"Oh, you rotten little—" I muttered, fumbling for the hem of my shirt. "Stupid, useless, Piece of sh…"
The words fell apart into a string of half-formed curses as I tore off a strip of fabric and wrapped it around the small cuts the creature had left behind.
For something so small, the little menace had done a remarkably good job of ruining my mood.
But as I sat there with the sunlight still hidden below the horizon, an uneasy feeling settled in my gut.
What if that was the only life I was going to see for days, and I had just let it get away?
I scanned the surrounding dunes for any other sign of movement, but the landscape remained still and empty.
Still, I doubted that was the case. Whatever hole or nest that thing had crawled out of couldn't have been too far off, and if there were more of those vicious little creatures around, it probably wouldn't take long to find them.
That was, of course, assuming we knew where to look.
With a sigh, I pushed myself to my feet, stifling a yawn as I stretched before going around to wake the others.
Rubbing his eyes, Henry yawned. "So you're telling me a little creature did that?" He motioned to my ankle, where Benjamin was currently finishing the last of the bandaging.
"Like I said," I muttered, wincing as Benjamin pulled the wrap tight, "I woke up, and there it was."
Benjamin nodded, letting out a slow breath. "You're lucky it wasn't worse."
"Thanks anyway," I said, grateful for his help.
"You're welcome," he nodded.
Beside him, Ella peered out across the dunes as if searching for something. "You know, if we could catch one of those things, they might be a potential food source. Assuming they're edible."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "That's great and all," he said, "but where exactly are we supposed to find one?" His tone was skeptical, though there was a flicker of curiosity beneath it.
Emily, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke up. "If it's anything like Earth, then they might be hiding under rocks or in the shade, so we could check any rock outcroppings we come across."
Amelia considered that, then nodded. "It's the best idea anyone's got so far. So that's where we'll start."
With no objections, we got moving. But it wasn't long before the suns climbed higher, and with them came the heat as it settled over us like a living weight. Time blurred into a slow, miserable crawl as the light beat down hour after hour.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, Benjamin lifted a hand and pointed ahead.
"There."
I raised my head and followed his gaze.
Far in the distance, a small outcropping of stone broke up the endless dunes. It wasn't much, but right then, it might as well have been salvation.
By the time we reached it, I was more than ready to collapse.
I dropped into the shade with a quiet breath and leaned back against the stone, closing my eyes for a moment as its cool surface seeped into me, pulling some of the heat away.
For a few blissful seconds, I let myself do nothing but enjoy it.
Eventually, I opened my eyes to find Emily and Ella already at work, turning over rocks in search of bugs without so much as taking a real break. Watching them, I couldn't help but admire their determination.
Meanwhile, I was still sitting in the shade, soaking in the cool stone while they did all the work. Smirking, I leaned back a little more. There wasn't exactly a time limit, so I might as well enjoy the break while it lasted.
But after watching them search for a while, my attention slowly drifted to the stone formations around us.
It really did look odd. Almost as if water had once carved through the rock, shaping a broad dome that thinned as it reached the ground, like a massive stone umbrella.
But something about it felt… off.
Pushing myself up from my resting place, I walked around the formation, noticing the cracks running along its surface. Some were no bigger than a marble, while others were wide enough to slip a hand into. It was strange. Running my fingers along the rough exterior, I could feel the age in the stone, the way time had worn it down and left deep fissures in what had once been solid rock.
One crack in particular looked wide enough to explore, so after a moment's hesitation, I reached inside.
The space felt different.
Not just cool, but wrong somehow, almost as if there were nothing behind the stone at all.
The thought struck me as strange, but I couldn't quite confirm it from the upper part of the crack. So I circled the formation again until I found another fissure running along the bottom. Crouching down, I slipped my hand into the narrow opening.
It felt the same as before, as if there were nothing beneath the surface but a void.
Shivering at the thought, I nearly jumped when a cool breeze suddenly rushed over my hand from somewhere deep inside, making me instinctively pull back.
The whole thing was hollow.
Not just the rock.
The ground beneath it, too.
I stood quickly and stomped the earth under my boots, half expecting it to give way. But when it held, I let out a breath of relief, though the unease didn't leave. Turning back to the formation, I rapped my knuckles against it, but the sound came back dull and muted.
Intrigued, I reached into my pocket, pulled out the small rock I'd been carrying, and tapped it against the exterior in a slow rhythm.
I paused for a moment, listening to the echo reverberate from somewhere within before tapping again. I almost lost myself in the repetition until a flicker of movement caught my eye.
From within one of the holes, something stirred.
Curious, I leaned closer until I could make out what looked like thin strands of hair shifting in the dark. They moved independently, searching, feeling through the crack as if testing the air for something to cling to. Then I exhaled, and the strands turned toward me as if drawn to the moisture in my breath.
Unseasy at the sight, I had just started to pull back when the thing burst from the hole.
A giant bug, nearly the size of my forearm, lunged at me with massive pincers snapping inches from my face.
I lurched backward, barely dodging its maw, and clutched at my pounding chest as I watched the creature steady itself and slowly crawl out of the crack in front of me.
The thing looked like something out of a nightmare. Its body was long and ant-like, covered in dark, prickly hair that bristled from holes scattered across its shell. Its legs, far too many to count, moved in a coordinated, unsettling rhythm. At the front, its massive pincers clicked together with a sound that made my skin crawl.
Nearly stumbling over a rock, I backed away as it scaled the stone.
Seeing my reaction, Emily stepped closer, only to nearly jump out of her skin when she spotted the thing for herself.
Then, as if sensing her fear, it whipped toward her and shot forward with alarming speed, making her stumble back with a scream as she scrambled away.
Without thinking, I snatched up the nearest rock and hurled it at the creature, only for it to shatter against its shell and barely slow it down. Still, it was enough to drag its attention back to me. Its pincers snapped as it rushed forward with unnatural speed.
"Crap, why did I do that?" I yelped, scrambling backward as I kicked at the thing while its pincers snapped at the soles of my boots.
When that failed to get the reaction it wanted, the creature pulled back, its body tensing as it prepared to pounce.
But just as it lunged, Henry sprang into action.
With a yell, he brought a heavy stone down onto the creature's back. There was a sickening crunch, but when he lifted the stone, the thing still tried to crawl forward.
"Just die already!"
He raised the rock again and slammed it down, once, twice, three times. The exoskeleton cracked more with each blow, splintering under the force, oozing a thick, grey fluid that sizzled against the hot sand. The bug spasmed violently, its limbs flailing, but Henry didn't stop.
He roared as he brought the stone down one final time with all his weight behind it. A sharp crack rang out, followed by stillness.
Breathless, he dropped the bloodied rock and staggered back, chest heaving. Bits of shell and grey ichor clung to his hands and arms. The creature twitched once, then stopped moving.
For a few seconds, none of us spoke. The only sound was the rasp of our own breathing and the ever-present hum of the desert wind.
Then, without missing a beat, Henry turned to me, wiping his arm on his shirt.
"What'd you do?" he asked between breaths. "Pea on it?"
A short, shaky laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "I don't know. Ask the bug."
Ignoring my joke, Benjamin leaned in to get a better look at the thing. Before pushing the rock off it to reveal a surprisingly intact body. However, its carapace on its head was caved in, with greyish liquid seeping out between the cracks.
"Can you carry it over?" Ella asked, motioning to a nearby rock.
Henry, looking more than a little squeamish, quickly declined the task. The rest were no different, all sharing the same clear reluctance to touch the creature. That left only me to pick up the lifeless bug by one of its legs and carry it over to the rock Ella had picked out.
"Can I also have your knife?" Ella requested.
"Sure"
Handing over my knife, I watched as she, with Benjamin's help, started dissecting the bug. The exoskeleton was surprisingly tough, making me wince every time Ella used the knife like a hammer to try to and crack it open. You're going to dull it, I thought, grimacing with each whack.
But after a few more determined strikes, they finally cracked through the bug's hardened shell, exposing the strange anatomy beneath.
Benjamin took over from there, his hands steady as he carefully peeled back the layers. Muscles and organs gave way beneath his touch, some of them just familiar enough to remind me of creatures back on Earth. But the deeper he went, the stranger it became. Near the center of the body, nestled between unfamiliar tissue, he found a thin sac pulsing faintly beneath the surface.
When he made a small incision, a stream of crystal-clear liquid leaked out, forming a thin trickle as it mixed with the bug's greyish blood.
"No way…" Owen muttered, speaking for the first time in the short while I'd known him. "Is that water?"
Henry, seeming to ignore the fact that Owen had just spoken at all, lit up with excitement. "I think it is!"
Ella, always quick to latch onto an idea, leaned in. "That would make sense. Camels have water sacs, too, right? So this could be something like that."
Emily, who had been quietly watching until then, raised an eyebrow. "That's… not actually how it works."
Ella blinked. "What?"
"Camels don't store water in a special sac," Emily said, folding her arms. There was a quiet confidence in her voice now, the kind that only showed up when she actually knew what she was talking about. "They store fat in their humps, not water. The reason they survive so long without drinking is that they're extremely good at regulating water loss and staying hydrated through their bloodstream."
Ella frowned. "Wait, really? I thought the humps were basically giant water tanks."
Emily shook her head. "Nope. That's just one of those things people keep repeating because it sounds right."
Ella paused, frowning. "Huh…"
Benjamin leaned in, grinning. "Well, what about we test it?"
Just like that, Ella's confusion disappeared. Her grin snapped back into place. "Oh, I've got the perfect test."
Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed the sac, tipped it back, and poured the liquid straight into her mouth like she was drinking from a canteen.
For a second, all of us just stared.
She narrowed her eyes as she tasted it, swishing it around thoughtfully before finally swallowing.
Then she smacked her lips. "Hm. Earthy. A little stale." She gave a casual shrug and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "But hey, it's water."
"Ella!" Benjamin snapped, stepping toward her with instant alarm. "You can't just drink that because it looks clean. Think of the diseases."
Ella gave him an easy, almost amused smile, like his concern was mildly flattering. "I know, I know. But unless one of you has a hidden purifier tucked in your pocket, I figured cutting out the middleman was the fastest way to find out."
Benjamin's brow furrowed even harder. "That is not how testing works."
She lifted a shoulder. "Worked, didn't it?"
He looked like he wanted to argue, probably because he had about twelve very good reasons to, but in the end, he just sighed. "I understand why you did it," he muttered, "but try not to do something that reckless again."
Ella tilted her head, completely unbothered. "No promises."
Then, after a beat, she glanced down at the water and added, "Though if I start foaming at the mouth, I'd say that answers your question."
Amelia let out a breath, clearly choosing to ignore Ella's recklessness for the moment, and shifted her attention to the rest of the carcass. "What about air-drying the meat?" she asked, glancing at the creature. "If we can preserve it, that gives us something."
Henry considered it, then nodded. "It's pretty hot, so as long as we keep it in direct sun, it should dry out fine."
With that decided, we spent the rest of the day combing through the area for anything useful. While we searched, I explained how I'd found the first bug hiding inside one of the hollow rock formations, and before long, we were all trying the same method.
Using smaller stones, we spread out and began tapping along the larger rock clusters in steady rhythms, listening for hollow echoes and watching the cracks for movement. It was slow work at first, and for a while it seemed like nothing would come of it.
But after enough time, the method started to pay off.
By the end of it, we had managed to draw out two more of the ant-like creatures, along with a smaller beetle-shaped one none of us had seen before. Unlike the others, the beetle didn't seem to carry the same water sac, but it was still food, and none of us were in any position to be picky.
Then, after some time, we laid our combined haul of meat across a spread of flat rocks beneath the brutal afternoon sun and let the heat do the rest. Before long, the air filled with the sharp, unfamiliar scent of drying flesh as we kept a close eye on our meager supply, making sure not a single scrap went to waste.
When we finally sat down to rest, Amelia put words to what all of us were already thinking.
"These bugs help," she said, glancing at the drying strips of meat, "but they're not enough. At the rate we're going, this might last us a day and a half. Two if we're careful."
Ethan, who had been unusually quiet most of the day, leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. "So the plan is what? Hope we trip over more ugly rocks?" he asked. Then he looked toward the horizon. "Because if those things nest in rocky ground, that's probably our best lead."
Amelia followed his gaze, narrowing her eyes as she studied the terrain ahead. "Maybe," she said. "From here, I can make out a handful of rough stretches in the distance. Could be worth checking." She paused for a second. "Might even make for a decent camp if we're lucky."
Henry looked over the drying meat for a moment before speaking. "If we can catch another two of those ant things," he said, gesturing toward the rocks, "we could probably stretch this out another couple of days. As long as we keep finding more before we run out, we should be able to hold on."
I nodded, turning the thought over in my head. If we could keep moving from one rocky stretch to the next, and if the creatures kept showing up at each stop, then maybe we could sustain ourselves for a while.
That was assuming they existed at every stop.
Still, it was a solid plan.
So, with little else to say, we gathered what we could and pushed onward.
The days began to blur together after that. We searched with little rest, turning over stones, checking cracks, and tapping for hollow spaces. Our bodies ached, and the desert stretched on without mercy, but we kept going.
The rocky formations offered just enough shelter to keep the hunt alive, but never enough for us to feel safe. So we pressed onward day after day, slowly learning better ways to track the creatures and draw them out.
It was during those long days of trekking that Ella began documenting our surroundings.
With a salvaged notebook in hand, she recorded everything she could: landmarks, possible food sources, strange animal behavior, even small patterns in the terrain. Benjamin, who turned out to be surprisingly skilled with a pencil, helped by sketching rough but detailed drawings of the creatures we found.
The pages gave the whole thing a strange sense of permanence, as if writing it down made our survival feel more real.
Before long, the little journal became our record of the land, a growing collection of everything we had learned out there.
Then, on the third day, something changed.
As we reached the crest of a low ridge, the land ahead finally shifted.
Against the horizon, the jagged peaks of a distant mountain range rose through the haze like the teeth of some ancient beast, their sharp silhouettes cutting across the sky.
The sight stopped all of us in our tracks.
For a moment, no one said anything.
"Please tell me I'm not losing it," I muttered, almost afraid the whole thing might vanish if I looked too hard.
Henry, standing beside me, let out a low whistle. "Don't worry," he exhaled. "You're not losing it, Atlas. I see them too."
The mountains looked almost unreal, like the kind of mirage desperation would conjure just to keep us moving. But this time it wasn't a trick. They were real, and the hope that stirred in us was almost tangible. My legs ached, my throat felt like sandpaper, and every part of me wanted to stop, but the sight of that distant range was enough to drag me forward.
Amelia nodded, and for the first time in a while, I caught something close to hope in her expression. "Then let's not waste time," she said. "We can rest when we get there."
With that, we pushed on, our pace quickening despite the exhaustion dragging at every step. The terrain gradually began to change beneath our feet. Rocky ground spread farther into the wasteland, replacing the loose, shifting sand with something firmer. With every passing minute, the jagged peaks grew larger, rising higher against the horizon like silent guardians promising shelter from the endless sun.
And for a little while, it almost felt like we might actually make it.
Then I noticed something strange.
Far off in the distance, the dunes began to shift and sink in a way that reminded me of a rising tide. At first, I thought it was just the heat getting to me, so I took a quick swig of water, hoping to clear the haze from my head.
But when I looked back, the illusion had become something far more real.
The dunes were moving.
Not with the wind, but like something massive was stirring beneath them.
A second later, the ground began to quake. The vibration grew stronger with every passing moment, building into a heavy rumble that felt less like an earthquake and more like the approach of something enormous.
I turned to the others, alarm rising in my chest, but before I could say a word, the ground split open in the distance. A mound of sand swelled unnaturally, then burst apart as two towering fins tore through the surface like jagged blades. They rose rigid at first, then flexed and undulated, catching the wind like the sails of some monstrous ship.
Then the creature emerged.
A colossal, snake-like body followed the fin's path, its sinuous form rising from the depths like something born from a nightmare. Its shimmering scales caught the light of the twin suns, reflecting hues of bronze and deep obsidian as it slithered forward with terrifying grace. The fins, now fully exposed, ran down the length of its spine, like a serrated crest, twitching as if sensing the air itself.
As its enormous head lifted from the sand, I caught sight of its draconian features, elongated jaws lined with serrated fangs, flaring nostrils that exhaled bursts of hot dust, and eyes that burned with an eerie, predatory intelligence. The slit pupils contracted as they locked onto us, a gaze so piercing it sent a primal chill down my spine, urging my body to run.
"What in the actual hell is that thing?!" Ethan's words seemed to echo through my thoughts as I stared, dumbfounded, at the beast, and then common sense kicked in.
"Run, now!" I shouted, already sprinting before the words had fully left my mouth.
The ground trembled beneath my feet as I ran, the rocky terrain offering a small reprieve from the soft sand that had slowed us before. I didn't dare look back; the sound of the creature's monstrous body moving through the desert was all I needed to know. My legs burned, my lungs screamed for air, but I kept running; the only way we were going to make it out of here would be getting to the safety of the mountain.
Just ahead of us stood a stone structure jutting out of the sand, forming a makeshift path around us. Right as our feet made contact, the ground exploded beneath us.
The impact was like a localized earthquake, sending shockwaves through the stone. Staggering forward, I collapsed onto the stone beneath me, sharp rocks digging into my knees and hands, only for shaking hands to grab me by the arm and pull me up to my feet.
Yet just as I was about to make the last desperate run to the mountain, someone pulled me back.
"Don't Move!" Ethan hissed as he let go of my arm and motioned to the sand ahead of us, just beyond the stone pillar. The thing was circling us, moving slowly around our sanctuary as if it couldn't move on land. With a ripple of sand, its head came above the surface, its eyes staring us down with an almost calculating gaze. Then it dove under, and for a moment all was still, and then–
Crack!
The stone beneath us shook as the thing slammed into the pillar once more. The rocks above began to crumble and fall as cracks started to form.
"This isn't going to last much longer!" Amelia shouted, "We have to make a run for it as soon as it goes under again!"
Giving a sharp nod, I braced myself, and the moment it dove beneath the sand again, we broke into a frantic sprint.
Crack.
The stone sanctuary behind us shuddered, then began to tilt, slowly sinking into the sand like a capsized ship going under.
Then, on cue, the creature emerged once more, its eyes scanning the rocks in what looked almost like confusion. Its fins rippled, vibrating in the air for a single moment before it turned straight toward us, as if it didn't need eyes to know exactly where we were.
A second later, it dove again, cutting through the sand as though it were water and racing after us with horrifying speed.
Then a strangled cry froze me in place.
I whipped toward the sound just in time to see Henry scrambling forward with a desperation I had never seen on his face. Beneath him, the sand began to shift unnaturally, peeling apart into a widening spiral as an enormous set of jaws started rising from the earth like the gates of hell.
"HENRY, MOVE!" I bellowed.
But he couldn't.
At the sight of it, terror rooted him in place, leaving him unable to do anything but wait for death.
Then, in a blur of motion, Benjamin lunged forward.
His hands clamped onto Henry's collar and yanked him back with all the strength he could muster. The force sent them both sprawling across the ground just as the creature's jaws slammed shut where Henry had been standing a second earlier.
Sand burst into the air from the impact, dusting us in a fine golden mist, followed by a monstrous crunch that rattled through my bones.
If Benjamin had been even a second slower, Henry would have been gone.
Still clutching Henry's shirt in a death grip, Benjamin panted heavily, his expression twisted with shock and anger.
"Don't—" Benjamin's voice shook, his usual calm cracking. "Don't ever freeze like that again."
But there was no time to recover.
A guttural roar erupted from beneath the sand as the creature, furious at losing its prey, circled back for another strike.
This time, it came for me.
The sand beneath my feet began to spiral, softening and collapsing inward as if something below were breathing in. I felt the ground give way and threw myself into a roll just as the jaws burst upward and snapped shut with a deafening boom where I'd been standing.
I looked up just in time to see the thing launch into the air for the briefest moment before crashing back into the dunes.
Then I was moving again.
Scrambling to my feet, I shoved a frozen Emily forward, forcing her out of the stupor that had locked her in place. We ran, all of us, because by then it was painfully clear that the slightest mistake would get someone killed.
A second later, it lunged again.
The ground sank beneath us, and for one awful moment, I thought it was about to erupt right under our feet. Instead, it tore through the sand below us, leaving the ground unstable and shifting in its wake, turning every step into a fight just to stay upright.
But we kept going.
We dragged ourselves forward with the kind of desperation only people on the edge of death could find, and with every ragged breath, the jagged stone of the mountainside drew closer.
Then, from behind me, came a deafening rush of displaced sand.
I turned just in time to see Ethan stumble.
He hit the ground hard and clawed forward, trying to drag himself on hands and knees, but this time the beast wouldn't let its prey slip away. The sand beneath him collapsed into a sinkhole the size of a car, swallowing his legs and pinning him in place.
And in that single moment, I saw it all.
The helplessness. The terror. The war raging beneath the expression of a man who knew he was going to die.
Then, almost in the same instant, the jaws rose from beneath him like the maw of the abyss, stretching impossibly wide as the creature surged out of the sand and snapped shut.
Cutting off his scream. Cutting off every hope of survival he had left in this world.
Then it dove back beneath the surface as if he had been nothing more than a small morsel, something to consume before circling back for another strike.
And just like that, it was as if he had never existed.
There was no blood staining the golden dust, no sign that anything had happened at all. Just smooth sand where a man had died, where a tragedy had unfolded so quickly it silenced even our struggle as the horror of it settled deep into our bones.
But no matter how badly I wanted the world to give me room to process what had happened, I knew the creature wouldn't stop until it had either had its fill or all of us were dead.
So instead of letting myself break, I shoved the horror down and grabbed Emily.
The rest snapped out of their stupor and followed as we ran, not even stopping when we reached solid ground. We kept going, climbing higher and farther until there was no chance of that thing reaching us.
Only then, when we had made it as far up the slope as our legs could carry us, did we finally collapse.
Behind us, the creature still thrashed at the desert's edge, its massive form barely held back by the rocky mountainside.
Even then, my body refused to relax. Every nerve stayed on edge, waiting for another attack.
When I looked to the side, I found Emily trembling, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees as she stared into the distance in horror. "H-He just died," she whispered, her voice cracking. "He was right there, and then... t-th..."
The words broke apart into a choked breath as Ella moved to her side and pulled her into a broken hug.
"We'll be okay," she murmured, though the tremor in her voice betrayed both her words and the situation we found ourselves in.
Nearby, Owen seemed just as unable to process what had happened, clutching at his head while his whole body shook with barely contained sobs.
Benjamin, on the other hand, stood off to the side in silence, unmoving as he stared into the distance. His mind somewhere else.
Then, slowly, like someone dragging themselves out of deep water, he blinked and refocused on the present.
"Ella is right. We're alive, and that's what matters most right now." His tone hardened a moment later. "If anyone's hurt, whether that be cuts, scrapes, or anything, tell me now."
It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a command, but underneath the firmness, I could hear the fear—not of the creature, but of losing anyone else in this harsh world.
Still, no one spoke up. Even when Benjamin made his rounds anyway, finding only a few cuts and scrapes, which seemed to ease his worry, if only a little, and eventually he exhaled and slid down against a rock.
"We're all okay," he muttered, the words heavy with exhaustion as his gaze drifted back toward the endless stretch of desert beyond us. "We're alive..."