AUTHOR'S NOTES
I'm sorry about the wait, it's taken way longer than expected. Just after watching the sequel to HTTYD and realized that someone very important to the future of my book had died (I'm not going to spoil it for the people who haven't seen it) so I'm just going to go on as if he's still alive. But, I may make a few adaptations to the book throughout the next couple chapters. It's been a while since I wrote the last chapter so forgive me if I forget about a few things. I apologize to any Russian viewers, it's an occupational hazard. Love you really :)
Next chapter will be coming sooner than this one so please like and follow this story and give me about a week. Also, please drop a review below as they are much appreciated and I find each one of them helpful.
Jack woke up to an unexpected thud as the truck slammed on the brakes. He was slowly getting weaker now, and he could feel it in his eyes. His arm had finally stopped bleeding, thanks to the bandage, but it looked worse than before. He looked around at the other two. Toothless lay there unmoving, still knotted up in the ropes that pulled him down to the ground, letting out the occasional heart broken groan that confirmed the imminent defeat of the beast. Hiccup looked back at him, his drooping eyes barely open. He didn't even have the strength to keep his head raised from the cold metal floor. This was inhumane. If they didn't get medical attention soon, they're sure to die. "Why didn't I just pick death?" Thought Jack, recalling the events on the bridge, "Why didn't I just choose death? This would never have happened, these people would never have been here!" Suddenly, Jack heard the door of the truck slam shut. The men were shouting in Russian, and Jack didn't even have to translate to know that they weren't in a particularly good mood.
One of them pulled open the rear canvas. A spotlight shone upon the rear of the Ural, blinding Jack as he tried to focus on the man's face. With a single hit, the figure broke open the metal lock that held Jack's cage closed. "Out!" He ordered, but Jack could barely move a muscle. "I said out!" The man repeated, shouting now and aiming his rifle towards Jack's head. He heard Toothless growl in fury from behind him. Jack made every last attempt to pull his frail body from where he lay. He tried to stand up, but was stuck down with a single hit. He made a heavy impact on the ground, landing in a pool of wet mud and sharp rocks, and this didn't help his condition. He felt a body crush down on top of his, binding his hands and legs in rope and preventing him from escaping.
Hiccup was the next to come out, but he seemed so weak that he had to be dragged out from his cage. He was thrown to the ground, splashing mud against Jack, and tied up. "You're never going to get away with this! My Dad's going to know I'm missing and kill every single one of you!" He shouted from the ground, struggling to break free from the ropes, to which the Russians laughed at him. "You think someone will come for you? No one will, you're all alone!" One of them yelled at him and kicked him in the gut so hard that Hiccup was winded from the impact, unable to breathe. "Hiccup! Don't fuel them, it'll only make things worse for you!" Jack whispered. "Where they right? Will no one come for us?" He wondered. Even if they where, they stood no chance. All Berk had was swords, battle axes, and the odd bow and arrow. If these guys found out where it was, it would mean the slaughter of all that lived and breathed the same air as they did. No dragon or human stood a fight against these guys. The Russians were fearful fighters, they took no prisoners, and when they do, they'd be lucky to survive within a day. All hope of survival was burning out fast and he needed to think of an escape plan.
As he lay there, he seen a group of men rushing to the rear of the Ural, pushing along what seemed to be a huge cart. They slowly dragged Toothless from the truck, who was struggling with the men. The splint of metal was still stuck inside of him, and his black scales were now covered in red. He was weak, but he wasn't going down without a fight, not with Hiccup's life in danger. All of a sudden, his tail broke free of the ropes and swung around swiftly, swiping multiple men to the ground. He tried to open his mouth to shoot but was quickly restrained again. The men were yelling at him in Russian and Jack could tell that the dragon was afraid of them. Toothless roared and growled at the group as he was constrained to the cart-like mechanism. They wheeled him off as his painful groans faded out into the distance. "Toothless!" Hiccup shouted after him. "You sick bastards, what are you going to do to him?!" He shouted at one of them, gasping for breath. "Don't worry, mister...'Hiccup'. Your, thing, will be safe with us." He smugly replied and chuckled. "Take them with the others..." He said to the group in Russian before strutting off.
Hiccup felt an arm grasp his. "No!" He shouted as he struggled to break free, "Why are you doing this?" The men grabbed the two of them and dragged them across the rough stony ground. Behind him, Jack could hear Hiccup yelling in protest. "Hiccup! Stop!" He bluntly yelled back at him. He wasn't going to survive much longer yelling like that, nor was Jack. He started to wonder if they were going to get out of here alive, and how. These men were heavily armed and he was familiar with their skills in combat, especially against Americans like him. If they found out who he was, he'd surely be the first one to die. He looked behind him and seen what looked like a huge prison like facility. Jack looked in awe at the size of it. "What...the...hell?" He mumbled. How long have they been here exactly? It had to take more than just a couple of days to build a structure that size. And how did he not notice it before?
All of this seemed confusing to him. A lot of questions needed answers; Just how did they get here? How many of them are there? Why are they here? He looked at Hiccup who was wondering the same thing. He'd never seen anything like this before. All of this seemed alien to him. The two were dragged through two double doors at the front of the building. It felt good to be out of the rain, but the whole place smelled like rotten flesh. There was no air anywhere and Jack could hardly breathe. The whole place had somewhat of an eerie look to it, and all the walls where bare and damp. They stopped abruptly and were dropped onto the hard concrete floor. The men talked with another soldier behind some sort of desk. It sounded like they were being marked in, as prisoners. Jack rolled over to face Hiccup. "Where are we Jack?" Hiccup asked, shaking from the whole ordeal. "I don't know, it looks like some kind of prison, and we're the prisoners." He replied, "And I don't think we're coming out alive..."
Hiccup stared at him, shocked. "So, d...d'you have a plan to get out of here, preferably alive?" He whispered to him. "I'm working on it..." Jack said as he rolled over onto his other side. "So, where do you think the others are?" Hiccup asked. Jack peered down what seemed to be a long hallway, with cells on either side of it. At the end of it, he seen what looked like a white tiled room, the walls covered in blood. A dragon shaped figure was hanging by it's legs from the ceiling. As he tried to focus on the body, he went numb. He started to breathe very heavily. "Jack? What is it?" Asked Hiccup slowly. He turned over to face Hiccup. "I've found Stormfly." He whispered, pale-faced. "W...what?" Hiccup peeked over Jack's head and seen the hanging figure, slowly swinging from side to side. He dropped down and stared at Jack in disbelief, blurry eyed and wide-mouthed. "If that's Stormfly, then...oh gods, Toothless!" He started to panic now, but before Jack could say anything, the men lifted them up once again and dragged them down another corridor. "Stormfly...no!" Hiccup moaned quietly as he seen the door to the room slowly close over.
Down and down they went, through countless barred doors and checkpoints. Jack made sure to make a note of the place in every detail that he could possibly recollect. Section C, cell 1380, gate D. Deeper and deeper into the place they went. "how big is this prison exactly?" Thought Jack as they were dragged down the hallway until finally they reached a huge metal door. Jack looked around and seen a sign read 'Экспериментальная комната', the Experimental Room. Jack started to breathe heavier now. What did this make them? They were now going to be experimental candidates to some sort of twisted Russian experiment, they were going to be the lab rats! The men unlocked the heavy metal door and dragged the two into what looked like a dark room, with very little lighting, and one or two barred windows. This room was different to the many cells that covered the building in that these cells where more like open cages. The two were thrown into two cages and the doors were padlocked shut. "Enjoy yourselves tonight, don't expect to survive by tomorrow." The men laughed and walked out, bolting the metal door shut. The florescent lights that covered the ceiling flickered to life and they could see who they were sharing the space with. "Jack! Hiccup! Thank gods you're alive!" Yelled a familiar voice from the cage opposite him. "Astrid!" Shouted Hiccup in relief and looked around to the cage beside him. He seen a scaly black lump curled into a ball and he immediately recognised the figure. "Toothless! Buddy!" He shouted at the beast, but with no reply. "Toothless? Please bud c'mon do something!" To that he got a slight moan from him.
Jack heard a voice from beside him call his name. He looked around from where he lay and seen a blue and black dragon stare back at him. "Blitz! Your...your alive!" Said Jack relieved. Blitzen looked over at Jack's blackened arm. "Your arm! What happened?" He said concerned. "We crash landed..." Blitzen looked up. "Wait, what? How?" He abruptly interrupted. "We where looking for you Blitz. After I left the cave, I went straight back to Berk and we went looking for you!" Jack exclaimed, "We seen the cave, we know what happened." Blitzen looked to the ground, remembering about the incident. "Astrid was still outside on lookout with Stormfly when we seen them fall to the ground. We tried to go for them but we got shot down as well!" Jack explained to him. "And it would never have happened if you hadn't gone off with Jack in the first place!" Astrid yelled at him. "I guess I owe you all an apology." Blitzen said to the group, "I shouldn't have went off like that, this is all my fault."