Maggie

As I biked down the path, I freed my mind. Far too often I allowed myself to stress out and worry about things that were beyond my control. It wrecked my marriage and the doctor told me that I needed to stop or prepare to be buried before my 30th birthday.

My eyes followed the rubber duck that someone had placed in the water. It was adorable and represented what I wanted to be; stress free and allowed to wander. For a brief second I considered telling work that I wouldn't be returning and backpacking through Europe. A lifelong dream that died when my parents did. There was no way I would allow myself to think about that, not when I was trying this meditation thing.

As the rubber duck and I both turned around the bend in the Earth, I noticed the water was starting to rumble a little. There was no rain or wind to speak of, so this was confusing. This made no sense to me but then there were a few things happening in my town that made no sense.

A loud roar came from the lake. My bike came to a halting stop. The water began to part as something rose out of it. The creature finally stood up and let out a loud roar. It was a cross between a dinosaur and a dragon. Its head was small and thin, but the nostrils were two black holes in the middle. Flames shot out of the nose as it let out another cry of anguish.

My cell phone was back at home. I had thought it was prudent to bike without it to relax and allow my mind to wander. That was a bone headed decision. The monster flapped a wing and hovered an inch above the water. A long stream of fire came from his nose and scorched the trees around me.

I abandoned my bike and ran for it. My lungs felt like lead and my breathing became labored but I kept moving. A loud noise from the beast kept me moving. When I looked back, it was behind me, flapping its wings and pushing the fire closer to the city. Finally, I reached the end of the park, and found a police officer. His phone pressed to his ear, I ran up to him. "Sir, Officer. Monster heading our way."

Instead of the expected skeptical look, he hung up his phone and got on the radio. "All units we have a code 24601. Repeat we have a code 24601 in the park. This is not a drill."

The Officer ran off before saying anything more to me. For a moment, I allowed my mind to wander. This was not something that was unexpected. The police had a code for this, they had protocol in case a dangerous monster rose from the creek. Sirens blared behind me as I took in all the information.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a white haired man in a lab jacket. I moved towards him, and noticed that he was taking notes. Maybe he was the answer to why this monster was here, so I decided to talk to him. "Hello."

"Hello, Mitchell. I'm Dr. Baum. Most people in this crazy town call me a mad scientist. Indeed, I am responsible for Maggie." He bent his head and the white hair seemed to point to the creature I had just run from. "Maggie was meant to be a weapon of war, indestructible."

"How do we get rid of her before she destroys the entire town?" A dazed look crossed his face, as if I were speaking a foreign language. Emergency sirens could now be heard, informing residents to evacuate town immediately. "People might get hurt."

"Of course people will get hurt. She was designed to be a killing machine. If people don't die, well then I haven't done my job well, now have I?"

"You don't want to destroy our town, do you? What about your loved ones?"

Maggie roared again. For the first time she left the park, and let loose with more fire. Buildings began to burn. Her eyes narrowed in on the bridge that took people to the neighboring city, another line of fire scorched it.

"I have no loved ones. None at all except for my creatures." Maggie turned towards us. My instincts told me to move far away. Within seconds a stream of fire, burned the doctor. His charred body fell to the ground. Was he dead? I didn't want to be burned alive myself, so I ran.

The bullets that the police fired, bounced off of her. They were sent in every direction, cracking windows and hitting cars. A needle from the Doctor's pocket rolled around, unscathed. While Maggie's attention was on destroying the local gas station, I moved over to it.

There was no label or anything that identified it as a weapon against the monster but I had to believe that there was a reason he carried it. Bullet kept flying around, bouncing off of Maggie and landing everywhere. I held the needle up for an officer to see.

"What do you have there?"

"I just found it. I think it might help with the monster."

"We'll distract her, while you plunge it into her scales."

It hadn't been my intention to climb on to this beast, but duty called. The scales of her tail were slimy and I kept falling down. It was one step up and two down. Finally, I was centimeters away from her wings, when she noticed me on her. She swung her tail as hard as she could. I threw the needle as hard as I could at the wing, as I went flying through the air.

It landed on the lower end of the wing. Maggie grunted as she fell to the ground, releasing one last fire breath.

I turned to see the rubber duck still floating in the water, unscathed.