I found the supplies Tuzin left for me at the drop point, but no other signs of activity. We had agreed that I would meet to check on the progress of his settlement after one standard year, but I had expected more communications, or at least some infrastructure. But no. The supplies were seemingly random items, too, with very little in the way of edible food and no weapons whatsoever. Worse, there was no return infrastructure in place, so I am utterly trapped here, along with Tuzin and whomever else joined the settlement. I half-wondered if the few items I did see had been the products of a disordered mind, as they included several dried and pressed flowers.

With no other option, I made a club out of a piece of sturdy wood and began mapping the area. There was plenty of game, and I was able to hunt a little by clubbing a few creatures that had not yet evolved to fear me, but with no way to cook the meat I resolved to go hungry until I could find some sign of Tuzin.

That was not long in coming. I climbed a hill to the northwest of the drop point and saw structures in the distance, amid a tangle of tall and thorny trees. They were clearly artificial, and well within the means of even people stranded with no supplies to construct, so I hurried in that direction, thinking myself saved.

Far from it.

Before long, I noticed that the buildings were in disrepair, caked with dust, and beginning to disintegrate. The settlement appeared like it could have supported a dozen or more at its height. I soon found that it supported exactly zero when what I surmised to be a friendly face in a window burst out as I called to it. The remains of one of Tuzin’s settlers, perhaps. Perhaps even Tuzin. But now it was a mockery of the human form: bloated, discolored, reeking of mold and decay, and shambling forward with impossible speed. I was just barely able to fend it off with my club, landing a few solid blows until staving its head in.

Whatever happened here, there were no survivors. I selected one of the sturdiest buildings, and–mindful of the dark shadows of other unfortunates that I saw moving about in the other structures–I barricaded myself inside, resolving to gather what supplies I could in relative safety before striking out.

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