. Nothing evermore.