Page 34 of Surge of Fire

I wipe my brow as best as I can around the headlamp and smear the blood, cursing myself when I realize what I'm doing. I have to figure out a way out of here, and that means there's no choice but to climb across the loose debris and determine the best way to bring Granger out.

So I start climbing. Any time I reach an area I don’t think I can bring Granger, I switch directions, terrified, but focused. I try not to think about what’s under me or just how much harder this will be when dragging two hundred and twenty pounds of mostly muscle. At least I’m finding a path each time instead of coming to a spot and realizing I’m screwed. That’s something, at least.

Stopping, I look around, trying to get my bearings, and realize that I’m nearly at the center of the cave, and just beyond where I stand, the ground seems to drop out. Frowning, unsure of what to do, I inch forward until I reach the edge of the drop off. Heart in my throat, I angle my headlamp down to see just how far it goes, already knowing I need to retrace my steps and find another way to bring Granger, when I spot…it.

There’s something large, moving in the darkness. Something that's the stuff of nightmares. A reptile with green scales that flash in the glow of my headlamp. A creature that's easily as big as a house. It's shifting, twitching, so large that the ground shakes with the movement.

Sick to my stomach, I reach up and turn off my headlamp, breathing hard. If that thing spots me, I'm dead. Whether it's a dinosaur or some other “extinct” creature, I don't care. I'll be its lunch.

Without my headlamp, the illumination from the crystals and the light from the glow worms seems brighter. I wonder if it’s enough for the creature to spot me. I inch backwards, trying to be silent, trying to choose my footing with care. My gaze is glued on the creature. I can still see it moving, shifting, breathing in the darkness below. I don’t care what it does as long as it doesn’t spot me.

My foot slides on loose pebbles, and I slip backwards, hitting the ground on my ass. Hard. But I don’t care. I’m almost numb to it as my breathing grows more rapid.Did it hear me?Athousand nightmarish pictures flash in my mind, but the dark hole remains dark, with no new sounds.

Just as I’m considering crawling back to Granger, a movement catches my eye. I freeze in horror as the massive beast rises out of the hole in front of me. The glow from the stones and the glow worms illuminate the huge reptile with wings. It spreads its wings out, and the light catches its eye as it stares down at me.

Claws slash out, and I feel sharp points tear into my flesh. I scream, as warm blood oozes from the wounds on my chest and belly. I want to crawl backwards, but I can’t seem to move as the huge eye glares into my soul. Claws come crashing down, capturing me in a cage. Another scream tears from my lips as the creature lifts me from the ground, roaring so loud it shakes the cavern once more, sending more debris falling down. Pieces hit me through the claws. I scream again and try to fight my way out, but the beast has me in its clutches.

Air rushes around me, and I realize it’s beating its wings.No, no, this can’t be happening, this is impossible.I punch and kick the best I can, but the claws only tighten around me. And then, we’re shooting into the sky. The ground drops away from me as the creature explodes out of the roof of the cavern.

My heart thunders in my ears. I’m drenched in sweat. I’m going to die. This thing is going to drop me or eat me. Either way, I’m its first lunch after hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

It’s strange. My heart beats faster than I ever thought possible, filling my ears. The world seems to slow, even as the wind whips around me, and I’m captured in a kind of terror I never thought possible.

I’m going to die.

THIRTEEN

Samantha

The ground drops awayas I rise in the creature’s claws, soaring so high that should it drop me, I’ll be smashed to bits and pieces. My pulse is crazy. It feels like an animal thrashing inside me. The beating fills my ears, my body… my soul. And then, I’m hot. Hot all over.

I’m screaming again, twisting in the beast’s claws, so hot that I feel like I’m melting into nothing.Is the creature doing this to me?I don’t know, but only my sobs break up the terrible screaming as I begin to rake my skin with my nails, trying to escape my skin, which suddenly feels too tight.

Then the beast releases me, and I’m falling, screaming, burning, dying.

Falling.

My heartbeat is racing.

My skin is burning.

It’s too tight.

I’m dying.

And then I feel myself falling away, and my body grows. Suddenly, I’m something else. Something I’ve always been but never known. Wings… My wings… They flap uselessly around me, slowing my fall, but I don’t know how to use them. I don’t know anything at all except that I’ve become what I was supposed to become.

The ground rushes at me. My red scales flash around me. I try to slow my fall, try to flap harder, and then I crash, smashing into trees and sliding across the ground until I come to a stop just before a drop off. I lie on the ground, panting, hurt. My body is huge, strong, and protected by hard scales, but it wasn’t enough.

I try to curl into myself, but my big body feels strange. I want to be myself again, and just as I have the thought, I feel myself changing again. Shrinking. My hard scales fading away, replaced by skin that’s battered, torn, and bruised.

Sobbing, I lie, unable to even raise my head. Every part of me hurts, and I’m also confused as hell. That thing… the reptile with wings. It looked like a dragon, but dragons aren’t real.They’re creatures of fantasy, aren’t they?

And did I become one?I sob again, not knowing.

Suddenly, air rushes over me, and I manage to lift my head in time to watch the creature — the dragon, because that’s what I’m sure it is now — land. It tangles in the trees on either side of me, roaring as it does so. And a scent comes over me, like rotted flesh and burnt eggs. It makes my nose wrinkle and my throat ache. Then the dragon changes, snapping my attention away from the smell. He grows smaller and smaller until a human man stands in front of me.

A. Human. Man. What the hell?

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