I never realized how grateful I could be to simply have a water filter. I couldn’t imagine drinking from the pool without it. When I jumped into the shallow murky waters to perish my stench, everything seemed fine. Not a good cold shower or anything but still refreshing. Now, though, hours later after that my clothes have dried off, I’m still finding myself with silt in the absolute worst of places. I think I’ll leave the where to your imagination. At least I don’t smell any longer, and so long as I sit really still, I don’t notice the grime. Instead I notice how much my ribs, foot, and shoulder hurt. Perfect.

Still, though, that’s the odd thing. Breathing doesn’t hurt too bad. I’ve had hurt and broken ribs before, usually done to me by people who had, frankly, too much fun doing it (looking at you here Balaam), and it usually takes almost a week for me to heal to this extent. And while I’m not sure how bad my foot was hurt, I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to go from the shape of a cantaloupe to be mostly functional in the span of a day. The craziest thing about all this though, is that my condition noticeably improves when I pull in my Influence. No idea what that means, but hey, so far, I’ve found a girl that can turn to sand and I’m the only thing that can consistently prevent it. So, all things considered, I feel like there’s not that much logic to really be found in all this. Still without a paddle with regards to how I’m doing any of this unfortunately, and the more I explore this new side of me, the more confusing it gets. The best we’ve found is that it’s like a field that spreads out around me, and the closer Malika gets, the less sandy she is and the less power she wields.

Luckily, we’ve had far more success in practicing and using our abilities, which has officially become my way of deflecting her whenever she starts asking about Akhil. So far, she can now go a total of 10 minutes without becoming a heap of deposit and I seem to have a good handle on pulling my influence in. It’s kind of like holding my breath. It’s also allowed me to get a closer look at what that doorway is inside Malika. It’s odd but the stuff that comes out of it just seems to pour into what I’ve come to call a soul before changing its form and moving through her. Even when she’s just a pile of sand, her body seems to just soak it up like a sponge and store it.

Unfortunately, as the day comes to a close, I find that for all my deflection and reasoning, the woman is simply determined to go out and search for the good doctor. Sealing up my guilt and regret at the reality of this situation, I begrudgingly begin preparations to head out. I still don’t know how to tell her what happened without her becoming completely uncooperative afterwards or worse, trying to kill me. After grabbing a flashlight, the M4, a jacket, and the backpack, now packed with the few medical supplies we have, I step out into the rapidly cooling evening.

I look over and find Malika, hair pulled back in a strict ponytail, sticking close and shifting uncertainly as I hand over the backpack to her. My questioning glance is rewarded with a huff of frustration as she reaches down, takes off her shoes, and tosses them back into the cave, letting loose a sigh of what I assume to be relief. Wriggling her toes in the loose sand, she closes her eyes before answering me.

“I didn’t realize it until I stepped out of the cave and onto the sand but the shoes were irritating my feet. I can feel the ground so much better without them.”

“Uh-huh. Well you do you. Why don’t we start by heading in the direction we came in?” And in the opposite direction of where Akhil is buried.

Nodding her head in response we set off. As we round the first bend and the light starts to die out, I feel tension seep its way into my mind. I didn’t want to do the whole search-and-rescue thing to begin with. Seeing as how there’s a high probability of us being the main course to reptilian monstrosities, I figure it’s a very rational line of thought. Who knows how many of them there are. Here out in the open they could easily be laying in ambush, waiting to rend us limb for limb. The only saving grace I find is that the moon is out and gives some limited visibility. It’s not a full moon, though, so there’s not enough light to tell what’s lying in some of these crevices. For all I know, Godzilla’s ancestors aren’t the only thing out here that’s big and dangerous. I mean I’ve never seen or heard of them before. Maybe there’s other types of gigantic predators looking for a quick meal on some small soft-fleshed mammals. Maybe the-

“AKHIIIIL!! WHERE ARE YOU!!” Malika shouts from nearby, scaring me half to death in the process.

“What are you doing!?!?! Are you trying to get us killed!?” I half-shout, half-whisper in fear and frustration while clamping a firm hand over her idiotically loud mouth. Ignoring her muffled threats, I take a quick breath and listen to our surroundings, waiting to see if anything heard us and is coming to inspect the sound. Turning back to her I whisper in a calmer tone, “Haven’t you realized why I didn’t turn on the flashlight! What if there are lizards out here!” before releasing my hand from over her face

“Well then how are we supposed to find him! Or him us? I can barely see, and given how long he’s been gone he might be injured or lost, so what are we supposed to do?” she whispers back in righteous fury.

Shit. I wasn’t planning on finding Akhil so I never really thought about how we’d search for him. Opening the backpack on her shoulders, I pull out a piece of headgear. If she wants to search so bad she can. I’m focusing on staying alive. Taking the night vision goggles from my hands I show her how to turn them on and off and adjust it to her head.

Properly mollified she remains silent, much to my relief.

The silence, though, is broken all too soon.

“I think I found something.” Those words are NOT what I want to hear. “It looks like tracks, a lot of them. Over there.”

Walking over to the far side of the canyon wall, I look to where she points. Paw prints are scattered all around the hard-packed sand showing a large mess of them leading in from the same direction we came through the day before. The difference is, that these tracks veer off into a smaller offshoot of the main canyon that opens up about 30 meters away instead of heading further in. The sheer number of paw prints though is something to worry about, especially if whatever made these tracks specializes in taking down larger prey.

I freeze in place as I spot movement within the shadows of the defile ahead. Flitting about, more of the shadows pour out of the ravine before heading in our direction.

“Do you think he went this way?” Malika asks, oblivious to our situation as she has her back to the gloom.

“Malika I want you to turn around and tell me what you see. Don’t shout or yell, and please for the love of all that is good in the world move slowly” I tell her under my breath.

Standing stock still before moving to do as I asked, she turns her head in the direction I gestured to. Letting loose a quiet gasp of terror she freezes in place as well and begins to describe what she’s seeing to my horror.

“There must be hundreds of them. They look like foxes, but they move faster than anything I’ve ever seen and there’s something strange about their legs and tail.”

As she finishes I watch as dozens of what looks like 6-legged foxes pour out of the shadows in a broad arc, encircling us completely with only the rock wall to our backs. While they may only be tall enough to reach my knee, I hold my rifle in the ready position. Keeping a wary eye out, several of the foxes whip their long sinewy tails about and point their bone tipped ends in our direction.

A blinding flash sears my eyes and Malika’s screams fill my ears, overpowering the blood-curdling growls all around us. Squinting, I barely make out several shapes barreling in my direction. In the blink of an eye, one of them seems to be in front of me and suddenly I feel fangs tear through my pants and into my left leg. Yelling my surprise, I fire half the clip into its body before the pressure lets up. Trying to catch my breath I finally get my vision back to a certain extent and take a hard look at our surroundings.

The problem is that everything is just so bright I can’t make out many details. It’s like there are hundreds of spotlights, all pointed in my direction and flashing on and off at random. The shapes beyond my sight, seem to be closing in but as they do, the light dims and a pressure seems to settle over me. I have my back against the wall now, finger resting on the trigger, and as the light dims the pressure rachets up in intensity, seeming to come from my left, right, and front but not from behind. In a flash of insight, I realize why there’s this pressure.

I can feel them, all around. There were just so many of them I didn’t recognize it for what it was. They’re trying to use that stream, that flow energy that I felt in Malika, and I’m suppressing it. It’s only now with the overwhelming pressure that I can feel the edges of the same kind of passage within myself fueling my Influence.

They must use their power to blind their prey before attacking. A second probing observation tells me that they’re also using it to make themselves faster. The thought sends a shiver down my spine and instinctual fear sends my thoughts into overdrive.

All the things attacking us have a doorway that they’re using it to create the light.

By coming near me that doorway shuts.

Closing my eyes and praying I don’t get eaten alive, I focus on doing the opposite of what I’ve practiced all day. Instead of pulling it in, I push and all at once I feel the source of my power within me roar its protest at the strain.

And the lights go out.

Blinking my eyes as my vision adapts to the abrupt lack of illumination, I listen as the startled yips recede into the crag from which they came, leaving only the dead fox at my feet and another, larger than the rest but still only coming up to my hips, standing between me and the shadow-blanketed fissure. Malika is, thankfully, unmarred but still on the ground clutching at her eyes, the night vision goggles long since useless and discarded.

“What did you do? I felt it but I can’t see.” She declares in a strained voice as I turn towards the last of the foxes.

Stepping over the still carcass at my feet, I make no move to answer her, my focus entirely on the specimen before me. My head starts to ache and my vision blurs as I continue to force my Influence farther than it was surely meant to go. I can feel the snarling beast before me pound itself against me, struggling to grasp its power as it rears back on its haunches. Whatever inside of me is capable of suppressing these supernatural beings, is screaming out as I tax it to beyond its limits. Time seems to slow as I bring my rifle to bear and the fox coils back to make its lunge. Halfway up however, my Influence evaporates, going silent all together and my legs drop out from under me. All I see as my body collapses to the ground is a streak of fur that passes through the air where I was just standing.

A deafening crash and sickening crunch follow along with a spray of rock shards across my unresponsive back. Limp I lay there, listening for movement to follow as my breathing becomes more laborious with each passing second. Hearing none, I struggle against the lead that fills my limbs to no avail. Desperation tings my thoughts as from where I lay, face first in the sand, I watch the shadows shift from within the gulch.

“Malika? Can you come to me? I can’t move and we need to get out of here.” I can’t even so much as twitch. All I can do is focus on breathing but it feels like someone is sitting on my chest, making every breath more taxing than the last. At first, all that greets me is silence. Then, a small gust of wind whispers over my back before building to a stiff breeze. As swiftly as it came, the flowing air falls off altogether and I simply lay there, lacking any other options.

Malika can’t see.

She had been watching as demons in the guise of foxes scuttled around them, faster than anything had a right to, and then her eyes had burst into agony. Even as the pain receded, she found she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

Now, she can’t even hear. She could only remain there, a pile of sand. She didn’t know what had happened or why Isaac had left her to fend for herself. She could only speculate at the events, the two most likely being either he had gotten killed, or he had run off without her. She knew there wasn’t anything she could do about it but the thought of either of those occurring stung a bit more than she had expected.

She knew from experience she didn’t know how to make herself human again. She was useless.

The strangest thing though was that she didn’t feel alone. Even with the seeming lack of sensory input she knew Isaac was still there. She tried a last-ditch effort and called out to him, except Isaac wasn’t the one to reply.

Instead the wind answered her, and stunned, she listened. As if she had thrown a switch, the world opened to her. Through the Earth she felt the canyon, the rocks millennia in the making. Through the Wind she was told of Isaac’s labored breathing. She felt the multitude of 6-legged animals, their footsteps uncertain. She was worried what they would do and as she listened the wind told her of the smell of their fear and their frightened whimpers.

And as she listened she felt the two dead foxes, one by Isaac’s prone form and the other with a mangled head lying below a shattered indentation in the rock wall. Then she felt a heavy beast on four legs, far away, but coming closer. Dread crept its way through her as she discerned the one thing that fit its’ proportions. Panicking she tried to move, to hopefully help but she didn’t know how. So, in a Hail Mary, she asked the Wind.

And the Wind answered.

Moving and shifting her body around Isaac’s unresponsive form with the Wind’s guidance, she felt through the Earth that he was still conscious. Not sparing the time or focus to question it she hurried along as the Wind told her of the dying smell of fear and the building sniffs of curiosity coming from the pack animals. Lifting up the man, leaving his face free to the open air so that he may breath, she shifted him along, back the way they had come, away from the supernatural predators.

She continued carrying the prostrate man, eventually no longer needing the guidance of the Wind to move, instead pushing herself along using the Earth until they arrived at the cave. Moving them both inside the tent, she let herself lie still. She was spent, as if she had just lifted heavy weights all day with her mind. Not knowing what else to do she simply let herself slip into unconsciousness, just as Isaac had done immediately upon catching sight of the cave.

Her body shifted and she came awake. Resettling herself off Isaac’s body and moving to the side, she felt him come awake as well. As he tried to sit up, the Wind told her that he asked if she was still completely sand, seeing as how whatever he did last night left his body drained and his power unresponsive he said he couldn’t tell. Wanting to explore what the Wind could do, she asked it to tell him that she was and that he needed to fix whatever it was he needed to do or she was going to carry his worthless ass back to the fox’s den.

She took pleasure in feeling Isaac flinch and the brief look of worry that passed over his face. Leaving him to rest adn recuperate, she shifted out of the tent and thought about what she was going to do for the day. She was strangely feeling a little thirsty if she were to be honest to herself, and not having any traditional way of going about it, she decided to go to the pool and see if maybe some magical drinking spout would form the sand. It seemed to be in line with all the other things happening around her.

Making her way to the water she dipped a small piece of herself and recoiled in terror. The sand had indeed soaked up the water, however, as soon as it did it, that piece had grown too heavy and unresponsive, making her unable to prevent it from falling away into the water. She was still connected to all the grains now sinking to the mud below, but the feedback was so weak it was as if she had lost them altogether. She stayed there and focused on bringing those pieces of herself back and an hour later she felt the last of them make their way to her. She made a note to herself to stay away from liquids whenever possible if she wasn’t human. She didn’t want to guess what would happen if she ever completely submerged herself.

Moving back inside and away from the sinister pool of water, she stopped and burst into laughter at what she felt happening. Isaac had made it outside the tent apparently, and was currently lying flat on his belly with his face smushed into the floor, all the while crawling his hands forward with the use of his finger so that he could continue pulling his body in the direction of the canteens on the far side of the cavern.

‘It’s not funny’ the Wind told her he said, muffled as he was, lying face down. This just caused her to laugh harder, and if she were standing, she knew with absolute certainty she would have fallen to the floor in her merriment. Calming down, she considered how good it had felt to laugh, like a weight was lifted from her metaphorical shoulders. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so heartily. Surely not in the days following the plane crash. The stress had been getting to her, but here, in the cave they were relatively safe and could let down their guards to an extent.

Moving over to the water bottle and picking it up after a few tries she reached her decision.

Well since it looks like I’m going to be in this form for a while I should get some practice in.

Turning her attention back to Isaac as she moved the plastic water container closer she reached a second, more devious, conclusion

And while I’m at it, I might as well have some fun as well.

Really?

I mean, what have I done to ever to deserve this? Besides the obvious of course.

I have another headache.

Another mind-splitting, sense-numbing, screws in my skull, headache.

I think they’re slowly getting worse. But listen closely because I’ll only say this once: There’s an upside to all this.

I just haven’t figured it out yet.

Ah! I know! I’m still breathing after the last few days of horror fun! See I can still-

Breathing is pain. My chest is on fire. My ribs are screaming. Yep, there still broken.

I take what I said back. There is no upside to this. I died and have fallen into the pits of hell. They just haven’t told me yet, just wanting to watch and let me suffer, letting me think there’s a way out of this.

Actually, that sounds like a really fucked-up way to start off an eternity of torture…

So, MOVING on. Yes, that’s what I should do.

Malika scared me half to death when I first woke up. She can talk but it’s just so ethereal. It was like having someone breathing down my neck; whispering in my ear. Definitely gave a fresh edge to her threats, that’s for sure.

Booming wind chimes echo throughout the cavern, playing a beautiful melody that I recognize as laughter. The eye that can see towards the entrance of the cavern catches sight of a quivering pile of sand.

Malika’s laughing at me.

It’s official. I now longer have any pride. It’s useless. So far, I’ve been incapacitated and had to be carried/dragged back to our literal hole in the wall, not once! But TWICE!

And now I’m like some incompetent who can’t even feed himself. Perfect.

‘Hello! I’d like to start off this interview by asking where you see yourself in 10 years from now.’

‘Well Bob, I just had the most FANTASTIC acid trip last week and I think my favorite part was where I wormed my way across the floor of a cave with camel paintings while my friend, the sand pile, laughed its way to eternal happiness at my aspirations of survival.’

…

And now I’m debasing myself in my own fantasies.

I don’t see how this could get any more pathetic. At least she’s getting pretty good at moving around. She even picked up the water bottle I was heading for and brought it over here. She’s holding it out in front of me, guess I need to grab it. Rallying my strength, I let loose a guttural warrior’s cry of exertion and my hand moves up towards the bottle and- Malika moves the bottle just out of my reach and laughter echoes out again.

She’s mocking me.

I stand corrected, this just got soooooo much worse.

Sitting with my back against the wall I study with intense scrutiny the clues laid before me. Nothing escapes my eye, but even with all my guile I come up empty.

“No idea, I’m stumped.” I say, reaching up to rub my eyes.

It’s almost evening now and I’ve slowly regained my strength, but not my self-respect, over the course of the day. My Influence, last we checked, wasn’t strong enough for her to fully reform, but it was enough to at least let her eat a little and drink some water. I currently have it reeled in, which I found to increase the speed of my recovery, at least physically, by substantial amounts. In fact, I think that if I kept it reeled in like this for a few more hours, my ribs would make a full recovery. As they are right now, it now longer hurts to breath but twisting causes some slight trouble.

Malika, though, seems to have flourished with her control over her form, occasionally to my dismay when she finds a new method of degrading my pride. She’s actually gotten to the point where she can create a rough caricature of her head or an arm and wield it with minor proficiency. Her latest trick involves shifting her sand about with enough dexterity to create pictures by outlining what she wants to create.

Which leads us to where we are now. One rock to my name. On a whim, when I had originally packed my bug-out bag, I had stowed away a single luxury item: A freeze-dried ice cream sandwich. Seeing as how there was only one, we decided that an improvised game of charades would determine the recipient of the prize. Seeing as how my movement was hindered, this left the acting to Malika. She would give me three clues pertaining to the word and we each have 5 rocks. If I guess what the word is, I take one of her rocks. If I fail to answer properly she takes one of mine and the first one to 10 wins. I’m also allowed 3 separate times to ask for an explanation of the clues. I currently have one rock and one explanation left and I can’t figure this one out.

My current clues are a figure that seems to be looking under things, a long-haired person, probably a woman, with a frown, and a single dot.

“I’m calling in my last hint.”

A smug laugh bounces off the walls before a whisper flows into my ear, “A man searching for something he can’t find, a disappointed woman, and a spot.” Pondering over these I still come up blank. She had absolutely trounced me this entire game. I couldn’t even call her for cheating, given that her clues made perfect sense afterward. Hindsight is always 20/20.

“You win. But what was the answer.” I ask as I move my last token into her pile.

The sand from the three clues, shifts and forms a single word on the ground below me. G-Spot it reads.

Dammit.

Well she’s been messing with me all day today, I think it’s time for some payback.

Moving over to the food I pick up freeze-dried dessert and head back over. Focusing I let out a controlled amount of my Influence and watch her body reform in front of me. I let out more until she stands before me, but not completely whole, the details and most of her shape obscured by sand.

“If you think it’s impossible for a man to find it on a woman, I’m sure I can correct you of that notion.” I say as I hand over the package, all the while striking a pose in my bare-chested form. My shirt long since discarded, too permeated by sand and blood to be comfortable. She takes me by surprise and cups my crotch with a grip strong enough to make me uneasy.

Leaning forward so that her mouth is by the side of my head, she says in a smoky seductive voice, “Sorry Casanova wannabe, but I’ve had men like you and I know better than to put any hope in false promises you can’t keep.” She releases her hand and turns away with sandwich wrapper in hand, but not before I catch a glimpse of her flushed red cheeks, even through all the sand that covers her face.

Dumb-struck and unable to quip back I simply pull my Influence back in and grab the water bottles and filter. Beating a hasty retreat, I say over my shoulder in the direction of the settling sand pile with the wrapper sticking out the top, “Your loss toots. A man is only worth as much as his word, and let me tell you, when it comes to value, I’m worth my weight in gold.”

Kneeling beside the pool I let free my Influence and begin pumping and refilling the canteens. When focusing on the task at hand fails to clear my head, I start running through dismantling drills on the M4 and the 9mm’s back inside. When my blood finally stops pumping through my ears I find that the two water bottles have long since been filled and overflowing. Drawing in a deep breath of the cool night air I curse myself for my lack of composure. The only woman to ever get me this flustered was Lilith. I need to get my big head back together and stop letting the smaller one get the best of me.

Screwing the caps back on the canteens I stand up and pause at the faint sound of footfalls in the distance. Moving behind the dead tree I peer out and watch in horror, as around the bend in the pale moonlight, one of the giant lizards comes into sight. Walking slowly, its’ tongue flickers out of its mouth, its’ head periscopes before turning to a bush and quietly munching. Stilling my breathing I watch it carefully, waiting for it to turn its attention further away, so that I can run inside and grab a gun without it noticing.

A shadow flickers across the canyon and suddenly the lizard is dying. A bipedal thing has the lizards neck in its mouth, ensuring that the only sound that echoes through the canyon is a quiet gurgle as air passes through the blood pouring out of its throat. Two more of the monsters silently rip into its sides and legs with their maw, preventing the lizard from thrashing or fighting. They’re skin is smooth with the complexion of stone stretched over strong clawed legs and thick tails, though they lack any form of arms whatsoever. They simply hold their prey, until it stills completely and as they begin tearing into the reptilian flesh with their oblong heads I realize that I stopped breathing. I haven’t even so much as twitched. The vision of these horrendous raptors simply appearing turned me into a living statue.

Ever so quietly and ever so carefully I release a small measure of my breath, my stare trained and unblinking on the monsters relishing their feast. Minutes pass as they gorge themselves. Carefully and ever so patiently I pick up a single foot and move it in the direction of the cavern.

One of the horrifying beasts whip its’ head around, pointing it directly where I stand. Catching my breath, I watch as its eyeless, smooth head stays locked in on my position, blood dripping off it and a chunk of gory flesh held in its mouth filled with daggers. Slowly it swerves back to its meal, and I stand there. Watching as they feast. Staring as they tear the remnants into smaller parts. Focusing on their form as they trot off, the scraps pulled along by their teeth.

I wait another half hour before I make my way back inside and into the tent. Malika already in her sleeping bag, I slip into mine. There’s no sense in staying up to play sentry. If they come to kill us, there is nothing I could do to stop the 3-meter-tall monstrosities. Even if they didn’t move faster than I could see.

I need to get Malika moving, I can’t pretend that Akhil might come back anymore. If I must I’ll tell her what really happened. If she hates me so be it, but that doesn’t really matter, not with every new horror that seems to come forth from the night. I lay there, staring at the ceiling of the tent asking myself how we’re going to survive all this, but no answer comes. It isn’t until many hours later that sleep finally claims me with only one thought still ringing through my head.

It’s time for us to leave.