Red Desert

Sand stuck to Oni’s mask, weighing down the fabric and threatening to drag it from his face. The fine red powder skittered off all his other clothing, but the moisture of his breath was just enough to turn it into a fine mud that clung to the weave. He scraped it clean, though he knew the relief would not last long.

Dunes were constantly shifting in the Red Desert. The ceaseless wind blowing in from the shore kept much of the sand in the air. A traveller had told him once that the desert was always expanding farther and farther as the sands moved. It would run out of sand, but the sea made more constantly as it ground up the shells of the tiny pink shrimp that teemed in its waters. The whole story had seemed fantastical. Sand made from shrimp? As many as there may be, there could not possibly be a desert’s worth.

He crested a dune and paused to look out at the horizon through his smoked goggles. Of course, he shouldn’t judge. The story he was chasing was much wilder, much more outlandish. The distant mountains were just barely visible through the haze of sand. He set his sights on the tallest of the bunch. It would be easy to get lost in this desert and wander in circles until thirst consumed you. Luckily he had a landmark, and a big one at that. With a slight adjustment of his course, he set off again.

Based on the maps he had studied before leaving, the journey should take him three days. He had planned for five and brought supplies accordingly. The extra weight was a pain, yes, but it was better to be safe than sorry. If he ran out of water here, there would be no one to save him.

His caution was looking more and more likely to be wise. It was already noon on the second day, and while the low rooftops of the trading post at the edge of the desert were long out of sight, the mountains seemed no closer than before. Scale on large things could be tricky though, and slow changes were often the hardest to see. If he trusted the map and the numbers he would be fine, he just had to keep going.

As he walked, his mind sunk back into considering the circumstances that had led him here. He was not a man prone to introspection or nostalgia. Looking back was a waste of time when you could be looking to the future and planning a way to make it work out as well as possible for you. That said, he was angry. It had been a month, but still rage seethed in his gut every time he thought of her face. Miri, the traitor. He spat into the sand and planned how to make his future perfect, starting with his revenge.

***

The sands shifted around him as he slept. He had laid down to rest on the side of a dune and now he found himself at the bottom of a small valley of sand. His feet slid as he labored his way up the slope to get his sighting on the mountain. Always making more work, this desert was. At least the mountains were a constant, a shining beacon in this useless sea of sand.

Warmth crept into his chilled limbs as the sun rose high in the sky. In an instant it went from a pleasant glow to a hard glare that began baking his head. Mirages shimmered across the sand like water flowing across a beach. His mind drifted back to a vacation. They had money, and a lot of it. Soon it would all be gone again but that was just the way of life – it was better to spend your fortune on enjoyment than to horde it in a stuffy bank somewhere. That was doubly true if someone might be coming to take it away from you.

This time they had spent it to rent a resort condo on the beach. It was just the three of them and the butler, a quiet man who had a knack for being there when you wanted him and vanishing when you didn’t. He took care of everything and for a month, they lived like the rich did. Each day was spent on the sand or in the water, with good books and delicious food and all the entertainment they could want.

They had originally rented the place for three months, but one night Taylor’s special radio picked up the chatter of a police raid settling into place on the streets around their house. It was no big deal though. There was enough money left over to bribe the butler to stall the police as they slipped across the sand and silently out to sea in the Com-Pac Horizon Cat he had bought. Miri was nervous about how close things had gotten, but he and Taylor had just laughed. Sure, it was luck that there had been enough wind to move them that night. But they had layers and layers of contingency plans in case it had not worked, and they had been plenty closer to getting caught before. No one had even gotten shot this time.

Oni shook himself back to the present with a scowl. Nice times, yes, but then the ruinous girl had ripped it all away from them. Once he got Taylor back, retribution would be swift. But not too swift.

He topped a dune and scanned the horizon. Still on course, but the sun was almost at its peak. If he was going to turn back, it would have to be now. The mountains hardly seemed any closer than when he had started. Was his pace really that much slower than he had planned for? Perhaps so; the sands were quite a bit harder to hike through than any other terrain he had encountered before. But was it that much slower that he needed to give up?

He hefted his water skin and sighed. It should be more of a debate than this. Logic said return, plan better, get some sort of vehicle that could handle the dunes and come back. The mountain was hardly going anywhere. Normally logic won. It was what had kept him alive all these years. Yet this time… his heart dragged him onward and with a quiet groan he let it.

***

Another morning, another sand dune surrounding him. He was beginning to question his decision from yesterday. Was he being ridiculous? Would he run out of water and his bones be ground to sand by the winds, a tiny patch of white powder scattered across the red? There was no sense pondering it. It was too late to turn back now. One foot in front of the other, step by step.

He hated this place. There was nothing to fix your eyes on, nothing to watch other than the occasional glimpse of the mountains when you crested yet another hill. The sands were always shifting, but they never seemed to change from the same basic set of shapes. He was used to a life of distractions. They had always been doing things, planning things, enjoying things. With nothing to occupy his mind he found himself remembering, and he hated it.

They had first found her two years ago. She begged a coin off them. Oni had wished a thousand times now that they had just left it at that, one coin, flipped to her without a pause in their step as they carried on with their lives. Everything would have been so different. But no. Instead Taylor had paused and taken pity on the treacherous wretch as she crouched innocently by a wall with an old coffee cup in her hands.

Their last job had gone well; they had the funds. They took the girl out to eat with them – nowhere fancy of course, they were still trying to keep a low profile until they got out of the country. A place where you could get plenty to fill your gut though, one of those all-night-all-you-can-eat type of places. Oni didn’t remember the food well, just how amused he had been thinking of how much money the poor restaurant was losing on their party.

She talked little. Taylor had a way with kids though, which apparently extended to teenagers – or whatever she was supposed to be – as well. A story came out, piece by piece. Dead parents, lost inheritance, looking for a rich grandmother, certainly going to be a reward for helping her get there. An obvious lie, of course. But that was alright. They respected a girl who would make a mark out of two strangers who were already helping her out. Her lie took them in the wrong direction for their plans, but they offered to let her ride with them if she didn’t mind going north instead. To nobody’s surprised, she agreed.

A flicker of motion caught Oni’s eyes and brought him out of his daydream. Camels rose into view as a caravan struggled its way up an adjacent hill. There were six total, each ridden by a person dressed in the same loose-fitting protective robes he himself had bought back in the border town. His heart rose and he waved greeting to them. Perhaps he would be able to buy some water and continue his journey with a more relaxed mind.

They did not seem to see him. He tried calling out, but the wind snatched the words from his mouth. Nothing else to do, he began to run down the hill. Already they were moving down their own dune. His tumbling footsteps felt inelegant and awkward compared with the graceful plodding of the camels. Normally he would try harder to make a good impression, but it wasn’t worth the risk of losing them. Besides, they looked like traders which meant he already had the only thing he really needed to impress them: money.

He caught up to them halfway along the little valley that connected their two dunes. They ignored his raised hand of greeting and kept moving. There was no way they did not see him now. Irritation filled him and he ran forward to grab the sleeve of the lead trader.

His hands passed through.

Oni shook himself and tried again, slower this time. His fingertips slid into the side of the trader’s camel as it swayed by. Solid as the party looked, he could not feel a thing.

He sat heavily on the sand and let the other camels pass through him as he thought. It explained why they did not react to him. The question was just what they were. Mirages? But no, mirages melted and fled as you got close to them; he had been in the desert long enough to have a good idea of their behavior. Was he hallucinating? Possible, though he had been doing a good job of keeping himself shaded and hydrated so the cause would be dubious.

He thought of his quest and a third answer presented itself. Ghosts. Shades of the living, forever journeying back and forth across this wasteland, hopelessly following the tracks they had laid in life. It was ridiculous, yes, but no less so than chasing the mountain was. And if it was true… he smiled. If it was true, that meant he was getting close. Sand poured from his robes as he scrambled to his feet and up the nearest dune. The mountains really did look bigger today. He would be there soon.

***

Oni was getting thirsty. Another day had stretched by and his water bottles felt uncomfortably light. With the dunes still shimmering tauntingly in front of him, he had started to ration what little fluids were left. It should be enough. He had planned for five days; he still had one to go. Or was this the fifth? Somewhere along the way he had lost track. Like the bones of a shrimp, the desert was rubbing away at his mind.

Faces drifted in front of his eyes. At first he had tried reaching out to them, hoping they would be like the caravan. If you found the right one, did you get to keep it? Or did you have to make it all the way to the hills first? Taylor smiled at him from the sand and he stumbled as his arms instinctively reached out. The vision vanished.

He paused at the top of a dune to stare across at the mountains. They were so impossibly large. How would he even find – no, that wasn’t the way to think. It was just a heist. They always found the treasure by the end of a heist. He would succeed.

Now more than ever, he did not want to dwell on the past. The memories came anyway. When he shoved them from his mind, they floated in the mirages instead. He couldn’t keep his path with his eyes closed. Hatred for this desert filled him, but he watched.

Things had gone wrong. That in itself was not uncommon. No plan ever survives the first step in its execution. They had come back from broken tools, missing alarm codes, trapped vaults… the list went on. This was different though. Things had gone very wrong.

At first, he was just confused what even had happened. They had their haul and were getting ready to celebrate. Suddenly sirens were everywhere. A whole squad surrounded their position, lights flashing, alarms blaring. A truck provided temporary shelter while they tried to find an escape. He and Taylor argued, angrily. Miri had just stood and walked calmly around the truck as they stared. She did not even raise her hands in surrender. Just walked around, crossed the parking lot, and was greeted by the cops with open arms.

It was then they realized they had been set up. Had she been working for the cops all along, or did they only get their claws in her recently? Their argument had died when she left and now neither had the energy to start it again. A helicopter whirred in the distance. Reinforcements were coming, and they were still pinned here.

Then they noticed it. A small red light blinking under the truck, speeding up, the tiny flashes coming faster and faster. Taylor leaned forward to get a better look. The truck exploded.

Oni couldn’t remember what came next. There must have been police, probably doctors as well. He didn’t feel pain, just rage. She had betrayed them. Taylor was dead. It was all her fault.

He stomped a bit too hard on the sand as his rage welled up again. His foot triggered a tiny landslide, turning the surface under it into a sliding quasi-liquid and throwing off his balance. The ground rose up to meet him as he pitched forward and tumbled down the hill.

At the bottom he stayed in place, laying on his back and staring up at the cloudless sky. Perhaps he should give up. He would see Taylor again for certain if he did; there was no way they weren’t both going to hell. But would Miri end up there as well? She had betrayed them and killed Taylor, but did it count as a murder if you worked for the government? Probably, but it wasn’t like anyone would try you for it. Would the big guy care?

He groaned and got back up. He must almost be there. Just a bit farther, and he would get Taylor back, and they would get their revenge together.

***

Thirst glued his mouth shut. The water had run out; his mind was a bit foggy on when. More and more ghosts crossed the sands though. He was getting close. The memories had thankfully faded. Nothing filled his blurry mind other than the mantra of the wanderer. Left foot, right foot, left foot. On and on until you reached your goal.

Finally, there it was. The dunes fell away to either side of him and he stood at the base of a mountain. A giant gold door was set into the cliff and as he watched, it swung open ponderously. Taylor walked out, holding an arm high to wave greeting. Oni smiled and waved back wildly, tears filling his eyes. He blinked them away.

Sand surrounded him. For a moment he just stared in confusion before letting out a scream of frustration. He was back in the desert, at the base of one of the millions of dunes. He scrambled up it and looked around wildly before falling to his knees. The mountains taunted him in the distance, once again far, far, away.

A glint caught his eye and he looked down the sandy hill. Light shone off the harness of a camel, laying half buried at the base of the dune. Another ghost? But no, they had not left tracks and this one was at the end of a long path that ran the length of the valley. With one last venomous look at the mountains, he slid down the dune.

Flies flew off the animal as he approached. He gagged as the smell hit him. He couldn’t see what had killed it, but this close it was clearly dead. Circling it, he noticed the edge of a bag poking out of the sand. His thirst drove him to hold his breath and dart forward to pull it away from the beast. There was food inside, still good by the looks of it. Filled canteens as well. He cracked one open and sniffed it suspiciously before taking a sip. Water. Stale, but drinkable.

He tested the rest of the bottles. All full. Together there was probably enough here for three days, maybe even five if he was careful. The angle of the mountain did not look like it had changed. He must still be in the same narrow part of desert. Since he could not see the town behind him, he must be a decent bit through the journey.

His lips set into a determined line. It was only a few days to the mountains. He would make it, Taylor would be there, together they would get their revenge.

All he had to do was keep walking.