Wednesday's excerpt from a WIP

Short excerpt from The Daughters of Teelan (Gina and Becky)

She took another bite from the tasteless ration stick and chased it with a swig of water. She frowned at it. These may sustain life but they sure as hell wouldn’t qualify as fine cuisine.

An earsplitting roar assaulted her ears. Something struck the side of the life pod and sent it tumbling over and over. Gina tossed around in the interior like a rag doll in a dryer. When the craft stopped rolling, it was upside down. Again, a tooth-rattling roar came from outside and something struck the side of the pod, sending it rolling once more. This time she managed to grab hold of a chair and controlled her tumble.

The ship ceased its wild rotations with the hatch on top. Gina opened it and stormed out like an angry hornet defending its disturbed nest. The creature she faced was the most horrible sight she had seen in her entire young life. She estimated its head was thirty feet above the ground. Its open jaws revealed row upon row of sharp teeth. Two eyes, each half the size of her body, glared at her. The beast had green, tough looking hide. It had a long tail, two powerful looking legs and smaller arms midway up its torso with deadly appearing talons.

Brushing a lock of disheveled hair from her eyes, Gina glared at the animal. Anger and frustration took control. Fire snapped and popped between her fingers. “You will not destroy my ship you damned ugly brute!" she screamed. "Ever since the Men-gar I’ve been spoiling for a fight. Something to take my aggressions out on. You’re fuckin it!”

She pointed her digits at the beast. Flames streaked across the distance to explode in the creature’s face. It roared in surprise and pain. Its head darted forward with jaws opened wide. The creature's putrid breath made her gag and sent her hair swirling. More fire burst from her fingers. This time flames reached deep in the beast's open maw. The roar cut short when the creature’s jaws snapped shut to extinguish the fire in it mouth.

“Take that asshole. I may be little but I have a vicious deadly bite.”

The beast took two steps back. She launched more fire. It screamed in anguish vanishing for a moment in a shroud of an intensely raging inferno. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air. With its entire body engulfed in flames, the creature voiced a final shriek of agony. It toppled to the side creating a huge splash of muddy water that drenched her. The creature lay still.

Gina remained stiffly erect for some time waiting for it to rise. She pulled her drenched hair back from her face. With one hand, she wiped the mud from her eyes. The sudden silence was eerie.