1.3
Anasazi
RP Contest winner“I’m hungry,” he said again.
“Yea, I got that part,” she replied, annoyance with him clearly in her voice. “I’m hungry too.”
They’d been sitting there for most of the day. She looked back at him. He lay curled up by his broken eggshells. His hair and feathers had completely dried in the afternoon’s heat. He’d been whining almost since he’d hatched that there should be someone here to feed us. She looked back towards the barren landscape before her. She was tempted to just walk away and leave him. Hearing him continue to fidget and whimper, she sighed. If she left, she’d just turn around and come back for him. She couldn’t just leave him. She stayed where she was and put her mind to trying to figure out what they were going to do.
The sun had settled below the horizon. It was still light enough to see, but dark enough for the evening life to start emerging. A snake slithered out from under a dead branch and onto a nearby rock. The snake stretched across the rock to absorb the heat stored in the rock. A little too much to handle now, but she’d keep him in mind for a future meal. A beetle crawling across the ground caught her eye. She stood up and planted a foot on it. Well, it was easy to catch, she thought. Hopefully, it’ll be as easy to swallow. She picked up the bug in her beak and swallowed it. Before she had a chance to decide whether she liked it or not, her brother was by her side demanding to know where his was. “Go find your own,” she said with a shove. He stumbled back and tripped over a small piece of dead wood. She walked over and looked at the bottom of the rotted wood that he’d tipped over. “Here you go, little brother. Here’s yours.” She pointed to the squirmy grub worms he’d unearthed. He got up and started pawing at the wood and eating the small bugs he unearthed. She looked at him disgusted. Not even a thank you, she thought. She walked away, leaving him to his bugs. She found another small log. Pushing it over with her small cloven hoof, she found her own grubby meal.
She continued to wander, finding more bugs to eat. Her brother followed, making sure not to crowd his hatchmate. His first attempt to take a meal from her resulted in a few of his feathers being pulled out. He kept his distance after that, but was quick to snap up any bugs she over looked. They both scrounged for food until it was too dark to see where they were going. She lay down under a bush. Some sense told her it was best to sleep under cover. Her brother lay down next to her. Exhaustion from trying to find enough food to fill their newly hatched bellies over took them and they quickly fell asleep.
A shadow crossing over and a sense of danger woke her. She lifted her head and looked around. The shadow passed over again. She looked up. Large wings blotted out the sun as it passed over head.
“Is that mother?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. “Just because it has wings, doesn’t mean we’re related.” She was in no rush to become something else’s meal. She stayed under the bush and her bother didn’t argue. When the winged intruder was no longer visible, she got up and stretched. “Come on. Let’s see what we can dig up today.” She looked towards the way they’d come. She could still see the mound of dirt that marked the groundhog hole. The nasty old groundhog that pushed their eggs out of his tunnel wasn’t going to help them. He’d already made it clear that he wasn’t going to let them back into the tunnel. They’d quickly outgrow it anyway. She turned and looked in the opposite direction. Might as well keep moving forward, she thought. She started walking.
“I’m hungry,” he said.
“Yea,” she said. “I’m hungry too.”
Reply
