Chapter Nine

The journey took a long time. Too long. It seemed that, every time the Swamp Thing was able to travel in secrecy, something came up. He could not help but to think that these swamps were infested with evil... pure evil. It seemed as if all the ghouls and creatures of the night rose together to slow him down as he traveled through these dark swamps at night, out of the sight of man. At some points he thought he would never make it back home. He was very tired. Physically he was very similar to how he appeared when he was first born into this life as the Swamp Thing, and indeed he was subject to the same limitations he had been subject to then. He could not leave this body and grow another one where he wanted to go. Nor could he cause this one to grow any further or faster than it had already grown to this point. Thus, caution returned to him, for he was no longer a god. He was merely another creature of the swamps.

He stopped as he entered the clearing in the wee hours before sunrise. The air was chilly. Mist rose above the murky waters and the sound of birds singing to one another filled the air but did little to fill the ache in his heart. As he feared, Abby was not waiting for him here at his home in the swamps. Of course she wasn't, he realized. How could she possibly even know that he was back? He told these things to himself, but could not shake the belief that somehow she knew he was coming back and that somehow something had happened to prevent her coming here to wait for him.

The Swamp Thing sat down by a tree and tried to regain his lost energy. The battle with the alligator creature had taken a lot out of him, but it was the subsequent taunting of wicked voices in the oppressive air as he walked which took the most out of him. As he traveled his fevered mind had seen apparitions. Arcane, surrounded by demons, seemed to be laughing as he watched his plight. He seemed to see John Constantine sitting in a bar and bragging about how he suckered him into a fool's errand which almost destroyed him in the end. And Abby. She was laughing and surrounded by several leering, oiled young men, getting drunk on the wine of her fornications. They were all illusions, however, brought on by he knew not what. Even the trees in the swamps themselves had seemed to be scowling at him and tripping him up as he walked. There was an evil presence in the woods which he had never encountered before this time.

The hypothetical question the Parliament of Trees had posed to him so many months ago lingered in the air like an unanswered query: "Where is evil in all the wood?" At the time the Swamp Thing believed that they had meant to say that the world's trees, the flowers, and the plants were free from all corruption and were pure and free from the sickly taint of evil. Now, though, he wondered if it had meant something quite different. The Swamp Thing had seen evil in the wood, first in Patagonia, and now here in the swamplands of Louisiana which appeared to have cropped up in his absence. He was too weary and pained to give it any further thought, however.

He began to think about Abby. She was not here, but there was no way she could have known of his return, despite his intuition. She was probably in Houma, where she was working before his disappearance. He hoped that she had not taken a job elsewhere. No, he thought to himself. This was her home now. If she at all believed that he was coming back, this was where they would meet. And it was a local hospital in which Matt was being kept.

Alec Holland had known Matt Cable in the days when both he and his wife Linda were still alive. Lieutenant Cable had been the government agent who was supposed to have protected them from those who wanted the bio- restorative formula at any price. Unfortunately, Matt Cable was not present at the times Alec and Linda needed him the most. The Swamp Thing had never held that against him, nor had he resented Matt's relentless hunting of him in the early days when he believed the Swamp Thing was responsible for the Hollands' deaths. They had become allies after a while against the horrors they encountered together, along with Abby. The Swamp Thing had loved her even then but could never act on that love; believing that the thought of it would be utterly grotesque to her. It was a moot point after Matt and Abby were married, until the tragedy which put Matt into that coma caused a reversal of fortune in which Alec and Abby were able to express their love for each other.

The Swamp Thing thought of this and other things as he surreptitiously trekked through the forest towards the town of Houma clad in an old trenchcoat and a broad-rimmed hat. Few people were yet up at this hour, but already roosters were crowing and cars began to pull out onto the road, heading for work. He had no desire to interact with anyone at this point but Abby, and he did his best to avoid awaking sleeping dogs.

Finally he found himself standing before the place where Abby had lived. After a few glances through the windows he knew she was not there. He did see a familiar-looking woman asleep in a bed, but he was certain that it was not Abby and was too tired to discover her identity. With little time left, he discounted all further possibilities except for the hospital where Matt was being kept. Perhaps she was there, he thought desperately, a sinking feeling of dread hitting him suddenly.

He was used to slinking in shadows in disguise as he had in the early days, but never had he felt such fear of getting caught. He had no way of telling how vulnerable this body was now that he had returned. He found his way to the hospital with little problem. But what he saw when he got there hit him to his very core.

It was Matt Cable, awake and looking like his old self once again, talking enthusiastically with Abby as she helped him into her car. So it was true. The feelings of dread and loss he had ever since getting back to this world were because of this. The shock of it passed quickly enough for the Swamp Thing to turn around after one long look as he watched them drive away. He felt angry in one way, and happy in another way because his old friend Matt was all right, but mostly he felt numb. He would have been better off staying in space.