Flames in water

Part 17 "Red desert"

After last night you and Calum didn't sleep very well, barely at all. Around five in the morning you went back to your sleeping bags, but didn't catch any sleep, you could tell Calum didn't too, he was constantly turning and his brows were furrowed as he couldn't get comfortable enough. You kept having flashes of the road, it was becoming more real by the second, but that creature in the swamp still remained a mystery. It sent shivers down your spine whenever you would think about it, hear the voices, but you remained sane knowing you're surrounded by your friends. Once everyone was awake you had to dress properly for the desert, you'd think it would be colder since it is close to the mountains, but no, of course not.

"Basically, shorts and tank tops, snapbacks and we're good to go?" Luke says and everyone nods tiredly, you and Cal especially.

"What if I wear a swimsuit tho?" Sarah asks, you laugh at that.

"If you wanna get burns then yeah" you answer her, she pouts making everybody giggle. After everyone dressed, boys went out for that of course, you made sure to tell them not to shift, they could overheat and that wouldn't end up well.

"But...I want to run, didn't you say the faster we get across the better?" Michael makes puppy eyes, but you and Crystal shake your heads, she's travelled across the desert before and understood how challenging it was.

"Fine, fine" he finally copes and Crystal pats his head, he smiles at her, they have a thing, you'll just have to wait for now to see what happens. Not that everyone noticed, not that they were that obvious at all, nope.

"Right then let's first get to it" Cal says, everybody following him out.

***

"Holy shit...that's so long!" Sarah's mouth is wide open as her eyes scan across the endless territory full of sand.

"And very, very red" Mali adds.

"This is going to take forever" Calum cries, Luke puts a hand on his shoulder. You've never seen these guys being such cry babies, this was new, you kind of enjoyed it.

"Let's go guys" Michael says sad, unfortunately you had to go and the sun was just starting to get scorching.

"This is so boring, there's nothing interesting, absolutely nothing and I can't even run" Crystal pouts.

"I hate it, it's so hot here too" Mali complains as well.

"How much longer?" Calum whines too. Your blood was boiling, it was already hard without their complaining, you wanted to slap all of them. They kept complaining and complaining untill you've had it. You slapped them all, they brought their hands to their cheeks, felling the sting on their face. Your looked at them stern, since when does the youngest one give everyone a lesson, when they get fed up with their excuses, that's when.

"What'd you do that for?" Michael whines, everyone nod their head in agreement. They weren't really mad, it was too warm for them to process it almost.

"Because none of you would shut up, it's already hard enough without the complaining!" you yell at them, then take a deep breath and continue.

"Besides, did you think we would walk all the day? No, of course not, we just have to get to the one spot" you explain, now they all look furious. This desert is doing something and you don't like it one bit.