Dark Passions at Death's Door

2.1 - In the Swamp

A couple years ago...Earth
Gaia

Another job done.

Byron stretched out his shoulder and his cartilage popped. Then came the lower back. The crack of the vertebrae realigning was a sore relief.

He wasn't getting any younger. At least he wasn't dead. Yet.

Byron stared off into the marshlands. Wandering around, a man could forget himself, get lost easily. And a snakebite later, you could be food for the gators, the maggots and the coyotes.

Or there were the black widows. He didn't mind most spiders - at least so long as they didn't crawl on him - but those little black creepy-crawlies were a whole different ballgame. He had come very close to one, once, never knowing it until a second glance showed that red hourglass staring at him.

Such a tiny insect could possibly debilitate or even kill one like him, even in the prime of his life.

And what was the prime of his life? Working in various odds-and-ends, building sheds, or walking a security beat on some truck stop? He felt his eye twitch.

Sure, the money kept him alive, but what good was living if you weren't pursuing some happiness in it? All it was then was just surviving. Unless you had someone to go home to...

Some men just got luckier than others. Byron realized he'd stopped moving for a few minutes. He shook his head and kept on. Life was life. Every day above ground was a great day. That was how the songs went.

Funny, he didn't really feel that in his bones much anymore. Still, day was over. It was time to head on back to the ponderosa. Maybe watch another episode of Castle, or NCIS. The sun had mostly set by now, the stars were coming out. A half-moon lit the outskirts.

Something flickered out the corner of his eye. Byron turned, muscles tensing.

What was that?

It wasn't wise to leave the path. Then he caught sight of someone traipsing along another lesser-used path. His jaw dropped when he saw a head of sable hair so fine it could have come from a shampoo commercial.

He turned and started after her, trying to catch more than a glimpse. It was a woman, had to be, with that hair, or was it a wig?

A cloud of mosquitoes suddenly burst up, engulfing him. He flailed about. Damn things!

At least a few dozen tried to get a bite into him. A half dozen succeeded. He spat out one he'd inhaled accidentally and then pulled his balaclava over his face.

God, why'd you make these little bloodsuckers, seriously!?

He slapped off the remaining ones and kept walking, following the trail the woman had been. Then he paused. Wait, why was he following her? Someone might think he was a creep.

But she looked lost, and what he saw told him she was kind of pretty. And couldn't a man just stop and ask a woman if she was okay and hey, how are you?

He winced and kept walking. The woods had gone quiet. He paused. Scanning. Where had she gone?

A tree branch snapped and he glanced.

A body flew out of the woods. What the Hell?! That was a woman!

He started running over. Just when he got close enough to open his mouth and shout, the red-haired woman did a kip-up and brandished a sword, shrieking. So loud he clapped a hand to one ear, almost screaming himself from the pain it induced.

The shit!?

Something came out of the trees. A massive horse... no, wait, it had a human half on top. And it was brandishing a sword.