The sound of the rift opening intensified amidst all the chaos occurring outside the cave.
“That’s it,” Zak commented.
“Good…
Let’s go,” Anna ordered.
They entered through the rift one by one until they had all crossed it, while it closed automatically behind them.
The sound of a reddish sandstorm was the first thing to hit the group as they opened their eyes with difficulty, raising their gaze toward a dark purple sky.
‘What kind of…
place is this?’ Anna thought as she covered her face.
“This dimension is too aggressive,” Mike said, coughing because he was swallowing sand from the storm.
“Stay together!
This place is dangerous,” Anna ordered.
The four stayed close as they walked, though every step required strength; otherwise, the storm would carry them away.
But as they moved forward without direction, a roar sounded from afar out of nowhere.
“Shit!
Can’t we ever get a moment of peace?!” Mike complained without turning back.
The group started running without stopping.
No one wanted to turn around to check what had made that roar, but one thing was clear: everything that roared meant nothing good.
Halfway there, Zak began vomiting blood as his knees gave out, falling to the floor with his fist planted to keep himself from collapsing completely.
“Zak!” Anna shouted as she ran to help him.
“Damn it, my body’s weak…!” Zak growled.
Anna approached and handed him a handkerchief, with which Zak covered her mouth while coughing.
Mike tightened his grip on his axe and positioned himself in front of the three, just in case.
The sound of something running through the sand intensified as the group prepared.
Zak, despite bleeding, put away the handkerchief and firmly held his axe, just like Anna with her sword.
“Stay alert!” Anna ordered as everyone was already in position.
Finally, a giant sandworm emerged from the sand with its mouth wide open, ready to devour them.
“We can’t fight that!
Run!” Anna snapped as they all started running.
“No way!
If I had known it was a damn sandworm, I would’ve run,” Dave said between tears.
They managed to escape the worm’s bite radius, but it kept following them anyway.
“That thing’s gonna catch us!” Mike shouted, sweat pouring down his forehead.
“If you say we’re going to die, then we will!
So shut your damn mouth,” Anna ordered between exhausted gasps.
In that instant, an explosion impacted the sandworm’s face, diverting its course to the side.
Amid all the storm, a light was approaching through the chaos.
“Awooooga!” a mysterious figure shouted while already on top of the light.
“What the hell?” Zak muttered, watching the vehicle still in the back.
The light began circling them and, in the process, it was possible to distinguish that it was some kind of monster truck.
In the back, on the trunk, there were two people and one on top of the roof.
Murmurs could be heard, as if the people were talking among themselves.
Without waiting for a response, one of the figures got down from the truck.
“Well, well…
What are people doing in the Sarahí desert?
Don’t you know it’s very dangerous?” the man asked.
“Are you subnormal, Jet?” said the other man, who also jumped down from the truck.
“Clearly they’re lost, guys,” a feminine voice said, getting down from the driver’s cabin while wearing a mask.
“Huh?” Anna murmured, covering her face due to the sand and the truck’s intense light.
“Let’s go!
Get in before more orumas arrive,” the feminine voice ordered.
The group didn’t question it and got into the truck while the men got down to give them their seats.
Without further ado, the truck began moving at a violent pace through the desert.
Every time they advanced, the truck jumped more and more due to the large sand hills.
“You can go slower!
There are injured people!” Anna asked while gripping the seat tightly.
“Not a chance!
Hold on tight!
I’m not stopping this, we’re in the amber zone,” the woman replied, smiling as she finally lowered her mask.
Revealing a woman with ash-gray hair with black streaks, eyes like the sea at night, and a slight cut on the eye.
She wore a black uniform similar to military, but with steel parts on the shoulders and kneepads.
“Amber Zone!?” Zak asked while pressing his wound.
“Yes!
A zone where Orumas live like shit,” she replied.
“What is an Oruma?” Mike asked.
“They’re those ugly worms that attacked you before,” the woman explained without letting go of the steering wheel.
The woman kept driving wildly, jumping every sand hill.
In the background, loud roars could be heard and some softer ones, making it clear what zone they were in.
“Hold on tight because we’re already here!” the woman said cheerfully as she began to accelerate.
The four held onto the seat tightly.
In the back, on the trunk, the men could be heard laughing and howling excitedly.
Anna closed her eyes just like Zak, while Dave was clinging to Mike, who was breathing with difficulty.
“Let’s gooo!” the woman shouted, smiling fiercely as the truck pushed forward and lifted off.
Zak turned his gaze to the window and saw the worst: they were crossing a great cliff.
‘No way, this girl is clearly crazy!’ Zak thought, sweating cold as his body trembled.
The whole group was clearly scared, unlike the girl and the men, who were animated like crazy.
The sound of everything seemed to disappear as Zak blinked several times to keep from fainting.
Finally, with a dull impact sound, the truck began spinning until it stopped.
“We’re here!” the woman announced, smiling as she got down from the truck abruptly.
“What?” Zak murmured.
“We’re alive…
We’re alive!” Mike said, clearly animated.
Anna just held her head because of the wild ride, but immediately got down from the truck and collapsed to the floor while vomiting.
Something the others did too.
“Stop vomiting everywhere, you’re dirtying my floor!” a man announced as he walked by with his mop.
Zak raised his gaze and saw something he never thought he’d see: it was a large base.
The ground was made of gray tiles and, in the distance, mini sci-fi movie-style bases could be seen.
“Did you like the ride?” the woman asked cheerfully.
“No…” Mike murmured, wiping his mouth with his arm.
“What a shame, but well, it was that or you died there,” the woman commented.
The other men who had gone along began getting down while dusting themselves off and continuing on their way.
“Well, what do we have here!” a man’s voice exclaimed.
A bulky, tall man positioned himself next to the woman while observing the young people, especially Anna.
He wore the same uniform as her, only in the male version.
He had graying hair from the years and a calm gaze.
“I found them in the middle of the Sarahí desert,” the woman reported.
“In the middle of the desert?” the man asked, confused, then shifted his gaze toward them.
“How the hell did you get there?” “We just got there,” Zak replied vaguely.
“What a boring answer!” the woman said.
Anna sighed as she got up, but before she could say anything, Zak collapsed to the floor again.
He began expelling blood as he miserably covered the area, trying to hold it back.
“Shit, looks like this guy is dying,” the woman commented.
“Come on, transfer him now to the injured zone,” the man ordered.
The woman brought her hand to her mouth and let out a loud whistle.
A group of men dressed in white arrived and took the wounded Zak away on a stretcher.
Zak didn’t resist and let himself be taken, since he was already exhausted.
“Where are they taking him?” Anna asked, distressed.
“Calm down, girl.
Nothing’s going to happen to him.
We’re just taking him to the infirmary so he can recover,” the woman replied.
Before they could keep talking, a man approached and whispered something in the bulky man’s ear.
He raised an eyebrow and then his expression changed to a smile.
The man looked at the three of them, smiling: “So you have an AllDither?!
So you’re travelers, huh?” “An AllDither?!
Are you messing with me?” the woman asked, clearly excited.
Anna frowned.
“An All…
what?” “AllDither,” the woman completed.
“And what is that?” she asked.
“It’s incredible that you don’t know what it is, even more so if you’ve been using it.
That explains how you got to this dimension,” the woman explained.
“Well, since it seems we’re going to have to talk a lot…
Let me introduce myself: I’m Kragg and she’s my partner Lilith,” the man introduced.
Anna looked at them with distrust, but somehow she felt that they could trust them.
“Relax, I was also distrustful like that for a while.
But well, you get used to it…” Lilith said almost in a murmur.
“Don’t act like that now, stay firm, Lilith,” the man ordered.
“Yes!
Well, it looks like everyone here needs help from what I see…” Lilith said as she looked over the group.
“Come on, follow me!” The young people looked at each other for a moment before starting to follow her.
“Let’s go, Dave,” Mike ordered calmly.
“Let’s go…” he replied almost in a whisper.
Anna sighed, tired, and simply followed them, feeling that somehow she could trust them.