“Sandstorm! Cover your mouth and ears with cloth and find shelter if you can,” Mrs Jones
yelled. “Stick together!”
No one really heard her. As soon as she finished her sentence, the sandstorm hit them. Some
hid in the enormous dinosaur skull next to them while the others shielded themselves with their
backpacks and laid down.
After the storm, they realised that two of them were missing.
“Ah, less people, less mouths to feed,” Mr Jones commented. “However, I rather wish it was
this stupid boy who went missing. Don’t you agree, Mr Hisashi?”
“I dunno. He never talks. He never does anything except when there’s something wrong. He is
expressionless. I don’t feel that he exists except when he eats or does something. I might not even
notice if he goes missing.” The Japanese man replied.
Suddenly the boy spoke from behind them. “Sand…scary.” He shuddered.
“I’m really sorry that Ms Grim is gone, Blade.” Mrs Jones said.
“That’s creepy.” Mr Jones muttered under his breath.
“Yes,” Mr Hisashi said. “The food bag is heavier. Fresh meat.”
“What?” Mr Jones ripped open the bag.
The fossil skull Ms Grim and Joanna hid in during the sandstorm reappeared under the sand.
A part of it was gleaming under the sun. It was the part smeared with blood.
“Huh, never seen fossils with blood,” Mr Jones said. “That’s weird.”
That night, neither of them slept.
The next afternoon, they heard a sound they longed for.
“Helicopter! We’re going to be rescued! Woo-hoo!”
The three adults rejoiced as Blade freaked out again, waving his hands in the air frantically.
“What…? Sandstorm again?” Mr Jones exclaimed.
Again they got separated when they were trying to take cover and now only Mr Hisashi and
Blade were left.
“Are you guys alright?” The rescue team’s captain asked them. They were discovered by the
rescue team a few hours after the sandstorm. It was already night.
“Yes. Thank you.” Mr Hisashi said.
“If everything’s fine, I’ll leave you guys here. I’ll be in the tent next to yours if anything’s
wrong.” The captain left.
“Hmm, that extra meat in the sack is weird,” Mr Hisashi said to himself, not expecting any
response, as the boy he was sharing the tent with was stupid.
“I can tell you a story.” Blade offered. Mr Hisashi stared at him as if he was an alien. He was
shocked and surprised that he could speak so well. At the same time, he was puzzled, thinking
how a story would relate to the meat.
“Go on.” Mr Hisashi responded, not knowing what else to say.
“Long time ago, a little boy lived happily with his family in the Gobi desert. One day, the
neighbouring tribe kicked their tribe out of the oasis they were living in with black tubes that
would shoot fire.”
“You mean guns?”
“The family was forced to live in the city far, far away from their home. One day war came.
The boy’s family got killed by men in green uniform with the things you call guns. The boy knew
he had to find out who made these hideous things.”
