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At least now my face and neck were protected.
The desert was a beautiful place, but you soon got tired of it when there was no shade to protect yourself.
Even worse was the harsh breathing from my mouth and lungs.
I could hardly keep myself from exhaling one breath before I had to take another.
It was like my throat was clenching shut tight, unable to process the oxygen, which struggled to even descend down my windpipe.
Egara cast a look over his shoulder at me several times but never said a word.
Twice already, I had spotted carrion circling overhead but none showed much interest in us.
It was a good sign, I thought. It meant we hadn’t yet passed the point of no return.
The twin suns crossed the sky, spinning and twirling around each other.
Now, they began to set, bringing the night’s early chill with it.
Finally, Egara said the words I had been desperate to hear for the past few hours:
“Okay, I think we should set up camp.”
I would have collapsed, except I knew there were probably jobs I needed to do.
I was hungry, thirsty, but more than anything, I was dog tired.
Egara took two wrapped packages from his pocket.
They were covered in tissue paper.
Before he even handed one to me, I could smell them.
I didn’t care what the food he handed to me was.
I snatched it out of his hand, open the tissue, and gulped it down one hungry mouthful after another.
“A fan of Jilaxic biscuits, huh?” he said.
“I’m a fan of any food right about now.”
I noticed he only ate half his meal before tucking it back in his pocket.
I realized how greedy I’d been when I wolfed down the whole meal.
He hadn’t expected to have someone else along for the journey.
And so far, I hadn’t offered much in the way of benefits.
Even worse, I wheezed with the effort required to consume the food as fast as I did.
“With any luck, we should arrive by tomorrow,” he said.
“I look forward to it.”
Assuming I didn’t die from lack of oxygen during the night, I thought.
I lay on my back but that proved to be a poor decision as I wheezed even harder.
