Tac

"We have arrived?", asked Gen, confused.

"Yes, we have arrived at your destination.", said Andre.

"Destination?", asked Gen, still confused.

"You look like you are still a little sleepy. Here, wash your face.", said Andre, handing him a canteen of water.

Gen accepted it, washed his face with the water, and then said, "Thank you, Andre."

"You are welcome, but as I was saying before, we have arrived."

Gen then got out of the wagon and looked around. He then noticed that in front of the wagon, the path they were following split in two. One of the paths was more apparent to see, and looking straight ahead, it was possible to see a city, while the other path was harder to see, and in its direction, only sand could be seen.

Gen then went towards his camel, took off his backpack, and put it on the ground to get something from it.

After a moment, Gen took a wrapped piece of paper out of his backpack, and after closing it, he went back towards the cart.

He walked over to Andre and Darren and asked as he opened the paper, "Can you show me where we are now?"

"What's this? A map?", asked Darren.

"Yes, I bought it at the camel store before I left town."

Andre stepped closer to look at the map and said, "Hmmm, according to this map, I would say we are here."

Gen then looked at the map and saw that it was pointing to one of his corners.

Andre then continued, "How are you planning to find the ruins? From what I see, the map has some markings. Do they have something to do with the ruins?"

"Yes, each one is a location where the ruins have been seen. The number on the markings is the number of times the ruins have been seen in that location."

"Hmm, got it. So you probably want to go towards the highest number, right?"

"That's right, but I'm planning to pass on a few other marks that are in the way."

"Hmm, I see, but if that's the case, you'd better run if you still want to get there today."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, from the position of the sun, I'd say you have at most another 4 hours of sunlight."

Gen then looked up, with his hand covering his eyes, and said, "That's right. Well, then, I'd better run."

Darren, still holding the map, said to Gen, "From the scale of this map, it will take you at least two hours to reach your destination. Why don't you go into town with us for today, and early tomorrow morning, you head for the ruins? After all, the round trip time alone has already exceeded the sunlight time you still have."

"Don't worry, I came prepared to spend the night there."

Upon hearing this, the two were amazed, and Andre asked, "Are you going to spend the night in the desert?"

"Yes, I've done it a few times, so I'm used to it."

"Honestly, Gen, at the point we are at now, I don't know if you are very brave or just crazy, hahaha."

Darren then asked, "Are you sure, Gen? You can always leave it for tomorrow, the city is not that far from here."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, hahaha."

"Well, if you're saying so, I won't say anything else."

Gent then took the map from Darren and said, "Well, I better get going. It was a pleasure, Darren, Andre."

"It was our pleasure and good luck.", said Darren.

"In case you come back from there and find some special ore, stop by our store. I promise to make a good price for you.", said Andre.

"Of course, that will be my first choice.", said Gen, and then said again, as he started walking towards his camel, "Well, I'll be going."

Gen then untied his camel from the cart and climbed on it. He started to walk towards the path that led to the ruins area and then turned around one last time and said, "Bye."

"Take care Gen.", said Darren.

"Don't get yourself killed.", said Andre.

Gen then said, "You got it.", and then walked on.

...

Gen continued on his way for about half an hour until he reached a point where there was no more path. He then thought, 'Well, it looks like I'm officially in the ruins territory.'

He then took his map from one of his pockets, found himself on it, and thought, 'Hmm, the nearest marker from here is straight ahead, a little to the left. After that, there are two more markers on the way to the higher-numbered marker, one of them being further to the left and the other one being on the way between the previous one and the higher-numbered one.'

Gen then set his course and headed for the first marker.

After half an hour, he reached the outskirts of his destination and began to look around. After ten minutes of searching without success, Gen thought, 'No luck, hmm, well, it was to be expected that I wouldn't find it at the first mark I went to.', and then he headed towards the next mark.

When he reached the next mark and began to look for a while, Gen again found nothing and then headed for the next mark.

When he reached it, he again found nothing and thought, 'Looks like I only have the highest numbered mark left now.'

Gen then looked up at the sky and saw that he had at most 20 minutes before it would be dark. He then thought, 'I better use this time to pitch my tent, but first, I better get out of the area of this mark.'

Gen then headed towards the higher numbered mark for about ten minutes and then stopped, getting off his camel and thinking, 'Hmm, I think this is good enough.'

He then took his packs and other supplies off the back of his camel to let it rest.

He then gave it some food and water and started to put up the tent. When he finished setting it up, Gen decided to get himself something to eat and some water from another backpack.

Gen then sat down on a cloth that he had placed on the ground and began to eat, but suddenly, he heard a noise, 'Tac.'

Gen was startled and stood up, thinking, 'What was that? Is there an animal nearby?'

Gen stayed still for a while, and again he heard the noise, 'Tac.'

Gen then tried to find the direction from which it came but could not.

He then waited more, and again the noise came back, 'Tac'.

Gen was paying close attention but again could not identify where the noise had come from. He then remembered Lina earlier in the bar and decided to close his eyes.

After closing its eyes, Gen concentrated as much as he could on the sounds around him, and a short time later, the noise came again, 'Tac.'

This time because he was highly concentrated, Gen could identify where the noise was coming from, but this only made him more confused, because as far as he could tell, the noise was coming from his head.

Gen then thought, 'The noise coming from my head? What's going on? maybe I've been getting too much sun on my head? or maybe I haven't eaten for a long time, and it's causing me to hallucinate. The last time I ate was earlier today at Balkan's restaurant, so that could be it.'

While Gen was thinking of a reason why this was happening, he again heard the noise, 'Tac', and this time, he could confirm that it really was coming from his head.

He then thought, 'That's strange. Maybe sleeping will solve the problem. I better get into the tent and rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.'

Gen then started to walk towards the tent, but just as he was about to enter, he heard the noise again, 'Tac'. He was planning to ignore it, but something different happened this time.

Right after the first noise, another one came next, only this time a little louder than before, 'Tac', and after that came another one, louder than the previous one, 'Tac.'

Gen then got a little desperate and asked himself, "What's going on? Why did that noise start doing that?"

'Tac'

'Tac'

'Tac'

"What the hell, how can I sleep with that noise in my head!", Gen said, extremely annoyed at the increasingly high pitch that the noise was at.

'Tac'

'Tac'

"Why don't you stop?!", said Gen, almost unable to hear himself due to the noise.

'Tac'

"STOP!!!", said Gen, kneeling, closing his eyes, and putting his hands to his ears, even though he knew it would do no good.

'Tac'

Gen was about to go crazy with that noise when suddenly it stopped.

He then stood up, took his hand out of his ear, opened his eyes, and said, "FINALLY! I couldn't stand that damn noise any longer. I'm going to sleep before it comes back to bother me again."

Gen then turned toward the tent, but as he looked in its direction, he got a fright and said, "What happened here?!"