DAY FIVE - Monsters
I don’t even know how
to start. I think I may have seen the monsters that took the
Plentitude.
I saw a caravan in the
distance. Believe me when I say that I headed for it with all
due haste. I think they may have even heard me screaming. They
had stopped and seemed to be looking around when the monsters
appeared.
They came out of nowhere.
They came fast. My hand is shaking again just thinking about it.
They just sort of appeared, like apparitions: a black swarm, all
spindly legs and frantic thrashing. It’s like a looped IntelligNet feed to me now.
Pictures in my mind, abrupt bits of motion punctuated by flashes of light off hard black shells.
Blurred from speed or maybe just in my mind, the creatures were
dancing: whirling and canting with the sheer joy of slaughter. There were
no growls or barks from them, only the screams of dying
men and the staccato crack of the thick planks of the carts
splintering. I heard shots and the ring of metal. I may
even have seen the flash of an energy weapon, though it’s hard
to be sure since it happened so fast.
The slaughter lasted only
a few minutes, though the thrashing continued even after there
were no signs a caravan had ever existed. The creatures
evaporated as quickly as they appeared, disappearing like mist
into the now silent desert.
I sit here writing this, expecting
at any moment to feel sharp
claws tear in my back or see a mouth full of venomous teeth appear from thin
air. It’s been hours and the quiet whispers and distant calls of the desert
have returned. I know I’ll have to go examine that carnage
eventually. Just not yet.
Day Seven |
