Snake strike in the scorching Dunes

"I was trudging through endless, blistering dunes beside a tour guide, the hot sun beating down on our backs while we chatted. Suddenly a dry, rhythmic rustle scraped across the sand, and the guide let out a sharp cry, collapsing to tend a bloody wound on his ankle. I whirled around to search the heat waves, and a violent surge of pain shot right through my palm—the snake had struck me too. My instincts took over, and my left hand clamped tightly around its scaly tail, yanking it up to my face to stare into its cold, unblinking yellow eyes before flinging it across the dunes. I desperately slammed my mouth against the puncture marks on my hand to suck out the burning venom, but when I looked back, the creature was already gliding through the sand straight toward us. We sprinted blindly until an unfamiliar town suddenly materialized out of the dust, but as we reached the first alleyway, my limbs turned into lead, my knees buckled beneath me, and the hot horizon tilted sideways as everything went black. And then I woke up."