Chapter 2

Creedy dropped onto the top step, heaving a weary sigh as he wiped the sweat from his brow. His whole body ached. After three days of nothing but construction during the four hours of twilight per day, though there was twelve hours rest in between, he was completely beat. He heard a thwack and lifted his head, eyes searching for the source of the noise. Another thwack and he just couldn't leave it alone. He stood slowly, still looking around, until he saw Chaz, pulling back the string of her compound bow and letting another loose, the same thwack sounding as the arrow hit the target. A small smirk made its way to his lips and he descended the stairs quietly, pausing to watch her pull another arrow from her quiver and wind up.

Watching her now, she looked nothing like the fragile wisp of a woman he'd seen before. Her long sleeve shirt had been shed, leaving her in the cargos barely clinging to her hips and a dirty Army green tank top. As she pulled the string back and steadied her aim, the muscles in her arm clenched and he had to raise an eyebrow. She was thin alright, but that compact frame was packed with lean muscle. Tall, thin, and strong. He gave himself a mental slap and shook his head, clearing his throat. The corners of her lips turned upwards, but she didn't waver, instead letting off a shot.

"You ever shoot one of these?" she asked, finally turning to him. He shrugged, eyeing the compound bow she held at her side now.

"Not really." Her eyebrow rose.

"Not really?" she repeated, adding a small laugh. "Either you have or you haven't. Like being pregnant. You are or you aren't. No such thing as not really or a little bit."

"I haven't," he said finally. She smiled, holding the bow out to him. He held his hands up and backed away. "No, I don't think so." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on," she pushed. "I promise I won't make fun of you." His eyebrows shot up, and she laughed. "It's not hard. I'll show you how, okay?" He paused, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright, fine then," he said finally, taking the bow she held out to him.

"You right handed?" When he nodded, she smiled. "Good." She quickly showed him how to stand and set up the arrow for him. "Hang on a second, don't move," she said, taking the arm guard off her left arm. He watched her strap it onto his arm and then step back. "Okay, just to warn you, your draw length would be a lot longer than mine, but I'm not gonna reset my bow just for you. Sorry," she explained with a wink. "Just pull it back until it stops, steady it, and then let go."

"That simple, then," he said, sounding somewhat skeptical.

"That simple," she said with a small nod, moving to stand behind him. He sighed, shaking his head a little before pulling back and letting go, grinning when he actually hit one of the rings on the target. "Told you," she said with a shrug. "Go ahead and let off a few more."

"And you?" She only sent him a grin, stooping to pick the crossbow up from the ground a few feet away.

"Now, see that thing," he said, pointing at the crossbow, "should be handled by a man. You could put someone's eye out with that thing." Her eyebrow rose, and her blue eyes remained trained on his as she loaded it, finally breaking the gaze to aim and fire, hitting the target dead in the middle. He let out a low whistle.

"The scope helps," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, we should probably head in. Gettin' dark." He looked up at the sky and nodded. She slung the crossbow over her shoulder and walked over to the target, yanking out the arrows and dropping them into her quiver, tossing it over her shoulder. She held her hand out as she walked back to him, but he shook his head.

"I got it." A small smile touched her lips, and they walked slowly back toward the castle.

"How long do you think it'll take?" she asked quietly, nodding toward the damaged top third of the building. He sighed, shaking his head.

"As long as it takes." An uncomfortable silence ensued, and finally he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "How many were with you?"

"Seven," she answered quietly. "They kept us in our teams. People I practiced with, competed against. We were the best eight of our region, some from the same club." She gave a small shrug. "We all knew each other."

"And your family?"

"Didn't have any," she said, starting up the steps. "They died when I was about nineteen. I was already on my own by then," she continued.

"Dragons?"

"Nope. Heart attack." He paused behind her, and when she no longer heard his footsteps, she stopped as well, turning back to see him a few steps down. "They never had the pleasure of meeting one."

"Lucky for them," he quipped. She sent him a weak smile and nodded a little, avoiding his eyes.

"Her. My mother," she corrected, continuing up the stairs. "I never knew my father, never had any brothers or sisters. Just me and mom. And she got out of this hellhole before it even started."

"How old are you?" he asked, leading her down into the belly of the castle, where they could be far away from the opening in the ceiling.

"Twenty-six," she said, adjusting the crossbow over her shoulder to keep from smacking it against the wall as they went down yet another set of stairs. "Jesus Christ," she groaned, leaning against the wall. "No wonder y'all are so fuckin' skinny. Too many goddamn stairs." He chuckled, shaking his head as he sat on a step.

"You're quite thin yourself," he noted, making a show of looking her up and down. She snickered, sliding down the wall to sit next to him. A moment later, she heaved a sigh, dropping her head.

"So how safe is this place now?" she asked. He stared up at the opening above them and shrugged.

"Long as we stay in or near the shelter, we should be fine," he said. "And hopefully the damn thing won't come back."

"You know," she said, pausing to lick her lips. She stopped, glancing at him quickly. "They went to London because they think there's one male. The rest are female. Kill the male, they can't reproduce and eventually they'll die out." He blinked. "If they're like other reptiles, that bull is gonna be at least ten times bigger than the bitches any of us have seen."

"Do you believe that?" he asked, leaning an elbow on a stair behind him. She shrugged.

"Makes sense. I mean, if you think about it." She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. I guess."

"See, the way I figure," he said, tilting his head at her. "It's gonna be us versus them for the rest of human existence."

"How pessimistic of you," she quipped with a grin. He cracked a smile, and silence fell over them for a moment. Her smile fell, and she stared at her hands in her lap for a while before speaking again. "I never wanted to be here," she said, shaking her head. "Now I'm stuck here."

"It's not so bad here," he said, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear. Her eyes met his, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Besides the dragons, right?"

"Well, yeah," he said with a snicker.

"Where are the kids?" she asked suddenly, looking skywards. He scrambled to his feet, staring up through the missing ceiling.

"In the shelter," he said, glancing at her quickly.

"Close the door and stay with them," she said, reaching for her compound bow in his hand.

"What?"

"Stay with the kids and close the fucking door," she said firmly, staring up at him. He let her take the bow from him, and she started back up the steps, turning back to him at the landing. "Go, Creedy," she said. He nodded, running down the stairs toward the shelter. She watched him until he disappeared, finally swearing to herself before finding a place to hide and ready her arrows. After plopping in a corner, she set her backpack between her legs, laying out four arrow shafts. She lined up four of the explosive heads and started screwing them together, finally slinging her crossbow over one shoulder, her quiver over the other, carrying the compound in her hand as she ran along the perimeter of the castle. It passed again with a whoosh, and she ducked, barely avoiding the barb on its trailing tail. She waited until she could no longer hear the flap of its wings and took off, taking the stairs by two on the way down to the ground, sliding along the wall toward a clearing. After a quick glance around, she took off at full speed toward the horse tethered under a canopy.

Creedy slowly crept back up the stairs, stopping at the top to peer out through a window, swearing when he saw her take off toward the horse. A moment later, the horse tore away, running at top speed away from the castle. He ducked as the dragon swooped over the castle, hissing furiously as it chased her down. A good half mile away, she stopped, gracefully swinging off the horse and smacking its hindquarters, sending it on its way at a run. She hid behind a tree, and the ground shook as the dragon slammed to the ground, stalking toward her as it hissed.

She swore silently, looking around for something she could use for cover in case she couldn't get in the right position in time. After a quick glance back up at the castle, she darted for a large rock right in front of the beast, rolling behind it just as it spit a healthy stream of fire at her. Sweat instantly broke out on her skin at the intense heat, and she was sure she'd have blisters. The ground shook as it took another step toward her, and she lifted up, swinging around and taking aim through the scope of the crossbow. It let out a hiss, drool dripping from the corners of its mouth and pulled back, taking a breath to blow more fire, and she let the arrow go, ducking back down behind the boulder as it impacted. She yelped at the explosion, curling into a trembling ball and covering her head. After counting her heartbeats for a full five minutes, she lifted her head over the top of the rock, sighing in relief. She stood slowly, staring at the now dead dragon, flames still licking at its skin. "Shit," she sighed, dropping to her knees. Her fingers shook as she reached for the chain around her neck, pulling a pendant from inside her shirt and kissing it, shaking her head. With a grunt, she stood and dusted herself off, heading back into the woods to pick up her compound bow before slowly walking back toward the castle. Her knees gave out halfway up the first set of stairs, and she let out a strangled cry, ripping her knees open on the stone. She just lay there, too tired now to move, and rested her head on a step.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell did you think you were doing?" Creedy demanded, running down the stairs toward her. He helped her to her feet, and she let him support her, pointing out toward where the dragon now lay. He only shook his head, half carrying her back through the castle toward the shelter. She slid to the floor just outside the door to the safe room, still huffing and puffing. "Well, I must say you sit a horse well," he said, sitting down across from her. She snickered, but it quickly turned into a sigh as she leaned her head back against the wall.

"One down, thousands to go." She let her eyes close for a moment, concentrating on slowing her breathing. "I just hope Van Zant figures out it was a damn good idea to leave me behind."

"Either that, or he'll wish he had you along."

"Well, if that's the case he can go fuck himself," she mumbled. Creedy couldn't help but chuckle at that, returning the smile she granted him. "I'm sure Quinn will appreciate my insisting on staying behind anyway." Creedy only nodded.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding at her necklace. Her fingers closed around it protectively, dropping it back inside her shirt.

"A dragon pendant." His eyebrow rose, and he leaned toward her a little. "My mother gave it to me when I was sixteen."

"You took a liking to dragons then," he surmised.

"Yeah, well," she said, shrugging. "That was long before I met one. You know," she continued, "it took them a few years to migrate to our side of the world." He nodded. "I guess we were better equipped to handle them at first, but it looks just like this place now." She heaved a sigh, chewing on her bottom lip. "They accidentally found out how to kill them, and word spread fast, I guess."

"Not to our side of the world." She smiled, shaking her head.

"Your communications were out by then. They tried to send word, but never got any answers. Hopefully this theory that there's only one bull is right. Eventually they'll burn everything up and run out of ashes to eat." She shifted against the wall. "Starve to death, the motherfuckers."

"You've got quite a mouth on you," he noted with a grin. She shrugged.

"Damn yanks, right?"

"That's right," he said, the grin remaining. She chuckled a little, shifting again with a grimace.

"My ass is going numb."

"Well, pick it up then," he said. She made a face at him, groaning as she stood. He stood as well, picking up her compound bow, grunting as he worked the door to the safe room open. She slung her pack over her shoulder and picked up her crossbow, following him into the room. He pulled the door almost shut and settled down on the floor beside it, watching her curl up on a stack of blankets, quickly falling asleep, still clutching the pendant tightly in her fingers. He smiled, shaking his head a little, and resigned himself to sleep as well.

---

She woke suddenly, a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes fell on Creedy, who was crouching over her. He smiled apologetically, holding a finger to his lips and nodding toward the sleeping children.

"I just noticed the damage you did to yourself," he said, glancing at her bloodied knees. "We need to get you cleaned up." She nodded, wincing as he helped her to her feet. He led her up the stairs and around a few corridors into what seemed to be a group sleeping room, several bunk beds lined up. He sat her on a lower bunk, unzipping the front pouch of her backpack, which she just now noticed he'd brought along. She watched him try to clean her scrapes through the holes she'd made in the knees of her pants, finally laughing. "Yeah, I think you're going to have to take them off," he said. She could have sworn he'd blushed, but with as dark as it was in the room, she couldn't tell for sure. "I might be able to find a pair of mine that didn't get burned, but I can't make any promises," he said, turning to pull open a charred bureau drawer.

"Yeah, like your pants would fit me," she quipped, standing to remove her cargos. "And these were my favorite ones, too, dammit." He snickered, dropping a neatly folded pair on the bed next to her.

"You're pretty handy with this little medical kit in your bag," he commented, glancing up to see if she was wincing as badly as he had. She shrugged.

"I think I've got a sewing kit in there somewhere, too."

"Good. You can fix your pants with it." She laughed, watching him gently mop up the dried blood. "You've got some pebbles in there," he sighed. "It's going to hurt."

"I think I can handle it," she said, smiling as he glanced up at her quickly.

"Great," he mumbled. "Not only are you sitting on my bed with your pants off, you're mocking how I handled being in your position earlier today."

"I'm not mocking," she insisted. "I'm just saying I can handle a little sting." She suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, gripping the sheets tightly. She was amazed the bed was nearly untouched by the flames, only one post charred. He taped a gauze pad to each scrape and stood, busying himself with putting her medical kit back together and replacing it in her bag as she pulled on the pants he'd put on the bed.

"Well, I guess we're even now." She looked up at him, both smiling as she demonstrated just how loose his jeans were on her.

"I hope I don't have to do any running any time soon," she said with a chuckle. "I'd end up falling with your pants around my ankles."

"Oh, now there's a picture," he said. She clicked her tongue at him and flopped back on the bed, staring up through a hole in the ceiling leading through the upper levels to the sky.

"You know, if you think they can handle sleeping like this, you could let the kids out. Set them all up in here." He glanced around. "Doesn't look like it's too bad, except the beds right near the door. They wouldn't have to sleep on stone that way." He ran a hand through his hair and turned around a few times, surveying the damage.

"Yeah, maybe," he said. "You think we'll get another one?"

"Not with a stinky carcass down there," she snickered, shaking her head. "I think we'll be fine all hours of the day until it completely breaks down. It'll smell like shit until it does, but at least we'll be safe." He nodded, licking his lips.

"Alright," he said finally. "I'll go get them. We can put two of them in each bed." She nodded, curling up on one side as he left the room. A few moments later, she listened as he tucked each of them into their beds, finally sitting behind her to face them. "Okay kids, prayers." She heard the ruffling of blankets as the children sat up and watched him expectantly. "What do we do when we wake?"

"Keep both eyes on the sky," came the chorus' reply. She turned onto her back, a look of bewilderment as she watched the exchange.

"What do we do when we sleep?"

"Keep one eye on the sky."

"What do we do when we see him?"

"Dig hard, dig deep, run for shelter, and never look back." A soft smile touched her lips, and he nodded, sitting there until they all settled back down.

"Guess we're bunking up then, huh?" she asked quietly. He glanced at her over his shoulder at her and looked around the room.

"No, I'll stay up," he whispered back. "Keep watch."

"I'll hear them," she said. He sighed, and she reached out, resting a hand on his arm. "You need sleep as much as they do." He nodded, and she rolled back onto her side, scooting over to give him more room. He slid under the covers behind her and heaved a sigh. "But don't worry," she added, burrowing deeper under the covers. "They won't come back tonight."