In August of 1981, the United States Navy sent two aircraft carriers, the USS Forrestal and the USS Nimitz, to run exercises off the Libyan coast. Commander John Barker, one of the Forrestal's pilots, was shot down over the Gulf of Sidra by a Libyan fighter jet. He was rescued from the shark-infested waters by a fishing trawler, and given refuge in a small fishing village, but Commander Barker's nightmare was just beginning... for death lies in the desert, and it was coming for them all.

This Grey Gecko short story has a length of 7,800 words. "Blood and Sand" is a supplemental short story, a 'deleted scene.' Find out more about the walkers, AEGIS, and the zombie apocalypse in "The Dying of the Light: End" and its sequel, "The Dying of the Light: Interval," also by author Jason Kristopher.