Kim wasn't having a good day. Not only had the 'discussion' with Elin get overheard by everyone, whom seemed to think that it was fair game to weigh in on with their two cents throughout the day, but also Elin wasn't interested in hearing anything she had to say. Which she was fine with, if a bit annoyed, since she figured that Elin just needed time to work things out on her own.
Yet now, the ground was rumbling again. This time, however, it felt like the ground around them was beginning to get ready to split out from under them. She could even see a number of landslides already getting triggered from the earthquake. Which made Kim hope that something like that wasn't about to come down on them from above. Although, that would make I feel like they'd hit rock bottom for the day. Which fortunately, didn't happen, but it did halt their progress as they waited out the rumbling.
Kim wasn't sure how long earthquakes were supposed to last, but she was fairly sure that this one was lasting a lot longer than she would have expected. Indicating to her that it wasn't caused by any seismic shifts or whatever else scientists would refer to it as. While she didn't think anyone in the current competition had a system that gave this ability, or maybe magic, she couldn't rule out the possibility that it was from someone who had a system from a previous competition. Though, she considered that likelihood to be rather low.
"What's that?" Elwin called out, having to yell over the sounds echoing from all around them.
Kim looked at Elwin and followed his gaze. To the south where an enormous dust cloud was taking shape, she couldn't help but make out a shadow in the cloud. She couldn't say what it was, as the distance and cloud made it difficult to make anything out, but given the distance to where the cloud seemed to be, she couldn't help but wonder just how big whatever was casting that shadow had to be.
"No idea," Patrick called out in response. "Though, I have to say, I really hope that it isn't what we're supposed to capture."
Kim hadn't thought of that possibility, but she couldn't help but agree. Considering the distance between them and the dust cloud she suspected, she couldn't help but imagine whatever was casting that shadow had to be around the size of a mountain itself. At the very least.
"How about you take a look," Owen suggested, amusement in his voice. "We'll wait here for you."
"Speak for yourself," Jonas replied, sounding rather frightened, which surprised Kim. "I don't want to get anywhere near something that large if I can help it."
Not that Kim disagreed with Jonas, but she couldn't help but feel. Like he might have an idea of what that might be, although, she couldn't really be sure. After all, it's not like most people had to view anything like that to begin with.
"What do you plan on doing about it then?" Patricia asked. "Hope it doesn't get closer?"
"Pretty much," Jonas replied. "Though, one the ground settles down, I plan on moving as far away from that thing as I can."
"I'm with you on that," Bart said, as the rumbling seemed to die down for a minute.
Kim wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, or what else it might mean, but she couldn't help but feel a little relief that the ground wasn't showing signs of continuing to shake like it had. Even though she didn't discount the possibility that there might be other, smaller quakes. She just couldn't help but feel relieved that the initial earthquake seemed to be over.
Kim wanted to ask Jonas if he had any idea of what that shadow might be, but as she glanced at the others, she couldn't help but push that idea to the back of her mind. She had a feeling that she might only create more problems if she asked that now. She could wait to find out if Jonas was hiding anything about it, as it wasn't like the shadow was likely to disappear any moment. No matter how much she wished it would.
"Should we start moving again?" Owen asked as the rumbling faded away to be almost imperceptible and the crashing landslides around them subsided. "At least to a place that's a little better to camp at than this spot?"
"Sounds good to me," Elmo groaned, nearly making Kim jump. Glancing, over, she saw that both him and Elin had reached the group.
She knew that they had been trailing their group, but hadn't expected that they'd have come up to the rest of them during the earthquake. She could see that they'd crawled towards them and had to acknowledge that, that method certainly sounded like it would have been the best way to keep moving during all that shaking.
"Any suggestions on where to go?" Bart asked, sounding rather miserable.
"Not anywhere specific," Owen replied. "Just in the same direction we'd been heading up to now."
"Might as well," Elwin remarked, sounding like he wouldn't mind just collapsing right where he lay. "Not sure if there'd be another direction that would be as good."
"Can we just continue on," Elin called out, her voice sounding like it would have otherwise been nearly inaudible. "I don't want to be here if the ground starts moving again."
Kim couldn't argue with that statement. Though, she doubted that Elin would really appreciate her voicing any support for what she'd just said. Not with what had been exchanged between the two of the just the night before.
"Not gonna argue with that," Owen said. If he was either eager to keep moving or to avoid any arguments, Kim couldn't be sure, but she didn't feel like saying anything either.
While they started to walk again in the same direction, it wasn't hard to see that everyone wasn't very comfortable with walking at the moment. Not with how everyone's legs seemed rather unsteady at the very least and unstable at the most.
Bart, Elmo, and Elin were the ones whose legs seemed more unstable, while Elwin, Owen, and Jonas seemed like their legs were merely unsteady. Kim wasn't sure how her own legs would stack up to the others, but she hoped she looked like hers were more unsteady than unstable. For one thing, it would be easier to fight anything that might appear if her legs were more unsteady than unstable.
Even though she was confident that they could have continued on for a few hours, Owen seemed ready to stop at the first suitable campsite they came across. Not that Kim minded, or felt like arguing. If nothing else, it was a place that they could recover from the ground from trying to throw them around like a ragdoll.
Kim couldn't help but just collapse when Owen declared that they should rest there. While it had been about a half an hour to get there after they'd started walking again, Kim couldn't help but wonder how far they'd be able to get if they continued on.
Although, considering how willingly she just collapsed where she was when she didn't have an excuse of continuing to move on, she couldn't say that they'd be able to go much farther. Which she had to acknowledge that Owen was probably aware of as well.
Kim sighed, not sure if it was mental fatigue or merely dealing with the earthquake that had gotten her to feel so tired, but she didn't really care. For one thing, she was just too tired to care. She felt a little amusement at that fact, but didn't feel like doing anything about it. Other than just lay where she'd collapsed.
She could see that the others didn't seem to be in much better condition than she was. Plus, she was thankful that it wasn't her turn to keep watch hat night. While she couldn't help but feel for whoever would have to keep watch through any part of the night, she didn't have the energy to even think about saying anything about it. Even a few worse of sympathy felt like it would take more energy than she currently had.
"Think that figure in the distance might be a problem for us?" Elwin asked, not sounding anywhere as fatigued as Kim felt.
"Could be," Jonas replied, sounding closer to how Kim felt. "But I'm sure we'll find out when the next announcement occurs. I doubt that they didn't notice it appearing. So, I'm pretty sure they'll say something about it themselves."
"Any idea of when that might be?" Bart groaned from where he'd collapsed as well.
"Probably in about an hour or two at the soonest?" Owen asked. "Maybe my sense of time is off, but I think that's about when the announcer will be likely to say anything."
Kim sighed. She hoped that would be the case, but as she closed her eyes, she couldn't say that she had the energy to care. She just wanted to rest and be ready for when she would next need her energy to fight whatever showed up to threaten them.