Deep breath, you’ll be fine I told myself. My stomach was a knot with wings, my heart rate was up, and my brain was buzzing, and giving me thoughts that made me even more nervous. You might not make it out, it told me. Jack might not survive. Jack was my partner. He was assigned to protect me. It could be a massacre, it said. Jack was the kind of person everyone liked, even though I’d only known him a couple of days, I knew I wanted to be his friend. My training had been shortened, due to my natural speed from unnatural causes. It was because I was a-no don’t think about it. This section of the forest was birch, so the ground was mostly dirt, occasionally, a rock juted out, waiting to trip unsuspecting travelers.
Once we were all in the forest, Colonel called a halt and started speaking. “There is one dragon about a half a mile away. Our goal is to kill the beast. “Alright, continue, when we’re there, get into positions. Move out.”
Contrary to what you might think, the group, even in their gear walking along the forest floor, made no sound. No snapping of twigs, no noisy rustling, zip, zilch, zero. It was worth risking my life. One day, the dragons would be extinct and the Hexanite would finally have their preordained place as guiders of the world. Yes, my life was worth preventing the dragons from ruling. But it wasn’t an automatic trade, I reminded myself, I had a decent chance of living, more than most here. What else could I ask for? I thought sarcastically. No matter. I was committed. Not leaving now. Then I really would be a monster. The path path twisted like the heart of a dragon, until we found ourselves by a clearing. It was rather large clearing, and in its center was a small building, about the size of a porta potty, with one door. On the door was a warning sign. Do not enter, authorized to use lethal force it read. Ha, the dragons always used lethal force. It was almost funny in a morbid sort of way.
“All right. Positions!” the colonel ordered in a whisper, the last word sending us scampering. The snipers to a vantage point squad 1 in front of the door, squads 2 and 3 on either side. I was with squad 2. Squad 3 pulled open the door quickly. Squad 1 held their guns pointed at the doorway, ready if something should happen. Nothing happened. Squad 1 and 2, go in. Squad 3 stay out here. Down and down the cement stairs went. And so down and down we went. The rough, grey walls were very clean, the beam of the flashlight revealed no spiders, none of their respective nests, and really no personality. Oh, now you expect personality from a dragon? My mind said sarcastically. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room, big enough for a dragon in true form, I noted. A single table sat in the center and a chest sat in the right corner one door led off to the left. It was closed. A roar sounded, echoing deafeningly around the room even as the door burst open, an already changing dragon hurtling out. Roaring, it sprayed the room with fire. Ophius surrounded it’s legs, snout and every other part, but it snapped them like they were cotton candy, though it didn’t like them. Men jumped aside, standing up and shooting. The bullets did little or nothing to it except to infuriate it. The were like needles to it. If you hit it in the right spot, it could kill it, you’d have to do it more than once. Slowly, it started to die. Finally, it’s head fell to the ground. It twitched once, and went still.
“Jack” the colonel says, abandoning his previous whisper, “Go look in that chest.”
“Sir” Jack says, saluting, walking toward it briskly. What happened next seemed like it was in slow motion. The door splintered outward, flying in three different directions. Close behind it hurtled a second dragon. Darn! There was only supposed to be one. I raised my gun, at normal speed, but time was being sluggish, so it was probably really fast, and fired at the dragon's head. The bullet whistled away, still going way too fast to see, and hit the dragon's head, which was thrown to the side but appeared unhurt. It continued forward inexorably towards Jack. And suddenly I knew he would die. The dragon drew back its head , and then three things happened at once. It roared a blast of fire at Jack’s head, Jack tried to dodge, and I shot again. Only one of these was effective. Can you guess which one it was? The dragon fire. It then changed to human in the blink of an eye, I was infact blinking at that time, and kicked the chest aside, and jumped into the now visible secret passage. Jack screamed.
Author's note: this next part may be a bit, or a lot, gory. If you want to skip, you just need to know that jack dies, but before that, he tells derek to never give up fighting, and derick vows to kill all dragons. Skip to next paragraph
I ran over to him, Trying not to look at his face. “You are going to be alright” I said, though I didn’t believe it.
“No I’m not. Let me die peacefully, not with a bunch of tubes in me.”
“But-”
“Derick, stop. This is my choice” I finally looked at his face. It was on the floor, bubbling. His eyes were nothing but white puddles.
*Author*/ sorry, I couldn’t resist
“Just promise me you won't stop fighting. The speed you shot with was amazing” his eyes slowly close. A single tear rolled sadly down my face. It was here I vowed to see the extinction of the dragons.
“I am sorry, Derek.” whispered the colonel in my ear. I was wrong, I wasn’t ready for this. Maybe physically, but not in my mind. I couldn’t see someone die again. But then i’d have to ignore Jacks dying words, and really be a monster. I would take a break I told myself. But i didn’t really believe I would continue, maybe I really was a monster.
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