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by J Alan Erwine © 07/16/01 Unrestricted Club Use
Crawling from the black muck, the creature shook one of its great hind legs in an effort to shake the sickly stick that had been its home. Each lumbering step bringing a dryness to the creature's body it had never known. The creature remembered being at this spot before. This was where it had mated many times before, but there were no mates. There was no muck. The creature took another step where the muck should have been. Its center set of legs wobbled precariously as the creature tried to steady itself on the strange non-moving substance it had suddenly found. The front and hind set of legs stopped moving, keeping the creature from tumbling over in a fall it might not have gotten up from. Smells assaulted the creature's sense organs…smells it couldn't begin to comprehend. Nothing reminded it of the prey it hunted or the mates it sought. Nothing reminded it of anything. With a great effort, the creature turned its massive head up; the eyelids blinked furiously over the tiny dark-adapted eyes as they were assaulted by a myriad of lights it couldn't comprehend. As the creature continued to stare, a thought slowly gelled in the slow moving synapses of the creature's mind. “What am I?” it thought, for the first time in its life. The creature turned its massive head back towards the shrinking pool of muck. Letting out a loud grunt, it took a step away from the muck, and then another, and then yet another. Each step growing more steady as the creature adjusted to the strange land beneath its feet. “What am I?” it thought again, scanning its new surroundings for more than just food and mates. It didn't know what it was looking for, couldn't know what it was looking for, but somehow, the creature knew he would find it. |
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