it had been days.

days since you last ate, days since you last felt the glory of shade, days since you last saw a human face. the scorching desert sun poured down on your sweltering body, sick from hunger and weak from walking miles through endless, blistering flatland, with barely any life to be seen.

and it was all because of one fuck-up that had gotten you here. one fuck-up left you marooned by your gang of outlaws, left in the middle of the desert to rot. you had no clue where the nearest town was or how to get there. hell, for all you knew, you could be in mexico.

talking to yourself had been your only entertainment thus far, the only thing to distract you from your aching stomach and declining water supply. well, except for mirages. you'd started seeing mirages early on, hallucinations of rivers and men on horseback in the distance. even now you could hear the sound of a horse running across the desert.

"you awake?" startled, you looked up to finally see a face; granted, it was half covered by a bandana, but did that really matter? "what the hell are you doin' all the way out here?" the man asked, looking down at you from his horse.