Sun. Sand and rock and shells and sun. The worst of these is sun. Especially when it's beating down on you in its uncontrolled glory, with it's light showing no mercy for your poor tired back or cramping legs.<br/><br/>These were pretty much the only thoughts going through Thea's head as she reached behind her for her water canteen, only to, once again, find it empty. The gray spotted horse she was mounted on seemed to be feeling the effects of the sun and barren landscape, as well. Whenever she'd tried to speed up the poor things, it'd just kind of pant and then stop. She felt a bit sorry for the thing, so she'd just slowed to a small trot, staying a bit behind the tan, bald guy in front of her.<br/><br/>"I can go look for some water," She suggested, really just wanting to dismount and stretch her legs. She hadn't run in forever, and she was sick of just sitting in a saddle, getting more dehydrated every moment.<br/><br/>"No need. It's right up ahead," He responded gruffly, not even looking behind him. And sure enough, as she looked up and squinted, she could see the faint outline of something. It was small, and the same exact reddish-tan color of the surface.<span style="font-style: italic">God, is that the base for this whole 'secret mission' or whatever?</span><br/><br/>Fifteen minutes later, she fell rather ungracefully from the horse, whom she had decided to call "Ferro", due to her silver-gray color (though it was rather ironic, seeing how easily tired the poor mare was), and entered a pretty battered looking tent. It was large, probably 100 by 250 feet, at least, maybe 7 feet high. She could see now that it mainly consisted of faded blankets and scrap tarp or plastic layered across PVC poles and weighted down with multiple rocks. 'Rooms' were separated by more blankets. There was a narrow hallway of sorts straight from the entrance, snaking up and down rooms of closed 'doors'. From outside the tent, she'd seen a smaller tent set up to the left of this one, with a large painted sign stating that it contained the "living quarters".<br/><br/>She kind of wanted to stick around a bit. She bet the living quarters were where they kept the food and water. And<span style="font-style: italic">beds</span>. Oh, God, she needed a bed right now. For two weeks, she'd Paraded across the Borderlands, sleeping on the rough ground. Sure, the beds were pretty shitty, anyway. Mainly vinyl mattresses, and sometimes even a blanket. But they were still better than having your back pain<span style="font-style: italic">get worse</span>when sleeping. She didn't have the choice, though, as her trusty guide, Crayton, was growling at her to wipe her feet on the torn cloth at the entrance and follow him.  She did so with a bit of a scowl, making sure to step on the back of his worn shoes as she walked carefully behind him.<br/><br/>All of the doors were shut, every last one of them, and each held to the side of it a wooden basin of about an ounce of absolutely disgusting water. Even in her dehydrated state, Thea had little desire to even taste a drop. She thought the water back home had been gross, always brown and murky, but this was even worse.<br/><br/>They stopped in front of an opening in the fabric wall, leading into a small room, probably right under 10 by 15 feet. That wasn't exactly what she was focusing on, though. A cooler of water and a plate of dried meat sat on a white table in the center of the room. The water must've been filtered, because, despite it's slight brown pigment, it was obviously a lot better than what she was used to. Maybe it was ground water. She'd heard that was pretty well-filtered, though she'd never had it. The ground in her scavenging area had always been too hard to even try to penetrate. She'd seen a river nearby, where she'd filled her canteen. Maybe that's where they'd gotten it, or at least placed a pump.<br/><br/>As she tried to enter, she found an arm blocking her way. She turned to Crayton to see him dip his hands in the water basin, scrub almost painfully, and shake them off.<br/><br/>"You can't honestly expect me to dip my hands in that crap," She said, incredulous. She wasn't easily disgusted, having grown up around rotted corpses, but she knew the dangers such unclean water could cause to skin.<br/><br/>"It's regularly cleaned with cilantro. They haven't made the daily rounds yet, but I doubt there's any deadly diseases there yet." He responded, with a bit of a sigh. "We made a good trade a while ago, and we have pounds of the shot now. Then again, we did lose our four best horses."<br/><br/>She squinted back at him with suspicion, but dipped her hands in the dark brown water without any more protest. She then quickly shook it off, and nearly ran into the room, taking a chipped plastic cup and filling it up with the sacred liquid, before grabbing a handful of the meat (venison, she guessed) and trying to refrain from stuffing her face. She leaned against a pole and slid down onto the cinder block floor, only to look up and find Clayton staring at her with a bit of a smirk on his face.<br/><br/>"What?" She asked, accusingly, as he raised his hands defensively.<br/><br/>"Nothing. I just never knew someone so small could eat so quickly," He responded, stepping into the room to grab a piece of the meat himself, and stepping out before Thea could stand up and slap him. She wouldn't've done it anyway, though. She didn't even know if she could ever stand back up again.