*What did I do last night?* Tabatha asked herself, trying to clear the fogginess from her head.

"Alex?" she whispered, attempting to sit up.

Tabatha’s eyes widened in fright as she surveyed her surroundings.

She was sitting in a crumpled heap, in the middle of a vast prairie. She was completely surrounded by grass, dirt, wind and blue sky. Tabatha sat soaking wet and aching in every muscle of her body.

Shivering violently, she pulled herself to her feet. She felt a cold, gritty substance on her face. Reaching up with her left hand, she swiped at the goo, discovering that it was caked with a mixture of mud and sand. The same motion reveled a scrape across her palm caked with dried blood. Tabatha could feel clumps of grass and other unrecognizable things stuck throughout her hair, making it feel matted and unkempt. Her clothes were covered in a layer of dirt and sand from lying on the ground, and she felt filthy in every fiber of her being.

Slowly she turned around as she regained her balance. She had to figure out where she was and how she had gotten there. Most importantly, she had to find Alex.

"Alex?!?" she shrieked, spotting what looked like a body about fifty yards away. Her heart pounded as she raced through the knee-high grass to her friend’s side.

"Oh my God, Alex! Wake up! Please, Alex wake up!" she cried, shaking the dark haired girl’s shoulders.

With a soft moan, Alex rolled onto her side. She gasped and clutched her head in both hands as she opened her eyes, pain shooting through her skull.

"What happened?" she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Alex, are you alright?" Tabatha asked, dropping to her knees at her friend’s side.

When an attempt at nodding made nearly her pass out, Alex resorted to answering verbally. "My head’s killing me, but I’m alright. "

"Oh God! What if you have a concussion? We need to get you to a hospital!" Tabatha announced, panic evident.

"No, no, I’m sure it’s only a headache. I’ll be fine. Now tell me what’s going on.’

"I wish I could! I’m clueless. All I can remember is walking and then there was a storm and a flash of light. Then I woke up here."

"Is that all?"

"Umm…." she paused to think for a moment. "My Jeep! I crashed my Jeep, so we were walking to a house, then the rain started." She finished, indicating her disheveled appearance.

Alex struggled to sit up, trying to make her mind register any information. "That’s right. There was lots of lightning and rain."

Nodding, Tabatha looked at her friend. "That’s why we look like drown rats." She said, indicating the brunette’s wet and dirt covered clothing. "We’re both soaked and yet it looks like it hasn’t rained in weeks. I can’t figure this out. Where the heck is my Jeep? Where’s the house? The road? Even our stuff is missing."

"Maybe," Alex pauses, her brow furrowing as she tried to think, "maybe there was a tornado or something. Maybe we got sucked up and dropped here."

"What? Could you be realistic please! We’d be dead."

"Not necessarily. I’ve heard stories like this," she said slowly, deliberately stalling to think of something better. "You know, where people’s houses are sucked up in a twister and set down in the next county. It could happen, maybe."

"Well Dorothy, we may not be in Kansas, but I don’t see any munchkins running around, no scary ladies with red sequined shoes, no shining bubbles, and no yellow brick road leading to Oz. Get serious, Alex!"

"I am serious! We really could be somewhere else entirely. Look around. Do you see anything even remotely familiar? No trees, no road, no fences, no telephone poles, no power lines, no jet trails in the sky…"

"Now you’re freaking me out. There isn’t anything around here except hills and grass, like all across the state. Maybe we are somewhere else. What do we do now?" Tabatha ask in a whisper, the bitter taste of fear rising in her throat.

Alex extended her hand to have Tabatha help her up. Once she could stand without the dizzying pain making her nauseous, she slowly turned in a circle.

"That’s east," Alex finally stated, pointing to where the sun was slightly lower in the sky.

"Why should we go east? The highway was north of us."

"Yes, but we don’t know where we are. Besides, I’m so messed up right now that I have no clue which way is north."

The realization flashed across Tabatha’s face as it dawned upon her how pathetic their case really was. Neither girl even owned a compass, so they had to rely on the sun to tell them the direction.

"But what if that’s really west?" she asked with a hint of distrust.

Alex threw her hands into the air in frustration. "What if it is? Why don’t we just sit here all day and wait for the sun to go down and show us which way is west. That way you can work on your tan! Oh, and as long as we’re waiting until the sun sets, lets wait for Polaris to start shining so we can figure out which way is north!"

"Forget it, okay. Just forget it. Let’s start walking so that we can be found sooner." Tabatha suggested, trying to ease the tension between them.

"Look, I’m sorry I blew up. I’m sorry for all of this. I shouldn’t have gotten so uptight, but I feel like this is all on my shoulders since it’s my fault you’re here."

"It’s not your fault and you don’t need to be sorry," Tabatha said as she untangled a clump of leaves from her friend’s hair.

"We need to get moving before it gets to late. We have to find some sort of water or we’re going to be dehydrated when it gets hotter. Besides, my uncle’s probably called out the National Guard to look for us!"

"Hmm, sounds good to me. Men in uniform! Lead on Dorothy," Tabatha said as she motioned for the other girl to direct their path.

"What’s with you and the ‘Wizard of Oz’ cracks?"

"Nothin’," Tabatha replied with a wink as she proceeded to break into her own rendition of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road", changing it to "find" rather than "follow."

They hadn’t traveled more than a quarter of a mile before they came upon the first of their bags. Tabatha was ecstatic to find her duffel bag with all its contents safely in tact.

Alex spotted another piece of luggage wedged between two large stones.

While Alex was busy brushing the matted debris out of her long dark hair, Tabatha dressed in clean khaki pants and a T-shirt. The finds prompted them to walk in a huge circle around the area they had started off in; thus, in less than an hour the other two bags were located.

After Alex had dressed in clean bibs and a tank top, they started off again, Tabatha combing through her hair as they walked.

They had been fortunate to find the belongings they had started off with, yet both were disappointed in not seeing any familiar landmarks. This was indeed strange, leaving both of them with an eerie feeling.

Tabatha felt like a lobster by mid-afternoon. Her face, scalp, neck, and bare arms were sunburned to the point that she was beginning to blister. The mere thought of being touched brought tears of pain.

For once Alex was thankful for her olive toned complexion. It had saved her from the burn for the most part, excluding the bright pink splashes she bore on her cheeks and across her nose. The lip balm and lotion she carried in her backpack had helped to protect them both for a while; however, the low SPF hadn’t done the trick in the long run. She couldn’t help feeling lucky that her skin wasn’t such an easy target to the sun’s rays. It was just so unusually hot for May.

The sight of trees, when they crested the hill they had been trudging up encouraged them that there would at least be shade ahead. Tabatha staggered forward, eager to get out of the blinding heat.

"Come on Alex! There’s trees ahead."

Alex was gasping for breath as she hurried after her friend. "Wait up! " she called, her throat so dry she could barely form the words.

As they got closer, they heard the sound of what could only be running water. The sound perked their ears as they recognized that they were nearing a small stream. The girls were practically racing to the oasis by the time they reached the trees.

Tabatha dropped her duffel and backpack in the dirt and immediately began tearing off her clothes. Within seconds she was diving into the cold water.

"Tab! What on earth… are you doing? We don’t have time to go swimming!" Alex panted, when she reached the place her friend had been standing.

"I don’t care! I’m burnt to a crisp and this is the only thing that’s gonna keep me from blistering," She answered then unceremoniously dunked her head under the water.

Alex rolled her eyes at the sight of her friend splashing around in four feet of water wearing only her underwear and bra. With a shrug, she dropped to her knees along the water’s edge and began splashing the cool water over her face and arms.

"Come on in Alex, it’s cold but it feels great!" Tabatha called after catching her breath.

"Do you think we can drink this water?"

"What else is there? Of course we can. I won’t say we won’t get sick from it though," she added as an afterthought.

Alex decided she would chance it since there was no other choice. After quenching her thirst a few feet up stream, Alex took off her shoes and socks and rolled up her pant legs so she could wade.

"Ha! I thought you were the one who was in a hurry. Now you’re in the water too!" Tabatha laughed as she wiped water from her eyes.

"We really should get going, Tab. Towns are built along rivers. We could be only a couple of miles away from civilization."

"Let me soak for a little bit longer, then we’ll get going. I wanna eat and sleep in a real bed tonight just as much as you do."

Alex sighed and returned to the riverbank. She could at least be trying to get their jackets cleaned off in case the next town was further away than she imagined.

As she sat down under a low hanging willow, Alex set to work wiping the dirt and grit off of her leather jacket.

By the time Tabatha had finally gotten dressed, Alex had both of their jackets presentable once again. If her watch was right, it was almost four o’clock and neither of them had eaten all day. She figured that they shouldn’t drink much of the river water either, since it was almost certainly contaminated with a multitude of germs.

"Do you feel any better?"

Tabatha nodded and smiled slightly as she squeezed the water out of her hair. "I think that did the trick. I can touch my skin without screaming at least, and there aren’t any blisters."

"Actually you don’t look as red now as you did. I have a little lotion left, if you want to use it."

Tabatha acknowledged that she would happily use the offered item and began braiding her damp hair.

After handing over the small tube, Alex made sure all of their belongings were gathered up and secure in their bags.

"How’s your head?" Tabatha asked suddenly.

"It’s better now that I drank some water and sat in the shade for a while, but it still hurts."

"I wish I had some aspirin to give you," Tabatha commented with a frown. "How far do you think it is to the next town?"

"I honestly have no idea. It’s just so weird that we haven’t seen any planes all day. This is really disturbing."

"Let’s just get back to walking. I don’t want to think about how strange and scary this all is."

"Okay, but we’re following the river so we don’t get lost. Besides, we shouldn’t to be out in the sun anymore. You’re already burnt, neither of us need to risk getting heat stroke." Alex said, picking up her duffel and throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

CHAPTER THREE