Paco Valdez


Filling your canteen with water from the desert spring, you head out into the night. Gus always told you to use the stars to guide you, and you watch them as you walk, unsure as to how they really help anything. You keep your eye on one star in particular, it shines a little brighter than most of the others, and you walk always towards it.

The night air is cold on your skin, the light wind deepening the chill. It's funny how contrasting the desert temperatures can be. Sweltering heat in the day, bitter cold in the night.

A few hours of walking pass by in the chill desert night before you reach a wagon trail. Finally, a hint of civilization! You get on the trail and follow it for a few more hours until you find yourself standing beside a sign which welcomes you to the town of Kallow. You take a few swallows from your canteen before continuing along your way to the town.

You enter the town as the sun gives hints of readying itself for the day. The town is silent at first and you push back the fear that this may be a ghost town. It's just late, you tell yourself. There's a bench ahead that you consider napping upon until the town awakens. But there's also an inn ahead. Maybe you should knock on their door and get a bed for the evening.