Prompt:Walking with a dead man over my shoulder..

A/N: A scene drabble more than a story. Apologies. It does have potential that I can build on, though.
OoooooO
Jim's skin felt as grimy as a rough boulder, and he hated the grit that crunched in his mouth. It couldn't be helped, he knew. The hot wind blowing in from the south brought dust and sand along with it.

He grumbled to himself as he wiped at his sweaty brow, and shouldered his duffle bag into a more comfortable spot on his aching back.

"Shuuut up already." Whined the fellow within, voice muffled by the bag's tough fabric.

"Oh. Quit your whining."

"Some of us deserve our rest!"

"Just keep it up." Jim squinted into the distance, and shifted his gaze about the horizon as he turned a full circle. Roasting boulders and sand as far as the eye could see, with the occasional dull dried brush to add a bit of cheery character to the wasteland. "I --could-- leave you here."

"Take me back this instant!"

Jim chuckled and gripped his lighter a little tighter. Out here, it was his lucky talisman. When the sun went down in a few, it would be the only light he could travel by.

"Only when I'm done with you. So which way now?"

He heard the zipper a moment before the bag shifted, and something bony jabbed painfully into his left kidney. Paper dry skin kissed his right shoulder, and Jim glanced up at the ancient wreck of a skeleton as it climbed atop him, emerging from the duffle bag at his back. It moved about of its own accord, empty eyes sockets somehow taking in the sights.

Such as they are, Jim thought dryly.

"That way. Fool."

Teeth clicked as the bony face settled somewhat east, and Jim picked out a rock between two large boulders as a landmark. He narrowed his eyes, and sucked in his cheek.

"Water, right?"

"Of course."

"Fresh, drinkable water, right? Near the surface?"

The skeleton sighed out an nonexistent breath.

"You think I'd want to have you die of thirst out here and sentence myself to an eternity of your foul company?"

"Yep. Can't be too careful when you dead reckon these days."
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....