Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

sun burns her eyes. Great shining structures stretch up from the sand. Like teeth. The flying prey disappears behind the jagged structures. Inkanyamba follows. The ground shakes as she lands. It burns her feet. Pain. She looks around. Mottled green and brown creatures with thin, long necks terminating in a single black eye surround her. Their gaze is fixed on her. Smaller creatures scurry amongst them. She recognizes them. They attacked her nest. Anger. She lets out a cautionary warble.

The first noise startles her. She whips her head around. The side of her face burns from the impact. One of the creature’s eyes is smoking. More noises, like thunder, sound off around her. Pain. Smoking black eyes stare at her. They move forward, threatening her. Fight.

Inkanyamba lowers her neck to the height of the creatures and screams. The force of her lungs knocks over the smallest creatures and pushes the larger ones back a great distance. A high-pitched sound draws her attention back to the sky. Flying creatures drop things on her from above. Pain. She digs her feet into the ground to keep from stumbling backwards. Fight.

She swipes out with a clawed foreleg. One of the long-necked creatures crumples under the impact. Smoke and sparks pour out from within. She launches it into a crowd of the small, scurrying creatures. Their tiny sounds are cut off when it crushes them. She knocks the crumpled creatures into another of its kind. It also bursts into flames. The smaller creatures are afraid. She can smell it.

Hundreds of little pops fill the air. They bring a series of itches that bounce off of her scales one by one. She slams her tail down on the offending creatures. The pops fall silent.

Pain. Dry skin tears at the base of her tail. Water. She scans her surroundings and sees no water. She beats her wings. The creatures at her feet are blown away as she rises. In the distance she sees water. A small lake lit up in several strange colors. Geysers erupt in a rhythmic pattern across its surface. She glides towards it and lands. Water. It only covers her feet. Rage. She stomps at the geysers. The stone lake crumbles under her feet. She lashes out with her tail. It crashes through a structure almost as tall as her. Debris tumbles down from it as it collapses. She thrashes her wings, kicking up water and dust and raining it down all around her. She screams. Thunderous sounds snap her from her tantrum. The creatures from before have caught up to her. She hisses a warning. It goes unheeded, and they attack. She rears back to strike. Slamming her forelegs back down, she charges forward. Her head swings back and forth, knocking the creatures out of her way. Many more are crushed under her feet. She slides to a stop and whirls to face the remaining enemies. She bares her teeth.

Pain. It crackles like electricity across her skin. Her scales tear free from her drying skin. The frills on her neck rattle. Anger. A low, repetitive pulse tickles her sense. She glares up at the sky. More flying creatures. These are larger, and their wings spin above their heads. Large arches hang beneath them. They move until they come to a hover above her.

The creatures drop their loads. Three heavy forces slam into her back. A sound. She doesn’t recognize it. Three heavy weights slam down on her. Stuck. She thrashes. She can’t break free. She cranes her neck. Three shining rings hold her in place. She screams, snapping and biting at them. Her teeth scrape against the cold material. Pain.

Her skin hurts. It tears, red lines cracking all over her body. She’s slow. The dryness sucks her strength. Fear. Skin rubs off as she shifts inside her bonds. The sun beats down, hot and unending until…Cool.

The shade covers her before she can see the cloud. It’s in the distance now, but it’s there. A massive, puffy cloud. The kind that brings rain. Water. Inkanyamba relaxes her muscles. The pain in her skin diminishes at the thought of a refreshing downpour. She waits.

Chapter 16

“We got her!” Skylar cheered. She turned to Greenwood for a high-five, but the older woman just nodded at her with a stoic look in her eye.

“Now we wait?” Greenwood asked.

Skylar tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “Actually,” she said, “do you think we could set down near the creature?”

“Why the hell would we do that?” Greenwood asked with a frown.

“General MacPherson asked me to gather some samples so I could further research the creature past its…expiration date,” Skylar said, doing her best to look serious. “I’d only need a few minutes, and all of my equipment is on one of those construction copters. We just need to radio them down so I can grab it.”

Greenwood kneaded her forehead. “Wish people would communicate these things to me,” she said. “Just make it quick.” She walked up to the pilot. “Put us down close but not too close, and radio the construction copters to bring down the doc’s equipment.”

The pilot gave a sharp thumbs up, and the copter began to set down towards the midpoint of the creature’s body, out of reach of its head and tail. Skylar hopped out and gave the pilot a thumbs up. The military copter lurched back up into the sky.

“You have one hour,” Greenwood called down from the chopper.

The construction copter set down next to them. Five men in helmets hopped out of the transport and waited for the equipment to be lowered to the ground.

“Gunner, is that you?” Skylar said.

The first man nodded and said in a slow drawl, “That’s right; what do you need from us, ma’am?”

She pointed up towards the creature’s back. “I need an egg from up on the creature’s back. I know it’s dangerous, but…”

“That explains the strange request for ladder rungs on the structures,” Skid said from underneath his helmet. “Well Jet’s probably the best climber of the lot