Sally stared at the living room TV, slowly being engulfed by her boredom. 

“Man, it’s been as cold as Greenland these days! I can’t do anything but sit at home and watch the Great British Baking Show. This is my fourth time rewatching it this month!” she hollered. Though the house was typically soothing, it no longer provided the comfort and entertainment it used to- given the long days and nights spent there.

Bob watched her intently. Deep down, he also despised the freezing temperatures. 

“We should go on vacation.” Bob suggested, “Maybe to somewhere warm, like Mexico.” 

Sou sprung up from the couch in excitement.

“Let’s go to the desert! I heard there’s many animals with cool adaptations that live there!” she yelled out.

“Are you dumb? The desert is literally the hottest thing ever!” Sally said. 

“Actually, Antarctica is a desert. I wouldn’t say Antarctica is hot.” Sou countered. 

Bob considered this idea for a while. Sure, most deserts were hot, but it would be fun and exciting, right? Plus- they would all have an interesting story to tell when they got back! 

“Actually, that isn’t too bad of an idea, Sou.” Bob said, “We can start driving to the Mojave Desert, since it’s the closest one, by tonight if we all start packing now.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Sally responded, already climbing up the stairs to pack. 

That night, they all clambered into the car, getting ready to start their long drive.

The next morning, Sally and Sou woke up to the sound of the car engine whirring to a stop. They had finally arrived at the desert after a tedious journey that had felt like it lasted many years.

“Well, here we are!” Bob declared. His voice carried hints of fatigue but also excitement. 

“Unlock the doors,” Sou called out, “I wanna go see the cougars!”

With a loud click, Bob, Sou, and Sally were out of the car. Almost immediately, they were greeted by the blistering heat of the desert. The land seemed uninhabited and lacking moisture, with not a single drop of water to be seen for miles. However, it somehow carried a faint sense of beauty.

“I wanna go back inside the car to the air conditioning!” Sally whined. 

Bob was too busy thinking to answer Sally. Many individuals talk about how harsh and appalling the desert is, but you never see anybody speaking about how deserts are places of immense beauty and stillness. He had heard that roughly one billion people live in deserts, yet here, you could practically hear a pin drop! The silence was loud. It was crazy to think that these beautiful places cover around ⅕ of Earth’s surface! Another thing you never found people talking about was the many sandstorms that took place in the desert. 

“Uh, guys?” Sally said, knocking Bob out of his trance of thought, “I think there’s a sandstorm coming right at us..” 

Sou stared at her blankly, “Sandstorm? Where?”

Suddenly, there was a loud kind of drumming sound.

Bob turned around to see a wall of debris that appeared to be several thousand feet high slowly advancing towards them. Particles of dust and sand vigorously swayed in the strong and turbulent winds. He felt insignificant in the presence of it.

“Sh-Shelter, we need to find shelter!” he managed to let out. 

Without any hesitation, they ran to the closest cave they could find, not considering that they would be disrupting a certain someone’s nap.

The cave seemed to have been crafted by someone with immense skill. The walls were smoothened, with an occasional crack here and there. Large rocks were scattered around in a haphazard manner, making traversing the cave more difficult for Bob, Sou, and Sally. 

“This doesn’t seem right.” Bob said with a sonorous echo following.

Almost simultaneously, a loud hiss came from the deepest corner of the cave. The area was seemingly covered in a black cloud.  The large shadow was a glimpse of night in the bright and early morning. 

“What was that?” Sally said, her voice quivering.

“Wait, aren’t there many venomous snakes that live in the desert?” Sou asked, slowly realizing what she hadn’t thought of before. Sure, the desert had creatures that could easily capture the interest of individuals, but it also had creatures that were definitely not looking to be friends. Hey- they’d probably eat their friends!

Then, out of the shadows it slinked. Its elongated, limbless body slowly approached them with caution. It stopped and visibly tensed all of its muscles, preparing to attack.

“That’s a rude rattlesnake, for sure!” Sally cried out. Then without any words, she ran for the exit. 

“Sally- the sandstorm! Sandstorms usually take only a few minutes to pass- be patient!” Bob called after her. Sally stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly.