History of humanity is the tale of suffering masses in hands of a few.
War is one the most significant tragedies of human history. Many talented and brilliant individuals who never had the chance to escape this ill fate and faced unparalleled injustice. In “counting”, the dessert illustrates the isolation, and the war, loneliness.
The two who reached an agreement on number are joyous. There is a battle in the dessert in front of them and it seems there is a pending doom.  There is suffering, and bewilderment in a dessert that all are dead.