Nathan

Nathan woke up with the floor underneath him flexing back and forth softly, and oddly cold.

But I thought I was in the middle of a desert.

He opened his eyes, yawning.

"Oh, you're awake!" said a familiar voice. The floor underneath him had seemed to vibrate corresponding with the voice's dialogue.

"Yep." Nathan mumbled sleepily.

"Good. Now can you um, get off my back? I've been carrying you for like, five hours, and you're light and all, but now my back's sore."

Off his back, what?

Nathan's gaze drifted downwards to the 'floor', which was covered in blinding white scales.

"Ah. Sure." Nathan stood up and shook himself out, then leapt onto the warm sand.

"Thanks." Jyn sighed, sitting down.

Nathan nodded respectfully. "No problem. Thank you for carrying me."

Jyn eyed him curiously. "You know, I was hoping you'd respond this way to sleeping. I mean, Crusoe said that um, the species you are now can act a little...cranky, when they don't get the proper sleep."

Nathan blinked the rest of the sleep out of his eyes.

"Do you see any irony in this conversation?" he asked suddenly.

Jyn tilted his reflective head sideways. "What?"

Nathan shrugged. "I'm just noticing that now I'm shorter than you, when usually it's the reverse."

"Huh. I guess that is ironic. I think. Isn't that how irony works?" he asked.

"Psh. I dunno." Nathan responded.

Jyn rubbed his sore shoulder, barely registering a flinch.

"Yeah. I think we should keep walking." he said, standing up. "But I find it strange though," he paused. "That I haven't seen a single dragon other than you and myself out here. Which, I don't blame them." he said, wiping his forehead. "I don't know how anyone could live in a heat like this."

Maybe…

Maybe it's just something because of what kind of dragon he is too. He's all ice-like, so common sense says he's built for cold environments.

Thank you common sense!

Instead of pointing this out, Nathan decided to let Jyn find out by himself.

"So um," Nathan tapped his chin. "Which direction?"

Jyn looked at the clear sky.

"South. South sounds good." He said.

Nathan blinked. "Why south?"

Jyn responded with a shrug and a flick of his spiked tail, walking in the supposedly southern direction.

"I have a good feeling we'll find answers."

Nathan's scales returned to their previous red color.

"Well that didn't give me any." he muttered.

"WHOO-HOO!" Jyn had slid halfway down a sand dune, exclaiming in startled excitement.

"And OW, HOT!"

Nathan slid down beside him and had to jump to slap him in the back of the head. "Ha!"

"Again, ow! What was that for?"

"Because you're a dweeb."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"I'll leave that for you to figure out."

Jyn didn't answer.

"Jyn? Hello?"

Jyn didn't respond.

Nathan waved his talons in front of Jyn's eyes.

"Wha-"

"Look." Jyn said.

Nathan followed Jyn's gaze.

"Oh, great."

Mountains.

Whoopee.

"Ohhhhh shoot." Jyn sighed. "Well, on the bright side, it's not going to be so hot."

"Yeah," Nathan muttered. "Great."

Suddenly, a scraggly shape tumbled out from a scrubby bush-like plant.
It was….a dragon. But tan, and very lean, like he hadn't eaten in days, maybe weeks?

Nathan began wondering how long it'd be before he'd need to eat again.

Are they hostile?

Jyn beat him to the punch. "Hello? Are you alright?" he called.

The scrappy creature's head flicked toward him quickly, it's eyes full of expressions of predatory hunger

It rattled out a cry as it charged toward them, haphazardly sliding on the sand as it advanced toward them.

I think it's going to attack us. What the hell?

"Uhm, Jyn? Got any plans in case this thing tries to fight us and erm," he gulped, noting the dragon was larger than him. "Eat us?"

Jyn winced. "Um. I uh. I dunno, fight it?"

Nathan's confidence fell. "Yeah. Great. Wonderful plan, General Eisenhower."

Jyn looked back toward the approaching dragon.

Who had vanished.

"What? Where did he- ACK" Jyn was cut off as the tan dragon leapt at his neck out from under the sand.

Nathan leapt back as Jyn clawed the dragon off, a light trickle of blue blood leaking from a small gash in Jyn's neck.

The dragon was thrown off, and he retreated shortly backwards, hissing and snarling as the heat seared the ground around them.

"What now?" Jyn growled.

"Hey, you're the guy with the plans, not me." Nathan pointed out, backing away from the dragon.

Upon closer inspection, he noted the dragon's eyes were oozing crimson blood, as multiple wounds were left similar, with some looking very infected and black. His sand-colored scales were covered in dry blood, his teeth stained a gory maroon.

"What is this thing, a zombie?" Nathan muttered.

"No." Jyn muttered. "I think it's...a neurological infection. It's a nerve toxin. It can be cured, but we don't have such things on-hand." he said, avoiding a lunge the infected dragon lashed out.

How does he know that?

The dragon stopped, sniffing the air. He spun to charge toward Nathan.
"AH!" Nathan scrabbled backwards, suddenly feeling quite terrified.

"Nathan, use your venom!" Jyn called, bounding towards him.

"What venom?!"

Suddenly, he felt an odd feeling of focus wash over him as time seemed to slow down.

Nathan shut his eyes.

Everything went silent.

Am I dead?

Did I get turned into a zombie or something?

He peeked through his eyelids slowly.

The dragon was screeching, rolling in the sand in an attempt to rid itself of some kind of goo-looking stuff.

"Great job!" Jyn exclaimed, helping him up.

"W-what just…." Nathan stammered.

"You spat venom! That thing doesn't know what's happening!"

"Dragon." Nathan corrected.

"What?"

"You called him a thing. He's obviously a dragon."

Jyn frowned. "I'm not so sure anymore…" he said sadly, trailing off.

What happened to this dragon?

And could that happen to us?