Hot. That was the word that first popped into Chris' head to describe the environment he found himself in. Just moments ago he had been leaving the college library and turned a corner to find himself here. A desert with a clear blue sky and a white sun that blinded his vision. He was not the only one out here though. There were 26 individuals aside from himself that all had the same bewildered confusion on their faces that Chris had on his own. How did he get here? Why was he here and why is it so hot?! These were all questions on top of a hundred more that were making their way through his mind.
After the initial shock of the moment, everyone started to take in their surroundings and noticed the others doing the same. Chris was looking at everyone and recognized them all. They were all fellow students from the State College Chris was attending. He recognized Frank and Mason who was in the engineering program and had been his lunch buddies more than a few times. There was also Christian Hawthorn who was a drum player in an amateur jazz combo Chris was a part of. There was one face though that stuck out to him the most though. When she saw his, hers widened and she immediately approached.
"Chris do you know what's going on!? Where are we?" she demanded.
"I haven't the slightest idea other than a desert, But I think everyone can understand that Alyssa" Chris responded. Despite the circumstances, Alyssa's presence there made Chris feel a little more at ease. Alyssa Krofft was one of his close friends at college. They were both sophomores and were in the same Mechanical engineering classes. She saved him but in chemistry as well. As much as he might deny it, Chris would be lying if he said he didn't have a small crush on her.
They both stood together and looked upon the other stranded College students. Some were pacing back and forth trying to wrap their heads around the situation. While others were
trying to pinch themselves in order to wake up. Others were trying to convince themselves that they were high or drunk.
"Is this real?" Chris asked, to himself more than anyone.
"I think it has to be. This feels too real to be a dream and I've never had drugs." Alyssa replied as she picked up a handful of sand and watched it run through her fingers like water.
Frank approached the duo and asked, "do you guys have any idea what's going on?".
"From what we've observed, this is real whatever this is. We are not hallucinating, we are actually in a desert surrounded by nothing but sand which means..." Chris answered
"Which means that we need to get out of this desert or we are all gonna end up dead", Alyssa added while wiping the sweat off of her forehead.
"Alright it sounds like we need a plan, I'll get everyone together," Frank said, turning himself toward the larger group. "Hey, Every one!" he shouted.
The twenty-four individuals turned their gaze from each other to frank and walked towards forming a crescent in front of him making him the leader by a unanimous decision.
¨We need to make a decision on what to do. As far as we know we are not dreaming. We are stuck in a desert with no food, water or any Idea of where we are.¨ he explained
One of the group members walked over to the cave mound and climbed to the top, using a dead dried up tree as support put her left hand on her brow and scanned a 360-degree circle around herself. ¨I see nothing but sand to the horizon!¨ She exclaimed stepping off the top of the cave and rejoining the group.
¨We are probably in the Sahara desert¨ a male declared. ¨it's the only desert I know that fits the environment we are in¨. Other group members nodded in agreement others stood there silently waiting for someone to talk.
Christian decided to break the silence. ¨If we are in the Sahara we should go north to get to the Mediterranean coast and try to find civilization there.¨
¨what about going south? What if we are on the bottom half of the desert!? We might have to walk through hundreds of mile of the desert to reach the coast! If we go south we'll be able to get into a better climate and there's still a good chance of finding people.¨ a fine arts major pointed out. Chris was unsure of what was better, both options had their merits. On one hand, going north to the coast would offer a high chance of finding help bit on the other hand getting out of this heat would be beneficial and who knew when they would next find food and drinkable water. Everyone was looking at each other unsure of what option to choose.
"Let's vote on it," Mason said. More than a few people added their agreement to that statement.
"Alright," Frank added "put your hands up if you think we should go north". Hands were raised including Chris's and Franks. Mason counted them.
"one two three...Thirteen hands for heading North" Mason declared
"Raise your hands for the south" Frank proceeded. Mason counted again
"Thirteen as well, it's a tie?"Mason said with a slightly confused voice
" There are twenty-seven of us" a group member added, "someone did not vote"
All eyes were then fixed on Alyssa who twitched as if she had just come back from daydreaming
" I didn't know which one to choose, they both sounded fine. I was just gonna follow whichever one won I didn't think we would end in a tie!" she spoke trying to defend her action. Then everyone began talking to each other each of them trying to convince another of which course to take.
Chris stood there wondering if maybe they could just flip a coin and decide what path to take. But he notices a male member of the group slam their fist into their palm and could almost see the light bulb appear above their head
"Rock Paper Scissor, Best two out of three!" he exclaimed with no shortage of excitement as if he had just solved all of their problems. Some people stared at him like yeah that's not a terrible idea, others look him like he had said a bad pun. "Do you guys have a better idea?" he retorted answering their judgmental stares.
Frank took the Idea and decided to implement it. "Mason, Christian. You guys both voted for different options you guys can determine which direction we go. Best two out of three, go on the shoot"
They both took their spots, Hands clenched in fists resting on their opposite palm. The whole of the group had formed a circle around them. Each one looking on in anticipation.
Christian and Mason both looked at each other for the go ahead. When they both made the other aware they were ready, in sync they shouted " Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!" Christian presented Scissors only to see Mason had released Rock making the round Masons' win.
" Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!" they repeated again. This time it was Christians' win, playing Scissors a second time defeating Masons' Paper. The Tension in the Air was so thick you could almost see it. The next move would determine what happened to them. " Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!" They said a final time. Everything looked as if it was in slow motion everyone's eyes locked on the fists falling towards the palms. Ending with a smack that almost sent shockwaves through the air. Paper on Rock. Christians' win.
"Let's go north," Christian said, ending the moment of intense excitement. It seemed as if everyone had a sigh of relief knowing that they finally had come to a decision. Although everyone was waiting on someone to actually do it. Frank Re-emerged from the background and looking at the sky started to walk towards what he was guessing to be north from the suns' position. And everyone followed.
Chris was at the back of the group with Alyssa. When he looked back he could see that the tree was only about 15 meters away. A strange feeling came over him then, like the feeling one gets when going through a metal detector. A huge wind picked up out of know where blasting sand into everyone's eyes. They all tried to deal with it at the moment thinking it was just a stray gust. But It kept increasing in power and visibility decreases exponentially. Chris was trying to look ahead but could only see a shade of dark tan.
" I can't see a thing!" she yelled grabbing on to Chris' upper arm and using her other to shield her eyes from the sand.
"We should head back to the Cave!" he suggested but he didn't know if anyone could hear him other than Alyssa.
"I don't see it!" she replied with a hint of worry
The sands dispersed in an instant and Chris and Alyssa found themselves back at the cave surrounded by the dunes. They could see the still settling around them. Everyone else was there as well, as confused and sandy as themselves.
" what happened? Did we get turned around?" one of them said.
"That's not possible we were only walking for a few minutes, there's no way we could have come full circle in that amount of time even with the sandstorm" replied the man who climbed the cave to observe the desert. Chris was trying to make sense of it as well. How did they get turned around? Where did the sandstorm come from, they should have seen it coming?
Chris then remembered the feeling he got when he looked back at the cave and the tree.
"We need to keep going. It was probably just a weird set of circumstances." Chris told the group. Even though he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something at work trying to stop them from leaving this area. The group started to walk again, but before they left Chris broke three sticks off of the dead tree.
"What are those for?" Alyssa asked.
"I'm testing something" he replied back. When he reached the point he was at before he stuck one of the sticks into the ground. The dust storm started again with the same ferocity as before. Chris stuck another stick into the ground and used the other one to drag a line in the sand as best he could see and continued forward with everyone else. He then placed the final stick after about 30 seconds of walking in the sandstorm. Again same as before the sands suddenly disappeared and they found themselves back at the cave.
"That can't be a coincidence a sandstorm came up just as we tried to leave" a female voice proclaimed.
"But what could do that I've never heard of any force that can just force people back to a spot before?" Christian responded to her. Meanwhile, Chris was climbing to the top of the Cave and looked for the sticks. There they were in an almost perfectly straight line. This confirmed his theory. There was no way the could have gotten turned around and made it back to the cave with the distance they covered and the straightness of the path he made. The sand wasn't a natural phenomenon. Something or someone didn't want them to leave this area. "Frank! Get Up here!" Chris shouted. Frank hurried up the side of the cave along with Alyssa.
"What is it?" Frank said curiously and out of breath. They were all a bit tired after walking through 2 sandstorms and the sun that was hung low in the sky was still beating down on them.
"Look at those sticks. I placed the first one when we left just before the wind picked up. The second one I placed in the middle and the last one I placed seconds before the wind stopped and brought us back." Chris said to Frank
"What are you trying to prove?" Frank inquired
" we couldn't have walked ourselves back here in the sandstorm. The number doesn't add up. Call me crazy but I believe that there is some kind of force that wants us to stay here" Chris responded
"That sounds insane, but if your right what do we do? Are we just supposed to sit here and starve to death." Alyssa asked
" I don't know but the sun is getting pretty low it might not be a bad Idea for us all to get some rest and try more in the morning"
" I agree the sun has really taken it out of me, I'll tell the other to settle in for the night. While Frank was rounding up the distressed group members. Chris and Alyssa took the opportunity to select prime sleeping spots in the back of the cave where there was the least sand. Chris was able to find a nice level surface and was able to rest rather comfortably. Alyssa elected to use his feet as a quasi-pillow to rest her head on. The cave was small so it was rather cramped and many people were screened close together now. Chris wound up having one of the larger group members backs being right in his face and he could smell the sweat on this guy, But at this point, he was so tired he didn't care and sunk into sleep.
"Guys." Chris heard faintly, he was still sleeping."Guys!" He heard the voice again but it was only just stronger than the last. "Guys! Y'all need to see this!" Chris finally understood and woke up with squinty eyes. A person near the entrance was rousing everyone from their sleep and becoming them to come outside. Chris moved his legs and Alyssa rubbed with her face as she woke.
"What," she said with an annoyed voice
"Somethings happening," Chris said easing himself up of the ground. He looked again at the cave entrance and saw some of the people who had joined the one who called them were staring wide-eyed and pointing into the sky. Chris pulled Alyssa of-of the Ground and they walked out of the entrance into the open air. What they saw amazed and frightened them.
There were two moons on the sky with red and blue and green wisps of nebula flowing over and between thousands of white stars. It utterly shocked Chris and everyone else viewing it.
"I don't think we're in Kansas any more guys." one of the girls said
"No shit Sherlock" another one replied back
This new revelation entranced Chris still trying to understand If he was dreaming or not, but one thing was for certain. They were not on planet Earth anymore.
They stood there for over a half hour just taking in the new scenery above them, but they were all still tired from the afternoon's troubles. Their eyelids were starting to grow heavy as they looked on. One of them started yawning and it spread back to the whole group.
"I am going back to sleep" one of them announced with the others following suit, Chris and Alyssa Included. Soon they were all back to their spots falling into sand filled sleep.
"Chris wake up! Something's going on. People are leaving!" Alyssa hissed into Chris's ear rousing him. Alyssa had woken moments before when someone brushed her body as she got up. Chris waved his hand dismissively and rolled his head to the other side. People were starting to leave the cave and she would not play this game with Chris. She raised her Right calf up and released, driving her foot into Chris's shoulder blade. Chris Grunted in pain and shock.
" Ow, Fuck, I'm up!" Chris said blinking his eyes and still half asleep. He started to look around and noticed what was going on. He rushed over to Frank who was already at the head of the people who were leaving. As Chris ran towards him he notices the direction he was going. Frank was heading northwest not North.
"Dude what are you guys doing, why didn't you wake the rest of us up?" Chris asked grabbing Franks shoulder to turn him around. When Chris did turn him around he noticed that his pupils were huge almost fully dilated. Frank didn't respond so Chris put both hands on his shoulder and shook him."Frank, What's going on?" Chris asked again more urgently.
" I… I don't know. I just know that I have to go this way." Frank told him.
" what do you mean you just know? Did someone tell you to go this way?"Chris asked him sounding a little sarcastic during the last remark.
" Chris Stop. I can't explain it but I'm going this way. Whether you come or not!" Frank told Chris. He turned around and began walking in his original direction again. Chris reached for his shoulder again but Frank brushed it off and continued. Chris looked back towards the rest of the group. There were five other people including Christian as well that seemed to be in the same state. Chris ran back to Alyssa and told her what had happened with Frank.
" The same sort of thing happened when I talked to others. It's like they're hypnotized" She said to Chris. Mason approached the duo.
"We should go with them, even if we don't know where they are going we've gotta stay together."
"Yeah but the sand stopped us from leaving last time" Alyssa responded
"Maybe we will be able to get through this time. Look Frank is already past the point where the sandstorm started and nothing happened yet." Chris told the both of them. The three of them began to walk to catch up with the people leaving. The others who were not affected also caught on and started going that way as well. Chris was feeling anxious. Would they finally be able to leave and get rescued? Although the recent events made him wonder if there even was anyone to rescue them. Mason had longer legs than Chris so he was ahead of him by a few feet. Mason stopped and Chris ran into him.
"Ah, dude keep going," he said
" I can't" Mason responded moving forward slightly but stopping.
"What do you mean you can't?" Alyssa told him.
" I mean I can't go forward! There's something in front of me!" Mason said with panicked anger. Chris walked forward and sure enough, there was something there. It was not solid like concrete but more elastic. It felt like trying to force the ends of two magnets together. But push as he might he could go no further. He tried again with more force. Nothing. Chris could see the thirteen were already a good distance away. Alyssa tried the same and got the same outcome.
"Fuck!" She yelled and sat on the ground with her hands on her face. Mason plodded back to the cave where others were sitting in the cave trying to deal with the harsh new reality. Chris was having a hard time wrapping his head around it and he joined the others who were seeking shelter from the sun in the stone Cave. Was it 15 minutes or an hour? Chris could tell but an amount of time had passed and Alyssa still had not come to the cave. " I'm going to go check on Alyssa," Chris said loudly but no one really heard him. He stepped out into the glaring sunlight. It was almost noon. He looked Northeast and there she was, still sitting, legs crossed and her arms pressed against her head. Chris stood a foot away and looked As far as he could see. There was no trace of the six that had left. Even the marks made by their shoes in the sand had been erased by the wind and shifting sands.
" You should come back to the cave, Your skins gotta be scorched by now," He told her but there was no answer. He looked at the back of her neck expecting to see it red as raw steak but it was just as white as normal. He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up with tired eyes and then looked back into her arms. Chris didn't know what to do. He was no School counselor and he couldn't see any way things could get better. The only reason Chris was not on the ground as well was due to his tendency to get calmer as his stress rose. It had helped him multiple times when Finals decided to reveal their ugly heads. But this was no Final they had to do something or they would all die, but there was nothing they could do to change that. At that moment he saw movement out of his peripheral. Chris turned towards the cave and saw thirteen figures exit. "No," Chris thought to himself and ran as fast as his legs could move him towards the six. When he got to them they all had the same wide-eyed expression that Frank and the others had. Chris grabbed one of them but his classmate just brushed him away without giving so much as a look. He tried to follow them as long as he could, to try and stop one of them. They completely ignored any of his attempts to get their attention until they were beyond the barrier and out of his reach. He paused for a moment, his hands resting on the barrier. He could feel the sun's unrelenting rays singeing his skin.
Chris made his way back into the cave. Alyssa was in the back, she must have walked in when Chris was trying to stop the 13 from leaving. With more than half the group gone now the cave was quite roomy. Everyone that was left had sprawled themselves out against the walls. The sun was in mid-afternoon. The day's emotional toil had exhausted him and he felt his eyelids growing heavy and he fell asleep.
He awoke the next morning starving, thirsty and with a crick in his neck from the rocks. When he looked around only saw Alyssa sitting across from him on an elevated piece of rock. She had a look of disdain was picking up small stones and throwing them on the floor.
¨mmm... Where'd everyone go?" Chris asked, confused and trying to rub the sand and tiredness.
They left.
What! Where'd they gone?
Where do you think? She said back to him in a sarcastic tone.
¨ah shit¨ he thought and pushed himself off of the rock slab. He grimaced as his muscled were strained from sleeping in a bad position and ran out into a blinding sun. Stumbling back he noted how intense it felt. It was like a thousand red hot sledgehammers were hitting him all at once. He regained his balance and looked all around, sure enough, Chris and Alyssa were the last ones. He climbed his way to the top of the cave and scanned the horizon. Chris saw no trace of anyone. The full realization that they were alone in a desert death trap fell on him like a sandbag. Hundreds of thoughts raced through his head, the most powerful one was ¨ I gotta get out of here!¨ He ran as fast as he could. A dead-on sprint, and smashed right into the invisible barrier grunting in pain as he met face first with it. He lifted his fist in rage and punched at the force that was confining the with all his strength.
Chris kept smashing his fist into the barrier. Again and again, it collided with the wall, the hits making no sound. He continued to go on until the noticed the tears streaking. He fell to his knees and used his dust-covered hands to wipe the salt water from his eyes. Looking up from his hands Chris stared directly into the sky and screamed. ¨GOD!... I have one question!" He paused for a moment trying to think of the right one but only one thought came to mind "WHY?!" He waited for a response, for anything, but all he heard was the light desert breeze rushing past him. Giving up he slumped down and covered his face with his hands.
Eventually, Alyssa got tired of waiting, she had heard Chris's screams and wanted to go and comfort him but decided against it. At least 3 hours had passed as far as she could tell since she heard any noise from outside. Ignoring the hunger pains she stood herself up and marched into the oppressive heat of mid-day. She found Chris on top of the Cave, close to the boundary line. He was tracing shapes in the sand with his index finger.
"Cmon Chris go back inside the cave, I don't need you going postal on me here"
"Fuck off"
"No u" she quipped and received a death glare indicating Chris was not in the mood for the word games they usually played.
"I'll carry you back in myself if you don't stop being a bitch."
" Do it, you won't" he snapped back.
Alyssa shrugged and shot her arms under his armpits and began tugging him down towards the entrance. She expected resistance but he put up none. She was able to hoist him onto one of the Sandrock platforms where he sat, elbows resting on his knees and head facing the ground. Pulling him into the cave should not have taken that much physical effort but the heat had made Alyssa exhausted. All she wanted now was to sleep. " I'm gonna rest for a bit, your heavier than you look. Wake me if anything happens."
"OK, Will do" Chris replied.
Chris sat for a little while and after he was certain that Alyssa was asleep he stood up and walked to the back of the cave. The back area was much more jagged and raw that the entrance except for the left side which was mostly smooth almost flat. The rock face was cool to the touch. Chris pressed his cheek against it, giving him a brief relief from the desert heat. He looked around him and found a rectangular shaped rock in one of the corners. "Maybe someone will see how far we made it," he said to himself and marked 4 tally's on the wall.
