When the bus breaks down, still a considerable distance from the mine, the two youths begin walking over hot, dry plains.
It was a typical summer afternoon on the open plains - hot and still.
Kendi raced across the hot plain, but didn't make it on time.
"How long will anyone last if we set down on those hot and flat plains?"
This year they sat out the summer on the hot and dusty plains here near Kabul.
As a group they rushed out of the saucer and on to the hot plain, locking the door behind them.
Kristin and Ray stood on the hot grassy plain, studying the detector that should have picked up the beam they had run earlier today.
And this flat, hot plain had never known the touch of the ocean and never would.
The terrain in the north is mountainous, which, moving south, gives way to a hot, dry central plain.
Seconds later the under of a powerful explosion, came rolling across the hot plain.