It Lies Before Us

As the sandy landscape becomes more, and much more sandy, we finally reach the boundless yellow sand dunes, a place of despair for those who are caught in its elements, 370 square miles of it. The tires hold us well whilst the bumps desperately attempt to throw us off. Erdene has grown greatly experienced with the terrain over his lifetime, so I trust his diligence. The sand blends together in a yellow haze of conglomeration. Air conditioning blasts against the heat with a soothing spray of cool as I turn the air conditioning up, before Erdene, with an expression of dread, desperately shoos my hand away before rapidly explaining “Turning it up all of the way breaks the air conditioning for at least ten hours!” before bringing his tone down “I guess telling you would have been a good start.” I apologize with sincerity knowing that I started this trip poorly, to his dismissal.

The vehicle comes to a halt, being planted at an estimated 40 miles inside the desert’s grasps as of now. Heat creeps up around every inch of the car, as we decide to head back, curves of light strengthening with bouncing heat. Erdene speeds up, as he tries to outrun the heat, but further making the terrain even harder on the car. The vehicle sways and shakes, as Erdene desperately drives.

The car comes to a halt, but not the one we were hoping for at the end of the dunes, as the front of the car makes contact with a tall, sandy obstacle, leaving it angled and burrowed into the sand. The restraints on the food seemed not to have mattered, as the food came tumbling through the car to the front, along with the more harrowing gallons of water, plummeting to the front, knocking into the back of our seats and shattering the windshield with food splattered throughout, leaving a seasoned smell. The hill of sand fills in the gaps of gravity that we created, as something more is seen. Within the hill before us lies a slick, slimy texture, with great force, sliding and burrowing, as if it's a creature disturbed by our crash, or exactly that. “Olgoi-khorkhoi!” Erdene cries in astonishment, the ‘death worm,’ as it's mentioned in various Mongolian folklore, is something of myth as I had thought, but to the contrary, it lies before us as the sand continues to drip, carrying its body through the mount.

Erdene scurries hurriedly, climbing atop the seats, looking for any escape as I follow suit. We are able to strike a door open, pushing it against the sand, forming a molded passage. Looking back, the worm reaches its length’s end as the car starts to slip into the gap it left, then my hand clings to Erdene, the edge of my leg tearing through a part of a broken plate, him pulling me out of the car as it slips into the sand along with everything we brought.

Sand fills my vision, grainy textures press into my skin as I fall flat onto the ground, my leg stinging with a cut of about half my calf. Red drips into yellow. Blood stained sand covers the area below my leg, as Erdene tears off cloth from his attire and bandages my leg worriedly.