"John! Please hurry! I don't know how long I can last!" David yelled to the phone, his voice barely recognizable, then that was followed by the sounds of roaring, then it cut out. John wasn't even by the phone, he had already gone with a large group of people to his house a few minutes earlier, and was speeding down the freeway.

"Ok, turn at this left," John said, turning left onto a dirt road, their speed slowing down considerably, but they were close. David's cabin soon came into view, and the squad car came to a full stop in seconds, one of the officers hitting their head on the headrest. A glance showed they were first to arrive. John pressed a few buttons, then got another device and began to talk. "David!" He tried, a few seconds gave no response. "David! It's John! Are you there?" He asked over the speakers, his voice overpowering the sirens. "David! If you can hear us, please respond!" Again, no response. John let out a long exhale, then followed by a long inhale, "DAVID!"


"What is that horrible noise?" A young sandwing asked while sitting in the comfort of the warm cabin, his body practically becoming part of the sofa cushions, horns poking holes into the cushions.

"DAVID!" It said again.

"That's it!" He said. That's it, I'm too pissed off to not put whatever's making that sound in its place. He angrily thought, grabbing his spear and marching out, ignoring the other dragons running back to the tunnel. Outside, blue and red lights flashed, and a spotlight was pointed at him, the lights coming from a strange building.


"Sir, is that a dragon?" One of the officers asked, the others leaning forward to try to get a better look.

"I -" John said, he was just as surprised as the others, seeing a strange alien creature standing on David's front porch was unreal. "I think it is, it's even holding a spear - see?" He said, pointing to the spear. The dragon, unlike the officers, seemed to be more bold, approaching the vehicle slowly. "Wait, get your service pistols, who has the bean bag?" He asked.

"I do, sir," an officer in the back said. John grabbed his service pistol and turned off the safety.

"Alright, here's the plan."


What in the three moons is this? He wondered, getting closer, then jumping back when the sides opened and four large scavengers came out, shouting commands at him. Pointing his spear at the group, he backed away and tried to put some distance between them. Ok, just keep your distance, they don't have wea - "AHH!" He screamed and dropped to the floor when a large object impacted him in the leg, dropping him to the ground. Two of the four scavengers moved around him to bind him by his legs, and one used cable ties to make a makeshift muzzle. Trying to get up, he was again shot with a bean bag round, tears began to flow freely from his eyes. Three moons, what are they going to do to me? He wondered, trying to listen in to the scavenger's conversation.


"This is John Hadden, we have a code… Uh… Code something. We just need a large muzzle," John said into his squad car radio, the others inspecting the dragon, one noticing something about the dragon's tail.

"Oh shit!" An officer said, backing away from the dragon. "That thing has a stinger on its tail!" He yelled to the others.

John picked up the radio again, "also bring a large pillow, we got a big… Animal to bring in," he added.

"Why are you trying to bring in an animal?" Dispatch asked him.

"Well, it's better to see," John responded, then walked to the cabin, inspecting the trail of blood and other damaged property, what caught his attention was the chainsaw. Kneeling next to it, he could see that it had been jammed with a net - a primitive net, made of what looked to be some kind of straw. There was also a high concentration of dragon footprint, surrounding a line of blood shape like a V, still warm enough to melt the snow falling on it. No. No! They wouldn't. He prayed, hands shaking. However, footprints to and back to the tunnel suggest so.

"Hey, John!" Another officer snapped him out of his trance, hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, we bagged up the dragon, now come help us get it back to the station. Press is the last thing we want," he said, helping John up and walking to the car with him. "Let's find out what this dragon did with David."


Thrown into the back of the truck, the dragon scrambled to try to break off the metal cuffs but was stopped when he felt a heavy metal barrel pressed against his chest. "Dount bry dranybing" the scavenger said, and though he didn't understand, he still had a good idea of what it said, not wanting to see what kind of painful end he'd meet if one of those weapons hit him dead-on. A slow rumble turned to a slightly more soothing sensation as the box they were in moved, small talk occurred between the scavengers dressed in blue, he didn't understand them but still tried to listen in, assuming they were talking about why he was so small.

An undetermined amount of time had passed, and they had come to a stop, sending all their passengers forward by a small amount. This happened multiple times before the doors were opened and he was ushered into a dark gray building, filled with what seemed to be an army of scavengers. Thankfully for him, he was then brought inside an even more depressing room, a single table with some kind of nearly invisible glass, with a green edge separating the two sides. They kicked aside some kind of object, and placed him down, making him face the mirror, and restraining him to the legs of the table, and replaced his muzzle with a more comfortable one. "W-what's going to ha-happen to me?" He asked, the scavenger only responded by spitting at him.

"Drudmerer," He had no idea what it had just said, but could only assume it was some kind of insult. Looking down at his talons, he tried to pull the chains apart but only proved how utterly stuck he was. The table seemed to be securely mounted to the ground, his cuffs were nigh unbreakable, and his mouth and stinger were muzzled.

"He-Hello?" He asked again. If this is a cell, there surely must be other dragons, he reasoned. "Are there any other Sandwings here? Maybe a Sea or Mudwing?" He stopped as if he'd get a response, then tried again.


"Well, now what?" An officer asked John, the two staring at the dragon through one way glass. They had already figured out that the dragon can talk, but not in English. "How are we supposed to communicate with it?" John stared at the dragon and began to walk out the door. "Wait! John!" He tried to stop the officer, but couldn't stop him as he entered and locked the door of the interrogation room.

"Hey you overgrown salamander," he said in a sing-song voice. "I get that you don't understand me, but I know you can see," he said, getting his tablet and bringing up a picture of David. "This," he said, using his finger to draw a red circle around him. "This is David," he then pointed at himself "I am John," he then pointed at the dragon "you are..?" The dragon only titled his head. Hell. "I. Am. A. Human," he said, pointing to himself, then to the dragon. "You. Are. A. Dragon," he said, pointing back at himself. "I. Am. A. Human- You. Are. A…"

Seeming to understand, the dragon opened its mouth a few times before, "dragon?" John had a massive smile plastered on his face.

"Yes!" He cheered, nodding his head, "you are a dragon. I am a…"

"H-human?"

"Yes!" He said, nodding again. He was about to say something else but stopped when he saw the dragon open its maw.

"You… are… a… dragon?" John frowned and shook his head, and it seemed to understand. "I… are… a… dragon?" Smiling, John nodded, and the dragon even seemed to perk up, trying to say one more thing, "you… am -"

John stopped the dragon mid-sentence, "are"

It nodded vigorously, and tried again, "you are… human?" John nodded again.

Great, now this is going to be much easier, John thought, "I. Am." He pointed to himself. "John."

"You are human… John? You are John!" It said. "I am Peyote," it told him, his name sounding slightly more bestial than John's "I Peyote! You John!"

Smiling again, he grabbed the photo of David again, "I am John, You are Peyote, this. Is. David," he said, pointing directly at the picture of David.

"You are John. I am Peyote... This… is… David?" It asked again.

Just to make sure, John took a picture of himself and Peyote. Loading the images, he displayed them on the screen starting with a picture of himself. "This. Is?"

"John," it said, then John nodded and slid to the next picture. "I?" It asked, causing him to look up, and although surprised, John nodded and swiped. "David?" Again, John confirmed. Surprisingly to the dragon, he swiped one more time.

"This. Is. A. Tunnel."

"Tunnel." It said.

Alright, now the hard part, John sighed, putting his tablet down to try to think, before presenting.

"Dragons. Take. David. Into. Tunnel?" He asked, switching between the pictures of the Tunnel and David. To John's suspicions, Peyote nodded, and he nodded back to the dragon. Getting up from the chair, he walked to the door and unlocked it, met by a dozen officers walking out the other room. Must've been watching me, he reasoned. Ignoring the staring crowd, he walked to his car, interrupted by the same officer from before.

"Sir! Wait! Where are you going? You can't take on all the dragons by yourself!"

"I'm not going to fight the dragons. I'm going to a steakhouse, I'm going to reward the piece of shit," he explained, closing the door and backing up and driving off.


What felt like a large portion of time has passed, as the tenth scavenger walked up and sat in front of Peyote "I. Am. Sierra," a scavenger with a high pitched voice said to him, obviously expecting him to repeat.

"You are Sierra," he said, wishing he could rest his head in his talons as it began to shriek and jump about. John, why did you leave me with these scavengers? He wondered, watching the eleventh one come up now.

"I. Am. Bobbert. You -"

"Draht thre brell yar yu dreeble boing?" came John's voice as the door swung open. "Brett roawt, yu crew laut," he said, having two of the blue scavengers stay with him. Placing a strange brown bag on the table, he could smell what was in there, it made his mouth water, the smell of the cooked cow. A plate was placed in front of him, then a large, brown steak. It only got better as he took off his muzzle and one of his cuffs, and Peyote wasted no time, biting a large chunk from the meat. The inside of it was juicy and red, and spices unlike any other. You know what? I don't mind being a prisoner here, he thought, taking another bite of the unreal steak.

A/N: That was hard. I hope that the dragon learning a few words and their context made enough sense. Anyways, same as always with reviews, I love constructive criticism, and it helps me grow as a writer.