The Las Vegas people were beginning to stir and the hot sun just started to sink in to the sands beyond the city.
Jane stepped out of the cheap cab on to the sidewalk with her friends. As they stood infront of The Escalibur Hotel , wind cut through Jane's outfit and pasted her hair to the side of her face. Tonight was the first time in weeks she was in normal, thin, women's clothing and not in the bulky Air Force uniform. Jane began observing the area around her between pieces of hair over her vision. Las Vegas lights dotted her dark blue eyes as they scanned the dirty ,crowded , (and some how glamorous) streets. Another gust of wind blew her sideways in to her friends. They all giggled, proceeded down the street and didn't think anything of it...

Alex was at the bar within Excalibur, when he wanted to go to the street and eat at Hard Rock Cafe. He liked Hard Rock Cafe more than any restaurant within Las Vegas due to their burgers. Alex finished his cold beer and got up from his stool and left the bar and headed towards the exit. He saw the casino, usually full of smokers and old people who wanted to win something big. The time was 12:00 am, the time where the party started and the kids fell asleep as the parents when to the casino floor and played all night. He walked outside and saw people walking into their hotels or into a store to spend their money. He walked pass some girls, who giggled for no reason and Alex did nothing but just walked to Hard Rock Cafe.

He felt the cool gust of the wind and he put his hands in his jacket and pulled out his phone and checked the weather. Light winds and the temperature was 78 and will be 90 tomorrow. He smiled as he brought his swim wear and he through about the cool pool; however, he wanted some burgers for the cafe. He put his phone away and kept going to Hard Rock Cafe and he felt the wind again and he walked faster to the cafe. Alex opened the door for a few more people and entered the cafe and looked for a seat. He sat down on a chair and waited until a waiter came to Alex, but he was on his phone to look at the news. He looked up and saw the waiter and he smiled as he said his order: A California Burger, Haystack Chicken Salad, and a Kingfisher Blue. He got out his money and waited until his food got here and he had his phone out.

Jane's impression of Las Vegas so far was formed from the inebriated ,half-naked men and women on the billboards ,and the amount of people trying to hand her pamphlets about escorts and hotels with topless pools.
On the same street, Jane and her friends found a bar and casino to begin the night in. They played 30 minuets worth of cards in which Jane won a couple hundred bucks. She could see when people were bluffing. The body leaks out secrets in little motions such as switching the hand holding the cards , or starting to organize the chips after a big move.
"You should use that for gambling money!" her friends persuaded.
Jane rolled her eyes " I'm not much of a gambler."
The man at the Roulette table in a cheap suit boasted " You've gotta gamble in Vegas, darlin'! Or Sin City will sneak up on you and make you!" , he then attempted to wink at her with his mouth open and that's when Jane decided to bail.
She quickly found her place at the bar in the back and obtained a Sangria to drink and even got the bartender to put it in a bigger glass. Sangria became Jane's must have mixed drink after reading about it in a Hemingway story and then trying one herself when she went to Spain with her mom...
A man from outside with a cigarette pressed between his lips came through a side door next to the bar carrying crates of bottled liquor. As the door struggled against the wind to close behind the delivery man , Jane noticed puffy,black, clouds had rolled in. When the man left out the same door she saw some lightning in the distance. She took out her cell phone and opened the breaking news app. The weather alert stated, Thunderstorms and a chance of 'dust circulation".

Alex was still on his phone when he got his food and drink. He saw the waiter and put down his phone and gave the waiter money, then Alex started to eat his food. The food was good as usual for a Hard Rock Cafe and he tasted the drink and liked it as well. He was done with his order and got off of his chair and walked away from Hard Rock Cafe and was thinking of what else to do. So many things to pick; go back to his hotel room, go to the casino, go to the Big Apple Coaster within the New York - New York Hotel, or just go to a bar and drink all night long. That is why he loved Las Vegas, so many things to do in one night and you can remember it. He had wished that he could of brought his friends with him, but they all were busy during the weekend.

He decided to walk around Vegas and go in stores and shop until he got tired. He felt the wind once more when he got into a store, he saw a couple of people buying stuff for themselves and he also saw a family within the store. The kid was getting tired and the mother picked up her son and carried him and the father got him an action figure. Alex was going to get something until the black clouds entered the store and the people were confused when they appeared. The TV within the store broke into the news with breaking news, the woman sat down on her chair and began to speak.

"Breaking news, Las Vegas is having a sandstorm and we don't know how the sandstorm got there. But we are working on it, David is here with us about the weather. David what can you tell us about the storm?" David began to speak as well, "Sandstorms are rare, they're caused by high winds but it must be strong. Like a tornado, winds must be fast enough to start a sandstorm. That is why they're rare and--.". They stool up and looked to their right and the woman said, "Oh no, it's in here. David what do we do?" and David said to her, "Don't breathe when you're outside, you're unable to breath if too much gets in your throat.". The newsroom was getting darker and you couldn't see the background at all, the camera dropped to the floor as the new woman and David rushed to the door and left the room.

The TV cut into an emergency broadcast and it must of woke up Vegas, the radios might of cut into the emergency broadcast as well. Alex looked at the TV and was too shocked to move. The people within the store got another idea, they rushed out of the store and met with other people doing the same. People were running to get into their hotels or somewhere, as the storm was getting harder to see. Alex realized the sandstorm with getting and he had to pick what do next.

A crowd of people began to pour in to the casino. A family, a couple of men in suits, and more girls who looked to be on a night out. However different they all may have looked from one another, Jane noticed they were all on their phones.The family approached the bar and asked to borrow the phone behind the counter and a phone number to reach a cab service. The bar tender raised and eyebrow," Having trouble flagging one down outside?" he questioned.
The woman who seemed to be the mother and wife covered the speaker of the phone and replied ." The sidewalks are filled of people flagging them down, soon they will all be taken."
Jane looked back down at her phone she held in the palm of her hand. It began to buzz wildly, Weather Alert: Major Duststorm in Your Area
She cursed to herself and got up to find her friends. Jane looked at every face in the casino and didn't recognize a single one.

Well, except the creepy,winking man from earlier. She made a bee line toward him , "Have you seen any of the girls I was with?" Jane demanded.
The man yawned ,taking his time to reply which only began to make Jane irritated. She preferred to gain information more quickly than his drunken state could manage.
"Oh yeah," he began " They got on the sidewalks and started flagging down cabs. I saw one start walking actually."
Unsatisfied,Jane spun on her heel and wen't out the front door of the small casino.

The people she heard were not kidding. The streets were so crowded even for Vegas. People were in the roads walking between cars and flooding the sidewalks. Something began gnawing at Jane's mind as she watched the small panic of people. It wasn't' the crowd, and it wasn't even that her friends left her and were no where to be seen... No, it was the fact that Jane knew the streets were also about to become, very,very, empty. Emptier than Vegas has been in a long time.
Jane had no choice but to move with the rush of people on the sidewalks. Just as she came up on a small store near The Hard Rock, a strong gust of wind knocked her off balance and sent dust whirling in to her face and lungs. She stumbled in to the stores front door and leaned against it as she hid her face and couched in to her the inside of her elbow. She heard people crying out, cars beeping their horns, and a loud siren. Her eyes stung and her chest burned. She leaned off the door as the wind let up and through the slits of her eyes she saw a boy and a few others in the shop. Jane wiped her eyes once more and put a hand out to search for a way to open the shops door.

Alex made a choice and it was to run back to his hotel room and sleep it off, the sandstorm must end within a few hours. He opened the door and followed the people to their hotels or somewhere other than outside. Other people that were in the store decided to stay there and locked the door after Alex had left. He heard people crying in pain, cars beeping their horns, people cursing at each other, he also heard a siren while running towards his hotel. He then saw a woman in high heels tripped and she screamed no as people stepped over her, they didn't care for the woman. They thought she was a hooker and did she look like one, she cried in pain as the people were stepping all over her body, blood came out of her mouth and she died on the grounds of Vegas. Alex didn't care for the woman, but he did feel sorry for her, no one should die like she did.

A taxi driver was sick of waiting for it to become green and he decided to go but he didn't see the ambulance. The Ambulance crashed into the taxi and send it flying into the rail, near Alex and the people. He and a few other people saw the cab spinning out of control and crashing into the rail, he ran to the other side before the taxi crashed. It sent the driver flying and he hit the group of people. He and the others were dead, no matter what and Alex couldn't save him or anyone else, he need to get back to his hotel room. He was almost there to his hotel, he just needed to run a bit faster but he was coughing badly. He saw the people falling from the stairs due to wearing loose shoes or heels, he decided to walk up the stairs so he doesn't fall. People were pushing him and running by him, but he didn't fall and ran as fast as he could. He now could hear cars wreaking into each other, people screaming and crying, and kids asking where their mom.

He had made it to the Excalibur and came from the main area and was to see floods of people within the main lobby area and the casino. Alex walked to the bar where he first was before he left and asked for a drink. The bartender turned to him and say, "Here, it's on the house because of this sandstorm." he gave Alex the drink and he held it. The bartender then was busy with a lady asking for his phone so they could call a cab. Then a guy who looked like he had been to hell said to the person using the phone, "There traffic for miles, there's no reason to call from one." then the lady turned to him and said, "I got to get back to my hotel, my husband is waiting for me!". The guy then shouted, "Why don't you just walk there you dumb bitch!" and then they were shouting at each other. Alex was just sitting there and drinking his drink and looked at the incoming people.

The wind continued to blow Jane against the shop door. The people inside were submissive to her. She understood why they did not want to let her in, the dust was unbearable. The crowds showed evidence of emptying out, though it was nearly unnoticeable.
Where are the helicopters? Jane thought. Despite being in the Air Force Jane had no idea when their help would be needed. Days? Weeks? She needed to get back to base somehow. Though with the dust collecting in her lungs and slits of her eyelids, the urgency started to diminish.

Jane crossed the street quickly and even helped a couple of kids across the busy road. She came to the street corner in front of the Excalibur Hotel, just about to turn on to another street when a driver lost control of their vehicle and crashed it in to the cross walk sign on the corner in front of her.

With that, she gasped and choked on her breath and cough. Enough was enough, where was she really headed anyway? Jane,still coughing and tears welling up in her eyes, threw open a side door to the Excalibur and shut it behind her.