Stolen Lives: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Underhill Chronicles Book 1) by Keith Ahrens (books for 8th graders .txt) 📗

on the driver's bench while Grayson leaps into the wagon and brandishes his ax. Everyone else is now scrambling to get back in the wagon except Vince. He's covering our pack with his bow, sending arrow after arrow at the lead water dragon. One shot catches it in its right shoulder, causing the beast to rear up and screech again. Two more arrows hit home somewhere in its chest. It seems to ignore those last two hits and begins scrambling right for us.

Jesse somehow gets his horse to charge at the creature. As they rush past us, he pulls his saber and takes a mighty swing. The water dragon avoids the intended decapitation solely by dropping its long neck. Turning its reptilian head, it snaps its jaws and tears a chunk from the rear flank of Jesse's horse.

The poor horse screams and leaps into a full gallop back up to the road. All Jesse can do is try to hang on and not get thrown off.

“We're all in! Go! Go! Go!” Olivia shouts up to us.

Des snaps the reins, and the wagon lurches forward into a tight turn, running after Jesse. Haynes passes us on his faster mount, sword out and ready. Vince has made it to the top of the wagon with Grayson and is still firing arrows as fast as he can pull them. Most deflect off the bony spikes, but a few sink deep into its diseased skin.

“These are undead water dragons! We must outrun them! The Mage Storm must have changed them. Go faster!” Thorn shouts from inside the wagon.

The closest one has just reached the back of our retreating wagon.

“You heard the lady, get us moving!” I say to Des. Des ignores me in favor of shouting threats and pleas at the horses while snapping the reins like a madman.

The rotting water dragon leaps forward and clamps down on the rear left wheel, nearly tearing it off. Grayson drops down to his knees and braces himself with his left hand. With his right hand, he swings his huge ax in a sweeping arc, cutting halfway through its bony snout. It’s a good thing he's so big and with arms to match; I don't think anyone else could've reached that far.

The cut, while not fatal, is enough to knock it loose from the wheel. It also knocked a few wooden spokes out, making the ride even rougher. I just hope that wheel stays together until we can lose these things.

I look back and see five in total chasing after us. Each one is in a different state of decay but equally as lethal. We return to the road proper now, and thanks to the enchantments on the wagon and the horses' shoes, we accelerate faster, gaining some distance between them and us.

Bad news for us—they seem hell-bent on chasing our fleeing party. I watch and soon realize they are following the blood trail from Jesse's horse. Most water-based animals, sharks, alligators, and the like, don't see very well, but they can smell a drop of blood by a long way off. Reason dictates it’s the same with these things.

“Jesse, can you stop that bleeding?” I shout over the wind and point at his horse's hindquarters.

He looks toward the rear of his horse and turns the other way around until he sees the wound. It’s too far behind him to reach, so he improvises.

Swinging his left leg back over the saddle, he balances in one stirrup, holding the saddle horn white-knuckled in his right hand. Then he reaches back with his left arm and spreads his leg beneath himself for balance. He mops up the flowing blood and covers the wound with his sleeve.

Wow, that’s kind of impressive, but how long can he keep that up? The horses are still at a full gallop, so maybe he won't have to for long.

A roar and a shout coming from the back of the wagon overlap each other. A loud creaking follows a huge cracking noise. I climb up on top the wagon and low crawl to the back. I make it there just in time to see Thirax and Grayson launching a wooden bench out the back.

By bench, I mean an almost ten-foot-long, three-foot-wide, hardwood ballistic missile. It’s thrown with impressive force and hits the lead water dragon, narrow end first. It lands at the base of the creature's long neck where it meets the shoulders. The end splinters on impact, driving shards deep into the monster.

The water dragon seems to fold around the giant plank before it goes down in a speeding heap. Its front leg breaks, and thick, clotted blood bursts from the wound. The bench continues in its trajectory and hits the next one in the legs, causing it to stumble and slow down. The other three run into the rear of the front two, and a fight breaks out among themselves.

We finally gain a lot of distance on them, our horses and wagon thundering down the road. Jesse stays where he is for another minute or so, just to be sure, then swings back into his saddle proper.

“Head back to last night’s campsite! I think I just got an idea!” I shout to the group. Haynes gives a 'thumbs up' gesture in acknowledgment and takes the lead.

24

“It’s my plan, so I'm gonna do it,” I say, trying to shut down any further arguments. “I'm not backing down. I know this plan sucks, but we all are mostly in agreement that it has the best chance of working. We have limited resources and ammo to go against such a well-fortified position. So, we have to use any and all available resources to succeed. In this particular case, 'available resources' includes some corpses.”

The full moon has already risen by this time. It is again bright enough to illuminate the clearing.

Now, I've touched on this before, but allow me to elaborate a bit on the various views of death, as it is kind of important right