A curly piece of midnight hair fell from the tie that held it back and slipped into Thanatos’ eyes as he bent over the discarded remains scattered around the campfire. An empty can of chili lay tipped over on its side, the plastic spork a few yards away like someone had kicked it over in haste. The fire was stamped out but still smoking so he knew that he wasn’t too far behind whomever had been here last. And he had to find them. These woods were dangerous and something had scared them enough to make them flee. Quickly, he glimpsed the rest of the remains. A flashlight, a few more cans of food that were left unopened and scattered empty beer cans. To his surprise there was no can opener though, perhaps they’d taken it as a weapon. That made Thanatos smirk to himself. It would do no good against the creatures they were running from. He reached down and picked up the flashlight. It wouldn’t turn on so he assumed the batteries were dead. With another small smile he discarded it and took off over the burnt out fire and deeper into the woods. If he followed their tracks and kept a decent pace, he’d find them before something else did.

Ellie’s lungs burned from running. She’d sprinted flat out to get away from…. God she didn’t even know what it was. One minute they’d been camping out, having a pretty good time, and the next thing she knew there was this growling and scratching and something huge had come out of the woods. Without a thought she’d bolted up off of the log she was sitting on and started running in the opposite direction of where it had come through the trees. Honestly, she hadn’t even gotten a good look at it.

Slowing to a stop she looked around.

“Shit” she said, still panting from having run so hard for so long. Rob and Rich weren’t with her any longer. In fact, she wasn’t even anywhere remotely familiar and she’d camped in these woods every summer since she was ten. She couldn’t even imagine how lost Rob and Rich were, considering that this was their first time ever even camping. While she took a moment to catch her breath she glanced down at her watch. The trees were so thick in this area that it was hard to see the sky and she wanted to know roughly how much time she had until sundown. “Damnit.” She murmured to herself upon realizing she’d broken her watch in the mad dash to get away. “Okay Ellie, be smart.” Often times she talked to herself in a panicked situation. “Just walk in one direction and eventually you’ll have to find your way out. Screw Rob and Rich, they are on their own…” she started to walk, talking to herself to keep the silence of the woods from driving her crazy.

It was still early when she realized that she was walking in circles and making no progress towards finding a way out of the woods. When she passed the same split tree that she had already walked by three times she heaved a sigh and looked around again. There had been no sigh of either of her friends, nor of what had scared them in the first place. She was beginning to think that there hadn’t even been anything at all. A few beers had certainly lightened her up enough and at that point if someone thought they saw something, who was to say they actually did? Leaning against a tree, she closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face. Why had she ever let them talk her into coming out in the middle of the woods to drink? The train of thought led her down another but she snapped from it and whipped her head up at the sound of something wet. Adrenaline started pumping again, making her heart race inside of her chest like a jackhammer. Then she shook her head tried to calm down. It was probably the two of them. They were probably trying to scare her. Jerks.

“That’s not funny, assholes!” She called through the trees but she didn’t get any response. Without really thinking about it she stepped around the tree and started towards the sound. Ellie was convinced that after running all that way and not running into anything that had wanted to kill her that it was just the boys playing a cruel prank. As she cleared the bushes however she realized her mistake.

A deer carcass lay in the small clearing, ripped to shreds. Its open black eyes stared up at her, never blinking. Its limbs were scattered in the matted and blood soaked grass. The head wasn’t even attached to the body any longer. As her eyes wandered towards the main hunk of what was left of the deer they got wider and she started to shake uncontrollably. A large serpent-like head lifted from the ruins of what had been a deer and inclined in her direction. Its mouth hung open, blood and gore dripping from its jaws, showing her rows of sharp jagged teeth. A line of intestine that had been wrapped around its teeth went snapping back down to the carcass it was still attached to, almost like a slinky. With a huff of breath from its mouth Ellie was hit with a wave of the foulest smelling breath she could imagine. A mixture of rotten meat and brimstone was following by another huff, this time from its nostrils, which sent curls of smoke rising into the air.

With a horrible screech the beast roared at her and then reared up on its hind legs, spreading its forty-foot wide wingspan into the clearing. The beast stood before her in all its might and before she could even think to run it attacked.

Through the woods Rob and Rich heard Ellie’s scream. It was blood curdling and cut drastically short by something.

“Oh god…” Rich muttered, tears welling in his eyes at the thought of her being hurt. Or worse, the thought of what was out there killing off the rest of them too.

“We should run, we need to get the hell out of these woods…” Rob said, thinking clearly, or as clearly as he could in a situation like this.

“We need to go get her, she might need our help.” Rich’s voice cracked a little as he spoke.

“Pull your head out of your ass…whatever made her scream like that…shit whatever silenced her scream like that, is probably still waiting for us out there, ready to attack and kill us too. We need to get the hell out of here.”

“At least we should wait and see if she calls…maybe she’ll call for help…maybe she just fell or something…” He tried to be optimistic. Rob just nodded, giving Rich that little bit of comfort. But after ten minutes they heard nothing but the hooting of and owl. And then the sound of footsteps. They both turned their heads to the sound of the rapidly approaching being. Rob took a step back, prepared to run from whatever was coming at them, but as a tall man with dark black hair entered their sight he breathed a sigh of relief.

“What are you guys doing out here?” The man asked, his voice heavily accented. “Have you no idea how dangerous it is?”

“We were just camping…” Rob tried to explain. “Our friend…she’s missing…”

“Listen, I’ll take the two of you to safety and I’ll go back for her…we just need to get the hell out of these woods right now, understand?” The two nodded their response to him, willing to follow this stranger just about anywhere so long as it led to safety. They were both in just a little too much shock over the situation to not go with him. “These woods are full of foul things.” The man stepped closer to him and they could see the scar that ran from his forehead down to his chin. He looked like a hunter of some kind. Someone that was more than familiar with the monsters in these woods. “I know more than most what lies here and you are lucky to still be alive.” He motioned and they started to follow him.

“There is a cave just up ahead, the two of you will be safe there while I go and look for your friend. When I bring her back we can all leave this place together.” Thanatos told the two men as he swiftly led them through the woods. When they reached another small clearing they could see the large rock face that had been hidden from them by a large bank of evergreens. Dusk was approaching but it was still bright enough for them to see a few white moths fly from the entrance of the cave and into the rapidly forthcoming night. Thanatos motioned them forward with a wave of his hand. “Go into the cave and wait for me there…” Rob and Rich stepped forward and started towards the entrance but stopped when they saw what was glistening along the mouth of the cave. Blood, it looked like blood. Smelled a little bit like it too. What really made them stop however was what lay in the pool of the blood. Ellie’s watch. They recognized it instantly because they’d been the ones to buy it for. Rob choked back a sob and Rich just swallowed, his jaw hanging open. A growling came from inside the cave and something started to lurch forward from within.

The beast came from within the depths of the cave, crouched low so it fit easily in the narrow mouth. It opened its mouth and roared at them. Both men turned quickly to run, to get the hell out, but they had forgotten Thanatos was behind them. As they tried to escape a flash of bright light blinded them and where their savior had stood moments before was a massive dragon. It spread its ebony wings and shook its entire body, letting the deep blue scales settle. Then it lowered its head to look at the two. A long scar ran across the side of its face, the only clue that this beast had once been the man that had told them he’d save them. Thanatos was just as much of a beast as the one they’d been running from. He’d led them straight to her. Straight to his mate, to his lair.

Rich promptly wet himself and Rob just stared at it, his mouth hung open. He was moments away from pissing himself too, but the dragon they’d turned their backs on quickly snatched him from where he stood. Her massive jaws closed around him, killing him instantly as the force of her bite crushed his bones and punctured his organs. Aldara did not however eat him. Instead she dropped him to the ground, leaving him dead and fresh for her mate. The dragonswan had had her fill with the human female. Inclining her head to Thanatos she gave a little shriek and started to retreat into the cave. Thanatos shrieked back and whipped his tail around at Rich. The man was frozen in place and the dragon swept him off of his legs. Unable to move as the dragon then crushed his legs with the weight of its massive tail, he was forced to watch as the giant beast devoured his now dead friend.

When Rob was nothing but a bloody smear on the ground Thanatos lifted his tail and then captured Rich’s leg in its jaws. The pain was severe but not enough to cause the man to pass out. He sobbed and tried to fight as the dragon slipped into the cave after his mate. The cave was dark, too dark for him to be able to see, but he knew he was being carried to his death. The deeper they got into the cave the darker it grew until they entered an area illuminated by damp light. Rich’s eyes widened in horror as he saw what lay ahead of him. A dozen tiny little dragons lay against the rocks, still among the broken eggshells that scattered the floor. When they saw what was coming, they licked their jaws and all of them started to make this horrible screeching sound. It was the last thing he heard as Thanatos flicked his head and opened his jaws, sending Rich flying into the pit of hatchlings.

End