It’s taken me 3 days to calm down. I lost supplies. I left my tent behind. My boat. Damnit.
Ok, back up.
It’s been a bit over 300 days since I found the tracks. I hadn’t seen anything since then. No tracks, no sign of what made them. Honestly I had almost forgotten them. Almost.
I got my gear ready and set off in my pontoon for a materials run to the foot of the east mountains 7 days ago. I had taken it slow on the way there, I guess it took 3 days. I’d been there for 2 days gathering. On the third day I was back at camp, just walking in, in fact. I heard the tiniest splash behind and looked over my shoulder, not expecting much. And there it was. Here is the sketch I made. It stood there, completely still, while I did this.
It looked better when I did it. I finished this, with it watching me all the time. It never moved, but it let out an almost constant stream of low pitched thumping sounds. I turned away for just a moment. When I turned back it was on me. Right in my face. It let out a series of those thumps. But loud. I bled out of one ear later but I am not sure if it was the noise or just the mad dash across the swamp. I’m ashamed to say I screamed and fell backwards into the water. I remember very little for a while after that. Apparently I grabbed my sketchbook and one of my packs and ran. A trip that normally takes 3 days by boat I finished in two on foot. I got home exhausted and a bit ill from swallowing the stagnant swamp water. I hid for a day, afraid it chased me. It either didn’t try, or I lost it. Given how fast it could move I don’t think I lost it.
Look at the hands. It has opposable thumbs. It stood there for what, 20 minutes, watching me.
It can’t just be animal. Right?
Staff Commentary on this Fragment can be found here.