I look up… only to see the blazing sun. The heat waves bear down on me, drilling holes through my soul. The weary landscape spreads out for miles around me. Flat– barren, as far as the eye can see. I reach into my pack to take stock of my resources: 2 bottles of water, a tarp, some sticks and a rope. My throat already aches from thirst and I have not begun. Breath … I think. My nerves go crazy, but I try to calm down. One step at a time. I feel my feet start to move but my mind is already numb. The sheer scale of this dessert I am trapped in. My endless prison.

I covered a great deal of land area today without a compass. The mountains now lay safely behind me instead of to my side. Questions pop into my head: Will there ever be an end? Is this even real?. I let my body fall to the ground and rest as the sun drops down under the horizon. The cold hits me all of a sudden. It pokes at me with swatches of wind and sand like evil feather dusters. I grab the tarp and make a small makeshift tent to try and hunker down for the night. I try to remember how I got to this place. The memories are barely there and I can’t grasp on to any one image. My mind and body ache as the void of sleep drags me away …

What was that?. I shoot straight up, my mind pounding with my heartbeat. Thump Thump Thump. My breathing increases but I try to stay silent. Breathe. In … Out. In … Out. The wind beats at the sides of the tent mercilessly. I feel panic start to eb at the edges of my mind. The unrelenting terror of endless possiblities. Could there be something out there? I remind myself that I would have heard something by now if there was. I slowly fall back down to the ground. Fighting a battle against my anxiety every inch I move. I get to the ground and start to fall asleep. But paranoia finally does me in and I decide to look outside the tent just to be sure. 

WHAT!?The grinding of metal on metal somewhere in the distance fills my ears and I jump into panic mode. I race outside of my tent to see the sun peeking over the horizon. A hunched form crawls over the horizon. An amalgamation of twisted metal and wood, a walking machine. Panic races into my head. What is that, could it be- is it gonna attack?.Wave after wave crashes inside my brain. Calm. Just like that my brain responds. Think Garrett, think. Figure out what this is. 

I start scanning it as it slowly lumbers over the landscape. It looks like an old wooden wagon hoisted up on 4 legs. Legs that slowly crawl and maneuver the vehicle around. Each step looks very deliberate, and the machine doesn’t move very fast. I wonder what it’s doing? It moves very slow, almost sifting through every inch of sand. What could it be looking for? There was a shout of joy from the craft. Uh oh.

The figures start running towards me; I. Am. Screwed. At the first glimpse, my animal instincts kick in and I start into the fastest run I have ever managed. Pure adrenaline mixed with fear and terror drive me faster and faster. Before I stumble. I stumble and fall hard. The sand digs into my heels, and my skin as I sink into the landscape. I keep struggling then- 

“Hold it”. I freeze, as a hand turns me over.

“Well well, look who we found here”. A figure with dark brown hair wrapped head to toe in gear is holding out a bottle of water.

“Hey, uhm what’s going on?” I respond. confusion fills my head and a bursting sea of old memories struggles to become unlocked. The figure looks taken aback. They say:

“Garrett? Are you ok?” They take off their headgear and everything comes flooding back to me. Why I am here, who she is, what that craft was. Everything makes so much sense, and I take her hand. I take that hand, drink up as much water as I can. My story is just beginning, I get on that walker and let destiny take me back on my adventure.