The World: Days of Blood and Magic

Excerpt:
“Johnson, do you notice anything weird.” She asked.

He looked at her in puzzlement. “You mean something like the fact that I woke up with a pounding headache that feels like drums in my head, or the fact that I woke up with you on top of me?”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “No, you damned idiot of a man. I mean like the fact that the drums are not in your head. Then there's also the fact that there's no electric or phone wires. Finally though, the biggest clue that something is not right is that!”

She roughly turned his head to the right. Yesterday there had been ruins, surrounded by a tall fence. Even the surrounding area had changed. Rather than a dusty wasteland, the area was marshy, full of exotic plants. Today, there was no fence. No ruins either, the site was new. A small half formed pyramid stood in place of the ruins, construction of the place seemed to be ongoing, judging by the tools and bricks lying about.

They stood staring in shock, no roads, no wires it was as if civilization had ceased to exist.

Karl stared down at the amulet in his hand, gone were all traces of age, it looked as if it had been carved only days ago.

“Maybe we should go try to find out where we are. It's obvious we're still in Mexico, but so far there's no sign of anyone,” he said.

She nodded in agreement. The entire area seemed to be deserted. It was beautiful, but aside from the pounding drums, devoid of human presence. It was the world as she had always longed for it to be. Clean, fresh, a world made for exploring.

The air tasted sweeter, and looked clearer, leaving the distant horizons clear. With the coming of the Spaniards, the land had all been cleared, making way for their towns and forts. A shiver made its way down her spine, a titillating idea formed in her head. This was the world as the Aztecs had seen it. There was no way they were still in the twentieth century.

Walking ahead, she looked back to see if Karl was following. A sigh escaped her, he wasn't budging.

“Johnson,” she began, “We need to get moving and try to find people.”

He shot an irritated look in her direction, then snapped, “My name is not Karl Johnson, think about it, if I took a job to steal artifacts, would I have really been stupid enough to put my real name on the application?”

Her small fist crashed into his gut, doubling him over in pain. He looked up with angry eyes to see her smirking at him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she drawled, “You’d have to be pretty damned stupid to become a low life pot hunter anyway. I will give you credit though, your way of doing things is a vast improvement over those assholes who take a bulldozer to dig sites.”

Getting up he glared at her. How the hell did he ever thing she was attractive, especially standing there, green eyes blazing, chest heaving… oh that was how. Berating himself he shot back, “Do you want to stand here and fight, or go figure out what the hell happened to us? I’ve lost my bag, which means you have no way of getting your artifacts back.”

“Fine, I'll control myself. Now, would you like to tell me your real name, or should I just call you thief?”