Up ahead, Sophie saw black shadows splashed across the sand like poster paint. They were walking into a field of rocks and stones from the size of footballs to fridges.
Bear flicked a torch on and the beam splashed across the rocks.
“We have to think calmly and laterally out here,” he announced quietly. “You’re cold? We get the rocks to warm you up.”
Sophie touched one of them. The rough surface was warm.
“But the sun went down hours ago!”
“And these rocks stored its heat,” Bear told her. “Like a storage heater. And we won’t let it go to waste. Here, hold this. Shine it at the base.”
He passed her the torch, wrapped his arms around the large rock and tilted it up.
“Anything underneath?”
Sophie remembered his remark about always checking shady nooks. She supposed that if crawly, snappy, bitey creatures went under them during the day to get out of the sun, they might do the same at night for the warmth.
So there might be something crawly or snappy or bitey down there now …
Her breath was coming quickly, in short pants. She didn’t want to look.
“You can do it, Sophie,” Bear said, still holding up the rock.
Sophie swallowed, hard, and shone the torch underneath.
There wasn’t anything there.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Okay. Good!” Bear grunted. He let the rock drop back, and just as he did, the torchlight caught something scuttle out from a small rock next to it.
It was a scorpion, and it was waving its claws right at Sophie.
She jumped back with a loud scream.
It was like a cross between a giant spider and a lobster, about the length of her longest finger. It had two big claws, and a sting on a tail that curved over its head to point forward. She dropped the torch in her panic.
Everything was suddenly dark. The scorpion could be creeping up on her, waving its claws, getting closer …
“It’s okay, Sophie. Just keep calm and step back.” Bear picked the torch up and shone it on the scorpion, still on the rock. “Better it’s out here and we know about it. Some scorpions are highly venomous and can easily kill you, but this is dangerous but not deadly. Still, it’s not something we want nearby while we rest.” He paused. “Remember: everything here is locked in a battle to survive – like us.”
He pulled out his knife and killed it calmly and quickly, then cut off the stinger on its tail and put the scorpion in his pocket.
“What we kill, we eat,” Bear said.
“You have to be joking,” Sophie announced.
“Not at all. The desert can kill you but it can also provide. Now let’s get to it, Sophie – step one is to build a camp. Shine the torch over here …”
Sophie shook her head in half disgust and half shock, but together they started to make the camp.
With Sophie lighting the ground, Bear built a low, U-shaped rock wall. They studied each rock from every angle in case of any more scorpions. Then Bear laid down a groundsheet inside the wall so they could sit on the sand. To Sophie’s surprise, he also started to build a fire.
“Where did that come from?” she asked.
“The palm tree at the oasis. It’s just dry wood that fell off. In survival we always look around for stuff to use. Most people walk past the simplest of things that could save their life.”
Sophie thought back to where she had met Bear.
“That was an oasis?” she said. Her local swimming bath was called the Oasis. It had lots of pools and chutes and fountains, and water everywhere.
“Sure,” he said with a chuckle. “How do you think the tree managed to grow? There was water below the sand. That’s where I filled the bottle from. I’ll show you tomorrow.”
Bear pulled a couple of bits of metal from a chain on his neck and struck them together. They sprayed sparks onto the wood, and soon the smallest of flames caught the dry husks of the palm tree.
Within seconds a small fire was crackling away.
Bear pulled out the remains of the scorpion from his pocket and placed it on the end of his knife. Then he held it over the flames and it started to sizzle.
“First scorpion, I imagine?” he asked Sophie.
“Um. Yes. It’s not exactly on my normal supper menu.” Sophie looked a bit worried.
“It’s like most things we fear,” Bear said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the taste isn’t too bad actually. It is just our fear that tells us it will be awful. Same with most other things,” Bear told her. “When we face up to the thing we are scared of, we often find it isn’t so bad.” He paused. “Here, try it!”
“Really? I don’t think I can.”
“Well, just try. Let’s have half each. It’s only tiny but it will warm us up, give us a small hit of protein and go some way to helping you over your fears, maybe.”
That makes sense, Sophie thought.
“I guess,” she said.
“We’ll eat it at the same time,” Bear said as he handed Sophie half of the remains of the scorpion’s body. “One, two, three …”
To her surprise the scorpion didn’t actually taste much different to the burnt sausages at Camp. She smiled at Bear and kept chewing.
“Well, it’s not great … but it isn’t too bad, I figure.”
“Good for you, girl!”
They drank water and ate a couple of ration bars as well as the scorpion, and the air around them grew warm as the fire’s heat reflected off the inside of the U-shaped wall.
Although she was exhausted from walking, after the freezing cold of the desert at night, Sophie felt like she had just had a hot bath …
Sophie didn’t remember going to sleep, but she woke hours later, curled up on the groundsheet. The sky was grey but the horizon was lit up with yellow and red light. Sunrise in the desert.
The fire had gone out, as the last of the wood that Bear had carried his backpack had run out. It was cold. But not as cold as it had been in the middle of the night. The dawn was coming and with it the heat would soon be upon them.
Bear was sat on the ground, staring calmly out into the desert.
“Morning,” he said cheerfully. “A quick bite of breakfast and then we push on. We can do another three, four hours before it gets too hot.”