"What the fuck is that?" Cal's voice was hoarse and dry, in desperate need of water...just like the rest of us.

"That's a baby seal," Aria replied. She inched forward, shoes cutting through the soft sand, hands poised upward in defense. However, the baby seal didn't seem to pose a threat. It didn't seem to see the desert as a threat as we did. It blinked its eyelashes at the three of us, then rubbed its face with its fin. (Is that what they're called...fins? Or is it flippers?)

"I see that it's a baby seal, what the fuck is it doing out here in the desert? In the middle of nowhere, I might add. We've been trekking through this desert for hours without another life form in sight, and now we see a seal of all things."

"It doesn't appear to be in any danger. If anything, it seems better off than the three of us combined," Aria said. She kneeled before it and cautiously rubbed her palms across its head. The baby seal didn't retort, not in the slightest; in fact, it purred.

Aria wasn't wrong. The three of us had been navigating through this desert for hours without food or water. Yet, here was a baby seal in fine form, smiling, purring, inviting to the three decrepit strangers that stumbled upon him...or her.

"If you guys didn't see the baby seal, I'd say it was a mirage. Or, we've _all_ lost our minds," Cal muttered. Moments ago, he seemed to barely grasp at the straws of life, but now he seemed on edge.

“I am no threat,” the baby seal said, still enamored by Aria’s touch,the baby seal said. Its eyes scanned from right to left as though reading our response.

You can talk?” I asked.

"That I can," said the baby seal. Its voice was somewhat pleasant. "And I can get you folks out of this abyss."

Aria removed her hand and stood up. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," said the baby seal as it rubbed its face again, like it was shooing away an itch.

"That's absolute horse shit," Cal spat. "Besides, how the hell are you going to get us out of here?"

"By you folks climbing on my back. I can fly,"

Cal's mouth fell open as though he'd lost the functionality of his lower jaw, hands shooting forward as though they could possess words. He finally said, "We can't climb onto your back; we're three adults, and you’re a baby seal."

"I think we should try it," Aria interjected. She moved forward and sat on the seal's back without hesitation. Her eyes shifted between us, waiting for one of us to move before landing on myself. "It's a way out, Grog. Do you see another way out?"

She wasn't wrong. I looked at Cal and gave a shrug before hopping onto the baby seal's back. He seemed to laugh or emit some sound that sounded like laughter. I had no idea that seals could laugh, but then again, this one could apparently fly, so what the hell did I know?

"Cal. Are you coming?" Aria asked.

Cal shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Mumbling under his breath. His eyes narrowed, then widened as his thoughts piled up on one another. "Fine," he said with a huff. He hopped on, nervously wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Alright, fellas. Hold on tight. We'll be out of here in no time."

And we were. The baby seal spun its flipper-fins around, kicking up sand and spirals of dust, and then we were off. Soaring through the desert sky and then into outer space.