There is a distinct click when Carter places his foot down. He turns back with terror in his eyes and yells for Acera to run. He reaches around and attempts to toss the boy, but there is no time. They are thrown into the air before he is even able to get a grip. Their remains fall to the earth and Acera stands distraught and near deaf from the explosion. Oos wants to scream out, but only manages a guttural cry that sounds like a distorted echo, or sound trying to traverse through water.
A group, of twenty strong, emerges from their hiding places under the sand. Sand Dwellers, swaddled in cloth, like lepers, armed with a mismatched arsenal and shouting incomprehensible words; grunting as pigs at a food trough. Acera reacts fast enough to take down two of them, each with a headshot, before
