An Escape From the Creatures of Flame! - My Entry for the Natural Medicines Contest

Sitting in my living room, playing my game, running around in the fictitious worlds, I strode my character towards the high dragon. It roared and howled at my team. I held my staff and went to tactical view to select each ability as the first attack on the dragon.

The sound of soaring and shrieking filled my ears and shook the house. Hang on a minute, the game is paused when it's in tactical, the dragon in the game is not shrieking nor is it soaring; it's on the ground.

Something clanked outside. Oh, it's probably the renovations doing not far from here with the city sewer pipes. I continued my game. The house shook a bit and the ground vibrated. That's odd. I ignored it. I was high enough level and I wanted to get this dragon killed so I could loot it. This one has some good accessories for my companions.

There was a loud sound, like glass shattering and a car alarm went off outside. Well, that's annoying. I paused the game, the real pause button. I heard a neighbour scream.

Scowling, I got up and went to the window, moving the curtains aside for a clearer view. The house across the street had caught fire. Oh, my! Someone was already on the phone and sirens were going off somewhere and approaching.

'What's going on?' I asked myself. Then I heard the soaring again, a flapping of giant wings, more screaming from neighbours and a large shadow looming above the street. Looking up through the window, I saw it. 'That's not possible.'

I blinked a few times, trying to figure out if I was sleep walking, in a half dream. Was I drunk? The dragon flew lower and turned its head, its reptilian eye training on me and it shrieked again. My heart began thumping so fast. Dragons were said non-existent because they had all but been extinct. No one believed they had even existed in the first place.

The dragon flew up high and away. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then there was a loud urgent knock on the door. I slowly walked to it and opened it. Two Police Officers stood looking stiff.

'Ma'am, we're asking everyone to evacuate their homes for the time being. There seems to be...a dragon overhead and apparently there are other places in the region with dragons. We're not sure where they came from or how much damage they'll do. It's safer if people leave their homes. Best make your way South from here, but mind the traffic, it's crazy out there. You're probably best hiking to safety.'

'Uhm, okay, but I thought cars were safe to be in in like storms and such. A car should be safe from a dragon too, no?'

'Honestly, no. There have been more road accidents today than in the last year. People are panicked. Take whatever essentials you need. There'll be a team on site here to ensure no more fires are set, but we can't guarantee all homes will be safe. We can only fight off looters at this point, not those beasts if they return. Firefighters are stationed at strategic areas. We can fight a house fire, we can't save your life if you catch fire.'

'Why not?' I demanded.

The second officer cleared his throat. 'Uh, to be honest, we found one man burnt to a crisp after one blow from a dragon.'

'So I need to track outside where there are dragons flying by than stay in my safe home. You can stop a house fire.'

'We don't know how to fight those creatures, ma'am,' said the first officer. 'It's more than fire damage it can do. Houses aren't safe if they can collapse on you. You have to evacuate now.'

'Fine!'

I grabbed a backpack and threw in what I could: a few clothes, a few personal items, some food, some other things I might need. Then the dragon shrieked again and the police came running into the house.

'It's heading straight for this house, you need to get out. NOW!'

'OKay, okay!' I opened the pantry for my little pharmacy. Reflexively, I took the Goldenseal, Rescue and Arnica and placed them in one of the front compartments of the backpack. I hurried out of the house, in time before the dragon knocked the patio deck over and a portion of the ceiling above the kitchen collapsed. That was close.

I hurried from the house towards the boulevard. The honking cars were loud and annoying.

'The cops weren't kidding about traffic, were they?'

I took a deep breath and grabbed the water bottle, dropping some Rescue in it. I knew it would help calm my nerves and keep me able to think straight, given the situation at hand. I also took some Goldenseal. With an already weakened immune system, I didn't know how I was going to walk all they way to safety. First things first though, I took my cell phone and texted Frank. Thankfully there was enough signal and he was already leaving the office. He explained he had left the car there and was making his way towards the path alongside the train track that runs along the highway.

So I marched towards the destination myself. It took a bit over an hour for me to reach it, Frank was already there waiting for me. At least, together, the trek towards the mountain would be better.

'My love, do you know where we need to go to be safe?' I asked him. 'All they told me was that at home it wasn't safe. The ceiling collapsed a bit. I hope the house will be relatively safe in our absence, despite everything.'

'It's okay, we'll be fine and once the situation is under control, we'll be able to go back home and assess the damage,' he replied. 'They said the dragons came from the island and it's safer closer to the mountain.'

'OKay, so let's go to my sister's. She live like at the foot of the mountain.'

'Yeah, they said that there is safe.'

'So they're not mountain dragons then,' I said as we walked down the path towards the mountain. By car it usually takes 40 minutes from home, so walking from here at my speed, I figured we'd be good to arrive in an hour or so. But there were lots of people running around like mad and it was nearly impossible to cross the river.

I started to feel really sore and out of breath so we took a quick rest near the water's edge. Past this point, the mountain would start and the towns were at the foot of the mountain, but there was still a good trek to go.

Another dragon flew overhead and a caused some trees and debris to fall near us. Frank got knocked on the head with a plank of wood. There was no gash, but a bump. We both took some Arnica, for the wound and for the sore muscles. Within a few minutes, the aches eased and we were able to continue on. As we approached the foot of the mountain, the shrieking sounds diminished. Whatever those dragons wanted, it was not near the mountain.

'It's weird though, eh,' I mused. 'There's a mountain on the Island of Montreal. How come they're not bothered with Ste-Hélène?'

Frank shrugged. 'You're asking me this question? You're the one with the dragon game. How do they act in the game?'

'They're either in clearings, or mountains tops.' I scratched my running nose and gave it a wipe. 'There must be something inside Montreal.'

'I told you the City was going to ruin.'

'I'm sure the dragons don't care about the mayor or politics, my love.' I giggled, Frank chuckled.

Finally, we made it to the small streets near my sister's place. We gave a last sprint of walking quickly before arriving and plopping onto her porch. We were greeted warmly by the cat and inside it smelled as though Supper was in the process of being cooked. When entered the house and saw mom and my brother had already arrived. It looked like my mom had better luck grabbing more essentials that I had.

I sat down to rest a bit before the meal, taking my plushies out of my backpack. At least I had my little team to comfort me and my family all safe and sound with me. Hopefully the house wouldn't have too much damage. I knew that I hadn't taken too much damage myself and had it not been for my natural remedies, I might not have been able to keep a cool head and have the energy to walk all the way here.

'Can I borrow your laptop?' I asked my sister. She pointed to it. I took my clip drive out and plugged it in, entered my pass key and began writing about the whole adventure on Steemit. I had to do more research as to where the dragons had come from, but I knew they still existed somewhere, dormant. The first thing I had to do now that I was safe was write all about it.

Images are Royalty Free from Pixabay.