[Faster! Canter! Mush! Run! Whatever you camels do.]
It can’t be ‘go’ can it? Glancing back I glimpse the massive worm corkscrewing in and out of the dunes. Wiping the sticky sweat off by brows and out of my eyes, I fight the urge to curse. How long has it been? An hour? Four hours? In the last indeterminate amount of time, all I learned is that my stopwatch seems to be counting down from a year and two months and that I can no longer do math. I can’t even feel my legs at this point. Then again, I might just be in shock. Glancing back to see the slowly gaining worm, I sigh. I’m definitely on a camel. I’m pretty sure I’m lost in a desert. Lastly, Pinching, punching, rubbing my eyes, slapping and praying have ascertained that a massive worm with monstrous mandibles is chasing me. I know I’m not dreaming because I know I died. I don’t remember it, but I know that I transitioned to this world after dying.
What can I do? Either stay with the mini camel and hope for the best or just off and play dead. Do I want to find out if that worm is feeling kind? No. Bitterly holding on to the camel hump, we barely breach the crest when a shriek rips through the air. Using my hand to shield my eyes from the local star’s brightness, I spot a massive vulture in the sky. I guess every predator has a weakness. Stricken with fear the mini camel stumbles and trips, face planting and then preceding to roll down the dune slope. What happened to me? As the camel pitched forward, I flew off. Eating a face full of scalding sand, I fumble around as I keep rolling down the slope as well. Coming to a stop, I hastily push myself up, only to see a very distraught looking camel bowling towards me.
Awkwardly heaving my body out of the way, I scream as the mini camel tumbles right over my legs. Blinking my stinging eyes, I look over my shoulder and gasp. Bone should not be visible outside of my leg. Good bones stay hidden inside me. Good bones don’t break. I’m crippled. Hatefully glaring at the fear stricken mini camel, I clutch my right thigh. Next step? Hide? Run? No, I'm a cripple now. Fight? No, I’m not even qualified to fight or resist right now. There is so much pain! So dizzy. Need water. And… So… Angry! Clenching my teeth, I watch as the worm stands its ground against the massive avian menace. Both are preoccupied with each other, it's the perfect time to escape, but I can’t. I can’t get far enough by myself. Mini camel is still paralyzed and I’m still bleeding out.
Ignoring the shrieks and roars, I pull myself to the mini camel. Clawing the sand with one hand, I use the other to hold my right leg tightly. Grimacing at the disorienting pain, I flip onto my left side hip and slowly drag my body to the camel. Three meters. Two and a half. Two meters. One and three quarters. One and a half. Breathing heavily, I notice I couldn’t hear the sounds of conflict anymore. Glancing back as my sight blurs, I catch the vulture monster's actions. Ripping into the worm, it seems to be eating. Increasing my movement, I reach the camel. Laying on its chest, I wait. Seconds pass and there is no heartbeat. SIghing, I pull out my dagger.
Camels normally have an abundance of water stored inside of them. It’s just not certain where. Some say it's in the nutritious fat reserves in the hump are where it's at. Some say it's in the bloodstream. If I stay outside I die. If the bird finds me I probably die while unconscious. Will it eat me? Probably not since its eating its fill right now. I need a temporary shelter as well as some sustenance. I think I’ve done worse, but I can’t remember. Feeling the plated underside of the camel, I move my hand left and right until I stop at the base of its neck. A soft spot. A chink in its amrour. A weakness. Guiding the dagger, I make a cut for the base of its neck to half way up its neck. Using the dagger, I dig the innards out. Feeling my eyelids droop, I leave my injured leg unattended and start ripping at its vertebra. Cutting chunks of bone and tissue, I toss them out, sloppily ripping deeper and deeper.
Momentarily stopping as something hard pops out of its tiny heart, I stare at it. Beautiful. Red. Shiny. A small piece of crystal sat in my palm, lights dancing inside as I slowly brought it to my mouth. Why? I have no idea, but I couldn’t resist. It just felt right. Pausing as the lukewarm crystal touched my parched lips, I pushed it into my mouth. Slowly dissolving into liquid, I groan softly as I feel myself swallow it. Snapping out of my delirious state, I stare in my hand in disbelief. I ate a rock! Gripping my dagger hard, I continue to dig my way deeper. Ignoring the ribs, I pull myself further in and tear at the vertebra between me and its hump. Finally finding purchase around its spine, I use my uninjured leg to pull on it. Dragging much of the flesh and bone I had butchered with the small piece of vertebra I managed to dislodge, I toss it outside and throw myself back in for more. After a few more attempts, I hollow out the tissue surrounding the hump and stop as I reach the nutritious fat that supposedly is stored in its hump.
Dragging the last bits of loose flesh and gore out of the camel, I pull my injured leg in. Crawling in and situating my body in the cavity I dug between the ribcage, I position my head near my cut. Taking a breath, I slowly turn towards the prized hump tissue and dig some out. FIghting my urge to vomit, I stuff some in my mouth. Raw meat is dangerous for many reasons and should only be eaten after being cooked, but there isn’t anything I can do in this case. Bacterial contaminations and parasites? Well, I’ll have to deal with the natural camel bacterial flora. Parasites are a bit scary, but hopefully my terrible luck pulls through. Digging another portion out, I rest my head near the opening again. Feeling some of the camels blood trickle into my mouth, I chuckle faintly. The problem with drinking blood is that it goes to our stomach and the excessive amounts of iron can become toxic.
I think it's called haemochromatosis, but who cares. I’ll sip it like wine. Just enough to feel hydrated but not enough to die. Hopefully.
[Now what.]
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Weakly, I cut a few small sections of skin and flesh so that the opening stays open. Continuing to breathe raggedly, I spot the Avian nightmare dragging a part of the worm's carcass away. My eyes drop again, but I can’t stop them this time. I stuff the last bit of nutritious fat into my mouth and chew. Slowly my eyes close as I swallow. I wonder If I’ll survive the day. The dull pain slowly ebbs as my eyes close fully.
[Camels and pancakes. I hate them both. Hehe, I really ate-]
( ^ ^ )zZZZZ
*click clack click click clack click click clack*
[What? Not yet, I’m not ready to get up yet.]
*Click Click Clack Clack Click Click*
[Tap dancers really do have nice legs...]
*Click Click Clack* *drag*
Jolting awake as I feel myself being moved, I stare into the darkness. Consciously blinking, I remember that I’m in a camel. Feeling the body around me being tugged, I slowly reach out and pull myself closer to the opening. Nothing. Just the sand flowing away from me. Pulling myself even further out, I slowly raise my head and look around. Nothing to the left. Nothing to the right. Feeling a chill run down my spine as a cold, dry wind blows sand in my face. Doing my best not to sputter and cough, I go back into the camel and wipe my face. Is it just me or is this camel surprisingly dry on the inside? Gingerly flipping onto my back, I exit the opening. Slowly raising my upper body, I pause when I spot a stinger gently swaying behind the mini camels mass. Of course a desert has scorpions. I remember-- No, I know that scorpions normally drag their hunt back to their home.
The question is will this one do the same? How far is it’s home? Lastly, where is it going? Going back into my hideout, I take out the compass that conveniently stayed in my pocket. Sticking my hand just outside of the camels neck, enough to catch some moonlight. East! This stupid arachnid is part of the plot too! Checking the compass again, I find it going straight east, not a single degree off. Frowning, I slowly exit the camel's neck. Almost at the top of the dune, I wait a few moments. The moment the stinger started to decrease in height behind the dune crest, I slipped out fully. Staying still and silent, I wait for it to move farther and farther away. One thing I don’t know or remember is how good a scorpion’s hearing is.
Not able to hear my home being dragged away, I slowly approach the dune crest. Poking my head over, I spot a cross between a centipede and a scorpion dragging my camel up the next dune. Sighing, I slowly check my surroundings. The east is a definite no go. The west to southwest seem to be the same endless desert as last time. The North is different. Massive mountains form a mountain range starting from the northwest and ending well into the northeast. Just how long was that thing dragging me?
Glancing south and then west, I start walking to the mountains. If i’m not wrong, some of the further mountain shapes look less barren. Never can tell in the moonlight. Slowly and cautiously making my way to the base of the first mountain, I widen my eyes in shock. My leg. I just walked on my injured leg. Looking down, I find my blood encrusted and torn pant covering a perfectly fine leg. Fun fact, pants are as they are called, a pair. One leg wears a pant, the other wears another. Massaging my right leg, I find nothing wrong. Surprised, I spend a few minutes looking for anything strange before giving up. My leg is fine. Nothing to see and definitely nothing wrong with me. I am a model human being.
Skirting around the first mountain, I keep walking while hugging my arms until the sunrise illuminates the sky. Glancing around, I decide to head higher and see if I can find a vantage point. What can go wrong? Another monster tries to eat me? I’m practically the luckiest guy alive. I love sarcastic comments to myself.
[I mean I have me, myself and I. Nothing I could need or want is missing!]
Slapping my cheeks lightly, I start the grueling climb upwards. Skirting around a particularly steep incline, I jump, gripping onto an overhanging ledge. Pulling myself up surprisingly easily, I continue upwards. Unlike the first few mountains I skirted around, this one is much larger in width. The height isn’t much higher making the slope more gradual. If I were to guess, I should be climbing at a forty five to fifty degree slope. Mindlessly climbing up, several hours pass. With the heat beating down on me, I stare into the distance. One. Two. Five, the fifth mountain is where I see greenery. Staring down from the peak, I sigh. This should be easier, but it's still hours of going down followed by days to get to somewhere habitable. Checking the surroundings, I find a few patches of green shrubs to the west. Maybe a small reservoir or stream on that side. That should be my next target. Water.
Just as I start my descent, the sound of a deep drawn out growl followed by frantic hissing spills into the surroundings. Pinpointing it to be coming from the northeast, I smirk. East is for Beasts. West is definitely the best. Slowly climbing down, I keep an eye out for trouble. As the hours pass and I get closer to the bottom, The growling, hissing and general sounds of struggle seem to echo even louder. Just why is it taking so long for one of them to die? Fighting for an hour? Cool, must be two closely matched rivals. Hours? It’s got to be some kind of mating display or something. How many body parts does any one thing have?
Reaching the bottom, I feel the dehydration getting to me again. Looking for some shade, I trudge to a nearby overhanging and sprawl down close to the rock walls. Facing the eastern mountains, I see a small shape slipping down the slope rapidly. From the amplification of hissing, it’s clear that it’s one of the parties involved. Now, who’s the winner? With a roar, a decent three-room-house sized head rises above the side of the peak. Scrambling down the slope, something akin to a neckless dragon without wings follows in pursuit. Too dazed to react, I watch as the loser gets closer and closer. Just minutes later, I make out the loser, It’s the centi-scorpion! No camel in sight, I guess one of them ate it already.
Minutes pass as the dragon-like lizard thing catches up. Grabbing the centi-scorpion’s stinger in its mouth, it smashes it into the cliffside. Biting the midsection as it crumples onto the ground, it steps on the stinger and rips it off. Hissing, the centi-scorpion dies as the pseudo-dragon repeats the same maneuver on its head. Cringing at the juicy crackling of its carapace and the sounds of munching, I stay as still as possible. Unknowingly, the centi-scorpion had run within a few hundred meters of me. Watching the neckless-dragon pick out the juicy bits, I feel my blood run cold as it spots me. Either heat stroke just became a real issue, or I can feel my death coming. Eyeing me, It stares for a good minute before turning around and snorting. Relief floods me as I chuckle, still sprawled haphazardly in the shade.
[Hahaha. Everyone hates homewreckers. I lost a home, you lost your life. I’ll call it even for today!]
Glancing at the length of shade, it should be midday soon. I’d have to move to the other side as the shade moves if I wanted to keep moving. Lifting my hand, I trace my fingers as I examine my sight. Sadly, it seems that I need some rest.