CHINESE DRAGON

Contributor: Jesse Campen


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 The warm breeze of the late-evening desert flows through my car while I drive eighty miles per hour towards my destination: Las Vegas, Nevada.
     Most go to Las Vegas with others.  I prefer to walk away with my sins alone.  No one is in my car to block the sound of my blaring-loud music.  My vision is a blur from having driven so far.
     "It’s okay," I say to myself.  "The road is straight anyways."
     Something past a mountain catches my eye.  Is it the lights of my destination?  No.  I know it isn’t.  I’m miles away from there.  I have a half hour to go.
     I see what looks like fire shoot out of a low-flying aircraft.  The explosive sound reaches the road a second later, and cancels out the noise of my loud music.
     Thinking it might be good to get something like this on video for YouTube, I pull over immediately and turn the radio low.  I get out of my car and get my phone out, holding it steadily. I’m recording the vicinity of where I saw the object in the air before, when suddenly, I see something coming from the clouds.  The silhouette is long and flowing.
     Fire belches out from the thing again.  Then, I saw it.  A giant, red, scaly creature with a… white beard and eyebrows?  Its short arms seem to push across the air.  Then I catch its yellow-gold eyes, staring directly at me.
     A fireball shoots from its mouth.  I begin to wonder if I’m already in Las Vegas and am in a drunken dream.  The ball of flame flies past me and blows my car to smithereens.  This isn’t a dream.  This is really happening.
     I hold on tight to my phone and run like hell.  A terrifying screech comes from the monster that deafens me to the extent that I can only hear a ringing in my ears.  I take a quick look back, and see it only a hundred yards away.  Its mouth is open, baring its rows of razor sharp teeth.  It’s gaining on me quickly.  I continue running away.  I’m not going to be this things next meal.
     All of a sudden, when I didn’t think my ears could be damaged anymore, blood begins flowing out of them at the sound of some explosion behind me.  Whatever it is, it sends me rolling along the ground like a dust bunny in a super nova.
     My prized phone is lost when my hand slams into the ground and breaks at the wrist.  When I finally land, I’m on my stomach facing the Chinese dragon.  I can’t hear anymore, but what I see is unbelievable.
     Stealth jets are flying all around, pounding the thing with missiles and bullets.  Explosions and debris are everywhere.  At times like this, I wish I hadn’t lost my phone so I could keep recording what’s happening.  I try to adjust to the chaos around me and make my way to my feet, but instead, I fall to my back unconscious.
     When I awaken, my face is covered in dust and I have the taste of sand and smoke in my mouth.  The next thing I notice is the orange hue in the sky.  It must be early morning.
     My body feels sore and broken.  I can’t hear a thing and yet, I have a whopping headache.  Above me stands two shadows that, as of yet, I can’t make out.
     One of them gets closer, kneeling down next to me.  He looks like an agent right out of a T.V. cop drama.  The other one points his finger down at me.  He’s shouting something but I can’t hear it.  I can only see the camouflage color of his long-sleeved fatigues.  Another figure comes into sight and is handing the agent something.  I try my best to lean my head up and talk.
     “What’s going on?” I say, without hearing my own words.
     The agent takes what the person handed him, and stabs me in the neck with it.  I can see it close enough now to realize it’s a syringe.  A clear liquid slowly injects into me.  My thoughts and memories of the incident seem to flutter away.
     Maybe it is a dream.  Hell.  Even if it isn’t, I won’t remember a damn thing.


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Jesse James Campen is a working student from Maryland, and likes to write specifically to entertain. He is currently attending Full Sail University to get his Creative Writing For Entertainment BFA. Jesse likes story telling in all forms, including stories from video games and themed music albums.
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