Miriam wasn't sure how long she stood watching the girl and the cat play. The girl had abandoned all of the sullenness that she had when Miriam had first spotted her, and now she seemed to be full of joy. The cat danced between her legs, darting away from the hands that tried to grab her. As it slipped away, it bated the girl's hands with its paws, without any force or strength.

It was frustrating to watch, but Miriam stayed still hidden by the large rock. She kept expecting her reflection to move away from the girl's bag. That bag held food and maybe even some water. Hiding behind the stone had let her rest, if not eat, and Miriam knew she could run away when she had to. She watched them play, willing them to move farther away.

Part of her knew that stealing the pack would leave the girl with nothing. The rest of her thought only of how dry her mouth was and how empty her stomach felt. Every so often Miriam took her eyes away from them to look around.

She didn't know what or who she expected to see. She didn't know if she was hoping for someone else to come along that would save her. They was no one, but she kept looking all the same. She did spot the traffic cone she had seen earlier, so out of place in the sand waste. It was just a short way from the bottom of the dune. It looked much closer than she had thought it would be. Had she been so tired by such a small walk?

She blamed it on the lack of food and the long distance she had trekked before. Miriam's stomach growled as she had the thought. Miriam froze and looked at the girl, anxious and nervous. But the girl hadn't heard.

Near her was a little piece of stone that had crumbled from the strange rock she was behind. She bent down carefully so that she wasn't seen by the girl and slowly picked it up. It looked like the other piece she had picked up, so she compared the two. They were the same colour and felt the same.

Miriam settled back into watching and looked around again. The girl was completely focused on playing with the cat. The traffic cone was closer. It was now at the very bottom of the hill, touching the slope. Miriam wondered if the wind had pushed it forward. That didn't explain why the bottom of it had risen to meet the slope instead of just falling over. It was strange, but Miriam didn't have time to think about it.

The girl had moved, following the cat and chasing it around another of the large stones. Miriam stomach growled again in anticipation. They were far enough away from the bag still lying in the sand. She just had to wait now for the girl to face the other way. The growl was long and loud and the cat's ears twitched.

She raised the little stone clutched in her hand. She realised, stupidly, that it wasn't her stomach. The girl spotted her in the moment of realisation, but only because the noise was coming from behind her. She turned and saw the traffic cone surging up the hill towards her. Miriam covered her ears against the noise and watched as it displaced the sand around it as it moved with unbelievable speed.

She started to run even before the monster's head burst out of the sand. It was massive. Most of it seemed to be teeth. It didn't have lips or any kind of mouth, just a gaping maw. All three sets of its teeth rotated in the gap, the middle set going in the opposite direction to the other two. The traffic cone dangled from the top of it, stuck to some kind of antenna. The rest of the creature seemed to be made of rolls of scaled fat but Miriam was preoccupied just staring at it's mouth.

A mouth that was far too close.