Nyxie Pyro

Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

When we reached the end of the little town we called home, we stopped and took a break. "Well damn. I didn't know it was gonna be so hot out." Ricky said dramatically falling onto a nearby bench. "I would've brought some water with me." Tammy opened up her oversized overall pocket and took out a little canteen of water. We passed it around, daring to take more than a couple sips. We should have thought this through. I noticed it was slowly cooling down and looked up. A big grey cloud was covering the sun.
"It's cloudy, and the sun will be setting soon, we better set up camp here and start again in the morning." After Richard stopped complaining about the heat, he and Tammy agreed and we spread out Ricky's sheet from his backpack by a tree, on a patch of grass. We tied up the other sheet to cover us, but there was only enough room for two people.Tammy offered to sleep outside but I quickly offered instead. However after a very long argument between me and Ricky we finally agreed that he would sleep outside tonight on the small sheet , tomorrow I would, then Tammy, until we reached actual shelter. At least we wouldn't have to worry about rain, it never rains in little old Lynn.
***
When we woke up the next morning the sun was on its way up. We gathered our stuff and started day one of our journey into the Outlands."I'm hungry." Tammy whispered. I had told myself that if Ricky complained about food I was gonna tie him to a tree and leave him. He had mentioned that he had eaten before he left, but Tammy hadn't eaten in a couple days. I pulled out a little pack of crackers and gave them both two. We had to ration. Ricky however gave his to Tammy, he said he wasn't hungry. But the growling sound coming from his stomach said otherwise. But I left it alone. There's no use in arguing with Richard. Once he's set on doing something, he's gonna do it, and Tammy needed the food. We kept walking untill the sun was about halfway up in the sky, and the heat was unbearable. I took off my dirty red hoodie and tied it around my waist. But there was still no shade. We dug through Ricky's bag and found a hollow pipe.
"Why would you have pipe in your bag?" I asked confused.
He shrugged, "I brought whatever I could find". I smiled and planted it in the grassy ground, securing the sheet to the top. We gathered under our makeshift tent and brought out our food and water. All together we had Tammy's canteen, two packs of crackers, a sugar cookie, and (oddly) a loaf of bread. The crackers were from me and Tammy that we had recently stolen in honor of this trip from Stacy and Joey (which triggered the chase). The bread, however was all Ricky.
"Okay, from my guess it'll take about four days to get across to the next town, This should last us if we ration it properly. But the water is gonna need to be saved for emergencies". We agreed on our separate rations. Six pieces of bread, four cheese crackers, and a third of a sugar cookie. I ate some of my bread, so did Tammy. But Ricky just watched. After we ate we packed up and started again. It was probably a little after twelve. Even in the unrelenting heat we kept walking. "Guys, I was thinking," Ricky said. "Uh oh," I joked. He ignored me and went on, "Maybe we should sleep during the day, and hike through the night when it's not as hot." I agreed but Tammy said no. At least for today she argued. "C'mon! Can we just walk a couple more-"
A look of fear swallowed Tammys face as she suddenly stopped. "What?" I asked spinning around to see what she was looking at. "Don't make any sudden movements." Ricky commented through gritted teeth.
Slithering before us was a western diamondback rattlesnake. My sweaty hands balled into fists. "Don't even think about it Nyxie!" A smirk appeared on my face.
"Nyxie Pyro! Don't do it!"
Serpents don't scare me. I slowly slipped the long piece of pipe out of the bag. Ricky cursed. Probably for letting me carry the tent supplies. Now I needed to figure out how to kill it. The pipe was long enough that I could whack it. But the snake was the least of my worries when a large coyote walked around towards us. My breathe got heavy and I slipped the pipe into my backpack again. How did I not know that Coyotes and snakes were gonna be around in the Outlands? But surprisingly the Coyote tackled the snake. Not us. They were locked in combat when all three of us slowly started scooting back. We were about four yards away when the snake hissed and Tammy shrieked. Dang it Tammy, I thought . The fight stopped and the Coyote looked up. That's when the snake bit him in the neck! As the Coyote fell to the ground with a whimper I realised that there was no way in hell that I was going against that thing and I bolted, cramming the pipe back into Ricky's duffel bag. Curving around the scene, making sure I didn't back track. Ricky and Tammy sprinted after me.
I ran as fast as I possibly could. This was the Parkers chasing us all over again. Except without the fireworks to save the day. And the chaser was deadly. All I could hear was the sound of slamming feet and needy breathes.
"If we don't die," Ricky yelled.
"This is gonna be one hell of a ride." Tammy laughed and I smiled. The words echoed in my head. 'If we don't die, this is gonna be one hell of a ride.'

****
We stopped and set up camp at about 6 O'clock I'm guessing, and started talking about our new routine. We worked out the sleeping schedule and the night and day shifts. But when we started on the topic of water i heard a soft rumbling sound. "Do you guys hear that?" Richard stopped talking and listened with Tammy,"Is it a storm?"
I wondered out loud. "No, there's not a cloud in the sky." Tammy answered as I looked up to the spotless sky, "And it never rains here." Darn rain would be nice right about now. I then noticed a dirt cloud rising in the distance as the rumbling got louder. "What the hell?"Ricky said aloud. Then it clicked. "Stampede!" I yelled as the bulls came barreling down the nearest hill. Dammit this was gonna be a long day. We crammed everything into our little packs and ran as fast as we could away from them as they came closer. "I think we should just stop, and hope they'll go around. Tammy and Richard slowly slowed down as they took in my idea. They agreed and we huddled together around a stray rock just in time. Richard started yelling and screaming, then Tammy started squeaking loudly. I turned and gave them a puzzled look when I noticed the bulls were completely avoiding them. I started making all the crazy, obnoxious, loud sounds I possibly could. When most of the bulls had passed, and we had screamed ourselves horse, we stopped all the yelling and passed around the little water canteen, drinking the rest of it. But when the last few bulls passed us, a massive bull, twice as big as the others picked up his pace and tried to charge us. Tammy's face went white and we, for the third time this week, ran for our lives. It took a while, but after running in the wrong direction for 10 minutes the bull eventually got tired and slowed to a stop. And after stalking us, left to go with his pack. But what had scared them?
Once we picked our way back on track, we finally got our heads back on. At about 7 o'clock the sun was starting to set and we set up camp again. We ate dinner which didn't consist of much. Then we started again, hopefully in the right direction.
****
After hours of walking with our feet dragging we set up camp for the last time. It was a cold night and we probably should've brought more clothes for the cold but it was to late to turn back now. From the pitch darkness I'm guessed it was about midnight. We rolled out our beds and retired. I was cold but I didn't complain about sleeping outside, I knew it had been worse last night.
I snuggled into the sheet and covered up with my red hoodie and slept, dreaming of bulls, bread, and what lies ahead.