Day 2,130

He broke through the smouldering trees and out into the clearing, gasping for breath and begging to any deity listening that she'd still be there. He'd only been gone for a few hours and she'd only been dead for a day but the world was so twisted he figured anything could happen. 

As luck would have it she was almost exactly where he left her, half submerged in a stagnant runoff from the nearby swamp though the chains around her body had been moved. It could have been a lot worse, he rationalised, she could have left with the crowd that he'd been hiding from but she didn't. 

She'd stayed put... Mostly. Her head was now facing him which only made the angle of her broken neck that much more jarring. At least she was there though and not yet reaching for his throat and the temptingly vibrant jugular that thrummed with his erratic pulse.

Aside from his harsh breathing the air was eerily void of life.

This would not last long.