Grounded
1260 Words
But the world did not end.
Light consumed everything. Not light like the sun, not light like Marcus’s flashlight cutting through darkness, but something absolute. It erased shape. It erased distance. It erased understanding. My eyes slammed shut on instinct, my body curling inward as if that could protect me from something that was everywhere at once.
Then came the wind.
It hit like impact, like sticking your head out of the window during the fastest chase Marcus had ever driven, except there was no car, no ground, no safety. Just air. Endless, violent air. It roared past my ears and flattened my fur against my skin. My lips peeled back from my teeth as I tried to breathe, but the air refused to stay still long enough to be inhaled properly.
For a moment, I did not understand what was happening.
Then gravity made itself known.
I was falling.
Panic surged through my muscles, primal and absolute. My legs kicked, searching for ground that did not exist. My body twisted midair, disoriented, helpless. The leash pulled tight against my harness, snapping me sideways.
“Rex!!!!”
Marcus.
His voice cut through the chaos with perfect clarity.
I forced my eyes open, fighting against the wind and the terror that wanted to keep them shut. He was above me and beside me all at once, his body tumbling, clothes snapping violently in the air. His face was strained, eyes locked on mine.
“Rex!! Come on, boy, it’s going to be okay! I don’t know how, but it’s going to be okay!”
His voice was steady.
But I heard his fear.
Humans think they hide it well.
They do not.
He stretched one hand toward me, his fingers spread wide. His other hand fought against the leash, trying to pull himself closer, fighting the invisible force dragging us both downward. The leash twisted between us, tangling, pulling, spinning.
I tried to reach him.
The wind grabbed me and spun my body. My legs flailed uselessly, my balance meaningless without ground. My paw missed his hand the first time.
Missed again the second.
Each failure filled me with something new. Not just fear.
Urgency.
Need.
He needed me.
That mattered more than the falling.
I forced my body to align, adjusting instinctively, angling myself against the wind instead of fighting it. My muscles responded faster than they ever had before, correcting, stabilizing.
My paw caught his hand.
His grip closed instantly.
He pulled with everything he had, dragging me into his chest. His arms wrapped around me, solid and real, holding me against him as the world continued to collapse beneath us.
Safety.
Even here.
Even now.
That was when I saw it.
At first, it was just movement above us, a distortion against the pale sky. Then, it resolved into shape. Massive wings stretched wide, their membranes catching the air with terrible precision. A long, scaled body followed, armored in overlapping plates that reflected the light in dull, jagged flashes.
It moved like a patrol car weaving through traffic.
Direct.
Certain.
Deadly.
It was diving straight at us.
Danger.
The word formed in my mind with clarity sharper than instinct alone.
“WOOF! WOOF!”
I barked with everything I had, forcing the sound into the wind, forcing the warning toward Marcus.
Please understand.
He did.
His body shifted instantly. One arm tightened around me while the other released the leash just long enough to draw his weapon. The motion was practiced. Efficient. Automatic.
He aimed upward.
The creature opened its jaws.
Rows of teeth curved inward, built not just to bite but to hold. Its single visible eye locked onto Marcus with predatory certainty.
Marcus fired.
The sound was lost to the wind, but the recoil was not. His arm jerked slightly as the bullet crossed the distance between them.
The round struck the creature’s eye.
Its body reacted instantly. Its wings faltered, its descent twisting violently as pain disrupted its perfect attack. Its jaws snapped shut just short of Marcus’s head as its momentum carried it past us.
For a moment, I thought it would fall away.
Then its horn caught the leash.
The strap snagged against the curve of bone, wrapping tight.
The force jerked Marcus’s arm forward. His grip held, but barely. The creature thrashed, its massive wings beating wildly as it fought against blindness and pain.
We were no longer falling freely.
We were being dragged.
The creature twisted in the air, trying to free itself, and the leash pulled us along with it. Marcus slammed against its scaled side, his body absorbing the impact with a grunt of pain. His arms tightened around me protectively even as the world spun.
I could feel his heart hammering.
Fast.
Too fast.
The creature’s wing passed close.
Close enough.
I acted.
My jaws closed around the membrane.
The material resisted at first, tough and elastic beneath my teeth, but I bit harder. My muscles strained as I pulled, tearing through the surface. The wind caught the opening instantly, forcing itself into the wound and ripping it wider.
The creature screamed.
Its wing failed.
Control vanished.
The spin became violent and uncontrollable. Sky and ground exchanged places faster than sight could track. Marcus pulled me tighter against him, curling his body around mine.
Protecting.
Always protecting.
The ground rose to meet us.
The creature struck first.
The impact was catastrophic. Bone shattered. Flesh collapsed. Its body crumpled beneath us, absorbing the force that would have killed us both.
Marcus hit next.
The sound he made was small.
Wrong.
We rolled across dirt and stone before coming to a stop beside the creature’s broken form.
Silence followed.
Real silence.
Marcus did not move.
I forced myself upright, my legs unsteady for only a moment before stabilizing. Pain did not come the way I expected it to. My body felt… intact.
Marcus lay beside me, his leg bent unnaturally. His breathing was shallow, uneven. His face was pale beneath the dust.
I pressed my nose against him.
Alive.
The relief was immediate and overwhelming.
Then something else happened.
The creature’s body began to change.
Not visibly.
Not fully.
But I felt it.
Something flowed outward from it. Not liquid. Not air. Something else. Something deeper. It moved into Marcus. Into me. Through my teeth. Through my skin. Into my bones.
It did not hurt.
It filled.
Marcus’s breathing slowed.
His body relaxed.
Then he went still.
Unconscious.
Fear returned immediately.
He could not protect himself.
Which meant I must protect him.
I looked around.
The world was wrong.
New.
Unknown.
A cave sat nearby, carved into stone. Its entrance was dark, but its interior smelled dry. Empty. Safe enough.
I understood what I needed to do.
Not through instinct alone.
Through thought.
I moved to Marcus and took hold of his harness. I pulled.
He was heavy.
But that did not matter.
He was mine.
I dragged him across the ground, adjusting my grip when it slipped, correcting angles, learning as I went. The cave grew closer with each effort.
Inside, the air was still.
Protected.
I pulled him deeper until he was beyond sight of the entrance.
Safe.
Only then did I allow myself to stop.
Exhaustion came suddenly.
My body lowered beside him without conscious decision. My breathing slowed. My head rested against his side.
His heart still beats.
That was enough.
Darkness came.
I didn't sleep as I knew it.
Something deeper.
Something changing.
And for the first time since the world ended—
We rested.
- Writer
