Killer monster's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Killer monster guarded six eggs in the deepest bog of Killerfalls, and not one of them would ever hatch. Killer monster knew this. The eggs lay cold in the mud, pale and still. A clutch needed a mate to quicken it. Killer monster had no mate. Killer monster was the last of their kind in this bog. They coiled around the useless eggs anyway, scales slick with swamp water, and listened for any other voice that sounded like their own. The voice never came. Instead, a man came. Killer monster smelled him first through the reeds. Pipe smoke and old leather. The bog trapper called John waded into the shallows, boots sucking in the muck, a short hat low over his gray beard. Killer monster had seen him before. John hunted creatures like Killer monster. He skinned them and sold the scales. Killer monster sank low, only their eyes above the water. John stopped at a thorn gate of twisted trees, where dim light leaked through the branches. He set a trap there, then wiped his hands and spat. "Second one this month," he muttered. "Big one. Nests past the hemlock, on the far mire." He grinned at nothing. "Worth more than its weight." Killer monster went still. Far mire. Another creature. Another of their kind, alive, past the gate John guarded. Killer monster had a choice. Stay and protect dead eggs. Or cross the gate and risk the trapper's machete for a chance at a mate. Killer monster chose. They burst from the water. John spun, machete flashing up. Killer monster did not strike him. They slammed into the trap instead, snapping its iron jaws shut on empty air. Killer monster lunged through the thorn gate, branches tearing at their scales. John shouted behind them. Steel bit Killer monster's tail and left a hot line of pain. Killer monster kept moving, deeper, past the hemlock, into country they had never dared enter. The far mire opened wide and black. Killer monster stopped, breathing hard, blood dripping into the mud. They lifted their head and called the low, grinding note of their kind. For a long moment, nothing. Then the water stirred. A broad back rose. Scales, like Killer monster's own. Eyes found Killer monster across the bog. Another voice answered the call. Killer monster had found a mate. But John stood at the gate behind them, bleeding trap sprung, machete in hand, now knowing exactly where both creatures lived. The only path back to the eggs ran straight through him.