Heat Kills
Beads of sweat roll down his forehead.
They say that sweating helps keep you cool, but when you’re chained up in the middle of a windless desert, it really doesn’t seem to help at all. Evaporation… it only leads to dehydration.
He can feel his skin burning and tightening under the blistering sun. He’s turning redder and redder, darker and darker every passing minute. Literally being cooked alive.
I struggled and strained all I could when I first awoke chained up to this floor, but it was no use, I was only speeding up the process, wearing myself out. The cuffs left me with blood covering my hands and wrists. I stopped bleeding soon after the sun rose. I hope that it dried out the wounds, instead of me being so dehydrated that the blood just couldn’t flow anymore.
Vultures circle overhead, preparing for a fine feast of flesh.
I wish I knew who did this to me, or why they did it. I can barely even think back to yesterday, when I was just another guy working at a 9 to 5, no real plans for the future yet. It wasn’t the best life, but it was pretty sweet, and I enjoyed it; hell, I was fuckin’ happy with it, ecstatic, and that’s all that counts, really, all that mattered to me.
The sun bears down on him with an untold force. Waves of heat continually pummeling him.
Now here I am, chained to a giant metal platform in the middle of the desert in the middle of the day; on my knees, waiting to die. I just don’t feel like moving anymore, I can’t, it’s just too damn hot. My brain doesn’t even feel like it’s functioning properly, it must have gone earlier, shut down, all in wait of the inevitable.
The sounds of pulsating heat play tricks on him, a high pitched drone.
I begin to imagine what will happen to me when I die. Will whoever put me out here come to reclaim my corpse, and cannibalize me? Maybe have a big picnic, I’ll be part of a celebration… Perhaps I’ll just be left out here forever, my bare bones basking and bleaching in the blistering boiling blaze. I hope it’s a case of mistaken identity, and they’ll soon realize their mistake, and come to get me, putting someone who deserves this out here in my stead. Could I be some sort of magical sacrifice, my bloodline leading up to this day, to appease some sort of sun god?
Heaven comes in the form of darkness. A shadow zone.
Clouds, amazing. I can see into the distance of this dead world. Nothing but cracked dirt, the dry crust of a burnt earth. It leads off into mountains. Other than that, nothing. I begin to get a good look at the steel platform I’m on. It’s curved. Doesn’t really look like steel here in the shade of the clouds. Can’t really tell what it’s made out of, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Will this really be the last thing I see?
He begins to feel droplets of water coming from the clouds overhead.
Yes! I can survive just a little bit longer, maybe someone will find me, save me. How good it will feel to drink water again.
He tilts his tired head towards the sky, opening his eyes to thank the heavens above, and mouth to drink of the liquid that comes from the sky to save his life.
No, no, this doesn’t taste right… those aren’t clouds… they’re… they’re…
The horrible and terrifying sight would be his last on this plane of existence.
GuNNhead 
August 21, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I like this, unique. You seem to be good at shock endings and this one is no different. Was he hallucinating towards the end, were those actually vultures that realized his skin had baked to just the right temperature? …I like to think so…
August 31, 2009 at 4:36 am
Thanks; I have my own views, but in the end, it’s up the the reader!
March 17, 2010 at 7:57 pm
You know Jakew, you’re super good at the Western genre. I think if you decide to “come back” to your writing blog, you should attempt more of this genre. You have a very natural flair for it in terms of writing style and imagery.