“Desert piranhas? What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Desert piranhas are the scourge of all desert travelers, I tell you. They swim in the air above the sand, attacking anything they find and eating it up. They’re worse than jackals.”
Kristof stopped at the foot of the dune and looked at his traveling companion.
“Rheiner, you are so full of crap. First, how can a fish survive out of water? Second, how the hell would it even be able to swim through the air? If it were even remotely possible for an animal to swim through the air, I’m sure there would be other creatures that would be able to do it.”
“Has something to do with the thermal updraft or something. I don’t know the science behind it, I just know to watch out for those vicious little buggers. Probably why it’s safer to travel in the desert at night since it’s colder and they probably can’t get off the ground. And maybe they are the only animal that can do it because they ate all the others who could, did you think of that?”
Kristof shook his head in amazement. Truly, he had never met a more idiotic individual than Rheiner. He was still not sure how he ended up with this fool.
Sure, they were both on the same charter flight across the Escalante Desert. And they were both the only ones to walk away from the crash. But still, how was it that this idiot walked away without a scratch. Kristof had always heard that fortune favored the brave, but perhaps it had a soft spot for the dim witted as well.
They continued walking, Rheiner going on about some odd topic or another and Kristof trying to ignore the crazy banter that escaped Rheiner’s mouth. After several hours, Rheiner stopped.
“Sun’s getting ready to come up. We should find a safe place outside the reach of the desert piranha.”
Rheiner jumped up onto a rock outcropping and lay down, draping his shirt over his head. Kristof stood and looked on in wonder at the sheer stupidity in action.
“Rheiner, I’m pretty sure we would be better off resting in the shade of the rock rather than on it and in the sun.”
“The desert piranha will be able to get us if …”
“Oh just stop with the desert piranha! There is no such thing! If you want to bake what few brains you have, fine, I won’t stop you, just please do me a favor and shut the hell up!”
Kristof moved to the shade and sat back.
Thirty minutes later he felt a sharp pain in his leg and sat upright, as the sensation spread quickly along his leg and over to his other one. Looking down, he saw the swarm of fish, swimming in the air around his bloodied legs. He tried to stand, but fell over screaming as the fish engulfed him.
Rheiner looked on and two minutes it was over. Nothing remained but the stripped skeleton of Kristof. Rheiner just shook his head.
“Idiot.”
