THERE BE DRAGONS (28 page)

Thunder came.

One Eye dove at Jacobs. Its teeth sunk into his arm.

The dragon’s neck was bent as its trajectory took its body past Jacobs.

There was a sudden pull from the strange position the dragon found itself in, as it overshot its target with its lower body. They both tumbled to the ground. It and Jacobs rolled in a mix of beast and man.

• • • • •

Stephens ran from the bunker.

As soon as he was in the night air, a dragon jumped from the roof of the concrete box and grabbed him. The beast’s claws dug into his shoulders and he was lifted from the ground. His rifle fell and clattered by the feet of Cage.

Cage dropped his M-16 and took ahold of the Stephens’s legs. He tried to keep the animal from gaining any more height; he dropped his weight low and bent his legs, but it didn’t work. His legs were soon forced straight and the heavy mass of Cage was also picked up from the ground.

Teacher dropped his shotgun and grabbed onto Cage. The private was also lifted upwards.

Moore jumped to grab Teacher but he just missed by a mere few inches. He took aim with his CAR-15 but couldn’t get a clean line of fire.

The dragon flapped its wings furiously but now had trouble with altitude gain. It managed to raise in short jolted bursts though. The thunder and shrieks pierced the group of three’s eardrums.

Another dragon dove at the string of bodies.

Its head struck Teacher and he lost his grip. He flew from the chain of soldiers and his back hit the hard concrete of the bunker’s exterior wall.

Stephens felt himself, the dragon, and Cage move higher into the air. He strained and raised his lower body, and Cage, so his knees touched his chest. He removed an arrow from the quiver. His eyes narrowed and he moaned in pain. He stabbed the arrow into the torso of the animal. Blood sprayed and the dragon cried out.

It released its grip. Stephens and Cage fell.

They landed on top of each other, Stephens’s knees crushing Cage.

Cage bawled out a curse. “Shit!”

Moore ran to them and started to help them to their feet.

Teacher held at his back and was almost stood upright again as the dragon that had butted him dove once more.

Stephens saw the creature before Teacher did. He yelled, “Teacher, move!”

Teacher looked up from his feet and saw the dragon zoom at him. He jumped and the animal rammed the concrete wall. It left a smear of blood as its body slid down to the ground.

Teacher picked his shotgun up and ran from the dragon, which now thrashed around wildly, its wings kicking up a cloud of dirt.

Stephens unslung the bow, placed an arrow in, took aim, and fired. The arrow struck the dragon in the head but pinged off. It did not faze the creature. It screamed at him.

Moore fired on full automatic at the dragon as Stephens threw the bow to the ground. He ran and picked up his CAR-15 and Cage’s M-16. He threw the corporal his rifle.

Now all four were men firing at the dragon. It wasn’t long before someone’s shot struck its neck and it exploded.

They heard a dragon land behind them.

They turned and saw it was the animal that had picked them up moments ago. The arrow was still stuck in its body.

Teacher shot first and it was the perfect blast. The dragon exploded. They shielded their eyes.

“Yippee-Ki-Yay!” Teacher shouted.

“Run!” screamed Moore. “The bunker will blow soon!”

They all ran down the center of the base. They could see the barracks that were burning from the oil drum, the hut that was ablaze, and the fallen guard tower engulfed by fire.

“No!”

They turned to see a dragon had picked up Cage. He was being carried back towards the bunker.

“You guys keep running!” said Stephens.

They did as ordered.

Stephens ran after the beast that clutched Cage. He opened fire with his CAR-15 when he felt it was safe to shoot.

Cage still had ahold of his M-16 and he fired it one handed upwards at the animal. Some shots struck and the dragon began a dramatic winding fall. Cage lost his rifle with the sudden twist and it crashed to the ground before Stephens’s feet.

Stephens dodged the weapon and continued to run.

Cage and the dragon fell in a turn and tumble of meat. They dropped onto the wall around the hole to the well. Some of the stones broke away. Then both of them fell into the hole.

Stephens ran up to the well and looked down to see them smash off the sides until they splashed into the water.

The dragon flapped its wings and snapped its mouth, its shrieks echoing off the walls. Cage covered himself the best he could with the use of his arms. He turned his face from the animal, but it wasn’t long until the dragon’s teeth found flesh.

They sank into Cage’s neck and blood gushed.

Cage’s body was tugged this way and that in the small confined space. He hit off all the walls. His limbs seemed to go in strange directions independent of each other.

The dragon stopped thrashing and dug his teeth deeper into him.

“K … k … kill … m … me!” spluttered out of Cage.

Stephens removed his last frag from his webbing. He pulled the pin and dropped it down the well. He turned and ran.

The explosion happened behind him. A ball of red and yellow flames shot out the hole of the well into the sky. It wrapped around a dragon that flew overhead. The dragon blew too and some of its body landed to the side of Stephens.

Stephens saw Moore and Teacher on a bamboo bridge. They were both firing into the sky at a group of dragons.

He joined their fire as he ran to their position. His shots managed to hit one of the animals and it fell on the bridge. The bridge bounced up and down from the impact and the bamboo and joining ropes squeaked.

The dragon quickly stood and spat fire at Moore and Teacher.

Moore ducked and the fire shot overhead. Teacher dove to the right, the fire flew by.

Teacher had jumped straight into the cage. The door shut from his impact on one of the bamboo-barred walls. Then the cage fell from the bridge into the water.

The fireball set the bridge alight and Moore was now trapped on it. Fire to one side and a dragon to the other.

Stephens was at the side the fire raged at and he fired over Moore’s head at the dragon.

The bullets hit the creature’s neck. It exploded.

The bridge blew and Moore was flung into the water.

Bamboo hurtled down at Stephens. He jumped from it and was quickly back to his feet. He saw Moore swim from the water to the side he was at. He helped the agent out. “Where’s Teacher?” asked Stephens.

They both looked to the river and saw a dragon sat on top of the bamboo cage, which was turned on its side and held under water. They could see Teacher’s hands trying to push the cage door open. He couldn’t move the weight of the dragon.

Bang.

The bunker blew.

The sound of the explosion was ear-shattering. Chunks of concrete got flung into the sky and a mushroom cloud of red, yellow, and black swooshed forth. It set the tops of the surrounding trees alight and illuminated the sky. It also took some nearby flying dragons in its fire and mini explosions popped. Flesh and blood showered down.

The ground shook and rocks fell from the cliff. They rumbled down into the base. One fell on the burning barracks and the building crumbled. One massive, jagged, wrecking-ball boulder reached Stephens and Moore.

Stephens pushed Moore aside just in time but the boulder struck Stephens on his side and threw him off his feet. He shot through the top of the flames of the fallen bridge and splashed down into the water.

He came back to the surface and gasped for air. He saw the massive rock continue to roll past his eye line. He swam and pulled himself back onto dry land. He ran on unsteady feet to Moore. He helped the agent up.

“We’ve gotta go! The rest of the buildings will start to blow!” shouted Moore.

“First, Teacher!” said Stephens.

They ran back to the water’s edge.

The dragon still stood on the cage. They couldn’t see any hands from inside.

Moore was the only one with a weapon. He fired at the animal’s legs. The bullets cut them up and it fell into the river. Its frantic and panicked wings directed its flailing body towards them.

Moore threw his rifle to the ground. “I’m out!”

Stephens looked around for a weapon.

The dragon was now at the bank of the river they stood on.

“Whatever you’re gonna do, Stephens, do it quick. That bastard is getting nearer.”

The dragon managed to struggle out the water.

Moore took a step back and the creature roared. It showed its sharp, pointed teeth.

The flaming bamboo spike was driven into the dragon’s chest. It howled out in pain.

Stephens pushed the spike in deeper. Blood began to run through the hollow center of the grass and poured onto his boots.

The dragon slumped. It was dead.

Stephens dropped the bamboo as the flames started to work towards his hands. The wood fell to the ground and kept the dragon propped upright, blood still running from the hollow center. Both men now stood in a pool of red.

Stephens ran to the water and jumped in. He swam to the cage.

He opened the door and reached inwards. He took ahold of Teacher and pulled him from the water. His face was revealed itself as the liquid slid away.

He was dead.

“Son of a bitch!” Stephens said through his teeth.

The first of the buildings exploded, the barracks. The one a boulder had crushed. The giant rock took off and soon fell towards Stephens.

The sergeant looked up and saw the deadly object as it sped at him. He took a deep breath and dove under the water.

The boulder splashed down, crushed the cage, and just missed Stephens’s flapping legs.

• • • • •

Jacobs rolled over One Eye, its teeth still sunk into his arm. He punched the dragon in the head but only managed to hurt his own hand. He tried to pull the jaw open but he couldn’t budge it.

They both rolled again and Jacobs kicked One Eye in the chest. One Eye flapped and fluttered to its feet.

Its new position lifted Jacobs off the ground. His feet dangled and his arm pulled at the shoulder. He cried out and swung his lower body back and then forwards. He got up enough momentum to swing his legs around the top of the dragon’s neck.

He cross-locked his feet and with his free hand he took ahold of the eye that remained. His fingers gouged into and wrapped around the ball. They started to sink underneath the eyelid and the skin that surrounded it.

The dragon tightened his grip on the arm and more blood flowed.

Jacobs just pushed harder into the eye. Goop ran over his fingers, which were now all the way in to the knuckles.

One Eye screamed in pain and it released Jacobs.

Jacobs unhooked his feet and fell from the animal. He still held the dragon’s eye. The eyeball had been pulled from the socket, with something stringy and sticky attached to it. Jacobs threw the eye aside and stood.

He ducked a wing and One Eye stumbled over.

Jacobs saw the slime pit towards the rear of the beast.

He ran at the dragon and made a shout of nondescript anger. He tried to push No Eyes towards the fall and into the pit.

The dragon roared in the direction of the noise and continued to thrash.

Jacobs ran forward again. This time he kicked.

He jumped backwards as No Eyes snapped its razor-sharp teeth.

It was still in the same spot, its back to the pit, when the bunker exploded.

Jacobs hit the dirt. Chunks of nature and man-built concrete fell around him, some on him. He kicked off a burning branch and turned towards the explosion.

A jagged wrecking-ball boulder raced at him.

His eyes went wide. He swallowed and then jumped.

Jacobs dove from the boulder’s path and its serrated edge clipped his heels. He hit the dirt first with his forearms, then his chest, then his thighs, and lastly his feet, scraping all his limbs.

He looked through the dust of his fall and saw the giant rock crash into No Eyes. The dragon wrapped its wings around the rock and it rolled with the boulder. The boulder crushing him each time it made a full rotation.

Then the boulder was at the pit.

It fell into it and took the dragon with it.

Jacobs heard the splash as he ran to the edge of the pit. He looked down and saw the dragon on its back, the boulder on top of him, both sinking, foul-smelling slime filling the dragon’s mouth as it shrieked.

The noise was drowned and so was No Eyes.

Jacobs ran back towards the fallen guard tower.

He saw Jackson swing his M-60 at a dragon. The large weapon struck the beast in the mouth and teeth flew. Jackson heaved the gun again and another shot whacked into the dragon’s face.