"Ugh, this damn sandstorm has been blowing for hours,” a voice complained. “When’s it gonna pass over us?”

“Shut your mouth, moron; I’m tryna sleep!” another voice yelled, sounding irritated. “Every time I’m about to nod off, you open your big fat gob and start babbling again. Do it again, and I’ll kick you out into the storm.”

"Ahhh, don’t do that sledge. I’ll shut up promise,” he said quickly. The vehicle shuddered from the wind's assault, causing him to slam his head into the wall. A loud bang echoed through the small space, his mouth opening to cry out. Hastily, he clamped both hands over his mouth, muffling his groan. Peeking over his shoulder at Sledge, he sighed in relief. The huge man was still lounging back, his hat covering his face.

“Just my luck,” he thought, complaining. “First I get paired up with this meathead, and then this blasted sandstorm comes out of nowhere.” Scowling, he fiddled with his knife, slicing through the air idly. The sandskimmer continuously shook from the gale-force winds outside, the anchors wedged into the sand keeping them from drifting. “I wonder how the others are doing.”

Flinching, Sledge’s thunderous snoring caught him off guard, causing his grip to slip. The knife plunged towards the floor, threatening to wake up the ogre of a man. “Crap!” His other hand snaked through the air after it, as quick as he could. “Phew." He just managed to catch it before it clattered against the rusty metal floor.

A thin line of blood appeared on his finger, right where he had caught the knife. Sticking it in his mouth, the taste of copper danced on his tongue. Squinting at the sleeping figure, he idly thought about cutting his throat. He clearly didn’t have his guard up against him; it’d be easy. This wasn’t the first time he’d had to deal with Sledge; the man was a general bully who used his size to get what he wanted. He also had ties with one of the higher-ups, so he usually went unpunished.

He came close to losing it and killing the man on several occasions, but his desire for self-preservation always stayed his hand. It’d have to look like an accident; a slit throat is a dead giveaway of foul play. A terrible fall, or perhaps getting bitten by a snake. Turning away from the man, he shook his head, still playing with the knife.

Several hours passed like that, irritating snoring and battling with the raging winds for the loudest sound. Eventually, the sounds outside petered out, the sandskimmer no longer shaking. Looking out the window, he saw the angry clouds had passed over them and were moving east.

“Thank god.” Standing, the man spun open the hatch and peeked his head out into the world. The sun glared down on him, the dry air catching in his throat. Sand engulfed the bottom half of his skimmer, and looking around, the other two were similarly buried. Hopping out, he slapped his large hat on and walked over to the nearest vehicle. A sharp knock on the hatch caused movement to start below, with the sound of gears rotating accompanying it.

“Ah Mouse, to what do I owe the pleasure?” A shrill voice called out of the hole, a dirty face popping out.

“Sandstorms over, time we get back to base,” Mouse said, the small cut on his hand stinging from the heat. “You guys all good in there?”

“Oh yeah, we're peachy, weren’t we Brick?” the ragged man called down.

“Shut your mouth Shark, I know you cheated. I just can’t prove it,” a voice growled from below.

“I’d never do that. You wound me, Brick, I was merely lucky,” Shark quipped back grinning.

“Bah!” Brick grumbled.

“How bout you?” Shark asked.

“Terrible, I was stuck with Sledge,” Mouse said, scowling.

"Yeah, that sucks,” Shark said with a knowing look. A loud thud sounded behind them, causing both men to look over. Sledge had clambered out of the hatch and was striding over to them.

“What are you sacks lookin' at?” he growled, raising a fist.

Neither man replied, looking awkward. It was usually best to limit interaction with Sledge as best you could. The man had the name for a reason. Seeing neither reply, he grinned at them before looking off into the distance.

“Why ain’t we left yet?” he said in his usual harsh tones. “Hey, heck is that?” Looking off into the distance. Both Mouse and Shark turned, wondering what he was referring to. Sitting about a hundred metres off was a worn stone structure sticking up out of the sand. A soft blue glow illuminated the area around it, stark against the yellow sand.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Before either man could say anything, Sledge had already started moving towards it. Sharing a glance, they both nodded to each other. “We better go check it out,” Shark sighed, getting out of the sandskimmer. “Don’t want Sledge breaking whatever’s glowing.”

“Boss will want to know what it is,” Mouse agreed, hopping down into the sand. Making sure to keep his hat fastened to his head, they followed after Sledge. He had a bit of a headstart on them and disappeared from view into the structure.

Weathered jet black stones peaked above the sands, coming together to form a dome. Intricate carvings covered the stones, and as Mouse tried to get a better look at them, he found they wove into each other in dizzying detail. The ground started to slope down into what looked like an archway, with only a small gap visible. The ominous blue light spilled out of the darkness within.

Giving each other a look, they both slid down the sand and into the light. The change in lighting momentarily caused Mouse to be blinded, and as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, a knot twisted in his stomach. “This place doesn’t feel right,” he murmured.

The room started to reveal itself to him, with intricate carvings covering every inch of available space. Ignoring them, his gaze was drawn to the very centre of the room. A large stone dias made of the same jet-black material rose above the floor. A similar structure adorned the ceiling, with the two meeting in the centre. From there, the blue light spilled forth, almost blindingly bright. Shielding his eyes, Mouse was vaguely aware of Sledge’s figure approaching it.

“Wait Sledge!” Shark called out. “We don’t know what that is. It could be dangerous.”

"Ah, shut up you wimp!’ he shouted back, licking his lips in anticipation. His entire body was bathed in the blue light as he reached into it. His fingers sank in as if the light had a physical mass before it flickered out of existence entirely. Turning triumphantly, he held aloft a sort of stone tool. It was perfectly cylindrical, impossibly smooth, and made of the same material as everything else. Attached to the end seemed to be some sort of sphere that seemed to absorb all light. “Hell yeah, look at this thing.”

Mouse felt the same sense of wrongness, now amplified a hundredfold. Backing up slowly, his stomach started to churn violently. “Maybe put that down, Sledge.” He barely managed to eek it out, the words spilling off his tongue. The whole world seemed to twist and warp. His mind screamed at him to get out, scratching the confines of his skull in terror. All at once, every hair on his body stood up, his legs quaking. Sweat started to coat his face and back.

Sledge seemed unaffected by whatever he was feeling, instead grinning maniacally at the object in his hands. “Why would I do that, vermin boy? You just want it for yourself don’t you!” he roared, holding it close to his body. “It’s mine, you can’t have it. If you put one slimy finger on it, I’ll rip your little head off!”

The nausea was unbearable now, Mouse collapsing to his knees as space seemed to shrink rapidly. A huge pressure crushed down upon him from above, his bones creaking as they struggled to hold him upright. Distantly, he heard Shark shouting, but it was drowned out by a terrible hum that seemed to vibrate the very air. Starting quiet but quickly crescendoing into an all-consuming assault on his senses, Mouse felt his bones shudder. Sledge finally seemed to realise something was wrong. Too late.

The sphere on the end started to glow that same blue light, and before anyone could move or even speak, something erupted from within. Sledge couldn't even cry out as the light enveloped him, spraying gore in every direction. Mouse watched in horror as every layer of his body was peeled away in agonising detail, layer by layer. Flesh, viscera, and blood polluted the room. The smell was unbearable.

Sledge didn’t even have time to realise what had happened before he was gone, leaving only a skeleton clattering to the ground. The room snapped back to normal, the hum and glow disappearing as if they were never there.

Heaving, Mouse threw up, bile burning his throat as his lunch found its way onto the floor. Through blurry eyes, he looked down in horror to find that he, like everything in the room was coated in a thick layer of Sledge. Or whatever remained of him. Throwing up again, he clawed at his face trying to get it off. His fingers raked through his skin, coming back slick with blood.

“WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!” he shouted, his eyes on the pristine white skeleton lying on the floor. “SHARK SHARK! DID YOU SEE THAT?”

Coughing loudly, he felt something pulling him backwards. Trying to resist at first, he eventually let up when he realised it was Shark with a freaked-out expression. “WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE MAN!”

Agreeing with the man, they both scrambled back up the sand, fighting for every inch of progress. The ground seemed to be almost trying to suck them back into the chamber. Pulling themselves up, they struggled with all their might. Two heads eventually peaked over the sand, both coated bright red. Shaking himself off, Mouse let out a scream as a piece of meat fell out of his hair.

“DID YOU SEE WHAT I SAW?” Mouse shouted, shaking Shark crazily. “DID YOU SEE?”

“I saw,” he said, whipping his head left and right as if something was about to get him. “That was FUCKED!!”

“We have to get back to base!” Mouse said. “The boss needs to hear about this.”

"Yeah, yeah,” Shark said absently. “Yeah.”

“SNAP OUT OF IT!” Mouse shouted, slapping Shark across the face. “FOCUS. WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!”

“Right right, let go,” Shark said, nodding. Both men raced back to their sandskimmers as fast as their legs could take them, not bothering to answer any of the questions asked of them. In a few moments, engines roared to life, the vehicles speeding off into the horizon, sand flying in every direction. They gradually left the black stone structure in the dust, fleeing as fast as they could.

Silence befell the structure as if nothing had happened. Only a grinning white skeleton remained, eternally laughing.