Resistance

Here's the begining of the sequel to Rising,
Therefore, you should probably have read Rising prior to readin this.
Please R&R
Enjoy

The small dragon peers past the trash can, his pursuers bolt around the corner and stop. Their bodies glimmer with perspiration and he can hear how the workout has taken a toll on their lungs. Both of the dragons glance around and then one with reddish brown scales removes a map of the city from his satchel.

"Let's see, from here he could have gone that way," the dragon points in the direction of his hiding spot, "towards downtown, or this way toward the west gate."

"Hmm, if he went downtown there would be a lot of people, he probably went that way to lose us in the crowds."

"Yeah, but wouldn't he have trouble running with all those people? He probably went towards the gate so he can get outside and fly back in anywhere he wants."

"I think you're right c'mon let's go before he gets away"

They put the map away and begin to run down the alley away from his hiding spot. He breathes a sigh of relief and leans back onto the trash can. The clang of metal on pavement alerts the two dragons, they turn around and see the smaller, yellow dragon.

"Uh oh!" he says.

He immediately starts to run as fast as he can toward downtown, the throng of people quickly comes into view and he knows there's no way he could keep this pace if he ran through the crowd.

"Get back here!" one of the dragons yells

"You'll be caught eventually! Just Give up now!" yells the other.

The dragon turns into a side alley at the last moment and continues running. The wall is coming fast, and his pursuers will turn the corner at any moment. He reachs within and funnels electricity into his leg muscles. He releases the energy and runs straight through the wall in a burst of speed.

'Ugh, still feels so weird to go through that fake wall.' he thinks with a shudder.

He turns around and sees his pursuers turning into the alley opposite his, 'Good, it worked.' He spins back around toward the enterance to the headquaters. The front facing facade was that of an expensive grocery store in which the prices were hiked so high not an item had ever been bought. It was preferred this way as none of the items were real either.

Within the building was where the small, nameless force that opposed receiving "the mark" had their meetings. The young, yellow dragon had joined up when a message he had been delivered had needed to be read to a blind dragoness. Though exactly why it was such a big deal he was unsure of, he did notice a slight difference in those near to him who had been marked.

"It's like they've had their conscious altered in order to match everyone else." is how the leader had first described it to him, "They go in with a gun held at their back, and come out holding it to yours."

In the month since the mayor had stepped down to a dragoness named Cynder, almost every dragon and dragoness in Warfang has been marked. It was, as she so eloquently put it, "A sign of equality and conformity. I'm not saying I condemn creativity, in fact I plan to increase funding for groups like IoTD, but having this mark will remind those who bear it that we are, as a community, one body that never benefits from disruption by it's parts."

The young dragon spins each of the eight dials on the lock until it reads, "21-14-13-1-18-11-5-4" after which the mechanism catches and the door opens of it's own accord. Within he sees that some dragons have already arrived for the meeting. One of them beckons him over.

"Hey! C'mon!" he frantically waves his arms back and forth until he finally reaches him.

"What's going on?" the young, yellow dragon says.

"Nothing, I just wanted to be the first one to say hello. I'm bored already, aren't you?"

"Not really, I was chased here."

"Ooh, did they see you go through the fake wall? They better not have, I don't want to be marked!"

"Of course not, I've never been caught before."

The door creaks open once again and five more dragons enter with the leader at their head. The other four join the ranks of those among the seats rounding out their number to a hearty fifteen.

"Alright, unfortunately to start today's meeting I must present some bad news, and our solution to said news." the leader says, "On this morning's news it has been announced that as of tomorrow all citizens of Warfang are to be on the lookout for any who do not bear the mark. Our solution, is to fake our marks until we can somehow get around receiving them."