With the help of his improvised blind cane, the fugitive from the fire ran through the undergrowth surrounded by smoke, fire and burning fathoms that flew like incandescent fairies around him, while listening to the crackling of those dry thickets when burning, which seemed to be looking for their escape route to continue with their furious pursuit, seeing that the hungry flames looking for something more than his hand to burn were directed towards him, He was looking for the way out to get away from that furious and voracious fire, that he seemed to be hunting him, as if wanting to corner him like a predator to his prey, incredulous he saw already sure of this as that fire devouring mezquites followed him, he had already lost the notion of time, the location of the burner, and the drilling tower in his eagerness to circumvent the fence that the flames intended to lay for him, he had lost his direction and orientation, walked countless more minutes taking advantage of the bewilderment of that predator that seemed to have lost its prey, He continued moving to get away from the fire, relocate and return to the facilities of the drilling rig, worried about Edgar began to call him, and while shouting at him he found a small but well marked path in that now lonely and silent mosquel, the thick of the brush and the smoke remnant of the fire did not let him find some point of reference that would serve to orient him.
-EDGAAAR!
He continued screaming and wondered, "What the fucking is wrong?" Now no trace of the fire, nor of the derrick, I must at least be near the road, but neither the noise of engines heard and these petty beggars that do not let me see.
The smoke began to come from somewhere as if giving him a signal of where the fire was or had been and he preferred to follow it instead of moving away but without entering it, he carried in his right hand the fire axe he had taken from the forklift, Since in his left hand he felt the pain and burning in his wrist and back, because he had a strong second-degree burn that was already beginning to hurt, he touched his head looking for his hard hat and when he did not feel it he thought.
"Damn it, it was new.
And cautiously he continued his search in that fog that now covered everything.
"This is fog, not smoke.
He thought as he sniffed the air, the path that followed and continued to take him somewhere split in 2 directions, He continued straight ahead and turned right, he decided on the path on the right, since he had a strange fixation to always choose the path on the right at each fork in his entire life, thinking at the same time that if he made a mistake he only had to retrace his steps towards that junction, The fog became denser blinding him completely at times, as he continued walking, without taking his steps away from that path that seemed to have been artificially traced, He continued walking like this for the lapse of an hour or so, until he considered useless his advance through the closed fog that did not let him see beyond 1 meter, and tried to retrace his steps seeking to return to the junction where he had taken the right, but turning around after a few steps, Suddenly the fog began to fade, but not as if carried away by the wind, it began to fade as if it were a holographic effect, and as it disappeared completely, he was a little amazed to see the Sun in the middle of the horizon, already about to get lost in its setting.
- Wow, it's getting dark! Luckily, so I can orient myself with the glare of the lights of the drill rig or with that of the city.
He also noticed that the path he was walking on was gone.
-Let them shave me! –he said aloud. -I'm sure I didn't leave the sidewalk one step! Anyway, what it was good for.
But neither was the jungle of mezquital for which he had been.
But that was nothing compared to the astonishment he saw what was appearing before his eyes.
"The Sun, yes, the Sun rose at that moment from the distant horizon instead of setting as he expected! In a beautiful sunrise that adorned that desert landscape showing him that in the distance, towards any cardinal point that looked there was only sand, he let himself fall on his knees on the ground, waiting a few minutes, doing breathing exercises to calm down, and be able to think better about what was happening, without raising his head he put the axe on the ground, and without getting up he felt in his pockets as if looking for an answer in his clothes, an electric blue overalls made with flame retardant fabric, reflecting light on his chest, back, around his arms, wrists and bastilles, He actually didn't dare to raise his head, in his chest pocket, he felt a hard and light lump as if a small stone had gotten into him by accident, he took it out, it was his cell phone that at the same time hung from a rope from his neck, he turned it on and the small device began with its signal search protocol, patiently observing the command: Searching, which appeared on the digital screen and waiting to see the command of in service appeared the command of without service, Discouraged him, he felt annoyed as it commonly happened when he needed the cell phone and had no signal, he raised his head as if wanting to make sure that the Sun effective He was coming out and said loudly:
-Really! Dawning in the middle of who knows which of the deserts and for a change my cell phone has no signal; Like this or more lost?
Without stopping looking at the Sun, he began to feel one by one the pockets of his clothes, in his left front pocket he found some coins, keys and his wallet, with some banknotes and documents, in the left butt, the traffic book that he normally used to write down all kinds of things.
From mathematical calculations he did at work, telephones, directions and even thoughts and poems that he himself wrote from time to time, he recognized surrounding his waist a belt of synthetic material where at the same time he had the 07 knife with his cover, stuck in the collar of the black shirt he used under his overalls, They hung his safety glasses with sporty design and red cristal, in the right pocket of his chest he brought a hard pack of cigarettes and a New plastic lighter.
-Go! At least I bring cigars.
He thought while there would be the pack, lighting a cigarette he got up picking up his axe, and began to walk looking for a high point in those dunes to locate himself or locate a cell signal.
-If the Sun rises in the West... Mmm; Or will it be from the East? Hell! I have never been completely sure of that, anyway, the cardinal point that interests me is the North, that is; Reynosa always stayed on the right and Monterrey on the left, if the sun is rising there, Reynosa must be there and if I am wrong then there must be Monterrey, or any of the towns that are before reaching that city or some part of the border with Texas, and this must be the desert of Burgos that I never thought would be so big, And so desert and I must have gone into the about 10 kilometers or so, the logic is that if I ran more or less from one o'clock in the afternoon at a speed of 10 to 15 kilometers per hour, between walking, falling and running until dawn.
"Then I must have run about 15 hours, but; Once again, shave me! I had never been able to run more than 1 hour in a row and if at least my average speed was about 5 or 6 kilometers per hour; Let them shave me again! –he said while counting and counting with his fingers. -75 kilometers! That's too much for me, I don't think even Olympic walking champions can do it, although it is possible that I have moved around in a circle and am not so far away, anyway, it is better to look for the North, since the South is surely further away.
He said as he adjusted his safety glasses and began the road towards the supposed North turning off his cell phone, a morning breeze ran over the dunes of that desolate desert landscape helping him to withstand the rays of the Sun, achieving an average temperature that at times made that walk pleasant, he walked about 2 more hours and turned the cell phone back on, the device made its signal search protocol discouraging him once again when he saw the command appear without service, he looked at the battery indicator that showed only 2 lines, indicating that he only had 1 or 2 days of continuous use, He checked the time on the cell phone that marked 6:35 p.m. and turning it off began to calculate times.
-When I started pumping sludge to the well the cell phone marked 12 noon, between when I started pumping, the mud came to the surface, the Caudaloso got out of control, the burner was lit and then the fire and the time it takes to escape the fire and get here, -Gather that when much have passed about 4 hours and now it turns out that it has just dawned, I have been walking for about 2 hours and it dawned about 2 hours ago, that is, at dawn the cell phone should have marked 16 hours, that is, the accident in the well and everything else, lasted about 4 hours; Hell! I've already made balls; Either I was ahead in time or I got behind, or my cell phone was deprogrammed with the wet, in addition traveling or moving in time is mathematically improbable and logically imposible, But I could not have escaped the fire in the Mezquital, from noon until dawn, that is: 15 hours away! Without resting, without eating, without drinking water and what is worse; No smoking! According to these elapsed time and distance values, I should be about 70 or 75 kilometers from any known part around the drilling rig, or of the road and not in this foolish desert, I repeat... I have never walked so much! Let them shave me I know what's happening.
And so, pondering in his own conclusions continued that strange and unexpected walk, the Sun reached the point where his body no longer cast a shadow, he felt his face burn and his hand that already swarmed whitish secretions and burned with sweat and contact with sand, He turned on his cell phone again without finding a signal, it indicated 7:30 p.m., turned to the sky trying to understand what was happening, turned off the cell phone and continued walking while a slight pain in the heels began to afflict him, in the increasingly distant horizon, towards any point that he looked there was only sand, he already began to feel thirsty and annoyed by that burning Sun, and his reflexes so annoying that at times dazzled him, that if it were not for the protection of the red cristals of his safety glasses they would have already left him blind, suddenly he seemed to see water in the distance, but already accustomed to the mirages seen on the roads and paths of that area, he did not lose the slow and managed rhythm he carried, aware that if he did not take advantage of his energies he could fall dehydrated, The blue overalls of flame retardant fabric that he wore stuck to his body as if wanting to drink the sweat that drained him.
He walked a while longer and sat down to rest on the sands in full sun, taking off with work one of the safety boots that he wore, a blister began to peek mockingly from one of his heels, while he tried uselessly to swallow saliva and soak his lips already split, the Sun fell about 3 quarters of the sky initiating its descent towards that unknown horizon that flanked it, the cold breeze coming from the supposed North refreshed him a little encouraging him to continue, the cold breeze coming from the supposed North refreshed him a little encouraging him to continue, he put on his boot carefully because the back of his burned hand and the blister of his heel were burning, and sat up he thought:
-To give Juanito, that this does not seem to me a good place to die.
The Sun continued to go down while he continued walking, who amusedly saw it as if it were a race with the finish horizon, a race that he would obviously lose, in the distance he managed to distinguish a dark line.