The surge of adrenaline was still pounding through my system like the sound of my over-clocking heartbeats in my ear, a ringing in the back of my head.
Everything had a hazy tint of purple, and my head felt like it was about to explode into a million pieces of sloshy pink at any moment.
I moved to turn, spinning my body a full three sixty degrees, and confirmed what my brain already knew. I was in the middle of nowhere, dunes stretching as far as my eyes could see.
The heat felt secondary to the shock of the fact that I had no idea where I was and no clue which direction I should go. I knew I had to move soon, standing like a statue without shade or cover in a scorching hot desert was a recipe to get myself cooked, quite literally.
My phone had been lost in the terror of the earthquake so even trying to use that to help with direction or navigation was a distant dream. Furthermore, the sun's domineering position would shift throughout the daylight hours, so as a compass it was a useless star that was overexuberant in its bid to fry me like unseasoned meat.
I shook myself into action by putting my bags on the sand at my feet. Carrying them as I was before would be difficult, and cumbersome. I also needed to decide if there was anything to discard.
There were six canned fish, six protein milk boxes, infant pull-ups, a pack of wipes, six juice boxes, a large can of cereal, a five-litre bottle of spring water, a pack of crackers, a roll of cling wrap, a bottle of fabric softener, and a large bottle of mayonnaise.
I ripped into the bag of sixty pullups that were in a bag by themselves and took out ten of them, they could be used for a multitude of situations, throwing the rest to the side, pulling the now-empty shopping bag, and putting in ten diapers. From the second bag, I pulled out four of the canned fish and four of the protein milk boxes placing them with the diapers. I also took four of the juice boxes, the wipes, crackers, and of course the bottle of water. Everything else was weight I don't need. Even what I pulled out was an overkill but in this uncertain environment, I chose to pack up on what I could. What I had now could hold in one bag but because of the cans and liquids, it was a bit heavy.
The next thing I did was pull my knapsack from my back and tie the shopping bag to the top handle strap and secure it some more with the crab clip I usually had on my bag strap. I pulled out my small compact umbrella from the side pocket before straightening while hefting the now-laden bag onto my shoulders. I opened the umbrella over my head which gave me a bit of reprieve from the direct sunlight, glanced down at the discarded groceries once more before making a step in one direction, it all looked the same but I had to be on the move, my survival depended on that.