Terri
Terri had awoke that morning with Cuia's tail flopped over her snout. Oh.
She gently eased out from under his tail, leaving him undisturbed in his sleep.
I should let him sleep. He didn't look like he was okay with our new bodies in his mind, his actions were all frightened yesterday.
She backed away slowly, then turned around and pressed through the brush.
Maybe I can find something for us to eat while he's sleeping.
She winced as she waded through a rosebush. Ow.
After tugging a clump of the roses out of her scales where it had became lodged, she continued on, humming happily.
Yeah remember that, Love is….it's what I got. She thought happily, humming the lyrics.
("What I got", Sublime. The best song ever.)
Terri dipped her head to avoid some low-hanging branches, then edged into a clearing at the bottom of a dip in the ground.
There's always food in clearings. She thought hopefully.
Whether it's berries or deer, there's always one or the other. Or both!
Terri walked a little further, examining each bush for berries she knew were safe to eat.
I hope he doesn't wake up and think I left him. She thought worriedly. Her fears were quickly quelled though, at the sight of-
Raspberries!
She plucked a juicy one off the small little cones they grew from, popping it into her mouth and shivering in delight.
Oooh, and they're ripe too!
I wish I had a basket.
Hmm.
She noted her talons were now large enough to carry at least what would've been two bucketfuls, but then her stomach growled impatiently.
I'll just eat now, then bring some back for Cuia to eat!
Foolproof!
She quickly gobbled up two, three, four talonfuls.
Terri felt her muscles relax as she savored the last few bites of berries.
These are sooooo gooood.
Cuia HAS to try them now.
She carefully pulled berries until she could no longer fill her talons without the tiny red fruits overflowing to the ground.
He's gonna LOVE these.
Terri's wings were twitching excitedly as she backtracked to their makeshift camp.
She stepped through the brush into the clearing where she'd slept the night before.
"Cuia, you gotta try thes-"
She dropped the berries in shock.
Cuia was gone.
Aw, I dropped some perfectly good berries. Where'd he go?
After picking up the berries and filling her talons to the brim once again, she began calling for him.
"Oh Cuuuuiaaaaaa!" She called cheerfully.
She waited for a response.
Nothing.
Wait, what's that noise?
It was an odd growling hum, like…
A diesel motor?
Who would have a truck here?
She followed the sound of the rumbling motor.
Unless…
Terri slowed as she poked her head outside the wall of brush.
She gasped.
Cuia was there, but he was covered in gashes, and electrical burns… and he was unconscious.
The truck she had heard, was hitched to a trailer long enough to carry Cuia, and maybe even a second smaller dragon. Cuia had fallen to…
A mechsuit. U.S.C.M.
An involuntary growl escaped her throat.
She had never fought any U.S.C.M. soldiers before, she only knew what the mech was because she found a inoperable one inside the freighter that had crashed near her old home.
Soldiers were standing by with tranq guns and flamethrowers, guarding the 'grunts' as they bound Cuia's body in lengthy metal cables, maneuvering him onto the trailer.
(Grunts are also known as soldiers that do most of the manual labor.)
Weird. Why flamethrowers?
She nibbled a berry out of her talons.
Mmm.
Alright. Time to uh, fight these guys.
I guess.
She slunk out into the clearing, forgetting her front talons were still filled to the maximum capacity of berries.
The first outside soldier in the group let out a cry, then fired his tranq rifle, followed by the shots of his fellow soldiers. The grunts sped up their pace, working furiously to secure Cuia's limp unconscious body onto the trailer.
Terri, was miraculously untouched.
"Woah!" She marveled. "All those shots and not a single one touched me! Awesome!"
She swept her tail across the ground, knocking two soldiers off their feet as she pinned another with one of her rear talons.
Only two soldiers remained guarding Cuia and the men kidnapping him.
Unfortunately, they both had flamethrowers.
Terri's ears swiveled at the hissing sound coming from their direction.
Uh-oh.
Blistering red-hot flames ignited in her face as she covered her eyes with a fearful shriek.
The flames coursed about her body, flickering everywhere as she whimpered in fear until she realized…
They hadn't burned her.
Not a single burn was on her body. To make it even stranger, she felt oddly stronger from the exposure to the flames.
"Oh." She said quietly.
That was…..
Neat.
She looked down at the berries in her talons, which were now burned to crisp ashes.
NO!
She roared in rage, dropping the ash pile and grabbing a nearby recovering soldier and flung him at the two flametroopers, knocking all three to the ground and as a result, leaving the grunts undefended.
Terri leapt up off the soldier she had been holding down with her back talons, scrambling forward and grabbing the two flametroopers, clenching one until his fuel canisters on his back exploded, killing him in her talons, which had still been untouched by the flames of the small explosion, but were bloodied by the shrapnel of his bones and shattered armor.
She chose to ignore it, spiking the other flametrooper onto one of the two remaining tranq troopers, both a tranq soldier and the flametrooper dying in a fiery explosion from the rupturing canisters.
Only one remained, and he had finished reloading his tranq gun.
Uh-
She froze in shock as she felt the dart impact her scales.
Rip it out! Her mind instinctively screamed in panic.
Terri brushed the tiny dart out like she would a small cactus, growling in anger.
You're next.
She knocked him off his feet with her front talons, then exhaled flames over his body, killing him before the pain him.
The mech suddenly whirred to life, it's knees straightening.
Terri slammed into it, knocking it over. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" she bellowed.
The mech began smoking, then promptly exploded as Terri walked towards the truck.
The transport lurched forward, and the grunts jumped on, all with fearful expressions.
"No!" Terri cried, attempting to pursue the truck.
Sickening pain lanced up her right arm as her bloodied talons impacted the earth, causing her to stumble and fall, her tail writhing furiously as she screamed in protest while the truck became a shrinking vision on the horizon.
"N-no…." she whispered, tears of pain and sorrow rolling down her snout.
I lost him.
And it's all my fault.
She shook her head, wiping the tears away.
No.
This defeat isn't going to be in vain.
Terri drew her claws across the tire tracks the truck had made, seeing they kept going as far as her heightened vision could see.
I'm going to find these crooked bastards,
She thought.
And later, I'll come back and kill them all.
Terri shivered at the cool evening breeze that blew through her half-open wings, her teeth chattering nervously.
The tracks got lighter about a mile ago…
She limped onward, her injured talons less of a problem now that they'd been bandaged.
After giving up on fighting the soldiers, she decided she'd just follow to see why they'd kidnapped Cuia, and hopefully what they intended to do to him.
And if the defenses weren't anything too terrible, maybe save him.
The tracks eventually led into the center of a dank smelling grove of trees, which were all covered in moss and fallen branches.
Is this the place?
Terri followed the tracks down the hill, ending up on a more well-worn road, forged by truck tires.
Cuia wasn't their first victim, she realized.
There must be other dragons here….
She shuddered with anticipation. "What am I getting myself into now…" she muttered.
Her footsteps quieted as LED lights came into view, illuminating a white metal wall.
Terri slunk lower against the ground as she crept closer towards the light, shivering as the cold, soaked and dead leaves brushed against her scales. A massive bleached-white vehicle came in to view, surrounded by assorted mechsuits and transports as well as several scout vehicles.
It's a mobile research facility, I've seen a picture of one like that in the ship's manifest.
It had multiple cars, non-lethal as well as lethal weapons, and…
A detention facility.
One big enough to….
She shivered, backing up in fear.
...hold a dragon in each cell, and there's over fifty cells a vehicle.
I have to find Crusoe.
He'll know what to do.
She bounded out of the grove, her natural compass telling her she was heading south.
And maybe we can stop another war from happening before this one's over.