RING-RING-RING!
The sounds of a bell ringing ran through the barracks and woke up every dragon. Is it that time already? Cereus asked, straining her neck to look out the window next to her. The sun had only barely cracked over the horizon and gave only a slight amount of light to the land. Still unbelievably tired, from having missed a night of sleep, she got on her talons and got her equipment from her personal chest, the small scavenger habitat she made still barren, like nothing had even been there.
It was a stab to the heart, seeing that again, but she just had to pretend it didn't exist. "Hey," she could instantly recognize the voice, it was her guard duty partner.
"Hi Viper," Cereus said back to him, still grabbing her equipment.
"So I… Uh... I heard what happened yesterday. Come, let's go get some breakfast. We can talk about it, alright?" He soothed, putting a talon on her shoulder. "You can even have my fruit, how's that sound?"
Cereus couldn't resist fruits. She knew the cafeteria was serving her favourite fruit today - melon. Oh Cereus, imagine the sweet, juicy melon. She thought, the thought making her maw water like a starving animal seeing a slab of meat. "Ok. Let's go eat," she said.
"There we go, c'mon," he said, helping her up and walking to the cafeteria. Finding an empty table, they sat down with their tray of food - a Chicken breast with melon on the side. "Here ya' go, your melon,"
She took the melon from his talons with a giddy expression, biting into it released the melon's sweet juices. "Tamk you," she said through the crisp crunch of the melon.
Laughing slightly, Viper began to speak. "Cereus, don't talk with your maw full!" He said, sighing and shaking his head slightly. "You look like a silly dragonet!" He finished, chuckling slightly again. "But Cereus, listen. We should talk about what happened last night, how do you feel?" He pressed, Cereus gulping down the melon.
"I just don't understand why I can't have a scavenger friend," she said, poking at the raw chicken breast. "I was going to take care of it! But I made the mistake of bringing it here, and I got it killed."
Viper had a visibly angry expression on his face, though Cereus wasn't able to see as she kept playing with her food. "Listen, don't listen to what our officer says -" he lifted her head slightly to make eye contact. "- He just wants to make others miserable and feel bad about themselves. Look at yourself! He's winning, don't let him win."
Cereus broke eye contact and looked down again. "You're right," she admitted, drawing a scavenger stick figure out of melon mush. Doesn't change the fact he told me there'd be consequences if I did that.
Viper smiled, and cut a piece of his chicken. "Alright, well let's finish eating, and then wash our - wait," he stopped, looking at his talons. "Wash your talons," he said. Cereus smiled for a second, then went back to eating her food.
"Alright, my stomach's growling anyways," she said, munching the melon and finishing her meal. Walking to the nearby water basin, she washed her talons and maw of the sticky melon juices. Taking her spear and extra equipment, she took off with Viper to the tunnel for their guard duty. Waving to the night shift, they took off and let the others take charge. All was well until they heard what sounded like wood being hit with something.
"Cereus, I don't think that's an animal," Viper said, spear in hand before he even started to talk. Though it was very faint, they could still hear the rhythmic sounds of wood being abused. "I really think we should check this out."
Cereus nodded "We should," she said, grabbing her spear as well. "Let's Go, you take the lead," she told him. Making a sound of confirmation, the two slowly began to make their way into the tunnel. They had been walking for what felt like an eternity, nearing the point of complete darkness, the sounds had suddenly stopped.
"I don't hear anything," Viper whispered, trying to look around the dark tunnel. Cereus was about to speak up before another sound had echoed through.
Cl-Clop
Cl-Clop
Cl-Clop
The sound of some kind of hard talon steps have echoed through, unlike the quiet clicks of talons, this had more weight, more power to it. Both dragons had seized up like statues, unable to move as they both tried to listen in. Sounds of the talon steps had remained unchanged for a full minute, until they were replaced for a series of clicks, then a buzzing sound as a red light lit the tunnel. "What's that!?" Viper questioned, not even bothering to whisper. "This isn't a drag-"
"Bluko? Hoos Deear?" A strange, foreign voice called, an outrageously bright white light filling the entire tunnel following. "Heeela?" It called out, the sounds of talon steps starting again, getting much, much closer.
Three moons, Cereus swore, feeling herself shrink as the sound grew ever closer, and the light seemed to get more concentrated. Looking to her left, Viper seemed to have the same reaction as her, they were both faced with this unknown, seemingly demonic entity. Oh moons. Oh no. It's almost here. The source of the bright light had just passed the corner, and shone the light directly at the two. Both parties had stood in their places for a few moments, simply starting at each other. Is that? Cereus wondered, squinting her eyes and looking closer. A massive scavenger? She tried to move closer, then it suddenly ran the other way. "Hey! Wait!" She shouted, chasing the scavenger, Viper following behind her.
What the hell? David wondered, running away from the dragons. This can't be real, dragons don't exist! Looking behind him, he saw the dragons chasing him with spears in their talons. Oh god! I need to call John! He thought, running for his life. Managing to put some distance between him and the dragons, it was lost almost immediately when his foot got caught on a wooden plank.
Both dragons were right on top of him, and he had a spear barreling towards him. Without thinking, he moved his body slightly to avoid the spear, the weapon permanently embedding itself in the wood. Using his flashlight as a weapon, he bashed the bulky dragon's head with it and pushed off the smaller one, but not before he kicked the bigger one to the ground. Taking the opportunity, he ran away.
"Three moons," Viper swore, holding his head in his talons. "That scavenger has some force. Cereus," he suddenly said, catching her attention. "Go get others, you know how scavengers are, they normally come in groups," he told her. She nodded and went the other way. Alright, I just need to follow the scavenger. He told himself, getting up with a groan as his chest ached. I can't let it get it's friends. He thought, running out the tunnel, and suddenly tripping when he reached the outside.
Running towards his cabin, he scrambled to get the keys to his door. Shitshitshit, come on! Please! He begged, dropping his key a couple times before he managed to open the door. Pulling the door open, then slamming it shut and locking it, he pressed his back against it and stood there, still processing what he saw. Standing against the door for a few minutes before he ran to his phone. Three beeps indicated the numbers 911, and then it began to ring. Ringing… even more ringing…
"Hello 911, what's -" the operator didn't even have time to speak has David began to frantacially make demands.
"I need John on the phone! Get me John I need to talk to him, please!"
"I'll get him on the phone, but what's your -"
"JUST GET JOHN HADDEN ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW!" Yelling at the operator made him feel terrible, so he collected himself for a moment and spoke again. "Please."
"Alright, I'm transferring you."
"Hello? Who is -"
"John! It's me, I need you help right now," David said through the phone.
"What? David? What's wrong?"
"Listen, it's hard to explain, just… Just get a group of people here, and please. Make sure they have some guns," he demanded, then a banging on the door echoed through the house, loud enough for John to hear. "Oh shit! They're here!" David exclaimed, running around his house to look for a weapon, eventually finding something in his workshop. That'll do.
A few more - Viper thought, smashing his shoulder against the door a multitude of times before it finally burst open, splinters of wood littering the clean wood laminate. Finally, now where is that -"
"Coome on douu zonms ovf dipches!" The scavenger yelled, a large mass just barely missing Viper as he dodged it. Looking at the weapon, he could see that it punched a hole straight through the floor. The massive maul was easily pulled out and it wasted no time swinging at him again, the maul grazing his mail slightly.
Viper swiped at the scavenger's arm, trying to grapple it but only caused a minor scratch. However, the scavenger didn't seem to process that his arm had blood dripping from it. Trying another strategy, he tried to impale the scavenger with his tail, only missing by a few millimeters. "Slippery bastard!" He cursed, and the scavenger seemed to respond.
"Dsae doobedi two dour caiel!" It yelled, jumping around the dragon and bringing the maul down on his tail, the sound of bone being smashed echoed throughout the house, only shortly followed by a roar of pain.
Viper turned around and pushed the scavenger against the kitchen counter, holding it down and biting down on its shoulder, using his free arm, the scavenger smacked it off with the maul. Cereus, three moons please hurry! He prayed. The scavenger then grabbed his head, twisted a knob on the stove and then pressed Viper's head against the burning surface. Screaming out as the heat passed through his scales, and into his flesh.
"John! Please hurry! I don't know how long I can last!" David yelled in the direction of the phone, groaning when the dragon pushed him off. Scales charred from the stovetop, and the smell of cooked flesh filled the air. David took the chance to run outside and into his garage, blood trailing behind him as he entered it and shut the door behind him. I just need to open the keys -"WHERE ARE MY KEYS!" He screamed, the place where his keys were torn open.
"Rher rar roure?!" The dragon yelled, the sounds of talon steps just outside the door. Scrambling to find another solution.
Dammit! I'll just fight my way through. He thought, taking a new weapon with him.
It must be in here, Viper thought, moving to open the door, but was stopped to listen to the sounds coming from the other side.
Brrt!
Brrt!
Brrrrrrrrr
The sounds of some kind of foreign tool tore its way through the air, and Viper jumped back when a metal blade with a brutal, demonic edge that seemed to move on it's own ripped open the door in seconds. Viper didn't know what it was, all he knew is that he had to run, as he stood no chance against this alien weapon. Attempting to fly away, he found he was met by failure, falling face first on the ground. Luckily, he managed to fall just in time to avoid getting ripped apart by the weapon, the same couldn't be said for the tree next to him, though. The weapon chopped it in half in seconds, leaving a clean cut. Turning around, the scavenger towered over him, placing a foot on his chest to hold him down, he raised the weapon.
Viper closed his eyes and looked away. Please Cereus, come back, he prayed to the moons, and they responded. A net was thrown over the scavenger, jamming the weapon and rendering it useless. Looking behind the scavenger, a large group of Sandwing soldiers had appeared from the snow. The scavenger attempted to fight back, but it was overpowered and outnumbered quickly.
"Viper! Oh my moons are you ok?" Cereus appeared from the crowd and helped up Viper. "Your tail is broken! And your face! Oh moons, we need to get you to a doctor," she said, hurrying him to the crowd of dragons. They passed by the scavenger, seeing it on the ground and tied up brought relief to Viper, now? All he wanted was just to get some rest.
A/N: Pretty action packed chapter! Hopefully I was able to make everything clear, especially with the POV juggling. Anyways, constructive criticism is always appreciated
