Chapter 2: Rescue
Kostya eyes shot open and he rolled onto his side and coughed up a lung full of water. He laid on his side coughing for good few minutes. Kostya sat up wiping his mouth with his jacket sleeve, he pulled his rifle out of the mud. he opened the action and dirty black mud drained out of the chamber.
He looked around him, he was surrounded by thick a thick forest of pine trees and the ground was covered in waist high ferns. 'Where the hell am I' Kostya thought as he looked around at the towering trees and under growth. He was about to pull a map out of his pack when a scream split the air. Kostya jumped to his feet and ran off through the under growth.
Kostya sprinted up a hill and stopped, he ducked behind a tree, the under growth at head level c masked him from sight. Kostya peeked out and looked down into the small valley, he spied a creek and traced it down hill looking through his rifle's scope.
Kostya stopped his scope falling on the ugliest creature he had ever had the displeasure to see. There were three of them, bald head green skinned and standing 6 feet tall. They wore mismatched plates of steel and leather armor. The biggest of the three wore straight steel armor no leather and his helm had gold on it.
They were standing around a 5 foot tall lizard with wings, it was growling and snarling at them in an attempt to ward them off. But it didn't do much but keep them at arm's length away. one of the smaller two surged forward and planted a boot in the side of the lizard's head, it yowled in pain and anger backing away shaking its head.
The creature had the oddest scale color, midnight black with dark blue almost glowing tribal markings along its body. Kostya was dazzled by its appearance, he was shocked when the creature let loose a weak flame from its mouth. Then it hit Kostya, it was a dragon!
Kostya didn't get much time to think of whether to help or not, because right after the dragon stopped its flame the two shorter green skinned beasts lunged and grappled the dragon. Beating it in its sides and head, he could hear it yowls of pain and agony as the green skinned creatures beat it savagely.
'Fuck it' was all Kostya thought before leveling his crosshairs on the tall green skin and pulling the trigger. A loud bang resound through the forest and the tall green skin staggered to the side before falling to its knees clutching its chest then falling face first into the ground.
Before the tall green skin hit the ground Kostya already had the rifle bolted and aimed at the chest of one of the smaller green skins that thought it a good idea to run to its comrade. Kostya dropped the hammer on that one, pulling back the bolt letting the spent shell flip into the air he returned his gaze to the scope sighting the last green skin. Who was fleeing into the woods, Kostya fired a third time hitting it right between the shoulders it dropped like a sack of bricks.
Kostya was on his feet and moving down the slope as fast as he could towards the dragon, when he reached he moved towards slowly. It looked to be dead, he got close enough to it to touch it and laid A hand on its flank. Kostya smiled when he felt the small breaths it was taking and the heart beat was mostly stable. Kostya looked around, he spotted the entrance to a small cave in the hill opposite of the one he came from. Kostya bent down to try in pick the dragon up when a sharp and intense pain spiked in his back. Kostya fell forward and rolled onto his back bring his rifle up.
The green skin that had tried to check on his leader was standing with a crossbow in hand reloading it, a hole in its chest leaking ichor. Kostya pulled up his rifle and let loose a second shot, this one hitting it square in the heart killing it instantly.
Kostya stood back up ripping the arrow shaft from his right shoulder. He slung the rifle over his left shoulder and lifted the dragon on to his back in fireman's carry, and made his way to the cave.
He stepped into the cave pausing to let his vision adjust to the light, once he could see slightly again Kostya made his way into the cave. Kostya set the dragon down on a flat sandy area and started to make a fire in the impression a few feet from where the dragon was. It didn't take Kostya that many wood runs to build up a stack of fire wood to last him the night. Kostya lit the fire with some matches in a water proof container.
After a couple minutes Kostya had nice roaring fire warming the cave enough so he could take of his winter coat, laying it next to the fire with his socks and boots to dry. Kostya rummaged in his rucksack pulling out a can of rations he had procured from a German store house a few days ago. Using his bayonet Kostya pried open the can's lid and dumped the contents into his lap.
"lets see what's for dinner, Dried meat and crackers, no surprise there" Kostya spoke to himself.
He began making cracker and meat sandwiches and eating them slowly to trick his stomach into thinking it was full. When he finished Kostya put the can in his pack and laid his rifle next to him, propped up on the wall he was laying against. Kostya threw a few large pieces of wood on the fire to keep it going most of the night.
Kostya then drift off to sleep letting his mind delve into the realm of dreams.
