10. Exit and goodbyes.

Gareth was woken up by a slight tugging sensation on his wrist, opening his eyes he noticed the lizard was trying to slip away. Looking at the sky it was almost daybreak, so he pulled himself out of the sand and tugged on the leash. The lizard noticing that its' escape was noticed fell to the ground defeated looking miserable.

As Gareth moved, his body was screaming in pain, he had no painkillers so all he could do was fight through the pain. The different types of pain made a symphony of torture that shot though his mind, he could not yell or shout because during this time is when the predators would try to squeeze in last minute meals before they head to sleep so he couldn't expose his location. He could feel the vibrations of a huge behemoth just a few hundred meters away diving into the sand. This was a constant reminder that this place was not safe and yet the big lizard wanted to leave, Gareth didn't know if it was foolish, brave or extremely confident. Nonetheless he couldn't let it go not until he exited this land of danger.

As it was still too dark to see Gareth just groped around for his bag and weapons just in case they were noticed and had to leave ASAP.

A tense hour had passed before Gareth could slightly relax his vigilance. The sun had just poked its face out of the horizon marking a new day. With some light, he could finally examine his condition, he discovered some of the sutures had ruptured and the parasites in his body had moved locations some of them were near the surface.

Utilising this chance he got out his handmade knife and cut his flesh open digging out another dozen or so parasites. There were still many of them still in his body but he could not access them.

He fixed his broken sutures and cleaned his infected wounds before doing some light stretches to warm up his stiff muscles despite the great pain.

Finally he got down to breakfast which consisted of, charred maggots and sour fruit and some dried meat all washed down with some water.

All ready he rode on the disgruntled lizard and set off.

Gareth would ride during the day and sleep warily at night. Some nights were event less while others they had to flee because they were spotted. Luckily they escaped by having their pursuers become meals for even larger predators.

There was even a time where Gareth set up camp underneath a large clam. When it was night he noticed that the sand was rumbling underneath, staying still he crept slowly to the sand lizard and clamped its mouth shut. The lizard was obviously terrified and was going to shout if Gareth hadn't acted.

Soon a giant clam with the tail of a prawn and eight long spider like legs emerged, the clam had craters on its shell that was expelling sand that the clam swallowed.

Gareth and the lizard moved with the flow of sand and safely slipped off the clams back. Watching the clam shuffle off into the distance Gareth let out a big breathe of air. In the next second he smelt something foul and noticed that the lizard had both defecated and wet itself.

Frowning Gareth had to bury the products and then dragged the shaking lizard away. The smell would definitely attract predators to investigate and he didn't want to be their next meal. Gathering his equipment he hurriedly left to Find a new camping site.

This was the closest encounter with a night time predator and while it was really frightening (especially for the lizard) this was what Gareth would predict happen sooner or later. Nothing happened for the remainder of the night except for the distant roars of countless predators in the distance.

Two weeks passed, Gareth had noticeably recovered a little, there were some scabs forming and he had pulled the majority of the body invaders. The rest were either too small or too elusive. He had changed his blood soaked bandages several times and cleaned his wounds he still had multiple infections which weakened his health as well as broken bones that need to be properly corrected.

His journey was still filled with hardship, fleeing from predators aiming for the lizard or himself or even both. Sometimes he had to fight his way out which didn't help his recovery at all. Occasionally he would take detours as he would notice potential food for either himself or the lizard. He gained more and more injuries and by the time he finally reached the end of the desert his body wouldn't have a single inch unblemished.

Day 23 of travelling and it had been about 5 hours since daybreak. Gareth was still wrapped up like a mummy and soon noticed that the terrain was slowly changing. A small smile appeared on his face as he believed he will soon exit this place.

Gareth hastened the lizards speed and within 3 hours Gareth could finally touch dry earth. Getting off the lizard he couldn't help but kneel down and touch the soil underneath him. There had been multiple times that he was tricked by mirages caused by the intense heat so it was of no mystery that Gareth acted like this.

Feeling the hard dry cracked earth, Gareth couldn't help but tear up a little. He had finally exited the great desert and had finally stepped onto soil. Although there is still a long while before he reaches civilisation, he had achieved a big step towards it.

Looking at the still miserable looking lizard, he took his stuff off its back removed its leash and patted its back. "It's time to part ways, thank you for lending your back for me, we've been through thick and thin and now you're free."

The lizard didn't understand what Gareth was saying but it realised from his actions that it wasn't needed anymore and it's posture suddenly became much straighter and had an aura of happiness. With a very delighted hiss it turned around and bolted leaving a large cloud of dust behind.

Gareth gazed at the disappearing figure before he too turned around and continued his journey.