My father wouldn’t just leave me here! As each second ticked off my watch, I became more worried about Dad.
The dragons came close to the truck a couple of times, but the copper dragon kept driving them back, as if he was trying to protect me. I shook my head, trying to expel that thought. Dragons don't exist. Wake up. The tips of my fingers felt raw as I hammered endlessly on the buckle of the safety belt. My face was soaked with tears and blood, but I knew that I had to get out of the truck, and quickly too. With trembling hands, I pounded on the buckle with my fist until it unlocked. Throwing the vicious restraint from around me, I saw the copper dragon bite fiercely into the blue dragon’s neck. I watched as blood squirted everywhere and pooled in thick puddles on the road. He staggered and dropped down to the ground. Electricity still sparked off his body, but it soon died away. The green and red dragons jumped on top of the copper dragon. He knocked the red dragon hard onto the ground and crushed the green dragon with his huge front legs. The sound of flesh ripping made me feel sick, and I had to lean over as tremors wracked my stomach. The picture of the copper dragon shredding off the green dragon’s left wing sent a stab of new fear deep into my core.
Dad, where the hell are you? I pleaded into the darkness.
The red dragon got back up and flew away just as the copper dragon ripped the green dragon's neck apart. Then the copper dragon turned his gaze to me. For the love of blueberries! I forced myself to look away from the humungous beast, and I started to kick at the windshield with my newly freed legs. A new sense of urgency punctuated every kick.
C'mon! I kicked three, four times, but it only left long cracks in the glass. Watching the copper dragon trudge toward the pickup through the jagged cracks made the scene before me look even more terrifying. The copper dragon stopped right in front of the pickup. Our eyes locked, and I could see the vertical pupil inside a pair of dark rich brown irises. My heart thumped wildly inside my chest as he hooked one of his talons gently into the shield and ripped it off.
He paused, stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, took a few steps back, and nodded in my direction.
He wants me to get out? You’re imagining things, Elena. Dragon’s aren’t real.
I didn't act. I couldn’t. The dragon started to shrink. His wings and legs dwindled into a smaller size until they disappeared. His big head and horns shrunk into nothing. I watched as the dragon's huge figure melted away. The heap transform into the figure of a human crouching low to the ground. The figure lifted up its face, and huge cuts with blood seeping from it ran down his face. It felt as if somebody had squeezed all the air out of my lungs. I’d finally found my father─ without a shred of clothing.
Chapter Two
“Dad? What the─” I couldn’t find a way to put into words what had just happened or what I’d just seen in front of me.
He staggered towards the pickup and I closed my eyes. I would be scarred for the rest of my life after seeing him naked. My mind went crazy with words like “dragon”, and “Dad”, and “dragon” again; thoughts that I feared would land me in the nut house if spoken out loud.
The zip of his army bag pierced the silence. I could hear him struggling to get into his pants. How did I not know Dad was a dragon?
“You can open your eyes, Elena.” His voice came from the direction of the windshield.
“Dad, why didn’t─”
“I didn't want you to find out this way. I'm so sorry.” He cleaned the cuts on his face with a cloth. Our eyes met, and he looked at me with a clenched jaw. All the traces of the copper beast were gone. He held out his hand for mine, his other hand kept aloft in mock surrender. I took it, and he helped me out through the opening where the windshield should’ve been. My hands trembled, and the cut on my head stung fiercely.
My hoody and jeans hooked on pieces of broken glass, tearing them, but my gaze didn’t leave Dad as I climbed through the jagged gap. When I was free from the truck, I watched him pour some clean water from a bottle onto a shirt. He lifted the shirt to my head.
“Ouch!”
“Hold still,” he said, and patted my forehead softly with the cool, wet shirt. I ground my teeth. It felt as if someone had hit me with a sledgehammer.
I didn't know what to say, and a horrible silence filled the air between us while he put a Band-Aid on my face.
“I need to make a call.”
“Dad?” I grabbed his sweaty arm, and he turned back around to face me. “Are more dragons coming for us?”
“I don't know, Bear.” He caressed my cheek gently with his thumb. He dialled a number and held the phone carefully to his ear. His eyes searched everywhere, his face illuminated by the soft glow of the phone. “Matt, Herbert here. We got attacked by dragons…no, I told you, not over the phone. We are stuck on Interstate 40, just meet us and please hurry, I don't know if more are coming.” Dad switched off the phone and placed it back into the pocket of his pants.
“Elena, I need to tell you something. Believe me when I say this wasn't how I planned on doing this.” He sniffed hard and wiped his nose with his index finger and thumb. “I wanted to take you out for a nice dinner and maybe ease into things, but...” He sighed, blinked a couple of times, and looked away. “Bear.” He looked back at me with tears in his eyes. “I love you more than life itself, and I would never let anything happen to you. You need to understand that.”
I nodded, but struggled to wrap my head around the fact that Dad could morph into a dragon whenever he wanted.
He swallowed hard and lowered his gaze.
What is he not telling me?
A screeching sound that pierced the darkness made both of us jump.
“Elena, just run.” Dad screamed, and pointed in the direction I needed to follow. “As fast as you can. Matt is on his way, go, now!”
I heard the sound of ripping jeans, and when I swung back around, Dad had turned back into a dragon. I didn’t even have time to say goodbye or I love you back. All I could do was what he asked, and I started to run.
Tears blurred my vision, and I wiped them away vigorously. Not that it helped; everything was coal-dark and I couldn't see a thing in front of me. I fell down hard on the turf, but got back up and kept running. I didn't look back as I silently prayed for the motel to come into sight. Another screeching sound made me stumble again. This time fire lit up the entire road. I look back and saw the outline of the dragon, the one with the beautiful face. A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the evil emanating from him.
Where is my father? I'm going to die. Don't give up, Elena. Get up! I did what the voice in my head told me and kept running, while the dragon, lurking in the darkness, followed my trail. A predator that I could not see was stalking me, but each new shiver told me he was there.
I shrieked as something hard pressed into my ribbed cage. One moment my feet were touching the ground, and the next, I soared through the air. His talons pressed hard into my flesh, and I was sure if he pressed any harder, he would snapped me in two.
The sound of his wings flapped loudly in my ear and he reeked of sulphur. I started to cough uncontrollably as the strong smell crept into my lungs. My eyes started to burn, and it felt as if my head were going to explode.
My whole body shook when the dragon collided with something hard. I felt the dragon’s weight being thrown back, and his grip around my torso vanished.