Almira

I woke early this morning. It was still dark. The air smelled of sulfur and I could have sworn someone watched me while I slept. I’m not sure it was human. I suppose the face looked human enough, but it wasn’t attached to anything. It floated in a cloud of yellow.

Though it’s possible I imagined the whole thing. No one else has seen the face, though sometimes they smell the sulfur.

As we rode, the smell drifted off and I felt myself relaxing as much as I’ve been able to on this massive cross country trek.

The sun is starting to dip and we are resting for the night. I can’t escape the sulfur smell now. Caroline, Leonard, and David all smell it too. It’s the first time more than one of them has at a time. I thought them sharing it with me would ease my anxiety of it, but it just makes it worse. What is this? The sulfur and the face? Are they connected? Why do I feel like it’s following us? Following me.

Our journey has taken us through parts of this country few have ever seen. Many in our party have died from illness or snake bites and other dangers across the land, but my small family is still here. My husband, my sister, and her husband still travel this road.

Yet I know something is coming. I fear any day will be our last.

Something crackles behind me and as I turn, I see the start of a flame. It swallows the grasses around me and soon it’s everywhere. It’s hot, hotter than any fire I’ve felt before. The black smoke curls to the sky and as I watch, the tips of the smoke turn yellow. How can that be?

I know it’s not possible, but as the flames close in, I hear an inhuman laugh. It’s in the air all around me. Screams and cries, some of them are mine, are deafened by the roar of the fire.

My fear was right. We will not make it out alive.