Horse With No Name
She knew that they never should've taken the "short route.". Especially a "Short route" marked by a posterboard and paint-spackled sign.
It was the Richards' kid's fault.
Why, for the life of her, had she trusted him when he'd pointed to the sign and remarked that it was lucky of them to find a short cut around the oil refinery? The kid didn't know anything about winning a match, and he knew less about finding his way through a desert.
Damn Vince and his Saudi press tours.
Damn her sense of trust.
Damn the sun.
She squinted up at it, an eerie sense of foreboding filling her. Thankfully, she had worn white; she would be the last to die, if it came to that.
The doofus bounced cheerily before them, wearing all black.
"Gee, Lita, isn't it great? We're gonna beat Steve to the other end of the Oasis!" He blinked up at the sun, "It's hot."
"Stevie, it's noontime, it's the desert...." She blinked as he raced down one dune, and then another, leaving she and Essa to catch up in his wake.
"El Nino Muey Loco," Muttered Essa, shaking his head as he pulled off his bandanna, using it to blot sweat and red dye running down his forehead.
"Si," Responded Lita, smirking. She lost track of where she had been stepping; to her embarrassment, she tripped and fell, headlong, into the sand.
Looking up, she saw the bowed form of a rather annoyed-looking chestnut horse.
"See what I found?!" Stevie gushed, "She doesn't look like she has an owner, and she really needs to be fed, and..."
"Stevie, we can't take a horse around with us..." Essa began to make eating and digging motions, forcing Lita to kick him in the shin.
Stevie gave her a pouty, childish look. The sort that left her, to her reluctance, opening up to him.
"Whatever," She sighed, as Steven drew the horse to it's feet, "What will we call it?"
Steven smiled sweetly, "Horse," He said simply, as they walked due East, following the freshwater line of the Oasis as far as it could take them.