Desert Trip

Written by Matthew Shute

DESERT TRIP

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Chapter 1



DAVID: Hey there, young lady. You look lost. Wanna ride?

LYNN: Where are you headed?

DAVID: South east. Toward Phoenix.

LYNN: Hmm. Okay. That sounds good to me.

DAVID: All right then. Get in before I change my mind.

LYNN: (getting in next to DAVID): Thanks for this, mister. You're the only person I've seen for about two hours. I thought I was gonna die out here.

DAVID: Then I guess this is your lucky day. Close the door and buckle up.

LYNN: (closes door, starts to fasten safety belt): Is this belt necessary?

DAVID: (starting to drive): Sorry about that. But you never know when an accident is going to happen. Safety should always come first.

LYNN: You think we're gonna have a crash out here in the middle of the desert? What're you planning on crashing into? Some sand?

DAVID: Lady, unpredictable things can happen. A tire could blow, sending us into a spin. Or... Umm...

LYNN: Yes...?

DAVID: Well, anything could happen.

LYNN: Whatever you say, mister. I guess you're the boss.

DAVID: Yes. I am. This is my car, and my rules will prevail here.

LYNN: (glances at DAVID for a second, then shrugs to herself)

~An uncomfortable silence follows. LYNN checks out the interior of the vehicle, while DAVID concentrates on driving. Then:

DAVID: So... why were you out here on your own?

LYNN: Me and my boyfriend had an argument. The bastard went crazy on me. Threw me out of his station wagon and drove off. Left me here for dead.

DAVID: Really? That's awful.

LYNN: Damn right. I ought to cap his sorry ass.

DAVID: Charming.

LYNN: Well, he deserves it. Remember, I could've been a gonner if it wasn't for you coming along. In case you haven't noticed, the desert aint exactly a friendly place. Rattle snakes everywhere. The sun is like a blowtorch, and I've got no water. As I said before, you probably saved my life, mister.

DAVID: Stop with the "mister", okay? The name's David Stern. You can call me David.

LYNN: Stern? That's a German name, aint it?

DAVID: No. Not that I know of.

LYNN: Oh. Sure? ... Well anyhow, my name's Lynn. You can call me Lynn.

DAVID: No second name?

LYNN: Not one that I'm gonna tell you.

DAVID: Why not? What can it hurt?

LYNN: Maybe nothing. Maybe plenty. I'm just not comfortable telling someone I don't even know my full name. Next, you'll be wanting my home address.

DAVID: There's no need to be uptight and paranoid. I was just being friendly.

LYNN: Paranoid? Uptight? I seem to remember it was you who was convinced that we were going to have a crash or a blown tire about two seconds ago.

DAVID: There's a difference between being paranoid, and coming prepared for all eventualities.

LYNN (doing an exaggerated impression of DAVID): "Help! Anything could happen! Let's all fasten ourselves to the seats! We're all gonna die!"

DAVID: I think you should treat me with more respect, young lady. Is this how you treat someone who's doing you a favour? Is this how you're gonna repay me for saving you?

LYNN: I didn't say you definitely saved my life. I just said you probably did. And don't call me "young lady". You only look a couple of years older than I am.

DAVID: I'm thirty five. You look about eighteen.

LYNN: I'm twenty three at the end of August.

DAVID: I doubt it.

LYNN: It's the truth, mister, whether you believe it or not.

DAVID: Stop calling me "mister".

LYNN: Sorry. But I am twenty two, whatever you think.

DAVID: So, what are you? A student or something?

LYNN: Nah. I'm kinda between jobs at the moment.

DAVID: You're on welfare?

LYNN: Nope. I said farewell to welfare crazy long ago, like the song says.

DAVID: How do you support yourself? Do you live with your parents?

LYNN: Wrong again. My dad is dead, and my mom is a worthless alcoholic; she's dying from liver damage.

DAVID: I'm sorry to hear that.

LYNN: Don't be. They're no loss to anyone.

DAVID: Huh. How do you survive, though? You must have some legal source of income, surely?

LYNN: What's this? The Spanish Inquisition?

DAVID: I'm just curious.

LYNN: Let's just say that Alex - that's my boyfriend - and me were in business together. Until this morning, that is.

DAVID: Sound's like you're into crime. What is it? Drugs? Prostitution?

LYNN: Even if I was into crime, that's none of your business.

DAVID: I never said it was my business. I was just asking out of-

LYNN: Curiosity. Yeah, I know.

DAVID: There you go.

LYNN: What about you? What's your... profession?

DAVID: Me? I'm a photographer.

LYNN: A photographer? What kind of photographs?

DAVID: Freelance work. I sell my pictures to certain magazines.

LYNN: No, I mean... photographs of what?

DAVID: You wouldn't be interested.

LYNN: Try me.

DAVID: No. Look, you really wouldn't be interested.

LYNN: How do you know, without telling me?

DAVID: Trust me. I know.

LYNN: At least give me a clue. What magazines do your pictures appear in?

DAVID: Nothing that you've ever bought. It's underground stuff.

LYNN: Underground? This sounds interesting. Give me an example.

DAVID: Let's just drop the subject, okay?

LYNN: Ha. I bet it's some kind of kinky sex stuff. Is that it?

DAVID: I said drop it.

LYNN: Yeah. That must be it. Pictures of fat, middle-aged men in bondage gear, getting vibrators shoved up their assess, or being pissed on. Heh, heh.

DAVID: You're wrong.

LYNN: If I'm so wrong, why don't you enlighten me? Tell me what kind of pictures you take.

DAVID: You wouldn't like them. That's all you need to know.

LYNN: Oh no. Don't tell me you're into child porn! Yeah, that must be it! David Stern, you are one sick puppy! Do you get your rocks off by seeing eight year old boys sucking big black cocks? Is that it?

DAVID: If you keep on like this, I'll throw you out onto the baking sand like your buddy Alex did. Is that what you want?

LYNN: No! I'm not being judgmental. This is a sick world, and I know that you sick perverts have got your fair share of it. I'm just surprised, that's all. You don't somehow look the type.

DAVID: You are wrong about what I do. Child porn does not interest me.

LYNN: Then what is it? Come on, you can tell me. Even if it's illegal, I'm not gonna tell anyone. Hell, if you can make money at it, maybe you could even give me a job helping you out. I'm a girl of flexible morals.

DAVID: I bet you are.

LYNN: Then tell me. Please!

DAVID: First, tell me what line of "business" you and your boyfriend were into.

LYNN: If I tell, will you stick to the bargain and tell me what kind of photography you do?

DAVID: Sure. Just get on with it.

LYNN: Me and Alex were selling drugs, mostly. Alex is real intelligent. He's got a degree in chemistry. He uses his knowledge to cook up the drugs in his apartment. All kinds of stuff. LSD, MDMA, Coke, various opiates... His dream is to invent a new drug that's totally satisfying and utterly addictive.

DAVID: Drugs, huh? Anything else?

LYNN: Not really. It was mostly drugs, like I said. Lately, Alex has been using far too much of his own supply, though. He experiments on himself, you see, personally tries all of the new chemicals he's developing. I think all the drugs have fucked up his brain. Today, he just totally lost it. He started shouting a load of paranoid gibberish about me being one of "Them." I thought he was going to kill me, but instead he just threw me onto the desert floor and drove away.

DAVID: Got any drugs on you now?

LYNN: Why do YOU wanna know?

DAVID: Just making conversation.

LYNN: Bullshit. You wanna find out if I've got any drugs so you can rob me.

DAVID: Look, are you going to treat me with respect? I'm not a thief.

LYNN: Yeah right. And I'm supposed to believe you?

DAVID: You really want to know the truth? Here it is. If you do have any of those drugs, I thought we could pull over, and maybe get high.

LYNN: Serious? You're into using gear?

DAVID: I'll try anything once.

~LYNN gives DAVID a suspicious look, as if she's not quite sure whether to believe him or not. Then she says:

LYNN: I've got a couple of small plastic baggies in my back pocket. I was gonna sell 'em when we reached Phoenix.

DAVID: I can pay you. What have you got?

LYNN: It's an experimental batch. He gave them all numbers. I think this one is called series 7.

DAVID: What are the effects?

LYNN: Not sure, exactly. This is some truly experimental shit. I don't usually take any of the stuff because it's so unpredictable. I think Alex said this one caused vivid hallucinations, and a powerful head-rush. Let me think... He also said something to do with it stimulating the pleasure centres of the brain, giving a kind of orgasmic, otherworldly feeling. Alex could rant for hours about the effects of his different gear.

DAVID: Series 7 sounds fun. Shall we try some?

LYNN: I dunno. You still didn't tell me what kind of pictures you take.

DAVID: I'm getting to like you, and I don't want to make you think that I'm some kind of pervert. It would be better if I told you while we were both high. You'll want something to take the edge off.

LYNN: Is it really that bad?

DAVID: I'm afraid so.

LYNN: All right then. I need a friend right now. Let's do it.

DAVID (pulling the vehicle to a halt): Yes. Let's.



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Chapter 2



DAVID: Wow, this is really starting to kick in. Can you feel anything yet?

LYNN: Yeah. A mad head rush. And look. Can you see all the details changing?

DAVID: Yeah, tell me about it. This is some powerful shit.

LYNN: We should walk out and sit on the sand. The inside of this dust-bucket is not much to look at. I want to see the sky.

DAVID: Okey-dokey. Usually, I'd say no it's not safe, but now my inhibitions are shot to shit and I find that I really don't give a fuck.

~LYNN laughs.

DAVID: What?

LYNN: Just the way you're talking. All literal and stuff.

DAVID: Oh. I was just talking about the effects of this experimental drug, but I realise that I don't need to because you can feel the same thing goddamm I can't seem to shut my mouth or stop talking heh. (shakes his head, as if trying to shake off the chattering)

LYNN (opening the door): Shut up and let's move while we still can.

DAVID (stepping out): Yeah. I'm moving, you sexy little minx. I'm moving.

LYNN (pointing): A-hoy. That's a good spot. By the cactus.

DAVID: Shit, the cactus is warping! Look at all those eyes!

LYNN: Relax, it's just the drug. Lie down and go with the flow.

DAVID (walking over): I'll try.

LYNN: That's all you can do.

DAVID (sitting near the cactus): Y- Yes.

LYNN (settling down next to DAVID): If it gets too much, just close your eyes and breathe slowly. It's too late to back out now.

DAVID: I'm all right now. The cactus was licking it's lips and dribbling a silky membrane from its gums. It freaked me out, but I'm fine now.

LYNN: The vultures are multiplying.

DAVID: What?

LYNN: Look above you. They're spreading out like an inky pigment in the magic wrap that covers the world.

DAVID. Oh yeah. You're right.

LYNN: Look at the sky!

DAVID: I know. I never realised that it was such an endlessly deep ocean. There's so much beneath the surface. But when these waters ripple, it is just circular rainbows that tunnel into themselves.

LYNN: The birds must be the sky sharks, but they're upside down. Is this making any sense?

DAVID: Perfect.

LYNN: What is?

DAVID: The sense. The clouds that are pale dragons. Mouths gush infernos.

LYNN: No! That shade of orange is too strong! I can't look!

DAVID: The shards of glass from the dragon mouths? The trick is to let them pierce you. It's like in the Art class when the grey man was teaching about cubist works, but I used those strokes of bright orange that dazzled the summer. Man, that memory hasn't stirred in decades.

LYNN: I haven't got that memory yet, but the Art class makes me think of wanting to sink into the middle of the paintbrush and live there in perfection. The blue stroke is as vivid as those orange shards, but easier to look at without feeling like you're falling off a ten-storey building.

DAVID: Don't fall into the brush dipped in indigos for the moment. Stay with me. We're merging. In time this will be some psychic waters. Maybe we should try to go for a walk and see who we find.

LYNN: We'll have to wait until our legs have stopped being eels.

DAVID: Bleeding?

LYNN: No. Being.

DAVID: But eels? No, that is just a very long snake. And it's not our legs yet. Our legs are liquid but pliable. Walk and I will tell you of many things.

LYNN: Even more than these?

DAVID: More still. You cannot deny the pocket-watch that my tongues speak from.

LYNN (staggering to her feet): I going. No. Coming.

DAVID: Lift me before the sand consumes my carcass.

LYNN (helping DAVID to his feet): Rise, skeletal magi. Before you melt into beeswax.

DAVID: Wow! Now you've said that, it is clear that my brain is a hexagonal honeycomb!

LYNN: That's profound but irrelevant. We should be walking and talking.

DAVID (walking): I was!

LYNN (walking): Oh yeah. Just some deja vu mind-fuck. My mistake.

DAVID: The first thing to tell you about is the man with the green bulb of a head as he stood looking at me in the elevator shaft.

LYNN: I would.

DAVID: Don't I know it? I should be part of that fog by now, but London intervened.

LYNN: Wait up. You've lost me somewhere in all those words. In fact... you are talking shit.

DAVID (screaming): DON'T YOU FUCKING TEST ME, YOU WHORING BITCH!

LYNN (startled): Wow. Chill the fuck out. Your face is Satan for a parallel second there. Don't stretch it. You're bringing a cloak of Jack the Ripper smog with you from that London intervening. You're making me even sicker.

DAVID (calming down): Yes, my sickness. You've got to help cure my sickness. This is why I came with you isn't it? I need some peace and to be at ease like before when we saw the dragons by the cactus sky.

LYNN: Then you've gotta tell me about your photography. And quick, before my mind is gone too far awayward on the sails.

DAVID: But I'm so ashamed!

LYNN: Guilt is not of God, my brother. Open your heart to me, and let the rot bleed from your ruptured coil.

DAVID: That makes sense! Maybe there IS hope for me! You are my saviour!

LYNN: There IS hopefulness if you only release the truth and let it ooze. Tell me of the photographs you take.

DAVID: So be it, I'll tell you! I take horrible pictures of torture and death!

LYNN: Oh. Right.

DAVID: And I can't stop the horror inside! Now when I think of my Nikon, that kid keeps coming out at me from that abyss like a man hole!

LYNN: Kid? Which one?

DAVID: You know. The one where they skinned his whole head. I can't stand it!

LYNN: Shhhhhhhh. It's okay, my little brother. We can find a way to takethepainaway.

DAVID: Yes! You must!

LYNN: Not "must". "Can". Not "me". "Us"... But the boy; he's at peace now. And so are all of the others.

DAVID: No. Not all of them are not not in peace. Some of those people... they are taken from overseas. They're people who'll be never missed and mistaken fled. They have no legal citizenships. Flag tortured. And some of those are still alive. Big snivelling rich bastards who torture them I feel anger I I feel anger anger.

LYNN: Don't go scitzo and no-sense-made. We can forget and move onwards and away.

DAVID: I don't know. You see I thought it was cool to have this cynical psycho persona, like I didn't care. But the things I've seen have stained my brain. I did nothing. I took the pictures. I didn't help. These aren't magazines. These are one-offs sold to the highest bidder leering grey suit worn wormeating sweaters. I DID NOT HELP THEM! The poor victims face-rotted because I didn't help. Oh, the mass-graves...

LYNN: But you've learned. We can't save everyone who's in agony. The Chinese will always water torture and abort you like those bloodied lumps squashed against the jar as in pregnancy gestation.

DAVID: What are you even saying?

LYNN: The PAIN, my brother. There is pain, but it will end. There is still always a good side if you look at the blades of grass on a bright day or even a dull one. Do you feel me?

DAVID: Maybe kind of. A razor blade of grass glass is not only for wrist-slitting, but for making peace with the earth and the sky and my nice warm bed in winter if only I could share with you.

LYNN: Grass. Or even a leaf.

DAVID (shouting in maniacal triumph): THE SMALL THINGS HAVE RELEASED ME! OH I LOVE YOU, MY SEXY MINX. I WILL RELEASE TO YOU MY MINT!

LYNN: That's good then. ...(gasps)... Look there! It's Alex! Or is this merely one of the false-lights from the spring?

~Up ahead is a station wagon, and a man sitting nearby in the sand. The man is holding a dead snake. The man is indeed ALEX, the paranoid chemist.

DAVID: Ho! Ho! That vehicle could've been a cosmic elephant in another time. But look now how the colours have been bleached from it's sorry hide like a drizzled pumpkin deja vu.

LYNN: No, David. It is Alex! Do I still want to kill him?

DAVID: Do you? YOU should know.

LYNN: Yes I do. It is deeply spiritual and transcendental to send him on his way in the afterlife journey vessel if only he can have the courage to make the jump.

~The two are silent until they reach ALEX, who seems transfixed by the dead snake in his hands.

LYNN: Hello, Alex.

ALEX (looking up): Oh hi. Sorry about before.

LYNN: You tried to kill me by leaving me in the infinite sand.

ALEX: Yes. I'm sorry. But I'm dying.

LYNN: Don't tell lies. You're not dying, Alex.

ALEX: Yes I am. This rattle snake bit me twice before I crushed it's neck. I'm allergic to snake venom. I AM dying.

DAVID: Actually, all of your faces look rather swollen, sir.

ALEX (to LYNN): Who's this weirdo? Is he one of Them?

LYNN: This is my brother: David.

ALEX: Another lie, you fucking serpent? I didn't know you had a brother. You never had a brother before. I think you're full of shit.

LYNN: He's not my genetic brother, but my spiritual brother. He's my eternal soul-mate in the ashes. We've seen things together that make you look like an ant between the teeth of a peach. YOU are the outsider, Alex.

ALEX: Teeth of a peach? Have you been using?

LYNN: What? Your drugs? Yeah. What of it?

ALEX: What did you take of mine, you scheming slut? Did you steal my serum of truth?

LYNN: Don't call me names with your black-hole Satan-face. I took batch number seven, if you really want to know.

ALEX: I knew it! Trying to steal the key to revelation! Trying to open all seven seals! I ought to smash your fucking face in!

DAVID: NO! Never again. I won't photograph you again, evil grey suit shark. I'm a new man. I've been reborn. I won't let the horror happen again inside. No more standing silently with smug photographs. I'll protect her!

LYNN: No need to protect me, David. We should end this right here and now. God will decide the outcome of this.

DAVID: God? What do you mean?

ALEX: Yes, you white pumpkin witch-headed jackal, what DO you mean?

LYNN: We'll end this the proper way. We'll end this in the spiritual and transcendental way, with the most divine ritual that can ever be thought of within the triangle of three. God will decide our fate this day.

ALEX: You want God to decide? Praise Allah! Even in my moments of weakness, the serum of truth gives me strength and guides my path. You are the Djin!

DAVID: Are you a Muslim, Mr. Suit-Shark?

ALEX: Not a true Muslim, but I do believe in Allah. I only pray that he can forgive me for my weakness in trusting this evil bitch. And I thank Allah for giving me the serum of truth. Allah Akbar!

DAVID: Hmmm. I was once into Satanism and atheism, but then my sister here - Lynn - came and showed me a better way. We've seen the dragons in the sky! All mysteries have opened before us. Your Islam is nothing when you see the true fabric of your own soul...

ALEX: You know nothing. It's just the gear talking and you know it.

DAVID: Oh? You can't deceive the undecievable dragon-seer. You yourself called it the serum of TRUTH... TRUTH, not lies like those that foam around your insinuating mouth. Your own mishappening lies told are coming back to haunt and confuse your own logic-sword.

ALEX: You-

LYNN: Shut up! Both of you! We will begin!

DAVID: I'm ready.

ALEX: YEAH! I am prepared. The Others have failed to defeat me, and Allah will judge me worthy.

LYNN: Then let us dig!

DAVID: Dig?

ALEX: Huh? Dig? What crazy shit is this?

LYNN: "Dig?" you asked. Yes. DIG. We must dig until we reach that place deep under the sea itself. All seas, in fact, that grace the hidden pearls of the green hydra. We will DIG until we reach the singularity of peace under all the oceans. If we are worthy, we will get there.

ALEX: You are not only crazy but also prophetic in your blasphemous mega-truth. Yes. Yes indeedy. Ha ha HA! Okay, if this is the final stand-off, then so be it. I'll show you all. I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy...

DAVID: Lynn, I don't want to question you, but is this really possible? If we dig far enough down, will we actually get to that place of true calmness that you were thought-broadcasting to me?

LYNN: Yes, my brother. I know you are worthy. We can make it all the way down there if we keep truth in our hearts. Now let's DIG!

~At that, the three of them begin digging frantically into the sand, burying themselves a bit at a time.

LYNN: David, no matter what happens, you must keep digging deeper and deeper. You'll begin to choke, but that is God's test. If you continue beyond all pain, God will reward you. If you give up when the deepest blackness engulfs you, it will prove that you are uworthy and detestable in my Master's single eye as it sits in that vast region of skin and bone, rotating in its socket of doom.

DAVID: But I don't know if I can even do it. The horrors in my soul may be too much. What if I choke before I reach that place of truth?

LYNN: You WILL choke. We all will. That's the test. But I KNOW we can keep going.

ALEX: Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!

DAVID: I don't know about this. I think I'm getting way out of my depth here.

LYNN: Don't worry. I'll be here to hold your hand when the worst terror comes. But you must erase all doubt from your mind. Purge everything except pure truth - from the serum. Getting beyond the point of no return is something that you and you alone must do. I can't make you continue beyond the first death, but I do believe in you. I believe in you, David!

DAVID: What is the "first death"?

LYNN: The first death is when your physical body and mind just give up. But you can force both body and mind to continue onward. All you have to do is keep digging no matter what. WE WILL REACH THE HOLY SHRINE!

ALEX: Allah Akbar!

~The three continue to dig. They are down to waist-level now, and still going. It is evidently hard work, and sweat is pouring from all of them. Alex, looking bloated and weak, seems to be running on willpower alone. He resembles one of the living dead.

LYNN: Keep going, David. I love you, my brother. I will be there for you when we get to the spherical pools of endless tranquillity beneath the sand.

DAVID: I love you, sister. I will always love you.

ALEX: All-ah... ak... bar...

LYNN: See, my brother? Alex is giving up already. He's a worthless quitter. He is not worthy to journey with us to the most holy place in God's creation. The Lord is sapping his strength.

ALEX. N-... no. Allah is not... sapping... me. The snakebite... is... sapping me. I'm... worthy.

DAVID: Satan is sapping all of our collective strength. Shit, this is exhausting.

LYNN: Yes, maybe it is Satan over there (she indicates ALEX). But if we are worthy, he cannot stop us.

ALEX (seeming to find a sudden surge of energy and fury): A- (cough) ALLAH AKBAR! I AM NOT SATAN. I WILL SHOW YOU WORTHLESS JACKALS WHO THE... DJIN... REALLY IS.

~Now the three of them are at neck-level. They are having to wriggle and contort their bodies in order to go deeper into the sand. Under the sand, they are still digging with their arms but it is becoming gradually impossible. Suddenly, Alex gives up and dies. His head falls forward, and his face presses into the sand.

DAVID: Look. Alex is one dead infidel.

LYNN: Yes. He was not a true believer. But we must continue to prove ourselves. Everything is now so clear. Clearer than the sky above.

DAVID (looking skyward): Look at all the warping vultures. Do you think they'll attack us?

LYNN: Maybe God will test us with the vultures. Maybe not. Come on. Keep digging.

DAVID: But it's so difficult. I'm so tired. And I'm scared!

LYNN: Hold my hand under the sand.

DAVID: (does so).

LYNN: You can do this, David. Don't give up on me now, you pussy. We can DO this!

DAVID (sighs): Yes. We can. I will continue.

~Eventually they get so deep that sand is entering their mouths.

DAVID: I'm (cough) choking!

LYNN: Then breathe through your nose, you wimp. We gotta keep going.

DAVID: What do we do when the (cough) sand covers our noses?

LYNN: By then, we won't be able to talk any more, so it is important that you understand this now. When you can no longer breathe through your nose, you must increase your efforts and go deeper. No matter what happens, no matter how painful it gets, you CANNOT give up until you reach the underwater realm. When you find yourself dying with a lung full of sand, you must redouble your efforts. Never give up. We will be together inside the Coral Prism.

DAVID: Will you (cough) keep holding my hand?

LYNN: Yeah. Even if you try to back out at the last minute, I will keep pulling you with me. Understand?

DAVID: Yes.

LYNN: This is it, then. The final effort. We'll have to close our mouths now.

DAVID: I love you forever!

LYNN: I love you, brother! Let's do this!

~The two survivors continue to get deeper. Eventually, their noses are beneath the level of the sand. When DAVID feels the first few pangs of suffocation, he panics and inhales some sand. It is agony - psychological and physical. But remembering his pledge, he frantically struggles to get deeper still. He can also see panic in the eyes of LYNN. They are both dying fast.

~DAVID can hear LYNN's muffled voice under the sand, but can't make out any words. He looks into LYNN's eyes, and that gives him some strength to continue. He surges deeper.

~Now sand pours into his eyes, and he cannot see a thing. Everything is black, and the sand scrapes his eyeballs. He can still hear a muffled voice, but now his ears are filling with sand, too. Soon, he is both blind and deaf. With one last effort, he manages to entirely submerge himself in the sand.

~...But he has no more to give. After one futile spasm, he dies.

~Under the sand LYNN's hand relaxes and slips from DAVID's.

~They are both dead.

~Cautiously, the vultures settle and approach their meal. The three dead humans make quite a feast. After a short time, the vultures pull the sandy corpses out of the desert, and consume them in a feeding frenzy that lasts until the sky turns black, and the moon smiles down upon the scene like a bleached out Jack-a-Lantern.




THE END