I woke up gasping for air and squinting as blinding light struck my eyes. Heart pounding, I rolled over onto my hands and knees and stared down at the ground. There was nothing but brown dead grass and dust. With a groan, I pushed myself to my feet only to fall back onto to my knees gagging. I clenched my stomach. Pain boiled in my gut. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down and get my bearings. The pain subsided and I got up—more slowly this time. I jerked my head back and forth in horror and fought down waves of panic. The sameness of brown dead grass stretched on and on in all directions. Ripples of heat distorted everything.  The haze filled my eyes and the sun started to burn my skin.  Thoughts whirled.

“How did I get here? Where am I?” I said to myself in despair.
There was no answer—only silence.   I looked around in a wide circle then stopped. There was something out there!  Faintly, in the distance, I could just make out a single green tree. I thought to myself, “If there’s a tree, there’s life.” Looking around once more at the dull, bleak landscape, it seemed I had no other option. Slowly, planting one foot in front of the other, I plodded toward the tree. Hours passed.  I never seemed to get to it, walking endlessly towards it, yet never reaching it. Dead grass crunched underfoot.  I trudged on and on. My skin blistered and my throat burned. Every joint scraped together and every muscle throbbed. 
My body screamed, “I need water!” I ignored it and kept going. My heart pounded in my ears and heavy breaths left my chest. The only thing I could smell was the stench of my own body and the faint scent of blood. Sweat glistened and vaporized off of me. The pointed dead grass shattered under my bare feet stabbing me again and again. The dry air filled my mouth and slithered down my throat. The heat felt like somebody pushing me down.  I looked up at the beating sun, rubbed my eyes, and looked again.  It hadn’t moved at all.
“How’s that possible? I’ve been walking for hours!” I yelled in disbelief.
I fell to my knees staring at my dry cracked hands. I felt give up, ready to die.
I heard a voice yelling, “Just a little further John! You can do it. Come on!”
I lifted my head and looked around mystified by the voice.  I must be hallucinating! I struggled to my feet shading my eyes against the glare. There was somebody standing next to the green tree! I stumbled forward and started to run.
“Help! Help! I’m over here!” Waving my hands franticly in the air, I fell and landed on the prickly ground.
An old worn voice rasped behind me, “Where you going’? There’s nothing out there but dead grass, son.”
I flinched, then turned towards the voice. An old raged, man bent over on his cane.  He stared down at me with expressionless eyes and a disturbing smile.
“Where did you come from?”
“I’ve been here all along,” he said in a raspy voice as he hobbled forward.
“But, I’ve been alone!”
He shook his head slowly and grinned. “Nope. I’ve been here with’ you all along.”
I gazed at him in confusion. “I need to get to that tree! There must be water and there’s somebody over there calling me.” At the thought of water, my mouth felt like it was filled with sand.
He sneered. “Over where? No need to go anywhere--there’s nothing out there.”
I pointed at the tree and sputtered, “But its right there!”
“Come on John! Hang in there!” A women’s voice echoed from the tree.
“Just stay here son. You don’t need to leave,” the old man coaxed in a slithery voice.
I shook my head and gazed toward the tree.  He grabbed my shoulder and squeezed with an icy grip.
“Why don’t you just stay?”  
I felt cold seep into my shoulder while I struggled to pry his hand off.
“No! I need to go. I have to get to the tree. I have to get out of here!”
His fingers dug into my shoulder, and his eyes darkened dangerously, “Just stay. Just give up.”
“NO! This… this place isn’t right! Nothing makes sense.”  I wrenched his hand away. He hooted with laughter while he straightened up. His cane fell to the ground. 
“JUST-- STAY!”  he roared. The ragged man started to morph into something that wasn’t human—something grey and putrid that stretched up and up. His fingers turned into curved claws.  I staggered back in horror, adrenaline pumping through my body. I turned and raced towards the tree-- towards life. Dry hot wind swept around me. The nightmare world became even hotter than it was before.
“Come on! You can make it!” the woman screamed.
I could see the tree’s leaves, greener than ever before. The promise of rescue was so close. I was almost there. But, the creature was at my heels. It reached out and its claws sunk into me.   Pain shot from my stomach and blood spurted out.  I screamed and fought my way free, kicking and squirming, I hit the ground, picked myself up, and raced forward staggering with one hand over the wound on my stomach. I felt that I was going to die in this place--that this thing was going to kill me. The monster lifted its claws ready to swipe me off my feet.
“Stay!” it roared.
“No!”  In one last desperate attempt to escape, I leaped towards the tree and landed with a poof of dust.  Pain shot through my body, but I had reached the tree. 
My eyes shot open to a bright light swinging over my head. A woman in surgical scrubs looked down at me. Panic filled my body and I scrambled to prop myself up to escape.
“It’s okay John. You’ll be alright now,” she murmured while putting a gentle hand on my shoulder and eased me back down.  There were others here too. The room was filled with moans and the iron stench of blood. Pain shot up from my stomach. Bloody gauze bandages were wrapped around me like a mummy. Then, I remembered the war…the explosion.