Heir Of Chaos

The first day passed without much drama. Dale had spent the hours of that day on the top floor of Watchtower One.

More than once, he had tried to convince himself to leave the place, but as he considered the possibility of the worms moving, unease would pool up in him, forcing him to return.

"This can’t be good for me." Dale groaned as he rubbed his eyes, trying to did his heavy eyelids of sleep. It didn’t help and now, his eyes hurt.

He blinked slowly and looked through the eyepiece of the telescope. The thick blanket of night covered the entire sky, ridding the entire desert of warmth and drowning it in cold.

Stars twinkled against the black backdrop but Dale didn’t waste his time observing the beauty of the constellations. He could watch them all he wanted when he wasn’t in the middle of a desert infested with giant carnivorous worms.

’Huh. That is a thought no one should have.’ The absurdity of it all wasn’t lost on him. Not that it mattered anyway, that was his life.

Through the telescope, he could barely see the sandy dunes. He adjusted it to the sky and scowled at the crescent moon.

If it were full then maybe he would be able to see better.

He turned it back to the dunes. In the bare minimum of moonlight, he could at least notice any major movements.

Granted, he was tempted to flash a light out in the desert but that would be the equivalent of carrying a neon sign that said, ’EAT ME’ in the brightest colors possible.

’As far as I see it, I am just wasting my energy worrying over this.’ If the worms did move, with his exhaustion, he was most likely going to quickly die.

Dale sucked his teeth and pulled himself away from the telescope. He walked downstairs to the bottom floor.

As he passed the middle floor, he paused, a little curious to see what was there. ’No, I’m not that curious.’ As far as he was concerned, sleep was more important.

He got to the bottom floor and crashed on his bed, letting the lull of sleep pull him in.

Dale couldn’t remember what he had dreamt about. He wasn’t even sure he had dreamed and it wasn’t like he let himself sleep deeply.

For all he knew, a worm was currently licking him. ’Do worms have tongues?’ That was Dale’s first thought as he woke up.

He looked around him. The door of the watchtower was still locked and the air was cool with sunlight from outside illuminating the inside of the building.

’I slept and didn’t die?’ So that was plus.

Dale stretched and reached for a bag they had left for him. He opened it and forced a smile on his face.

The bag was filled with bottles of water, multivitamins, a first aid and food paste. He understood the necessity of the first three but the food paste was a bit of a downer.

It wasn’t that it was a strange thing. No, he was familiar with food pastes — it was a common ’delicacy’ people in the slums had to eat alongside the two-headed snails so they’d get filled — but seeing it suddenly was a shock.

"I suppose they can’t give me fresh food." There was no electricity there and thus no refrigerator to keep food fresh. If they gave him perishables, they would quickly decay.

And who was to say that the smell of fresh meals wouldn’t attract the beasts?

All those and more were factors to consider but just because it was reasonable didn’t mean Dale couldn’t complain about it.

That was part of the fundamental human rights. "The right to nag and complain."

If he had to guess, the multivitamins were to support the paste sl he wouldn’t lack the proper nutrients his body needed.

There was one key fact about the food pastes and that was that it was a completely tasteless, wet mush with zero nutritional value.

That was why the people in the slums complemented it with their snails, worms, and rats. It seemed the military also complemented it but with pills instead.

Dale supposed that was better than mutated molluscs and dirty rats. ’Whatever though.’

He lifted a pack of the food paste and tore it open with his teeth. If there was an aroma, he couldn’t smell it.

Without hesitation, he closed his eyes and placed the opening against his mouth. He squeezed it and retched as he felt the ground paste settling into his mouth.

Dale forced himself to swallow everything in one go. He immediately opened a bottle of water and gulped it down.

As the water went down, his stomach suddenly swelled, leaving him feeling full. He then reached for the multivitamin and took one.

"Blugh. This thing is more disgusting than I remember." A few months ago and it would’ve been another Tuesday to him.

Experiences truly changed people. "Get a grip. Now isn’t the time to be melancholic." If he didn’t assume his post soon and the worms moved, then he had just fattened himself up for them.

He walked back up to the top floor and glanced out of the telescope. Through it, he could barely make out the specifics of the desert, it was all a blurry mess.

Dale pulled back his head. "What the?" And looked through again.

Aside from the blur, there was a slight reddish-yellow tint to everything he looked at. "Dust must have gotten on the magnifying lens sometime last night." It was barely his third day there and he had to wipe it clean already.

Admittedly, the thought of leaving it until later did pop up but as it was said, ’make hay while the sun shines’.

He steeled himself and left the observation floor.

When he got to the bottom floor, he grabbed a napkin and stood by the door. For all he knew, the moment he opened the door, a worm would gobble him up immediately.

"Well, no time to find out like the present." Then he opened the door.