It was over. I wipped the blood from my eye as I stood panting. My goggles had been knocked off during the battle when one had tried to gourge my eye, but it only managed to cut down my face and grab the goggles instead when I had spun away. The rest were just as quick, but I managed to dodge enough each time so that if one managed to sink its nasty claws into me it wouldn't be anything fatal.

Glancing at the retreating figures of the last six I smiled a little in disbelief. they had actually decided to retreat, even though I was barely getting the killing shots in during the battle. They must've been young to have not noticed my callapsing strength. As it was, I could barely stand. The sun bearing down on my wounded and exhausted body was making my body quiver. Ready to give out on me at any moment. But I coudn't let myself callapse out in the open like this. I needed shelter, fast.

Starting to turn, I winced at the sudden pain from my side. Looking down I see three deep lacerations in my side. Grimacing at the blood I did a quick look over and spotted several more injuries that littered my body from the fight. Three more claw marks tore down my right leg, shredding my sand-caked pants, and another smaller laceration was on my upper arm, slightly longer than the one I was now sporting down the left side of my face.

Luckily, none would prove fatal or cause serious damage if I could get them treated in time.

Groaning at the potential problems that lay ahead, I painfully bent down and began to cut open the skinners stomachs.

Remembering all my mother taught me about what I could use from a skinners body for my own survival, I dug my hand into the spot above their stomachs, pulling out the small sacks that allowed them to store excess water and dumping what they had stored into my waterskin for later use. After that I cut open their throats next, eager to get to their saliva glands that would help speed up the healing process of the wounds I now sported from the fight. Finding them I give a triumphant cry before wrapping my hand around them and yanking them out. Ignoring the blood and slim covering my hands, I quickly cut one of the glands open and began smearing the saliva over my wounds, instantly grateful for my moms kick ass survival skills as the pain lessened.

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Once I was done tending and wrapping my wounds, I wrapped the remaining glands in what little cloth I could bring myself to salvage from my mothers body and walked over to my leather sack, stuffing them in deep to keep them from drying out too fast. Taking a moment to sit there, I closed my eyes in relieve and sighed. The saliva was already numbing my aching body. I could barely feel the wounds, unlike the unbearable heat that was coming from the now setting sun.

Grimacing I rolled my shoulders uncomfortably as I stood and retrieved my goggles, knowing all too well I wouldn't have long to start a fire before night came.

Mindful of the sun I quickly salvaged all I could carry from the bodies and started burning the rest. The creatures that roamed at night hated fire, it looked like the sun to them, and they hated the heat for the exact same reason, so I smiled at the first chance I would have to finally get some sleep.

As night took over the land I drank some water before snuggling in closer to the heat and light of the fire. When I finally drifted to sleep on the sand I dreamed of a green world filled with more water than I could possibly drink. A smile crept over my face as I clutched the compass that forever pointed east in my sleep.

Soon, I thought. Soon I could make my dream a reality.