Flight, or Die
The river had dried up, leaving behind plate-sized hexagonal scales that curled up on edges. They crunched beneath his feet as Gabe trod across the hundred yard wide riverbed from one bank to gain...
The river had dried up, leaving behind plate-sized hexagonal scales that curled up on edges. They crunched beneath his feet as Gabe trod across the hundred-yard-wide riverbed from one bank to gain the other side. He shifted his backpack and grabbed a limp limb that hung down, then lifted himself onto a natural dam that no longer held back water. He lowered to his knees then collapsed, letting the pack drop from his shoulder to land next to him.
Gabe lay on one side with his head to the ground, breathing dust as he regarded the miles of flatland that swept the prairie toward low mountains in the distance. Farther that he desired. He grabbed the straps of the backpack and stood in the heat to begin the slow trek toward them, aware that he’d be sleeping on desert earth tonight.
He badly needed water. Gabe’s pack held a canteen that at last check had sloshed perhaps a cupful in its bottom. His throat felt as scorched as the land before him. He’d been thinking of himself as a runner, and now nearly sobbed at the irony of the word. He might be crawling before leaving this scrubland behind.
He would make it across, that he was sure of.
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As the sun went down, Gabe touched his blistered face and whimpered. He’d made it through the day. And the mountains were near. He’d make them by noon tomorrow.
Now it was turning chilly. His pack had a light blanket, but he knew he’d spend the night shivering. At the moment, that seemed preferable to baking under a torturous sun.
Looking backward all day, he had seen no one following. If they did come, they would not be on foot. They would have caught him easily. Gabe wondered what that meant. Would they instead be waiting for him on the other side of the desert? Just cocked back, feet up, laughing as he came across? Watching his suffering with amusement?
His pack held his only weapon. A small dagger. They’d laugh at that, too.