The desert was a cruel thing to tread through.
I've spent eight hours, eight god damn grueling hours on a lumbering camel that I stole from a grandma at the border after beating her with a stick, and I was already questioning whether I should just ask Ann to build another teleporter, it should take like a minute at best for the two of us… But eh, god damn moral promise of only using it in dire emergency.
The sun was a hammer above my head, no clouds to soften its blows. My legally-obtained camel shifted under me with every sluggish step, its long neck swaying like a pendulum that mocked my patience, it was like the thing moved slow on purpose and was waiting for me to pass out so it could eat my corpse.
I had wrapped a scarf around my head to keep the worst of the heat off, but sweat still glued the fabric to my skin, now every breath of air tasted like dust.
