His breathing was fast and heavy when he regained control of his senses. His vision was returning to normal with fleeting starbursts at his peripheral as he looked around. He realized feeling returned to his body when he felt throbbing pain in both his hands.

Looking down, he found himself atop a hulking body with a bloody mass in place of what used to be a face. He slid off the body and rolled away, then onto his knees. He tried to shut out the image by closing his eyes, but it didn’t work. The realization that he had just beaten a man to death shocked him into vomiting what little food he had eaten in the past few days.

After a few minutes of dry heaving, he was able to compose himself enough to take stock of his situation. A strange woman lay a few feet away, crying and in hysterics. The butt of a revolver buried in the sand was barely visible just inches from the man’s body. As the adrenaline wore off, a wave of fatigue washed over him and he collapsed on his side.