Bruce awoke suddenly and with no time to transition between deep sleep and wakefulness.

Everything was quiet.

He rubbed at his eyes and sighed, deeply, before lying back against his backpack-turned-pillow.The adrenaline which had poured into his bloodstream had started to ebb and it left his limbs jerky and numb.

Had he been dreaming?

Bruce started to shiver a little. The night was cold and he wasn’t dressed well for it.  Something shuffled across the sandy ground, rooting in the soil. Bruce shifted and narrowed his eyes against the darkness; an armadillo peered back. They stared at one another for several moments before the animal continued on its way. Bruce rolled over again to try to get a little more sleep.

It was only midnight.

Lightning split across the sky to the east, so distant that it was some time before the rumble of thunder reached him; Bruce was glad that it wasn’t looking much like rain above him. He enjoyed thunder storms a little less when he was caught out in them. Bruce watched it for a few moments, judging it’s movement. It seemed to be hanging heavily over New Mexico so there was little chance of him getting more than a spectacular light show, which suited him just fine.