They set up camp that night in a small clearing off the road. Carmilla insisted on taking the first watch, and Natasha quickly offered to take the second. Rick didn't bother to argue because he knew they both needed to feel like they were protecting him.
...
They reached the edge of civilization on the second day. The farmland turned into rocky hills, and the villages got smaller and stronger. People who lived here were closer to the areas where monsters were more common.
They were completely out of human territory by the third day. The landscape changed a lot from lush green countryside to harsh, empty desert.
The Eastern Wastes were precisely what they said they were. The scorched earth went on and on, with only jagged rock formations and the odd dead tree breaking it up.
The heat was too much. Rick didn't feel good, even though Sylvia's bond made him immune to fire.
