The Legend of Dragon's Backbone: Legendary Creatures, #3

By Jo Carey

When six teenagers disappear in the desert,  there are lots of theories about what happened but not one shred of evidence turns up. Toury Becker has a lot of questions about what happened to her brother, and she won't rest until she gets some answers. Toury and her friend Dhane think they're prepared for what they might find when they head into the desert, but they didn't plan on secret government projects and strange creatures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Carey
• Release date: May 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393961826

Jo Carey

Jo Carey grew up in the Midwest but her curiosity and gypsy-spirit has kept her on the move. She's lived in eight US states and spent three years living in Ireland. She has always loved creature movies, so creatures and bugs often show up in her books. Jo, a former information security compliance guru, writes fast-paced, character-driven stories in a variety of genres from medical thrillers to space operas and cozy mysteries. Her novels are filled with humor, romance, and sometimes creatures or aliens, or maybe even all of the above. She often builds her stories around a strong female lead character surrounded by plenty of hunky male heroes. Jo's been under fire on a golf course and climbed out the roof of an elevator in the Netherlands. Life hasn't been boring. Now residing in Texas, setting often plays a huge role in her stories. Jo was intrigued by the League of Planetary Systems, a world her husband, Frank, created for his science fiction books, and she now writes mysteries and other types of tales sets in that world. Jo was bitten by a cat, a fire ant, and a snake, before succumbing to the bite of the writing bug.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Come on, guys. This is going to be awesome, Jasper said as he and his best friend, Todd, led their friends into the abandoned facility they found under the rock formation known as the Dragon's Backbone.

This isn't gonna be fair, Jasper, one of the girls said. You and Todd have been here before. You've already explored this place.

We thought of that, Jasper said. Todd and I will be captains. Everyone will have half an hour to look around before the game starts.

This is so cool, another boy said as he took a photo of the sign by the door.

Wait a minute. Are we sure this is safe? It says deadly force authorized, Beth, the other girl in the group, pointed out.

This place has been abandoned for years, Jasper said. There's nothing dangerous left inside. Todd and I checked it out. It's just lots of empty rooms.

There's some old furniture—desks and stuff, Todd said. That's all.

What about those stories about creatures that escaped from this place? one of the boys asked.

Those are just legends spread to keep people from hunting for this place, Jasper said. Turn on your headlamps. Let's go. The door opened with a creak. Get with your teams. Game starts in thirty minutes. Usual rules. Call it, if you're hit.

When you're out, Todd said, go to the cafeteria. I'll show you where it is before we split up.

There were plenty of places to take cover in the three-level facility. It was a warren of small rooms and some still had desks or tables that could be used for cover. Both teams had come up with a strategy for the game by the time it started.

Beth was on the third level. She turned off her headlamp and was crouched behind an old desk. If anyone came into the room, she had a clear shot at them. This group played a lot of paintball in the desert. As usually happened, three people went out quickly—two on Jasper's team and one on Todd's team. Beth knew things would slow down after the initial hits. She liked to win. She could just stay where she was and wait until everyone else was out, but that would be boring. She slowly made her way out of the office and worked her way down the hall, taking cover in each office she passed while listening for anyone in the area. She heard someone in the hall, so she took cover behind a file cabinet. She listened until she heard footsteps pass the room where she was hiding. Moving out into the hall, she fired at one of Todd's team.

Winston, out, the boy said as he turned and gave her a salute.

She saw movement over his shoulder. She took aim and fired. Something flew down from the ceiling and grabbed onto the boy's shoulders lifting him off the floor. Beth fired paintballs at the creature, but it didn't seem to feel it. She screamed when the thing took a chunk out of the boy's throat and dropped him to the floor. She stood frozen in place by what she'd seen as the creature walked toward her. It was a few feet from her before she turned and ran into the next office. Turning to close the door, she realized there wasn't one. Crap, she muttered. She hid beneath a table that was still upright. At least the thing wouldn't be able to swoop down on her.

She pulled out her extra paintballs and reloaded. That thing, whatever it was, was sniffing in the hallway. She heard footsteps coming down the hall—human footsteps. Beth wondered if she should scream for help. Would that attract the creature?

She heard the sound of paintballs firing in the hall followed by screaming. Beth crawled out from under the table and stood up. She peeked into the hall and saw the creature sitting on top of one of her teammates. While its back was turned, she ran to the stairwell at the other end of the hall. She closed the door as quietly as she could. We've been attacked on Level 3, she said into the radio. Beth, you only report when you've been hit, Jasper replied.

A creature attacked us. I think two of the guys are dead.

You mean out. Come on, Beth you've played paintball with us before. You know the rules.

When she reached the door to level two, she pulled it open and ran right into Jasper. She fired at him from just a few feet away, aiming for his stomach. You idiot, she said with tears streaming down her face. They're dead. I'm not joking. There's a creature down there killing people.

CHAPTER TWO

6 months later...

It was only a six-hour drive, and usually I enjoyed having the windshield time to think, but not today. I was driving to my hometown to help my mom pack up the house so she could move in with her sister in Phoenix.

Since my brother Jasper went missing six months ago, it feels like there's always a cloud hanging over my head, but it's been worse for my mother. It was probably a good thing that she was leaving Oreville. In some ways, it would be sad to leave my hometown behind. I had good memories there, but the past few years hadn't been good ones for Mom. Dad suffered an injury to his leg that forced him into early retirement from his job as a geologist. At the time, it seemed like it might be a good thing. My folks had always been rock collectors. There was even an old mine on our