Sand and debris pelted Neena's body, stinging her skin beneath the thin fabric of her shirt and pants. She squinted, afraid that the storm would rip away her goggles, exposing her eyes, or that it would tear away her shawl and fill her mouth and ears with sand. Every so often, she let a hand off her spear and pulled her clothing tighter. Heart pounding, she stared through the enormous brown cloud around her, watching the sky for flashes of light that would force her to reconsider her position. As blinding as the storm was, lightning could cut through it.
By the time that she saw lightning, she might be dead.
A rumble of thunder emanated from the sky, piercing the wind around her and sending rippling premonitions through the ground. After what felt like forever, the wind subsided a notch and the sand settled into swirling pockets that hovered over the surface of the uneven, eroded dune on which she perched. A lull. No lightning had struck, but given the intensity of the storm, it might.
Neena needed shelter.
Pulling her spear from the sand, she headed down the dune, navigating through a lingering film of dust and debris as she retraced her path. Of course, her footprints were gone. She no longer saw the twin moons, or even the sun, all of which were hidden by the clouded landscape. The dunes around her were silhouettes, shaved down by the force of the wind. A few of the smaller ones had thinned so much that they were only bumps on the landscape.
She recalled what she knew of the area. She had only been this way a few times, and always out of desperation. This was one of the driest regions of Ravar, filled with only dunes and endless sand. The Heads of Colony forbade it. Areas like this were desolate and prone to death—a hunter was likely to die of thirst before making it out. All the hunters stayed away from it.
At the time, she had thought that might give her an advantage.
Instead, it left her farther from home.
She hadn't seen any other hunters since a day ago, when she had encountered a group on a hilltop, searching through some red, adobe formations. Of course, she had avoided them. None of the hunters respected her. None had ever broken the rules of Red Rock out in the desert, but she knew how quickly hunger could turn to desperation. She wouldn't risk interacting with them.
Neena clamped her mouth shut beneath her shawl, breathing through her nose. Every few steps, she reached up with her free hand, smearing the sand away from her goggles. She scoured what little landscape she could see, hoping she might find a large, sheltering rock, or a formation.
Rounding the corner of a large, sandy dune, she found something else instead.
A body.
Neena's heart raced as she saw a person lying facedown in the sand.
Whoever it was looked dead. She stabbed her spear in and out of the ground as she moved faster, heading for the fallen figure.
Whoever it was, the person couldn't have been there long. They were covered in sand, but they weren't buried. Neena was positive she would've noticed a body if she had passed it earlier. Unless the wind uncovered it.
She looked around, as if she might spot more of the hunters she'd seen a day ago, but she saw no one.
The whistling breeze warned that the storm wasn't finished. Dipping her head against a pelt of sand, she approached the motionless, fallen body. It looked about a man's size.
"Hello?" she called.
No answer.
"Hello?" she asked again.
She gripped her spear and waited longer for a response. No movement, no sound. A realization hit her.
The man wore darker clothing than her, with more pockets and folds. In fact, she'd never seen garments as strange.
It couldn't be a hunter from Red Rock.
Who was it?
Neena's breath caught in her throat. When she was younger, she'd heard whispers that several, strange people had made a long, hot trip through several deserts, reaching her people and visiting The Heads of Colony. That supposed visit had been almost a decade ago. The Heads of Colony had kept the contents of those conversations mostly private, except to tell the colonists they were in no danger. She remembered the cloud of fear that hung over the colony after that visit. Eventually, weeks turned into months, and the story of the visitors became legend, just like the stories of the supply ships from Earth that used to grace the skies.
Outside of that, she'd never heard of anyone visiting Red Rock. And she'd certainly seen no one.
Was this one of those same, strange people?
Whoever he was, he needed help.
Neena took several careful, tentative steps toward him as she kept an eye on her surroundings. Where there was one stranger, there might be more. She saw no one else.
Bending down, she poked the man with a finger.
He didn't move.
Was he unconscious, or dead?
Slowly, carefully, she tucked her hands under the man's side and tried rolling him. She waited for a grunt or a moan—something that would indicate she'd aggravated a wound. Or entered a trap. Looking around, she saw no one. Finally, she got the man on his back.
The man remained silent and still, with his eyes closed. His dark hair was plastered to his head by a dried gash of blood on his forehead; strange markings were imprinted on his temples. The markings appeared as if they'd been burned in.
What were they?
Deep in the distance, a wall of debris moved in their direction. She needed to check the man's breathing and see if he was alive. If he wasn't, she needed to move before—
The man moaned.
Neena jumped back and fell on her butt, avoiding his reaching hands.
"Stay back!" she warned, getting her spear in front of her.
The man's moan turned into an indecipherable mumble. He sat up, coughing, and opened his eyes. His sand-crusted face was filled with fear. When he saw Neena, he leaned back and thrust his hands in front of him. It looked like he was afraid—afraid of her. Neena kept her spear pointed.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
The man didn't answer.
"Can you understand me?"
The man coughed through a response. His eyes were blue and wide. Feeling the weight of Neena's unanswered question, he pointed at his throat.
Slowly, Neena pulled one of her flasks from her belt and scooted toward him, clutching her spear tightly. She kept her body at a distance, where he couldn't easily attack, and held out the flask. Cautiously, the man reached out and took hold of it, pulling it toward him. He uncapped it and sipped with the vigor of a person who hadn't drunk in a while. After several large gulps, he handed it back, carefully.
"Thanks," he croaked, retracting his hands.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Kai." His voice was hoarse, barely audible.
"Where are you from?"
"New Canaan," he managed.
"New Canaan?" Neena furrowed her brow. "I haven't heard of it."
Kai stared at her, as if he was figuring out where she'd come from. Or maybe he didn't know where he was. "Who are you?" he croaked.
"My name is Neena. I'm from…" she stopped herself before revealing anything. The wind whipped her attention back to the returning cloud of dust and debris. "We have no more time for questions, Kai. Can you walk?"
"I-I think so," he answered.
"We have to find shelter, or we'll get caught in the storm again."
Kai dragged a hand over his sandy face.
"Don't rub your eyes," she warned. "We'll flush them out when we get somewhere safe." Instinctively, she looked down at her flasks, thinking about her water supply.
"Okay."
Unslinging her bag, she took out her spare pair of goggles, getting close enough to hand them to him. She didn't trust him fully, but right now, something more pressing was coming. "Take them. They'll protect your face."
Kai nodded appreciatively, reaching out to accept them. "Thank you."
He slipped the goggles over his head. Shakily, he found his footing. Thunder rumbled in the distance, making him jump. He took a faltering step. He seemed delirious and dehydrated. Whoever he was, he didn't seem like he was in a condition to hurt her, that was for certain.
Lowering her guard, she said, "Here, let me help you," and offered an arm.
"Thanks," he said.
"I haven't seen lightning yet," Neena called over the increasing gale. "But that doesn't mean it isn't coming."
Together, they started moving. Another, massive rumble reverberated off the ground, closer this time.
Responding to his terrified expression, she explained, "Thunder!"
Kai said something she couldn't hear, his eyes growing wide. Tilting her head, she asked him to repeat it. Her heart pounded as she made out the words.
"It's not thunder! It's coming for us! Run!"