The day came. They couldn't fall asleep because of what was hunting them outside. So they could only rest their eyes and occasionally brush off sleep. Because of the lack of beds, they had to lie on the ground, which was cold and very uncomfortable because of the debris and dust scattered all over it.
"My back hurts…" grunted Ren.
The group was very stressed and on high alert. Ren had a knot in his stomach, Rita was visibly frightened and very jumpy, Eric tried to keep his composure but the look in his eyes and his trembling hands betrayed his true feelings, and Karma was probably in the worst state of them all.
He didn't close his eyes the whole night, and after waking up, he didn't move from the second floor where he hid away in a corner. His sudden shift in attitude worried Rita and Eric, who respectively went to try and talk to him, but were met with the same silence.
Ren didn't talk to him; it didn't take him more than one look to refuse starting a conversation.
"Nope…"
He understood how Karma could be feeling right now and why, too, but he still considered him dead weight even though it had not even been a day since he started acting like this. A bit of time passed, and they ate their very small rations—except Karma, who refused to move from upstairs.
"We need to gain as much information as we can," Rita said to Eric and then looking straight at Ren with her tired eyes.
"What do you think we should do?" Eric answered.
"I say we make two groups: one to look around the base, and the other to study the monster."
Ren looked at her for a bit.
"You realize Karma is probably not gonna participate, right?"
She thought for a while, then sighed.
"True…"
Then Eric spoke up:
"We could just make it so two of us look around the base since it's so big, and one studies the… thing outside."
Rita and Ren both agreed, but now they had to decide who would be the one to study that monstrosity.
"I'll do it. I'll watch that thing."
Ren, still distrustful of the rest, quickly took on that role.
"Are you sure?" asked Eric, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
They didn't try to convince him otherwise, since everyone was terrified of the beast. The fact that someone volunteered was definitely a relief.
After the others left, Ren started to look for the perfect observation post. He looked around for a while until finally concluding that the second floor was his best shot.
The second floor was some sort of living area; there was no separate room, just one big room. It was in a rather good state, meaning it could probably survive a few hits before breaking, and since it was on the second floor, the red worm couldn't reach him if it noticed him. More importantly, the floor had windows on every side with unobstructed views, making it perfect for observing.
There was only one problem for Ren: Karma. The second floor was where Karma was hiding, which was a bit troublesome for Ren because of his distrustful nature. He really did not want to stay with an emotionally unstable Karma.
'Such a pain…'
Eventually, he decided to go anyway, but not without a screwdriver he picked up while looking for a suitable room to study the worm just in case.
"Coming in…" Ren said as he entered the room.
The second floor was even dirtier than the first, with spiderwebs everywhere and dust forming clouds as he walked through it. Karma was in a corner, knees to his chest. He quickly looked up at Ren before looking away, which didn't really bother Ren as he paid him no mind and immediately got to work. Ignoring the smell of rusty metal and the broken furniture lying around, he started looking through window after window for the creature.
Nothing.
There was nothing but sand, and the hot wind burning his face.
He checked again. And again. His stomach tightened a little more each time.
Then he saw it.
A bump in the sand. It didn't look natural. He concentrated for a rather long time, until he saw it—a confirmation. A sliver of blood-red, stone-like tail was sticking out.
It was here, or at least one of its kind was.
"…"
Ren's legs felt weak. He was scared. He thought he could handle it, but he still vividly remembered being chased by it.
'Snap out of it, you idiot…!'
He regained his composure and immediately tried to understand why the creature was hiding in the sand. But he couldn't. He waited for any movement, but nothing happened. He tried to understand why. Was it trying to trap them? But it was too far from the entrance, which any creature smart enough to lay a trap would have realized. Was it still resting from last night's chase? Improbable. It was clearly way stronger than all of them, so if they had managed to recover, it probably did way faster—if it even got tired in the first place, which was unlikely.
Maybe it was dead? No, that wasn't it. You could see the bump of sand rise and fall, indicating breathing.
He just stood there and looked around for anything that could explain the beast's behavior, but all he saw was the vast and endless golden sea of the desert. He thought about throwing a rock at some point but quickly decided against it, not wanting to anger the creature further.
'Why is it doing this? I can't study it like thi-'
Ren kept staring, thinking, trying to piece things together, until a voice behind him cracked the silence.
"…You think we're gonna survive?"
Ren turned toward the trembling voice behind him. Karma didn't look at him—he stared at the floor, fingers digging into his knees.
"No," Ren answered. "I don't think we're going to survive."
Karma's breath hitched. That wasn't the answer he wanted.
"Then why the hell are you still doing all this?!" Karma's voice cracked. "Why pretend any of it matters? We don't have weapons, we don't have food, we don't even have a plan! And none of you are scared—"
"We are scared, you idiot!" Ren snapped, louder than he meant to. "You're not special. Fear doesn't mean you curl up and quit. It can drag out the worst in you, yeah, but it can also make you think sharper—move faster. And you chose the first option."
Karma's expression twisted—anger, humiliation, something in between.
"Shut up," he whispered. "You don't know anything about me."
"No," Ren shot back. "But I know giving up is the stupidest thing you can do right now."
Karma broke—lunging into a string of insults that didn't land, then stormed off toward the stairs.
"Just die out there!" he shouted from below. "Burn in the damn desert!"
Ren froze.
'Burn in the… desert.'
Something clicked. His eyes widened.
"Holy shit… that's it."
It all clicked together: why the creature was hiding in the sand. It was protecting itself from the sun. That also checked out with why they weren't attacked when they first started moving during the day, but immediately preyed upon at night.
The sun was starting to set, and it was time to meet up with the others on the first floor.
"I'm here."
Rita looked up at Ren as he got down.
"We were waiting for you," she said while holding a bag.
"I'm guessing those are your findings?" he said, looking at the bag.
She made a quick proud smile before hiding it.
"Umm… yes! They are."
She quickly took out the contents of the bag and put them on one of the remaining tables.
There was a compass, a bunch of torches with three batteries, a slightly rusted kitchen knife, and, most importantly, a map of the surroundings with all the nearby bases indicated on it.
Ren's eyes widened.
"A map? Seriously? That's amazing?!"
Eric smiled at Ren.
"We were as surprised as you when we saw it."
While this was amazing news, there were still two big issues. They couldn't know which bases were abandoned and which were still active, and there was still the creature outside preventing them from moving—not to mention other potential threats in the desert.
"I could only discover one piece of information about that worm, but I believe it will be important."
Rita raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"It's only active at night. It sleeps through the day while hiding from the sun."
The group looked surprised.
This meant two things: they could only study it during nighttime, and that it was probably weakened during daytime.
Karma, who had kept quiet, finally spoke up.
"Shouldn't we just move during the day then?"
Rita shook her head. "We can't. The heat would eventually kill us."
Eric started nervously tapping on the table. "Can't we just wait for it to go away…?"
Karma looked back at him. "But we don't know if it'll ever quit… or if we have the supplies to outlast it and the desert…"
So they sat in silence. Until Ren spoke up. He just said a few words, but they were enough to make everyone's eyes widen.
"We're gonna have to kill it."
Rita immediately jumped from her seat.
"Are you mad?! You want us to fight that thing??"
Ren looked back at her. "I don't like it either, but it's our only option."
Karma was trembling. "BUT—BUT—"
The whole group was obviously reluctant to fight the intimidating beast, but ultimately agreed. They would spend the next few days studying the beast and establishing a plan before hunting it down.