12

Seventh day since the beginning of the misadventure. From Nadjela to return home. From Chester to find a mechanic. From the piggy for the simple journey of existing. Unlike the humans, the animal seemed content being a mere emotional prop, and eating all the strange creatures Chester hunts. It doesn't detract from the increasingly present thirst squeezing him as much as the others. Chester gives the idea of cutting the animal open and drinking its blood when they can't take any more, but shuts his mouth when complaints rain down on him.

Sweating under the weight of the sun, the options were becoming fewer and narrower, and it sounded less crazy the possibility of drinking urine, and the question of whether it is less horrible to exchange it or drink one's own.

Adding to the situation is an approaching iron curtain. The sandstorm travels with pulverizing speed.

They scurry in search of any barrier that would protect them from the wrath of wind and dust, but that morning the moor proved more foolish than usual. The rain of sand knocked them to the ground and turned day into night.

Nadjela, deafened by the drum of sand in which she is enclosed, protects the little pig in her arms. She herself, shuddered by the hurtful dust that encases her skin, was guarded by other arms and a strong chest. Chester makes himself heard in the deafening wind with a shout that signals to move. With overexertion, and bodies close together, they manage to walk against a storm of tiny needles.

The advance is slow, but continuous. After struggling for a long time, and exhausting much of his strength, Chester, with his sight protected by the visor, points to his next stop. The quivering silhouette of what looks like a giant cream pancake, balancing on three pairs of pachydermal legs. The wandering whale gives way to the storm and collapses like an overturned truck. Chester carries the princess and the little pig in his arms until he brings them to the belly of the whale. There they stayed, protected from the wind and with the sand getting higher and higher above their ankles.