10_2

It had fled, out across the flat grasslands to the mud flats, and he followed its many footsteps towards the distant sea. Gradually as he tracked it, he became aware of it up ahead, struggling, slipping and sliding and getting stuck in the mud.
As he approached it, he raised the rifle and fired. The shot hit the creature which collapsed in a flurry of limbs and flying mud. He fired again and it screamed in the same high pitched whistling voice it had used before. Still approaching he broke open the rifle and slid in two more of the metal cartridges. The rifle closed shut with a satisfyingly loud clack and he stopped about thirty yards from the creature and regarded it.

It was difficult to make out what it was. It had so many legs which flailed about it, that in the dark, its body shape was impossible to make out. It was big though, far bigger than a man, at least eight or ten feet long and he counted as many as eight or more legs, all ending in dagger like points. The murder weapons he had spent all week trying to find.How could they have missed such a large animal he wondered? He stared at it in a bewildered fascination and for a moment he was lost in his own thoughts. Abruptly though he realised it had stopped moving as much. It had suddenly ceased its movements and the only indication it was still alive, was its strange squealing voice. It gibbered and chattered at him and he listened to the sound as he raised the rifle.

A shadow moved across him and he paused and stared around. The wind suddenly ceased and at once the air grew still. At the same time the creature began to drag itself painfully towards the sea and he regarded its obvious fear in surprise.

Only then did he become aware of the shape in the sky and then he cried out and stumbled backwards, slipping in the mud.
Hanging over them was a vast triangular shape, like a giant arrow head, a hundred yards long or more, even darker than the sky above it.
De Hogue stared up at it in shock, but in his mind he remembered McKee’s fevered raving about the dragon, and his mind struggled to explain what he was staring at.
Suddenly a beam of light sprang forth from the belly of the darkness over head and narrowed to illuminate the creature. It struggled weakly and keened in a loud voice filled with fear.
De Hogue saw it in the light.
It was orange, with lurid blue markings, at least ten feet long with five lobster like legs on either side of its segmented carapace. Along its stomach, it had more limbs, smaller gripping limbs which writhed and wriggled in idiot motions as the creature turned back to face him. It had no head or face that he could see.Even as it turned he realised its voice had ceased, and as he watched it sank to the ground, its skin darkening. The mud around it began to hiss and steam. As the creature collapsed he felt a great heat coming off it. For half a minute or more, he watched the strange creature gradually burn down to a blackened husk, then, as it sank into the steaming mud, even its charred body was reduced to ash and slag.


Then the light was gone, and he stared up at the thing in the sky. Even as he watched it, it rose up and was swallowed by the clouds.
The wind returned abruptly and he sank down onto his back staring at the sky.


Bailey and Thatcher had followed the sporadic sounds of gun fire eventually finding Stokes an hour or so after de Hogue had left him. They had been searching along the hedgerow when they heard the last two shots from the mud flats.
From a distance, Bailey had seen the light, far out on the mud, but by the time he found de Hogue, lying on his back in exhaustion and staring at the sky almost an hour had passed.
“Why didn’t you call?” he cried when he realised de Hogue was alive.
“I didn’t know you were there” de Hogue replied. He let Bailey help him to his feet and stood shivering, staring at the blackened depression in the mud.
“What happened?” Bailey asked. “Where did he go?”
“It died right there” de Hogue replied.
Bailey stared at him then walked over to the blackened mud.
“Where is it?”
“It’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“Aye” de Hogue stared down at the black mud. It was already cool to the touch.
“Gone where?”“Just gone” he turned and stared the long walk back to the village. In the distance he could see Thatcher approaching.