Christopher 24, male

Christopher panted as he pulled himself over the ledge, sitting on the small outcrop as he pulled his water bottle from his backpack and taking a gulp of the precious liquid inside. Leaning back, he looked out over the barren landscape before him, the sandy colored rocks around him radiating the heat of the sun into his back.

Getting up carefully, he looked up at the near sheer cliff face above him, the twenty something researcher, fresh out of university, stretching his shoulders as he slipped the stainless steel bottle back into the specialized pocket, the sound of ripping fabric, followed by a series of clatters chilling the young man to the bones. Grasping at the empty space where his bottle should have been, he swore, forgetting his precarious location as he yanked off the backpack, staring in horror at the ripped seam, tears welling up in his eyes.

Shaking his head, he took a deep breath, the arid air tugging at the precious little saliva in his mouth. Gritting his teeth, the young human reached up and gripped the jagged stone above him, pulling himself up, his only hope in reaching the top of the cliff and sending an SOS with his satellite phone. Testing another handhold, he shivered as the rock twitched beneath his grasp, threatening to come loose at any moment and fling him into the thousand foot abyss below, to be fed upon by the numerous scavengers that inhabited the area, the same ones he had spent so many years studying.

Steeling himself, the young man pulled himself up, glancing down to ensure that he had a secure foothold before continuing, all the while prying that his fragile handhold would support him. The pebble bounced off the back of his head, making Chris look up in surprise, time seeming to slow as he stared up at the rocks tumbling towards him, completely exposed on the cliff face. Closing his eyes, he laughed as the first stone struck his shoulder, a numbing pain coursing through his arm as the rock beneath his fingers twitched, coming free without so much as a clatter.

The second rock slammed into his temple as Chris was flung out into the empty space behind him, his vision blurring as he watched the ground grow larger beneath him. A sharp tug on his backpack jerked his body, the last of his consciousness quickly fading as he watched the ground below him, a strange gust beating down on the back of his head. The ledge he had sat on suddenly appeared below him, growing smaller and smaller as the darkness engulfed his sight, a single thick brown feather dancing in the wind the last thing he saw before his consciousness failed him.