40 Years in the Desert: Spec-fic

Weary from their journey, they sat beneath the shade of the great banyan tree, squatted on their haunches, and chewed at the fruits they'd brought in their bags. Around them stretched the scrub desert, empty of any visible life. Then a small bird flew up into the sky from a bush nearby and they jumped to their feet, their hands reaching for their spears. There were predators in the scrub, predators that were not them and could kill them all easily, spears or no spears. There were also smaller beasts that would only attack if they thought the group to be easily taken. They had reckoned their chances before they set out, and they knew that it would be a true trial to persevere through, but with all others dead or dying around them, they had been forced--

Inspiration: "Weary from your journey"
Story Potential: High.
Notes: A true survival tale. I'm thinking--plague, perhaps, something that wipes everybody out. Some truly Biblical shit. And they can't go to their nearest neighbors because they have been told that they will be killed on sight. But they can go to a very far neighbor, across a desert, because the government figures that by the time they cross the desert, any infected will have died. So--true struggles to survive and adapt in a strange and hostile environment, some Moses & the promised land, some plague resurgence, some truly complicated things...and then safety. Maybe. For a time. Huh. Sounds like a novel, dunnit?