This is my entry for the A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words - 11/26/2021 contest.
What I see
I see a strange-looking animal that is almost unworldly. It looks like a rabbit with a beak poised ready to run after something.
What I feel
I left with a slightly uneasy feeling because it does look unworldly. There is something special about this animal.
My story
It has been three days since we touched down on this planet and they have been difficult days. We had to quickly erect the life pods and the industrial facilities. The first few days were about survival and we all had a feeling of deep routed risk that turned our stomachs. Perhaps the most positive thing had been the abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere here which easily surpassed the polluted atmosphere back on Earth. It provided us all with a much needed energy boost.
The hardest thing had been the what-we-called stinger-worms. They seemed to pop up from nowhere and if you got stung, that was it, severe pain for hours. We had four people holed up in the infirmary in excruciating pain from being stung.
Milo and I were out now on a new assignment. We had been sent to try to catch a "rabbird". Well, that is what we had called them. These strange looking indigenous creatures at first looked like a rabbit except that they had a bird-like beak. They did run and hop like rabbits but when scared they made a squawking sound which was much more bird-like. So, the major had named them rabbirds. She had now assigned us to go and catch one. Her thinking was that if birds and rabbits could be eaten on Earth then a rabbird could be a good source of food. It was all about survival.
Milo had spotted a rabbird a few minutes ago and was now slowly moving through the bushes towards where it had been, poised with a big net in his hand. It felt like such an old school hunting style but we didn't want to use our guns. I was coming from the far side trying to provide a distraction so that the rabbird would concentrate on me rather than spot Milo.
Milo suddenly froze with a look of complete fear on his face. A stinger-worm! It was moving towards him. Panic overwhelmed me as, having seen these worms in action before, I knew Milo's chances of escaping unscathed were slim. The abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere suddenly made me feel light headed.
Then something unexpected happened, the rabbird attacked the stinger-worm pecking at it with its unusual beak. Squawking like crazy. It was a strange sight but at the same time, it seemed natural. As if the beak was designed for this type of attack as the perfect weapon. It was obviously resistant to the dangerous sting or the stinger-worm.
As the rabbird killed the worm, Milo throw his net and captured the rabbird. "We shouldn't eat these rabbirds" Milo said. "We should keep them around our camp to protect ourselves from stinger-worm attacks."