Savage Beach

Kara made her way down the beach, a book in her hand and the wind blowing through her red hair. She enjoyed the tranquility of the ocean, a place where she could escape from the hectic lifestyle of the city. She listened to the rolling of the waves on one side and rustling of the leaves on the other. Kara wondered if Celesta and Gabriel were enjoying themselves as well, even though she had no idea where her friends were at the time.

A high-pitched yelp interrupted the serenity of the beach. Kara turned around to see a blue-haired girl running in her direction. It was Celesta, who was being chased by a dragon worm, a beast native to the forests that neighbored the beach. The worm was a colossal giant, with jaws big enough to swallow Celesta whole. The creature let out a reverberating roar as it chased its prey.

As far as Kara could tell, Gabriel wasn't anywhere to be seen, so it was just pair of teenage girls up against a massive monster, and she knew she had to do something immediately if her friend was going to live to see another day. Kara leapt towards the dragon worm, high enough to see three red eyes on top of its head. She threw her book at the central eye with all her might, hoping that it would do something to scare the beast away.

The book slammed into the large red orb, causing it to crack and start spraying out a stream of dark liquid. Kara landed on the worm's head and drove her foot into the cracked eye, covering her boots with the chunky black blood. The creature screamed and thrashed in rage and agony, throwing Kara into the sand below. It then slithered its way back into the forest behind the beach, continuing to gurgle and growl in misery.

Kara slowly got back up on her feet. Celesta was nearby, relieved that her friend was still alive.

"You alright, Celesta?" Kara asked. Celesta may have been mute, but she had her own ways of expressing herself.

In fact, Celesta quickly demonstrated that not even a close encounter with a hungry monster could ruin her perpetually good mood by running back into the forest the monster had come from.

"Oh no, NO! Wait up, Celesta!" Kara yelled out as she give chase after her friend.

It was difficult for Kara to navigate over the path of fallen trees, and things only got more difficult when Celesta decided to run into the threes that were still standing. Yet while Kara stumbled though trees that seemed to grow more numerous as time went on, Celesta effortlessly darted between them with almost animalistic agility.

"Hey, slow down, will you?" Kara called out with half a breath. Celesta responded with a gleeful giggle before jumping over a few branches. Then all of the sudden, Celesta was nowhere to be seen.

Kara was alone in the middle of the forest.

The foliage all but blocked the sunlight above, and the spiky black tree trunks created an intimidating labyrinth of darkness. It was then Kara realized she had no clue where she was or how she could make her way back to the beach. In fact, Kara felt there was something malevolent about the woods, and that its presence was closing in on her.

Kara took a few steps back as she desperately tried to figure out how to escape the situation she'd found herself in. Her steps make a squishing sound and then she suddenly found herself unable to move her feet. A few moments later Kara realized that the trees seemed to be moving upward. She looked down and noticed that she couldn't see her feet. It eventually dawned upon Kara that she was actually sinking into the ground

Gabriel stood at the shoreline, watching as the crabs scuttled between the holes that pockmarked the expanse of sand before him. He tried to be entertained by them, but in truth the only reason he's even at the beach is because Kara insisted on coming here. Gabriel would much rather be back at home, reading a book before falling asleep. Heck, he would much rather be hunting the wild beasts that dwelled in the forest behind him.

A terrified scream rang through the salty air. Gabriel recognized the voice as Kara's. He turned toward the trees and adjusted his sunglasses to thermal vision. He only saw a few heat sources of variable sizes moving through the trees, but then he noticed that one of them wasn't moving at all. Gabriel took a closer look and realized that the immobile heat source had a humanoid shape, albeit the lower half had sunk underground. Could it have been Kara?

Another yell came out of the forest, this one clearly a call for help. It was definitely Kara, and she was in danger. Though one wouldn't be able to tell by looking at his face, Gabriel was actually excited by the thought of having to search for Kara in the woods, since it would probably provide more entertainment than just watching crabs on the beach. Besides, he felt his knee-high steel boots were better suited for the rough terrain of the woods.

"Kara? Kara, are you out here?" Gabriel called out as he made his way through the forest.

"I'm down here! HELP!" Kara finally yelled out. Gabriel ran in the direction of her voice, but stopped when one of his feet sank underground. He instinctively jumped back, freeing himself. It was now apparent that what looked like solid ground was in fact a patch of quicksand, and that Kara was waist deep in it, desperately using all of her strength to prevent herself from sinking any further.

"Kara! …Stay clam, don't struggle," Gabriel said as he figured out what do.

"I don't want to die here!" Kara cried as she reached out for Gabriel's hands.

Gabriel tried to pull his friend out, but no matter what he did, she continued to sink into the ground.

"Gabriel, do something! PLEASE!"

After what seemed like an eternity, another hand reached out for Kara's. It was Celesta, and with her help Kara finally stopped sinking.

"Okay, I think we can do this," Gabriel sighed.

Gabriel, Kara, and Celesta lay on the forest ground, exhausted from their ordeal.

"Gabriel… Thank you," Kara said faintly.

"Yeah. It was nothing," Gabriel responded.

The two of them heard a growl.

"Looks like Celesta's hungry," Kara chuckled.

"I don't think that was Celesta."

The three of them looked up: it was a dragon worm, even bigger than the one that chased Celesta and armed with a pair of claws.

"Gabriel, I think we should run. Now."

Gabriel charged through the trees, protected from the brambles by his jacket. Celesta and Kara were behind, trying their best to keep up with him. Kara fought through her pain and fatigue as she ran. She couldn't afford to fall behind, not with the dragon worm charging through the woods, clearing trees with wide sweeps of its arms.

"This guy won't stop!" She called to Gabriel.

"Keep going!" Gabriel shouted back as he turned around. After making sure he was between the girls and the monster, Gabriel reached for his pockets and pulled out a pair of grenades.

Kara turned around for a moment; enough to see what Gabriel was about to do.

"Oh, don't even think of-" Kara's thought was interrupted by a loud boom.

Kara grabbed Celesta's hand and jumped behind a large rock. The rock protected them from the full force of the explosion, but they could still feel the heat of the blast. Gabriel on the other hand continued to run ahead of the flames, and he escaped just as the fire consumed the trees at the edge of the woods.

Gabriel looked behind him. The trees were charred, but they still stood tall, and there was no sign of the dragon worm anywhere. Kara and Celesta stumbled out of the smoke and ashes and back onto the beach.

"Damn it, can do anything without blowing things up?!" Kara yelled.


"We're safe, right?" Gabriel said as he reached into his jacket. "Also, I think you dropped this."

When Kara saw that Gabriel had her book in his hands, any anger she felt over nearly getting roasted in the woods faded away.

"Um, thanks…"

Celesta let out a cheerful yelp as she pointed towards the sky. The sunset had painted the thick gray clouds red, with the first stars making their appearance.

"Oh wow, it's beautiful," Kara said.

"Yeah," Gabriel looked at his watch. "It's getting late. We should head home now.