An owl let out its call. A coyote trotted past, curious, but keeping its distance from us. Insects mindlessly stripped a dead animal. In the tall weeds, little cylinders made of brass, spent casings left by a hunter.

The forest began to thin a bit. Now we felt electrical lines crisscrossing the area. Not too far away, vehicles raced down a road. Ahead, the terrain started to rise.

We could feel that the sex organs had completed their change. They were ready for a host.

We looked up, took a few seconds to examine that world’s lone moon, the only source of light in those deep woods.

[Do you remember that night? In the ruins of that once great city, under the dead moon, that forgotten corpse of paradise. We met and became one.]

(A necessity, nothing more.)

[You haven’t grown fond of us?]

(No. Your minds and bodies do aid me in finding my joy. And yet, your madness will be my undoing.)

[What about you?] the charming voice asked the twisted one.

{It was destiny that brought us together. Without the two of you, I am not whole.}

[Exactly what I wanted to hear.]

Up a hill in front of us, electricity, treated wood, cut stone, a female. She could be used to create spawn.