Larry runs...and dies.

Another Ally

Tyler and Larry were still threading their way through the Maze when they met up with Ben. He was panting as if he'd been running a marathon.

"Wasn't your location on the other side of the truck?" Tyler asked, confused. "What are you doing over here?"

Larry looked the disheveled man over. "What happened? Where's Burt?" he asked.

"I got there...shortly…..after he did...There were some strange men...behind him...I...tried to warn him…but it was….too late...and….too many for me to...try...and fight," Ben managed to reply in-between gasping breaths.

"He's been kidnapped?" Tyler stared at him in disbelief.

"We gotta go save him!" Larry said, wide-eyed. "They won't be happy that he blew up the lab," he added very nervously.

"But I thought everyone after us was in the lab," Tyler protested. "And now in the canyon. Who were these people?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't know. I've never seen them before."

"Did you see where they went?"

"It looked like they were headed towards the East Mountains," Ben replied.

"Did they take the truck?" Larry asked. "We could follow them in it."

"They were traveling in a black van," Ben said. "But how could we take the truck? Burt has the keys."

"I can hot-wire it," Tyler said matter-of-factly. "Let's go."

They raced back to the truck. While Tyler worked on getting it running, Ben and Larry inspected the tire tracks of the kidnappers.

"Looks like they were headed straight for the path that leads to Cletus's valley," Larry commented.

"Who's Cletus?" Ben asked.

"Our local biochemist," Tyler replied as the truck roared to life. "Let's go."

"You have a local biochemist?" Ben asked, confused.

"He worked in the original lab," Larry said. "But that doesn't matter right now."

"It might," Tyler replied. "There's no other reason to go to that valley, they might've found out about him."

"So Cletus could be in danger, too?" Larry asked.

"Maybe."

Burt sat in the back of the truck, his arms tied too tightly behind his back. He looked out the window, cursing to himself. The brown dragon was back, pacing back and forth in front of the driving cars. He hated these stupid dragons.

The dragon suddenly froze, mid-step. The cars, as if on cue, pulled to a halt when the dragon lifted its head. It looked around franticly, obviously sensing something. Almost a split second later a large flash of darkness flashed above the group, quickly followed by a blur of orange as the brown dragon was suddenly knocked to the ground.

The darker colored dragon let out a shrill cry. It looked into the goose-like face of Shadow, and attempted to knock him off. Shadow jumped away nimbly and swept his tail towards the dirt dragon.

The eagledragon stood up quickly, slamming one of the talons on its front feet down on the orange-feathered tail. It yanked the dragongoose towards it. Shadow roared angrily and shot for the neck again as he had last time. The dirt dragon collapsed underneath the weight of Shadow.

For a moment all was still and then Shadow suddenly backed off, letting the other dragon get to its feet. It looked almost suspiciously at the dragongoose, taking a weary step back. You could almost see the wheels turning in its mind, trying to comprehend the situation. Shadow looked back intensely.

The brown dragon tilted its head questioningly. All the cars were silent, and Burt could tell everyone was focused on the dragons' strange behavior. Finally after several more minutes of silent staring and a few grunts here and there, the two dragons seemed to come to some sort of agreement.

The darker dragon swept its tail towards the car Burt was in with a pointed look at Shadow. Shadow nodded.

Burt looked shocked as the brown dragon turned swiftly towards the vehicle he was in. The eagledragon dug a talon into the door of the car, peeling back like a tin can. Burt shouted, shuffling back to the other side. The other passengers shouted in fear, one of them pulling out a gun, as the car was ripped open.

The dragon swiped out its tail and knocked some of them over. It reached into the car and pulled out the cursing Burt, careful not the harm him. Through it all Shadow simply sat and watched, looking almost proud as he gave a bored sweep of his tail and knocked over a few more humans from another car.

The brown dragon placed Burt near Shadow, swiping with its sharp claws at more people before digging away. Shadow quickly picked up the startled and slightly confused survivalist and took off; heading back the way they had came.

Burt gritted his teeth angrily as the wind surged against his face. He reminded himself never to voluntarily fly ever again.

"I can't see their tracks anymore," Tyler complained as he glanced out the window to the rocky ground below. "Just our luck they'd go over the only stretch of hard ground for miles."

Larry looked down, a worried expression on his face. He was surprised when a blip appeared on the seismo-monitor, bigger than E.B., coming towards them. Tyler glared at it.

"You have got to be kidding me," he grumbled.

Larry looked around at the ground nervously. "What do you think it is?" he asked, and he blinked in surprise when an all-too-familiar shadow flashed over them.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that was Shadow," Tyler mused, watching the orange dragon land a ways behind him.

"Looks like he's got Burt too," Ben said.

Larry turned around in his seat. "At least he's safe," he said.

Near Shadow, the brown dragon surfaced, shaking dirt from its feathers and scales. Ben tensed, eyeing it warily. The dragon paced behind Shadow, as if not knowing what to do with itself.

"You ok, Burt?" Tyler asked, watching the nervous dragon curiously.

"Fine," Burt grunted, giving the dragons an irritated glance. "Let's get back to town before anything else can go wrong."

Tyler waited until the older man had climbed onto the back of the truck and then sped off, the dragons following.

Jodi looked up when she heard the jeep pull up in front of the store. She hurried out.

Burt jumped out of the jeep, walking towards the store.

"Is everything alright?" Jodi asked.

"We successfully destroyed the lab," Burt said, "But I was captured. Luckily, the dragons rescued me." He rolled his eyes.

"And...what about that one?" Jodi glanced at the dirt dragon that had popped up behind the truck.

Burt shook his head. "Don't even get me started."

"Don't worry, she's cool," Tyler assured, hopping out of the jeep.

"It's a 'she'?" Larry asked curiously, walking up to them. "Does it talk to you, like Shadow?"

"Well, not exactly. I overheard them talking to each other when they were rescuing Burt. Shadow convinced her to join us."

"Cool," Jodi smiled happily. "One more against the whitecoats."

"Do you have any idea how strange that sentence was?" Burt asked, shaking his head at Tyler.

Tyler looked at him innocently. "What?"

"Never mind," he mumbled.

"Well, you're not gonna stop thinkin' about it, so why can't I ask?"

"You overheard a 'discussion'... between two dragons... probably more than a mile away..." Burt explained.

"Well, it's not like I can help it!" Tyler complained.

"I wasn't saying you could."

"Then stop complainin'," Tyler crossed his arms. "Besides, you're just jealous the voices only talk to me."

Burt just rolled his eyes while Larry let out a small laugh.

Jodi smiled. "Tyler, I don't think any of us really wanna even know what those voices are saying."

"Well," Ben looked at Tyler uncertainly. "I have to admit I'm a little curious."

"I wouldn't mind knowing, either," Larry smiled.

"Ok, now y'all are just pokin' fun," Tyler grumbled.

"Yes, we are," Burt said, matter-of-factly.

"You make it too easy, Tyler," Jodi smirked.

Tyler just made a face.

Burt looked around, a bit apprehensively. "Well, let's get inside. You never know when something is going to happen around here."