November 7, 1700. One hundred miles north of the Plymouth settlement.

Steve looked out over the field with his father. The wheat was growing well this year. It would be a bountiful harvest. The watermelons his mother wanted them to plant were also growing well, the field was full of them, all plump and full of juice.

Dinner that night was left over pork chops, and baked potatoes. When they finished his mother and sister washed up and when the sun set they all went to bed, except Steve. He sat on the roof looking out over the fields at the abandoned manor. The owner had boarded it up from the inside during his final days except for the kitchen door. Legend was that he had found some kind of portal in a cave. The day he died he had limped into town with a black arrow sticking out of his back.

His final words were, "When she hatches, she must be protected."

That was over thirty years ago. When a few men had entered the house all but one had died. The survivor had said that they were attacked by moving skeletons with bows, and that some of them were black. He died days later.

Thus the house had been deemed cursed and off limits to everyone. As Steve thought of this he noticed movement in the watermelon fields. He looked closer and saw some kind of creature moving in the darkness. He jumped off the lowest part of the roof, grabbed his dad's pistol, quickly loaded it, and ran into the fields.

The creature must have seen him coming because it ran towards the manor. Steve followed until he got to the door to the kitchen. It was wide open. He went inside and carefully looked round. He didn't see anything so he carefully backed out and shut the door. He saw the board that had kept it shut broken on the ground. He looked for anything he could use to secure the door, nothing.

When he looked back up a skull was staring at him from the window in the door. He screamed and shot it through the window and ran back to his house where his father was standing on the porch with his rifle, "Steve? What in god's name are you doing?" he said wrenching the pistol from his son's hand.

"There was something in the field. I grabbed the gun and chased it to the old manor, the kitchen door was wide open so I closed it and was… look… innnngggg." He said before fainting.

When he came to he was in his bed with the doctor sitting next to him. His parents and the mayor were in his room as well, "Steve? Are you alright?" his father asked.

"Yes, I think so."

"What did you shoot at boy?" the mayor asked.

"I had just closed the door and was looking for something to secure it with, I looked up and saw a skull looking at me through the window. I shot it and ran." Steve said.

"Boy you're either the bravest person in this town, or the dumbest. Tomorrow you and your father are to go to the manor and board up that door." The mayor said before wishing everyone goodnight, he was an easy going man.

The next morning Steve and his father went to the lumber mill to get a few boards for the job, as they were leaving they heard the assistant say that a few boards were missing. When they got to the door they found it was already boarded up with brand new boards. Lying on the ground a few feet away was a skeleton with a hammer in its hand and a hole in its head.

When they told their findings to the mayor he had the bones taken to the church and cremated.

A few weeks passed without incident. Till one night Steve couldn't sleep and decided to wander the fields. As he was walking through the watermelon field he stopped. There in the middle was the creature from the night he had shot the skeleton. It looked over to him, he was hard to not spot in his turquois shirt and black pants and shoes. It was about five feet tall, had green skin with black spots, and had about four legs of sorts. It started to back away when it tripped over a melon.

Steve ran over to it, its skin looked like that of an alligator. It flinched as he held a hand out to it, "It's ok, I won't hurt you, as long as you don't hurt me." His words seemed to put it at ease so he helped it up. He looked at the watermelon it had been eating, "Are you hungry?" he asked. It nodded. He carefully picked up what was left of the melon and motioned for it to lead him to where ever it lived.

When they reached the back door of the manor he stopped at the sight of another skeleton. When it saw him it raised its bow but the creature stood in front of him. Steve walked inside and placed the melon on the counter. When her turned around a black skeleton blocked his path, it just stood there for a moment before handing him a note, 'When she hatches, she must be protected.'

"Who?"

"The girl the creeper will become. Like a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly." The words sounded like the wind whistling through its teeth. It stepped aside and he left the manor.

He looked at the creature as it looked at him with interest, "If food is what you need, I will bring you what I can. It may be a melon, or just a few apples. You'll have to just go with what I can bring you, ok?" it nodded and he walked off.

Over the next two years Steve kept his promise. And during that time the creature would be waiting for him at the door. He would talk to it for a while, tell it about his sister, how his father needed a new plow at one point, and how his mother was expecting a child.

But one Sunday evening, it wasn't there. Steve waited for about an hour for it, but ended up just leaving the bowl of fruit on the counter. As he turned to leave he saw the black skeleton, "Prove you can protect her and you may take her from here."

"I don't understand. Where's my friend?"

"She's up stairs. But you must fight your way up." It said moving to the dining room, "When you are ready enter the dining room to begin."

Steve left, wondering what it had meant. Had the creature he had been feeding been this creeper girl, or was it what she was before she became a girl. The question plagued him for a week before he decided to find out.

He grabbed and old sword, a pistol and twenty shots, and some leather armor that was supposed to be used when hunting bears. When he got to the manors door he saw what looked like a pry bar, though for some reason it was painted red. He entered the manor with it on his belt and walked into the dining room. There was a second's pause then the skeletons attacked him. He dispatched them quickly with the pry bar then moved to the next room but moved behind the door when a black arrow was shot at him.

He took out the pistol, waited for the skeleton to move closer, came out of hiding and shot it in the head. He continued on through the house killing all undead creatures he saw until he came across the last room. It was in the attic and appeared to not be an original part of the manor.

He entered it and instantly saw the 'creeper' in the corner. It looked to be in a cocoon and was split open. He heard a noise and turned to the bed in the center of the room. He approached it and noticed the lump underneath the covers was moving. He pulled them back… and stared at the girl curled up in the middle of the bed. She looked about his age of sixteen, and had short white hair and deep blue eyes. She looked up at him and seemed to recognize him because she leapt off the bed into his arms yelling, "Steve!"

He caught her and fell backwards onto the floor. It took him a few moments to catch his breath and in that time he came to the realization that she was naked. He stood her up and saw that there was a wardrobe against one wall. He went to it and pulled out a nightgown. He pulled it over her head and picked her up then carried her out of the manor. When he got to the front door he set her on an attaché and used the pry bar to pull the boards off the door.

He picked her up and when he opened the door the whole town was outside and armed. "Don't shoot! It's Steve. And he's carrying a girl." His father shouted, running over to him, "Steve what was going on in there? And who's that in your arms?"

"Remember the creature I chased to the manor? Apparently it was something called a creeper, and for two years I've been taking it food. The skeletons apparently were there to protect her," he motioned to the girl in his arms, "when she hatched. Think of the creeper as a caterpillar and she's the butterfly. They were to test those who wanted to protect her. Well, I beat them so if anyone tries to hurt her you'll have to deal with me." He said, putting her on his shoulder and pulling out the sword, which by now was severely dented and chipped.

"Don't worry boy, nobody's going to hurt her." The mayor said, walking up to him, "You showed either great courage or great stupidity by going in there but it looks like you came out with a real good prize. Take care of her lad." The mayor said before walking away.

Two years later

The creeper girl never spoke to anyone other than Steve. He would eventually give her the name Mary. She would always follow him around, clinging to his arm and stand behind him whenever someone approached.

The day they would marry was the anniversary of when Steve first saw the creeper in the fields.

The after party was pretty average, but just as people were getting ready to leave the doors to the inn opened and one of the black skeletons walked in. When it spotted Steve it walked over to him and handed him its bow, "You proved yourself a worthy protector. Take this as a symbol to all of your status." It 'said' handing him its bow. Before leaving it turned and said, "One last thing, the Manor is clear. Take it for your own, Steve." And then it left.

Steve took Mary's hand and found it to be shaking he wrapped his arm protectively around her and whispered comforting words to her. "Well that was… interesting," the mayor said.

After that life went on as normal. The manor had held up well over the years of being occupied by the skeletons and only needed minor repairs. When it was all fixed up Steve and Mary would live in it till the day they died over eighty years later.