Below the deck of a weathered clipper ship a giant ant kicked back and let out a clicking noise of relief. It lifted an amulet out of a small, wooden box with its awkward stick legs. The amulet glistened in the flickering light of the lanterns that swung from overhead beams. Runes were branded across the wooden box and the ant read these aloud as it rubbed the amulet. Gradually the amulet brightened until it glowed a fierce crimson. The blood-colored light bathed the ant’s shiny exoskeleton as it continued rubbing the amulet. Soon the ant began to change- the shiny shell cracked to reveal new skin beneath, little fingers grew from its stick arms. Before long it was an ant no more- instead it had become a beautiful girl, sitting naked on the worn ship floor. The girl, still moving with a strange insect rhythm, found some colorful rags and tied them around herself.

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Marty crawled out of the torn fuselage and across the desert, leaving a meandering trail behind him. He crawled for miles, the sun beating down, his clothes torn and shredded. He crawled and crawled, losing track of time as days passed without food or water. By end of the first week, his skin had burned and blistered until he was nothing more than a crispy skeleton jerking mechanically across the sand. He found a sand-blasted old Coke can and mechanically brought it to his mouth, sand pouring out, falling through his skeletal jawbone where his throat had blistered away. He threw it down and went on crawling, the wind blasting him with sand as he trekked onward.

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They were just nearing the top of the Ferris wheel when Pietro told her. The ocean was spread out for infinity, glistening in the sun. The sounds from the boardwalk seemed miles away. “I love you. I have always loved you and I will always love you.” His black eyes held her and she felt like she couldn’t move. “Really…” she started, her voice thin and weak. “Why didn’t you ever…say…something?”

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