Their group had shrunk considerably, leaving only about seven of them remaining. Rosie trudged along beside Murphy, trying her hardest to shake the thought that this was possibly a bad idea. The trip seemed to be weighing on the boy, as well, because his usual humor and snarky comments had disappeared. Instead, he just walked in exhausted silence.

"It'd sure be nice to have some sign that we're not just marching to our own deaths," Craig complained, eyes directed towards Jaha.

Although Rosie agreed, she wished the boy hadn't voiced the thought. Saying it out loud made it so much more real, and she realized the true danger they had put themselves in.

"We're not," Jaha responded firmly, not even bothering to look back at the boy.

"Hey, tell me if you know this one," Harris started, a goofy smile on his face.

Rosie internally groaned, wanting to wring the guy's neck because of his jokes. He had been pestering the group with them for hours, a smile never faltering from his face. His cheerful disposition didn't match the other's, and ultimately was just making them all more irritated.

"Not again, please," Murphy groaned while tilting his head back and staring up at the sky. It was if he was praying for someone to stop that impending awful joke.

"A grounder and a reaper walk into a bar," Harris started with a smile, ignoring the group's protests. "Bartender looks at the grounder, he says: 'We don't serve your kind around here.' The reaper gets up and leaves."

Harris began to laugh to himself, eyes planted on Murphy. When Murphy didn't even crack a smile, he looked towards the others for approval, hoping they would laugh along.

"You get it? Reapers eat grounders."

"I will take Jaha's staff and beat you to death with it." Murphy snapped toward Harris, a threatening look in his eyes.

Rosie gently placed a hand on his arm, urging him to calm down silently. He relaxed at her touch and faced back ahead. Tensions were running high, as they would in a group that had been walking for days and now had no food or water. Harris didn't seem to mind the threat, his smile remaining plastered to his face.

"John," Jaha warned, looking back at the boy. 

"Or this one," Harris began to tell another, as if he had a death wish. "An arker, a grounder, and a mountain man walk into a bar. Arker says, 'I'll take some moonshine.' Grounder says, 'I'll take some too.'"

The man began to laugh before he even finished the joke, clearly finding himself more amusing than anyone else did. Rosie silently wondered if the bar jokes were the only material the boy had and wished he would stop telling them. Murphy again stared up at the sky, seeming to focus on the constellations as a distraction. Rosie studied the boy, trying to tune Harris out.

"And the mountain man, he says—"

The last human noise Rosie heard was Harris' laugh, before a deafening explosion rang in her ears. There was no time to decipher what had happened, it all went by in half a second. She was pushed back, a body knocking into her and bringing her to the ground. There was a ringing in her ears and the side of her face was in the sand. She couldn't process exactly what was happening, the ringing clouding her thoughts.

After a few moments, she was being rolled over by someone. She blinked a few times, trying to regain her vision, and made out John. He seemed to scan her over for any visible sign of injury, holding one hand to his ear. Blood covered his face, which confused her. What was happening? What was the explosion?

Her worries were interrupted by a boot falling in front of the two. Perhaps the boot itself wouldn't have been such a problem, but the half of the leg still inside of it is what startled the too. Rosie clasped a hand over her mouth, putting the pieces together that whatever had exploded, took Harris with it. The sound of something else falling to her right distracted Rosie, and she glanced over just in time to see a severed arm land a mere foot away from a girl in the group. Her face filled with terror as she let out a horrified scream. Then, she began scooting herself back, trying to put distance between her and the limb. There was the sound of a small clicking, before the second explosion hit, and the girl was gone. 

This time, John was quick to shift his weight, effectively covering Rosie from the blast. They both had been thrown back to the ground, now with John half on top of her, acting somewhat like a human shield. Smoke and sand clouded their vision as it swirled around them. Rosie heard the sound of more thuds in the sand, but had no intention of looking at more fallen body parts.

Eventually, Rosie opened her eyes and came face to face with John. His breath was uneven from the adrenaline and his chest heaved rapidly. Still, he was staring at her. Their faces were mere inches apart as he seemed to scan her over to make sure she was okay. His eyes flickered around her face as she focused her own on his. In what felt like eternities but was actually only a few seconds, they both became aware of the position they were in. He had one arm wrapped around her with his other arm stiff in the sand, holding him up. Quickly, he rolled off of her, landing beside her in the sand. She used her elbows to hold herself up in the sand.

"No one move!" Jaha warned immediately after, causing both kids to stop in their tracks. "We're in the middle of a minefield."

Rosie and Murphy sat side by side, arms touching as carefully looked around at their surroundings. Jaha was on his stomach in the sand, while two other boys remained with them, both in awkward positions but too scared to move. Just like that, their small group of seven had become a small group of five, and Rosie couldn't help but wonder if this were some sort of sign that they had made a mistake.

"Are you okay?" Murphy whispered, looking the girl up and down.

"Yeah," Rosie nodded. "Thanks for, uh, earlier."

"What?" Murphy feigned confusion. "Oh, I just sort of fell that way, on top of you."

Rosie nodded and looked away, feeling stupid for thinking he had intended to save her. Then, she felt bad for worrying about something so trivial when two people she knew just died. She glanced at the boot still in front of her, before forcing herself to look away, for her stomach's sake.

"What are we going to do?" Craig voiced, looking to Jaha for guidance.

Jaha took some time before responding, and Rosie knew it was because he too was unsure of what they should do next. Sand began to blow harder around them. As if they didn't already have the worst luck, a sand storm was coming, and they had nowhere to go.

"We'll wait out this storm, and continue on in the morning," Jaha declared, carefully bringing himself to a sitting position. "In the daylight, we can see our footprints and backtrack, then go around."

Rosie held no energy to argue with him, but instead copied his motion of slowly sitting with her legs folded. Murphy followed suit, then the other boys did as well. The sand had begun to pick up, smacking them in the face and getting in their mouths. Rosie pulled up her makeshift mask around her mouth and nose, then pulled her hood over her head. She rested her elbows on her knees then her head in her hands, prepared to wait out the storm in that position. 

About an hour passed of them not speaking as the sand whipped around them. Every night in the desert had been cold, but now that they weren't moving and generating heat, Rosie was freezing. Coupled with the intense fear and anxiety she was feeling, she couldn't help but shake. After a few moments, Murphy seemed to notice this. He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. The gesture seemed to calm her slightly, and she forced herself to try and relax. She assumed he would pull it back after, having already shown his support, but instead, he kept her hand in his the rest of the night.

❀

"It's clearing," Craig announced as the sand began to slow. Through the whole night, they sat as they sand smacked into them. They were now almost unrecognizable, covered completely in the stuff.

John carefully unentwined his and Rosie's hand before standing up. He was careful not to step anywhere he hadn't been sitting, eyeing the sand around him cautiously. As he stood, he took in the sun rising over the horizon, then their surroundings. 

"There," He pointed towards the light. "We have the light, and, oh look, footprints are gone."

Rosie and the others glanced around, confirming their worst fears. They could see nothing around them but clear, dirty sand. There were no paths in it, no indications where the mines could be. Nothing, but sand.

"Sand, it blows." John pointed out pessimistically.

Jaha and the others followed suit and stood, glancing around themselves as they did so. Craig, Richards, and Rosie seemed more defeated than the former chancellor. While they looked around with no hope, he stood firm with a smile on his face. Rosie followed his gaze, eyes landing on something shining on the horizon, just passed over a sand dune.

"Do you see that?" Jaha questioned, causing the three boys to follow their gaze as well. "The City of Light."

"Emori was telling the truth," John whispered the realization. Then, he glanced towards the red-headed girl beside him, casting her a wide grin.

"We are so close," Jaha breathed out with a smile. "You wanted a sign? Well, there it is. We have to push forward."

"Yeah, what about the mines?" John inquired. 

"We were meant to be here, John. These mines, are just another test of our faith." 

"Yeah, well I was always crap at tests, so uh, please, after you chancellor," Murphy responded snarkily before gesturing ahead.

Jaha began to use his staff to test the sand. The others kept a good distance from him, letting him lead the way. They shuffled in a line behind the trail he left, choosing the tedious task over winging it and possibly being blown up. Rosie seemed to handle it better than the other three, with John throwing in side comments to Jaha and the other two anxiously whispering to themselves. She had no problem with slowly making her way across the minefield, so long as she didn't get blown up in the process.

"I can't do this anymore," Richards shook his head, causing Rosie to shoot Murphy a nervous glance.

"Just calm down, Richards," Murphy ordered, an annoyed tone carried throughout the sentence. "Who do you think it is, anyways?"  He then questioned, referring to the people in the city. "They must have power. A shower would nice right about now, wash off the rest of Harris."

Rosie found herself smiling at the boy's remarks, glad he had returned to his usual self. The trek seemed easier to get through when he was back to normal. She also found herself imagining a shower, and was suddenly less patient crossing the minefield.

"Sienna said it's a place where everyone is welcome," Jaha replied, scraping his staff through the sand. Rosie shot John a confused look, wondering who Sienna was, but he just shrugged in response.

"Well that'd be a first, wouldn't it?" Murphy muttered to himself.

"I can't take this, it's right there!" Richards screamed, shocking all of them. Then, he was running, avoiding the careful steps Jaha had left and made his own straightforward path. Rosie watched in horror as Jaha took off after the man, yelling at him to stop. She forced herself to look away, not wanting to see anyone else be blown up. When she didn't hear an explosion, she looked back and was relieved to see Jaha had tackled him to the ground.

After that minor breakdown and about another two hours, they had finally successfully cleared the minefield. They knew so because they came across a sign telling them. 

"We've made it," Jaha declared. "Come on."

And with that, the five of them were sprinting towards the sand dune. Once they climbed it, they would finally see the City of Light. Rosie could finally be happy, she could finally start over. The excitement brought on by the thought outweighed the ache in her legs, and she began to push harder as she ran. She had taken the lead of the others, hoisting herself up until she was finally on top of the sand dune. She looked back triumphantly at her group before preparing to set her eyes on her new home.

As she turned and looked out in front of her, the smile on her face immediately faded. There was no golden, glittering city like she had expected. She forced herself to hold back tears as she took in the sight, awaiting the others to join her at the top. John was the first one to reach her, then Craig, then Richards, then Jaha.

"It's not a city," She choked out. "It's just a bunch of light panels."

Just like always hope had fooled her again.