Wilt and Wither

Chapter 13

Jackson and I walk through the trees armed with a silence that makes me squirm. He kept looking at me and smiling and I tried my best not to react.

After he took a shower he left to check on his sister. I decided I needed a distraction and the best way for that was to find some trouble. I needed to get out of here, I needed to kill him, I needed too this, I needed too that!

For once though, I wanted something. I wanted to stay here and get to know Jackson. I wanted to stay here and maybe find a place I belong.

I couldn't though! I knew that, and the reasons had nothing to do with these people and this town. I was being chased my something that was possibly far worse than the demon sucking the life out of this town.

"I doubt anything on our side could even live here now." The soft grey brown grass oozes muck with every step we take. The trees aren't any better and have begun shedding dead chunks of bark onto the earth. I feel like that scene from silent hill where everything just wears away as death comes.

I try to feel the area and the empty hollow feeling that follows makes me sick. It's almost like the magic in the ground is disappearing as well. Our movements are careful, afraid we will fall into another pit filled with death. I stop abruptly. "Uh Lu, is the sun going away?" I look up as the forest light dims. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" A snap in the distance grabs my attention. A light hum rings my ears the vibration making me feel slightly nauseas. I open and close my jaw trying to make the ringing stop. "Do you hear that?" I shout.

The dull hum crescendos into a roar in a flash. "Lu is the air moving?" He yells back. I back up slowly Jackson wisely following me. He grabs his bow like it's a newborn as his fighter instinct comes alive.

"Jackson... that's not air!" Thousands of flies swarm engulfing us into a black tornado. I scream and Jackson is swatting furiously with no luck. I cover my eyes and mouth and light up my palms blindly blasting the set of flies in my face. The cloud begins to disappear and I can finally see Jackson. He's blindly swatting away the insects.

I run to him and grab him. He pats himself down with a nervous twitch. He gives me a crooked smile. "If anyone asks, I handled that in the most manly way I could?"

 I laugh "I don't know I mean that could just happen there's death everywhere in here."

Jackson peers around me his face draining of color. "Uh could a large black dragon do something like that?"

I laugh. "A dragon... a black one, that's sort of random. No dragons can't survive on earth"

"Oh cool that means I'm hallucinating the one behind you."

I go cold slowly turning around. "Ah shit." The putrid smell was indeed coming from Mr. grouchy dragon. "Don't move."

The dragon let out a snort of black smoke which almost touched me. "What are we going to do?" He hisses at me.

I reach slowly taking the tiniest movements possible reaching for the dagger looped in my back pocket. Its giant head set its hollow eyes on me smoke slowly rising from his mouth. I wanted so badly to plug my nose as stagnant water and sludge chokes my senses.

"Does is breath fire?" Jackson whispers.

"Black dragons... ah no they breathe a lovely mixture of oil, smoke, and acid."

"Oh that's fun." Jackson clutched his bow harder.

With heavy steps the dragon charged me. "Jackson run." I screamed. "Load your bow aim for the eyes." If he just blinded it, he wouldn't turn. I grabbed a poison laced star and hurled it at his throat hoping to stop the smoke and acid.