At 5:30 in the morning, the sky was still dark. A light drizzle was falling. After an entire night of emergency escape, everyone was running on fumes, and a range of rolling mountains lay not far in the distance.
Evelyn Ford let Lola and Red Bird out. She whispered a few words to them, and the two birds flapped their wings and flew toward the mountains.
The sound of vomiting could be heard from behind them from time to time. Everyone's face was ashen.
Half an hour later, the two birds returned. Lola seemed very excited. It flew back and forth in front of Evelyn Ford, chirping away, but it was unclear what it was trying to express. Evelyn could only catch it in her hand and point toward the nearby mountains.
"Lola, did you see a cave in the mountains? A big one, large enough to hold everyone, on high ground, and safe."
Lola chirped twice. Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a look. Lola was an intelligent bird, and from its behavior, they knew it had found a cave.
