A young man wakes up in the desert. The wreckage of an ambulance lies smashed against a boulder and charred to a crisp. By the stitches on his head and face, he assumes he was the patient. But why was an ambulance driving through a desert? Where wa...
They didn't turn the headlights on for most of the trip. All Skyler could see from the backseat were the dim lights from the dashboard, like the outline of a city at night up ahead. Gravel wavering and bumping in the pitch dark. A radio somewhere in there, chattering in a strange language. Eventually, he lost track of time. It could have been half an hour. It could have been more.
"OK, stop here," said Seiber.
Siraj stopped the vehicle. Skyler could hear Seiber over the radio chatter, opening the passenger seat door and stepping outside, a faint figure facing ahead with something in his hand. He raised his arm, and the glare from the lantern outlined his silhouette for a brief glimpse. Then he did it again. Two shots in the darkness. Nothing but the radio and the dashboard. And then the darkness replied with two equally brief blinks of light in the distance. Seiber came back to the car.
"No patrols. We're good to go."
"The storm's coming anytime," Siraj pointed out.
"You guys have the windows shut back there, right?"
"Yeah," said Nadim.
Skyler felt along the cold glass, right up the top.
"Mine, too."
"Let's drive slowly and wait for the storm to pass by," Seiber said, addressing Siraj.
The car started again, and Skyler felt the hum at a much lower pace. The sound of rubber twisting on gravel became gentler and more defined. Still no headlights. The car kept at that speed for about fifteen minutes until Skyler heard a trickle on the bodywork. It was lighter than a drop of rain, a sweet and steady hiss that surrounded the whole car. It eventually grew thicker and more intense, and the hissing stopped sounding like stroking and began sounding like scratching. Finally, Siraj turned on the headlights, and a demonic amount of sand beyond the windshield froze their beams in midair.
"We're driving through a sandstorm?" Skyler inquired of Conan.
"Shit, I forgot the umbrella," replied the German, followed by a string of laughter from Siraj.
"You afraid?" asked the driver.
"That's not the po...No, I'm not."
"Don't worry. This is like surfing."
Siraj stepped on the gas, and the car broke into a rush through the blind beige mist. Skyler just hoped Siraj knew the pathway by heart.
That frantic pace lasted for around twenty minutes. Then Siraj heard something from the radio, and he turned off the headlights.
"The storm's passing," he said as he slowed down again.
Skyler leaned forward and looked beyond the fainting darkness of the sand. The first light of dawn was cutting through the night and bleaching in crimson the farthest reaches of the sky. Seiber looked out the window, acknowledging they were crossing through a plain surrounded by low hills.
"OK, this is good enough."
The car stopped, and the engine turned off. Seiber waited for the storm to give out fully before he exited again. This time, Skyler could make him out clearly, still wearing the goggles. He watched Seiber standing there, studying the terrain. He looked back. Then he looked ahead. He squatted, his eyes somewhere on the horizon. He stood up and turned back as he took off the goggles.
"All right, let's move, everyone."
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