They walked on, the three of them still hand in hand. They carried their water bottles, though the levels were low.
“Sip,” Cage said.
They stopped, drinking ever so slightly, conserving as much water as they could. Each time he drank, he felt it through his entire system. He had to be so dehydrated to feel it that way, but he also wouldn't drink more. He was watching the water level drop and knowing what it meant.
This time when they walked again, Sarah swayed then stumbled forward. With only a glance to each other to communicate, Cage and Aurora quickly moved in, draping Sarah’s arms over their own shoulders.
The three of them were closer now, supporting Sarah. The extra effort wasn't good for the two of them. They weren't doing that well without carrying a third. But they weren't going to leave her behind.
They went a little further, the sun still coming up behind them.
Cage realized that, being closer, whatever body heat they had was multiplied. That was also bad. The counter for that was more water, which they absolutely did not have.
He wasn't sure how much longer or further they went. The light was getting a little bit brighter, and his vision was distorting the distance.
Cage was glad now that he was no longer navigating by the stars. All he had to do was keep the sun behind him and continuously step forward into his shadow. It would be the right direction.
But his thoughts swam.
He had walked this distance the first night, not even in a straight line. If they beelined back, they could make it.
Except they'd already gone out tonight and back. They’d dug in the sand. They'd carried heavy bags, and they'd done it on poor rations for a week. So maybe they couldn't make it—even heading straight.
Maybe they shouldn't, he thought. Towns out here were sparse and far between. What if they walked right through the towns and into Mexico?
They shouldn't be able to cross the Rio Grande without noticing, right? But hadn't the Rio Grande gone dry recently?
He did not want to walk all the way into Mexico.
San Antonio was somewhere behind him, but he had no idea what he was closer to.
He was certain he didn't have the navigation skills to figure out where he was starting. Or even if he knew that, which direction San Antonio was. If they headed into the sun, they would likely have to go close—if not through—whatever little cluster of homes the cartel had kept them at.
They wouldn’t go back.
He moved his left foot then his right and tried to keep his mouth shut. It was tempting to open and breathe through it. But he couldn't. He would lose the moisture in his mouth. Though that might cool him, the moisture was precious. The sand would blow in the finest tiniest of grains and he would wind up licking the inside of his own mouth to make it go away. He'd learned that the first night out.
Sarah stumbled again and, over her shoulder, Cage looked to Aurora.
“We’ll stop and sit down just for a short while,” he announced.
What he wouldn't have given for a phone timer. They didn't have anything digital on them. Of course, no one had worn an actual analog watch, either. Not even Aurora.
His phone and his gun had been taken. He was tempted now to jettison the gun in his pants pocket. What good would it do if he couldn't lift it? It was just a heavy item he was carrying. But then he remembered it was evidence and he left it where it was.
Sarah sat down faster than him or Aurora, plopping hard onto the sand. Cage was almost surprised she managed to stay upright.
Though they had never planned it, they only drank with each of them unscrewing the caps of their water bottles, together. They held them up, then drank, then held them up again—as if to monitor that all of them were drinking the same small amounts. That no one was going through theirs too quickly.
He didn't know how long they sat there. He’d thought they would just wait until Sarah was doing better, but there was no better for Sarah.
He thought for a moment of the Donner party, trapped in snow and ice. What he wouldn't give for snow and ice right now. But he didn’t want to imagine dying twenty miles away from salvation.
He had no idea how long it had been when Aurora nodded at him. They needed to get going.
But this time when they went to pick up Sarah, she didn't move.