Dragon Hunters Book 1: The Menace

By David and Max

Prologue

Richard Johnson ran through the marshes, weaving through the trees in the near pitch-black of the Everglades at night. He was being pursued by something that never should have been disturbed. It was not supposed to be seen by anyone, at least not by a simple wildlife photographer like him. Suddenly, an entire tree flew by him, and not a sapling either. It was one of the enormous cypress trees that grew in the marshes. Another tree flew towards Richard and one of the sturdy branches slammed into him. He flew 30 feet, face-first into a tree and landed in a shallow pond. He looked up and saw the creature. It bounded toward him, knuckle-walking like a gorilla, but at least 20 times bigger. Richard tried to move but his back must have been broken. He couldn’t feel his legs or move. Richard looked up into the creature's malignant red eyes, like lanterns in the dark. He screamed, but no one heard.

Chapter I

Aaron Sawyer walked toward a house. He looked at an address written on a slip of paper clutched in his hand. After weeks of searching in the marshes of the Everglades, trying to find out what had happened to his friend Richard, he had found a major clue: a set of footprints deep in the marshes, followed by a far larger set of footprints. The footprints looked like a gorilla’s except much larger. The footprints were deep in the marshes where no normal person would ever go. But Richard was not a normal person, he was a wildlife photographer who would go to the most extreme places on Earth to get pictures of creatures. He had also discovered 12 new species that had never been seen by anyone.

Aaron was also technically a wildlife photographer, but he looked for animals of a different kind: mythical and fantastic beasts. He had seen thunderbirds at the Great Lakes, yetis in Washington and Oregon, and most of all he’d seen the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. 

At the time that Richard had gone missing, Aaron had been looking for a legendary creature he had heard of from a retired monster expert in Canada. It talked about a marsh yeti called the Menace that had been seen in the Everglades multiple times in the 1800s. It had not been seen since, but Aaron knew that monsters could adapt like humans and that some were much smarter than them, too. So, when Richard mentioned that he was going on a vacation to the Everglades, to photograph the alligators, Aaron said he would come with him. 

Aaron had gotten wind of a professional monster. They were brothers named Finn and Marlin Saylor. They took out the most dangerous monsters, like the yetis in the Rockies and the dragons in Europe. And now, the Menace.

Aaron wanted to kill the Menace so that it would stop killing people. That was how Aaron found himself walking toward a nondescript house on the banks of the Everglades with a slip of paper in his hand.

Chapter II

Aaron knocked on the door and waited. Eventually, the door opened and revealed a man. Aaron and the man introduced themselves. The man turned out to be monster hunter Finn Saylor. Aaron walked inside with Finn and they both sat down on the couch. Then Finn took out his phone and typed something. A second later, another person who looked like Finn but was a little taller and with darker hair walked in. This must have been Marlin.

“Hi, Finn. I got your message," Martin said. “And you must be Aaron,” Marlin said looking at Aaron. Marlin sat down and turned on his laptop. Then he showed Aaron the images they had gathered on the Menace. 

It started with blurry photos of a large gorilla-like creature all in the same climate of the marshes of the Everglades. Then Marlin flipped to a page and on it was a clear photo of what the Menace looked like. With angry red eyes that seemed to be glowing, the Menace looked like a mountain standing taller than the trees around it, with fangs that protruded from its mouth as though it were a sabre-toothed tiger. It was built like a gorilla but with far more muscle and had greenish-brown fur. In the picture, it was bounding through the forest and the shot was taken from in front and above of the creature. 

Finn said, “The top speed we have seen the Menace run at is 80mph, that's faster than a cheetah but it's not its top speed. Also, it has incredible strength. We have seen it pull entire cypress trees out of the ground, with apparent ease. We could gather all of this data from a new helicopter made by our arms supplier and manufacturer Seymour Robinson. Its blades are nearly silent and it has a top speed close to some commercial airplanes.”

Then Marlin spoke up, “The plan for next week is to visit Seymour and get some better gear. Then, the next day, we’ll go hunting.”

“How are we going to take down the Menace?” Aaron asked, “There’s evidence that it easily killed my friend Richard, and he’s one of the most capable people I know.”

“First of all,” said Marlin, “you haven’t met us. And second of all, Seymour is the most talented engineer I’ve ever seen. He used to make weapons for the U.S. military!”

Aaron was satisfied with that so they all called it a night and went upstairs. Finn directed Aaron to his room and he went inside. But as Aaron lay in bed he just kept thinking of those evil red eyes in the darkness, and how Richard would have felt seeing them.

Chapter III

After a week of staying with the twins, Aaron had gotten to know them pretty well, but sometimes they would disappear for hours on end. Like today, when Aaron woke up and went downstairs, he couldn’t find the twins anywhere. Eventually, he walked outside and saw a garden shed. He entered and found the twins talking to someone over the phone. Aaron assumed, correctly, that this was Seymour Robinson.

Aaron sat down next to the twins. And they introduced themselves. Seymour Robinson had greying hair and looked to be in his 60s. In the background, they could see things from cars to crossbows to cannons.

Seymour told them that the weapons they had asked for were ready and he had also prepared some of his ideas.

Then they left the shed and Finn and Marlin led Aaron underground, to a warehouse of some sort.

Inside were amazing vehicles like boats, planes, and cars. There were spiked tire treads for rough terrain on the cars, wing-mounted turrets on the planes, and all the boats looked like battleships.

“What is this place?” Aaron asked.

“This,” said Finn, “is every vehicle we own. All made by Seymour Robinson.”

They all got in an elevator and went to the bottom where a helicopter was waiting on a helicopter pad. They all climbed in and as the blades started to spin, the ceiling opened up to reveal the sky. They took off and started flying away from their house.

“There is no way that this is legal,” Aaron stated.

“Of course, it isn’t legal,” said Marlin. “We are fighting monsters with weapons more dangerous than most militaries.”

At that, Aaron decided that even if the police did see them, which was unlikely due to the helicopter’s sky-blue colour and silent propellers, they could probably outmanoeuvre them or just fly away at full speed.

Chapter IV

It took about 15 minutes to fly the 50 miles to Seymour Robinson. As they landed Aaron got a good look at it. On the outside, the workshop looked like a normal warehouse. But,
Aaron knew that it was anything but normal on the inside.

They all got out of the helicopter and entered the workshop. On the inside, there were tons and tons of weapons. In shelves, boxes, and just randomly on the floor. Seymour, who had been behind a shelf came around to greet them.

“Hey guys,” he said, “and hi Aaron. I saw you on the video call this morning.”

We all said hi to him back and he walked up to a shelf and took something off of it. 

“This is what I like to call the Crusher,” he said, holding what looked like an odd-looking crossbow. He showed everyone how it could be mounted over one shoulder and fired by pulling a rope that hung down. Then he brought out the ammunition. Instead of a normal crossbow coral, it was a reinforced wood battering ram. It was about three feet in length and one foot in diameter. Aaron could see why it was called the Crusher. A crossbow that could shoot that, wow.

“That's not all,” said Seymour, leading everyone to another shelf. He showed everyone another weapon, it had the same shoulder-mounted crossbow design but looked slightly different. It was called the Slicer. It looked like the Crusher but it shot four-foot spears. The other one was Aaron's favourite. Seymour hadn’t made up a name for this one, so Aaron decided to call it Flight because that's what it was. A backpack that, at the pull of a ripcord, would turn into a jetpack, a hang-glider, a parachute, or a squirrel suit depending on which mode it was in. 

They all thanked Seymour and walked out with the weapons and onto the helicopter. Marlin piloted the helicopter on the route to their house.

“I call the Crusher!” said Finn, picking it up from the floor.

“I wanted Slicer anyway,” said Marlin.

Aaron didn’t say anything but he was happy that he got to keep Flight.

Chapter V

“Today's the day!” said Marlin excitedly at breakfast. “After we finish eating we go take down the Menace once and for all!”

“The Menace won’t kill anybody ever again!” said Finn, just as excitedly. 

Despite the twin’s enthusiasm, Aaron couldn’t help feeling anxious about today. He had never killed a monster before. Aaron thought most monsters were amazing. He also had a nagging doubt that he was missing something, or that something didn’t quite add up.

Everyone grabbed the weapons and gear and then got in the helicopter. Aaron was still nervous, but he remembered his best friend Richard and suddenly grew angry. The Menace had killed Richard and many more.

“Well,” thought Aaron, with grim determination, “we're going to show that monster who's boss.”

“Okay,” said Marlin, “We're going to land about two or three football fields from the Menace’s den so that we have a stealthy approach.”

“Isn’t the helicopter silent?” asked Aaron.

“Yes,” replied Marlin, “but it’s better to have the trees as camouflage and we’ll also have a better position.”

This made sense to Aaron, so he stopped talking for the rest of the flight. As they landed, everyone geared up and jumped out of the helicopter. Finn motioned over to clearing and they all ran to him.

“Alright,” said Finn, “Here’s the plan.”

Chapter VI

We can set up a foxhole for a stakeout outside the den," said Finn, drawing in the mud with a stick, “Then, we wait for the Menace to come out.”

“What if the menace isn’t in its den?” asked Aaron. He was worried that they would be surprised from the rear.

“It’s nocturnal, it sleeps during the day,” said Marlin, “It seems to leave its den at around twilight.

“Okay, after it comes out, I think me and Marlin should flank it and unload all of our special arrows on it.” Said Finn. “Aaron, your main job is to get us out of here if the operation goes south with the helicopter.

“Alright!” said Marlin, “Let's do this.”

Everyone stealthily moved through the trees until they reached a clearing. There was a cave in the centre of a mound. There was a giant stone in front of the entrance that didn’t look natural. Aaron took out his phone and texted the twins a question, to avoid talking and possibly alerting the Menace.

“Is this the den?” he typed.

“Yes,” typed Marlin.

Aaron circled and got in position. He saw the twins doing the same. They waited for a couple of hours in their foxhole with a rotating lookout schedule. 

When it was Aaron's turn to stand and look out, he saw stirring from inside the den and he could see a huge gorilla-like silhouette standing up inside the den. “Hey get up,” Aaron whispered, “the Menace is out, everyone gets ready.” Now that the moment was finally happening, he was feeling that something didn’t add up. Maybe it was something that the twins had said or that he had heard. But now wasn’t the time to think about that, as the Menace started lumber out of its den. The Menace seemed so much larger in real life, like standing next to a mountain. It was about to start knuckle-walking out of the clearing when Marlin attacked.

He ran to the Menace’s left side and fired Slicer then ran into the trees before the Menace could catch him. The spear Marlin had fired never hit, however. The Menace showed astonishing reflexes and smashed the spear out of the air with his fist. 

Then Finn attacked the right side with the Crusher. The huge reinforced battering ram flew from his weapon, and the Menace didn’t have time to turn around and the log smashed into its back. This only seemed to annoy the Menace, however, and it spun around and back-handed Finn with such force that he flew through the air. Finn slammed into a tree, Aaron heard a loud “CRUNCH”, and Finn didn’t get up. 

Marlin jumped out of the trees and fired his weapon at the monster impaling the Menace's shoulder. It spun around grabbed Marlin and slammed him into the ground.

Then the Menace looked directly at Aaron and spoke.

Chapter VII

“You thought this would be easy,” it said with a chuckle. “You thought I was just a slightly dangerous monster and so did those guys.”

Then the Menace began to change into something different. It grew larger and its fur turned into scales. It also grew a long tail and spikes along its back. This all happened within under two seconds, and when it was done transforming it was a dragon. The dragon was over three times larger than the Menace with ice-blue scales and teeth that looked like icicles. Aaron's heart sank as he realized he knew what kind of monster it was. 

It was a northern frost dragon from Scandinavia in Viking times. The retired expert who had told him about the Menace had also talked to Aaron about something he might be interested in finding after the Menace. The expert had found mention of a certain type of northern dragon that could cast illusions and warp reality. They all supposedly died out in battles with one another. But, they had extremely long lifespans and some of the strongest could have survived.

“I'm a northern frost dragon,” it said, “One of the last ones, but that's not who you know me as.” The dragon shrunk until it was only slightly taller than Aaron, who gasped. “You knew me as Richard, at least for the past few months. The real Richard died a long time ago, I took his appearance to spy on humanity and find your weaknesses.

Richard stood in front of him just as Aaron remembered him but with one difference his eyes were glowing red, just like the Menace.

“But you knew things only Richard would know!” said Aaron.

“I’m an elder dragon, I stole his memories,” said the dragon. “Speaking of which,” the dragon morphed back to its original form wrapped his tail around Aaron, and lifted him into the air. “I'm going to kill you and your friends.”

Aaron had one desperate plan and he didn’t know if it would work, but it was his only choice. 

“But you have a weakness,” said Aaron. “Your magic leaves a bad aura wherever you go. I kept feeling it and it was nagging me. It was at those footprints I found and also at this den. I only realized it must have been a magical creature once I felt it at your den.”

“Too late,” said the dragon. “You didn’t know I was an extremely powerful being, so you didn’t run.”

“I know I didn’t run, but that was my plan,” said Aaron, “You hid yourself in the swamps for centuries, because you knew the world could destroy you if they tried. And you killed humans who went too deep into the swamps because you were scared. You only disguised yourself as Richard to gather data on humans. And you were right, humans have gotten tougher, stronger, and smarter. And I can prove it because the twins are behind you pointing their weapons at you.”

This was a lie, the twins were still lying on the ground, unconscious. Aaron just needed a distraction. As the dragon looked Aaron activated self-destruct mode on Flight and dove for the edge of the clearing. Then the world burst into flames.

Epilogue

Seymour Robinson landed a helicopter in the Everglades. He and a team of monster experts leapt out after him, including the one who had given Aaron information. They had landed in the place where Seymour's equipment had last reported them to be. There was nothing there except for burnt charcoal. Seymour saw a few bones that he assumed were from the Menace. It looked like Aaron had detonated his gear in a last-ditch effort to stop the Menace.

One expert picked up something from the ground, and Seymour recognized it as one of the weapons he had built for the twins.

“If they’re dead,” said Seymour, “at least they took down the Menace.”

They all went back to their various headquarters around the world. As Seymour sat in his workshop pondering the twin’s deaths, he heard a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it.

Standing on the porch was Aaron, who tried taking the helicopter back to Seymour but one of the blades had been broken by the blast and cracked a couple of miles from his target. He had crash-landed and hiked the remaining distance to the workshop.

“Hi,” he said. “I need your help.

To Be Continued…

Aaron will return in Dragon Hunters Book 2: The Frozen Ocean