Snippet #1299410

It was Summer, and Alex was looking forward to having fun at the beach, spending time with his many friends and his girlfriend. But instead he got stuck taking his little sister Alana to the mall. But it didn't bother him much, at least he liked his sister.

After they were done shopping, they stopped at the grocery story on the way home.

"Mom send me a text," said Alex. "Mom wants us to pick up a microwave pizza for dinner."

"Yay!"

After getting the pizza, they made their way back to the car. A few feet away from them, a man and woman were heard arguing.

At first, Alex didn't think much of it, but then he saw a couple of mean-looking punks standing with the man. The man himself was well dressed, with his hair combed back. The woman was trying to fight him off.

"I'm sorry, Babe," said the man, "but you made me do this."

He pulled out a gun and shot her. Alex was shocked. He stood like a statue, with his sister urging him to take cover.

"That guy saw us!" said one of the thugs.

Then Alex finally came back to his senses. He and Alana ran to the car and sped away as fast as they could, and the thugs gave chase in their own car. Clearly, the thugs' car was much faster, as they were on their tail in a heartbeat. Taking a sudden left turn at a red light, Alex was able to make some distance, but he knew it wouldn't last long.

"Listen, Alana. I've got a bike in the trunk. I'm gonna stop this car by the side of the road and ride my bike through this wooded area here. You stay low so they don't see you, and I'll make sure they follow me. When it's safe, you drive home. Understand?"

"I can't drive! And what if they catch you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll lose them. I know you can do it. Just drive slow, and avoid the beltway. Here I go. Stay down!"

Within seconds, the thugs appeared, and Alex rode into the woods. It was a very bumpy ride, by he wanted to have some advantage over the thugs.

After thinking back to an episode of Psych he had seen, he remembered that it was wise to make lots of turns and to never run a straight line.

Eventually, he stopped to listen. No sign of the thugs. He must have lost them. He looked up at the sun to find his way North, and started riding back to the road. All of a sudden, Alex found himself falling through a pile of leaves which were evidently hiding a deep hole. He hit his head before reaching the bottom and passed out.

Later, he woke up shivering from the cold. It was dark, but a green light shone over him. When he climbed out, he saw that he was in a cave of ice. A green energy seemed to flow through the ice. It was so bizarre, like nothing he'd ever seen before.

"I hope I'm still alive," he said, "or else Hell really did freeze over."

He stopped. There were voices echoing throughout the cave. He followed it to a spot where his path ended over a great chasm. Far below, there was a large group of men in dark robes facing this one red-headed man, also dressed in black, but without his head covered by a hood.

"The land you see here is holy land!" he said in a loud voice. "Can you feel it? The walls are alive with dragon energy, the life of the dragons awaiting to be reborn! The time is coming, my friends! It is very near!"

A cold shiver went down Alex's neck. Something was watching him. He saw its reflection on the ice floor, perched over him atop on an even higher platform. A great white dragon stretched out its neck.

It sniffed him and shifted its head to gaze at him. When Alex looked up, the beast started to growl and show its teeth.

He started to back away slowly, but he quickly recalled he didn't have much further to go in that direction. When the dragon let out a loud screech, he fell backwards down the chasm.

The white dragon swooped down to catch him with its paw, then it carried him down to where the men stood, releasing him in front of who appeared to be their leader.

The red-headed man looked at Alex with a face that radiated pure curiosity. "And just who are you, my friend?"

"Umm..." Alex was clearly still worried about the dragon behind him.

"Don't worry about my Indian Spirit dragon. She won't hurt you unless I tell her to. From where do you hail?"

"I'm Alex... From Philadelphia?"

The man seemed puzzled by his answer. "Fillerdephia? Never heard of it. What strange clothes you wear. If I didn't know better...I'd say you looked just like an Ancient."

The cave reverberated with whispers and murmurs from the other men, apparently shocked at what they just heard.

"You coming with us, boy," he said. He motioned the men to tie up Alex's hands, and he led them down a long tunnel. As they went, the ice on the walls turned to rock. There were many side passages, and they took so many turns that Alex lost count.

Eventually, to Alex's relief, they found their way outside the cave, to a wide open plain under the night sky. The group continued walking, but to what destination, they wouldn't tell.