The provided texts relate various scenarios where blood symbolizes life, struggle, and death. Themes of war, desolation, and survival are depicted through the characters' experiences and the environments they navigate.
The excerpts provided describe various scenes that involve the theme of blood and its metaphorical or literal presence in different scenarios. In one, a child appears to witness the aftermath of a battle, observing soldiers too weak to move away from a creek, leading to their drowning. In another scenario, a character is driven by thoughts of his family to press on despite being fatigued and without clear signs of human habitation around. The motif of blood-red sky is also used to convey deep emotion in a setting where despair and death seem to prevail.
The references to the blood-red sky and 'Black Death' nickname for a character suggest a connection between the blood, as a life force, and death, as the end of life. The experiences shared in these snippets create a tapestry that highlights the stark realities of war, desolation, and survival, drawing on themes common to literature, such as human endurance, the brutality of conflict, and the natural world's indifference to human suffering.