Rift

Chapter 22: Out of the frying pan

I shared the information with the others when I passed next to them, then I remained with Terry, who was the one walking in front, to talk about what we were — or better yet, weren't — seeing. "What do you think of the lack of animals, or even animal noises? Did they adapt around those things with good hearing?" I asked.

He thought for a little, always looking around carefully without getting distracted, before answering, "Hard to say, but personally, I find it hard to believe that animals are capable of adapting so quickly. The most likely scenario is that those who couldn't be quiet have been hunted down, maybe even to the point of going locally extinct; the remaining ones will probably meet the same fate, eventually, if the ecosystem is not able to provide what's necessary for them anymore."

Before I had the chance to answer, I caught a glimpse of something moving between the vegetation ahead. "Wait, look" I mumbled, making sure to let Terry notice it too.

We came to a halt and waited for the others to reach us, while we took advantage of the time to observe the creature. It was a slightly transparent, amorphous, red and blue mass, as much a living being as a puddle, dragging itself around in a slug-like motion. Then, I managed to focus on its innards, which were more or less in plain sight, and actually realized that they were not what they seemed. The scattered bones that I saw were not its own, instead, they came from several different animal body parts, and the reddish hue of the monster was actually just their blood, spreading into the creature's body as it would into water.

At that point, everyone was there with me, looking at the same scene. Some more than others were disgusted by the sight, or maybe just by the idea of ending up the same way. "You were right, here is the missing piece of the puzzle" I said looking at Celara, who, curiously enough, was not only the most tranquil among us, but appeared to be even relieved by the discovery. She nodded in response, and after some more gazing at the creature, which was just slowly roaming mostly in a single direction, we walked around and resumed our path.

The following few hours were devoid of any significant occurrences, thanks also to our new knowledge about the creatures inhabiting these places now. The only thing worthy of note was a series of symbols carved in some of the trees' bark, probably with a knife. Arrow-shaped symbols, to be precise, which seemed to point in the same direction we were currently proceeding in. Even though none of us was able to establish exactly how long ago the carvings had been made, Terry was sure that the regrowth would have covered them if they weren't recent. With that awareness, we were generally positive that they were left as an indication to lead passersby to the settlement.

At some point of our usual non-stop walking, Eric decided to voice his complaints: "What about a little break? We have been walking and running for a lot at this point, it's better if we don't end up in a situation like the one from this morning being already tired before even beginning to fight."

Since he was addressing Terry, we just waited for him to answer. Even though it didn't feel right, I mentally agreed with him; I was not only tired of walking, but even somnolent because of the sleepless night. Terry took a sip of water from his bottle, then answered with a question. "Can you still hear the rain, Eric?"

The answer didn't come straightaway; he was probably concentrating on hearing dripping noises, which were still there, even if just occasional. "I can, why do you ask?"

"Because I honestly can't hear well enough anymore. It's still going on, eh? Well, it doesn't matter, I don't want to stay in this place a second more than necessary, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one, so let's just make one last effort for the time being, we can rest once we are out of here." As he finished speaking, he took out his map and turned around to show it to us. "This is the woodland we are currently in, it's pretty long, but not too broad, isn't it? We would have wasted a lot of time taking the long way around it, but crossing it should be doable in a single day."