"Quick! Hold on to the rope!"
Song Heping tied the group into a centipede formation with the rope, then broke the last remaining glow stick and held it in his hand: "If you get blown away, head here immediately!"
The glow stick emitted a red light in the sandstorm.
He recalled encountering a quicksand trap during extreme survival training in the Taklamakan Desert years ago. The last thing left on the sand surface from his swallowed comrade was a right hand clutching a compass.
Antonov was cursing the sandstorm in Russian, but soon his voice was drowned by the sound of the wind and sand.
The sand underfoot suddenly came to life, like water gradually inundating several people's ankles, knees...
Song Heping wanted to remind everyone not to let the sand bury them, to withdraw their hands and feet from the sand before it reached their chests, or it would be too late to escape.
The sandstorm didn't last very long.
After a full hour, it suddenly dissipated like the ebbing tide.
