The next morning Kat and I awake at first light still huddled together in the cave. We both arise quickly despite being groggy and lacking energy thanks to not being able to replenish calories through food yesterday. The task that lies before us today is to escape the desert before the temperature rises and while we still have the energy and water necessary to do so. Neither of us knows how far we might be from the nearest town nor in which direction that town might lie, but what we do know is that if we don't act with urgency and aggression, then we can forget about making it out of this desert alive. On that note, we exit the cave.

I blink my eyes as the brightness of the rising sun enlivens my vision. Looking about I see that things are about the same as they were yesterday. We're in an empty mountainous area with a ravine below us filled with water, a few shrubs here and there, and lots and lots of space. One thing that is different, however, is that unlike before, I make sure to check the sky for thunderheads. Thankfully, I don't see any clouds or any signs of bad weather. I think as long as we're careful, we'll be able to make our journey peacefully today.

I suggest to Kat, "Let's keep doing what we were doing and follow the river out."

"Lead the way," she replies.

I make the first step and set about the trek. My movements are calm and precise rather than frantic and hurried. The reason for this is because although we're pressed for time, the ground below us is a blanket of loose rocks meaning that one false step could easily lead to a manual injury. Needless to say, if you break a leg out here or suffer any sort of injury that impedes movement, then you're done. Hence, we take the slow and steady approach.

Shuffling along, it actually takes us only forty minutes to reach the tail end of the mountain range. From there, the mountain slopes down into a hill that empties into a long and wide barren plain. As I start to make the descent, Kat suddenly clenches my left arm with a strong jerk. "Look!" she cries.

I look around, but I don't see anything. "What?"

"I think I see buildings in the distance!"

Again, I look without seeing anything. "Where?"

Kat assumes her Werecat form and strains her eyes with her right hand serving as a sun visor. She points with the index finger of her left hand. "There are sand-colored buildings straight ahead in that direction. They look to be about three and a half hours away by walking."

Once more, I peer into the horizon with the intention of seeing the buildings. This time I do notice what looks to be a wall of adobe or sand surrounding a town of adobe buildings. I'm not absolutely certain. I mean we could be seeing a mirage, which would be understandable given our delirious and hopeful condition, but, of course, it could also be a town. Either way, that's the direction we're going.

"Come on," I say.

We descend onto the barren flatland. This land is a combination of sand and rock. The sand is easily trampled under foot. It's not like the sand of the deep desert that stacks sky-high in dunes. Also, there's way more shrubbery and trees in this area. If there were going to be a town somewhere, then it would be on this type of land as opposed to the high sands of the deep desert. That gives us some hope, but two and a half hours is still a long way to walk in a desert environment.

Not to mention, it's extremely boring. For lack of anything better to do, I decide to make conversation with Kat.

"So Kat, where are you from?"

She answers without turning her head to me. "I'm from a town called Emmerdale in Magnolia."

"How old are you if I might ask?"

This time she turns her head. "Are you asking me for your article?"

"Huh?"

"The article that you said you were going to write about monster hunters."

"Oh," I spout, remembering. My eyes once more gaze into the distance. "No, it's not for my article. I was just wondering."

"I'm nineteen. And you?"

"Twenty-one."

She nods her head. "So, your first experience with monster hunting has been a pretty crappy one, huh?"

I give her the "Do you even have to ask?" look. She gets the message. "Why in the world would you want to live this way Kat?"

"I don't," she answers, "Not like this. I've never been on a run that's gone sour. I mean obviously I've heard stories, but I didn't think it would happen to us."

"Doesn't it happen to everyone who stays in the business long enough? Günther said yesterday that he was on a run where most of the hunters died, not unlike this one."

"I thought I could get in and get out," Kat shoots quickly. "I thought that I'd just do it for a year or two, get in a few lucrative runs, and then live large for a while. It's better than being a seamstress which was my other job."

I walk along silently for a few paces considering what she said. I can't deny that yesterday their group made more money from one monster encounter than I make in multiple months. There's no denying the financial appeal of monster hunting, but at some point, one has to weigh the risks versus the rewards. I think our group was on the wrong side of the scale.

I open my mouth to ask my next question, but no words come out because I spot a thorny gray lizard the size of Kat come out of its burrow. It juts out its tongue and licks the air. Unless I'm mistaken, reptiles do this to sense their environment.

"Kat, heads up," I say.

She looks beyond me to our right and sees the creature following us. As calmly as we can, we continue walking silently in the hopes of not provoking the creature. Our effort seems to make no difference. It keeps following us.

"Any chance that thing is a vegetarian?" I ask.

"None."

We walk along with nervous stiffness until, finally, the monster makes its move. It comes scurrying at us, shuffling its thick lizard legs with surprising speed. "Stand aside!" Kat orders, taking her Werecat form.

Obeying, I move away while she stands in place to intercept the lizard. Yet rather than run all the way to her, it stops a few feet away and whips its tail up like a catapult. When it does this, it projects a barrage of the thorny barbs that line its back and tail. Swiftly, Kat dodges downwards and to the right, nonetheless, one of the barbs pierces her left shoulder. She screams with a yelp and quickly shifts to offense. The moment she approaches the creature, it tries to sling more barbs at her. However, it's too late. Kat slides against the rocky terrain, positions herself next to it, and jams the fingernails of her left hand under the lizard's mouth. Her nails then extend into long spikes and pierce through the reptile's head at five locations. It's an instant kill.

She retracts her claws and stands to her feet. "Oww."

At once, I rush to help her. "Kat, I'll pull out the barb."

"No!" she says, "It's poisonous. You'll only poison yourself too."

Closing her eyes, she yanks out the barb with a wince. She then throws it back at the lizard's dead body. "Stupid thing."

"Is there anything we can do about the poison?" I ask.

"I've got it," she tells me. She covers the wound on her shoulder with her right hand and casts a spell on herself by issuing a loud grunt. I'm not familiar with the spell, but I presume that it heals status effects. She then follows it with a healing Sound Magic spell and turns to me with a tilt of her neck. "I could have handled that better, but I'm tired and low on energy."

"Hey, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

She really doesn't. She at least killed the thing. I wouldn't have been able to do that much. Not in a fair fight at least. I don't know how Kat ranks among monster hunters, but she seems pretty amazing to me. Especially considering that she had formerly been a seamstress. There's not a lot of monster fighting involved with that profession from what I understand.

In any case, we move on after Kat extracts the âme crystals from the monster for her troubles. The time is still early in the morning and we're making good progress. If there really is a town ahead, then we'll probably be able to reach it just as the temperature starts to become smothering. At least that's my hope, but so far we've encountered one problem after another in this stupid desert. There's no telling what could happen next.

As we stagger along endlessly, my stomach grumbles. I lay a hand over it. "It's too bad we can't make fire easily. Otherwise, we could've eaten that lizard."

"Yeah," Kat agrees, "That would have been turning the tables on 'em. Not that I want to eat a lizard."

"At this point, I'd eat anything."

"I hear ya."

We continue along. The next hour is happily uneventful. Even better, we're rewarded for our diligence when we see a patch of greenery in this distance. It marks the location of the town.

"Do you see what I see?" I ask.

"Yes I do."

"We're going to make it Kat!"

She smiles and gestures her hand towards a nearby mesquite tree. "Let's take a break in the shade for a minute."

We've already been walking for almost two hours with another hour and a half left to go. It's completely reasonable to take a break. I nod my head and we crash on the desert floor under the shade of the mesquite tree. Leaning back on my palms, I inhale a deep breath. At this time, the temperature is starting to heat up. Given how weary and beaten down we already are, making the final stretch of our journey is going to be no small feat. But survival is in sight, so I'll be darn if we give up now. Kat and I drink some of the water that we sanitized yesterday and then we move on.

The two of us walk with an unspoken focus and intensity. With each step we can literally see the town inching ever closer. It's as mocking as it is inviting. The expression "so close yet so far" has never been truer in my life than in this moment. But, of course, far suddenly feels a little farther when I spot a monster glaring at us. This particular creature is a small green dinosaur that stands about three feet in height. Like with the other reptile that we faced earlier, I somehow doubt that this beastie is a vegetarian.

I grumble and roll my eyes, "Kaaaat. Monster."

She glares beyond my right side and sees the green dinosaur observing us. "Crap. I don't have the energy for this."

Shifting direction, Kat approaches the dinosaur head on. Then without warning, she suddenly transforms into an ugly green gorgon with snake hair and a long serpent body. She stretches out her hands with her claws poised for striking. While she does this, she utters a loud hiss to intimidate the monster. Much to my surprise, her ploy works. The monster runs away.

Kat resumes her human form and once more takes her place walking at my side. "Well done," I say.

"Thanks."

We continue. Our steps are now sluggish. The sun lavishly pours its rays upon us and I want to melt like a stick of butter. But I don't melt. I force myself to put one leg in front of the other. That's all I think about. One leg in front of the other.

Using this strategy we make it to within 50 minutes to an hour walk from the town. It's tempting to slow our pace due to fatigue, but we can't do that. The temperature is quickly reaching the point of being life-threatening. This fact coupled with the fact that we have no means of creating a shelter nor any source for collecting additional water means that we have to make the final push all in one go. It's difficult, but it's doable. We're on the verge of death, but we're going to make it.

Kat and I walk with irregular strides. Sometimes we lean over forward with our backs hunched like camels. Other times we walk with our upper bodies tilted backwards like zombies. We do whatever we can to force ourselves to continue walking. It's all we can do.

Ahead the town is hauntingly close. I feel like I could reach my hand out and touch it. Obviously I can't, but it's almost a forgone conclusion that we'll make it. The town couldn't be any farther than another three-quarters of an hour walk at most.

Slinking on, I feel my body wobble heavily with each new step. Exhaustion has put me in a strange physical state. I have tunnel vision and I hear every breath that I take rebound in my ears. I don't even feel the sun nor do I see the surrounding environment. I am entirely focused on reaching the town ahead. Nothing else matters. In a sense.

"Jacob," I hear Kat moan, "Oh no."

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Overcome with weariness, it takes far more effort than it should just for me to turn my head to the right to look at her. When I do, I see that she's looking off to our left. Again, I have to make a valiant effort to turn my head, but this time when I do, I see a pack of four desert hyenas stalking us from nearby.

"Nooo. Noooo!" I sputter.

I try to increase the pace of my walking, but my body doesn't cooperate. This isn't good. Even the monstrous dog brains can figure out from one look at us that Kat and I will make an easy meal. My mind races to try to think of a way to deter them, but I've got nothing. I couldn't stop the monsters from attacking us even if I were in perfect health.

Kat, on the other hand, makes an effort. Using what little energy she has remaining, she transforms into her gorgon form and tries her scare tactic. The hyenas don't buy it. Rather than become frightened and run away, they accept her attempt to scare them as a challenge and bolt forward at her. We're screwed.

Reacting, Kat casts the Medusa spell as quickly as she can and manages to turn one of them into stone. The other three pounce on her. One goes for her throat while the other two bite at her body as she slithers along the rocky ground. To ward off the one snapping its jaws at her throat, Kat transforms into a large white yeti. This enables her to clench one hand around the offending hyena's throat and the other hand just beyond the base of its hind legs. She then stands to her feet while holding the hyena and snaps its back over her right knee. Next, she tosses it aside to deal with the other two.

These two are no less aggressive than the first. The larger one of the pair bites into her right leg and gnaws at her for all that it's worth. The other hyena jumps up and sinks its teeth into her left forearm. Growling with a booming roar, Kat grabs the beast on her left arm with her right hand and rips it off of her. She then slams it into the desert floor and stomps its head before it can recover. That leaves only one hyena remaining.

Said hyena gnaws furiously at her right leg. Huffing, she lethargically smacks it with her right hand to get it off of her. This propels it a few feet back but doesn't knock it out or anything. Suddenly, Kat's body sags and against her will, she reverts back into her normal human form. This signifies that she has now completely run out of mana and will no longer be able to use her magic. Knowing what this means for her, she glances at me with a dire look on her face. The hyena charges.

"Kat!" I scream.

It dives and knocks her to the floor. To prevent it from biting her throat for the death blow, she sacrifices her right forearm. Accepting the treat, the hyena readily chews on her arm. Kat cries out in pain. Desperate and not thinking, I withdraw the survival knife that I used for creating a fire from its case. Uttering my wimpy version of a war cry, I dash forward and throw myself upon the monster's back. It ignores me in favor of mauling Kat, but that's a fatal mistake. I drive the knife into the side of the hyena's head. It dies with a yelp and unleashes Kat from its jaws.

At once I throw it off of her and check Kat's status. Her eyes stream tears and she whimpers in pain. Just looking at her, I can see that she's bleeding profusely from both arms and her right leg. Panic-stricken, I turn my head to check the position of the town. Again, it's so close yet so far. Another thirty minutes and we could be there.

"Kat, can you walk?" I ask.

I kneel to help prop her up to her feet. As soon as she's standing, she falls right back over towards the side of her injured leg. "Oh God!" she wails, "I can't walk! I can't walk!"

I press my lips together and look towards the town. However close we may be, the truth remains that we still have a considerable trek to make. The fact that Kat can't walk makes the journey all but impossible at this point. I don't know what to do. All I know is that we've come too far to let things end like this.

Refusing to give up, I kneel over Kat, prop her to a half standing position, and then fling her over my right shoulder. Then, setting my eyes on the goal, I take the first step. It feels like an elephant presses its weight upon my shoulders. That's not to say that Kat is heavy. She's not. I'm just that exhausted. My effort, however well intended, is not physically feasible. There's no way I can carry her to town.

Unsure of what else I could do, I take one agonizingly slow step after another. I think Kat understands the situation as well. She says, "Jacob, that's enough. You don't have to carry me. If you try, then neither of us will make it."

"Be quiet," I tell her. I don't say this out of anger or annoyance. Rather, I say it out of the effort to conserve energy. I can't talk right now. All I can do is walk.

The sun reaches its zenith. The heat that it exudes is out of this world. We could take shade under another mesquite tree, but with the way that Kat is bleeding out, I suspect that monsters would be attracted to her. Needless to say, one more monster attack and that's it for us. Although I say that as if we're not already doomed. I can't continue as it is. We've come as far as we can go.

I stand in place staring at the town in the distance. My muscles spasm and my body quivers. I feel the strength in my knees giving way. My tunnel vision narrows. I feel tired. So tired. I think I'll lay down for a moment and take a nap.

"Oyyyyy!" I hear from my left side.

Shaking, I grind my neck to the left to see what made that sound. There's some kind of creature coming at me. I can't quite make out what it is. Nor do I particularly care what it is. If it wants to eat us, then fine. I give up.

I collapse backwards to the ground with Kat landing on top of me. My eyelids grow heavy, too heavy to resist, and I close my eyes. But unless I'm mistaken, I only close them for a second because in the next instant, I feel something shaking me.

I open my eyes and see a man with black hair, a black beard, and sand-colored skin. He stares at my face with a look of concern. "Are you Jacob Perrywinkle, the journalist?"

"Eaagh," I answer. That was supposed to be "yes."

A second man comes along and picks up Kat's body. He then walks away with her. Alarmed, I try to rise to my feet, yet I'm not able. But the man with the black beard does help me tilt my head up. He then pours water into my mouth from a canteen. I'm so out of it that I can hardly feel myself drinking it. It's a wonder that I don't choke.

Once I finish drinking the water, the man helps me to my feet. "Come on," he says, "We're getting you out of here."

What I think happens from that moment is that he lays my body across a camel, but I'm not sure. My eyes grow heavy again and I fall asleep.

When next my eyes open, I find myself lying on a bed inside a small room with gray walls and lots of medical equipment. I presume it's some sort of infirmary. To awake in a strange room in some unknown location is very disorienting. I feel like my head is in a swirl. I really don't know what's going on. Even worse, I don't know what happened to my partner.

"Kat!" I cry out.

I don't hear a response, so my immediate thought is to get up to search for her. However, I have no physical strength. As in, I literally cannot get out of bed. My body is an anvil and my muscles are jelly. It's unlike anything that I've ever experienced. It would seem that surviving two days in the Kanabo desert took its toll on me. I'm mush.

Fortunately, a nurse enters the room a few minutes later. When she sees me awake, she immediately steps to my bedside. "Mr. Perrywinkle, how do you feel?"

"Weak, but I'm fine. What happened to Kat?"

The nurse frowns. "When you two arrived, your friend was in bad shape. She had numerous lacerations and a broken arm. It took more than 70 stitches to sew her up."

"Crap," I murmur under my breath.

Now that it's all over, I feel like I'm partially to blame for her condition. No, I didn't cause it myself, but it's not like I did much to prevent it either. There I was a man being protected from monsters by a woman. And sure, I consciously know that she's a professional monster hunter and much more capable than a mere journalist, but on a deep gut level it still feels wrong. At the very least, I should have been able to fight by her side. But I didn't. I just stood back like a proverbial damsel in distress. I'm so ashamed of myself.

"Where is she?" I ask the nurse.

"She's here," the nurse says pointing her finger to the left side of the room. "She's sleeping in the bed on the other side of the divider."

"Oh thank goodness," I huff. Instantly, I feel the tension in my weak muscles relax. It could hardly be said that we made it to safety in one piece, but we did make it. That's the most we could have hoped for.

"Is there any anything else you need Mr. Perrywinkle?"

"No. Thank you."

The nurse smiles and nods her head slightly. She then exits the room. With that, I find myself lying comfortably a in bed in safety and silence. It's almost too good to be true. The experiences and hardships that I endured in the desert over the past two days were the kind that make men rethink the course of their lives. I'm no different. There are some serious questions that I need to dig deep and answer for myself. That said, however, there are also men who are so set in their ways that nothing would change them. Such a man enters the room now.

"Jacob!" a familiar voice exclaims.

I prop my head up to see who spoke. It turns out to be Günther. He enters the room with Magnus trailing behind him.

"Magnus, you're alive!" I mutter in shock.

Magnus silently shrugs his stoic shoulders. His blank expression makes it seem like he's neither pleased nor surprised by his survival, but I'm guessing that that's just his poker face showing.

"Yes," Günther answers for Magnus. "After the sandworm destroyed our truck, we were ambushed by a tigerman hunting party. Luckily, I was able to ward them off since I'm an ultra class Avalon, but the rest of our crew was abducted. I followed behind them at a distance, and then attacked the tigerman village at the first chance I saw. It was during this attack that I found Magnus single-handedly fighting off a group of them with a stolen kanabo. We joined together and escaped, but by that point you and Kat had already run off into the desert. We had no chance to find you in the midst of the midday sun, so we returned to Danube to organize a search party. Thankfully some of our fellow monster hunters found you before it was too late."

So that's what happened, huh? It turns out that if Kat and I had stayed to fight with Magnus, then we might not have had to spend two days trying to survive in the desert. Of course, we had no way of knowing that it was Günther attacking the village that triggered the tiger shaman to send out its troops. In any case, all's well that ends well, or something to that effect.

"So Jacob, about your article," Günther begins, "I know that you had a bad experience this time, but monster hunting runs more often end in success than not. Why don't you join me and Magnus on our next hunt? I'm sure you'd get a much better impression."

Clearly I must be hearing things wrong because it sounds like Günther wants me to go on another hunt so that he can persuade me to write a positive article about monster hunting. I can't believe his audacity. Other than Magnus, everyone from his team is either critically injured or dead, yet he seems to be entirely unshaken by the matter. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. By his own admission, he has experience participating in runs that involved most of his allies dying. Yet his callous indifference to it all sickens me.

I make the meanest scowl that I can. "I will not go on another hunt with you. I never want to see you again."

He lowers his head as if he had half-expected that response. "I understand. Come Magnus."

The two pro monster hunters take a brief look at Kat and then leave the room. Realizing that I'm going to be bedridden and unable to do anything for a while, writing an article seems like the perfect way to spend time.

I wait until the nurse enters the room again about an hour later. While she's present I request a quill pen and some parchment paper. Generously, she fulfills this request, and I'm able to write my article. I do it all in one go. There's no need to check my notes or hash out ideas. My opinion of monster hunting is pretty clear.