somewhere on the desert

John is a regular man. he is a common man on his twenties. he haven't done anything outstanding. there isn't either anything outstanding about his appearance.

he looks like any other blonde white man with blue eyes. he is about 5'5. he isn't either handsome nor ugly. he is average. John dyed his hair black to look different. he has some glasses on. the frame is gray.

John is driving a black car. the model of the car is old. it is from the 90's. inside of the car are two ladies and other guy. they are on the road. they are going to a wedding.
John's sister is going to get married on twelve days.

on the car is a guy on his thirties. he is wearing a leather jacket. white jeans. he has short brown hair. he has a thick brown beard. this guy's name is Russell. he is the older brother of the bride's groom.

Russell didn't wanted to go to the wedding. he was thinking about using an excuse to not go to the wedding. but the bride asked her brother to take Russell there. Russell lives two hours away from John's home.

one of the ladies on the car is Jane. she is kind of chubby. she is on her twenties. Jane is Chicana with brunette hair. she is 5'3. her eyes are black. Jane is pretty.

Jane is the ex of the groom. she came with Russell. Jane wanted to see the girl for which her ex left her. Russell doesn't give a fuck about the wedding. so he said yes. now Russell is feeling regret while he looks at Jane.

the other girl on the car is Karla. she is also on her twenties. Karla has a crush on John. she is John's childhood friend. Karla is blonde with blue eyes. she is 5'6. Karla has been thinking about confessing to John.

John, Russell, Jane, and Karla. those are the names of the people on the car. they are right now on the middle of the road. they are going through Texas.

John is the driver for most of the time. his car may be old. but he loves his car. he doesn't allow most people to touch his car. only when he feels too tired to drive is when he lets Karla take the steering wheel.

last night was one example of those times on which Karla does the driving for him. the road has been so long and tiresome. John is thankful to Karla for been a good friend. he tells himself to not think of Karla on that way. he tells himself that he has a girlfriend.

John and Karla are close friends. they know almost everything about each other. John sees Karla as a woman. at times like a friend. at times like a sister. he isn't completely sure of how he feels about her.

Russell takes a cigar out. Jane passes him a lighter. Russell pulls down the window. he starts to smoke. Russell gets a call from his girlfriend. he answers the phone. Russell tells her that he is on the way to his little brother's wedding. he promise to fuck the hell out of her once he is back.

"you are so disgusting. you speak like a pig. even pigs had better manners."

"honey, don't forget who allowed you to come. I fuck like a rabbit. and probably I reproduce as much as I fuck. and how much I fuck is only my business, not yours."

"do you know what they say? those who show off about their sex life, is because they lack the size to have confidence."

Russell and Jane kept fighting. they have different opinions. to be honest they had always hated each other. Jane can't believe he is Ed's brother.

Jane is Ed's friend since they were on high school. and ever since then she has been madly in love with Ed. she loves Ed as much as she hates Russell.

John and Karla are laughing. John puts some music on. he asks Karla if she remembers when they used to sang that song as kids. Karla blushes and nods. John smiles. he talks to her about their childhood. Karla feels butterflies.

John realizes that the car is running out of gasoline. he asks Karla to find a gas station on her phone. she looks at the maps.

John haven't seen any living thing nor construction on a while. his watch and phone stopped working since some time ago. it is odd, but not completely strange. they are on the middle of a desert after all.

"strange." John whispers talking to himself.

"do you have any issue? can I help you John?"

"don't worry Karla. it is most likely nothing."

the area on which John is driving is on the middle of nowhere. there is not even a soul around of them. then out of nowhere John looks at a gas station. he smiles. it is a bit far from them. John keeps driving for two minutes until he arrives in front of it.

John stops the car. John gets out to pay for the gasoline. he looks up. the sun is so bright and hot. he feels nervous about his sister's wedding.

Karla gets out to use the bathroom. she was waiting for a while now. Karla blushes thinking about sharing with John a romantic road trip.

Russell leaves feeling some hunger. he takes his wallet out. he counts the dollars. he smiles thinking about all the snacks he can buy.

Jane stays inside of the car. she is sad because Ed chose someone else to be his bride. Jane has dated Ed twice on the past. the last time was after Russell slept with Ed's previous fiance. Ed was so sad at the time that he accepted her feelings then.

John is in front of the front door. he is nervous. slowly he opens the door and gets inside of the mart. inside are another four people. one of them is the employee.

the employee is an elderly man on his seventies. he has a tag with the nickname 'the Irishman' on it. he barely has hair. he is so skinny and short. the old man has a sweet and innocent smile. his voice is soft and caring, like the voice of a nice grandpa.

there are two guys. they seem to be brothers. both of them are different. the only thing they have on common is their black hair. one of them seems to be on his forties. he is taller than the other one. he has a muscular body. he has a big mustache that mostly covers his mouth. he seems to be tanned.

the younger guy has a skinny body. he barely has facial hair. he has long curly hair. he is so pale that he almost looks like a ghost. he has thick eyebrows. he is wearing shorts. he has no shirt on. he has some interesting tattoos on. one is of a snake. and a gun.

the two brothers seemed to be arguing. they look at the old man. then they look at John on a strange way. it is like if something is worrying him.

finally there is a middle age lady with ginger hair. she has green eyes. she is wearing the clothing of a teacher. she has some glasses on. her hair is long on braids. she is wearing a long loose ugly green sweater. she is wearing a long skirt. she seems to be reading.

John pays to the old man for the gasoline. he then asks how far is the next town. the old man puts his glasses on. he looks at John. he seems to be trying to read John's mind. the old man gives up. he puts the glasses down. he looks at the brothers.

"excuse me young lad. can you tell me where are we? not for me, for those mates there."

"we are on Texas. aren't we? more precisely about two hours from Houston. why?"

"there is no way dude. you gotta be kidding me. we are on Mexico."

John looks at the younger of the two brothers. he is trying not to laugh. he thinks that either the man is drunk or playing a prank.

"no, no, no, mister. we're on Australia. I have worked here for the last twenty years."

John is not a guy to believe on the supernatural, or religious phenomena. but he believes in science with passion. there can be an explanation for why they all came from somewhere different. John then looks at the old man.

"sir, Mr. Irishman don't you know where are we?"

"sorry lad. I am not Irish. I don't belong here mate. I was driving on a road to Spain. there was a rain. then I was here. my name is Jacob O'Brien. my grand daddy was Irish."

"maybe this is a share dream. and we will forget about this tomorrow."

John keeps arguing with the two brothers. the lady whispers few words. the old man stays quiet looking at them.

Russell takes some chips, some sodas, four bars of puffed rice, some chocolates, and a bottle of wine. he then goes to the front. he pays for everything. while Mr O'Brien puts everything inside of bags. Russell listens to the conversation.

Karla is on the bathroom. there are two bathrooms. one is outside on the back of the gas station. and there is one inside. Karla is using the one inside.

Karla washes her hands. then she gets out. Karla looks at John from behind. she wants to hug him and kiss him. Karla blushes. she walks forward.

"oh, dude I forgot to present my self. my bad. I am Alessandro. my brother is Lorenzo. where were we?"

"oh, oh. I am next. I am Wendy. my dad wasn't original when naming me. but I like it. I am a teacher. I give classes to small kids."

they keep talking. there is a huge scream coming from outside. they all look outside. John runs outside to see Jane on her knees with some minor wounds. there is blood on her shirt and pants. she cries as she looks at him.

"there is something here. it isn't human. it was horrible. it tried to take me."

Jane tries to stand up. there are some cuts on her ankles. the cuts are so deep you can even see the bones. Jane cries as she falls on the ground. she tries to drag herself towards John. she asks for her.

John is frozen. he doesn't know what is going on. he thinks that there can be a really dangerous animal out there. if he moves it can provoke the animal. he doesn't know what to do on a situation like this one. he trembles on fear.

Russell pushes him aside. Russell walks directly towards Jane. he helps her to walk inside of the mart.

"what is your problem asshole?" Russell screams looking at John.

John is on the floor. he stands up and gets inside of the mart. he looks at Karla who is about to cry. he then looks at Russell who is asking for a first Aid-kit. John is sweating nervously as he thinks. the wounds on Jane aren't normal.

John tries to keep his composure. he can't act like a mad man. he breathes in. he then breathes out.

"what did you saw?" John asked looking at Jane.

"I don't know, it was so fast. it wasn't human?"

"then was is a dog? or a wild animal. a human can't hurt you like that."

"no, that is the issue. it wasn't human. but it wasn't an animal either. or maybe, just maybe it was both. human. and animal."

everyone is listening feeling confuse and horror. they don't know what is going on. first no one knows for certain where they are. and now there is a wild animal out there. a beast that is terrorizing them. everything feels off. everything feels wrong.

John looks outside. it is already dark, like if it was midnight. John laughs nervously. it can't be. time can't change so fast. John remembers that is was 2:51 pm when he stopped in front of the gas station about twenty minutes ago.

"oh boy. shit is crazy down here. it was ten o'clock when we came here. it was on the mourning that we arrived here, twenty minutes ago. damn dude."

"it can't be. time doesn't work like that."

"well it does now. now are you going to bitch about it, or do something about it. we don't seem to have much time brother in-law. it is time to man up."

"shut the hell up Russell. I know that you don't like me. and guess what? I don't like a piece of shit like you who only knows how to do drugs like a fucking vacuum. and don't get me starter on the different STDs you collect like stamps."

eight strangers on a gas station. they came from different places. and now they all are stuck on this place in the middle of a desert. there is no one to help them. there is no one to save them.

the first thing they have to do is find out what is happening. maybe then they can escape from this shitty situation. they all are nervous and anxious. they all look at each other expecting for someone to act as a leader and for them to guide the rest.

there doesn't seem to be any volunteer. they all have different fears. they all have different corpses on their closets. they all have secrets of which they aren't proud. everyone is so silent. you can hear their breathing. you can heart their heartbeats.

Jane stands up. she is bleeding for her nose and eyes. she screams in pain. she screams in agony. she then looks at Russell with teary eyes.

"I didn't wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted to see why he left me. I loved him so much like I had never before loved anyone. was it too much to ask for some love in return."

"no, it wasn't."

"it is calling me. it keeps calling me. I think it is my time now. Russell thanks."

Jane pushes everyone away. she looks at the darkness of the night. she breathes loudly as she looks at something. she can see something. everyone else is scare staying away from the glass. Jane opens the door.

John tries to stop her. he asks her if she is sure. Jane tells him that he is a nice guy. she then walks directly on the darkness of the night. she takes some steps. she starts to scream in pain. everyone is in horror just listening to those screams.

Russell wants to go after Jane. he is stopped by the brothers. he is told to wait. there is no guarantee of what is happening out there. there is no way to be sure or safe. all they can do is to become observers. no one can save Jane now.

the screams stops. everyone knows it isn't over. it is over for Jane. but now that Jane is most likely dead or dying. everyone else became the next victim. the uncertainty makes them even more afraid of what they don't understand.