“Dragonflies”

The dragonflies swarmed. They came out of nowhere. Hundreds of them, green bodies, translucent green wings. Little alien helicopters, hovering, darting this way and that, with a sense of urgency. Why were they here all of a sudden? We could only assume it was to destroy us. They circled the park. At first, people didn’t notice them. It was a sunny day and people were minding their own business. I was sitting on a rock formation near the tree-lined edge of the park doing a bit of people watching and thinking about my feelings. I saw the large shadows pass over the rock in front of me. I looked up to see what kind of enormous bug just buzzed me and there they were. About a hundred yards away, a young blonde girl, about three years old, was trying unsuccessfully to pick her baby brother off the ground. She suddenly was knocked flat on her back, as if by an invisible adult who kicked her in the face. Then the scream of her mother running toward them. Then the calculated swarm around them. I was amused at the sight of the child falling over on her own but then I became alarmed when I realized she had not fallen over on her own. Another scream on the far side of the park. Then more throughout. People were jumping up to their feet, swatting the air, the air around them turning dark with vicious dragonflies. Children, women, men, screaming and running from the park. I was on my feet now, trying not to panic but waiting to plot my course of action. The last thing I needed was to run toward the mob and find myself trapped and helpless to escape.

First one child, then another, then an adult, and another, all around, being hoisted into the air by swarms of the flying devil bugs. I watched a swarm gather above me and decided now would be a good time to get the fuck out of Dodge. So I ran. I tried not to look back at the deafening mechanical whirl behind me. It was like an Osprey trying to land on my head, and it was getting closer. I ran faster but it was no use. I was too out of shape and my heart threatened to explode, and my lungs were done exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen. I gave it my all but my all only lasted about thirty seconds. I collapsed to my knees, then fell face first onto the grass. I smelled dirt and dog shit as I gasped for air.

I felt the tug on my shirt, then my pants and shoes. My eyes were closed and I decided to just go with it. I don’t know how many of them there were or how they were holding on to me. But when I opened my eyes and saw that I was a couple hundred feet above the park, I prayed they’d hold on tight. It was absolute chaos down there. Like a massacre. I couldn’t tell who was dead, if anyone. We had no idea what they wanted. I lifted my head and there were hundreds of others around me also being carried by swarms. I chuckled when I realized each swarm looked like a giant dragonfly. Talk about teamwork. Impressive.

We were flying over the roads. Pedestrians, cyclists, horses, all running for their lives pointlessly, being snatched up and pulled into the air. We were heading toward the lake. Maybe a water landing was the way to go? No, from this height, I’d have to do an Olympic-style dive and still I’d probably break both of my arms. Maybe two broken arms would be better than whatever fate awaited us? I didn’t have much time to think about it because as soon as the questions popped into my head, I felt my stomach fly out of my mouth as I accelerated toward the water. The sons of bitches dropped me! Limbs flailing, I did my best to rotate myself vertically. Here I thought maybe I’d end up head first but I was feet first. I pointed my toes, took a deep breath. Impact in 3, 2, 1 . . .

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