Chapter Three: I Love the Smell of Existential Fear in the Morning

Now that the explosion's over, it's time to kick back, relax, and wonder if you've died horribly in the middle of the wilderness miles away from home.

The world was silent. Not in a peaceful way, nor a beautiful way, but a silence that was cold and unwelcome. A silence that meant death. Nobody moved. Nobody dared to. After the destruction and horror wrought by such a force, a force that no one could even comprehend, it was best to stay still and silent. They feared what would happen if they moved, or spoke, or opened the eyes that they had squeezed shut. But most of all, they feared what they would learn if they couldn’t. To try to rise and realize that there were no legs to stand with or eyes to open. To wake up only to nothingness and eternity.

After seemingly eternity, the ungodly silence was broken as life reemerged. The sun peeked out carefully from behind a gray sky. Birds quietly chirped as they searched for the remnants of their nests. Squirrels chittered furiously as they restlessly searched for the fallen homes. Even the insects’ buzzing created the familiar, monotonous drone that often fills summer’s warm, foggy mornings.

Victor was the last to open his eyes. The other two stood wordlessly, staring at the ruins of what was once a cabin. The ceiling had caved in in the middle of the main room, creating an unsteady ramp up to the cabin’s roof. The door had been launched across the room, it’s frail wooden shape snapped in half through its middle. A gaping hole replaced the far wall, whose large pieces were scattered around the outside of the cabin.

Victor began to stand up when he noticed the blood running down his leg. A pair of long red lines traced the path of one of the light bulb's glass shards. He sat back down on the floor and inspected the wound. By some miracle of God, none of the shards had lodged into him, having only sliced past. After scanning the remains of the bathroom, Victor located his duffel bag in the corner of the room, next to the door. After rummaging through it for a minute or two, Victor procured a small first aid kit, which he always brought when working at Camp Umandi. As he slowly and carefully bandaged his leg,  Victor silently ran over the possibilities in his head. Images of bombs, meteors, and  explosions surfaced repeatedly his mind, but none of them seemed quite right to him. Everything he thought have would have looked far different, and would have killed them for sure. Victor drew a deep breath. Figuring out what it was could wait. He had to make sure that the other two were okay before something like that happened again.

Victor hobbled over to the other Lance and Charlie, who hadn’t even noticed that he was awake. The three of them silently exchanged glances before continuing to stare at what was left of the cabin. After a few minutes of looking at the rubble, Victor took a shaky deep breath.

“We should find the Camp Director.” he offered, “Maybe if we can find him he can order us a ride back home.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Charlie nodded.  “You’re right. We need to make sure that all the other counselors are okay.”

Victor said nothing. Every fiber of his body was screaming for him to get away, to get someplace safe. All he wanted was to be home. He knew that he should be more worried about his coworkers, but he didn’t know what was happening and it felt like every second carried the risk of another blast like last night. A small, panicked squeak attempted to break through the sounds of the forest, its frailty drowned out by the buzzing and chirping of the surrounding creatures. The helpless cry had only barely reached the boys, bringing their conversation to a halt. Sudden movement in the corner of Victor’s eye caught his attention, but he turned only to find empty air. Whatever it was, it had darted past the cracked, fragile doorframe.

“Guys.” Victor warned, pointing around the corner of the cabin, “Something’s out there.”

Victor’s voice drew the attention of the rest of the group. Charlie and Lance turned to Victor, who was slowly eyeing the forest around their ruined shelter through the gaping holes in the building’s walls. His brow was furrowed in concentration, his jaw clenched slightly. The other two immediately picked up on Victor’s behavior, and mirrored his actions, surveying the surrounding area for anything out of the ordinary.  

Lance made the first action, sneaking up along the wall towards the exit. His head slowly, unsurely peeked outside. Lance’s body instinctively flinched, but he passed through the door and motioned for the others to follow suit.

A rabbit was lying a few steps from the door, its soft brown fur painted in deep, red blood. The innocent creature's eyes were absolutely motionless, it's small, cold body seeming to attempt to curl up in a ball, as though that would protect it. The animal’s belly was ripped open, its intestines leaving a grim, crimson trail that broke off into the forest. The edges of the bunny's fur was singed black, as if it had been burned. Lance looked up from the dead rabbit and locked eyes with Victor, as if to desperately ask for some kind of explanation that they both knew he didn't have.

“I don’t know what it was.” Victor whispered, “Let’s just get ready to move fast, alright?”

The other two nodded. After the explosion, they didn’t know what to expect, and to assume that there was someone - or something- watching them didn’t seem too crazy. Victor and Charlie quickly got out of his pajamas from the night before and into their counselor uniforms, while Lance kept guard around the cabin: Dark green shirts, faded brown baseball caps, and worn pairs of denim blue jeans. Lance was in the same clothes from the night before, but that was fine. He happened to have the uniform hat on him, but he was wearing a tight, bright blue shirt to show off his muscles.

The three of them got moving the instant they were ready. Victor and Charlie carried their duffel bags and daypacks, and Lance stood close by them with a large stick in his hand. The makeshift club was their only defense against whatever Victor had seen back at the cabin. Charlie tugged on Victor’s sleeve.

“Not to doubt you or anything, but the director’s cabin is in the opposite direction.”

“Oh, I know, but there’s something we need to pick up first.” Victor replied, “Remember last summer? That competition the whole camp had?”

Charlie paused a moment, then a wide smile spread across his face and Victor grinned proudly. Lance looked between the two.

“Okay, what am I missing here?” He wondered aloud

“Last year the camp held a shooting competition.” explained Vic, “I won first first place in rifle shooting due to my experience target shooting with rifles.”

“Oh, nice! Whoa, do you hunt or something?” Lance asked enthusiastically

“No, just target shooting. It’s a hobby of mine. I’ve never shot a living creature before.”

“Aw man, I thought I could actually relate to you guys for a sec.”

Lance turned to Charlie. “What about you, dude? Do you go hunting?”

Charlie uncomfortably shook his head. He still wasn’t quite comfortable around Lance, and Lance’s aura of energy didn’t exactly help the matter.

“Didn’t think so.” Lance admitted, “You look too wimpy to go hunting. I remember this one time I was hunting with my uncle, and there was this giganti-”

Lance’s words were cut off by a splitting shriek. The three of them flinched in surprise, then began to hastily scan the trees around them. Victor pulled a small pocket knife from his daypack, and Lance readied the tree limb in his hands. A dull gray blur leapt from tree to tree, its movements too fast to define its exact figure.

“Uh, Vic? I think whatever you saw at the cabin has been following us!!” Lance exclaimed unnecessarily.

Vic’s sarcasm didn’t skip a beat. “Really? I didn’t notice! I thought the f*****g lightning bolt that’s chasing us decided to go home for breakfast!”

The ‘lightning bolt’ dropped from the tree canopy above them, hissing menacingly. A snakelike shape slowly rose from the ground, its tiny wings spreading from its back. A pair of bright green eyes locked on the three boys. Its mouth opened, revealing a row of shining, razor sharp teeth, reminding Victor of a small shark. Tiny puffs of orange flames flew from its jaws in tempo with its breathing. The creature was covered in smoke-gray scales, which seemed to gloss its appearance to look perfectly smooth.

As the creature rose from the ground to show off its whole form, the boys realized what was glaring at them hungrily.

Four steps away from them was a two and a half foot tall dragon.

Author's Note

Keep an eye for spelling and grammatical errors. They're a tendency of mine.