S2, 10 In the Heat of the Desert (FB) (August 6, 2015)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**3rd March 2094**

We’d been kept locked up in the cell that we’d been thrown into for a couple of days now. Yesterday evening we had received a platter of bread and a jug of water that we had to share between us, but other than that we had received nothing from our captors.

Then this morning, a guard had opened up our cell door and told us that Ac’ross had decided our fate. He and several other guards escorted us from the cell and took us back to the main hall.

As before, there were dancing girls upon the stage and mingling among the few thugs who were scattered around the cabaret-style tables. Also as before, Remy Ac’ross was sat on his throne in the centre of the room, dressed in brightly coloured clothes and with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigar in the other. One of the girls was sat by his feet and a second stood beside him, a wine bottle in her hand.

We were brought before Ac’ross but for several seconds he didn’t even look at us. Even when he began to speak, he still watched the girls on the stage.

Ac’ross: “You stole from me.” He said simply.

Ac’ross: “Then you tried to hide that fact from me by lying.” He paused. “I would have preferred it if you had simply stolen from me and then told me so.” Now he finally looked down at us, gathered at the foot of his dais, surrounded by armed guards.

Ac’ross: “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s *LIARS*!” he bellowed, momentarily losing his cool and for a few seconds everybody in the room looked our way. Then with a smile and a ruffle of his floppy hair, everything returned to normal. He stood up and handed his wine glass to the girl stood beside him.

Puffing on his cigar, he stepped to the edge of the dais.

Ac’ross: “Your fates have been decided.” He announced almost casually. “You are all charged with theft of property and are hereby sentenced to death.”

Several men shouted curses and objections at him, but he didn’t even stop talking.

Ac’ross: “You will be taken immediately from this place and left in the heart of the desert to survive. Your punishment is to slowly burn to death as dehydration takes its toll and starvation kicks in. You will wither away and collapse in exhaustion. Unless, of course, any of the desert creatures – the sand worms and such, get you first.” He finished.

Jarred: “You can’t do this!”

Bork: “It wasn’t even your property!”

Ac’ross: “Details, details.” He replied. “You stole from me – you owe me. Simple. Now pay up or die.”

Jarred: “Remy, you know none of us have money!”

Ac’ross: “Death it is then. Guards, take them to centre point. Goodbye friends.”

And with that, Ac’ross turned his back on us and walked back to his throne, running his hand through the kneeling girl’s hair as he went and retrieving his glass from the other. The guards rounded on us and began shoving us towards the exit.

Jarred: “F\*\*k you Remy!” he began shouting and the other men joined in the obscenities-throwing.

Ac’ross: “Enjoy death!” he called casually, without taking his eyes off of the stage.

Despite the shouting, I, however, remained quiet and just accepted it. There were an equal amount of guards to prisoners and they were also armed, whereas we had nothing. There was no point in struggling. Struggling would only result in us being hurt or killed.

Not that it would matter, seems how we were about to be taken straight to our deathbeds anyway.

We were bundled into a big cage on the back of another truck that appeared to be stolen from the GI, and we were then driven away into the desert.

The journey lasted several hours and was possibly the most uncomfortable journey I’ve ever made. Although I suppose it wasn’t exactly meant to be a comforting ride. We were being driven to our deaths, after all. The driver clearly knew where he was going, however, to the rest of us, well, to me at least, everything looked the same after a short while and I imagine that was the intention. It was just sand. Sand everywhere.

Finally, after being trapped in our moving cage under the hot sun for what felt like forever, the truck finally came to a halt and the guards got out.

They walked around towards the back of the truck , towards our cell door and as they did so, I couldn’t help but notice Jarred and Ghartic exchange subtle nods and I frowned, suddenly worried about what they were planning.

Two of the guards unlocked the door and no sooner had they done so that Jarred and Ghartic leapt out onto them.

Tank: “No!” I shouted as they leapt but could do nothing to stop them.

The pair knocked the guards to the floor but others swiftly moved in.

I had to make a quick decision and leapt out to help my friend. I charged at a guard who was advancing on Jarred. I tackled him to the floor but he punched me in the face and, clutching my nose, I was swatted off of him like a fly from a pig. The guards subdued Jarred and Ghartic, beating them with batons until they lay in the sand.

The guards sorted themselves out and then climbed back into the truck and drove away, leaving the six of us alone in the middle of the desert.

Tank: “Jarred?” I checked, moving over to make sure that he was okay. He grunted in reply and I helped him roll over onto his back so that he wasn’t breathing in the sand.

Tank: “Smart move.” I commented sarcastically.

Jarred: “You didn’t fare too well yourself.” He retorted half-jokingly.

Tank: “You started it – I just followed suit.”

Ghartic had sat up and was rubbing the back of his head.

Pri-deh: “We need to move. Try to find shelter as soon as possible.” One of the others voiced.

Tank: “Can you walk?” I asked Jarred.

Jarred: “Yeah. I think so.” He responded and with my aid, stood up.

After a quick discussion about which way we should head, we decided that going back in the rough direction that we had come from was probably the safest bet. The repulsors on the truck had left no trace of a track for us to follow and so we were left completely on our own to wander the never-ending sand dunes, in a hopeless search for, well, for several things really. The ideal would be civilization. But shelter of any kind would be welcomed. As would water and food of any sort.

The desert really did seem endless and considering that it did cover half the planet, it was highly unlikely that we would ever reach the edge of it. We would be dead long before then. From dehydration or exhaustion most likely. The, also never-ending, sun was always high overhead – eternal midday and we were already hot from our truck ride. Now, after spending a while walking under it as well, we were really beginning to feel it.

Back on Earth I had always thought that deserts had a sort of mystery about them. Ironic now that I’d been stranded in one for some time and it seemed I was now destined to die here.

The sand glittered in every direction, stretching as far as the eye could see and after several hours of walking, we were truly starting to feel hopelessly lost. We were hot, thirsty and already worn out. We were barely speaking to each other but when anybody did say something, it was snappy and irritable.

I remained quiet and just concentrated on trudging onwards. We had no way of knowing which direction we were headed in, but I made sure to keep glancing behind us to see if our tracks in the sand were heading in roughly a straight line. I knew that if we began to curve off track, then we would be less likely to find our way home. As it was, our options were bleak, but our best chance was to keep on in a straight line.

Ghartic muttered something under his breath and Jarred rounded on him.

Jarred: “HEY! What was that?”

Ghartic: “I didn’t say anythin’!” he snapped back.

Jarred: “Yes you did.” He growled, grabbing him by the neck.

The arguing began to escalate and a couple of the others tried to break them apart. Jarred shoved Bork hard in the chest and he staggered backwards. The others started ganging up on him but I barged through to intervene.

Tank: “Hey! HEY!” I shouted, shoving Jarred and one of the other guys, Nandat, apart. “That’s enough! If we start fighting each other now then none of us are going to survive!”

It seemed to calm them momentarily, or at least they stopped fighting to listen.

Tank: “We need to work together to get out of here! The more eyes we have, the better.” I argued.

Jarred looked like he was about to make a retort, but at that moment the ground rumbled and we all looked around at each other, confused.

Pri-deh: “What was that?” he asked aloud, voicing everybody’s thoughts.

Tank: “I don’t know…”

The ground shook again and I threw my arms out to keep my balance. Bork lost his footing and toppled into the sand as the rumbling subsided again.

Jarred: “I don’t like this…” he muttered.

Tank: “Let’s get out of here.”

But no sooner had I spoken than just a couple of meters away, the ground erupted in a shower of sand and a monstrous creature burst out.

Bork: “*SAND WORM*!” he shouted as the creature’s head swung around towards us. The trunk of its body must have been a couple of meters in diameter and goodness knows how long it was, but there was a good five meters of it sticking up out of the hole. Its mouth gaped wide as it hissed and clacked its teeth at us.

We scattered as it dived into our midst. I glanced back and saw it burrowing its way back into the ground, but no sooner had it done so, another worm burst skywards with a roar, grabbing Pri-deh as it went. The alien screamed as he was devoured and the rest of us began running for our lives.

Jarred, who had rammed his helmet on, and I stuck together and ran as fast as we could. The sand began erupting all over the place as more and more worms exploded out into the sunlight, trying to pick us off.

One dived straight out of a dune to our left and we dropped to the floor. It flew straight over us and burrowed back into another dune on our right.

We scrabbled back to our feet and continued running. Bork and Ghartic had caught up with us now and together we ran as fast as we could, which, on sand, wasn’t as fast as I’d have liked to be able to.

Nandat: “Wait!” I heard a scream from behind us and glanced over my shoulder to see Nandat a little way behind. Beyond him, the sand appeared to be broiling as the worms swarmed beneath the surface.

We kept on running but then he shouted again and I paused momentarily. I looked back at him, but just as I stopped, a worm burst out of the ground next to him and with a scream he lost an arm. A second worm exploded out of the sand behind him and I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I didn’t need to see it to know what was about to happen.

We got a little further and the attacks became less frequent. It seemed that either the worms were giving up or we were moving out of their territory.

But no sooner had those thoughts crossed my mind, than a worm burst out right in front of me, scooping Bork up as it went and dragging him back beneath the surface.

Tank: “Holy…!” I cried out at how close I’d come to being eaten and pushed myself even harder to keep running.

Another few attacks came but luckily we managed to avoid them. We were down to just myself, Jarred and Ghartic now and we kept up the running for as long as we could – longer than we needed to really. It wasn’t long after we lost Bork that the attacks stopped completely. We had survived – just. After running for as long as we physically could, we collapsed, out of breath.

Jarred: “Are we safe?” he asked.

Tank: “Well, considering that we’re in the middle of a desert, with no transport, no way of knowing where we are or even which direction we are heading, no food, nothing to drink and we’re now down to just three of us, I’d say no – we’re not safe.” I replied sarcastically and he gave me a look.

Tank: “Unless of course you were referring to the worms, in which case, yes. I think we’re safe.”

Ghartic: “For now at least.” He added.

And so on we walked.

And walked.

And walked.

It was truly exhausting and there were times when we very nearly gave up and just let the sand take us. But we persevered and it must have been the following day when our salvation arrived.

Tank: “Wait.”

Jarred: “What?” he croaked in reply. Our throats were so dry, it felt like it they were being slashed with razor blades when we spoke.

Tank: “Can you hear that?” I asked, listening hard. It was possible that the heat was starting to get to my brain and I was hearing things, but I was pretty sure I could hear something.

Ghartic: “Is that an engine?” he asked and I was glad that somebody else could hear it.

Tank: “Look! There!” I pointed excitedly into the heat-hazy distance where I could just about make out a shimmering shape that wasn’t sand.

Jarred: “Quick, get their attention!”

We began moving towards it and jumping up and down, trying to make ourselves as visible as possible.

The shape in the distance grew steadily bigger until we could make it out to be a speeder bike with a trailer on the back.

It had clearly seen us and when it reached us, it slowed to a halt. There was a horrible smell that came with it, but that wasn’t exactly my highest concern at the moment.

Driver: “What the hell are you three doin’ way out here?” the driver asked.

Tank: “Please. We got stranded. Half of our company were eaten by the worms. We’re all that’s left. We’ve been walking for… well, I’m not sure really.”

Jarred: “Too long.”

Driver: “You must be half dead!” he reached into a satchel and tossed me a flask which I opened and greedily guzzled from before Jarred snatched it away and took some for himself.

Driver: “Where are you folk goin’?”

Tank: “Anywhere. Just out of the desert. Please, can you help us?”

Driver: “Sure.” He replied. “Climb aboard the trailer.”

Tank: “Thank you so much.”

We did as instructed and it was at that moment I discovered what the horrible smell was.

Tank: “What the hell are these?” I exclaimed as I realise that I wasn’t actually standing on the bottom of the trailer.

Driver: “Oh, those are young sand worms. Dead of course!” he replied matter-of-factly.

Tank: “Why?!”

Driver: “I’m a hunter! The hides of the young worms are a delicacy in some areas! Fetch quite a price too because of how dangerous they are to try and hunt! I’m just on my way back from my latest trip – headin’ inta Porta’ Loca to trade.”

I turned my nose up at the smell of the dead creates, each of which was already several feet long, but nodded my understanding.

Driver: “You all in?”

I confirmed we were and with that, we set off.

I sat beside Jarred and got as comfy as I could, sitting on the dead worms. It was so good to take the weight off of my feet. I felt my eyes drooping and at some point in the journey I must have fallen asleep, because I didn’t remember any of the rest of the trip, other than waking up with Jarred’s arm around my neck and my head on his shoulder.

Ghartic had clearly only just woken up as well, but it appeared that Jarred had either been awake for some time or had never fallen asleep.

Jarred: “Morning sleepy.” He smiled, removing his arm.

Driver: “We’re here.” Our saviour announced and I realised we weren’t moving. I looked around and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of town buildings.

We’d made it.

**BONUS PICTURES:**

This was taken in the middle of figuring out how to build the sand worms.

An alternative first image of the sand worm attack.

The small town set.

Iris AD came round recently and when we played Call of Duty, of course we had to name our custom loadouts!

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE