Chapter 13: Swamped In The Swamp

It was eventually decided that they'd take turns sleeping in order to avoid sharing anymore of their dreams. Though Computer did suggest that they use the dream catcher, there wasn't really anywhere for them to hang it up. Thus he took the first 'night watch' and Courage was the one who had to rather reluctantly try to fall asleep again. He thankfully had a dreamless rest and was soon awaken not long after that with a gentle shake.

"Your turn." Computer yawned. "I'm assuming you didn't have any nightmares?"

Courage nodded and sat up. "Get some rest, Compute. We've got a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow."

"Don't remind me." He grumbled as he laid down.

Courage then took some time to stoke the fire once more, but it was running out of fuel to burn and he did not dare go out into the dark to look for more wood to throw in. After he was finished, he sat there for awhile beside Computer, staring into the flames. A couple of minutes later and he looked up to find that the sky on the horizon was beginning to lighten up. His mouth fell open, acutely aware that Computer must have let him sleep for a lot longer than he had realized. Soon the countryside was bathed in the morning sunlight, and a small amount of warmth return to the cold air. He let Computer sleep for another two hours before finally waking him and they then set out to complete the rest of their journey.

"I can't believe how hungry I already am." Computer spoke, lagging behind Courage as they walked. "How on earth did you flesh creatures manage to survive before the advent of mass production? I don't see how you all found a way to live off the land when I haven't seen a single piece of edible food out here."

Courage chuckled to himself at Computer's near endless complaining. "Just think of all the restaurants that town is going to have when we get there." He replied, attempting to encourage him a little bit.

"Think about how far we have to walk until then." He groaned. "We might starve long before that."

Courage let out a laugh. "We can survive a whole day without food. Remember how long you'd go without eating back when you hated it?"

"Don't bring that up with me again." He sighed. "The constant gnawing sensation in my stomach wasn't a fun thing to experience."

And thus his complaining continued all throughout the day. It was when the sun had begun to reach the top of the sky that they finally got close enough to see the swamp on the horizon. They both climbed up a hill to get a better look at it and it was there that it became apparent that the swamp really did seem to stretch on forever in both directions.

"I'm glad we decide to not go around it." Courage commented.

Computer squinted as he tried to gauge the distance they still had to go before they'd reach it. "It looks like it might take us another two hours to get there, give or take."

"Maybe." Courage agreed. "Who knows what could happen before we get there."

"Probably nothing." He huffed. "This has been the most boring, dull, and uneventful trip I've ever been on. At least when it comes to riding a bus, you don't have to walk everywhere! I'll take that kind of boring any day!"

"I wouldn't start talking about this trip being boring just yet. You're going to make something bad happen!" Courage laughed.

They made their way back down the hill and continued onward. The swamp was getting closer and closer with every step they took. Another uneventful hour passed, aside from Courage's own stomach beginning to rumble so loudly that half of the countryside could probably hear it. They did, however, hit a minor road block when they came across a small creek that cut between them and the swamp. Though it was only a few inches deep at most, and the water passing through it was mere trickle, the bank on both ends were surprisingly steep. Thankfully the creek was small enough that it would be easier to jump over it than to climb down and then back up again on the other side.

Courage took a few steps back and made the jump with ease. He landed on the other side, clearing the steep bank by a couple of inches. He then turned back around when Computer did not follow his lead.

The machine just stared. He did not need to speak a single word to convey how he felt about all this.

"C'mon, Compute!" Courage urged him. "If a sick dog can make that jump, so can you!"

His friend raised his arms for a moment and then let them fall to his side again. He was acting as though he were being asked to make an Olympian jump.

"If you don't get across this creek then I'm just going to have to leave you behind, in the wilderness...alone." He teased.

Computer grit his teeth. "Ugh! I did not sign up for all this extreme hiking!" He spat. Finally, with a sigh, he took a few steps back. "This is going to end badly..." He muttered to himself.

"Yep, this is going to end badly." He reaffirmed a second time as he checked the distance between himself and the other side of the creek. He took a few more steps back all while he continued to mutter out, "I'm going to fall in and somehow manage to drown in a few inches of water. A perfectly indignant end to my miserable existence. Why am I not surprised?"

"Stop complaining and jump!" Courage called out to him.

Computer rolled his eyes and put on a burst of speed. He jumped at the last possible second and landed just on the edge of the bank, right where it dropped off. He teetered there for a moment, his arms swinging wildly as he tried to maintain his balance, and then tipped backwards.

"Gotcha!" Courage exclaimed, grabbing him and pulling him forward before he could fall in. The glowing dog then collapsed onto the grass.

"I hate nature!" He spat, standing back up again and brushing himself off.

"No need to give up now." Courage giggled. "You defeated the uncrossable, raging river and now we're almost there!"

"Must you mock me every chance you get?" He sighed. "Just because you're more athletic than me doesn't give you the right to make a big joke out of it!"

"I think saving you from being whisked away in a deadly current does!" He laughed.

It took about another hour and a half for them to reach the point of where the countryside began to turn into swamp. The boundary of where it really became swampland was still about a good ten minute walk away, but now they had begun searching for the road that the bus had been meant to take.

"Hmm, if the map was correct then it should be-" Computer mused to himself. He led Courage over to an opening between the now thickly packed trees. Unlike the countryside, this swamp was densely packed with the strangest assortment of gnarled trees. It was starting to remind Courage rather uncomfortably of Nowhere Forest, but unlike the forest, they had much less to fear here. Well, at least they hopefully did...

"Here!" Computer called out, pointing to the worn pavement that led into the opening. It almost didn't seem like a road at all. It was more like something you'd drive a horse-drawn carriage on.

"Well, let's get this over with." Courage spoke as he took in a deep, nervous breath. "We don't want to get stuck out here overnight."

Computer nodded in agreement. "Just remember all the food that's waiting for us on the other side!"

They took their first steps into the swamp and followed the straight path deeper inside. The trees became a little less numerous the farther they went in, but soon they could see that aside from the road they were traveling on, the rest of the land around them was now submerged in water. Water that was probably still very cold after the chilly air last night. There were a few sounds of animals here and there, but aside from that, it was surprisingly quiet.

"And just what is making that sound?" Computer asked. Every once in awhile they'd hear the loud chattering of some creature that could not be seen.

"A swamp squirrel?" Courage replied, half jokingly.

"Bah! I hate squirrels!" The machine huffed. "Of course they'd be in a place like this!"

Several frogs could be heard croaking as well. They'd sometimes come across one floating in the water near the road and there would, at times, be a loud splash as a frog went off to do whatever frogs did somewhere else.

"I thought this place would be dead." Computer said in a small voice, as though speaking too loudly might disturb some sleeping monster that they could not see. "Don't these creatures, you know, fly south for the winter or something?"

"Well, if there is such a thing as a swamp squirrel, I'm sure they do whatever squirrels do in the winter, and as for everything else, I'm not sure. It isn't winter just yet after all. They might not be ready to leave until later."

"All these frogs are going to get stuck in ice at this rate if keeps getting colder." Computer went on. "At least it hasn't been as cold as it was last night. I can't wait to get back on a bus that has its own heating system."

"Poor, Compute. He's been away from his fellow technology for far too long." Courage joked. "If you see any machines out here, don't go to them, it's probably a mirage."

"Ha, ha, very funny." The glowing dog grumbled under his breath. "I'm not about to start hallucinating, thank you very mu-."

BANG!

Upon a gunshot ringing out from deeper within the swamp, both dogs jump off the road and into the freezing water to take cover behind a tree. The both waited with their breaths held for something else to happen, but nothing did.

"What on earth was up with that?" Computer whispered.

"Hunters, maybe?" Courage answered in an equally quiet voice. "Come on, we've got to keep moving or else we're going to get stuck out here tonight. We can't hide all day just because there's a hunter or two out there bagging a few kills."

"Yeah, and what if these hunters, if they 'are' hunters, decide that they want to bag a few dogs wandering around the swamp?"

"Do you want to go another day without food?"

"I'd like to make it through this without my head getting mounted on a wall, for starters."

Courage ignored his quip and slogged through the muddy swamp water until he was back on the road. Computer warily followed after him. A few more shots rang out as they continued down their path, but whoever was firing them off wasn't getting any closer. Neither of them spoke as they walked, fearful that it might attract attention to them.

They hit their newest problem not long after that. The road was started to degrade and it was beginning to erode to such a point that it was steadily dipping further and further into the water the farther they went. It soon got to a point of where the path in front of them was completely submerged and they could not see it resurfacing anywhere up ahead. Nothing but swamp lay before them.

"That can't be right." Computer muttered to himself. "This road is supposed to take us all the way through. Nothing on the map suggested that it was in such a state of disrepair."

"We should keep going." Courage suggested. "It's only a little water and I bet the road resurfaces somewhere up ahead."

"Are you sure about this?" His friend hesitantly asked. "I know that there isn't any other way if we want to get through here before nightfall, but-"

Courage nodded, hoping to himself that this wouldn't end badly. "Let's just keep moving. We can always turn back if we need to."

Computer gave a somewhat hesitant shrug. "You're the boss."

They stepped into the water and continued onward. The once firm road under their feet became thick, gooey mud and it quickly became a slog just to keep walking forward. Their feet kept sinking deep into the mud and they would have to struggle just to get them back out again. The water that at first had only gone up to their knees was now reaching all the way up to their mid torso. If the muck got any deeper, they'd have to start swimming through it.

Courage took a step forward and his feet sank into the mud for what felt like the millionth time. It did not help at all that the water was freezing and his limbs had started to go numb because of it. He stared down at the murky water, wondering how they would ever get to the other side of the swamp like this, especially before it got dark. He then tried to free his feet, but they were stuck tight.

"Compute, I could use a little help." He called out to the glowing dog, who was already slogging on ahead of him.

Computer turned back around and assessed the situation with a grim sort of annoyance. He too must have realized how much this setback was slowing them down and that it was becoming more and more likely that they'd never be able to make it to the other side of the swamp before nightfall. They could not afford to find themselves stuck in the water when it got dark out or else they really would freeze to death.

He grabbed Courage around the torso and tried to pull him out. Though he did eventually come free, it caused both of them to topple over into the muck. They quickly surfaced only to find themselves covered in the nasty, foul smelling mud.

"Ugh, nature is so disgusting!" Computer exclaimed as he tried to rub some of it off his face to no avail. "Why can't things just go right for a change?" He yelled. "Everything that can go wrong for us does, and it's really starting to grate on me!"

"I know, I know." Courage agreed in a weak voice. He attempted to get a better look ahead of them, hoping to see that the road would soon re-submerge, but there was nothing aside from more swamp. "Maybe we really should turn around." He suggested. "We'll never make it to the other side like this."

"You do realize how long it's going to take for us to go around?" Computer warned. "And we can't risk going back for supplies either. We are-" He was interrupted by the loud roar of an engine from somewhere deeper inside the swamp.

"W-what is that?" Courage yelped.

His friend raised an eyebrow. "It appears that there's a truck of some kind heading this way."

"Is it the SCC Organization?"

"It doesn't feel like them." He answered with a reassured nod. "Although, there's no telling who else might be driving that truck."

"S-should we hide?"

"No, let's see if we can get their attention. They might be able to help us get out of this swamp. If they won't stop for us then I'll force them to stop instead."

Courage, acutely aware that they might be attracting the wrong kind of attention to them, stammered out, "But, but-"

"Do you want to get stuck out here for another two days? Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"But what if this is the person who was letting off all those gunshots before?"

"As long as I can sense their gun, they won't be firing it off in my presence."

The truck in question then burst into view. It was bright red with heavy set wheels that were just overly large enough that it could blaze through the mud without issue. It was spraying the muck several feet into the air and splattering the trees with it.

Computer stepped out in front of it as it zoomed ever closer to them and as soon as it was near enough, it slowly came to stop. Its door swung open and out stepped, much to both dogs surprise, a massive grizzly bear. Computer, even after not having been particularly concerned about doing this to ensure they'd make it out of the swamp alive, stepped back in shock at the sight of the gigantic bear. Said bear was clothed in a pair of overalls and a plaid shirt. A hunter's hat sat atop his furry, brown head and a gun as equally large as himself was strapped to his back. He stood there for a moment, sizing up both speechless dogs.

Computer finally worked up the courage to say, "We, uh, are-"

The bear's lips peeled apart to display a large, sharp,toothy smile. "Well, looky what we got here. A pair of wanderers in my swamp! Ya got lost, didntcha?"

He spoke with what Courage would only call a 'hillbilly' style accent. Every word that came out of his mouth seemed to rumble in his throat, as though he were growling even when he wasn't trying to.

"We ain't had no visitors around these parts in years!" He went on.

"I wonder why..." Computer muttered out under his breath.

"Don't look so pale faced, you two. I ain't one to bite...much." He let out a loud, booming laugh that seemed to shake the entire swamp.

"Look, we need to get to the other side of the swamp." Computer interjected. "Can you help us out?"

"Oooh, yer one of those fancy city folk, aren't you?" The bear asked. He was directing the question at Computer himself. "You sound like one of them tea drinking, wig wearing, fancy upper class types."

Computer did a double take. "Er, what?"

The bear ignored his exclamation. "I bet yer both worn out from yer travels, so why don't I take ya back to my place? I'll feed ya and let ya stay for the night. Tomorrow I'll have you out of my swamp before you even know it! Besides, my family would love the company! We don't leave the swamp much and we don't get many travelers either."

Courage gave Computer a quick glance, wondering what he thought of all this. As wary as this bear was making him, he was pretty tired and 'very' hungry. He suspected that Computer was feeling the same way too.

"What do you want to do, Courage?" The glowing dog asked him in a low voice. "Can we trust this guy?"

"You're the one who was so insistent that we stop him and get a ride out of here."

"A ride is one thing, but a sleepover at place we've never even seen before?"

"He's going to feed us, that's one thing. I'd rather do that than starve."

"Well, he does seem, erm, mostly harmless. I guess we could take our chances."

They both looked back up at the bear. "We would be glad to spend the night at your place." Computer spoke up.

"Wonderful!" The bear boomed. "Hop on in to my truck and we'll be gettin' on our way!"

He ended up having to lift both of them up inside and when he himself sat down, he took up almost all the room there was. The truck obviously wasn't meant to carry such a massive creature and it seemed to groan from the weight being put on it.

"Here we go!" The bear laughed, bringing a claw down onto the radio. The most obnoxious banjo music began to blare out of the speakers. The bear then slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and they were speeding off into the swamp. "Oh, and by the way, folks call me Papa Grizzly around these here parts. You two can just call me Grizzly if ya like."

Both of them were too busy being squished to really take note.

End Of Chapter