It didn't take long for him to feel like bacon on a frying pan. It had to be just past noon, a time where the sun was still at its highest, and hottest. Gox aimed his echolocation sounds at the ground in hopes of finding something but kept receiving the same signals of the shifting sand. Walking proud he continued but still came up with nothing. After a while of coming up empty handed the calls were more distantly spaced and eventually stopped. He would occasionally let out the call again just for the sake of doing it or just to cure his boredom.

Too bad it didn't cure the thirst he had begun to get.

Out of one hundred percent will power he forced himself to not pay attention to the dryness in his mouth. Regrettably thinking too hard only made him feel hungry. That said something since the group had eaten a fairly big meal before meeting Caradon's men.

How long have I been out here? The question randomly rolled across his mind countless times.

After hours of marching through the hot sand in unearthly heat with a complaining stomach fatigue began to creep in. Once again he tried to ignore it, but this was now becoming an issue that mind power alone couldn't overcome. Not long after he could feel his body begin to submit to the pressures of nature…regardless of how he felt about it.

I am not going to stop. I'm not going to give them what they want so easily.

But you must, the wind seemed to say.

His leg began to throb again…the desert's fierceness aiming at weakness.

You'll feel better when you just give in to what your body demands.

I will not just fade away out here in Satan's backyard to be a meal for the vultures! If there were any vultures out here

You will not fade away. Cover your ears when you lie down, you'll be fine.

Yeah sure. Who wants to go through the Pearly Gates with sand in their ears?

You will not last long out here if you don't rest. You cannot ignore what your body demands of you forever. It will only make it harder to recover.

Even though he didn't want to admit it what he heard made sense. But was it real or just a voice in his head created by the heat? Gox pushed it away as a figment of his imagination and continued walking, not for long though. His knee had bruised badly and limping was very painful. Each step grew more unbearable and stopping to let is rest was highly appealing. But he knew resting could lead to sleep and he couldn't allow himself to do that out here. The desert could easily claim him if he wasn't alert.

But the voice was right, his body told him to rest and though he didn't want to, he gave in.

He was probably asleep before he touched the sand.

Six hours later

It was cold.

A little disoriented a confused Gox wondered why he felt himself shivering. He was in the desert, why was everything covered in goose bumps? Then it hit him. Deserts are hot only when the sun is out and considerably cool off when it's gone. He stood up, got as much sand off of him as possible and kept on walking. It felt a lot better now that he didn't feel like a human omelet. The throb in his knee had gone away as well. Bruised, yes, but tolerable.

Time passed and the walk was somewhat enjoyable now, except for the hunger. Now he began to worry. The day after tomorrow he'd be in a serious need of water or else somebody might as well sign his death certificate and make it legal. He'd long since memorized the needs of the human body in terms of 3.

3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. And he was close to crossing the 3-day water rule.

To keep his mind of the unpleasant stuff he started to think about other things. Mainly things from when he could see…he missed color.

The warming of the area announced the dawn was breaking, luckily for him it wouldn't get scorching until several hours later. Since he had no sense of time several hours took several minutes. Once again to cure boredom he let out another call, and received it without stopping.

Wait…

He did it again, the response was different! At last a change in scenery!

What scenery idiot. All you can see is black.

Guided by sound he found a large stone almost as tall as he was. Not much of a discovery but when you're by yourself doing nothing anything can be the highlight of your day…until he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

A rattle.

Cautiously he let out another call and (GLUP!) the response told him he'd come across something alive, very close and at nearly eye level.

A rattlesnake, obviously not too happy about being disturbed while sunning itself.

Now what? Back away slowly? Any movement the snake might see as a threat.

It did.

Mr. Grouchy Diamond Back struck like lightning, piercing Goxlin's ear. He yelped in surprise and pain from knowing the thing bit him and the long fangs going through skin. He found himself on his back in the sand; a much safer place to be considering what was above him. Then a thought struck him…what if there were more? After backing away from the rock he stood up again and nursed his stinging ear. Fingering the skin he felt two small bleeding holes, a permanent tattoo from a gracious reptile. Not like permanency meant anything once the poison kicked in.

Then he felt like a total idiot. Those fangs went right through the skin so fast he doubted a single drop of poison managed to get in his system.

After the scare with the snake time seemed to be catching it's breath, now Gox felt as though he were walking in circles. For all he knew, he might be. Next on the agenda for today's hike was to walk across a field of sharp stones. He could feel their discomfort through his shoes and hoped they weren't spread far. Unfortunately how far the stone patch stretched wasn't going to be his problem. That was revealed when a strong wind blew on him from the side, offsetting his balance as he walked forward. As a result he fell forward and felt one of the stones cutting him below the chest. Getting to his feet Gox felt the cut and could tell by the wetness on his fingers it was bleeding, the extent of the damaged he could not tell. Once fingers were wet with blood they were wet with blood and no further amount of bleeding could be determined.

To pass the time (and keep his mind off how bad the cut might be even though it didn't hurt for long) he started thinking about random things again…most thoughts found their way back to food. One thought that managed to keep away from the dinner table was that first night at Yoyo Manor, the first time he heard Chanticleer and his friends sing and play their unique music. As he tried to remember exactly how the song went a thought crossed his mind like a wave of sadness that almost made him stop walking. He had seven of probably the best people in the world as his best friends and he didn't even know what they looked like.

Gox shook the unpleasantness from his mind and thought of Chanticleer's song. By the time he reached the last verse he…

"Omph!"

Tripped over a pile of stones.

Picking himself off the ground and wiping some sand off of his chin he growled aloud, "I hate being blind."

He couldn't really point the blame away from himself since if he'd continued making the call he could've avoided it. But then things started to piece themselves together.

When he picked himself up he tried to drag his foot across the stone, but couldn't. It was clearly a solid object and when Gox turned around to touch it-it was square.

A wall? YES! And that's…a donkey braying, chickens clucking, a wind vane creaking…civilization at last!

His mind had been elsewhere so the sounds of a small farm didn't reach him. Running a foot along the wall as a guide he continued his walk, hoping it would lead him to someone who could help. But then,

If I do find someone what will they think of me? I'm sure their gaze is going to go straight to my big ears and long fingers. Maybe…

The musing was interrupted when something circular and cold prodded hard on the back of his neck. GLUP! A gunpoint! An unkind voice followed.

"You're on private property kid, don't you make one more move or else I'll be feedin' your tonsils to my dog."

Me – Well ain't that just the perfect way to end a chapter.

Chibi me – Whatever helps you sleep at night. Why do you give AlchemysBlood, now EmptyHeart so many spoilers?

Me – Because she gives me spoilers.

Chibi me – THAT'S NO EXCUSE! Just beca-"

Me – NEXT UP! So we're left in a state of suspense about whom the voice belongs to and how well everything will turn out. How is Gox going to get himself out of this one? I don't think I'll say.

Chibi me – THAT'S MEAN!