"Well fuck," Junebug said in the calm that only the truly stunned can summon, "You dont see that everyday." The creature, the dragon - they called them the classics for a reason afterall, whipped through the air like a demented kite. The thing didn't have wings perse but rather what Sayeeda though might be a kind of membranous strip that ran from the things armpits down towards its tail. Wasting no further time with xenobiology she rammed the gates open, pouring all the available power she could to the engine. The little jeep rose two hands breath and nearly dumped its air cushion but she caught it in time, angling the blade incidence as close to vertical as she dared. The little jeep bucked forward on a spray of dirt and leaf litter that roostered out thirty meters behind them.

"Fuck," she said again as their speed rose to over a hundred kph, far to fast for anything but paved roads or desperate emergencies. This certainly fit the later category. The little jeep raced towards the river, foliage whipping by like the talons of dead gods. One of them struck Sayeeda a blow that would have knocked her senseless if she wasn't wearing her armored helmet and she felt the thing draw blood from her unarmored neck as it slid from her face-shield. More concerning yet the red which overlay the engine block was deepening as they poured on the coal, the little vehicle wasn't a combat unit and wasn't designed to take this abuse. Still, better the risk of burning out the power train, than the certainty of being torn to shreds by whatever was chasing them. Junebug expertly dodge a large tree bohle that loomed up suddenly and a moment later they were airborne, the ground having fallen away into a stream about twenty feet wide. She dumped the blade incidence almost completely and they still hit the water hard, spraying a ring of dark brown mucky water out in a vast donought before the lift stabilized and shoved them up over the back. Sayeeda was grateful for her armor which probably saved her ribs and neck during the violent maneuver. 

"Any fucking day now!" she yelled over her shoulder at Neil, although that was unfair, she couldn't have made the shot with the jeep bouncing over rough terrain like this and she was plenty fucking good. The thing let out a scream that was loud enough to engage the sonic cancellation fields in her helmet and lashed down at them like a thunder bolt. She through the control yoke to the side and narrowly avoided the things talons as they tore plow ruts in the damp earth of the river bank. It recoiled back with a reptilian shriek of rage.

"Goddess damn it," Sayeeda snarled and dumped a quarter of her throttle, "Hold.." She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence as she chopped the incidence again dropping the jeep to the ground with a tooth rattling bang. It bounced and bounced again, the plastic shrieking in protest as the skirts tore a muddy brown scar across the river bank.  The maneuver was many times more efficient at scrubbing of velocity than the coupling of ground and pressurized air could be and the creature overshot them for a few seconds. Junebug cranked the incidence enough to lift them again, relieved not to have torn the skirts to ribbons, and the jeep wobbled forward at half its original speed. In front of them the thing coiled around with serpentine grace and rushed back towards them, great fanged maw agape. 

[@POOHEAD189]