Story 1267: The Swamp Host

The ferry coughed to a stop at the edge of a drowned forest.

There was no dock—just twisted trees rising from black, ankle-deep water, their roots tangled like the hands of the dead. Mist clung low to the ground, thick as breath. The sun never broke through the canopy. Everything felt wet, slow, and wrong.

“This doesn’t look like a safe zone,” Shade muttered, drawing his blade.

“It’s not,” H-13 said grimly. “This is Zone Delta-4. The Swamp District. One of VIREX’s earliest containment failures.”

“Then why are we here?” Juno asked.

“Because we’re not being tracked anymore. The auto-routing system must have defaulted to an unmonitored region when you rewired the ferry. This place… it’s off-grid. Which makes it dangerous—and hidden.”

They stepped into the bog, every footfall muffled by layers of rotting vegetation.

There were no birds. No bugs. No wind.

Only breathing.