### 89

The wind tears at your clothing as you fight your way slowly towards the distant gully. Your feet sink deep into the hot, shifting sands, transforming the simple act of walking into a hard and painful exertion. After what seems like an eternity you finally near your goal. You drop to your knees and crawl the few remaining yards towards the shelter of the shallow, rock-strewn trench. Gasping for breath, you bury your head inside your tunic to avoid inhaling a lungful of the sand-choked air and, gradually, your pulse steadies and your strength returns. You wait for the storm to subside but, as if in defiance of your wish, the winds grow ever stronger, whipping the sands into huge cyclones which suck countless tons of debris into their deadly, spinning cores.

Fear returns to freeze your heart when the shadow of a raging whirlwind falls across the gully. In blind desperation you crawl towards a narrow fissure at the far end of the trench, praying that it is the entrance to a cave. This time your prayers are answered--the fissure marks the beginning of a shaft that descends deep into the volcanic rock. But as you draw closer your hopes for a safe shelter are dampened by a gruesome sight.

Turn to 126.

Text copyright © 1987 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1987 Brian Williams.