What stood behind me could only be called an aberration. I quickly shifted to face the beast fully.
"This day is getting from bad to worse" I muttered out loud. "First it was lizards and now this burning dog?"
At first glance, it looked like a hyena, its hunched back, powerful shoulders, and wide, toothy grin betrayed its resemblance to the scavenger I knew from documentaries and books. But everything else was out of the ordinary. Its coat was covered with shifting flames. Each movement sent embers off its body, sizzling faintly before vanishing into the wind.
Drool dripped from its jaws, each strand glowing faintly orange before hitting the ground with a hiss. Where the saliva touched, the grains fused into pools of glass.
I had no idea when or how it had gotten so close. My heart lurched as I realized it was only about thirty feet away. If not for the fact that I had dropped my umbrella earlier, it might have crept right up to my heels and I wouldn't have known until its fangs were in my throat. The thought sent cold dread through me.
The creature had stopped advancing the moment I noticed it. Now it crouched low, shoulders rippling beneath its flaming pelt, its eyes locked onto me with its predatory gaze.
Its presence was undeniable proof that the world I once knew was gone or changed forever. If this were still Earth, then it would no longer be the Earth I had lived on. Either the animals I once knew had begun to evolve at an impossible pace, or entirely new creatures had been introduced through whatever had happened during that earthquake. Looking at this thing, this flaming hyena, I leaned heavily toward the latter. There was no natural way something like this could exist.
'Or maybe it could! Won't be the strangest thing I've seen in the last twenty four hours'
I swallowed hard, my throat dry, my tongue feeling like sandpaper. Running wasn't an option. Even if I wasn't half-dead from the trek already, I could tell just by the taut coil of its muscles that this beast would outrun me easily. It was built for speed, for killing.
Which meant I had only two options: stand my ground, or die with my back exposed.
The weight on my back suddenly felt like a mountain, every ounce of food and water transforming chains that could mean my early death. I had to shed it if I wanted a chance at surviving. Slowly, carefully, I started loosening the straps. My pulse thundering in my ears.
"One… two… three." I counted quietly.
With a flick, I slipped one arm free but when I started to loosen the other strap, in the moment I jostled the umbrella, the hyena exploded into motion.
It was a blur of fire and teeth, its massive paws eating up the distance in great lunges. In the heartbeat it took me to drop my pack, the thirty feet between us had decreased to five.
The bag and its attachments hit the ground with a muffled clatter. I barely registered the sound, because the creature was already bunching its legs for a final lunge. Its maw gaped wide, hot strings of saliva dripping from its fangs as it aimed straight for my throat.
Instinct screamed at me to block, and before I could think, my body obeyed. I jerked the umbrella up between us, a flimsy shield.
The moment the flames of its body touched the fabric, it ignited into flames. Heat seared across my face as fire devoured the thin fabric on the umbrella, the material vanishing in a heartbeat and leaving only the skeletal metal spines behind. My arms jolted with the shock, the pathetic shield already reduced to ash before it could stop the charging desert dog.
I tried to sidestep, a desperate, clumsy dodge, but I wasn't fast enough. Its paw lashed out, claws glowing red-hot, and raked across my arm.
Agony white-hot, lanced through my flesh as if the creature had branded me. The smell hit me an instant later, the nauseating stench of scorched flesh. I tried to hold back a cry, but a strangled sound still tore from my throat.
There was no time to cradle the wound. If I faltered, I was finished.
Gritting my teeth, I stumbled sideways, forcing my legs to keep moving. Every step sent tremors of pain through my arm, but I kept my eyes locked on the hyena. It landed back on the sand, flames rippling across its body with renewed vigor, and began to circle. Its head was low, ears flat, its molten gaze gleaming with the kind of confidence that only comes from drawing first blood.
The predator knew I was hurt and it liked it.
My chest heaved, lungs dragging in ragged breaths of air. The umbrella pathetic as it was, I still raised up, holding it in front of me like a weapon.
My hands shook violently and a part of me wanted to just lay down and accept my fate. I didn't know before today that I had such weakness inside me.
But another part of me refused to give up and lie down.
I refused to be easy prey.
I would not lie down in the sand and let this beast tear into me, rip apart my flesh, and devour me piece by piece.
My voice trembled as I said through gritted teeth, "Not today you flaming pile of shit! I'm not going to be your midday snack!"
The hyena's lips curled back, revealing rows of glowing fangs, its grin cruel and mocking. It stalked closer, each step deliberate, savoring the moment. It was confident in its skill in having this easy meal.
And I stood there, blood dripping from my scorched arm, clutching the remains of a ruined umbrella, shaking but unyielding.
I didn't know how, but I would fight to my last breath. If this desert wanted me, it was going to have to drag me down tooth and nail!