A Beast with a Smile {Book 1}

Chapter 17 (Scarlett): What Caught the Dragon's Eye?

My feet began to burn during my marathon with the massive creature snapping at my tail. His hot breath blew across my neck with every crunch of an unsuccessful attempt for his meal. Our unknown journey consisted of knocked over trees and trees that were about to be knocked over.

At least when my two fearless fifteen year olds figure out that they left me behind with a twenty foot medieval dragon they can follow the tree sized bread trail to my final resting place.

The dragon let out a breath of flesh burning fire; I ducked out of the way for the most of it, but some managed to hit Nord's jacket, setting it ablaze. I threw it off as fast as I could, leaving me in my pajamas, running away from a true nightmare.

I was trapped in a sea of darkness; the only light source was the fire from the thing trying to make me a midnight snack. It was a bad time to realize I hadn't eaten since breakfast, more than twelve hours ago, yet my legs had yet to feel fatigue.

My body as a whole felt great, every bit moving in perfect sync. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the fear, but either way I found a better training method than crossfit.

I could see a breach in the tree line where moonlight broke the seal of darkness and I changed my course straight for it.

The dragon's black skin gave him a camouflage in the woods. His long, veiny, batlike wings scrapping the tree's and the fire blasting from his slimy, snake tongued mouth were the only things giving away his position.

He let out another blast as I swerved towards the breach. My foot clipped a raised root and then sent it spinning around the tree, slapping the medieval creature in the jaw.

I realized that my actions hadn't hurt the beast, but he was definitely shocked or startled that something was able to hit him. It only made him more mad.

The dragon began to beat his wings, preparing for take off, and started a mini sand storm. The choking sand made the air toxic with leaves and pebbles. I could barely see ten feet in front of me, but I had to keep sprinting. I felt a tingle in my toes as my misguided foot crashed into a puddle of water. I heard a loud pop and fell to my knees.

This is it, I thought, the end, death by spit roast.

I looked down at my foot to see the ground split. What was once a small puddle was now a massive pot hole. My shoe was planted deep into the wall of the crater. I was lucky that my ankle didn't snap like a twig.

I dislodged and continued to run for the light; the dragon had taken a low flight just above me and was sending beams of fire at my position. The heat from his breath was enough to give me an instant sunburn; it was certainly hot enough to set half the forest ablaze.

The fire quickly spread across my whole body: this only made me run faster. I began to see images of a boy in front of me dragging my outreached arm, leading me to the same hole in the trees. Scavenger.

I ran faster than I had ever ran and was creating my own mini sand storm. I was out running the creature by a mile.

The heat from the fire was beginning to become unbearable and it covered my whole body head to toe. The smell of burning wood masked the scent of burning flesh.

I was a few feet from the breech when sharp black daggers engulfed my body, taking me for a ride. I soared to the point where the tree's were smaller than ants. I felt butterflies in my stomach and the initial pull up drained my lungs completely.

I looked up at the beating wings of the massive creature and saw his red eyes glaring into my soul. He let out a massive fire bolt upward into the sky. His grip loosened and let me fly solo as I plummeted back to the earth.