Delivery

DeliveJasper awoke and coughed immediately. The dust was bad today. Each breath was acrid and hot. The daylight shone bright through the crack in the door. He donned his mangy tank top and beige ripped and torn khakis. Then he covered himself in a reflective poncho. No sense getting another sunburn. The boils festering on his right arm reminded him of a few weeks ago when he made that mistake. The container door creaked and whistled on rusty hinges when he pushed it open. Sand and silt rushed into his lungs, barely filtered by the pale blue handkerchief fitted tightly against his face. He coughed again. His goggles, dusty and scratched, pushed hard against his eye-sockets as he strained to look out into the flat landscape. Dust devils roamed to and fro, hungrily searching for something to gobble up. Jasper's stomach growled, and an ache followed it. He knew he must find something, anything to eat. His canteen was nearly empty, the small distilling apparatus he made, had broken the day before.

Doubling back, he grabbed his canvas backpack, and filled it with everything he owned. A desert survival book with most of the pages torn out, a pen, an old candy bar from before perfectly preserved in foil, his pocketknife, and a small heart shaped locket. Inside a picture of a man he had never met before. The man had strong features, a thick jet black beard and moustache, nothing like himself. Jasper was scrawny, with long lanky arms and thin blonde stubble under his chin to match his short cut hair. He gripped the locket and tears filled his goggles. "My last connection to humanity." He opened his book and scratched the seven hundred and twenty third tick into the back. Days alone was written barely legible across the top. He lifted his goggles quick to empty out the tears revealing thick dark purple rings. His eyes burned immensely for the fraction of a second it took. He thought to himself about his makeshift home, an old shipping container from before. This small shelter had saved him from the deadly landscape more times than he could count. He was sadly aware that this was the last time he would see it. He had already scavenged everything from the north, south, and west. The only way now, was towards the green glow in the east. He set out, after packing everything up, wondering what it would entail. The wind burned his arm but he wrapped the poncho tighter so it was just a dull ache.

As he walked, he came closer and closer to the strange glow. It had became brighter, even more menacing. The light enveloped him, cooling him from the sun that looked like a small spotlight, as if the glow shaded him somehow. It was cool and inviting. He could sense a small pulsing in the light. He felt it more than saw it. His thirst began to get the best of him, and he opened his canteen. He lifted it under his handkerchief and tried to take a tiny sip, like always, but only a few precious drops came out. Empty. Alone. If only he had a bit more. He closed the canteen and pushed it roughly down into his pack. He pressed on. More determined to find the origin, and hopefully some civilization...

Without any water left, his hunger became overpowering. His salivary glands tried to water unsuccessfully, and he licked his dry chapped lips. He considered his precious cargo. Was this the end? Was it time? He carefully pulled the small candy bar from his pack. He held it delicately between his thumb and forefinger, studying it intently. “Escape,” was written in bold blue letters on the silver wrapper. It advertised "a velvety escape that everyone enjoys!” in dark red below. His other hand crept up to grasp and open the sweet embrace he had craved for so long. His mouth tried to water again and failed. It seemed nothing was going the way he thought it would for him out here. His eyes left the candy for a fraction of a second and he froze. Catching his eye, near a small red rocky cropping, was a hole no bigger than a few centimetres across. He rubbed his goggles to confirm it wasn’t a mirage and looked again. He rejoiced! He danced a little jig and threw his hands up in the air! He carefully placed the bar back into his pack, ensuring nothing would puncture its perfect contents, and walked towards the rocks. The green glow gave them an eerie washed out look, but he paid no attention to them. His eyes fixed sharply on the hole. As he got closer he became a hunter, cat-like. No sound was made as he stalked slowly towards the hole. He hunched down beside it and waited. He was a stone façade as the sun set slowly in a wide arc and twilight began. He listened intently, and longed for something to emerge. Not long after the sun set, he heard a soft tapping, no more than a whisper. He prepared himself, his thin bands of muscle tensed and ready. Slowly, a small scorpion, black as night, crept from its burrow. Its stinging tail glistened with a tiny bead of venom. Jasper inhaled deeply and quietly, then wasted no time. He impaled it quickly with his pocket knife. A soft crunch rang as it pierced the exoskeleton of the small beast. Thin streams of liquid travelled down and slightly up the blade. After squirming and writhing for a moment, the scorpion collapsed dead.

At first he took great care, slicing off the stinger and its bulb, remembering the information memorized from his book as it swam through his brain. He placed it carefully on one of the large red rocks, noticing the off-putting light that changed their colour. The dull onyx bulb was a stark contrast against the paleness. After the fatal venom was far away from his feast, Jasper went into a frenzy. Eating the rest in large bites, chewing and savouring vigorously. He licked his dust covered fingers, and his knife, ensuring every drop of nourishment filled his hungry stomach. He sat and rested on the rocks, content with his catch and stared off at the green light.

Soon, he stood up ready to continue his journey. Night was easier travel. Not nearly as hot, and the sun wasn’t blinding him. The wind died down, so travel was smoother as well. He walked faster now, driven by the promise, that the source of the glow would soon be revealed on the horizon. The green light continued to grow.

A cramp dug sharply deep in his gut. His hand shot out and clung to it. His vision blurred slightly and he went into a panic. The pain leeched up into his lungs and he gasped for air. He furiously search his memory, thinking about how careful he was with the stinger. He remembered the glistening tip and thought about how when he removed it, the small bead wasn't there. Terror struck him and he looked down at his arm clutching his midsection. Small faint lines darkened the veins close to the surface. He cried out, ashamed and angry at his foolishness. It became harder to breath, each a gasp with a growing gargle. He threw down his pack and knelt next to it. He grabbed frantically and found his purchase, the candy bar! He tore it open and clumsily knocked it far through the air, landing in the dirt a few metres away from him. The pain was an intense burning that engulfed his entire body. The black lines had reached his face as he crawled desperately for the bar, his pack dragging on his elbow behind him. His heart hammered in his chest as it tried to push the congealing, and digesting blood though his circulatory system. He gave up on his escape and reached behind him into his pack, for one last look at his humanity. His last breath left his lungs as he stared at the lockets beauty. A single black tear pooled in his goggles.

A woman and her child wander the landscape, heading west in search of civilization. Away from that evil green glow and the sickness it holds. The child’s features are strong, supplemented by jet black hair. She spies a glimmer in the dirt. She strains to see what it is, deviating slightly from her path to get closer. It’s a dried and crusted hand. She clutches her child close to her hip to hide his eyes from the sight. Black fissures crack down the hand to a wrist buried. The hand clutches something. A glimmer. A shine. She sees the heart shaped locket swaying in the dusty wind. She gasps. The sand spins and swirls around them.