Emory gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened and his fingers felt numb. His foot tapped nervously against the pedal. “I’m going back to prison for this,” he muttered, casting yet another glance back at the building.
They still hadn’t returned. It had been ten minutes, and they still hadn’t returned. He reached into his pocket with a trembling hand and tugged out the beat-up old flip phone. Maybe he should call Brad to see what was taking so long. A black security vehicle rolled past, and Emory ducked behind the car door, feeling like his heart was about to pound out of his chest. After a few minutes, he poked his head up again to check the exit, muttering, “Sure! Let’s ask the deaf guy with an anxiety problem to be our getaway driver! That sounds like a brilliant idea!” He shuffled back into a sitting position. “This is the last time I’m doing any sort of favor for any of them!”
A sudden BOOM! drew an exclamation from his throat, and he threw himself to the floorboard, curling into a ball and covering his ears with his hands. A couple minutes later, all the doors were wrenched open and there was a great commotion as people started piling into the vehicle, shouting unintelligibly. Brad seized hold of Emory and extracted him from under the steering wheel and, with seemingly adrenaline-fueled strength, shoved his shivering brother to the passenger’s seat. “Sorry, Em, but we’ve gotta go now!”
“Drive, drive, drive!” Seth shouted from the backseat.
Annabelle leaned out the back window, shouldering the tranquilizer as Brad slammed his foot on the gas pedal and peeled out of the parking lot.
“Did you do it?! Did you do the thing?!” Emory asked, trying to be heard over the others’ clamoring. But he went ignored.
“Seatbelt, Dad!” Seth yelled, reaching around him and attempting to buckle him in.
“Would everyone shut up?” Brad snapped. “I’m trying to drive!”
Emory saw Annabelle glance over her shoulder at Brad in the rearview mirror. “Could you drive a little more smoothly? I can’t get a good angle on it!”
It? A sudden dread seized hold of Emory, and he knew he shouldn’t look, but he couldn’t not look. The sight that met his eyes made him want to scream. An enormous dragon was bearing down on them, talons extended, and it was close enough that Emory could see the fire burning in its jaws. He felt like he was going to pass out or be sick or both. “Y’all are going to land me right back in therapy,” he whimpered.
Below, several of the security vehicles were taking up the chase. Annabelle pulled the trigger and the dart found its mark on the dragon’s underbelly. “This better work!” she snarled at Seth.
“It should take about ten minutes to start taking effect!” he assured her.
“Well, I’m glad we stopped for gas earlier!” Brad laughed, speeding up. “Hang in there, Em!” he said when his brother let out a small groan. “You did good playing lookout!”
Annabelle said something in his deaf ear, and he turned to see her grinning maniacally. Seth was laughing uncontrollably. None of them seemed to be grasping the direness of the situation! Annabelle’s wily smile faded to an expression of concern, and she said something he couldn’t hear. Brad reached over to try to give his shoulder a comforting squeeze and nearly ran off the road.
“Brad! Focus! We’ve got this handled!” Seth yelled. He turned to Emory. “Do you want to come back here? Annabelle or I can switch places with you! We’ve got a few more minutes of this, but you’re gonna have to breathe, dude!”
“Brad, they’re gaining on us!” Annabelle said as she checked the back window again.
Emory sucked in a ragged breath and then ungracefully clambered into the backseat, right into Seth’s and Annabelle’s arms. “We didn’t know it was going to get this out of hand!” Seth yelled in his good ear. “They used the mind control thingy on this one!”
Annabelle pressed a kiss to his bad ear, and he could see her face crinkling up in laughter in the rearview mirror, drawing a smile from him despite still not being able to breathe right.
**************
Meet the Link family. Or... part of it. Emory, his brother, Brad, and his son and his niece, Seth and Annabelle, are infiltrating a dragon slayer hideout for reasons. Emory got left in the car while the others caused havoc and accidentally set a very large dragon free.
Okay, so this is an older piece of writing that probably won't make it into the final cut. I wrote it three-ish years ago to get a feel for the dynamics of the main cast, but I think it's still fun. Emory was a very new character at that point in time, so I was really, really trying to explore his relationship with the plot and the rest of his family.
Here's a work in progress of a series cover image:
Left to right, top: Annabelle, Seth
Middle: Corva, Violet
Bottom: Brad, Emory, Abigail
