The Dead Landscape

I squint my eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun as the clouds float away from the suns view. The sky was so dull and lifeless even if the sun shines brightly. Only the corpse vultures circle around my area. It was explanatory.... There was meat and blood everywhere.

Carcasses of all sorts of creatures lie around the rocky floor of the dried up canyon. They look so weird to our eyes. The smell was excruciatingly horrible. I wondered why I even decided to explore this area. I got bored... This place had little "fun" in it and we are apparently cursed to live in this place. The land wasn't hard to survive in actually but, it's something else that drives us mad. Maybe it's the corpses? Or the seemingly dead landscape? Who knows.

The canyon was extremely tall and looked endless. The water dried out long ago so I don't have to worry about those aquatic animals again.

It was definitely a long walk... A long,boring walk.

Until something caught my eye.

Elaborate paintings were drawn on the side of a large rock. It looked strange. Very strange.

Carefully painted streaks and lines were placed in certain ways, connecting too some and too non. All those streaks were drawn horizontally on the rock. I stared at it for a long time as I drown in my own curiosity. I wonder what they mean?

I reached my limb and placed a digit on the surface. Oh, what curious drawings! "Those" creatures must have made it! Speaking of those creatures... We never made a official name for them. Did they make a name for us? Anyways, I always grew fond of them each time I see one.

The rock was practically calling me to grab it. I couldn't resist. I lifted the rock up and carried it as I walk around the canyon floor. Surprisingly it wasn't very heavy. I continued trekking as I walk around carcasses lying on the ground.

The sky grew dark and the moonlight illuminated the sky as well as the stars. I could see still.

I dragged the rock with my path. Then suddenly something caught my foot and I tripped. My body planted on the sandy grey dirt. I quickly recovered and scanned my surroundings. An object did the deed. It was very shinny. It glittered under the moonlight. The bottom half was firmly buried in the ground. It took tremendous effort for me to finally pull it out. Why I do these things? I'm a very curious one, that's why... Unlike my fellows. It was a unique shaped glass bottle. I hit the gold mine that would feed my curiosity didn't I.

Afterwards I found once again another object. A golden ring... You don't find a lot of these in this land you know. I fitted it on one of my digits and carried on, but instead I turned back and walked towards where my group should be located in. The weight of the rock was bearable.

I felt tired... I struggled to keep my eyes opened. Who knows, a beast could find me in the darkness. Which by the way happened before. And it wasn't pleasant. Surely that wouldn't happen right now, right?

The time flew by and I noticed I spoke too soon.

A echoing howl ripped out of a beasts mouth. Following that more howls were made by separate  beasts. I swiveled my head in panic. I placed the rock and the bottle near me. I crept to the nearest bony carcass and took out the sharpest and sturdiest bone. The darkness was getting darker and darker by the minute. I heard steps and growls near me. The glowing eyes stared at me. I stood still. I got a look at the beast and identified it as a bone wolf. I learned by ones experience that they get easily confused if you stay still.

But then I heard a rustling in the area. It wasn't one of the wolves. A deer happened to walk by unknowingly. The wolves were glad and rushed to kill the prey. There was no chance of survival for that deer. They quickly in a flash geared the deers meat off in chunks. Blood dripped and cracking noises from the bones snapping were heard. The deer struggled but soon died. Organs spilled out of the dead body of the deer. The wolves began to feast.

I'm always confused why no carnivorous beasts ever eat one of the lying carcasses that appear continually like a nightmare. It is an easier food source. It's not like all of the meat are rotten or anything. Even we eat the good ones. I ran with my found objects as fast as my legs would carry and jumped out of the way. Soon after I was far away from those animals yet close to the group.

In the distance in could hear faint laughing. I see that they constructed a bonfire. Smell of roasted meat was faint but it helped me get going. I was starving. I was so happy my group prepared this.

I ran and approached my group. Some greeted my cheerfully but lazily as if they were drugged. I sat down near the burning fire. A friend of mine gave me a raw piece of meat. I thanked him and cooked it. The smell made my mouth water. The cooking process was done and I chomped on the juicy meat. Simply delicious!

The tents were fine and the site was cleared. Everything was finally comfortable. My legs ached from the walk in and out of the canyon.Then I remembered... The objects that a found! The rock and the bottle was resting on the ground alone. My ring was still on my digit.

I lifted myself up and grabbed the two objects. I turned my body facing the rest of my fellows. Their eyes went wide and some even asked me what they were. The lack of knowledge on some of them were annoying. But I tried to explain them anyways. I noticed, that this is the first time my fellows actually showed interest in something other than food,board games, or something else related to that. Well not all of them. Some just glanced at it and yawned. I sighed heavily. It's as if they never saw such things before.

I must have really found something good.

I passed the objects around the bonfire. I leaned against a boulder and grabbed another piece of meat.The fire continued to burn and the rest of the group including me fell asleep. My eyelids didn't protest. Now a peaceful slumber was made.

The next early morning I was awaken by my friend shaking my shoulder roughly. A look of horror spread across his face. I couldn't see the others. He lead me to an area....

There in that area the remaining group were seen. Surrounding in a circle. My face morphed into a very frightened expression. I was so used to seeing another creatures corpse... But never my own kinds... It made me rethink a lot. I wanted to vomit. This was also the reaction I made when I first started to live on this landscape. I admit it did take a toll.

The dead body was sprawled across the dirt in a horrifying fashion. A slash was made on the poor guys throat. A Glasgow smile was carved sickeningly. The eyes stared upwards with a frightening stare. Blood splatters were red and fresh. The body had a distinctive oder which I couldn't identify. It was on the tip of my tongue.

One of the group members started sobbing. Others started investigating. I was wondering why my group all a sudden started to show more interest and curiosity? But for now the better question is... Who did this?

It surely wasn't a type of beast. What type of beast would do such attacks like this? Also there was no report of a beast on an eye witness. One witness said it was a figure with two hind legs. We walk in hind legs and so do many sentient creatures in this landscape including those creatures. Could it be one of us? Or one from another group?

My friend gave me a glance that I knew. It meant to take action. "What do we do..." He asked in a whisper.