In Search Of The Neon City

1 - Lo

The sand was bloody everywhere, in my shoes, in my nose, in the gloves and I bet there were about three dozen grains of sand rubbing inside my underwear.

The sun was burning worse than ever, sweat was running down my back, my tongue was so wonderfully dry that it felt like rubber in my mouth and the dizziness began to creep in.  But there was nothing I could do about it, for there was not a single small speck of shadow as far as my eye could reach.

An ordinary fucking day in the Wasteland.
How was it possible that each day always felt worse than the other?  We never woke up with the feeling, damn this is going to be a really good day!

Never.

It had been several months since I had felt really full.  Several weeks since I'd drank until I was no longer thirsty, and several days since I had been able to sleep properly without waking up with a beating heart full of panic.

Damn, I was so fucking thirsty.

With shaking fingers, I reached for the dented, brown-stained plastic bottle that hung in the worn leather belt.  As my hand approached his waist, my brother grabbed my wrist as quickly as one of the thousand scorpions, which, annoyingly enough, had survived the big bang and continued to live normally in the dunes.
My fingers was squeezed so hard that my eyes watered and I had to fight to keep the precious drops in my body.

"Damn, Hannes, you're hurting me!"
He turned his head with the mask against my face, I saw nothing inside the thick, dark protective plastic but I suspected that the green eyes stared straight into mine.

"When are you going to listen to me Lo? We have to save everything we have."

"I'm just so terribly thirsty," I whimpered in pain.

"I know! Hell, tell me a time when you weren't?!"

I let out a low groan and looked longingly at the cloudy liquid that tempted me from his belt.
"Do you think Carl is right?"  I asked to change the subject.

Hannes shrugged, released me and jumped on an old car roof from a half-buried Dodge, to look around.  "It is not our business to question him."

"He must be right," I muttered, "I can't do this much longer" I said, sinking into the five-inch-wide shadow that lay like a winding snake on the side of the wreck.  The sun was almost at its zenith, but the small shadow gave a minute of relief to my eyes when I lay on my back in the sand.

"Where's your glasses Lo?" His voice was so similar to his father's that it crept into my skin.

"I lost them."

My cheeks were fried in the sun but my forehead and eyes enjoyed the little coolness I managed to find.  I even cost myself a small smile where I lay there and closed my eyes to dream away to a sand-free world full of clean water.

"Here" My eyes squinted at my brother as he stood directly above me, holding out a pair of old Ray ban "better than nothing."

"Thank you" I grinned and gratefully accepted them and sighed contentedly when the sun's bright light suddenly did not feel quite as annoying.

"Three more hours then we should find some protection from the sun" he mumbled and snapped off the bottle from his belt and squatted down in front of me.
I sat up eagerly and stared wide-eyed as he opened the bottle with careful fingers and poured a few drops into the small plastic cap.

"If we increase the pace, we will be there tonight."
He brought the cork to my torn, chapped lips and the drops were immediately sucked up by my dried out tongue. "Better?"

I laughed and nodded "nothing gilds the day like gasoline stinking polluted water."

Hannes probably rolled his eyes inside the mask but carefully screwed on the cap again before he fastened the bottle to the belt.
"Come on then little brother, time to go" he glanced up at the sky with searching eyes "before their scanners are here."

I nodded and got to my feet again.  Hell, the three dozen had been doubled in my pants after my little rest, but there was no time to fix it now.  Hannes was right, if we stayed too long in one place and their scanbots would find us in no time.

I reached for the backpack that I had thrown away and fastened it routinely to the back with all the different buckles. In it I carried the scraps of my life, and I would hate myself if I got rid of it.

"Come on Lo!" His voice echoed towards me and I looked up, he was already on his way and had reached far ahead of me.

"I'm coming !"  I muttered and started half-running after him, and immediately exhaustion hit me and the precious drops of water was evaporated out of my body. What a waste, I thought to myself as my feet sank down and my boots filled up with scorching sand.