"Carol!" called Douglas, "Carol! Carol!"
The whipping winds that carried the sands were Douglas' only reply. The weeks that he had been searching for Carol had slipped into months, years even. As he walked he continued to call through the hazy red daylight.
"Carol!" he called.
His voice did not travel far over the winds, so he had to strain his lungs to reach an adequate distance. No reply came. Wiping the sand away that clung to his wooden arm, Douglas pressed on over the sandy plain. It was his responsibility to restore order, and the first priority was to find Carol and set things right. This task proved to be tricky with seemly infinite plains of sand that multiplied day by day in their eternity. So long as Carol was missing, Douglas was sure that they would continue to expand until their island was no more and the sun, strained by its efforts, would surrender and extinguish. How this journey had started and how it had spun so wildly out of control, were thoughts that prevailed constantly with Douglas.
"Carol!" he shouted once more.
Wind whipped the sand, blinding him. His heavy feet shoved into the loose sand, slowing his journey. Regardless, he pushed forward calling out, thinking only of the past and the future. The present was too grim and sandy. He thought of Bob and Terry, those damn foolish birds. They had much to say, but when it came to the feelings of others, their intuition was moot. There was a chance Douglas could come across them too, assuming they had not become sand. It was perfectly possible; Carol had not finished them off, thinking The End would find them.
"Carol!" Douglas called.
Before he could call once more he swore he heard the familiar howl of his lost companion. White noise made him unsure. The End was playing tricks. Douglas flopped down on the ground where he had stood, lying motionless. The wind coated him with sand only to clear it just as quickly. The endless wind and lack of food pulled at his core. All he had left was his final memory of Carol before The End had become so overwhelming. The disappearance of Bob and Terry, the suspicion that drove their once tightknit group apart, and one by one, the unraveling of his friend's. It was because The End, because Carol was so easily overcome with its feelings of darkness. With a roar Douglas lifted himself from the sand. He had to carry on; he had to find Carol, if not for Carol, for himself.