ACT I, CHAPTER THIRTEEN ❛sun and sand❜ content:death, violence, general angst, dehydration, eating gross things.
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Madaket focuses on putting one unsteady foot in front of the other, though it's growing increasingly difficult to summon the energy to trod on, her leg muscles burning from the effort of walking across unsteady, pillowy earth. Her worries about the sun were completely warranted, it turns out, and she might have even underestimated its power. The shade provided by her jacket-umbrella does nothing to help the bone-dry, boiling hot air that fills her panting mouth. Sweat runs rivers down her face, collecting on her brow and upper lip, trickling like waterfalls between her shoulder blades.
This sensation is nothing like Madaket's ever experienced. She's lived through sunny days. She's dealt with sunburns. This, however, is a whole new level of torture. The sun feels only a few miles away from the atmosphere, shriveling everything beneath it; a naughty child with a magnifying glass, pointing the beam at two poor ants struggling to survive. If the sun isn't enough, the heat retained by the rocks beneath them only doubles the suffering. The heatwaves rising from the sand are so thick that they look like water on the horizon.
Her thirst is becoming hard to ignore. Losing this much water through sweat and exercise worries her. There's been no sign of anything drinkable. Even the cacti they stagger past are gnarled and browning, clearly too dead to hold any liquid. If water doesn't come, and soon, there will be bigger things to fret about than the Careers. They could be dead from dehydration by tomorrow evening at this rate.
Beside her, Kaimana is in a similar state of exhaustion. They don't speak because there is too little air in their lungs to do so. All their focus is spent on walking. Madaket prays that they have enough stamina to make it to the mountains, even though their odds are not looking favorable. Her only reassurance is the slow, inching progress they are making. The mountains certainly appear closer, as she starts to see the black yawning maws of cave entrances scattered around red rock formations. The golden sun soon glares her vision, though, and she has to stare at the ground so her eyes don't burn.
After some time, the light in the arena begins to dim as night falls. At first, Madaket doesn't notice a difference in temperature, and she wonders if the Gamemakers will keep the arena boiling hot throughout the night. Then, slowly, it grows cooler. The sky is a sheet of apricot orange silk, untarnished by clouds. There is too little moisture for clouds to even form, Madaket realizes. She grits her teeth.
By the time the sun has fully disappeared behind the indigo mountains and the sky starts darkening like a fresh bruise, Madaket calls for them to take a break. Kaimana obliges without a word.
The two of them collapse to the sand, heaving in deep breaths. Madaket wraps her arms around her eyes and struggles to regain her composure. For a minute, they collect themselves in silence. The earth, sunken in around her legs, palms, and bottom, is hot and gritty to the touch.
