Milo stayed in his tent as long as he could. He desperately needed to relieve himself, but wasn't eager to leave the relative warmth of his tent and enter the dank cavern. When he couldn't stand it any longer, Milo dragged himself from his bedding and felt his way to the supply pile. From it, he grabbed a flashlight and the hand trowel that housed the toilet paper. He was too groggy to notice the three figures in glowing masks hop behind rocks at his approach.
Lazily, Milo tucked the flashlight beneath his chin so he could undo his belt. The beam danced across the ceiling of the cave. As he unbuttoned his trousers, he noticed a swarm of bugs descending from the glowing ceiling structure. Seeing that they were fireflies, Milo sleepily registered that they must have been what made the dome glow. They started zipping past his face, which startled him fully awake. In his attempt to swat them away, he dropped the flashlight. He grabbed the hand trowel and started swinging at the creatures. He managed to hit one with the toilet paper and smash it against a nearby boulder.
Whoosh!
That wasn't the sound Milo expected to hear from a squished bug. As he lifted the trowel again, he quickly realized that it had caught fire and dropped it reflexively. He stepped back and watched as the other bugs landed on the tents. Everywhere that the bugs touched ignited and the rings of fire quickly spread. Milo turned his attention to the glowing structure where the bugs had come from. Thousands more of the fireflies poured out of every opening and headed straight for the tents.
"Fire," Milo whispered to himself. No one but him seemed to be aware of the danger.
"Fire! Fire!" Milo screamed. He pulled up his trousers and sprinted for his friends' tents.
Rourke popped his head out of his tent, roaring "Thatch, go back to bed!" He stopped himself when he saw the blazes engulfing camp. Helga was helping the crew members gather water to pour on the flames, but Rourke stopped her.
"No time! Get us into those caves!"
Drivers got the trucks moving and Mole revved up the drill. Eleanor felt lost in the shuffle. She looked around for familiar faces, but she only saw those terrible gas masks from their first moments in the cave. People and vehicles rushed past her. She noticed a parked truck and ran over to it. She started to hoist herself into the back and felt someone place their hands on her back and elbow for support. She turned and saw Milo's panic-stricken face. They smiled weakly at each other.
"Thank goodness," she breathed. "Where are the others?"
As she spoke, Audrey launched herself into the truck bed next to Eleanor.
"Now's not the time! Hopefully, we'll see them when we're safe," she yelled, slapping the side of the truck. On cue, the engine sputtered to life and the truck began to move. Milo hadn't climbed on yet.
"Milo!" both women screamed.
Milo sprinted after the truck, arms raised like a child asking to be held. Together, Eleanor and Audrey grabbed his hands and threw themselves toward the cabin of the truck. Milo fell on top of them and they all sighed with relief. Suddenly, an explosion rang out from the back of the line of vehicles. The ground lurched beneath them and the truck started rolling backwards. Milo spread his arms in front of Eleanor and Audrey and they all three squeezed their eyes shut. Eleanor felt like she hit a wall, then nothing.