Wendigo Island (ONC2024)

Draco: Start and finish

My name is Draco. I was the kid on that island years ago, and as much as I hate reliving those days, I wanted to finish these entries. For Al and Jen's memory, and for Marie to, what was left of her anyway. I might also benefit from getting this out somehow, but there's only really one gap in the journals. What happened on that beach the day we were rescued.

Rico was thrown to the back of the helicopter and hit his head against the roof. Alex was hardly able to stand, but he dragged his friend away from the doors. He was just in time to.

The dragon's claws wrapped around the edge of the doorway, and its teeth clamped down on the mounted machine gun. It popped the gun loose from the MH-60T Jayhawk Rescue chopper and, in the same movement, ripped the gun in half. Our powerful weapon became bits of metal scattered to the wind.

Kalvin and I backed into the cockpit while the rest of our group cowered on the other side, but the gunner stumbled backwards in fright and was sucked out of the other door. The dragon's snout shot into the door after him and snagged his leg with its teeth. It pulled him back through both doors and swallowed him whole. It was a very distinct scream that I still hear in some of my daydreams.

To make matters worse, Dale's salvaged machine gun had overheated so bad that the barrel was red hot, melted until it bent, and had a long crack up the side.

The dragon's breath was hot against my face. I still remember my hair being tossed around as if by a massive hair dryer. More than that, I remember the shock on everyone's faces when Valentina jumped across the helicopter and superman punched the dragon in the wounded eye.

The dragon's reaction was to shake and jerk its head. A motion that accidentally bumped Val with its snout and sent her into a dogpile with the others at the back of the helicopter.

Its claws were still digging into the sides of the door, only now it was pulling the metal apart like a tuna can. Reagan decided to jump out of the helicopter and grab the spear still hanging from the dragon's neck. She ripped it free with little care for survival at this point, but her back slammed into the floor of the heli, and Dale pulled her back in.

I saw Kalvin reach over the seat and pull something off of the pilot's chest, and I saw the dragon's neck expand showing the clear membrane between its scales and the chemical fire building up from the bottom of its throat.

Kalvin pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand and chucked it out of the chopper.

The explosive package bounced off of the back of the dragon's throat and slid halfway down. The dragon had time to back up and give us a quizzical look just before the grenade met with the chemical reaction building inside the neck. Because the 'sack' (as Marie calls it) is visible, the grenade could also be seen falling slowly into the chemical flame.

Only when the grenade met this reaction did it explode, and it exploded in glorious fashion.

The world was nothing but heat and red as the blast pushed us out over the ocean. And we kept that path all of the way home. Most of us never returned. I say most because I've put together a team to traverse and study the island. I used the money that my parents left me as inheritance and a good chunk of my scholarship money that I managed to save.

Hardly anyone believed our story, which is why I will be the first scientist to set foot on Wendigo Island in years.

But that will be a later story. I've included one more excerpt from Marie's Journal. We found it at the temple, and while all logic says she should be dead by now.... well, I'll let you decide for now.