Around him in the stygian night, unseen creatures slithered in the muddy stream and through the arid grassland. A man could step on at least ten varieties of poisonous snakes. No stars, no moon relieved the opaque blackness. Acacia smoke and the cloying stench of something...
How long she’d lain there she didn’t know. She opened her eyes. “You see stars after all.” After drawing shaky, deep breaths to reassure herself that she could, she sat up slowly. When she felt for injuries, her hand found the warm dampness of blood...