Through the scorched lands

"This is the desert you talked about?"

"Indeed."

Apparently, we were in front of the desert but there was not even a grain of sand.

It was about six kilometers away from the city and we were at the very edge of the green zone.

What the hell.

The temperature was high, resembling a dessert. But it was more like a brazen scorched land. Earth was shattered and there were cracks everywhere. No trees, no animals, no rocks, no nothing: at least not past this point.

It wasn't even noon and the temperature was above forty degrees, at least that's what my imaginary thermometer told me. If it was this high, in the afternoon, I couldn't even imagine how high it would be tomorrow, when we'd actually cross it. "How the hell are we supposed to cross this?"

"Just like that." The old man covered his face with a white cloth. "It's rather cool now, so we'll cross the first half now and the rest tomorrow."

This is rather cool for you?