It was a beautiful day in the Wasteland. The sun was shining, as Soir let out a deep breath. He had decided to go on a bit of an adventure that day to document some of the local flora and fauna. He was wearing a dust jacket and some pants, to protect him from the sun's rays. He grabbed his journal and his bow and arrow, and headed out.

A few hours go by without anything interesting happening. He sees a few small creatures and writes down some notes but it wasn't too eventful. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spots a trail. It looked to be some sort of serpent. Curious, the heron decided to follow the trail, keeping careful as he went deeper into the wilds. Slowly, he approached a red barn on the horizon.

Suddenly he hears a rattle. Before he can even draw his weapon, a massive serpent had coiled tightly around him. He let out a choked grunt, squirming as he beast wraps tight around him. He feels his bones straining a bit under the pressure, and feels his bow shatter on his back. He looks at the reptilian creature in shock as it leers at him, before it's head suddenly darts forward. The snake sinks it's fangs into the birds neck, causing Soir to yell out an agonized yelp.

The wound stung, as the serpent pumped the adventurer full of venom. Now that he was poisoned, the snake had no need to coil him any further, as it loosened it's grip on the bird, giving him a bit more room to breathe.

Before the serpent could begin it's feast, however, there was the sound of footsteps. A loud shot echoed through the air. It missed the snake, but it was enough to scare the beast off and it slithered away, leaving Soir behind.

The bird flopped to the ground, the venom already rendering him unable to move. He let out a groan as he looked to the group that had scared the snake off. Bandits. Soir let out a small plea for help, which the bandits ignored. They slid off his vest and a boot to resell later, and went through his pockets to find anything notable of value.

This included his prized research notes that he worked so hard to compile. By the end of the evening that journal was likely to have been used as nothing more than a fire starter.

Once finished, the bandits rode off as the sun slowly began to set, as Soir was left for dead in the hot sun. Breathing was difficult.

Not long after, another visitor approached. This time, it appeared to be some kind of medic. Doc was his name. Soir was relieved, maybe he could be saved after all. Little did he know that Doc was only there to collect his blood to resell for a nice profit.

Doc didn't say a word, getting down on his knees beside the wheezing bird. He first hooked up the bird to a blood bag, starting to fill a bag with his blood. While waiting, Doc decided to listen to the bird's heart with his stethoscope. It's going haywire, beating arhythmically as the poison takes its toll. Doc looks to the bag, seeing that it's already beyond tainted with toxins. Not even that would be worth anything at this point, and Soir was far beyond saving.

Soir began to panic internally as he realized Doc wasn't doing anything to save him. But he was too weak to move, only managing to let out a few pitiful whimpers. Doc remains at his side as his heart slowly weakens, before coming to a stop. Soir let's out one final breath as he expires, as Doc stands up. He tosses the tainted bloodbag onto the ground beside him, before wandering off into the wilds.

Soir's body is now alone in the Wasteland, the nighttime winds picking up and starting to blow dust over his feathers. It won't be long until either the snake returns for a feast, or until another group of bandits come along and put Soir to better use.

Comm by extralife! Doc is owned by mrkillerovsky!
Originally posted on 10/4/2022.