"AHHHHHHH!"
Ren shrieked, her voice echoing through the darkening forest.
She panicked immediately. She kicked. She thrashed. She performed a frantic, uncoordinated tap dance that would have made a professional riverdancer weep. The cold, scaly little feet of the chameleon lizard clung stubbornly to her bare calf, its weird, swiveling eyes looking at her with entirely too much intent.
"Get off! Get off me!" Ren yelled.
With a wild swing, she brought her hand down and slapped the lizard hard.
Smack!
The chameleon launched through the air like a colorful skipping stone and splashed directly into the center of the waterhole.
Ren's legs gave out. She fell hard on her butt in the damp grass, her chest heaving as she sucked in deep, ragged breaths. She watched with wide, wild eyes as the little lizard struggled to stay afloat for a few seconds, its tiny claws splashing the water, before it finally submerged and swam away into the reeds.
