Back To Krypton

Chapter 4

It is taking them even longer than they had anticipated to get out of the wretched desert. They had worked it out to be roughly a nine-hour walk but with the slopes, the unsteady ground and their fatigue it took them almost eleven and they were so done with all of this walking already.

They are taking it in turns carrying Esme, the little one having tuckered herself out in the first few hours. It's currently Nia's turn and she is clearly struggling a little bit, having been holding her for about thirty minutes already.

"Here, I'll take her," Kara whispers, noticing that Esme had fallen asleep, a blanket over her to protect her from the sun.

Nia hands her over with no hesitation and then shakes her arms out, trying to get some feeling back into them.

Kara tucks her niece under her chin, holding her to her body tightly so she doesn't drop her. Her and Alex have done most of the legwork carrying Esme with the others having a turn here and there to show willingness.

Alex was lagging behind with Kelly whilst the others were a few metres ahead of them, but she moves up next to Kara. "Hey, do you have any idea how much further before we get away from this sand? We can't keep going for much longer and we can't set up camp here."

Kara sets her eyes on the details of her surroundings, gazing at the little amounts of plant life growing in the sand and the little tracks left behind by animals. "Do you see that plant there?" She nods her head at a head of green leaves poking out of the sand.

Alex nods. "Yeah, looks like a desert cabbage."

"That's a very deadly desert cabbage, don't eat it." The fixes Alex with a look. "They generally grow between desert and grassland, so we have to be getting close."

Alex pants as they trek up another slope. "How close are we talking here?" She looks over at Kara as she watches her step, purposefully slowing down so she doesn't slip with Esme in her arms.

They come to the peak of the sandhill. "Look up."

And just like that they can see actual foliage, not just a random bit of green in the middle of a colossal sandpit.

"Oh, thank Rao."

Kara gives Alex a strange look.

"What, I have to speak like the locals now, right?"

Kara doesn't say anything, just keeps on walking until they finally reach the stable ground as sand turns to grass and dirt.

"I say we go a little way in, there's a few kinds of nocturnal sand snakes that we want to avoid, they don't really leave the desert but the further in we go, the safer we are."

"Just another ten minutes then, my feet are about to drop off." Lena chimes in for the first time in a while."

Kelly steps into line with the others, "I second that."

Nia wastes no time. "Third."

"You guys don't have to convince me, I'm ready to eat and then sleep all night long." Kara chuckles.

Alex very much enjoyed watching everyone for those ten minutes, their expressions as they tried to mentally calculate how much longer they had to walk before they could stop.

When they reached a small clearing between some trees, Kara suggests they set up their tents. They all readily agree and begin working on them right away, eager to have somewhere to retire to.

They have three tents between them, one bigger one and two slightly smaller ones. The Olsen-Danvers family bagged the biggest since there is three of them. All of the tents are big enough to fully stand up in fully upright but don't have a ton of extra space when all is said and done.