Sand Red

1

The Sun burned my back as I crouched. An engine throbbed in the distance. I turned the blade over in my palm, and pushed my hair out of my eyes. Sweat gathered at my brow as it drew closer. It was a large vehicle by the weight of the noise, which only added to my mounting anxiety. The sound turned up the street and heartbeats later, I launched myself, flinging the blade out before a rear tyre. The wheel turned as though in slow motion and the blade embedded itself satisfyingly in the rubber. The others fell upon the car with shouts and cheers, surrounding it around and above. I sprinted to the door from which the twins were dragging the driver and climbed in. The levers groaned as I pushed into gear.

I stamped down on the accelerator. 'MOVING!' I yelled.

The wheels began to heave forward and there were cries as people struggled for handholds. I turned the corner snail slow and we ground forward to camp. Around the old government building, it came into view. A close mess of Old World ruin with the New World built shed standing tall, presiding over the poor rubble beneath it.

My passengers began to jump off with hoots and hollers as I rumbled on toward the shed. A little like being atop a train as it goes into a tunnel. Charlotte dragged the great steel doors open and I cautiously rolled inside. Jordan, greeted me as I climbed out. His hair was mud brown, greying at the temples, his skin rich olive.

'Is the load heavy?' He spoke with the Spanish lilt to his words.

I grinned. 'Very, Sir.' Barely anyone makes it to gray hair in this world, and it's polite to address them respectfully, though I called him by name when we were by ourselves.

He strode up to the back and flung the cloth aside.

'I hope it's water,' I said.

Jordan nodded satisfactorily. 'Oil. Lots of it. Well done.' Jordan was forever obsessed with profits.

I scratched my beard. 'We're low on water.'

'We can trade for water.' He turned to me with a smile. 'Glad to see everyone back safe.'

I straightened, recognizing dismissal. 'Aye. Till tomorrow, Sir.'

'Till tomorrow.'

I walked past him into the raging red Sun. There is a precious little water left on Earth. The Sun is in its Red Giant phase, you see and its growth has consumed Mercury already. In two billion years Earth too will go. But life on the planet will have ended far before that for lack of water. The evaporation rate rose because of the heat. It was so high now, we were losing water to space.

Shrugging off the youngsters' questions, I moved towards the kitchen. Charlotte handed out the rations in the front.

'Any water?'

She gave me a withering look. She hated being asked for favours, but I really was thirsty. 'In the back.'

'The keys?'

She indicated they were under the oil vat.

'Thanks.'

She didn't answer.

The water safe was in shadows. A dirt-caked tank as tall as my waist stood in the centre of the safe upon the floor. I dipped the beaker into it and lifted the silvery coolness to my mouth. A movement stopped me. Beyond the tank, hidden in the shadows was a shape. I took a slow step back. The shape shuffled to its side and into the light. I froze. The crazed look in her eyes was unmistakable. A Forager! How on Earth had she gotten into the safe? I bent a little, inch by inch, readying myself to draw my weapon from my ankle sheath. She stepped forward and into the light, tilting her head inquiringly. I dropped down in a flash and in an instant the weapon was in my hand. She screeched as she recognized the glint of the blade and dropped, hissing, into a mirror of my pose. I raced towards her, knife outstretched. She cried in terror as the blade caught the light, scrabbling into the wall for an escape. I stabbed her chest the next instant and her cry was cut short as it punctured her lung. She collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain. I knelt over her, panting and her eyes met mine. They held a terrible awareness and I looked away, leaving my contaminated knife. My feet took me back to the tank and I lifted the beaker from the floor, refilled it and drank, glad of the distraction. The door flew open behind me and I whirled around, still rushing with adrenaline.