Gunning for the Girl by Glitzy Babylon

Author:Glitzy Babylon [Babylon, Glitzy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0C1L2S3CV
Goodreads: 125264424
Published: 2023-04-03T22:00:00+00:00

The sucking sensation of mud clinging to her feet is tiring. She continues to trudge through it, she doesn't have a choice in the matter, but she's very much tired of the entire process.

But as previously said: she has no choice. She must carry on.

So she keeps her head down, and puts one foot in front of the other.

A bug buzzes at her ear; she swats at it without looking. It persists, and she slams her fist into it.

There is hardly any give. She stops and looks up at the giant cricket she's touching with the flat of her palm, dressed in a squashed fedora and ill-fitting trench coat.

"I saw a movie like this once," the cricket says in Huxley's voice. "It was quite depressing, if I recall."

"Oh, it was," Pope agrees. She pets the smooth texture of the insect skin gently. She wonders what it would feel like in mammalian form. "I cannot say I was ever fond of it."

The cricket tilts its head just so, causing the fedora to slide off its head and land in the water. The hat sinks quickly, with a loud squelch of a noise.

"You've lost your hat," Pope points out.

"Do you much care for that hat?"

Pope opens her mouth to say, no, of course not, but stops. Hesitates. What if the cricket takes offense? She's not particularly bosom buddies with the cricket, but she doesn't want to be unnecessarily mean.

"I won't say that I adored it."

That floating sensation is in the pit of her stomach. She looks down and can see her veins aglow in her body, illuminating through her clothing, attracting moths and all sorts of disease-ridden bugs.

The cricket bends so its head is lower than Pope's waist, peers up at her with a stare. "That is no answer for someone so precise as you."

Then the cricket chirps: "Do you care about the wearer of the hat?"

Pope bristles, pulls her hand away from the cricket-skin and crosses her arms. "I care about the job I am paying to get done." She looks away with a sneer. "The wearer of the hat can go hang."

The cricket chirps low and sad, and goes back to its full height. "You are a horrible liar, and I hope you improve before you wake up."

Pope jerks her head around with wide eyes. "Wake up-- what?"

The cricket turns away and leaps to the sky, disappearing over the treetops in no time at all. With it goes the noise of buzzing, of birds singing and the slight wave of water through the swamp.

"Wait," Pope says in a faint voice. "Come back."

The water ripples out from where she is standing. These huge rings shaking and morphing in their journey to get away from her. She frowns and looks down where her feet go.

The level is getting lower. She can tell from the exposed soaked trouser leg she can now inspect. She reaches down to shake it out, and peer at something slick she can see through the murky water.

It looks like.

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