The Reptilian Mutations

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Long ago these lands were colonized by mortals. For them the land and every living organism within the ecosystem was there to serve and provide the essentials of life. The trouble was they weren’t preserving it. As the centuries cycled the resources of the waning lands grew deficient so they turned to an ancient witchcraft of science. Science, more powerful than anything the world had encountered up until then, exceedingly more powerful than any grand wizard, sorcerer, or mage and it is told because of this power the reptilian species mutated along with that of the land.

Chapter 1: The First Mutation

“Are you sure that’s what you heard?”, says Blake in a calm and yet trembling voice.

He’s a vicennial older than his younger brother Abel and since the disappearance of their parents twenty years ago, he matured into the provider, the protector, and the voice of reason. Blake is aware if he panics, Abel will too.

“I’m telling you I heard it, three short taps, followed by three longer taps, and three more short ones, like this— “…---…” Abel tapping on the table convincingly. It’s morse code for S.O.S. Sam could be in danger we have to go now.”

Behind the guise of calmness and a period of respite, Blake with his dirty fingernails clasp atop his bald head walked pacing the floor in opposition. It wasn’t because he had a hard time believing Abel, but because it was more settling to not consider the alternative.

“Abel, you know the risks of going out after dark. Listen to me, I love Sam just as much as you do, he is my cousin too, but I can’t allow you to go out after him. We just can’t go out at night.”

“But…”

“No buts Abel. If we go out there, you know what could happen. Just try the walkie again, I need a minute to think this through, we can’t make any rash decisions because of something you may or may not have heard. Sam is a resourceful guy, I’m certain he’s alright.”

After the mutations, millions of people went missing, never to be found nor heard from again. For extended periods of time the mortals were oblivious. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as The Famine was unprecedented and unexplained. That is, until there was a sighting. It’s still a cold case how they managed to remain hidden for so long.

They were once referred to as snakes, but after the first mutation they evolved into something much greater. They grew much larger in size and in appetite; relentlessly feeding on the mortals that remained. The one piece of concrete ideology the mortals did have and could confirm was they did not come during daylight, and they existed in some parallel universe from whence they came. The mortals continued to live in fear for decades, adapting new means of survival.

After a period of maybe ten minutes Blake inquired, “Do you see them?”

“I can’t see a thing.”, Abel responds peeking through the boarded window.

“There has to be a way to fight back.”, as Blake thinks aloud, looking to Abel for allegiance.

“What do we know about them?”

“We know they only come at night, which means they must have some sensitivity to the light of the guiding sun.”, Abel replied.

Blake begins to search the back of his mind when he looks up as if he’d remembered something important.

“Do you remember Cal? You know he used to show up to the cookouts in Hawaiian clothing, real obnoxious guy.”

“Ohhhh. Eureka! I totally remember him now. He once insulted his date crudely and told her she was embarrassing him because she laughed too blaringly. What a cretin! Yeah, so what about him?”

“Well, I ran into Sadie at the market about a month ago and she said Cal survived an attack. Admittedly I didn’t believe a word of it at first because the man is so full of it, seems exactly like something he would do, make up a tall tale and become some suburban legend in a state of crisis.”

“Is there a point you’re trying to make?”

“Just hear me out Abel. Story has it he was in the back yard when the encounter occurred. He’d been out there in search of his beloved snub-nosed shih tuzu, who ran out through the pet flat in the kitchen one night because he forgot to secure it before the call to darkness.

Cautiously ordering his steps he placed one foot in front of the other like an acrobat on a tight rope as he called out into the twilight, “Princess, princess, ere’ girl with pursing lips.”

He halted abruptly, pushing his shoulder length black hair behind both ears with pupils fully dilated, adjusting his fleeting vision. The lawn stood thirteen inches tall so the probability of physically seeing Princess, if she was out there, was unsolvable. Despairingly he carefully knelt to the ground in a crouching tiger position; palms sweaty as he clutched within his hands a pocket-knife; continuing to call out to Princess in a whisper.

Twenty feet into the heart of the backyard his eyes were disdainfully met face-to-face with another set of eyes that didn’t belong to Princess. These eyes were luminous with vertical elliptical pupils perched upon a monstrous diamond-shaped head. He was saluted with a slithering forked tongue that looked as if a straight-edge razor had sliced right through the end of it.

It rose like a seeping fog, accompanied by an enormous dark shape projecting between the rays of the ground and the moonlight. From there it must have appeared over one hundred feet high. Its scaled armored frame wiggled like a belly dancer before his eyes. Suddenly, Cal felt the warmth of hot fluid streaming between his legs down his thighs.

He got up slowly and just as he was preparing to escape; no more than a forty-five-degree rotation towards the door which must have seemed miles away the shadow closed-in with speed and accuracy sweeping Cal into its grasp like a tornado and thrust him into its impermeable coil. The more he attempted to break free the coiling commenced, like a quicksand.

With every short and escaping breath the constriction became suffocating until Crack! That was the sound of Cal’s clavicle being crushed. Faint and near the brink of unconsciousness the Boa positions its head to stare into him- in his eyes before the kill. It opens its mouth freakishly wide, jaws seemingly double-jointed; his fangs were folded in opposite directions on either side. Cal could recall seeing directly into the pit of the stomach a red collar.

As the neck was elevated into an arched position like a hook, slowly moving in to ingest the perspiration lubricated and downy skin from the multiple bone fractures of the squeeze Cal bowed his head touching his chin to his chest and blew out as much air as he could muster into the dog whistle which was placed purposefully around his neck.

The ultrasonic sound of the whistle scared sent the Boa into an agitated state as it hissed in agony. Cal was released from its ravel as it slithered away.

Abel just sat there with a look of awe and confusion.

“Don’t you get it? Its afraid of ultrasonic noise!”

*Static noises*

“Copy, this is Sam copy.”

Abel quickly grabbed the walkie, “This is Abel. What the hell happened man? Copy.”

“There’s something else out there. It’s not just the snakes that mutated, it’s the Komodo dragons too. Copy. Over.”