The weapons in this were taken or were based off units from the game, Tom Clancy's Endwar and as such belongs to Ubisoft.

The individual chars however are property of me and Cydra.

Collins was originally the property of KnightCommander who helped me testrun this story when it was being test posted on a forum and is used with his permission

Third energy chronicles

Chapter 10

'What the hell is that purple...freak doing here? These dragons are nothing but trouble and this 'Spyro' is the worst. He's on the base grounds until we can get him transport to one of the refugee stations and he is turning up every day, wanting to see Commander Lynch. As if we didn't have enough problems. We've been getting a few scrambled calls from the West, around what used to be Romania. I don't know what's going on there, but I get a feeling we'll be sending in a troop to find out soon. Its made worse with the constant reports coming in from the security wall section there. If those reports are accurate then I pity the luckless sod who gets assigned there...'

Extract from Log of Lt Cmdr Christopher Anderson

...

Matt had often been in want of several things over the last few years; bigger guns, more men, a fighting chance, a big ass gun, a operating vehicle, the mother of all big guns. But first time, he found himself wanting something he'd never thought he would want, a secretary. He put down another report from the security wall about a new general, codenamed 'Sky terror' by the report writer and picked up another request for reinforcements from the security wall section at the romanian border and sighed. "I don't need this..." he said to himself, adding "Least nothing else can happen."

Just then, a guard came in and said, "Sir, that purple lizard wants to talk to you...again." "Get rid of him." said Matt, in an annoyed voice. The guard said "Er...he looks like he's not in the mood to be turned..." before seeing Matts glare and added "I'll get rid of him, sir." The guard left back through the door. Matt sighed and said, "Maybe now I can get a little-" Suddenly, the same guard came right back through the door, propelled by what looked like a flail made of green energy. Needless to say, this got Matt's full attention. "What the hell?" he said as Spyro came in through the door, looking smug.

"Did you just go Green Lantern on my guard?" demanded Matt. "Green what?" asked Spyro. Matt rolled his eyes and said "Ok...you have my attention...what the hell do you want?" "Like I've been saying, I want to help take down Malefor," said Spyro. "Ok...you have 10 seconds to sell it to me...why should I let a kid fight a guy who has so far resisted entire tank divisions?" said Matt. "Because I defeated him before," said Spyro, "Back in my own world." Matt stared before laughing. "Oh, thats a good one." he said.

"Really, I did, he tried to destroy Avalar before we could stop him. I know him better than you do," said Spyro. Matt glared, sorely tempted to put this little purple pain out of Matts misery before the request form caught his eye. "Well...I do know a way you could help me." he said, with a nasty grin.

...

Spyro was developing a dislike for the human's flying machines. They were a lot less smooth and accommodating than the pirates' vessels. The only advantage he saw about them was that they were faster. It also didn't help that he wasn't alone in the cargo chopper, a double dozen number of human troopers also sharing the cramped space. Matt had said how the settlement the chopper was going to needed help but now Spyro had the feeling that Matt had bent the truth a little. One of the human soldiers mentioned that the place was nicknamed 'Hells half-mile'.

However, that was as much information Spyro was able to get. Nobody wanted to talk to the purple dragon. Spyro had gotten plenty of 'evil eyes', probably even more when his back was turned. A voice, probably the pilot said "We are hitting the dirt in 5...stand by, all personnel." The light in the chopper then turned red with a buzzing noise and the humans all got up, checking their rifles and gear. Spyro more than half-wished that he had some armour to wear, but since dragon scales were bullet-proof, nobody felt that he needed anything.

The back hatch opened out into its ramp form and the troopers all ran out into the snow and cold outside. One trooper remaining yelled "Get your tail moving." Spyro glared back and said, "Sorry, I haven't quite up a resistance to cold yet." "Do I look like I give a shit? Get your butt moving before I shoot it off." yelled the trooper. Spyro grumbled before walked off of the chopper. He held his wings close as the freezing winds started to batter against him.

There was a large camp outside the chopper, lots of humans walking around, tanks and other armed vehicles sitting in the snow, even a couple of attack helicopters circling and more precisely, a 15 feet high wall topped with twin barreled cannons. missile launchers and walkways with troopers. A voice said "Commanders having a laugh...sending a damn flying flamethrower..." Spyro glared towards the source of the voice and muttered, "I don't just breathe fire." The commander said "I don't care if you spit rainbows and sunshine...as long as its aimed at those things behind the wall." "What kind of things?" asked Spyro.

"Fly up and take a look...oh...and wear this." said the commander, nodding to another trooper who tossed a collar of some kind over to Spyro, big enough to fit around his paws wrist. The commander added "...unless you want a patriot missile to meet you." "What's this for?" asked Spyro. "Stops the security wall AA sites blowing you in half." said the trooper who had tossed the device over. "Oh, that's important," said Spyro as he tried to fasten the wristband on.

The trooper said "I'm commander Harrison...welcome to 'hells half-mile'...The only place more fucked up then the rest of the planet." An alarm immediatly began to ring and someone on the wall yelled 'HORDE!' before the guns on the wall started firing. Harrison said "What're you waiting for, lizard...get up there and help." "What? What's going on?" asked Spyro. "Learn on the job, get moving!" snapped Harrison. Spyro spread his wings, shook them to lose the slight layer of ice and show and took off. After a minute he could see what was being shot at. It looked like unarmed humans, except they looked like they'd already been shot repeatedly.

As he got closer, he could see these were not ordinary humans. What could be seen of their skin was extremely shrivelled and, in some places, missing. Their eyes were completely blank was they stumbled forward. One of the newcomers chest became covered in red as a trooper on the wall fired at it, however, unlike the militia at the ascension centre, this human wasn't even bothered apart from a stagger. It finally slumped as a round took the top of its head off.

Spyro felt a shudder unrelated to the cold. These humans reminded him of what became of the apes; still moving even though they were dead. A chopper flew past spyro and fired a salvo of rockets into a cluster, sending them flying in a huge explosion. Another fired a much larger nose-mounted machinegun that practically shredded the undead horde. Spyro flew down close and started breathing fire onto the undead. Their dry skin caught fire immediately and burned quickly.

However the zombies were so many that it took 3 hours before the horde was eradicated. Spyro was exhausted when he finally landed behind the wall. The wall cannons were still firing at a few stragglers as Harrison walked up "Well...looks like you're gonna be useful after all." he said to Spyro. "I...fought skeletons...before," said Spyro between pants. "Skeletons, you say. Heh...guess Lynch does know who to send after all. He sent us a bonafide zombie killer." said Harrison with a not unfriendly laugh.

But where did they come from?" asked Spyro. "From the romanian dead zone...literally named as it turns out." said Harrison, waving for Spyro to follow to a tunnel into the nearby hillside and into a well lit base. "Place is a nightmare...nothing livings ever come out of that place." Harrison added. "The dead come back to life for no reason," said Spyro, "Something has to be reanimating them." "Look...most of the divisions that could do the job are up north, trying to kick the ass of the rest of your...of the other dragons." said Harrison.

Spyro frowned and said, "Nothing will change if we just defend. We need to find the source of these creatures." "So...these skeletons...what animated them?" said Harrison, grabbing a pack of something called an 'MRE' from a open crate that smelled vile to Spyro. "An undead king," said Spyro. Harrison looked confused. "A zombie king? Thats new." he said. "You think one of them may be here?" asked Spyro. Harrison shrugged before a device oon his chest armour beeped. He grabbed it and said "Harrison...what do you mean there's a ariel contact on radar? Have you hailed it?"

"We're trying, but we're not really getting any clear answers," came the reply. "Dammit...we don't get them to hold so we can escort em in, the SAM's will blow em apart." said Harrison. "I could put my wristband on their ship," said Spyro, "Then they wouldn't shoot, right?" "No...you'd be dog meat then." said Harrison, before getting an idea. "Andrews...get another of those IFF bracelets...on the double." "Right sir," said one of the soldiers before heading back. Harrison said "Ok...you need to make sure they come THIS way...the IFF's only for for specific sections so be careful." "Ok, I'll be sure to get them from their underside, wouldn't want them to shoot at me," said Spyro. "I doubt they're flying a warplane." said Harrison.

...

Spyro was flying over the deserted romanian countryside. A few random zombies could be seen raising their arms as Spyro flew overhead, not caring that Spyro was out of reach. "And I thought the apes were creepy," said Spyro, "At least they had bare bones." Finally a droning noise was heard ahead and a small plane came into view, spyro having to roll to avoid hitting it. A person could be seen at the controls, looking clearly terrified, two children could be seen in the back.

"I better keep out of sight," said Spyro, "I don't want to scare them any more than they already are." However, the pilot had already spotted Spyro and was making motions to look behind. Spyro looked confused and until he looked back. Something was flying behind the plane. It was some sort of grotesque winged monster with skin that looked like stone.

The creature roared and tried to grab the tail of the plane before it noticed Spyro and snarled, a red glow coming from its mouth. "I think some earth power is needed here," said Spyro before spitting a ball of earth energy at the creature. The creature yelped before rolling to avoid it. It now concidered Spyro a bigger threat and flew after him, his claws coming close to grabbing spyro. However another problem was coming as the wall was now in sight and the plane still had no IFF. "I don't have time for this," said Spyro before swing an earth flail at the monster.

The creature yelped before stopping and roaring defiance before flying back. Spyro nodded before heading back towards the plane. However, as he got close, a sudden thought hit him. 'How am I supposed to put this thing on it?' The guns were already turning to follow, however, as Spyro was too near, they were refusing to fire as their primitive computers calculated that they would hit the IFF owner...Spyro if they fired. Spyro looked over the plane for something he could clamp the IFF onto.

After a minute he managed to tie it round one of the wheels...just in time as the plane came into range of the walls guns. The guns pointed at the plane for a few seconds before standing down. Spyro watched as the plan came to a landing behind the wall and several troopers ran up to see to it. The pilot jumped out and started yelling in a language Spyro didn't understand before spotting Spyro and running over to him and grabbing his paw, clearly grateful.

"Uh, you're welcome?" said Spyro. The troopers ran up and pulled the man away and over to Harrison who apparently spoke the same language. Harrison however didn't seem convinced by what was being said.

...

Later that night, Spyro found Harrison on the battlements. He appeared to be deep in thought. "So, what did those people on the aircraft have to say?" asked Spyro. Harrison reached for his pistol on reflex before seeing it was Spyro. "Damn. Don't do that...Those guys on the plane...said they'd been hiding out since the black months. He's obviously shellshocked...said how a dead dragon was ruling the whole area." he said. "A dead dragon?" asked Spyro.

"Thats what he said...some creep thats set up camp in a castle in the transylvanian mountains..." said Harrison. "Is that far from here?" asked Spyro. "Yeah...a long way. The problem is that he says he still has family there. He's begged for a rescue mission...but I'm not sending any team in without air support...which I can't spare." said Harrison. "You think we should call for help?" asked Spyro. "For what? To be chasing some superstitious shadow?" said Harrison, "I know zombies are nothing to sneeze at, but I don't think your kind is the type to rise from their own graves."

Spyro said "I can fly...and these aren't the first living dead that I've faced." Harrison looked at Spyro like he'd sprouted an extra head "Are you nuts?" he said. "It'll just be to look, I know when not to fight," said Spyro. Harrison said "Its not that...Me...I haven't got the luxury of turning my nose up at someone who can fight...but alot of my men...many of them have or had family in the occupied sectors...lots of bad blood there." "Well, we have to find some way to stop these things," said Spyro, "I mean, we could have those corpses battering at our doors and those flying creatures coming down on us."

"Those flyers have learnt the hard way why the security walls called the 'deadline'. They don't get in...fine...you'll be going with a squad to that plane guys town to get any survivors...and you're flying support for them...literally." said Harrison. "You have anything that transport them all?" asked Spyro. "There's a couple of old russian BMP's. They'll be in them." said Harrison before adding as an afterthought "Be careful out there..." "You don't need to tell me twice," said Spyro.

...

At dawn, the next day, the team had assembled to go. They were already in a bad mood from the early start and when they saw Spyro, their mood didn't improve. "Why has that gotta come?" complained one. "Because there's bounds to be plenty more of those things down in there," said Harrison, "And you're gonna need plenty of firepower to keep from being overwhelmed." "Then send a HIND with us. I don;t want that backstabbing freak anywhere near..." said the trooper before Harrison yelled in his face "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU 'LIKE', CORPORAL. WE CAN'T SPARE A GUNSHIP SO HE'S THE NEXT BEST THING!"

"Gee, glad to know I'm so well-thought of," said Spyro before pausing and saying, "I'm starting to sound like Sparx." The Sergeant of the squad said "You heard the commander...get your asses in those transports before I kick you into them." The troops grumbled a bit, but they promptly got into their vehicles. Spyro turned to Harrison and said, "I can't fly all the time. At some point, I need to stop and rest my wings." "Then I'd learn to glide. I don't think those guys'll allow you to take a breather." said Harrison as the engines of the BMP's started up. Spyro sighed and said, "Not too many trees big enough for me to perch in."

...

The lands behind the wall were creepy. From his position hovering over the human vehicles, Spyro could see the signs of inhabitation. There were dozens of abandoned or burnt out cars on the road, easily pushed aside by the transports. Spyro's eyes could also pick out that a few cars still had 'occupants' in the form of skeletons. To make matters even more eerie, there was a thick fogbank stretching pretty much everywhere.

After a few hours, Spyro could see one of the squad waving him to the ground and saying. "Ok...the town we're headed for is at the foot of that mountain. You get the honour of taking a look...and telling us what kinda welcome we're gonna get. You get back here in 1 hour or I will make your life a hell as only a sergeant can." "What, you couldn't find a goat to send it?" asked Spyro. The sergeants eyes narrowed before yelling with such force that Spyro thought for a second he was going to fall over "DO I LOOK LIKE I'M LAUGHING?" "Ok, ok, I'm going," said Spyro, "Sheesh, even Moleyair's brother didn't shout that loud."

...

Spyro's flight to the town didn't take long. A dozen or so people were out in the street and looked in his direction as he circled. "I hope they're friendlier than the soldiers," said Spyro as he landed nearby. They stared in shock as he landed and spoke in romanian to each other. One of them however said in careful accented english "You come from castle?" "What castle?" asked Spyro. The speaker pointed further up the mountain behind the town to where even Spyro, with his dragonic vision could only just see several spires. "No, I've never seen that place before," said Spyro.

The human said "You should leave...this bad place. The master will try to take you." Spyro growled and said, "The Dark Master won't get me that easily." The human looked frightened and muttered a word...'Nosforatu', whatever that was. Spyro sighed before saying, "There are soldiers coming to help you leave this village. They'll take you back to our base where it will be safe." The human said "Nowhere is safe from Nosforatu. Victor was foolish to try to leave...now the master has them."

"No, he's fine," said Spyro, "Victor made it to our base." Spyro was about to continue when there was a yell behind him as the two BMP's rumbled into view, the sergeant yelling "I SAID AN HOUR, PURPLE BOY!" Spyro turned and said, "That couldn't have been an hour yet." "Then you're not as clever as I thought...who's your new friend? I presume you found out something actually useful." said the sergeant. Spyro growled a bit before turning to the villager and asking, "Who are you again?" "Alexia. I am mayor here." said the human and indicating the gold chain he was wearing.

"Oh, I see," said Spyro, "Well, these are the soldiers I mentioned. We can see you safely out now." One of the troopers said "Not a chance...it'll be suicide to walk around in the dark in this place." Mayor Alexia also said "No...is madness. His creatures roam at night...better to leave in morning. Come, come." "Suicide, madness, same thing in this case," said the trooper as they followed the mayor. One of the troopers looked at Spyro before saying "You're on night duty..."

...

Spyro found that he didn't like night duty, particularly since the fog kept rolling in. He could hear the laughs of his 'teammates' from the house behind him. He was about to go and try and get something to eat when someone dropped a tray with a side of roasted mutton on it. Spyro turned to see one of the women from the town. However she fled before he could say anything. Spyro sniffed the mutton and almost immediately his mouth began to water. He was so busy being offended, he forgot how hungry he was.

After a few minutes, he had licked up the last of the juices from the tray and that was when it hit home...he wasn't on his world. Most of him had known that already but a small part had hoped that Warfang was just extremely far away. He felt a wave of loneliness wipe over him. So many friends that he might never see again, he wasn't even sure if Cynder was still here either. It was at that moment that he heard a scrabbling noise from the direction the mutton girl had gone...followed by a scream.

Spyro stood up at that. He quickly ran over to see what was going on. He ran round a corner to see what he thought at first was a avalarian wolf clan member, holding the mutton girl in a headlock, the girl bleeding from a nasty bite wound. The wolf turned to look at Spyro before sneering, snapping the girls neck and throwing the body at Spyro. Spyro dodged the body and the wolf turned and fled. "Hey! Come back here!" yelled Spyro.

He was about to take off when he heard a voice say "Oh my god." He turned to see that the rest of the squad had also heard the scream, all of them present with several of the town. "Wait, I didn't do it," said Spyro, "It was that wolf." The troopers didn't seem convinced, all levelling their guns at Spyro. "You murdering motherfu-." began one trooper. However, he never finished it as another of the wolves jumped down from the roof, landing on his back and starting to maul him. The townsfolk immediately panicked, a few screaming 'werewolves' while heading for their homes.

Spyro immediately spat a lightning bolt at the wolf. Fortunately, its back was turned to him so he got a critical hit. However there were a dozen more wolves to replace their comrade. The sergeant yelled for them to all open fire. Most of them were being torn apart though. One of them yelled for Spyro to 'Get the sarge out' before one of the wolves tackled him to the ground. Spyro turned and charged back to where the soldiers were staying, barrelling through any wolf that got in his way.

The sarge was surrounded by a dozen of the wolves, and still shooting. As Spyro came into view, the sarges rifle ran dry and he threw it at a charging wolf. "Get down!" shouted Spyro before he let out an even larger amount of electrical power at the wolves. One of the sarges troopers yelled "We gotta get outta here...or we're all dead...purple dude...get the sarge outta here." Spyro went over to the sarge and tried to pick him up, with some difficulty. "It'd be easier if I had someone to help," said Spyro to himself.

The trooper who had yelled span and fired a burst that flicked a lunging wolf out of the sky where it had been about to land on Spyro's back. "Get going..." "I'm trying," said Spyro, "I don't have thumbs like you do." He finally got a grip and managed to lift the yelling sergeant off the ground, not helped that the sarge was intent on not going.

...

After a few minutes, Spyro had to land in the nearby forest as the Sergeant had threatened to stab his paw. "If you had stayed back there, those wolves would have finished you off," said Spyro. The sergeant glared before sighing and saying "Dammit...Fine...we wait here...see if anyone else arrives." "Right," said Spyro before asking, "What did those villagers call those wolves?" "Werewolves. They're supposed to be make believe...then again...so are dragons." said the sergeant. "What are werewolves?" asked Spyro.

"Half human, Half wolf...all attitude if the stories and what we saw are correct." said the sergeant, before lifting his rifle as a rustling was heard and one of the team staggered out of the undergrowth. The sergeant lowered his rifle and said, "Well, at least we know it hasn't been a total massacre. Are there any more behind you?" "No...those damn things were just knocking people out and dragging them off. I think they took Corporal Anders and Private riggs...they killed everyone else...and they took our damn transports." said the trooper before glaring at Spyro and saying "As for you, you little deserter..."

"That's out of line, soldier," snapped the sergeant, "He might have gone AWOL, but he saved my life. I don't think anyone else did any better." The trooper glared at Spyro before saying "Understood...sir." The sergeant said "Ok...so we know some of our people are still alive. There is no way in hell I am leaving them behind." "Like we can leave at all," said the trooper, "We don't have any wheels and that little lizard doesn't look strong enough to fly us back."

Spyro growled as he started to finally reach the end of his patience. The sergeant spotted this and yelled "STOW IT...BOTH OF YOU! IF YOU TWO IDIOTS CAN'T GROW UP, WE MIGHT AS WELL SHOOT OURSELVES NOW!" The trooper and Spyro glared at each other but stood down. "Suicide might be better than what those monsters will do when they get their hands on us," he said. "We were caught with our pants down last time. This time we know what we're dealing with. This time WE'RE the ones causing the damage." said the sergeant.

...

Malefors representative glared from her position in the shadows. She'd been sent by Malefor to make an alliance with the necromancer he had sensed...instead she had been forced to talk to this 'Duke Lupo'. As she thought of this, the duke returned "My master apologises again for not being able to appear...he...isn't suitable to be seen in public yet." said the human...or at least he looked human.

"I do not want to waste my time speaking through underlings," growled Malefor's representative, "Nor does my master." "My master has...an important task that requires his attention at all times. I am authorized to speak on his behalf." said Duke Lupo. "Your master is apparently not picky about who he sends to represent himself," said Malefor's speaker. "I assure you, My lady. I am more then capable of serving my mas...excuse me, my lady." said Lupo as a werewolf came in. Malefors speaker watched as Lupo went off and exchanged words with the werewolf before coming back. "I am sorry, My lady. Another attack on the humans border wall has failed. I must see to preparing the replacements." he said

"You're just throwing infantry at their walls? You'll never defeat them like that," said Malefor's representative. "We do not have heavy machinery here. My master prefers...the old ways but his condition means he cannot leave the castle for the moment." said Duke Lupo. "My master prefers the old ways as well," said the figure in the shadow, "But he has learned to move with the times." "Then perhaps we can help each other...breach the wall for our forces and I am certain my master will support yours." said Lupo.

"That sounds like an interesting proposition," said the shadowy figure, "But how do I know that your master will keep his end of the bargain?" Lupo shuddered before his eyes glowed purple and he said in a very different voice "My word is my bond, General."

...

Meanwhile, Spyro's group had followed the werewolves to where they had taken their prisoners, which happened to be a big spooky castle. It looked like something right out of a Universal monster movie, including the foreboding thunderclouds hanging over it. "Well...this doesn't look like a deathtrap at all." said the trooper, whose name was Rick, in a sarcastic tone. "I've seen worse places," said Spyro. The sergeant said "Looks like its not just those damn wolves on guard..." pointing to where two humans were on guard, holding old bolt action rifles, and looking zoned out.

"Something tells me that they won't welcome our rescue attempt," said Spyro. The sergeant said "They don;t seem up to date on events...humour me...just go fly over them." "Ok," said Spyro before taking off. He fully expected the guards to start shooting at him, but all they did was stare blankly forward. "Well done..now you just drop us in the courtyard." said the sarge, with a smirk at Rick.

Spyro slowly glided down into the courtyard. The guards outside may have seemed inattentive, but he wasn't taking his chances. The sarge and Rick, as soon as they touched down, sneaked up on the two guards and knocked them out before dragging them out of view. "Was it me, or was that too easy?" asked Rick. The sarge nodded "Too easy...but we're here now...so we find out where the dungeon is..." he said.

...

The inside of the castle was an even bigger stereotype than the outside. There were several tapestries, suits of armor, and various old furnishing best seen in a Dracula movie. Spyro peered at a suit of armour, trying to shake the feeling that it was looking at him. Rick, however, said "This place reminds me of that film with the..." before seeing sarges and spyro';s glares "...erm...never mind." "Try not to talk about that stuff," said the sergeant, "I'm half-expecting Igor to limp around the corner at any minute." "Who's Igor?" asked Spyro.

Sarge sighed before saying "I'll explain later." before there was a scream from below them. Rick said "Did I just hear that?" before a second scream was heard. "Someone's in trouble," said Spyro before heading in the direction of those screams. Sarge was about to call for Spyro to stop but it was too late...he'd gone down a passage. "Dammit...come on, we'd better catch him up." he said. "This place just keeps getting more and more like a horror movie," said Rick.

As soon as the two soldiers had caught up to Spryo, Rick said, "They've probably got someone on the rack or in thumbscrews." "Oh, they're not that medieval," said Sarge. Suddenly, there was a crackling light from behind a nearby door, accompanied by screaming. "Uh, see? It's clearly electrocution," said Sarge. A growling voice said "This ones done. Get rid of the body and get the next one." Rick and Sarge had to push Spyro from view as one of the werewolves came out, carrying a clearly dead person, one of the recon team.

"Ok, now that's just plain Frankenstein," said Rick. "Franken-what?" asked Spyro. Sarge rolled his eyes and said, "Soldier, get this whelp some horror movies when we get back so he can keep up with the references." "There must be another one in there." said Rick. Sarge nodded and drew a nasty looking serrated blade from a boot holster. "I'll deal with the asshole." he said, peering in to see another of the werewolves with its back to the door.

"Should we really just rush in there?" asked Spyro, "It could be a trap." Sarge shrugged before weighing his blade, knocking on the door and throwing it into the throat of the werewolf as it turned. "Thats for killing my boys." he said coldly as the werewolf slumped sideways. Spyro and Rick walked into the room after him. The walls were adorned with medieval weapons of various types, iron cauldrons hanging from pegs, and shelves holding jars containing indescribable things. Oddly enough, there was no signs of electricity in the room. There was only a brazier and some torchs on the wall.

Rick wandered up to a pedestal that had a wooden staff, with a gem twisted into the top of it, stuck in it. "Hey...I think I found a prop from harry potter." he joked before reaching for it. Spyro suddenly felt a shiver through his scales. "Uh, I wouldn't touch that if I were you," he said. Rick scoffed "Huh...you gotta learn to take chances if you're gonna last in the briga..." before being blasted across the room as he grasped the staff in a flash of green light. Spyro and Sarge ran over to Rick. "Solider, are you alright?" asked Sarge. "I'm just dandy," said Rick in a dazed voice, "How's my hair?" Spyro sniffed before saying "I think its smoking." Rick was about to reply when they heard a groan from the room nextdoor via a grille.

"Pull yourself together, we may be able to save someone," said Sarge as he headed for the door. The groans were coming from a room next to the torture chamber they had just left. The new door was alot more sturdy and held out from Sarges kick...but not from a headbutt from Spyro. There was only one soldier in there and he was pretty ravaged-looking and strapped to a gurney. Sarge went up to the trooper and wordlessly began working at the straps. the trooper turned a pain filled gaze to Sarge and managed to say "No...don't...get going...now."

"We're getting you out of here, soldier," said Sarge. The trooper began to convulse before grabbing Sarge in a surprisingly strong grip,m repeating "No. No no."over and over. "Soldier, this is no place for any sane human being... Say, were you an arm-wrestling champion back in your hometown? You've got an amazing grip." said Sarge before looking in surprise as the troopers gibberws began to turn into snarls.

Sarge managed to pull free as the troopers face began to distend into a muzzle and was covered in black fur. Sarge and the others stood back in horror as the trooper on the gurney mutated into a spitting image of the werewolves they had seen so far before howling loudly. "Whoa, the wolves back on Avalar couldn't do that," said Spyro. The sarge glumly pulled out his sidearm and fired a shot into the trooper...only for it not to work. At the same time the sounds of footsteps could be heard heading their way. "Uh, I think we've outstayed our welcome, sir," said Rick. Sarge looked at the snarling ex-trooper on the gurney before nodding. "Lets go..."

Spyro listened carefully and said, "I think they're coming from the direction we came. We'll have to go another way." The trio ran down the other corridor nd out into the courtyard to see their transport. "I think its time we left...and now." said Rick, running up to it and opening the rear hatch. "I agree," said Sarge, "We need a mile between us and this place ASAP." Spyro took off and looked down as the transport started up before the missile turret on top swivelled and fired into one of the tower behind before turning back and shooting the gate, driving out the hole.

"I think Avalar may be less crazy than this place," said Spyro to himself.

...

The trio headed back as fast as they could, Sarge trying to call the wall as they went. "...I'm telling you, nobodies picking up." said Rick. Sarge said "I don;t care..keep trying...Kid, you see anything up there?" "Uh, they weren't going to do any campfires, were they?" asked Spyro. "What? What can you see?" said Sarge. "Smoke, a big column of it," said Spyro. Sarge swore before saying "Step it up. Smokes never a good sign." The trio sped up before turing the final turning to see the wall...complete with a gaping hole in it and zombies swarming the camp beyond.

"Dammit," said Sarge, "Pull out the artillery." Rick shook his head "No chance...we used the last of the rockets breaking out of that castle." he said. Sarge swore before hearing a comm "...a transport headed to camp A...I;m serious..." "Well, at least we have some survivors," said Sarge. "This is Premier Camp to unidentified transport. Indentify yourselves." said a voice.

"We are friendlies, we've just escaped enemy territory and we'll be there mo-" started Sarge before something slammed against the transport and and knocked it onto its side. Spyro looked down to see one of the gargoyles had smashed into the side of the other two's transport, knocking it over. Two more gargoyles landed around it, one pulling at the top hatch of the transport. "Not more of these guys," said Spyro before dropping down towards the gargoyles. The gargoyle, trying to open the transport didn;t see Spyro till it was too late, Spyro tail whipping it off, also taking the hatch off the transport.

"Guys, move it," said Spyro into the transport. Sarge, pulled Rick out of the transport, before firing his sidearm into the face of a zombie as the wayward undead began to shuffle towards the stricken transports occupants. "I hate zombies," said Sarge before firing at them.

However, the gunshot had attracted more zombies. Very soon there were dozens, some still wearing camp uniforms. Things pretty much dissolved into a survivor's match between Spyro, the soldiers, and the zombies. After a few minutes, the trio had ended up in one of the camps solid buildings. Rick was especially depressed "We're screwed...those things are gonna tear us apart." he said. "I've been in worse fights than this," said Spyro, "I had to stop an entire army from invading a city once."

Sarge said "This is not the time...Premier camp knows we're here...they're probably sending a team right now." Rick laughed bitterly "Yeah right...they won't risk anything for two troopers and a fucking dragon." "You give up hope now and you might as well just let the zombies devour you," said Sarge. At that, there was a crash as a zombie began to smash the door down...only for the windows to light up with an orange light along with the 'whoosh' of a flamethrower being heard. "That would be the cavalry," said Sarge.

At that, the door burst open and a trooper ina biohazard suit and holding a flamethrower came in. Rick sighed "I hope we get R&R from this."

...

Matt looked at the report. "A single dragoness blew apart a 2 foot thick wall like it was sandstone." he said to the aide in front of him. "It wasn't just a little dragoness, this one's full-grown and had a lot of firepower," said the aide. "Doesn't matter...other dragons have tried...and failed. The report says this one took everything the AA guns threw at it." said Matt. "I don't understand it either," said the aide, "But then again, I can't really understand how there can be zombies and gargoyles either."

"What about the survivors of the recon team?" said Matt. The aide said "Mr Spyro was sent back...the other members are taking rest and relaxation." "Can't say I blame them," said Matt. "What should we do about Mr Spyro, sir? The commander of the recon team gave a shining report on his conduct." said the aide. "Nothing changes for him," said Matt.

The Aide nodded "Yes sir...about the report of 'werewolves', sir..." Matt said "Send additional mechanized armour down to Hells half mile...but we can't spare much else...the last thing we need is two wars at once." "Anyone in particular that we should send?" asked the aide. "Send Collins." said Matt, before looking at the report again. He had a feeling that whatever was in romania would come back to haunt them.

End of chapter 10