The Final Storm (Part 3)

Ryan and Thistle get Clean Up Duty

(UNEDITED- sorry guys for taking such a long time!)

Taylor sank heavily against a tree, his whole body shaking. He slid his back down the face of the tree, his head in his hands, breathing heavily. His eyes darted to and fro like they were restless, all he could hear was the blood banging against his skull. His sword lay, unused by his side, glinting dully in the leaves. Taylor cast a glance at it before looking away as if it had been a hideous object and if he stared too long he may turn to stone.

            WHOOSH.

            Don’t look, Taylor, don’t look! He pleaded to himself as the whole forest shook and thrummed with alien energy. The wind tore at Taylor, begging him to turn his head. He tried to fight it, wanted to just curl up in a ball and get away from this Godforsaken place. He covered his ears as screams rent the air, screams that clawed at his heart and pounded into his skull. He had to…

            What he saw was more terrifying than he could have imagined.

            A huge storm cloud was approaching at an insane speed, swallowing up half of the battlefield within its folds of pulsing energy and black mist. But that was not the worst part. A giant head protruded in front of the massive storm clouds. It seemed to have a long snout, and as he watched, it opened it to reveal a mouth full of cloud teeth and spazzing electricity, which wouldn’t be as scary if there wasn’t fire gushing out of it. A great, green glittering eye glared from either side of its spade shaped head, it’s hypnotizing gaze freezing Taylor’s body as he became immersed in the chaos of animal-like screams.

            It dipped lower until half of its lower jaw was embedded in the ground, like it was going to scoop the soldiers up and eat them whole. Closer and closer it got, those emerald eyes seeming to stare into Taylor’s soul. As the horrible monster approached, pictures flew into Taylor’s mind. Sarah, sweet Sarah in his arms, laughing at a stupid joke he had made, Tess with her little angelic smile, Aidan proudly showing off a wooden sword he had made, little William’s fascinated face when his Uncle would tell him a bed time story.

            I’m a husband and a father! Taylor thought to himself and suddenly it felt like his legs could move. “I’m not going to die today!” The jaws were so close he could feel the wind pulling on him, dragging him into the cloud dragon’s body. His flimsy armor shook and rattled as he strained against it, his breath catching in his throat. For a second his eyes went wide as he felt as if his feet were going to leave the ground and he would fade into oblivion.

            Then the wind stopped and he fell face first onto the ground. Without skipping a beat, he scrambled to his feet, grabbed his sword, and ran. He didn’t even look back. He could hear other men just like him, dashing through the leaves and deeper into the forest, trying desperately to escape this hellish battle. He vaguely thought that this was treason, but he didn’t care. He had a family, children who needed him and a wife that loved him. To Tarturus with this war, he wasn’t going back for anything.

            He was starting to get out of breath when he heard a horrible whining sound, like that a hornet would make but amplified by a thousand. The sound grew louder and louder, burning in Taylor’s ears, and he looked upwards through the tangle of branches to find that something very big was coming at him very fast.

            Before he could even unleash a scream to remember, it plunged not ten feet away from him, breaking trees like toothpicks and making the ground shudder, knocking Taylor flat on his back, wheezing. His eyes widened as he saw a tree fall in slow motion to squish him like a bug. Leaves and branches fell like rain, slapping him in the face as the earth continued to moan and rumble underneath him.