“I have kids to feed.” Nick’s voice echoed in Hank’s head “I can’t imagine how life would be for
them without me.”
‘So, Nick left? ‘ Hank thought ‘leaving when we are still near the city, and leaving me all alone?’
So that’s what Nick meant by “being friends” and “covering each other up”. It’s natural, he
guessed, in any occasion, the desire for survival comes first.
Hank moved on, on his own, to look for a source of water or any traces of life.
No progress for the following three days.
Walking in burning sun for three days straight, Hank found out that he was not only tired,
but was running short of water supply. He didn’t dare to drink anymore now, and dehydration
symptoms were gradually appearing.
“GREAT”, Hank thought, “I should have just given up in the first place.” All those useless
struggles only put him in an even worse condition. He slumped down onto the burning sand,
feeling hopeless.
Hank was already half asleep when he felt a few cold drips on his face. His eyelids flew open,
and he couldn’t believe it: He was lucky enough to get some rain. Probably convection rain,
because of intense insolation causing air mass to rise and vaporize.
Hurriedly, he screwed open all the lids of the empty bottles and filled them up with rainwater.
Put a few drops of iodine he brought in each, he waited for the water to be drinkable.
The rain was getting bigger. Beneath his feet, the sand was getting wet and muddy, and the
raindrops thudding on his head began to make him dizzy. He held his backpack over him, but it
hardly helped.
Even before the rain stopped, Hank blacked out.
Hank got even luckier the next day.
When he woke up, the sand was still wet and damp from the rain
Again, he chose a random direction to head to: it doesn’t really matter which way he goes
since the whole desert just seems like an endless circle.
He soon found something odd, though, as he walked on. There were some weird traces on the
sand: a broad, straight line dragging forwards, and seemed to be extending to somewhere very far
away. He bent down to examine the traces carefully when it suddenly hit him: those were human
traces! Obviously, it was someone who was trying to cover up his footprint by dragging his shoes
sideways behind him! No, probably not only one person.
If it was not for the rain, the traces wouldn’t have showed so clearly.
Hank took a deep breath, and quickly followed the long trace: It was time to put an end to things.
After about half an hour, Hank finally saw what he was looking for: Two men sitting on the
sand enjoying some beef strips.
“Do you think that guy has seen enough?” Hank heard the low voice of the man with the silly
moustache.
“He’s a reporter. He’s got to see more so he can further spread things out there when he goes back.”
The other guy said. Hank was shocked as he realized that they were probably talking about him.
“How about the illusion tonight then –“
“What are you guys doing!” Before he could stop himself, Hank revealed himself and
exclaimed. “Creating all these rumors and scaring everyone away, what good does this do to you?”
The two men seemed very surprised to see him there, and did not speak at first.
“Are you trying to keep everyone away so you can exploit any resources here that you find?”
Hank made a wild guess.
