Clawing Free

by Josh Roberts

  Lissy could see black scales over its body that seemed to absorb any light that dared approach them. The scales flexed over a wide serpentine torso that ended in a thinner, elongated neck. The only feature differentiating the creature from a gigantic snake was its arms, which extended from its midsection, culminating in—what Lissy immediately recognized as—the weapons that had killed Melissa Atwell and likely Mia. Both of the animal’s wrists had a scythe-shaped barb protruding from it, and long claws extended from the three fingers on each hand. The sight brought acidic bile up into her throat.

  Finally, completing the picture of hideous magnificence, wings began to unfurl from its back. Rain ricocheted off its appendages, repelled by the scores of onyx scales adorning every inch of the titan’s form, and with each drop deterred, Lissy thought she could see bursts of electricity sparking through the darkness of the storm.

  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was a full-fledged dragon coming out of the lake in front of her. Enfeebled at the sight, she dropped to her knees as Lee’s words shot into her mind like a bullet to the brain: The water-dwelling Leviathan, said only to be assailable to God himself.

  The beast’s legs and tail burst from the water next, bringing the entire animal’s body to bare. It was colossal, at least forty feet from head to toe, with an equivalent wingspan. It hovered in front of them now, over the lake, its massive wings creating gusts of air that rivaled those of a hurricane.

  “Hello, Elisabeth,” the creature hissed. Lissy immediately recognized its voice as the second she’d heard in her visions: the voice laced with hatred, as opposed to the voice that exuded peace.

  Neil planted a foot and leaned into the blasts of wind from its wings. “Is that it? Are you all there is?” he yelled.

  The Leviathan responded by tilting its head back and summoning the most atrocious sound that Lissy had ever heard. Its scream was like a banshee being projected through the sound system of a concert stadium. It was telling them who was in command, but Neil wasn’t backing down.

  Suddenly, it pumped its wings vigorously, propelling its body into the sky like a missile launching from a submarine. Flying straight up, its dark body disappeared amid the black clouds and then reemerged in erratic spurts between them. Lissy realized there were gaps in which the Leviathan should have been visible between certain clouds, but it wasn’t. It only showed up when lightning flashed. In fact, it almost looked as if the thing was somehow jumping from one place in the sky to another using the flashes as some sort of portal. It was like the electricity was throwing the beast from one location to another.

  Without the dragon hovering directly in front of her, Lissy regained her senses long enough to jump to her feet. She grabbed Neil but was locked in place, as if she’d grabbed a tree and attempted to rip it from the ground. Something wasn’t right. He was no longer crying, or screaming, or doing anything. It was as if someone—or something—had hit Pause just for Neil. He just stared mindlessly into the rain-filled sky, watching the dragon soar from cloud to cloud. Then Lissy saw it: the glow. She turned to find that the forest was aflame behind them, lighting striking all around.

  “Neil, let’s go! You can’t fight that!” He didn’t respond. She heard the whistling sound of a bomb dropping and looked up. The dragon was diving straight down at them, its wings tapered to its back, causing it to cut through the atmosphere like a knife through Jell-O.

  On pure instinct, she turned and ran. Deep inside, for reasons unbeknownst to her, she knew that it would follow her, not go after Neil. She refused to look back, worried it would slow her down. Her eyes were locked on the path between the flaming trees. If she could only reach that path, maybe the forest would slow the animal down.

  With every step, she anticipated a hit from behind, or the feeling of being engulfed in the beast’s mammoth jowls. But to her surprise, she reached the path safely, racing forward with intensity, the fire licking at her exposed skin and burning her eyes. But she couldn’t stop; she had to get to her car.

  As she came closer to where she thought the trail would expel her into the parking lot, she felt something she hadn’t expected. It was as if someone was urging her to turn back. Was the dragon summoning her? She couldn’t be sure. As she slowed to a jog, she wondered if the feeling was actually some sort of deep connection with Neil. How could she have left him like that? Why couldn’t she budge him? It had felt just like her visions. He was—

  “Lissy?” A flashlight shown on her face through the darkness just as the fire in the forest seemed to disappear.

  “Lissy,” came Logan’s voice. “What are you—”

  “Logan, you have to help him! It's going to kill him,” she said, taking off toward the lake.

  “Lissy!” Logan yelled from behind.

  Then, from beyond him, she heard Porter shouting, “What is it, Elisabeth? What did you see?”

  She didn’t stop to answer. They would see for themselves soon enough.

  “Draw your guns!” she shouted just before breaching the tree line again. And then she did. She ran out into the clearing just as before and—within an instant—took in a myriad of baffling sights. The storm had dissipated, just as the fire had from the trees. The moon shone bright, and a million stars adorned the sky around it. It was no longer raining. Everything was calm and the Leviathan was . . . gone.

  Then there was Neil . . . down on his knees, just as he had been the first time she reached the field. He was crying into his hands. Lissy felt like she could vomit. What was going on? Had anything she’d seen even been real? Logan and the sheriff ran into the clearing one after the other.

  “Where is it, Lissy?” Logan asked, gun in hand.

  “I—” She froze. “I don’t know.”

  They were confused.

  “What was it?” Porter asked again. “Was it a bear—”

  “I don’t know!” Lissy shouted.

  “Elisabeth, you called us,” Porter responded. “Said Neil was going to get himself killed. Then you said—”

  “I know what I said, Jack.” She squeezed her temples between her thumb and middle finger, trying to will herself into a state of understanding.

  Logan attempted a gentler approach. “Are you sure you saw something, Lissy? Maybe you—”

  “Can you please just help me get Neil home? The lake is still closed, right?” she interrupted.

  The two men shared a glance before holstering the pistols.

  “Sure,” Logan said. “I’ll go talk to him.”

  18

  August 15, 2008

  David, Mia, and their friends had spent the majority of their second day at the lake playing volleyball, hiking, and fishing. To David’s surprise, as he’d been fishing at the lake his entire life, they didn’t catch a thing, which was very odd considering he’d never come up empty-handed at the lake before. That aside, it had been a good day. Mia was happy so he was happy. And he’d been able to stave off most of the feelings that there was something lurking in the trees so he could simply enjoy himself.

  He plopped down into the chair beside Mia and cracked open a bottle of Jones Soda. Although the mountain air was quite cool, the sun was bright, so the cold drink tasted great. He took a second sip, then offered it to Mia. She grabbed it and took a swig, spewing the drink all over herself.

  “Oh my! David, what is this?”

  The group all burst into laughter as she turned the bottle over. “Bacon! Why did you buy bacon pop? That’s disgusting!” She handed the drink back to him.

  “I mean . . . you can’t not buy bacon pop when you see it on the shelf. What, am I gonna leave it?”

  Dom chuckled. “Man’s got a point.”

  “You’re both ridiculous,” Mia said.

  David reached down, grabbed a Pepsi from the cooler, and handed it to her. “Better?”

  “Better.” She grinned.

  He slapped his hands together, standing. “Who wants steak?”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” Dom stood
and walked to the tent where they had stored the meat in an ice cooler. David began preparing the two skillets he’d borrowed from his aunt.

  Mia leaned over and whispered to Rashella, intentionally allowing David to hear her.

  “I secretly don’t think this is gonna work.”

  Rashella smiled and nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

  Dom returned with steaks, tossing one of the Styrofoam trays to David, who began removing the cellophane wrap while smirking at Mia. He couldn’t imagine life without her smiling back at him.

  Abruptly, as if she were having some sort of seizure, Mia’s eyes rolled back in her head and she screamed, “David!” Her soda flew through the air, landing in the mud behind her.

  “Mia!” He dropped the steak and ran to her side just as she began convulsing, flailing her arms, and screaming repetitively. “David! David!”

  “Mia, honey!” Rashella was slapping her hand, trying to get through to her.

  “I’m here, Mia. I’m here.” David was frantic.

  Her fit was so violent that she knocked over her camp chair, Dom and Ann catching her just before she smacked her head on the cooler.

  “She’s gonna hurt herself. Get that stuff outta here,” David said, pulling Mia into his lap. He held her close as she struggled to fight him off. It was as if she thought she was under attack, fighting something.

  The other three set about clearing the area around them, Dom lifting the cooler and the girls sliding the chairs out of the way.

  As quickly as she had become frenzied, Mia calmed, her body going limp in David’s arms.

  “Mia? You okay?” he asked.

  “Mia?” Ann repeated. She didn’t respond. Her eyes were still rolling. David knew she still wasn’t with them.

  “David?” she said quietly, still not looking at him. He glanced up at Dom, who looked as confused as he felt. Mia winced, as if seeing or hearing something that startled her.

  “No,” she said.

  “What do we do?” Rashella asked. David started to answer, but Mia shoved him hard and screamed, her eyes still out of focus. Unprepared for the sudden burst of violence, he dropped her onto his legs, where she began slapping at him before rolling into the grass.

  “No! Leave him alone! You can’t—” She broke off as though something knocked the breath out of her.

  She began to gag, choking on nothing but the air around her. The group was terrified. They were all shouting her name and trying to get at a good angle to help her when David scooped her back up and held her body against his.

  “Mia,” he said, “breathe, baby. Breathe!” His mind was ablaze, trying to figure out what to do to help her. He could put her in the Jeep and drive to the hospital, but she was choking, and the drive would take far too long. Their phones had no reception at the lake. Then suddenly she gasped for air, as if whatever had been keeping the air from her had suddenly released its hold.

  She whispered, “It’s . . . It’s in the water.” Near collapse, she rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Mia?” David could hear the fear in his own voice. “Do you hear me?”

  “I-I do.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Ann said. Dom blew out a loud sigh of relief.

  “Are you okay? What happened?” David asked.

  Mia took in a deep breath. “I’m okay.” She sat up, shaking her head slowly.

  “What was it?” Rashella asked.

  “Some kind of really weird daydream, at least I think so. It was terrifying.”

  “Whatever it was, it’s over now,” David said. “We should get you to the hospital.”

  “No!” Mia almost shouted, startling him. “I’ll be fine. Think I must have just—I don’t know. I think I passed out. Anyway, I’m sure I just need sleep.”

  Rashella traded glances with Dom, clearly worried.

  David couldn’t believe she was insisting they stay. “Babe, I—”

  “I’m okay, David.” She smiled at him. “I don’t wanna leave.”

  After a long pause, Dom finally jumped in. “Well, I guess we make them steaks now?”

  The group laughed. But inside, David was very concerned about what had just taken place. What bothered him more was that the feeling of uneasiness that had plagued him the night before was now stronger than ever.

  19

  August 26, 2019

  Two barely picked-over entrees sat on the table between Lissy and Neil. After being thoroughly chewed out by Porter, they’d decided they should eat, although it had since become apparent that neither of them was actually hungry.

  Neil had been quiet throughout the meal, which was odd because he told the sheriff that he hadn’t even realized Lissy was at the lake with him. If that were the case, which Lissy believed it was, she expected him to have tons of questions. She did. Namely, how had Neil not seen the dragon? Had the entire event just been some kind of waking vision in which she imagined him standing off against the beast? It had to have been. Neil told Porter that he’d been sitting at the lake’s edge for quite a while before Lissy and the two officers showed up. It wasn’t until Logan touched his shoulder that he even realized anyone else was there. He hadn’t split hairs when he told them he’d gone to the lake hoping to confront his brother’s killer. With all of that said, she couldn’t figure out what had actually happened. But if it was a vision, when had the transition from reality to farce and then back again taken place? Or was what she’d seen the reality and not what Neil had seen? One thing she knew for sure was that he hadn’t seen—or didn’t remember seeing—the monstrous dragon emerge from the water. No one could keep such a horrifying thing from being revealed through their eyes, even if they wanted to.

  Why, then, wasn’t he asking about the look in her eyes? Why was he just sitting there?

  “Neil,” she said, not even sure what to follow with. “I’m . . . I’m not sure what to say.” He didn’t reply.

  “I just . . .” She ran her hands down her braid. “Are we not going to talk about what happened today? You could have been killed.” His eyes darted up to meet hers. He was listening.

  “You think I don’t know that? Lissy, you of all people should know why I was out there.” He shook his head. “I just can’t let him go. I won’t.”

  “So, what? You go and die right after him?” She felt the tension tightening her chest. “I do know how you feel. But to what end, Neil? What if I had gone there today just to find your dead body next to the water, face torn off like Melissa’s?”

  “I know!” He paused, collecting himself. He was quieter when he spoke again. “I know, Lis. I just . . . I’m burning alive. I feel helpless. I wanted to—” He threw up his hand in exasperation. “I don’t know—fight something. Eleven years ago your sister was murdered, and they never figured out who did it. Don’t you remember how angry you were?”

  Her body hurt at the memory of the day she’d heard the news. She glared at him. “Neil, I’m still angry. I don’t go a day without thinking about her. Who she would have become. The kids she’ll never have. The husband she’ll never marry.” She sat back in the booth. “But what good is it? What good is you fighting some . . . thing that’s just gonna kill you?” She took a long breath, locking eyes with him. “I don’t wanna have to watch their faces when Porter calls your aunt and uncle to come identify your faceless body at the morgue because you feel some sense of duty to avenge your brother’s death.”

  He started to speak but Lissy decided she had more to say. “You don’t think I want to make someone pay for what happened to Mia? I wish I could find the person and kill them myself. But I can’t. It’s been eleven years and here I am, still living in the same city as the day she died, still eating in the same diner, and still living with the same regret. I should have been there. I should have known more, done more, helped the police more. More, more, more. It’s exhausting. Don’t go down the trail I’m paving. If you do, you’ll never stop looking for the more you could have accomplished. And eleven years from now, if you live to s
ee it, you’ll find yourself sitting in that booth, in the same state as me: perpetually stuck and always afraid.”

  “Lissy, a week ago you were hell-bent on finding out who killed Melissa, proving it wasn’t suicide. Now, you’re telling me to—what? Step away and let the police figure it out? They won’t.” He sat back now, mirroring her posture. “They couldn’t figure it out before, and they won’t figure it out now.”

  He was right. She still felt drawn to the lake, even after seeing the dragon—maybe even more so. But she never wanted to find Neil’s body the way that she’d found Melissa’s. She couldn’t. So, she was now trying to eject herself from the situation altogether. More importantly, she was trying to eject Neil from it too.

  “I’ll admit, I was traveling down the same path. But I see where that path is headed now. I can’t lose you to this.” A tear fell from her eye onto the scratched surface of the table. She leaned forward, pleading with him. “So, you tell me. What do we do? Because wherever you go, I will follow.”

  He massaged the stress in his temples with both hands. “I don’t know.” He leaned in, matching her posture. “You know how I feel about you, Lis—how I’ve always felt. But I just . . . someone has to stop this. What if there’s something we can do and we don’t, and then next week it’s someone else’s brother . . . or sister. You wanna know why I don’t want to talk about today?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t want you to talk me out of it. And you’re the only person who could. But you’re also the only one who could understand why I can’t leave it alone. Lis, if I drop this, in eleven years I’ll be an empty shell. I’ll have failed him and will have failed you.”

  “This isn’t your responsibility. David wouldn’t have asked you to do this.”

  His back stiffened as if she’d struck a nerve.

  “This is wholly my responsibility. I brought him back to this. He’d still be in that trailer if it weren’t for me and my grand revelation.”