Exhaustion

* AAAARGH

Zi Xiang let out a cry of frustration, the sound traveled throughout the landscape, in an empty field with only the wind to let out the occasional whisper and the rustle of grass to accompany. The world was silent, the cry echoed uncontested by wind or grass.

Although screaming over a hat was an over exaggeration Zi Xiang was stuck in a field without any idea of where he was going or if he was ever going to see civilization again, stressed and frustrated he needed a way to vent.

"This damn thing I wasted so much time on it!" Tossing the partially completed straw patch to the ground Zi Xiang decided to just get up and leave. He had already rested for over an hour and was ready to continue on.

Giving a sigh before standing back up he patted off anything that had stuck to him while he was sitting down. Checking the orientation of the sun Zi Xiang discovered it was already around noon the sun was barely a sliver away from its peak, morning transitioning to noon. Zi Xiang confirmed his directions before setting off west.

After walking only around half an hour it was already noon Zi Xiang finally started to feel the encroaching hunger, an unpleasant feeling weighed down on his stomach. Zi Xiang could only keep walking to distract himself from it he didn't have another choice, the only thing he could do was keep on walking.

Zi Xiang started to sweat from the physical exertion although he wasn't walking particularly fast, he didn't have much endurance and the noon heat didn't help. Feeling uncomfortable from the heat Zi Xiang took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, He felt his clothes slowly saturate with sweat, sticking to his skin. Still feeling hot Zi Xiang pulled his shirt collar up and down repeatedly to fan himself.

Dehydration was already affecting Zi Xiang, feeling his throat parch from thirst. A rough feeling hugged the back of his throat, to ease his discomfort Zi Xiang swallowed his saliva, only making it worse he no longer bothered. He just kept on walking.

Going all the way until late noon Zi Xiang could hardly continue a sickening nausea gripped him, he hadn't eaten or drank anything yet, and the walking drained his energy. As an ordinary person, he wasn't conditioned for a survival situation. Hardly ever missing any meals or having the option to snack and drink whenever he wanted Zi Xiang was completely unprepared to survive out in the wild. He was hardly athletic either although he did get a decent bit of walking in by doing his daily activities it nowhere near qualified him to walk for multiple hours straight.

Zi Xiang's feet felt sore and legs burned from overexertion, his throat was parched from thirst, and he was in pain from the hunger. The weight on his stomach already turned into a hollow ache, he just wanted to rest.

But he could only keep walking. Going from early noon to late noon he never stopped, having walked for another few hours.

Zi Xiang felt an odd intuition that someone was tracking him creep up. Maybe the rescuers had already arrived and if he just waited and stopped the rescuers would find him. They had probably found where he woke up, they just had to track him down and find him, all he would have to do is lie down and rest while he recovered he could just wait and give the rescuers enough time to catch up it could probably only take a few hours and in the meantime, he could get some well deserved rest for walking so long.

Thoughts started to drift around in his head that he should just wait and see if the rescuers would arrive soon even if they didn't he could still take the time to rest his legs just allow himself to catch his breath. So he could stop struggling against the waves, waves of endless grass he wanted to just stop; surrender to the waves and let the wind carry him away to the place the field turned to every time the wind blew.

He could go to the place that even the infinite, endless fields of grass bowed down to. He could be free of the rambling of the wind and the jeers from the grass. He could be free in the great desert just dunes, a vast sea of sand and nothing else no wind no grass just stillness. And just like that, he stopped walking

Suddenly like the world just clicked back in place Zi Xiang felt himself stop moving he didn't even react until a few seconds after. When he realized, it was like the sudden halt hit him like a car stopping inches before a deer although he didn't feel hurt all of a sudden a gross shock crashed into him. He wanted to keep moving but he couldn't bring himself to like a deer in the headlights he just couldn't move like every muscle in his body refused to continue unless he turned around.

The only thing his body would let him do was slowly turn his neck to look behind him.