I.
It had been three days.
‘I can’t do it’, he said. The taller, quieter, man ignored this statement, which is not to say he did not hear it. ‘Goddamnit heath, what the fuck? What the fuck are we going to do? This is it. This is absolutely fucking it. Over! Over! Over! There is no more.’
Neko clearly was struggling with the reality of their situation.
Heath stopped to look around, as if to re-evaluate the pair’s current surroundings, there was no change. Even after three days of aimless wandering around the Animas Valley in New Mexico
It had been roughly 56 hours since either man had eaten anything. The pair tried to crush a cactus to extract water, which not only proved to be insanely difficult but barely provided enough vile tasting, salt water to fill two would- be Dixie cups. Needless to say, both men were out of not only sorts, but slowly dipping into the immeasurable depths of delirium. One had accepted their faith, as an absolute if not anything else. The other thought there was no possible way that this day in age could two, semi - experienced, naturalist, young men perish in a first world country’s desert. More specifically one that housed Aztec ruins. It’s a goddamn tourist destination, for Christ’s sake. Aren’t there patrols or some such thing? They had to be within a reasonable perimeter. This is fucking America
But no one was coming. In fact, it was too early for anyone that cared for either individual to even notice that they were gone outside a rational amount of time it would take to visit such a destination. A fact that was engraved in stone in the back of the brain of both Heath & Neko, all it needed was realization.
Heath had realized this, along with the fact that he housed a fair amount of disdain for his traveling companion. He was actually down right pissed off that this is the man who he would mutter his last words to, or visa versa. This is not how Heath expected it to end.
Quite the contrary, Neko mildly idolized Heath. As far as Neko was concerned, the man radiated the image of perfect health. While well into his late 20’s, he was still very athletic, and had the body of an Adonis. Trips like these, while not nearly as ill fated, were Heath’s forte. Neko met Heath at work 7 months ago or so, and had been trying to get under his wing ever since. After several trips to the health club, and local bars, Neko scheduled the trip as a bonding experience to seal the friendship; so to speak. Clearly, this was not working.
Oddly enough, the two men hadn’t come into contact with any of the multiple predators that reside in this biome, save for a mountain lion they spotted the first night. All things considered, that there is some good luck.
The sun had begun to set, and the desert caught fire.