Needless to say, the group had no intention of going back to the city and looking for that Brandon, no matter how magnificent everyone kept insisting he was. Clearly, he was at the heart of whatever was going on here.

"So, if there are no zombies out there, why do you think they're so afraid of letting anyone outside?" Alaina wondered, mostly to herself. She knew that neither of her friends would know any more than she did. And when they didn't respond, she said what she was sure they were all thinking: "Let's go find out."

"How?" Jophiel asked.

Alaina stopped short. Maybe they weren't all thinking the same thing. "Well... why don't we fly down there and see what's beyond the city walls?"

"Into the middle of the desert?" Cole asked.

Alaina just looked at him. Was that a problem? She would have thought getting up here would have been the hard part.

"I'm all for going down there – especially since there clearly aren't any zombies. And right now the weather's cool enough that we'll be fine in the middle of the desert. But what about when the sun comes up? It's going to be way too hot."

Alaina thought about it. She hated to admit it, but Cole was right. Still...

"You know..." she said slowly. "We've been all over this city, haven't we? And I haven't seen any crops. So, they must have a way to get them brought in, right? And that means, there's a way out of this city."

"Very true." Jophiel said.

Alaina beamed. She had to admit, she was pretty proud of herself; she was almost never the one coming up with the plans, or convincing her friends to go on adventures. Look how much had changed!

Cole considered what she'd said, slowly nodding. "But, where do you think this exit would be?"

Alaina looked left, then right, scanning the top of the wall for any potential clues. She almost laughed when she saw the tower about a hundred yards from where they were standing.

"What about there?" she asked, pointing.

"A good place to start." Jophiel agreed.

The watchtower was suspiciously empty. Really, all it did was confirm that there wasn't a threat at all. They made it all the way down to the ground floor without seeing a single soldier, guard, or even a janitor. But they did manage to find a garage of strange-looking vehicles sitting all by their lonesome.

"What are these?" Alaina asked. Cole walked over to the nearest one, inspecting it for a minute before looking up at her and grinning like a kid on Christmas.

"Looks like a hovercraft." he said.

"How does it work?"

"Let's find out." Cole opened one of the doors and hopped in the seat behind the steering wheel. Alaina got in on the other side, and Jophiel got in the back. After a few minutes of first staring at the controls, and then a few more of flipping switches, Cole managed to get the thing started. Then, they were off, zipping through the desert.

The speed was exciting at first. But as they left the city behind, there was nothing to see but sand dunes and cloudless blue skies. That was great, for the first ten minutes or so. But there was only so much sand Alaina could take before she started to get bored. Then, they broke down and Alaina wished for the boredom to return.

"What happened?" Jophiel asked, leaning between the seats, trying to get a look at the gauges in front of Cole.

"It looks like..." Cole said slowly. He hesitated a minute before turning back sheepishly. "We ran out of gas."

"You... you what?" Jophiel asked. He looked like he was having a hard time even understanding the concept. "You didn't check before we left?"

"Well, it never occurred to me that they'd leave a perfectly good hovercraft without enough fuel to get to some sort of destination!"

Alaina turned around in her chair, looking back at the city. It was just a speck off in the distance. And with the sun starting to rise, she doubted they'd be able to walk all the way back there before they were overcome by the heat. They were going to need another option. She looked around and was almost stunned at what she saw.

"I... I think I see something." she said, pointing off slightly to the right. She was almost positive that there was something over there other than just the infinite sand. She squinted against the sun, trying to get a better look. An oasis?

"It's a mirage." Cole said, but he sounded doubtful.

"It can't be – I see it too." Jophiel said.

"Me too." Cole admitted. "But if we're going to go, we'd better do it now, before the sun gets too high."

As soon as she opened the door, Alaina was hit with a wave of heat that almost made her change her mind about braving the desert sun. But she knew they couldn't afford to still be outside once the sun was overhead, and if they stayed in the hovercraft, all they'd mange to do would be to cook themselves.

Trudging through the sand was hard work, and it made the going very slow. The sun was well over the top of the city, and the group was only halfway between their useless vehicle and the oasis. The only good news was that they were now close enough that Alaina was sure it wasn't a mirage.

By the time they made it, Alaina was barely standing. She was boiling, exhausted, and dehydrated. A little part of her wondered if she was going to die. So when they finally made it into the shade of a short, squat building camouflaged in the trees, she'd practically collapsed into the grass underneath her feet. Cole and Jophiel did the same. They were so worn-out that they almost didn't notice the young soldier who approached them.

"And who, exactly, are you three?" he asked warily.

Alaina didn't even bother to respond; she was too tired. If he was going to shoot her, she was almost ok with that.

"Travelers." Cole said, not even raising his head up off the grass.

"Travelers? Around here? I don't think so."

"We came from the city." He waved his hand vaguely in the direction they'd come from.

"Nobody comes from the city." the soldier said. But he sounded less sure than he had been.

"Well, we did." Cole assured him. "And let me tell you, there's something weird about that place."

"We've noticed." the soldier said. He looked at them critically for a minute. Apparently, he'd decided that in their current state, none of them were a threat because he added, "Why don't the three of you come inside? We'll get you cleaned up, and you can rest here for a while."

Alaina nodded; that sounded fantastic. She struggled to her feet and followed the man into the wonderfully cool building. She was safe. She was safe, and she could relax. She was so glad to finally be in a place where she could let her guard down that she readily agreed to the soldier's next request:

"So, tell me everything you know about Brandon the Magnificent and his walled-off city."

Alaina nodded, happy to oblige. If it gave her a chance to stay here, she'd do it. She was pretty sure she'd had all the adventure she could handle – at least for a while.