You are stumbling across a dry desert. Sweat pools from every pore, your clothes are drenched with it. The sun is halfway through its daily arc and the heat is overwhelming - it must be midday. Licking your lips you discover they are cracked and bleeding and your mouth is parched. You are wearing a thin black tank top and green khaki shorts. On your feet you wear grey plimsolls and you can feel the heat of the sand soaking through the thin rubber soles, threatening to melt them into nothing. You carry a small brown backpack; it feels so light you barely notice it's there. The food and water it once contained are long used up.
Scanning the horizon shows you are far from anything. All you can see is desert and sky in every direction. The sand is littered with the occasional rock or cactus, but otherwise it is just you. You start to turn in circles, trying to decide a way in which to walk. That's when you see them.
At first they look like black orbs floating in the air. But gradually they morph into the shape of people and drift down onto the sand. Then they start running at you. The closer they get the deeper your feeling of dread gets. Your chest feels contracted and your lungs feel as though they are shrinking, not allowing you enough air. You see that they aren't really human. They are made completely of shadows and black smoke, curling and churning constantly within a humanoid shape.
You turn and run the best you can on the loose sand. You aren't getting anywhere fast and all the time the shadows are gaining on you. Your muscles scream at you from exertion but still you go on. It has to be better than whatever awaits you if the shadows catch you.
You feel like you've been running for hours but it's probably only been a couple of minutes. You risk a glance over your shoulder and see that the shadows are no more than a few meters behind you now. That’s when you twist your ankle in the sand and fall to the ground.
What’s the use? You think. They’re just going catch me anyway. I may as well save what remaining energy I have, that way I can at least go down fighting. You stand up and face the creatures preparing yourself to make an attempt at defending yourself, though you aren’t sure your efforts will be worth it.
The shadows get within five meters of you and suddenly they stop dead. You stand there staring at them, wondering what’s about to happen, when one of the shadows turns around and runs in the direction it just came from. The other starts to take slow steps backwards. You turn around to look behind you - something must have scared them - a vicious sandstorm is coming up fast. You turn to look at the shadows making their hasty retreat from the encroaching storm and you feel a pang of joy. You fling your pack to the ground and pull out a cloak, a neckerchief, and finally a pair of goggles you somehow knew were in there and pull them over your head. You cover your mouth and nose with the scarf and throw the cloak around your body just as the sandstorm reaches you. You put the pack back on under the cloak and watch as the shadow creatures dissolve into the storm. You are on your own once more.
You start trekking again. It is impossible to say how much time has passed when you see the cabin looming up in the distance. You don’t care either. You just want the shelter it can provide from the heat and hopefully some food and water as well.
You eventually reach it, stumbling your way across the threshold. There was no door and the building appears to have been abandoned long ago. You make your way across to a sink in the corner and turn the tap but nothing comes out. You search in the cupboards hanging above and find them empty of everything but a thin dusting of sand.
You look around the room and see a doorway. You go through and find a bed frame and tattered clothing strewn everywhere. There’s another doorway to your left and inside there’s a sink and a shower unit. You turn the taps on the sink in desperation but again, you get nothing. Clinging to a fragile thread of hope you try and turn on the shower. To your surprise it works!
You plunge your face under the flow of water and guzzle down as much as your stomach can hold. You emerge, face and hair dripping, and strip off your salt stained clothing to wash them off. However when you step back under the cascade of liquid you find that it is no longer water pouring from the shower head, but acid. You are being burned alive.
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