The gray, gelatinous blob used its newly formed eyes to look left. Then it looked right. Then it blinked again.

It observed its surroundings. There was organic matter everywhere. Without fingers, a nose, or a mouth, it felt, smelled, and tasted everything around it, absorbing small particles from the ground and the air into itself.

It was not pleasant. The grass was bitter and acidic. The dead leaves tasted like dead things tend to. Old pine needles and twigs poked painfully into its supple mass. This spot was not the best. Maybe other spots would be more welcoming.

The blob moved two feet to the left. This spot was much the same. It moved forward. More bitterness, more rot, more pokey debris. It decided to keep moving until things got better.

Like a slug, it oozed forward, deeper and deeper into the woods. The sensations varied little. Occasionally, something new would be absorbed: dirt, nutshells, rotten fruits, dead bugs, live bugs, animal hair, and other things animals leave behind. To the blob, it was all just bad, and nothing was getting better. The blob began to grow as bitter about its circumstances as everything tasted.

Night fell, and somehow, the forest was even livelier. The blob could feel vibrations, and it seemed like everything was vibrating. Small things would vibrate rapidly. Sometimes, they would land on the blob; their six legs tickling the blob’s outer surface. Usually, they would fly away. Other times, they would get stuck and then absorbed, and the blob would have to taste their bitterness. Larger things would pass overhead, sending deep reverberations through its body. It was all very uncomfortable.

After wandering miserably for hours, the blob found a spot devoid of pokey twigs and pine needles. It did not taste as bitter as the dirt or rotting vegetation. It did not emit a significant odor; certainly not one as strong as everything else. The blob climbed up the large (salty) rock and began its rest. Maybe tomorrow will bring better sensations.

More vibrations. A quick push. A stabbing pain. A chilling breeze.

The blob felt its body stretching limply. It opened its eyes. The ground was rushing by. The bushes and stones were shrinking. It looked in the opposite direction of the ground. Long, black claws were stabbing into it. The claws were attached to a robust creature with wide, flat limbs that were beating up and down rapidly. The blob tried to wriggle free, which caught the attention of the creature, which stared down at the blob with big, yellow eyes.

The blob wriggled harder and more anxiously, its viscous body continuing to stretch as it flapped in the wind. The creature opened its sharp mouth and the blob felt the rumbles of its cry. It dug its claws deeper into the blob’s gooey form.

The more the blob tried to wriggle free, the more the creature tightened its grip. It squeezed so hard that eventually it sliced all the way through.

The blob fell, the back half of its body torn into long strips. Tree branches ripped away fragments of its body on the way down. It landed with a plop, small pieces of itself raining down beside it.

Its eyes found their way back to the top of its head again. It blinked. The long strips of its backside squished together. The pieces of itself that separated crawled toward the rest of it before being absorbed. It folded itself again and again, kneading its body back to normal.

More vibrations above. The blob looked up. Big yellow eyes closed in. The blob slithered away as fast as it could. It was nowhere near fast enough. The creature grasped desperately with its talons as it flew by, leaving three long grooves in the blob’s back. It disappeared amongst the trees.

The blob molded itself again; the grooves disappeared. It squirmed for a place to hide, but before it could make any notable headway, the deep vibrations returned. The creature’s foot landed directly onto the blob, nearly severing it in two. Its sharp beak opened.

A new vibration; the blob trembled with its force. The creature turned toward it. Its eyes bulged suddenly. It flew away. The vibrations happened again. The blob looked toward its source. A beast ten times as big as the flying creature shambled toward it. Its tongue dangled from its mouth; drool dripping from its massive fangs. The blob closed its eyes.