Snippet #2474499

Xander knew two things, he was thirsty and the behavioral patterns of the Phyn meant they were always close to water. Xander had also noticed that as he began to field dress what few Phyn he could find whole enough to get anything good, he began to see a vision in his head. At random intervals the image of a brain had popped into his head. Xander ignored it for the most part, must be hallucinations, he was hungry, thirsty, and very nervous to be out in the open. Xander kept just calm enough to field dress the dead Phyn. But he was looking over his shoulder, he knew that a predator never strayed far from a fresh kill. If it moves away it usually waits to see if scavengers will come, maybe kill them as a bit of bonus chow. Xander was always the predator, never the prey, or a lowly scavenger. Now he felt like both as he scrambled around, trying to be as quiet and sneaky as possible.

Xander kept himself calm by studying the phyn's body. He'd studied quite a bit about their behavioral habits, but he'd only dabbled in their anatomy. He studied their vitals, ensuring he'd always aim and hit the kill shot. This was the first time he'd really seen one, and he knew this was only one in a larger amount of shapes and sizes. As he'd observed before, these had tentacles, green, and long. The tentacles had long budded ends, as if they were to bloom into flowers. Xander contemplated this possibility, there was no plant life on this planet at all. Suddenly the image of the brain had flashed in his head again, "dammit, I need to eat soon, and find water." He took a deep breath, he felt what he'd assumed was adrenaline kicking in. He was tired at first, he'd hit his head somewhere during the fall that'd knock the energy right out of him. But now suddenly his energy was back and he no longer felt tired.

Xander finally finished his last Phyn, "I'm not even gonna attempt to look for more." He'd put the meat into his pack, and stood up. He recalled where the Phyn were headed, they'd made their way east so water had to be that way, and possibly shelter. The sandstorm had also made it's way east, so Xander contemplated this a moment, "I need water, I guess I need to risk it." Xander took a moment to think to himself, "I wonder how many more survived the attack." he looked east, "I guess they'd be searching for water to."

Xander sighed and started east, but before he could leave the image returned. This time however it flashed, and his head began to hurt. Xander tried to fight it but he knew the image was telling him something. He looked over to find a Phyn, head half torn off, revealing a small brain inside the skull. Xander wasted no time, he scooped it up and put into his pack with the meat. Xander would worry about what to do with it later, right now he needed to walk. So he walked.