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Monday, August 16, 2010

The Ride to Otherwhere - Part 4 - A New Home

The Ride to Otherwhere - Part 4 - A New Home

This is the final installment in a four-part short story I wrote as part of a Blog Chain this month. Hope you enjoy it!



The great white beast ran forward at breakneck speed down the black river. Kor and Xana held tight to the black twigs across the clear face of the beast. It's speed was so great that the wind of its passage threatened to tear them off almost right away. Kor crawled up under the metal arm of the device, and was immediately crushed against the hard clear surface underneath.

Xana followed his example, and was crushed against the glass too. Inside the body of the beast, Kor was amazed to see the human creatures sitting on its many gray tongues, held there by wide straps.

The white monster sang to itself as it careened among the other creatures on the road. Kor stared at the people inside, happily being digested without any cares in the world. In fact, they seemed to be singing along with the monster that was eating them.

The little girl pointed at him. "Look, Daddy!" she squealed. "There's a big bug on the windshield!"

The older man looked at him with interest. "He's a dragonfly, Donna. And there seems to be two of them."

"Are they hurt?"

"Not as long as they stay under there." The male hung on to the round throat of the beast and seemed to give it direction from inside. Whenever he twisted the creature's throat, it squealed in that direction until he untwisted its neck.

"Xana, are you ok?"

Xana tried to lift her head. "I'll be ok. Where is this beast taking us?"

Kor didn't answer. He hoped the beast wasn't going to eat them.

They rode on the face of the beast for a long time. It finally came to a stop at a crossing of two black rivers. Beasts were milling about and making mating calls at one another. The white beast under them just happily sang loudly and cheerfully.

Kor started to get up, shaking his wings and buzzing them to make sure they still worked, when the beast took off again as the man stomped on its belly. It roared angrily as it raced down the road away from the other beasts. The mating-call beasts were chasing it. Kor wondered what they would do when they caught up.

But the other beasts didn't eat the big white monster. they didn't even take a bite out of it. They seemed to wait politely behind it when the white monster slowed down. One of them even began the mating calls again.

Finally, the white beast turned off the black river onto a gray field of stones. The beast stumbled to a stop beside a large body of water. Kor shook his head and crawled out from under the black twig.

"Xana! Look!" Beyond the nose of the great white beast was more water than Kor could ever imagine. Other dragonflies buzzed around in every direction, and Xana crawled out from under the other black twig, buzzing her wings in surprise.

"Who would have thought that the great white monster was bringing us to our new home!" She took off, heading out to explore. And Kor followed after her, though he paused and dipped twice in front of the beast's grinning face.

"Thank you for your help!" Kor didn't wait for an answer. He wheeled and headed after Xana, his new body scintillating in the morning sunlight.

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