Mac had always been a spectator.
He watched games, never played them. He watched history, never touched it. And when he stumbled across the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer late one night some "Definitive Edition" re-release it was curiosity, not passion, that made him hit play.
He expected gunfights and horses. What he didn't expect was how the music made his chest tighten. Or how the main character's eyes looked tired in a way Mac understood all too well.
Then came the sound. Something sharp, electronic like a wire snapping inside his skull.
Then nothing just pitch black and a couple seconds later he he started to feel like he was drowning he jerked his body sitting up feeling the mud on his skin.
"What the…?" I said as I looked at my hands they were small much smaller then their supposed to be.
I tore my eyes off my hands and started looking around me I froze. My eyes going as wide as saucers.
"This can't be happening" I saw a man lying in the mud with a bullet piercing his head and gut flies buzzing in and out his mouth his face stuck in the look of suprise.
I scrambled trying to stand up when a sudden wave of pain shot through my body I slip and fall splashing mud all over me.
I get in all fours and scramble back then the sound of hoofbeats makes me turn around.
That's when I see it a giant monster of a horse pale as a skeleton
I push through the pain and stand up.
My legs feel like wet paper. My ribs scream with every breath. But it's standing there the horse like it's waiting to see if I'm stupid enough to try and tame it to try and ride it out of here.
And me in a body of some scrawny half grown body of a kid with boots obviously to big for my feet.
I take a slow step to it my heart beat quickens with fear
The horse just stands their like it can feel the fear coming off of me.
But I keep walking the ground is soft from the mud, sucking at my boots. My hands are shaking. My throat's dry. The closer I get, the bigger it seems, like it's growing just to intimidate me.
Pleas don't fuck me up I've seen enough videos to know how injured you can get from a horse.
The horse shifts. Its front hoof slams into the dirt with a snort like thunder. My heart jumps out of my chest.
I freeze.
"Easy," I whisper. "I'm not here to hurt you."
It doesn't care.
It's a wild thing, and I'm barely even a person.
I step closer. Another inch. Another heartbeat.
And then I reach out.
My fingers touch its neck. Hot. Solid. Alive.
It tenses.
I hold my breath. Please. Please don't—
It rears.
I throw myself sideways as hooves tear through the air where my skull just was.
I hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of me.
The horse circles, furious now. Head tossing, legs stomping, breath fogging like steam in the cold.
But it doesn't run.
It doesn't leave.
It's testing me.
But I try again because I have a feeling in this nightmare of a world this wild thing might be the only honest thing I'll ever meet.
When I get it calm down I start patting it
The saddle was too high, but the bags were within reach. I rifled through them, hands shaking, half-expecting to find an iPhone, an inhaler, something from the world I knew.
Instead I find a revolver a moldy half eaten biscuit and a blood stained journal.
I picked up the gun feeling the weight it's heavy. Heavier then I was expecting I tried to cock the hammer but I couldn't get it to budge. I put both thumbs on it to try again when it slips out from under my thumbs.
Dammit!! It slams down on my skin pinching it.
I threw everything back into the saddle bag.
I turn to the horse "please don't throw me off" I mutter.
Mounting was a joke. I managed to grab the saddlehorn and climb onto the horse like a drunk raccoon. The horse snorted but didn't bolt. Small mercies.
I don't know how to ride a horse.
But the horse has been rode before so it knows what it's doing.
We moved forward each step making my frantic mind calm down.
The horse galloped and galloped until nightfall.
My stomach twisted in hunger. My hands sore from gripping the reins to tight. Ever sound and rustle of the leaves made me flinch.
By time I found a creek I was to exhausted to care if the water was clean I threw myself on the ground cupping water in my hands drinking from it like never tasted water in my life.
By time I was done I was tired and in the verge of falling asleep I take the gun out the saddle bag and drag my body beside a tree and curl up gripping the gun in my hand like my life depends on it and it does then I slowly start closing my eyes and pass out…