Green Desert - Chapter 4.4.5 - Fírí

I tore the khakis, starting at a hole the thorns had made, and wrapped the loop of thin cloth around my throbbing, bloody toe as best I could. It didn’t stay in place very well and every time I touched the nail, a stab of pain shot up my leg. I finally got my already-bloodstained, makeshift bandage to stay by squeezing it between my toes.

I stood and limped up the gully, only letting the heel of my left foot touch the ground. The creek was no more. I’d ran past its source. I needed to get out of that gully, out of the desert, out of the sun. My forearms were pink.

A side gully led up to the right. I took it, using my hands for balance as I climbed up the steep slope, mindful of my toe. We’d probably come from this way. Pí‘oro wouldn’t have carried us across the creek, would he?

My bladder was really starting to tell me I needed to piss, so I did, right there in the gully under the open sky. I’d drunk too much from the creek. I buckled the belt and resumed hobbling up the rocky ravine.

The top. A view of sparse vegetation and rocks, flat desert as far as I could see––except for the trees by the creek to my right. I limped in that direction, hoping to find the trail Pí‘oro had taken.

The brush at the gully’s edge got denser as I walked. I just about thought I was back even with the clearing when a horse came around a large bush at me.