The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire by Josh A. Murphy

attack, for all the good it would do.
    “ Fucking do something then, boy!” Dexter Payne spat at me as he
charged past, a large hunting rifle in hand. His voice seemed to
hit me like a ton of bricks, snapping me out of my awestruck
gaze.
    “ What can I do!?” I panicked, looking around for something I
could do; only then realising just how much the people here needed
me.
    “ Well, you could kill that bastard for a start!” He frantically
laughed, without so much as breaking his stride as he continued to
storm towards the south wall. I knew exactly what he was heading
for.
    Above, I heard
a monstrous roar that seemed to echo for miles around. I looked up
just in time to see the creature swoop down. All I could do was
stand and watch as it arched its wings and plummeted towards the
earth, Haven in its sights.
    My mother,
Antonia Payne and Laura Olsen began to open fire from where they
stood, their small automatic machine guns were no match for the
dragons armour, it didn’t so much as flinch as it swooped down. The
bullets seemed to bounce straight off the creature’s thick grey
armour, adding to my growing sense of doom.
    In a single
movement the dragon pulled up just before it reached ground level,
for a few seconds it glided across the ground like a majestic
arrow, heading towards its target. An arm stretched out, and to my
horror, I saw its left claw wrap itself around Antonia. I horrid,
deafening scream rang out as the beast shot straight back up into
the sky without so much as slowing down. Her screams grew distant
as it dragged the woman high up above haven, disappearing into the
orange and black smoke clouds that constantly cast the earth in
shadow. And just like that, she was gone.
    For a few
horrifying moments Antonia’s screams fell silent. Everyone in Haven
stood completely frozen, their eyes and weapons all locked on the
black smoke clouds above. Then finally, Antonia’s screams returned,
they grew louder and louder until she fell back into view, this
time dragon-less – the creature was nowhere to be seen. I could
only watch as she plummeted towards the earth at the speed of a
bullet. She hit the barn yard roof with deafening crunch; I heard
pretty much everything in her body break on impact, even from all
this distance away. She instantly fell silent as she rolled off the
barn roof and landed in a broken, tangled heap in the grass
beside.
    I heard
several screams erupt from around Haven – not from fear of the
dragon this time, but from the horror of what it had caused. I
turned to see Florence almost collapse to the ground as she wailed
out in emotional agony at the sight of her sisters twisted corpse,
I quickly sprinted across the farm yard, heading towards Florence.
I knew there was absolutely no chance that Antonia had survived the
fall, the living were my only concern.
    “ Get inside!” I screamed as I ran to the girl that I cared for
so deeply. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if it had been her
falling from the skies, rather than her sister. There was no
telling how long it would be before the dragon returned to claim
another victim, every second we spent outside was another second
that our lives were in danger. Even the house would be no match for
the dragon, the creature could tear it apart with the slightest of
ease, but I wanted Florence out of the beasts immediate sights. It
would kill me inside to see her swept up and carried off into the
dark clouds above.
    Behind me I
noticed Dexter Payne finally reach the harpoon, he jumped on the
small chair and spun the weapon around, like a turret, and began
scan the skies. Though he was too far away to understand, but I
could hear him frantically screaming and cursing the beast, having
just seen it murder his wife. Antonia’s death would send shockwaves
throughout the entire community. She was a much loved, kind, caring
friend to all of us. As well as a wife to Dexter, and a sister and
carer for Florence.
    I practically
had to drag Florence