The First Experiment

I dash through the trees, feet slapping the dirt, my dog Athena at my side. Every evening under the golden sky of the setting sun, I jog down my favorite path which leads to a garden of wildflowers.

Everything seems normal until I reach my destination. Instead of the usual cheerful flowers, the ground is charred. I shift my gaze up and gasp. Fallen incinerated trees line the ground for as far as the eye can see. We’ve never had a forest fire before. I start to turn around toward home to alert my mom, but a strange sound startles me. It sounds like the flapping of giant wings through the air.

I look up. I must be dreaming. This can’t be real. It’s a fire-breathing dragon! Its red eyes menacingly stare at me. I fearfully duck behind a rock as the dragon breathes out flames. A tree ignites and instantly falls to the ground. Fortunately, nothing else catches fire. Don’t worry, Summer, I tell myself. It’s all just a dream. I pinch my arm, trying to wake up, but it’s not working.

“Athena, come!” I yell to my pit bull. I do the only thing that makes sense. Runn.

THUMP! I haven’t been running for very long, and the exceptionally loud sound startles me. I whirl aroud and dart back to the scene of the dragon’s fire to find the creature itself lying on the ground, lifeless. I pause for a moment, deciding to investigate the fallen dragon.

I slowly make my way over, keeping my dog near me for protection. Athena barks. I peer closer and see a tag attached to one of the dragon’s wings. It reads Top-Secret Experiment #1, GEA (National Genetic Experiment Agency). What in the world is that? Before I can think much longer, I hear a helicopter.. I look up into the nearly dark sky and can barely make out the letters NGEA. I call out to Athena once again and run into the forest to hide.

No one can ever find out what I witnessed.