Chapter 1

I tried to clear my head as I woke. Yes, I’m Pedro. Pedro Sanchez-Gomez. I’m a 26-year-old Ranger in the Desert Wildlife Refuge.

Mama kept asking me why I didn’t find a nice girl and make her some grandchildren. I want some but haven’t found a woman I can get along with. Cathy drank a lot and wanted to argue about every little thing. Manuela was nice, but her father always bugged her to find a rich guy, not a ‘peon with a badge’.

I’m so thirsty! My throat hurts and I feel so hot!

I opened my eyes.

Why am I naked, and laying on the sand? Why am I at the base of a cliff? It’s totally vertical, probably forty or fifty meters high. Where is my truck? Did I fall and hit my head? If I was rock climbing, why was I naked?

I sat up, then slowly stood. It didn’t feel like I was injured at all. Just so very thirsty!

I walked along the base of the cliff forty or fifty steps, and was happy to find water trickling out of a crack in the rock. The slow drips of water pooled in a depression in a large boulder. There were probably three or four liters! Yes! I tested a drop on my fingertip. It tasted ok and felt surprisingly good in my mouth.

I cupped my hands and drank, soothing my parched throat. I washed the dust and sand away from my eyes.

I scanned the horizon, such as it was. I saw other tall cliffs in all directions. The farthest was only about half a kilometer away.

I yelled; “HELLO!” My voice echoed a little. No response. I tried again; “HELLO! I NEED SOME HELP!” Again, no answer.

I walked back to the spot where I woke. There were no tracks, other than the ones I made in the sand in the last few minutes. There were no signs of humanity, or even life.

No clothes, no walkie talkie or pistol, no wallet or keys, not even any trash or plants growing.

Where was my truck? If I lost my truck and my gun without a really good excuse, I’d be fired for sure!

I kept walking, and found another spot where water seeped out from the rock wall. This one dripped much faster, forming a large puddle! Hundreds of liters! At least I wouldn’t die of thirst any time soon. There was another spot with dripping water eighty or hundred paces further along!

I didn’t see any way out. I was surrounded by cliffs in all directions. I guessed I’d have to climb. Climbing the first ten meters seemed much easier than usual. I got up about twenty meters, nearly halfway to the top, and the rock in my hand crumbled. I yelled as I fell. “AAAIIIIEEE!”

I hit the sand kind of hard, but only got a few scrapes on my naked back. I was sure I’d be hurt worse, or maybe die, falling that far. I tried climbing again and when I was about halfway up, the rock I was holding pulled out of the wall. I fell to the sand again. Thankfully, I wasn’t hurt that time either.

It was really odd. I tried jumping and went up about twice as high as I expected! I took a running jump and landed in the sand over ten meters away! I paced it carefully, almost fourteen meters!

I remembered watching the Olympics, and the best long jumpers in the world were only jumping eight or eight and a half meters!

Am I a superhero? Twice normal strength is a good thing, but not too impressive for a superhero.

I picked up a rock and threw it. It didn’t seem to fly any faster than usual, but hit the sand farther away than I expected.

I held a rock at arm’s length and dropped it. It seemed to hang in the air a split second, before falling slower than I thought it should.

The sun wasn’t as bright as I remembered, and the color wasn’t quite right. I thought the sun was more yellow, instead of blue?

This was VERY strange, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment.

I was getting hungry. I decided I should try to find some food. I circled the whole area, finding water dripping out of the rocks in a total of six places. Finding a natural spring in the desert is uncommon. Two in less than a kilometer is a minor miracle. Six? That just doesn’t happen!

There were no signs of food or a way out, but I found a few pieces of broken glass and two empty soda bottles. I could use them to carry water if I could find anywhere to go.

There wasn’t much chance of getting more lost than I already was, so I decided to walk to the middle of the area. I saw a large rock pile there. Maybe I could get a better view on top the rocks?

I saw a log and several sticks from a dead tree on the way there. I picked one up for a walking stick. There were hundreds of dead weeds sticking out of the sand, a meter or two apart. Summer isn’t kind to plants in the desert.

Five or six small cacti were the only green in sight, and they weren’t edible varieties.

I climbed up on the rock pile, and saw about what I expected, cliffs all around, and no sign of people or a way out. Near the far side of the rock pile, I saw a mouse pull a seed off a dead plant.

Life! At least there was something alive, other than me! Somehow the little mouse gave me hope.

I watched it chew the seed, as the sun slowly went down behind a cliff.

That had to be West. I made a mental note of it.

If a mouse could survive in the tough area, I could too. I’d try climbing again in the morning, and...