Killer monster's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

The fire reached the dry grass of the shore. Smoke rolled low across the water. Killer monster and its mate stood on a shrinking patch of mud. The flames crawled closer with every breath. The far mire itself would burn if they stayed. Killer monster had to find solid ground, and fast. It swung its head, searching through the smoke. Deep water lay to one side. Killer monster's wounded tail could not carry it across. To the other side stood an old barn, its roof split open as if something huge had torn through. The wood was wet with bog moss. Fire would move slow there. Killer monster snapped its jaws toward the barn and pushed its mate that way. They ran. The mate was larger and reached the barn door first. A tractor sat rusting inside. The walls dripped green damp. But the open roof let smoke pour in, and the dry hay in the loft would catch. Killer monster saw it at once. The barn was a trap, not a shelter. It hissed and dragged its mate back out. Then the water near the barn churned. A huge shape rose from the shallows. It had three eyes and five muddy legs, its long tail lashing the reeds. The mud-coated beast had come to escape the fire too. It blocked the only shallow crossing to higher ground. Killer monster did not back down. It stepped between the beast and its mate. It bared its teeth and flared its wounded tail wide. The three-eyed creature hissed, but Killer monster held its ground. Behind them, the fire swallowed the barn. Sparks rained down. The muddy beast flinched from the falling embers more than from Killer monster. That was the opening. Killer monster lunged, snapping at the beast's front legs. The mate charged from the other side. Together they drove the creature off the shallow bank and into the deep. It thrashed, then sank and swam away from the flames. The crossing was clear. Killer monster waded into the shallows. The water came only to its belly. Its tail dragged but did not pull it under. Step by step it led its mate across the muddy bar to the far side. Behind them the barn roof fell in a burst of sparks. The fire met the deep water and stopped. On the new bank the ground was wet and cold. No flames could reach it. Killer monster climbed onto the soft black mud and breathed. Its mate climbed up beside it. The far mire opened ahead, dark and deep and quiet. This was the kind of ground where eggs could rest. Killer monster had led them both out of the fire. Now it had to find the deepest bog and make it a nest.