Chapter 1
"Damn! They said it was gonna rain today. Freaking weather men! How in the hell are we even going to squeeze two drops out of those wispy clouds!" Muttering out loud Autora shook her weary head and stomped away.
The soles of her smooth black boots, fondly name her 'ass-kickers', crunched on top of the drying grass, the ground so dry that each step caused a puff of dust to swirl lazily before resettling. One must think it would be the middle of the summer in a desert. Ha! Shading her eyes behind the length of her hand she looked past the 'Welcome to Alaka'i Wilderness Preserve' sign and stared up at the peak of Mt. Wai'ale'ale. The one place located outside of the continental US with the most annual rainfall.
The edges of her fingernails were ragged from teeth marks, teal paint chipped away carelessly. Black strands fell around her face and across her sweat licked neck as they escaped the high pony tail she had thrown up on her way out of the hotel room that morning. Dropping her hand she wished the sight wouldn't fully sink in, but the strangest feeling of being watched just hyped the tension coiling inside her chest. The 'ass-kickers' kept her moving forward though with the sunlight glaring off the golden hood of the rental truck she had parked down the road. Twirling the keys on her fingers, the musical jingle filling the silence that stretched around.
She almost jumped as a giant lizard scurried out from underneath the drivers side door, hiding to escape the abnormally bright sun that raised heat waves off the pavement. She could almost hear its leathery scales sizzling as it disappeared into the brown and crackling brush. What ever was going on couldn't be natural.
Opening the door she angles her long limbs into the stifling cab flipping on the a/c as soon as the key turned with a throaty rumble. Escaping down the road Autora thrummed her fingers to some Imagine Dragons, chuckling internally at the irony of the name. She thought it would be a simple stop on a beautiful island, sort of a mini vacation from her normal stuffy office job in upper Manhattan. Seeing no end in sight however to this unbearable heat wave she'd have to go farther. Looks like a trip up the mountains were in order.
The report from this area her boss had dropped onto her desk two days ago didn't mention that there were any clans she needed to gain permission to be able to wander this island so she packed a set of bikinis and her 'ass-kickers', a few light shirts and shorts and boarded a red eye that same night. Renting a car and checking in along with a luxurious dip in her in-room whirlpool and the first day was gone. Waking up to the sunlight filtering across her bed she stretched feeling her spine pop and toes crack she choked back a cough and grimaced. It felt like a lifetime since this morning as the mountain came closer in her windshield.
A loud grumble seemed to shake the truck making her eyes flip back and forth looking for the approaching storm clouds, realizing too late that it was her stomach. Slapping her tummy she in no uncertain terms told it to shut the hell up! Breakfast long forgotten in this heat.
The small pack she had thrown into the passenger seat lay flayed open to her surprise. Searching her memory and coming up blank she could only guess that what ever was watching her back there had no qualms of snooping. Shrugging her shoulders while storing the information for later she spied a smashed granola bar and ripped into the flimsy package scarfing it down like a starving person in one bite.
The sharpness of her incisors increasing at even that tiny morsel of food. Biting back a growl of irritation she took her eyes from the road to hunt down the king sized m&m's she knew she had thrown in her pack. With a triumphant whoop she looked back to the road, bag of candy in hand. That whoop turned to a loud curse as she spun the wheel as hard as she could to the right.
In the second it took her to look out her window triumphantly a large green shape filled her sight. Her swerve to avoid it came to a screeching halt down at the end of a short ravine filled with dried out trees. One trunk buried into the hood and passenger door. Groaning she fluttered her eyes as her vision swam red, her arms pinned in front of her making pins and needles sensations to shiver down her chest and back.
An acrid smell burst thru her nose and made her cough before the cerulean shape occupied her vision again before they closed and she lost consciousness.
Watching the small truck veer off the road the creature winced when the metallic screech of locked up brakes and metal on wood finally came to a stop. Stalking forward it peered down the small ravine at the twisted metal remains surrounding the thick tree trunks.
A small billow of smoke started pluming from around the hood. A shimmer surrounded the creature as it swiped its huge talons and tore off the door just as it saw the girl black out over the steering wheel, her arms pinned between the dash and her body. Talons turned into hands as it plucked her from the cab as the rest of the truck caught on fire.
The creature communicated to its leader to dispatch a team to put out the blaze before it razed this side of the island. Mentioning his unconscious prize he ignored the raise of concern and shut off his link.