I was still plucking sand out of my hair hours after the sandstorm had occurred. Mona would occasionally spat on the floor. She could never seem to get it out of her mouth.

Looking back at it, it was odd how the storm had happened. There had been no warning. It had come spontaneously at full blast. The storm was obviously not supposed to be dangerous or slow enough to kill someone. It was just meant to stall us and make us weaker. It worked, for Mona and I spent nearly half an hour helping each other get the sand off of our bodies before continuing on.

Mona had suggested many times throughout our walk to ditch the path in order to search for a water source. The thought had always made me feel uneasy. What if we got lost? What if there were animals out there? Many people had said that going off only led to death. What if we died just by stepping off the path? The "what if" scenarios could go on and on, and each of them seemed to be worse than the last.

Mona stopped. She seemed to stop constantly. I always asked her what she heard, but Mona would just shake her head and tell me that it was nothing. I was never entirely convinced, but I would never press it any further than she wanted me to.

This time, she didn't shake her head when I asked her, though. "That sound, I heard it again."

"What sound?" I asked.

"Footsteps."

I stopped to listen, too. My heart was beating at nearly twice its speed. It seemed to take over my ears. That's when I realized that it wasn't my heart, but a pair of feet that were thumping frantically on the floor. Someone was running, and they weren't that far behind us.

I could make out a small silhouette in the distance, which seemed to enlarge by the second. It didn't take long until I could see a face, which was staring ahead, completely focused. A huge backpack was slung over his shoulders. I was surprised that it wasn't slowing him down.

He was so close now that I could see the sweat rolling down his temples. I froze as I noticed something in his hand. Mona tensed. A knife.

That's not what worried me, though. It was the dried blood that stained the weapon.

I took a step back at the sight of it. The bloodthirsty look in his eyes seemed to say enough. This boy wasn't here to be friends.

He swung the knife our way as he passed us. I jumped back, bumping into Mona, who seemed to be frozen in place. The boy slashed at me and the blade slid across my stomach. I gasped in pain and gripped my abdomen. It was as if Mona had an "on" button, for she suddenly came back to life. Mona broke into a sprint and charged after the man.

I attempted to chase after them, but the pain in my stomach was growing unbearable. I placed my hand over the wound in the hope that it would miraculously stop hurting. To no surprise, the effort was ineffective.

I stared at my now bloody fingers, remembering when Sebastian had told me about the suit supposably being fire and bullet-proof. So far, I had been burnt and cut, so it was obviously a scam. Thanks a lot, Sebastian. You've really helped me throughout this course so far.

It felt like forever before Mona came running back. She was breathing heavily. The backpack that the guy had on his back was now on hers. I took a step towards her, ignoring the pain the best I could.

"My lord, don't hurt yourself," she said.

I gave her a dirty look. "Sorry, I'll try to do better next time."

Mona chuckled and dropped the backpack on the floor. She fell onto one knee and nearly ripped the zipper off the pack as she opened it. Mona's usually converged face was replaced with a smile as she began rummaging through it. I slid my feet across the floor, trying to hold in the pain as I scanned through the bag myself.

Inside the first section was a dark-blue sleeping bag. It was sharing the space of a couple of water bottles as well, to my delight. In the smaller pocket, there was a thermos, crackers, a bag of what looked like meat, and a bruised apple.

Mona opened the thermos, allowing the scent of chicken and vegetables to dominate the air. Mona explained to me that it was soup, and it was still warm enough to eat. The aroma overwhelmed my nose. My stomach didn't just hurt from the wound but from hunger. With shaky hands, I attempted to take the container from Mona. She screwed the cap back on before I could touch it.

"We have to patch that up, first." She pointed at the dark stain in my suit. I let out an exasperated sigh and crossed my arms. She smiled. Mona slid a first aid kit out from under the food and slid it open. There didn't seem to be much in there, but Mona got to work right away.

"This might hurt," Mona warned me. I nodded, giving her permission to do her worst.

She lifted the material that had been torn and dabbed my skin with a thin fabric. It must have had alcohol on it, for it suddenly felt like a fire was burning my skin. I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from screaming. Mona's hand shot back when she looked up at me. I nodded as encouragement for her to continue.

Mona gave me an apologetic smile and continued at a much more rapid pace. It didn't take long until my wound was bandaged and finished. I didn't see what she did; I had my eyes closed the entire time.

"Thanks." She nodded and grabbed two water bottles. Mona tossed one to me. I slid the cap off with a slight struggle and forced the water down my dry throat.

A priest could have easily blessed the water and turned into holy water. It had to be the best water I'd ever had. It was warm yet soothing against my dry throat. The water bottle crumpled as a signal that I had drunk the final drop. I scavenged around the backpack, begging for more of the liquid. Mona's fingers curled around my wrist before I could do so.

"We have to save it," Mona said. "It's for survival."

I looked down at the floor, feeling the heat rush through my cheeks. Of course we did. How selfish of me to want more when there wouldn't be more soon enough. Mona handed me an apple, not seeming to notice my rosy cheeks. Or she just didn't want to bring it up. I savored the juicy fruit, finishing it by the time Mona had opened the bag of meat.

"What is that?" I asked. She ripped a piece with her teeth, struggling to tear it.

"Beef jerky." Mona read the package while chewing. "Have you heard of it?"

I shook my head. "No clue what that is."

"Looks like something people ate during WWIII," she said. Mona popped a piece into her mouth. "Well, whatever it is, it's good. Want some?"

I snatched the piece that Mona had offered me, trapping it between my teeth. It was tough. I thought that I would have had to use a knife to cut it up. It finally weakened and gave away. I let it dance around my tongue. It had an odd texture, and I had to use my back teeth to make it small enough for it to trail down my throat. No wonder no one sold this at stores; it was tougher than anything I had ever had. But how it tasted good.

"Are you sure that you can make it to the next obstacle?" Mona asked.

I nodded. "Once I get on my feet, I should be fine. I'll try not to be too much of a burden."

"Your pain isn't a burden."

I nodded. We both knew that Mona could continue the Pestilention just fine on her own. In fact, I had been waiting since day one for her to drop me and to leave. Hearing that she wasn't planning to do that anytime soon soothed my worries.

Mona nodded her head toward the trail. "All right. Come on, let's go."

Mona stayed behind me and silently helped me whenever I needed it. We had to change the bandage and clean my wound a few times as we walked. It overwhelmed me with nerves every time she reopened the first aid kit. There were only enough bandages for a couple of more days, and at this rate, they would be gone sooner than later.

Mona shrieked, so I turned my head to see what was wrong. Three eight-legged creatures were crawling around her feet. She looked like an elephant dancing as she attempted to squish them under her boots. Two of them remained motionless as she stomped on them. The other one scurried away and hid under a bush. Once she realized that I was watching her, Mona blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm terrified of spiders," she explained.

I laughed. "I'm not so hot about them, either."

We continued. I stepped on any spiders that crawled by. It seemed that the farther we went, the more there were.

They weren't like any spiders that I had ever seen before. The legs were a dirt-brown, while the rest of the body was black. White dots danced around its back. It had to be the size of my palm. I squished another one of the ugly beasts in disgust.

In the distance, I saw an object draped over a dirt hill. The corners of my lips tugged. I would be in any other place instead of the hot desert any day.

On the hill, a large net was tied down to the floor. Each space in the net was big enough to put my hands and feet through. I began to climb, expecting Mona to climb after me.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked, her feet not moving from her spot in the grass.

I laughed heartlessly. "Nothing here is safe." My hand began to tickle, but I didn't look away from Mona. "Come on, the faster we go, the faster we move on to the next obstacle." Mona hesitated before climbing after me.

Suddenly, the tickling feeling on my hand turned into a stinging sensation. I looked down to see a spider resting on the back of my hand, feasting on my skin. With a cry of pain, I swatted it away. It had left my hand red, and blood was spilling out of the hole that had been made.

Mona seemed to have had the same experience, for she was screaming and slapping the back of her neck. I climbed down to assist her. I swatted as many spiders as I could off of her body. No matter how many we got rid of, though, another cluster of them would replace them.

Chills ran up my spine as I felt one of them fall down my neck and onto my back. It didn't take a moment to hesitate. The little pest just ate away at its lunch, ignoring my hand as I tried to slap it away. Tears stung my eyes as I felt my skin tear, welcoming the spiders to a juicier territory.

Climbing up the rope seemed impossible by then. Mona was paralyzed with fear as one of the bugs had enough guts to crawl up her face and make itself comfortable on her cheek. I held the urge to look away.

I slid down the net, stopping next to Mona. I curled one finger around an opening while using my other one to slap my frightened friend. I was doing it mainly to kill the spider, but also to snap her out of her state of shock. Fortunately, it accomplished both.

I nearly dragged Mona up with me, trying to ignore the spiders crawling up my leg. Another one was trying to tear away at my bandage, smelling the fresh blood that was sealed off. In anger, it bit an open spot above my belly button. I released Mona's hand and slammed my fist at the spider, which seemed to make it angrier.

Mona grabbed my arm and flicked a spider that had been tangled in my hair. She then climbed ahead of me.

The pain that conquered my body seemed a hundred times worse than the stomach wound I had recently gotten. At least that was hurting in one spot. These little monsters were trying to eat me up from head to toe. I guess their mothers taught them never to waste food.

I was close to giving up and allowing myself to be eaten alive (which seemed to have been in the process of happening already) until I saw the top. Mona must have seen it, too, for she was climbing up faster than a squirrel. I couldn't help but follow, ignoring my chewed-up limbs. The adrenaline that was rushing through my body was too strong for it.

We finally were off of the net and on the top of the hill. I tried to stand, but my legs were too sore. I laid on the floor, wincing as I placed pressure on my back. That was probably where the main course was for the spiders, but my stomach wasn't an option to lie on, either. It seemed like there wasn't a single body part that had been spared from the attack.

"Lucky us." I looked over to see Mona was rummaging through the backpack. "There's no ointment."

"Painkillers?" I suggested.

"Nothing. This backpack is almost useless."

"Besides the food, water, and other sources for survival," I pointed out, only half joking. Mona chuckled, anyway.

"Right."

Mona begged to find a different location before camping out for the rest of the day. I couldn't blame her. It would have been hard to sleep with there being a threat of spiders eating our eyes out at any moment. It was a long and painful haul, but we finally found another hill nearby that seemed far and safe enough to stay for the night.

My friend insisted that I got to rest first, and I didn't refuse. I felt more beaten up than I ever had before.

I slid into the large sleeping bag. There had been one perk to that day, at least. We found a couple of blankets shoved into the sleeping bag when we unrolled it. I gladly took off my suit and replaced it with the wool blankets. Mona allowed me to have privacy as I did so and only came back to take her watch.

As much as my body urged me to sleep, my eyes refused to listen. I couldn't help but glance down at my bitten hand. There was a large hole with a red outline. The wound was covered in dried blood and dirt. I shuddered. It was a horrific sight. I could only imagine what the rest of my body looked like.

My other hand massaged my warm necklace. Mona's designer gave her a knife and that boy from earlier had been given a backpack full of supplies. Why did Sebastian give me a junky necklace? I had appreciated the gift earlier, but now it seemed pointless. It was as if he was waiting for me to die. Did he even care for me at all?

My eyelids grew heavy. I closed them gratefully, allowing sleep to take over my body, and for the pain to be relieved for a couple of hours.

Hello, everyone! This is quite a long chapter, but I had a lot to write about. It was almost impossible to end it. It was difficult to write, though, because I'm not afraid of spiders. It was like putting myself in my sister's shoes for a day (you should see how scared she is of them, she'd have to stand at least fifty feet away from the room the spider's in!).

If you enjoyed this chapter, comment, read on, and tell your friends to read this book! It's always fun to see your comments and to find new faces reading my book. Don't forget to vote with a shoe. Everyone has squished a spider with a family member's favorite shoe before, right? No, just me? That's all right. Read on and stay awesome! :)

This is Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons, just to represent her stomach wound. It also represents how committed Mona is to her alliance.