Chapter 13: Into the desert
Raven's group POV
"You've got to be kidding me," Raven said with annoyance as she looked at the man in front of her who was wearing a desert outfit and looking angry as hell.
"Look I don't want to be in your group either." Murphy raised his hands with an annoyed frown.
"What does that mean?" Raven said wondering what this idiot meant since she wasn't the one that ran her mouth he was.
"You're to bossy? I can't have you affecting my mojo." Murphy shrugged with an arrogant smirk before looking around with a scowl.
"I know we're supposed to be happy about experiencing Earth, but I really hate the fucking desert," Murphy complained before pulling out his map and glancing at the extraction point which was marked with a giant X on the map.
"No way!" Someone next to them screamed causing them all to look over curiously at the boy.
"What's wrong Drew?" Someone who knew the boy asked
"This has got to be at least fifty miles! Over the hot sand and the sun constantly hovering over us including the dunes we will have to climb over; we are looking at a three-day trek." Drew said with a voice full of despair.
"What's wrong you can't handle a little heat?" Murphy mocked the boy.
"It's not just the heat. This is the only water we were each given." Drew pulled out a 16-ounce water bottle full of water and shook it causing everyone to quickly understand the problem.
"Well fuck me, I should have expected some shit like this from that demon," Murphy said with a pale face before looking over at Raven who looked about ready to cry.
"This just got even more difficult than it already was," Raven mumbled before looking out at the sandy desert that stretched for as far as the eye could see.
"Well, I guess we better get going then don't you think?" Murphy looked at Raven before he started walking over the sandy desert with the nine others following behind him.
They walked for about six hours straight over the scorching hot desert as the heat sucked all of the energy out of them forcing them to call it a day as they all sat in the middle of the desert and tried to save as much energy as possible for the walk tomorrow.
Thankfully they already managed to walk 18 miles making them already one-third of the way there.
The downside was that their mouths were bone dry and each step they took they had to force their bodies to pick up their feet and move forward.
Despite all of them feeling like shit no one had given up yet as they all tried to keep a positive mind for tomorrow's walk.
Twelve hours later night had finally arrived and at first the cold air had been a blessing after a day of being cooked but eventually it got so cold they were all shivering and trying not to pass out as the cold winds whipped across their bodies.
The cold wind felt like knives as they all tried to curl themselves into a ball to hide as much as possible, but it didn't seem to work as the cold air just continued to seep into their bones making them freeze over.
"I – Do- nt- kn- ow- if i c- an ma- ke -it " Drew's teeth chattered like crazy as he felt his mind slowly falling into a haze and before he even realized it his eyes were closed.
Swoosh
"What the hell!" Murphy screamed in anger and despair as he looked around at everyone who were also looking around in complete denial.
"No! We've been sent back to the beginning!" Raven screamed and looked around at the scorching hot desert.
"One of us must have died during the night," Raven said causing everyone to look at each other in shock.
If this was real they would be dead right now. It was a scary thought.
"How can we possibly pass this test if we can't even survive the night?" Someone asked with a shaky voice.
"It's possible," Drew said as he once again enjoyed the heat of the sun after freezing to death just a moment ago.
His mind would be in complete shock if not for the VR suppressing the memory somewhat.
"Oh, and how is that?" Murphy asked with a scowl, still annoyed that they would once again have to walk through the desert from the beginning.
"Body heat. We need to get our bodies as close together as we can and share body heat while forcing ourselves to stay awake. If one of us falls asleep the chance of dying during the night is to high." Drew said causing everyone to look at each other before deciding not to talk about it.
They would have to do what they had to in order to survive but that didn't mean that had to like it.
"Well, here we go once again then." Murphy smiled at Raven causing her anger to spike.
"Don't even think about doing anything during the night," Raven said while glaring at Murphy
"Trust me I don't want to be anywhere near you." Murphy put his hands up with a face of disgust.
"What does that mean!" Raven screamed at Murphy who ignored her and walked to the front of the pack.
"Asshole." Raven spat before following the group once again.
Once again, the group walked 18 miles before calling it a day but this time all of them were dreading the thought of night coming around.
This time none of them just sat around but instead, they all went to bed since they hadn't had any sleep in a while and they had been traveling a desert for a total of 12 hours already.
Just because their test had reset didn't mean their minds were reset, no the drain on them still stayed and already some of them were having a war with their thoughts.
The doubts were already setting in.