The Desert Village

When the echoing voice of Ms. Everdale ended, Jason walked up to the mini container and opened it. Just like Ms. Everdale said, inside the mini container was a map, some bottles of water, a compass, a first aid kit, and a flashlight.

Jason took a bottle of water, the compass and the map. He closed up the mini container and then threw it to Kelvin.

“Keep the container safe, and don’t lose any of the items.” Jason said to Kelvin.

Jason opened the compass, and saw a small golden arrow, floating in mid air, and pointing in a certain direction.

“Hey girl, do you know how to read a map?” Jason asked, looking at Muna.

“I can read a little bit; but I might not be a 100 percent accurate.” Muna replied timidly.

“That’s good enough for me.” Jason said, giving her the map.

“Follow me.”

So with that, they began their trials, and followed the direction the compass was pointing at. The desert effect was super realistic. The heat from the sun scorched the entire desert, making it hot and unbearable.

Kelvin was getting dehydrated very quickly. The heat from the sun was drying up all the liquid he had in his body and the same situation can be said about the others.

Their water rations weren’t really big and they were trying as much as possible to conserve it. That was one of the survival lessons they learnt in their survival class.

They walked along the sand dunes feeling the pressure of the heat more and more.

‘Why did Ms. Everdale have to make the sun so hot?’ Kelvin thought, as he gulped down his water.

Kelvin wasn’t too sure, but it felt like they had been walking for hours. The compass arrow was still pointing in the same direction as before, and Kelvin was starting to wonder if it was actually working.

“We need to rest.” Jason said, stopping in his tracks.

“What’s the next stop from here?” He asked, looking at Muna.

“According to the map, there should be an old mine up ahead; but I don’t think we’ll be able to make it before night fall.” Muna replied, looking at the now setting sun.

“We have to take our chances.” Jason said.

“Hey weird boy, give me another bottle of water.”

“But you already drank a full bottle, and we are down to only two bottles. We have to try and conserve the little we have.” Kelvin replied.

“I’m the team head, and I wasn’t asking for your opinion.” Jason said arrogantly, as he snatched the bottle of water from Kelvin’s hand.

Kelvin was seriously angered by this and wanted to retaliate but quickly decided against it.

‘Fighting amongst ourselves might cost us some points.’ Kelvin thought to himself. Kelvin decided to let it slide and continued walking.

They kept on walking, trying to cover more ground. The sun was setting quickly and they were considering the possibility of camping under a rock, until they met 3 travelling traders.

Seeing the traders came as a surprise to them because they thought they were the only ones on the entire desert.

“The sun is setting, and it can get awfully dangerous and cold at night. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you guys heading to?” One of the traders asked, in an African accent.

Jason, Kelvin and Muna were hesitant. They didn’t really know if they could trust these traders. Ms. Everdale said that she could create fake realities and worlds from her imaginations, and she didn’t exclude humans and people.

‘I’m sure these traders are fake human representations. Perhaps this is a test.’ Jason thought before he replied:

“We are going to the desert mine.”

“The desert mine is still quite far from here. You should take a rest in the village nearby.” One of the traders said.

“There’s a village?” Kelvin asked in surprise.

“Yes; a small desert trading village. That is where we are going.” The trader replied.

Not having much of a choice, they decided to follow the traders to the trading village. They pitched a ride on the Camel of the traders and were on their way.

Since they were riding on Camels, they were able to arrive at the trading village just before nightfall.

The trading village was surrounded by large rocks and boulders; the village was also relatively small. The buildings and walls of the village were made with laterite and sandstones, giving it a firm structure.

Kelvin and his team mates received a nice reception and hospitality from the villagers. They were offered food, water, clothing, and even a place to stay for the night.

“Am I the only one that realized we just ate fake food?” Kelvin asked as they laid down their weapons in the small room the villagers gave to them.

“No, but it was surprisingly delicious.” Muna replied.

“Don’t get attached. This people; this village, they are all fake.” Jason said, as he laid on one of the small make shift beds.

They all felt tired and drain, so they retired to sleep. Well they didn’t get much sleep because of the sudden screams of the villagers, which erupted out of nowhere.

The reason for the screams was due to the continuous shaking of the ground. Off in the distance, further away from the village, one could see a long large heap of sand that was moving towards the village with great speed. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that the heap of sand was caused a burrowing effect of a seemingly massive creature digging in the ground.

The digging done by the said creature was causing the ground to shake, and this put fear in the hearts of the villagers. The men took up arms, and the women and children were told to hide.

The way the men held their weapons showed how unskilled they were. This was true because a huge majority of them were traders not fighters. One of the villagers rushed over to the room of Kelvin and his team mates, and knocked desperately.

Jason walked up to the door and opened it. Seeing Jason, the villager began to speak rapidly with fear in his voice,

“Please we need your help; the village, it’s about to get attacked by a desert creature called the ground worm. We saw you and your colleagues with weapons earlier and we are begging that you please come and aid us in battle; please help us fight of this creature.”

Jason flashed a heartwarming smile at the villager and replied,

“Of course we will help; after all you guys have done for us, it’s the least we can do to return the favor. Just give us a minute to ready our weapons.”

“Thank you so much.” The villager replied happily, with hope in his eyes. He then took off to inform the news to the rest of the villagers.

Immediately he left, Jason’s smile dropped. He closed the door and turned to Kelvin and Muna and said:

“Pack our stuffs; we’re leaving.”