mass moved in the darkness behind the patrol car, into the orbit of the flashing blue lights. Red orbs, hanging in the dark, peeked over the roof of the car, like an alligator in a swamp. The flashes didn’t illuminate the features of the dragon so much as leave a burned afterimage on their retinas.
Sam ran toward the car and jumped on the hood. While he scrambled to get over the windshield, the car suddenly jerked backward, sending him sliding down the hood and bouncing off the bumper.
Bohannon picked him up by the shoulder. “What are you trying to do, get eaten?”
Sam shook loose. “It’s got the car. I’ve got to stop it.”
Inside the windshield, Diana’s confused expression appeared to be sliding back into the dark.
Sam bolted after the car and jumped onto the hood again. He crawled over the bar of flashing lights and pushed himself across the roof, sliding toward the back of the car. Somewhere in the darkness, he heard Hannah calling to him.
As he slid down the back windshield on his stomach, he saw the snout of the dragon clamped onto the back bumper, its lips sliding wetly over the trunk of the car. It shook the vehicle back and forth like a dog with a bone, yanking it backward, trying to unwedge it from its perch on the shoulder. The sound of metal screeched, as the car moved slowly.
Sam tried to lock his gaze onto the dragon’s eyes, but he was too close. He could only see on eye at a time, depending on which way he leaned, and both appeared to be rolled back in its head. The creature snarled, as its teeth crunched metal. Frustrated, Sam slammed his fist into a nostril, striking a pool of goo with a loud slap. He pulled back his hand with a grimace.
“Sam! Get out of there!” Diana called from the front of the car.
He looked back over his shoulder, not sure what to do. Through the back window, he saw Hannah twist in her seat, looking at what was happening behind her. He couldn’t prompt the dragon from this close up, but he wasn’t about to retreat and let the thing drag away his mother and daughter. Standing unsteadily, he paused to take a deep breath and leaped onto the face of the dragon.
“Oooph!” The impact knocked most of the breath from him.
He could feel the spiny scales bite into his skin through his shirt as he landed on the dragon’s forehead, the bottom half of his body dangling over the bridge of its nose, putting his legs between its eyes. Grabbing two small horns jutting from its brow, he dug his feet into some ridges along its nose. The dragon continued pulling on the back of the patrol car. Sam pounded a fist into its forehead but got no response. A kick to the armored bridge of the nose was ineffectual as well.
Sam twisted around. With a final shake of its head, the dragon succeeded in unwedging the patrol car from the shoulder and the guardrails. It was now backing out from under the overpass.
Slapping the side of its nose with his fists, Sam screamed, “Let them go! Let them go!” He raised his knee into the corner of the dragon’s eye. The dragon snorted and shook its head, sending Sam sliding down its snout. He found a foothold against the rim of its nostril, but a blast of flame erupted from it, enveloping his foot.
“Hey!” Sam yelled, stomping into the orifice several times. The dragon snarled and cringed, shaking its head some more. Sam looked down and saw his shoe smoldering, but it didn’t appear to be on fire, so he quit kicking. “No fire, dude, and I won’t kick. Now let go of the car.”
The dragon made a yanking motion, seemingly in defiance, pulling the car a foot farther onto the road and angling back toward the open space to the side of the overpass. Sam pushed up from the dragon’s snout and looked around. He could see nothing but darkness and dust. In the distance, he could hear Bohannon calling out to his mother.
“No, no, don’t get out of the car. Stay in there and get down!” the detective yelled.
Then Sam heard a gunshot.
A growl rumbled up the jowls of the dragon. Sam kicked and clawed, crawled up the dragon’s face and landed a punch into its left eye.
Releasing the back of the car and rearing into the air, the dragon slammed