The Crimson Prince： Awakening 6 Chapter 5: Survival

As the days wore on, Will's determined pace had become somewhat lacking. His usual upbeat stride had become sluggish. As he looked forward, it seemed as if the mountain was moving back as far as he was walking towards it. As if there was no distance covered towards it. "Maybe it's just an illusion," Will thought out loud as he continued his path. "If it wasn't, I'd probably be there by now." But Will also thought of the mirages some people get when traveling the desert. If the heat was bad enough, things further out could seem closer. A feeling of agitation crept into Will, he should have been to the mountains at least by then.

The first day that Will had gotten to the new world, the rain storm that had been such a curse to him became a blessing in disguise. That day was the only one in which the rain came. It had been three days so far and Will had been using his water sparingly. One canteen a day was what he had limited himself to. Luckily for him, the water in the bag didn't heat up or evaporate. Will had learned the hard way that carrying a canteen on his belt loop wasn't smart seeing as though he would only get half the bottle due to the heat, if the container didn't melt with time of exposure. Will had also noticed that even if it was torturously hot, his aura didn't overheat him even as he walked in such excruciating heat.

The first day was also the day he decided his travel plans. When the rain stopped, the unbearable heat crept in during the day time, to the point where will summoned a shovel from the bag with a pack of sand bags as well. When the night seemed to have been giving way to the new day, Will took advantage of the few hours of darkness left and dug a foxhole. Something Jonathan had taught him at the age of thirteen as a punishment. He dug out the hole, and with the excess sand, he filled up the bags and formed walls. He put the poncho up as a roof with four sandbags holding it down. Will had to ensure there were no cracks in the walls, or all of the cool air would turn hot fast.

Will would sleep during the day in his makes.h.i.+ft traveling home, the sun still bothered him a little with the limited shade, but he really had no room to complain. He would take a dreamless sleep in the sun rather than a cool night of sleep to wake up to the desert heat. When the sun set, he would pack up the sand bags and other supplies he'd used and keep walking. For food, it seemed like he had an unlimited supply of jerky, though the taste he'd found somewhat lacking, it was enough to survive on. Now the McDonald's he'd survived on for the week of travel to Colorado seemed like a feast in his mind. Even more so would he think of his mother's cooking, though the McDonald's would probably be more realistic.

Now at the third day and at the end of his wits, Will casted a hateful glare at the ever present yet not even close mountain in front of him. He was tired of being thirsty, of being hot, tired of being alone. He had long past gotten tired of talking to himself, and it felt like he was building a schizophrenic personality, he would ask himself questions and expect answers. Somewhat worried about his behavior, he was more content walking in silence after having an argument of who would get the first cheeseburger him, or himself. He was tired of the solitude so much so that he threw the leather bag and dropped to the ground, laying under unfamiliar stars. Staring up, he relaxed slightly and decided to take out his phone.

Of course he already knew there was no cellphone service on a different plain, but it had been days since he had used it, and the seventy five percent battery life was still at around seventy due to his predetermined idea to conserve battery life by turning it off. Luckily for him, the bag seemed to have a cool surface at the bottom, Will knew that heat exposure was bad for any electronic device. Looking at the phone now, Will didn't even notice that Bianca sent him a message before he had left for the desolate wasteland he was now stomping through.

Turning the phone on just for a minute on the dim screen option to save power, Will opened the message. It was a picture of her in a light blue dress, standing in a field of sunflowers, the dark screen gave her no justice. The sight of her and the season warmed his heart. Bianca was more of a tom boy, she never wore such things as dresses when tank tops and a blue pair of jeans did just the same. She had only worn the dress because Will had asked her to, it seemed like a reasonable request seeing as though he couldn't see her in person. He would always ask her to wear a dress, but Bianca would insist that he'd love her regardless of what she wore. What annoyed him the most was the fact she was right. He wanted to keep the phone on longer, to see her smiling face standing under a blue sky with nothing but life at her feet, but knowing that he had to save the power he had in the phone for an extended time, he turned it off. 'I don't think this desert has any outlets,' Will smirked at the thought.

Deciding to take a break, Will took out a bag of jerky and a canteen of water. He had been walking for hours so far and it didn't seem like he was going to get there anytime soon anyway. As he laid under the stars, he opened the bag of jerky and took out a strip. After staring at it for a moment, disgust clearly lining his features, he took a bite of the strip, his thoughts drifted to home. Was his dad alright? When was Michael going to show up? He thought about his new home and what possibilities he had left for the sake of finding his mother. 'She could have just come here to disappear,' he thought as he took a swig of water, careful not to miss a drop. A distant chance only riding upon Michael showing up to finally get him out of the desert. Will couldn't shake the feeling that there was a reason why he was there in the first place.

The bag of jerky now empty, Will took another swig of the water and put it back in the bag. Getting up, Will stretched his sore muscles. It felt as if he had just run five marathons consecutively. As his stomach was now somewhat content with what it had been given besides all of the sodium in which his body was building up. It had given him an acidy feeling in his stomach that he had to wash down with water.Will continued his long walk to civilization with a hope of food that didn't come from a bag.

As he had been walking for three days now, Will had noticed he had lost weight and built just a small amount more of muscle. It wasn't too hard to imagine since he had walked ten hours a day and slept in the sun, sweating mostly while sleeping, as well as his jerky diet. His appearance didn't much matter to him though, the only thing that truly mattered was what foot went in front of the other as he continued his march.

The desert itself had no occupants, which slightly amused Will. Within days of walking, he didn't even have buzzards circling his head waiting for him to drop from fatigue. Not even a snake to be wary of. "What kind of desert has absolutely no wildlife?" He thought aloud as he trekked on. It wasn't just the wildlife that was missing either, there was no vegetation at all, not even a cactus off in the distance in any route he had seen. It was as if things just went to the desert to die. The journey in which he had no companions.h.i.+p felt alien to Will. In any place he had ever gone to, his constant companion was Jonathan. Unfortunately fate had told him it wasn't going to be the case this time around.

The sky started lighting up once more for the fourth time since he had come to the desert, and Will was not interested in getting burnt anymore than he had been. Setting up camp had become something easy to him over the few days he had been needed to do it. Digging the trench had become basic muscle memory as Will took out the shovel and got to work. What normally took him hours to do before only took less than one now. Will set up the poncho to his makes.h.i.+ft home with a slight drop of the canvas, underneath the drop was an empty canteen in order to capture the moisture from the rising sun before it turned hot. Will usually refilled an eight of a canteen just by moisture alone each day, which increased his chances of surviving longer.

Finished with camp early, Will decided to do a few work out routines since he had been slacking ever since leaving. He set out his sleep mat outside and started with some push ups, sit ups, and crunches, at least five sets of twenty each. Will knew he couldn't overexert himself because of the heat that was coming. He worked himself hard enough for a deep sheen of sweat to emit from his skin. The one thing he could be happy about in his arrangement was the amount of exercise he was getting in such a short time. With the walking he had done, he had carved off any extra fat he had, now looking at himself he have a flat stomach and his abs were starting to show.

Satisfied with just an hours worth of working out, he crawled into his small home and got ready to sleep. This is what Will's life had consisted of for almost four days after leaving home. Not having enough time to miss his life, Will just did what he could to make it in this land, slowly getting stronger, slowly becoming used to this new routine. The more he did, the less he thought of home, and the distraction was much better than just walking with home on his back. As Will shut his eyes, his body was completely shot as he hit his sleeping bag. He had long since decided to not sleep in the bag due to the heat which was ever present in his dreamless sleep. As he unwound, his thoughts of home swam under his eye lids, the last thing he thought of was Bianca. He wondered how she was, what she was doing, if she was thinking about him as well. His mind went to the picture of her in her blue dress, he pictured himself holding her in the photo and that was the last thing that went through his mind before he drifted off into the darkness.

As Will drifted off into a deep sleep for the day, Michael watched from just a short distance away. Having seen him set up camp without even a hint of displeasure, and working out after the work he put into his camp, as well as gathering whatever resources he could to help him later, Michael couldn't help but smile. "I think it's time to bring you out of this nightmare." A darkness to match Will's dreamless slumber set around the young man, unknowingly swallowing him and all of his possessions.