The Desert

3/14/12, 5:00 A.M-

We’ve been hitchhiking down Route 50 for a few hours now. Not having a ton of luck though. Decided to start keeping a journal; I insisted we travel and of course we forgot a camera so might as well document the trip somehow. Dianne’s pretty grouchy, not that I blame her. Starting to feel kind of bad that I dragged her along when we could’ve gone on a real vacation.

She thinks the journal’s a stupid idea...when we read it back at home we’ll probably have a few laughs.

3/14/12, 7:20 P.M-

It’s dark and we haven’t been picked up once. Dianne’s in an even fouler mood so I’m keeping quiet. A few trucks pass and I could swear they’re speeding up once they see us hailing. That would be sort of funny in any other situation.

Feeling weirdly sad. Wish Dianne would smile at least a little. We’re settling down on the side of the road for the night, hopefully things go better tomorrow. If the cops don’t pick us up in the middle of the night that is.

3/15/12, 2:08 A.M-

No idea what’s happening, but there’s a chance we might not make it through the night. The wind’s insane and there’s sand everywhere, we’re huddled under our sleeping bags and I’m shocked they’re holding up. I can’t tell the the difference between Dianne screaming and the wind anymore, that’s how horrible it sounds. Never been so scared.

3/15/12-

We’re fucked, completely. I feel like vomiting just saying it, but the highway’s gone, there’s just desert in every direction. I have no idea how we survived whatever that was..I blacked out at some point. Pretty sure Dianne did too, but she hasn’t said a word, she just clings to me and stares off into space. I’d rather have her pissed at me than this, she looks like hell. I keep mumbling that I’m sorry and she just squeezes my arm harder.

My watch is stopped and our phones are dead, no clue what time it is. I’m only assuming the date too.

Writing this is keeping me from just breaking down and waiting to die. It’s hot, but I barely feel it for some reason, and I’m not as thirsty as I would have expected. No reason to complain there I guess.

I’ve never heard of something like this happening...did a sandstorm really just swallow the road completely? I can’t even describe how terrifying it was, it...there was something so strange about it. And not in the interesting way, it was like the storm forced me to be so scared. I wish I could articulate it better, there was this terrible pressure on what I can only describe as my soul, if that’s even a real thing.

What the fuck am I talking about. Have to keep moving. Don’t even know what direction we’re going.

3/15/12-

This is the last thing I was expecting to say through all of this, but the night is beautiful. That’s just how beautiful it is, it’s making me say sappy poetic shit like that. It’s much cooler out and the stars are so clear.

Dianne smiled for the first time all day. While we were sitting watching the sky she whispered that none of this was my fault and she wasn’t angry, that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here with me. Jeez, what the heck is this place doing to us? Whatever it is I like it. She’s asleep now and she honestly looks beautiful. If we survive this there’s nothing we can’t handle.

This is going to be one hell of a story.

3/16/12-

I’m only guessing that it’s past midnight, but something just attacked us. I woke up to Dianne screaming and wrestling with something big. Like human sized. It was too dark to make it out at all. I tried to pull it off her and it knocked me over with what I’m pretty sure was a tail. It jumped on me and scratched my face up pretty bad. It ran off but we’re pretty much sitting here waiting for it to come back. Heart’s pounding.

Dianne has a pretty nasty gash on her leg and some bite marks on her hand. She keeps insisting it’s fine and it doesn’t hurt, and I’m not sure if I’m grateful that she’s so tough or annoyed that she’s so stubborn.

Probably not going to get any more sleep.

3/19/12-

Haven’t written in awhile since the days have been pretty much all the same since the attack. They’re starting to blur together, so I’m only guessing the date again. Feels good to be writing again though. Our cuts haven’t healed but they didn’t bleed at all, which I would be weirded out by if we weren’t concerned with finding food and water constantly.

Luckily, we keep finding these good-sized lizards around the edges of the dunes, and so far we haven’t gotten sick from eating them. They look weird and taste bland but who cares, I guess. They’ve got ugly, flat faces and thick, spiny tails, but really meaty bodies. Freaky little tendrils on their heads too, go figure. Haven’t seen any cacti, but about a day ago we found this gray ball sticking out of the sand. Pretty sure it’s some sort of plant, but regardless it’s full of water and we’ve managed to survive on it for now. Not a biology buff, but these things (if there are more) are definitely strange, never heard of anything like them. Maybe a new species?

The sand’s really soft and it makes walking kind of difficult. Even so, the heat still isn’t bothering either of us, though I can tell it’s blistering. Are we even on Earth anymore? Did we die in the storm and get dropped in Purgatory?

3/19/12-

Forgot to mention earlier, Dianne’s pissed again. Not at anything specific though, she’s just really irritable. And she eats like I’m going to steal her food. The edges of her wounds are starting to look sort of crusty, and I’m worried they’re infected or have sand in them, but she flew off the handle when I mentioned it. Trying to block the incident out, don’t want to dwell on it...but I’m pretty sure she stopped speaking English in the middle of her rant. Need to get her home.

3/20/12-

I don’t know who I’ve been kidding. It’s really started to sink in how screwed we are. We’ve been wandering for days but the landscape never changes, just so much sand. It’s like being in the middle of the ocean. I think I’m starting to lose it, so is Dianne. She snaps at me any time I try to talk. Finally broke down and cried tonight, once she fell asleep.

Don’t even know why I’m writing any more, everything seems so far away, like it’s happening to someone else. Letters are starting to look funny. So numb. I sort of wish the heat would start to affect me, at least so I feel something aside from the fucking sand.

3/21/12-

Dianne had a tail this morning. A full blown tail. I woke up next to her and it was wrapped around my leg. It’s covered in golden scales, and it’s really strong from what I can feel. What the fuck. I have to keep writing just for this. She doesn’t notice it at all, acts like it was always there, keeps asking what I’m staring out. Don’t want to upset her by mentioning it.

She just swallowed a lizard whole. Picked it up and stuck the whole thing in her mouth and ate it. I’m going insane, this is it. Starting to cry again, and she’s giving me this horrible, cutesy look. Her cuts have those same scales around them, around her eyes too. I have to look at her or look at the sand. Either way I’m going to scream.

-

Gave up on the guessing the date, it doesn’t matter anymore. This is where we’re both going to die. Or I am at least. Dianne looks like she’s doing pretty well. She’s in a much better mood, but she walks on her knuckles now. The scales are covering more of her, and she’s getting bigger. She stood up at sunset a few days ago and I swear she’s seven feet tall now. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. Is there anything wrong at all? My cuts are starting to get scaly too, maybe this is normal.

She eats a lot more than I do, just kind of grabs lizards as we walk and bolts them down. There’s a lot more of them skittering around now, and we’re starting to see more animals. The grey plants are showing up in little patches, but I’m the only one who needs to drink any more. I’m starting to collect the smaller ones, don’t know why really. Gives me something to stare at rather than the dunes. I noticed they’re sort of like pumpkins, and that reminded me of home for whatever reason. I can’t remember my family too well. It would have upset me, but then Dianne tried to say something and got frustrated because her teeth are getting too big... and sharp. Her tongue might be forked for all I know.

I wrote that and then couldn’t stop laughing. This is my life now.

Credited to Dreadnawt