Esias and the others were let go during the night. This meant that they had to be the ones to deal with the mobs, or at least a portion of it.
From the get-go, they lost a big portion—mostly because many people backed out in coming with them, while there were also those who died under the claws of monsters.
Fortunately, Esias had scouted the area around his territory well—it was a professional habit—through the months he had been there. He knew where there the depressions and climbs were, where they could hide, and so on.
As such—although they did, tragically, lose a handful of people—there were still more people who survived long enough until daylight arrived… wherein their problem was how to live through the heat for at least an entire day.
For most people, this would be a hopeless situation. They did not know where they could go, and they barely had any food or water left in their spaces. They were tired, parched, and hungry—how would they survive?
