by Jadyn Chase
It snarled again and a stinking plume of sulfur stung my sinuses. Its burning red eyes drilled to my soul. For a second, I wondered if I was going to pee my pants. The next instant, the creature cracked its enormous jaws and bellowed at me with a roar that vibrated the hills. I cowered in petrified shock with the gun still trembling in my fingertips. What could I do to protect myself from this thing if a gun didn’t penetrate its scales?
The monster took one more ground-shaking step toward me. All its bulk teetered over me ready to strike. I had to act. I had to think of something, but fear and alarm obliterated my ability to reason. I couldn’t think of anything to do besides curling into a ball and waiting for the thing to kill me.
Its pointed head swayed back and forth a few inches from me. At this range, I could make out the spikes running down its skull to the long neck. Needle fangs crowded its mouth, and a smoky smell came from its throat.
I gaped at it in blank horror. It sniffed me and its eyes narrowed another micron. What was it thinking? It must be gauging the best way to kill me. An inkling of an idea crept into my mind. Could I? Should I risk it? I had to. It was the only way out of here.
I had to time it down to the split second. I huddled under my arms for some trace of protection even though I knew it was useless. My only hope lay in this creature thinking I was helpless.
It grunted once and pulled its head back. This was it. It was now or never. I squinted one eye open to check its position. A ripple of muscle traveled down its whip neck getting ready to lunge.
That wave of motion lapped back. It washed up the creature’s neck to its head, and that pointed mouth full of death darted at me going a mile a minute. The jaws parted for the death bite. At the last possible moment, I spun around, jammed my gun into the thing’s eye socket, and fired.
This time, the bullet splattered into the fleshy globe that shone in the night. The dragon shrieked to wake the dead and leaped back in surprise. It thrashed its head against the stars screeching bloody murder. When it brought its head around again, only one eye gleamed at me with that evil red tinge.
Its head lashed downward bellowing its almighty death roar. Its fangs plummeted straight at me to tear me limb from limb. I played my last and only card. Now I was done for.
I watched the thing rushing at me faster than the human eye could follow. I thought after the fact I should have shot out its other eye, but I didn’t think of that in the moment. Only one idea dominated my mind: get the hell out of there with my life.
At the last second before it pulverized me to a crisp, I rolled sideways. The dragon’s snout smashed into the ground full tilt and the whole clearing shook from the force of the blow.
I catapulted onto my back in time to see the creature hurtle its head back. In a fraction of a second, it rushed down at me for another strike. I couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the way.
At that moment, a massive shape appeared to my right. Neither the dragon nor I had time to look that way before it slammed into the beast with the force of thunder. It bowled the dragon onto its side and plowed it over onto its back.
I stared up at the hulking form straddled over me. I blinked in astonishment before I realized it was another dragon. Its scales shone bluish-purple in the faint light still coming from my tablet screen.
The newcomer planted its enormous feet on either side of me and lowered its head at my attacker. The dragon that nearly killed me flopped over onto its legs and hauled itself up. It hissed at the stranger, and the two giant lizards bobbed their heads from side to side sizing each other up.
Before the first dragon could recover, the newcomer unleashed a torrential jet of flame from its mouth. It pounded the first dragon across its face, neck, and sides with an endless stream of flame that lit up the whole clearing.
The fire pelted off the dragon’s scales until it screamed bloody murder. Only now, in the light of that scorching fire, I realized the dragon that attacked me was bright red. The fire lit it up as bright as day until it glowed like the setting sun.
The blue dragon kept up its barrage. It forced the red dragon to retreat toward the trees. The red dragon convulsed in pain screeching to the skies, but the blue dragon didn’t slacken its assault up in the slightest.
I saw my chance and scurried out from under the blue dragon. I didn’t stop to think twice. I bolted for the trees heading for my Jeep.
Another catastrophic explosion boomed across the landscape. I looked over my shoulder still plowing through the woods to see the red dragon recover enough to return the blue dragon’s fire.
In that blaze of destruction, I beheld a sight no mortal human should have to see. The two dragons faced each other on their hind legs. They beat the air with their wings and pawed their forelimbs at each other to scratch each other to death.
The blue dragon lunged for the red dragon with its fangs bared. It dove for the red dragon’s neck and made a cutting slice along its scales, but the red dragon parried. It whipped its long, supple neck around the blue dragon and tangled up its head so it couldn’t do any damage.
The two reptilian forms writhed and wrestled. While the red dragon kept the blue dragon’s mouth busy, it slashed its tail around and laid open the blue dragon’s cheek with one crack. The razor spikes along its spine sliced through the scales, and blood poured down the blue dragon’s jaw.
The blue dragon roared to the ends of the Earth. In my headlong flight to get as far away from both of them, a thought weaseled into my brain. The blue dragon saved my life. He tried to protect me from the red dragon’s wrath. Now the fight turned against him. If he lost, the red dragon would come after me again.
I charged through the woods as fast as my legs would run. My knees hurt, and I stumbled every few steps, but I had to keep going if it was the last thing I ever did. I floundered through the undergrowth trying to find my Jeep in the dark.
I had no idea where I was going. I darted one way and then the other. I ran into things, bounced off, and bolted in another direction. I could have run around the woods all night long and wound up nowhere, but at one point, by sheer accident, I ran full tilt into my own Jeep.
I patted it a few times before I let myself believe it was real. My lungs burst from running. I struggled to draw breath and my hands trembled, but at least I found the vehicle in the dark.
I ran around to the driver’s seat and pawed under the carpet until I found the keys. I sent up a prayer of gratitude to my Dad who taught me to always leave the keys in the car, even if you have to hide them. He told me you never know when you or someone else will need to move that car, and the keys should always be in it.
I pounced into the driver’s seat. My fingers trembled trying to slot the key into the ignition. On the third attempt, I got it into the hole. I turned the motor, and a treacherous snarl greeted me. I looked around to see the two dragons fluttering several feet off the forest floor.
They somersaulted over and over each other in mid-air. How they stayed aloft while fighting, I could never figure out. They coiled their necks and tails around each other, and one squirt of flame after another belched from their mouths. They didn’t hit each other, but the fire lit up the whole area.
The blue dragon plunged for the red dragon’s throat, but the red dragon smashed its head sideways and deflected its enemy’s attack. It sent the blue dragon’s head whipping sideways. The blue dragon howled in pain. In the interval before it recovered, the red dragon cracked its neck and clubbed the blue dragon one more time across the side of the face.
The blue dragon stumbled in mid-flight. Its wings crumpled for a second, and it ceased to hold itself up. In that moment, the red dragon contorted on top of it, and its weight sent the blue dragon crashing to Earth with its opponent perched on top.
The red dragon drilled the blue dragon into the ground. Their monstrous bodies destroyed countless trees, and they left a crater right in front of the Jeep. I stared at them in desperate horror, but they paid no attention to me. They conc
entrated all their wrath on each other.
The red dragon followed up its advantage. It darted in and impaled the blue dragon’s shoulder with all its fangs. It sank its devastating bite around the fleshy muscle holding the blue dragon’s forelimb to its chest.
The blue dragon shrieked in agony. It flailed once under its larger adversary. My guts wrenched at the sound. That thing tried to help me and now it was dying. In front of my eyes, the red dragon ripped its teeth out of the creature’s chest and tore a bloody flap of skin and sinew out of the blue dragon’s body.
The blue dragon let out a spine-chilling scream. It seethed in torment, but it couldn’t move with the red dragon pinning it down. I gulped hard. I couldn’t help it now. I could only save myself.
I jammed my foot onto the clutch and took hold of the gear shift to throw the Jeep into reverse. At that moment, the red dragon reared back its demon head. Blood spattered its jaws and chin and gave it a wicked, deadly appearance. Its one eye made it look even more demonic than ever.
It leveled its fearsome gaze at its fallen foe. It measured the death stroke with unerring accuracy. In a few seconds, the blue dragon would be dead and nothing would stop that red monster from coming after me the way it did in the first place.
I braced all my limbs to drive for my life when the red dragon plunged. It came down with all its power on its victim. At the last second, the blue dragon rocketed off the ground. With one bone-crunching bite, it sank its fangs into the underside of the red dragon’s skull. It found the soft, vulnerable places around the red dragon’s jaw and throat and crunched.
The red dragon froze on high. It towered over the blue dragon’s prostrate form for one terrible moment. It stared straight ahead with one unblinking eye. I couldn’t believe my senses. He did it! The blue dragon won.
The red dragon shuddered once. Then it flopped down on top of the blue dragon. Its wings fluttered before they came to rest on the ground draped all around the blue dragon. For a second, the larger reptile completely concealed its killer.
I blinked at the pile of flesh. My instincts screamed at me, Drive! Get the hell out of here now! But I couldn’t bring myself to act.
One of the red dragon’s wings rumpled, and the blue dragon floundered out from under it. It struggled to its feet and shook itself before it looked around. At that moment, its burning red eyes found me in the dark. It narrowed its eyes at me exactly the way the red dragon did when it first entered the clearing.
Raw compulsion to survive took over and wiped out every obstacle. I popped the clutch and slammed my foot into the gas pedal. The Jeep skidded backward and flipped around. I almost smashed into a tree before I got the thing into drive and burned rubber out of there.
My blood screamed in my brain. I couldn’t breathe with all the adrenaline coursing through me. I kicked down the accelerator and careened away from the Ridge going as fast as I dared to drive. Don’t ask me how I found the road. I plowed through piles of leaves and spat gravel behind me motoring for dear life.
The wind caught my hair and cooled the sweat on my forehead before I realized I was driving with my headlights off. I switched them on and cast around for some direction I should go. I cursed myself when I realized left both my gun and my phone back in the clearing. I was completely empty-handed except for this Jeep.
I rounded a corner and the headlights swept to one side. I cried out in surprise and slammed on the brakes with all my strength. Even then, I barely stopped in time to avoid running into a man staggering down the middle of the road.
The Jeep screeched to a halt and he turned around so the headlights shone full on his face. Blood soaked one cheek and seeped into his beard. He hunched his shoulders, and the skin hung drawn and loose on his bones. His black t-shirt draped his chest in tatters to reveal a tribal tattoo decorating his chest, but I didn’t notice that. A disgusting, bloody hole in his chest poured blood down his ribs.
I swallowed hard. “Wyatt!”
He took an unsteady step toward the Jeep before his legs gave out. He hit the gravel on his knees and pitched forward. Without thinking, I hopped out of the Jeep and hurried to where he crouched.
I took hold of his shoulders and tried to sit him up. “Wyatt! What are you doing out here?”
He spasmed in my arms and wound up jerking over on his back. He landed face up and stared past me at the stars overhead. “Help me, Piper,” he rasped. “Please help me.”
“Jesus Christ!” I gasped. I hardly dared touch him with all that blood all over him. “What happened? What can I do?”
“Gotta…..” He faltered. “Gotta get the bleeding stopped. Please, Piper, please help me. I can’t see anything.”
My mind went into a tailspin. I knew basic first aid, but I never dealt with anything like this before. I glanced right and left. Where could I take him? I didn’t know of any hospital nearby. I didn’t even know how to get to the nearest town.
“Help me, Piper,” he croaked. “Please.”
I put up one hand in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding, but I stopped myself from touching him. A puddle of blood floated the ragged flap off his destroyed body. I couldn’t let him die in my arms like this in the middle of the night miles from anywhere.
I admit I dropped him harder than I intended. I jumped up too fast and let him fall to the ground in my haste to get to the Jeep. I snatched my first aid kit from under the passenger seat and raced back to Wyatt.
I had no idea what I was doing or whether he would die even faster lying on the road, but I had to do something. I ripped the first aid kit open and grabbed the biggest piece of gauze I could find. I pressed it into his shoulder.
I made it up as I went along in the absence of any real medical training. He bared his gritted teeth and howled when I pressed the loose flap back into place and taped it down with the gauze. I tore off what was left of his t-shirt and used it as a rag to wipe off the majority of the blood.
Once I saw what really was bleeding, I stopped being so terrified that I might kill him myself. I never once thought to wonder how this happened. I got caught up in the rush of the moment.
I took out three rolls of gauze and tied the bandage in place as tight as I could. I looped it around his shoulder until it didn’t move. Once I finished that, I realized it wasn’t bleeding that much at all. It just spread everywhere and looked awful.
I threw the first aid kit into the Jeep without zipping it up. I could only think one thing, and that was getting Wyatt to some kind of help. I strode back to him and jammed my shoulder under his good arm. “Come on. Get up. We have to take you home.”
“Aarrgh!” he yelled.
I blocked his screams and cries out of my mind and marched him to the Jeep. I chucked him into the passenger seat without regard to his pain. He cringed into the seat and let me put the seatbelt on.
I got behind the wheel and let off the emergency brake. “Just sit tight,” I told him. “I’m taking you up the Ridge to the Kellys.”
“No!” he barked. “Not there.”
I spun around to confront him. “You’ll bleed to death if we don’t. Is that what you want?”
“You can’t,” he growled. “Trust me. Take me anywhere you want. Just don’t take me there.”
“I don’t even know the way out of these woods,” I countered. “You need a doctor and stitches and God knows what else. You can’t just hang around out here or you’ll die. What the hell did you ask me to help you for if you won’t let me do it?”
“Listen to me, Piper.” He turned to me more haggard than ever. His face looked disgusting and drawn in the dashboard light. “That dragon you saw was one of the Lynch brothers. He came out here to scout our Clan, but he found you instead.”
I sat rooted to my seat. My jaw hit the floor. “Are you telling me that thing….. was a….?”
He drew in a shaky breath and swallowed hard. He hugged his injured arm across his stomach. His eyes shone with unnatural vitality in spite of his injuries. “Listen to me,
Piper. If you ever listen to me, make it now. The Lynches are dragons. The Kellys are dragons. Look at me. How do you think I got like this? When you told me what you saw last night, I came back and watched you. Don’t fly off the handle. You were in danger and you didn’t even know it. The Lynch dragon came back to destroy the evidence of his existence. He would have killed you. I watched you tonight, too, and when he attacked, I intervened. You saw him bite me. I’m a man, Piper, but I’m also a dragon. We all are. All the Clans I told you about today are dragons who can change into people. Are you listening to me, Piper?”
I gulped to get my voice working. I blinked at him in shock, but I had to admit it was true. He suffered the same injuries as that blue dragon. The flap of skin on his shoulder resembled a bite, and the cut on his cheek cut across his bone the same way the dragon’s did.
I replayed the fight in my mind. That was him. The blue dragon that saved me was Wyatt.
“You can’t take me up the Ridge, Piper,” he panted. “The rest of Clan Lynch will be around before you know it. They’ll find their brother dead and they’ll come after the person who did it. If they track me to the Ridge, the whole flamin’ Clan could wind up in a war without any warning of what’s coming.”
I closed my mouth and squared my shoulders. “All right. What do you want me to do?”
He collapsed back in the seat and closed his eyes. “Drive. Just drive. I’ll tell you where to go.”
8
Wyatt
I jolted out of a swoon to find Piper driving the Jeep through the woods like a bat out of Hell. She ripped up the road so fast she almost missed the turn-off. “Turn here!” I bellowed over the engine noise.
She nearly flipped the Jeep making the turn. As soon as she got around it, she slammed on the gas harder than ever. I never would have believed that girl could drive like that.
