Green Desert - Chapter 3.3.6 - Fírí

A sheep stared at me. “Baa-aa,” it said.

At the far end of the yard, past all the cages and coops and stables, past all the pigs and sheep and rabbits and cats and dogs and cows and horses, Pí‘oro unlocked a wide metal gate. “Come on,” he demanded.

I jogged the thirty meters, the dirt soft and moist. Pí‘oro held open the gate––chicken wire on metal pipes––just enough for me to squeeze through. A dog tried to follow us, but the big man nudged it with his leg and locked the gate shut.

Pí‘oro turned and started running down a well-used trail through the brush and rocks.

I hurried to follow. “Where are we going?” I asked between breaths. The sun was already cooking me––my skin was on fire. The trail was dusty and loose.

“I know a gully, not more than a couple kilometers, where we can hide.”

A couple kilometers? I couldn’t run that far. I was going to die! Pí‘oro outpaced me, leaving me further and further behind. Sweat poured into my eyes. I wiped it away with the wad of clothing. “Slow down.”

“Can’t,” he called over his shoulder.

My chest pounded, my throat burned in the hot dry air. My skin burned––with this heat, I’d be blistering in a half hour. Zhíno would too, his whole body. “He’s going to burn,” I wheezed.

Pí‘oro didn’t stop. “Which would you rather: sunburnt or dead?”