THERE BE DRAGONS (27 page)

An explosion sounded outside.

Dragon Master was up and he ran on unsteady legs to one of the window slits. He cursed in Russian when he saw the view outside.

Jacobs wrapped his left arm around Dragon Master’s neck and took ahold of his other arm at the bend, the hand on that arm grabbed at Dragon Master’s hair. A sleeper hold had been applied.

Dragon Master choked, coughed and held on to the arm around his neck. He tried to pull it away. He cut into Jacobs’s skin with his nails. He scratched at the flesh like a dog digging for a bone. He threw a blind punch upwards to the side of his head. It hit Jacobs in the cheek, the broken one.

Jacobs tightened the hold. “Go to sleep!”

Dragon Master kicked off the wall of the hut and they both stumbled back.

Jacobs leant backwards, arched his back and the Russian was now on his tiptoes. They slipped and squeaked off the wet timber.

Dragon Master kicked his heels backwards into Jacobs’s wounded shins.

Jacobs’s eyes narrowed and he constricted the grip even more. “As I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep … I doubt He’d be interested in your soul though.”

Then Dragon Master placed one leg between Jacobs’s own and threw his upper body forward so he landed on his knees.

Jacobs was flung over the back of Dragon Master and when his legs were vertical and over his enemy’s shoulders, his grip was broken. He smashed down onto the floor. His bruised back impacting with force. Air was knocked from the LT. Jacobs coughed up blood.

Dragon Master stood and he coughed too. He rubbed at his neck. The Russian pressed his boot into Jacobs’s throat. “Die! Die!”

Jacobs clutched at the foot and tried to pry it free but Dragon Master just twisted it with more force into the Adam’s apple. He took his other foot off the floor of the hut and for a brief moment, all his body weight was now on Jacobs’s neck.

The Russian lost his balance and had to step away from the GI. Then he headed towards the radio.

Jacobs coughed up some more red liquid and started towards the sound of static.

The Russian barked an order into the device.

A siren sounded somewhere outside.

Jacobs smashed Dragon Master’s head into the radio. Sparks shot from the device and Dragon Master bounced upright, away from it.

Jacobs threw a right hook.

The Russian blocked it with his left forearm. He replied with a right cross.

Jacobs stumbled back.

Dragon Master cross-stepped forward, threw his hips backwards and side kicked Jacobs in the solar plexus.

Jacobs’s back hit the wall of the hut, in between the metal bed and the machine that had controlled the electrocution. He had no time to recover.

Dragon Master was at him and he pressed his thumb into the gun wound on his shoulder. “I penetrate you. I rape you with pain, yes?”

Blood oozed.

• • • • •

Cage stepped into the large cave and let his rifle and eyes scan over the entire area.

Stephens walked past him, his CAR-15 still tight to his shoulder. Moore and Teacher took a position to either side of the two leaders.

Smoke from the Blooper’s blast still hung around the cave. A few small fires flickered. Dead NVA and Russian soldiers were everywhere.

The cave was circular, with jagged edges and was on one uneven level. Metal cages stood towards the right. In the cages were the dragons. A few shared each cell. The animals snapped and shrieked. Some flapped their wings and others used their hard heads to hit the metal bars.

“Don’t get too close to those things,” ordered Stephens. “Stay outta range of their fire.”

The rest of the cave looked very clinical and was full of science stations. It could have been a mad scientist’s lab from a B-movie.

One desk had test tubes, a telescope, and a dead baby dragon halfway through a dissection. Another table had holders keeping eggs upright. Tubes had been injected into the eggs. They led into some kind of a tall metallic white container. There was also a radio station and shelves covered in books. By the shelves sat rows of filing cabinets. By a destroyed desk lay a dead scientist who wore a once white lab coat.

From behind one of the science stations a pair of hands appeared. They signaled surrender.

All of the team trained their weapons on the person as he stood.

He blubbered into full view and began to speak in Russian. He was wearing glasses and a white lab coat. His eyes darted to each of the team members as he hoped to get a response.

Moore did respond. He asked a question in Russian and received an answer in the form of a finger point.

Stephens shot the scientist, who fell onto the rocky floor of the cave.“You said kill everyone,” said Stephens to Moore.

“I did.”

“What did he tell you?” Stephens asked.

“I asked about the detonation switch for the base. He told me where it was. There should be a delay of about a minute. A minute we’ll need to make use of to get our asses outta this cave. If we keep ourselves away from the other buildings in the base as we make a run for it, we should be safe.”

“Should be?” said Teacher.

“Okay then. Let’s blow this place,” said Stephens.

“What about them?” asked Teacher. He pointed at the caged dragons.

“They’ll go up with the cave,” answered Moore.

“Are you okay to run, Cage?” Stephens asked.

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

“Well, Moore?” Stephens prompted.

“Sure.” Moore started to move where the scientist had pointed, towards the radio station, then a siren sounded.

The dragons roared.

The team looked about the cave. Red lights flicked on and off all around them.

The roof of the cages slid back and the dragons took flight. They shot upwards with a crack of thunder and exited the cave through a hole directly above the cages.

“That ain’t good,” said Teacher.

“Flick the switch, Moore,” ordered Stephens. “We’ll deal with those dragons outside.”

“We’ll be walking into a shit storm,” said Teacher. “They’re all riled up.”

Moore did as ordered.

“Good,” said Stephens. “I have a hankering for some dragon spanking.”

The team ran from the cave back into the long corridor.

• • • • •

Dragon Master’s thumb was all the way into Jacobs’s wound. “I have been nice to you. I treated you well. I was hospitable. You repay me with harsh words and violence? I am not impressed.”

Jacobs looked to the roof of the hut and cried out. He threw a few punches into the Russian’s side, but Dragon Master did not budge.

Jacobs swung his head to the right and it cracked into Dragon Master’s jaw. He swung it to the left, another hit to the Russian’s jaw. One more swing. This time forwards. It whacked into the forehead of Dragon Master.

Jacobs used his own thumb as a weapon. He pressed it into Dragon Master’s left eye.

The commie pulled away and held at his face.

Jacobs clamped his hand over his shoulder wound and tried to stop the flow of blood. “I’m not impressed with you. You fight like a girl.”

Dragon Master shook his head and charged.

Jacobs was hit with the heel of a boot to his chest, then a punch to the face.

Another punch flew forward but Jacobs dodged to the side. Dragon Master’s hand hit the wall of the hut.

Jacobs kneed the Russian in the gut. It doubled his enemy over. He used another knee to hit the face.Dragon Master’s head shot upwards from the blow, now he was stood upright again.

Jacobs grabbed him by the neck and spun him onto the tilted bed.

He let go of the neck and struck him with a low right hook to the stomach.

Dragon Master doubled over once more. Jacobs met his face with an upper cut as it fell.

The Russian was jolted backwards and bounced onto the rusted metal.

“My turn to be hospitable?” Jacobs turned the dial to full.

Electricity blasted into the Russian’s body.

He tried to pull himself from the bed but he had no luck. His arms and legs flapped around. His body bent. His mouth foamed red. He screamed as smoke began to rise from him. His black camo uniform burst into flames. Fire embraced his skin. The blaze raced into his lungs and his scream was burned.

Silence, but the crackle of flesh.

“That’s for Lynch,” said Jacobs.

The fire spread from the body and the hut caught alight.

The door opened.

Jacobs turned and saw Diaz enter with his rifle readied.

“Jacobs?”

“What’s left of me, anyway.”

“What are you doing here?” asked Diaz.

“Electrocuting a Russian to death. And you?”

“Well … I was just murdering some … never mind, let’s go!”

“Good idea.”

Jacobs went to Buttons’s dead body and picked up his M-16.

“They got Buttons?” Diaz said.

“Afraid so,” said Jacobs.

“Can you still fire that rifle? Your hand don’t look too good.”

“All of me doesn’t look too good,” said Jacobs.

“True.”

“Yeah, I can still shoot.”

They heard the thunder.

“Ah, shit,” said Jacobs.

“You know what that means then?”

“Yep. Dragons.” Jacobs laughed.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever cursed.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Jacobs said.

• • • • •

They exited the hut and saw Jackson charging forward firing his M-60 into the sky. His muzzle flashes lit the base like a strobe. His movements resembled a film missing every other frame.

They saw an explosion in the air, a ball of flames.

A section of a fiery dead dragon landed on the path near Jacobs and Diaz. They jumped the carcass. Flames licked their feet.

They landed and joined Jackson. They all shot at the dragons in the sky.

It was hard to see the animals in the night and most shots went wide of their targets. Because of his thumb-less hand, Jacobs had trouble holding his rifle steady.

A fireball blasted towards them.

They dove from the flames and hit the ground.

Jackson rolled a flat, stretched-out roll a few times before he took a knee and fired again.

Diaz started to get up.

A dragon dove from the dark.

It struck the private in his chest with its hard head. Diaz flew into the air and crashed through one of the blazing hut’s walls.

That dragon landed. It was Little One. It turned to Jackson. Its neck contracted.

Jacobs fired and the shots hit its legs. It fell over and its wings flapped rapidly.

One of the wings struck Jacobs. He was taken off his feet. He was flipped into a backwards somersault and landed hard on his chest.

Little One, still on the ground, shot its fire at Jackson.

Jackson turned to see the fireball race towards him. He ducked low and the flames rushed over the top of him. They hit one of the guard towers.

Jackson’s back had caught on fire. He rolled on it to put out the blaze. Smoke rose from under him.

Flames from the spat fire cooked the bamboo legs of the guard tower. The tall structure began to fall. It toppled towards Jackson and Jacobs.

Jackson rolled again, picked his M-60 up as he did, and held it into his chest.

Jacobs looked up from the dirt and saw the blazing tower head towards him. He got up, held his rifle tight, and ran.

The tower fell at him, the flames elongating and reaching into the night as it raced downwards.

It crashed down. Dust flew up in a cloud.

Jackson was just a few feet from the tower, but safe.

The top end of the structure had crushed Little One. The dragon screamed, blood curdled, a feverish sound.

Jacobs ran from the fire-covered tower and the little dragon exploded. The blast tossed the lieutenant into the air and he crashed down to the ground. His body bent and screwed in awkward ways. His rifle fell from him.

Another dragon landed on Jackson’s chest. Its claws stuck into his skin. They dug into the flesh The M-60 was pressed against his body. He tried to push the weapon from himself so he could make use of it, but the dragon was too heavy.

Jacobs had gotten to his feet and he fired at the animal. It staggered back off of Jackson.

“Aim for the neck!” shouted Jackson.

Jacobs did and he hit the target. The creature exploded and chunks flew in all directions. Its legs, oozing gore. They stayed standing for a few moments, before them and their gooeyness fell on Jackson.