The tall pines and maples rose towards the murky sky, their dry branches swaying on the wind as if shooing the intruders away. There were no roads that led towards this place, no paths for a car to drive on, and the last few kilometres Eve and her companions walked on foot. The hike could've been relaxing some other time, but everything Eve could think about was the ground, still wet and stinky from the yesterday acid rain, the melting hot rays of sun that fell through the thin leafage and what was waiting for her up ahead.
Celina's foot slid on a patch of a slippery mud, and only a timely grab for the nearest tree trunk saved her from greeting the ground with her face. She cursed under her nose as she shook a lump of mud from her boot.
"I really don't want to doubt you, Eve, but are you sure that anyone would build a lab in this middle of nowhere? The only thing I can see living there are frogs."
"I'm sure, Celina," Eve said.
