Pedro's Undaunted Quest

Vultures circled high above the dunes, dark blotches against a sky that was almost as pale. They were the first things I'd seen in days, other than sand and rocks and more sand. The sun seemed to be getting hotter with each passing hour, and my canteen was half-empty.

"If you were smarter," I said to myself, "you'd have brought more water."

But it had seemed so obvious at the time: I could hold three liters of water in my canteen for a day's hike without any trouble. And if I ran out, there was always the well at the next village.

It had been four days since I left the last village, and I'd run out of water yesterday afternoon. There was no sign of the well or any other source of water within sight or earshot. I knew it was somewhere nearby; my path had been leading inexorably towards it. But now that it was time to actually *find* it, I could see no trace of anything in this forsaken wasteland.

"What a stupid idea," I muttered. "I should have asked someone who knows this place before coming here."

And then I would have found out that the wells are all bone-dry during the summer months, but no one tells outsiders because the local population sells spring water to them at exorbitant prices while they drink their own piss...

I set off due north and began walking again. After another hour, there was still no sign of life save for me and the circling vultures above, but also no sign of a well - or anything else for that matter. A light wind blew from behind me, rippling through the sand dunes like tiny waves on an ocean shoreline; only an ocean shoreline would have been more pleasant to look at than this endless desolation of sand and rock and windblown dust.

"Do you think it's possible-" My voice cut off suddenly as a powerful gust of wind buffeted me from both sides, nearly knocking me over. It continued blowing across me for several seconds as I stood there looking up into the sky and wondering what on earth was going on. Then things went white as a massive cloud passed between me and the sun, followed by a deafening roar like thunder heard from beneath a waterfall - which made sense considering that's precisely where I was when everything went black.

* * * * *

As far as I could tell - which admittedly wasn't very far - nothing had changed after my eyes opened again: everything was just as dark as before except now with blowing sand instead of flying rainclouds. Still lying in a heap where I'd fallen earlier, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the new darkness; after about five minutes they started working better, though not much better thanks to all that sand in them making most of my vision blurry anyway. But then something occurred to me: if everything had gone dark when that cloud covered up the sun... did it start raining? If so then what happened to all that sand? Well obviously some of it stayed here on top of me where I fell when it rained because there's some right now stuck right up my nose! And that makes perfect sense if you think about it! Oh yeah? Well why don't you try thinking about how you're going to get out of this mess?! Hah! Now _that_ is something worth thinking about! Literally! Because I can't move! Ugh! How am I supposed to get away from these creepy crawly things if they can crawl up inside my nose?! Ew gross! Ahh! Wait nevermind there goes another one! That's two down - ugh! This one is stuck further up than either of those two were - no way am _I_ pulling this one out! Ohh wait how did you even get _up_ there?! Ew disgusting bug go away already - nope nevermind he's stuck too somehow - oh great now he's crawling around inside my ear trying to make his way deeper into my skull with his little tickle-y legs - okay okay okay okay okay stop tickling already - ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW OW OW OW OW OW WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO- oh hey looks like he finally gave up trying to tickle his way into my brain and just decided to stay right where he is instead - guess he gave up going deeper into my head after all huh? Haha good job bug...