The next game was on Frontier and I was determined to make this one a good one. Since the teams looked about even, we just kept them. We started at the Chapel. It was a vampire game and it was going to be a memorable one. Vampire is a game type that when you get hit you stand there and wait to be tagged back in, whichever team member tags you, you join their team. It can get crazy and I love it. The ref yelled,

“GAME ON!”

We bolted for the best spots, this was a fly by the seat of your pants game. No plan, just go with it. Pat and Zack found each other first at the center building and Zack bought a half mag to the gut. When I saw him go down from my position in an adjacent building, I returned fire and Pat ducked into better cover. My fight with Pat lasted for about two minutes before I accidentally let my wing stick out too much and he raked it. I got a line of welts on my wing membrane and it hurt a lot. Demon slayer does put zippers on people, I can attest to that fact. I just stood there waiting to get tagged back in. The lines on our side was falling fast and the remaining team members pulled back. Lurch, Sam and Jason all called from a retreat to the two story to hold them off. As I watched them pull back, I realized they were getting farther and farther away from me. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see Wyraach’s smiling face.

“You’rrrre with ussss now.” He hissed.

“I guess I am.” I told him as I ran off to get to the ridge so I’d have a line of sight on the backside of the two story.

There is the only way to take out the two story and even then it was hard. The two story sits and the bottom of the largest part of the ridgeline on the Frontier field. Its literally in a half bowl. There’re no spectacular places to hit it from and each good spot is hard to get to. Pat saw what I was doing and came along to help.

“Here we go again.” He said as he got up alongside me as I walked up the path between the wood line and the corn field that boarders the park.

Its a legal path, Chris owns the field and just lets a guy farm it. It’s the only way to hit the two story from behind. I could see Scales firing his minigun on the two story, he must have been tagged to. From my spot I could tell that Lurch, Arcade, Kramer, Sam, Will and Jason were all the ones left on my starting team. Now I had to figure out a way to crack that defensive position. Lurch and Kramer were up top firing down range at the ever approaching line. Arcade was firing as fast as his CA-25 would cycle out the side door. Will’s MP5 was going full bore out a window and Sam was covering him with the G33E on full auto. Jason’s AK-74 was fending off John and Mahoney as they tried the deer path along the right side to get a clean shot. It was something to see. Every time a person would get shot out, his partner would tag them back in. It was a glorious mess of ammo wasting fun. Pat and I got into position on the ridge, just behind the two story and looking right at the back door and right down the entrance to the second story.  We got into a low crouch to make sure we weren’t spotted. There wasn’t a roof on the second story, only a chest high wall. A back stair case lead up to the top and at that moment, we could fire right through the opening. Lurch and Kramer were protected mostly by the wall, but when they popped up to fire, their entire back was exposed.

“I got Kramer.” Pat told me.

“And I got Lurch.” I replied.

We both waited for just the right moment. It didn’t take long. Both of them popped up at the same time and we let them have it. They both went down and it worked perfectly. Jason came out to try and revive them and Pat got him. I saw Will’s foot in the door way and I let a burst go. In the confusion, the front line closed in and it was chaos. It turned into CQB down there as people closed in with pistols drawn in an effort to clear them out. It was over in seconds, everyone in the two story was captured and the Castle team won.

We all just walked out to reload. After a game like that, you need to. I had blown through five mags. Pat was down to his last two mags. I don’t even want to know how close the assaulting team had left, not to mention the people that defended the two story.

“Man that was intense.” Pat said as he took off his plate carrier.

“I know, I’m beat.” I said as I did the same.

I pulled off my gear and set it down on the Ford’s tailgate. My leg holster pulled my belt into my right side; it made it sore with all that rubbing. It felt good to take that thing off and right my belt. I walked out to the middle of the road and just stretched every limb and let out a long yawn. It felt good to stretch out when all I was doing all day was scrunch up. Pat set all his stuff in the truck of his car.

“Well man, I’m taking off.” he told me.

“Take it easy man.” I replied.

“I’ll call you later this week.” Pat told me as he climbed in his car.

“I’ll be home most of the time. Talk to you then man.” I said with a smile.

“Later loser.” said Pat as he started his car.

He drove off and soon we would be following him. I put all my gear in its cases and shut the tailgate.

“You tired?” Sam asked.

“A little and just a little hungry.” I answered.

“Well we could go get something in Woodriver,” she said

“Maybe, Taco Bell sounds good.” I said.

“What the hell?” Sam said as she caught sight of something in the sky.

I looked right at what she was looking at and my jaws fell open. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it defied reason. What was just a few small dots on the blue sky turned into twenty dots. I continued to stare as those dots took on a much more terrifying shape. As they closed in, wings and long tails came into view. They were more dragons and as they got closer, I knew what I was looking at. They were the same dragons that had beaten me up the last time, I just knew it.

“SAM! RUN!” I roared.

She bolted for cover across the bridge and into the fields. I knew this wasn’t a social visit, these guys meant business. Once I could see the menacing looks on their draconic faces, my worst fears were confirmed. They glared right back at me. Scales, Wyraach, Arcade, NooMoahk and Ian all came out from the tent when they saw people bailing for their cars and speeding off.

“What the heck is…” Scales started and then suddenly came to a halt when we saw them.

Their jaws fell open as well, they just stood halfway between me and the tent is wide eyed astonishment. I guess it was the first time they saw so many dragons at one time. This was the largest number for me as well, but I had prior experience. I had a sinking feeling this time would far worse than last time. They all landed in the inflatable fields and started to walk towards us. They were almost all quadruped dragons, only two were anthro dragons. The other dragon airsofters had gravitated over towards me, we all just stood there dumb struck as they closed in. As soon as they got to the net that prevented paintball rounds from hitting the cars and other people, they just ripped it down. It didn’t even seem like it was hard for them to do it, four of them grabbed it and pulled. A massive section was pulled down and they now could just stroll right up to us, which they did. They formed a half circle around us, cutting us off from everything else. There is something very unnerving about staring at twenty dragons and not a one of them looks happy to see you. This silence went on for just long enough till a big green one in the very center broke it.

“Sssso, you again.” he said with a snarl, he had to be thirty feet long and he was built like a tank.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” I replied, trying to stay calm.

“I doubt you ssssaw me lassst time, it wasss when you disssgraced Sssstraz and Ragnic.” He went on as he glared at me, his eyes just screamed to me that this dragon wanted me dead, “I longed to rip you to piecesss for what you did.”

“I did what I had to do!” I shouted back, I wasn’t having any of this. “Nothing more!”

“Well I’m glad to be the one to tell you that Jesssta hasss been relieved of her dutiesss and my firssst order of businessssss to take care of you.” he said with a sickening draconic smile.

“I’m assuming you mean the purple dragon that let me go?” I asked.

“Yesss, ssshe wasss a little too sssoft for her own good and ssso ssshe wasss banissshed.” he said with that smile twisting even more, “We don’t take to kindly to dragonsss that follow their heart and not there ordersss.”

“You make me sick.” I growled back at him.

“You even killed the dragon I ssstationed to collect you when the time wasss right.” he snarled back, “You are the one that makes me vomit. Living like you do, among thessse humansss. Itsss disssgusssting. You are a creature of far more power than a legion of them and yet you are content to live among them asss one of them. Itsss revolting.”

“You have clearly lost you way.” I said as stone faced as I could. “You were a human once, am I correct?”

“I wasss indeed one of them,” he growled back, his practically spitting out the words, “over eighty years ago. But I am no long a pathetic worm in the dirt and I shall never be again.”

“No,” Wyraach said with a smile growing on his beaked muzzle as he pushed his way to be in front of us, “but you will be food forrr them.”

“Watch your tongue young dragon,” He snarled back at Wyraach, “I am not a dragon to be angered.”

“I can sssee what you arrre doing herrre.” Wyraach said as he stared right into the green dragons orange eyes, “You ssshow up all big and bad and expect usss to cowerrr in fearrr beforrre you. Let me tell you sssomething, Wyraach Ur doesss not cowerrr beforrre any one. Do I make myssself clearrr? I do what I want to do when I feel like doing it.”

“You will bow before me.” He growled, “Even if I have to cut off your legssss to make you do it.”

Wyraach’s face just twisted into a dark smile, he had found a fight.

“I offer you thisss one chance!” the green dragon boomed, “Join me or die!”

I looked at the faces of Arcade, Scales, Ian, and NooMoahk. Wyraach had already made up his mind on this question before the green dragon even asked it. They just looked at each other and then to me. I was ready to fight my way out of this, I wasn’t about to join this creep.

“Your answersss?” the brute growled.

“Stick it up your a**!” Scales shot back.

“Take your offer and shove it!” Jake told him off while flipping him off.

“Go f*** yourself!” Ian said as he stared the brute down.

“Yeah, go back to your cave and jerk it, dickhead!” Arcade told him off

Wyraach gave him the British version of the bird while giving him the raspberry to boot, “Jog on.”

“I’m going have to agree with my friends here douche bag.” I told him while giving him a wry draconic smile.

“Very unwisssse decisionsss.” he snarled, “but I can’t sssay I’m sssurprisssed. I was here jussst to kill thisss annoying pest, but to have all of you sssuddenly ssshow up out of nowhere. Thisss isss quite a treat. Kill them.”

They all lunged at us and we broke ranks and did our best to fight them off. Scales got tackled by a blue dragon twice his size, but Arcade flew up and grabbed onto the dragon face by using the dragon nostrils like handles. Arcade’s entire body covered this dragon’s head and then some; he basically turned himself into big scaly blindfold. It was really funny to see. I wasn’t able to see what became of that fight because Mr. Green Jeans came right at me, roaring as loud as he could. He thundered along the ground and the ground shook with every step. I rolled out of the way just in time to see one of the most horrible things I could imagine happen. I had rolled out of the way and there was nothing to stop him from tackling the back end of the Ford. He pushed her up and over the dirt mound and she slid down, front end first, into the creek below, disappearing over the edge. The sounds she made as she fell, the breaking glass and the twisting metal was torture to me. He backed up to glare at me, but was met with my gold eyes glaring right back at him.

“You hurt my truck.” I growled as my lips peeled back to show off my fangs, “YOU DONE F***ED UP NOW!”

I was way past any anger I had ever felt before. That truck was my baby, she was my first vehicle. All those years ago, when Dad first got her, I loved that truck. I made a promise to her, I would protect her. I would always be there for her. She was the best truck I could ever ask for. For him to do that to her, I just lost it. I came at him with every bit of rage I had. My vision was laser focused on him and only him. He didn’t look like he was scared, like a mouse running for a cat. But I wasn’t about to let this jerk get away with what he just did. Locks popped off in my head, restraints were lifted and I was ready to let this guy see what really I could do. You do not want to make me angry and he just did. He dug in his heals and smiled a big draconic smile as I ran straight at him. My claws were at the ready and my fangs were bared. He and I clashed in a fight that I remember only in a red blur and not all because of my vision. He swiped at me with his right paw and I grabbed it. It didn’t end there. I grabbed one of his scales with my left claw and ripped it out and then drove it into his forearm, ripping at the muscles as I dug my dull claws in there. He roared in pain and he pulled back and grasped the gaping hole. I didn’t slack up, I was just getting started. I jumped up and flew onto his shoulders as his forelegs were busy cradling the wound and I pounded on the base of his neck, right at his spine. I was so furious, I hit him with every bit of strength I had in me. The scales cracked in seconds and then I was pounding on bloody flesh.

Then came the cracking sound. The green dragon collapsed under me and we both hit the ground. I lost my balance and fell off only to look back up to see the green dragon staring at me. He wasn’t moving, but his eyes were still rolling around in his head. He snarled at me with last bit of air in his lungs and then he started to thrash his head, but only his head. I had broken his spine and severed the connection to the rest of his body from the neck down. To top it all off, his heart and lungs had shut off too and he was running out of time fast. I just stood there and stared at this dying dragon. My mind was cold. I had shut down my emotions, it was in logic mode. I felt nothing but cold anger towards anything I deemed a target. I knew I would feel this pain later, but now was not the time for second guessing. I just watched this dragon die right in front of me, just to make sure he was no longer a threat. Once his movements stopped and the light from his eyes went away, I knew I could count him out. It was time to find another target.

The battle raged around me, so another target wasn’t hard to find. Scales was set free and was swinging a large steel bar that was an extra support beam for the bridge. Scales was going bonkers with the thing, swinging like a mad man who just found a baseball bat in crowded shopping mall. Roaring at every swing, he looked like he was quite off his rocker. At that moment, I think we all were. Scales took one dragon’s head clean off with one blow, then broke another one’s right foreleg. One of the two anthros, a blue one, charged him and grabbed the beam. The two had a tug of war for the beam for a bit. Scales managed to win by sliding down the beam driving his left claw into his opponent’s draconic face. The blue dragon staggered back a bit only to be run through with the same beam he had tried to get away from Scales. Scales picked up the dragon kabob and flung the still living dragon screaming at his compatriots, hitting an orange one and knocking it over. A bull charge with that beam and another fight broke out. Scales was on a rampage and I only hoped he would discriminate friend from foe.     

Wyraach was right there with Scales and me on the kill or be killed line of thinking and was really going to town on three silver dragons that had surrounded him in the middle of the field. They were in a standoff till one jumped at him. Wyraach hooked his arm around the back the dragon’s neck, grabbed the end of his muzzle and gave it a yank backwards. The snap was loud and the dragon fell over dead a few seconds later. Number two didn’t get off any easier. When it tried to avenge its fallen comrade, Wyraach grabbed each jaw and wrenched the top half off. Number three was dumb struck and so it got a taste of Wyraach’s acid breath. It was reduced to a pile of goo in minutes. The tortured screams was something Wyraach seemed to be enjoying because he just watched as the dragon was eaten alive by his acid. After that, he ran over to the tents and grabbed the duffle bag they had brought with them and pulled out a scythe. It looked normal at first and then he swung it. The blade extended out on a chain and sunk into a red dragon’s neck. With a quick pull, he turned it into a PEZ dispenser.

“I made it mysssself!” Wyraach said, doing a somewhat disturbing GIR impression.   

I figured it was time to move and deal with the threats anyway I could. I was still angry and I was also lost in my own blind fury. Any dragon that I deemed a target got a wave of fire, or spear hand thrust to an available body part. I went for anything I could use as a weapon. Cable spools, fifty-five gallon drums, posts and anything I felt could make them hurt. Arcade and Ian were back to back and fending off ten dragons with a hail of claw slashes and scaly punches. I was just emotionally detached at that point, I was on auto pilot. I don’t remember what I was thinking, just ‘that needs to die’ repeated over and over in my head. NooMoahk fought against the two dragons and was holding his own. He backed up to a telephone pole that held up a section of the net and then ducked out of the way when they went for a head butt. They fell to ground clutching their heads only to have Scales come over and really gave them a head ache with that steel bar of his. I was just about to the trailers when the door flew open and Chris stepped out onto the porch.

“You stay away from my property!” he shouted as he leveled his chrome .50 cal AE Desert Eagle.

The boom is made when he pulled the trigger was loud and the flash was huge. The first shot hit an orange dragon in the head and he fell over dead as a door nail. Chris kept firing and dragons kept dropping. A few of the last survivors tried to escape; they found that Wyraach had few more tricks up his sleeve. A round of ice breath for their wings sent them crashing to the ground and a quick lobotomy performed by Wyraach and that scythe was enough to put an end to that plan. By the time it was all over, out of twenty, three were still breathing. I was furious, but I wanted answers. I rolled over a gold, unconscious dragon and slapped it awake.

“Wake up you sh*t.” I snarled in its face while standing over its neck.

It looked terrified; I could see it written all over its face. I never knew a dragon could sweat so much.

“Pleassse don’t kill me.” he pleaded.

“Tell me what I want to know and I’ll consider it.” I said, my fangs were still bared and were inches from his snout.

“What ever you want.” he quickly said, his eyes were wide with fear.

“What are you planning to do? This can’t be all just for keeping dragons in hiding.” I said.

“We’re building and army of dragonsss.” He said still panicked, his eyes were darting around in his head, “We want to over throw the human leaderssship of thisss planet and make it the way it ssshould be, dragonsss ruling the world.”

“Hey!” Wyraach shouted, “That’sss my plan.”

“I’m sssure we thought of it firssst.” He shot back.

“I don’t care who thought of it first,” I growled, “When are you planning to set this off and where are you building your army?”

“I don’t know.” He said, “We only know what our leader tellsss usss and you killed him.”

“So it’s done then?” I asked, “You’ve failed.”

“Not by a long ssshot.” He said, he did smile a bit, “While he never told usss where, there are other pocketsss of dragonsss all over the world. We were waiting for the right moment to ssset thisss off and take the humansss by sssurprissse, but you ruined that. Now we are picking up the piecesss and when that’s done, we can move forward with our plansss.”

“I’d say bring it on.” Arcade snapped back at him, “We kicked your butts here and we can do it anywhere.”

“How foolisssh are you guysss?” the gold dragon said, “You haven’t got a clue of how much trouble you guysss are in. This has been in the worksss for centuries. You haven’t got a chance.”

“I guess we’ll have to prove you wrong then.” I told him and gave him a blow to the side of his head, knocking him back out.

“You hearrrr that?” Wyraach said, “I told you the time of drrragonsss was coming.”

“We heard,” Ian said, “And know we have to stop it.”

“I guess yourrr rrright about that.” Wyraach said, “If anyone isss going to rrrule the earrrth, it ssshould be me, but only when I feel like it. I don’t rrrright now, the next Yu-Gi-Oh Trrrading Carrrrd ssseriesss isss coming out sssoon and I want to sssee it.”

“It’s nice to see that there’s something that keeps you on the level Wyraach.” I said in very flat tone as I walked away.

“Farm? You okay?” Scales asked.

I didn’t answer, but Sam came back from the other side of the woods with the other airsofters that hid instead of running. She was right there to stand between me and the other dragons.

“Let him be.” She told them, “He needs some time.”

I just walked up to the creek and stared down and the Ford as she sat precariously against the creek’s side and the creek bed. Her entire hood was under water and her rear end was up against the creek wall. I climbed down and carefully took my gear out of her bed. Nothing was damaged, just thrown to the front of the bed. I gave it all a quick look over and piled it up at the tents. I just went back to her and climbed into the water with her. Then reality settled back on me and everything caught up to me. I couldn’t stop the tears; they just streamed down my muzzle.

“I’m so sorry baby.” I sobbed while I hugged her as best as I could, “I’m so sorry.”

All the times I spent with her flashed a crossed my vision. I closed my eyes only to have them made clearer. I just held on to her and trying to think of what I was gonna do next. The other dragons tossed down a heavy chain and I attached it to her frame. It was an all dragon chain pull as we hauled her up. Once we dragged her back up and onto the road, I broke down again and fell to my knees at the sight of her twisted front end. Her front bumper was almost broke off completely, one of her headlights was broken open, her grill was shattered, her windshield was all cracked, her quarter panels was all twisted, her hood was dented, her tailgate was smashed in, both tail lights were gone, her camper shell was mangled and her bed was warped. I just sobbed as I stroked her good headlight. Everybody who knew me seemed to get my pain; everyone else looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t care, I just wanted to get her home so I could fix her and I owed her more then I could ever hope to repay.

Sam called Mom and Dad to come get use and to bring the trailer and tie downs. They were not happy to see a field full of dead dragons and me crying over the mangled Ford. Once they got the story from everyone other than me, they figured it wasn’t my fault. It was just another bad break because of me being a dragon.

“It’s okay.” Dad said as he patted my back as I still sat on my knees at her front, “We’ll help you find another truck for you.”

“No.” I said, not looking away from her, “I’ll fix her up. I promised her.”

“It’s a truck Ethan,” said Dad, “It doesn’t feel or care if you keep a promise.”

“I owe her this Dad,” I said solemnly, “I need to do this.”

“Fine.” He said, giving up on me, “It’s your money.”

It was at that moment I decided I would throw all the money I had at her, I didn’t care. I wanted her back.

“Listen man,” Scales said, “I’m sorry about your truck. I know how much it means to you. I want to help.”

“Me too,” NooMoahk said with a smile, “We can all help.”

“Count me in.” Ian said with determination in his voice.

“I may not know much about mechanics, but I’ll do whatever I can.” Arcade said with a smirk on his muzzle.

“Asss long asss therrre’sss a good interrrnet connection at your place ssso I can worrrk, I’ll be happy to help you fix yourrr trrruck.” Wyraach said.

“We have an old school dial up, but I can look into a better connection.” I said.

“Don’t you have a T1 connection at yourrr college?” he asked.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Then I’ll go to classsss with you and do my work therrrre.” he said with a smile, “If you’rrrre not worrrrking on yourrrr trrrruck, then I can do my worrrrk and we loossse no time.”

“I guess that works.” I said as I thought it over.

“Then its settled then, we stay at Farm’s” Arcade said.

“How about it Mom?” I asked, knowing I should.

“As long as it’s only for a little while.” she grumbled, “I have a hard enough time feeding one dragon, I don’t think I can keep up with six for a long time.”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Compas, we’ll stay as long as it takes to fix the Ford and not a moment longer.” Scales assured her.

“Besides, we have our own money.” Arcade said, “We’ll try not to be a pain.”

“You have nothing to worry about Ms. Compas.” Ian told her, “We’ll be on our best behavior.”

“Then it’s alright by me.” she said, “You are welcome in our home.”

“Thank you very much.” Scales told her, “We appreciate your hospitality.”

“It’s not a problem.” Mom replied.

“Well that settles that,” I said as I got up, “We have a lot of work ahead of us; we’d better get home and get some rest. It’s going to be a hard job working her over.”

“Yes, it will be.” John said as he walked up, “Don’t hesitate to call us if you need us.”

“I won’t, thanks John.” I said with a smile.

John and his group are car guys. They can rip a vehicle down to the frame and rebuild it from the ground up. They can do anything to a car and to have them in my corner was more than enough to pick my spirits up. The Fordinator would ride again, I would make certain of that.

The police and the local National Guard showed up very quickly after that. They came in sirens blaring, way after the fact. As soon as they saw us, we had rifle and pistol barrels aimed at each and every one of us. Our claws went up as soon as we saw that.

“Don’t shoot, we’re the good guys.” Arcade said.

“What the hell?” said a rather portly officer from Edwardsville, “More dragons?”

“Yes sir.” I said, “Don’t worry about me or the others, we’re not here to cause trouble.”

“Trouble seems to follow you creatures,” He shot back, he was the standard good-ole boy officer, complete with deep southern authoritative voice and he was not happy to be talking to dragons, “I’m not sure if it’s a wise idea to let you scaly freak shows run free like we’ve been letting you.”

“Hey now, that’sss not fairrr.” Wyraach said.

Wyraach’s voice made the officer jump and aim his Glock right at Wyraach’s face.

“What the hell kinda God fearing creature talks like that?” the officers said.

“God fearing?” Wyraach said with a slight smirk.

I saw what was coming and I didn’t want this to turn south.

“Wyraach, don’t say it. You’ll make things worse.” I cautioned, “Please officers, we don’t want cause any fuss. Those dragons do. That’s why we had to fight them. They tried to kill us.”

“You’re tellin me that those dragons came here to kill you six?” the officer said, looking very puzzled.

“Well, really just me.” I admitted, “They didn’t know about them till they saw them.”

“The leader guy did say he was going to kill us all.” Scales piped up, trying to help plead our case.

“That’s right, he did.” Ian said in support.

“They are not lying,” Chris said as he walked up.

“Chris!” The officer shouted, “You got tangled in this mess too?”

“I did Jeff and these kids and good kids,” Chris said, “they just have a run of bad luck right now.”

“Well if you say so Chris, then I believe it.” The officers said as he lower his weapon and the other officers did as well.

Chris is well known by the local police. When a shoplifter steals from the Bing Shop, they had better be caught by the police and not Chris. I’ve heard many horror stories of what happens if Chris finds them first and the police think Chris deals with the problem better than they do. It’s quite something really.

The National Guard seemed less considered about us and more about the dead and unconscious dragons that littered the field. A convoy of M35 Deuce and halves came running down the road and the soldiers started to load up the dead dragons into the covered beds. They hauled the smaller ones by hand and winched the bigger ones. I didn’t know whether to feel victorious or sickened with myself. Those dragons where just like me and I showed them no mercy. Now here they were, being loaded up in trucks like cargo. It was a sickening sight to see dragons loaded up like that, just tossed in there like nothing more than road kill. I tore my eyes from that sight only to be faced with another one, my mangled truck. I was so torn up inside, I just didn’t know where I stood anymore. I was right back where I started, no clue of what I was supposed to do anymore.

“Farm, I know you’re hurting,” Scales said as he walked over to me and placed a claw on my shoulder, “but look at it this way, at least you aren’t alone anymore.”

“Thanks Scales.” I said with a weak smile.

“Listen man, I feel bad too,” Arcade said, now it was his turn to be the supportive one, “that was not a thing I ever wanted to do, but it happened. Now we find our footing and move on.”

“There’s no point in letting the past get to you.” said Ian, joining in as well, “it happened and we should move on. I know I don’t like the way it went, but I can’t change it and I’m thankful to be still breathing. I think that’s the important thing here.”

“I sssecond that.” Wyraach told us all, “I don’t know what you guysss arrre blubberrring over, I had a blassst.”

Wyraach just shrugged as he looked us over.

“I guessss it I’m the only one herrre with the ssstomach forrr thisss.” he said with a sigh, then he smiled a devilish looking smile and said. “Well we can’t all be me now can we.”

“No, we can’t,” Scales replied, “A good thing too, I’d much rather leave this stuff to you.”

“Awe, don’t make me blush.” Wyraach said back, giving the gravel road a little kick.

I must admit, Wyraach is a weird guy. He knows how to lighten a dark situation with some really inappropriate humor that for some reason works. We all just stood there trying to come to grips with ourselves. Even Wyraach was in some sort of coping period, in his own way. We just kept talking, just to keep ourselves going. It was during that I caught a conversation that was going on between a soldier and somebody on his radio.

“Sir, we are just about done loading the dead and unconscious dagoes.” he said over his radio, “The total number of dagoes is twenty six. Seventeen dead, three unconscious and six are still walking around sir.”

“Why are they not under control Sergeant?” asked the guy on the radio.

“One of them is Pop Star sir,” replied the Sergeant, “and the rest seem to be with him sir.”

“Can you confirm their status as associates of Pop Star?” asked radio man.

“I can sir.” said the Sergeant, “They are talking to each other right now sir.”

“Then get shots of them and we’ll add them to our files.” the radio man said, “I’ll send this up the chain. Your orders are to load the twenty dagoes you have and leave them to their business. Let’s see what they do. The R&D rats will be happy enough with your current haul. Good work son.”

“Sir, thank you sir.” the Sergeant said as he when off to coordinate the loading operations.

I had that bad feeling again, that really cold feeing on the back of my neck. That was going to circle back on me, I just knew it. At the time, I had other things to worry about. I had a roller coaster day and I was glad to see the end of it was in sight.

We all went home our own ways. Once we loaded up all the gear into the back of the GMC. Since they were coming over anyway, all the dragons ditched their gear in the back as well. Wyraach had to clean his scythe before it could go in. He just found a rag and wiped it off and the whole scythe handle was collapsible. It folded up nice and neat and back into the bag it went. Sam rode home with Mom and Dad while the other dragons and I opted to fly home. I took point to guide them back to my house. We all landed in my backyard and we all just walked into the house though the kitchen door.

“That’s nice, there’s a gun rack near the door.” Arcade said as he looked over the three pellet rifles and two shotguns.

“Welcome to the country.” I told him as I closed the door behind me.

They all went into the upstairs living room and laid out on anything we could find. Scales got the floor because he just seemed to walk to the middle of the room and crash there. Wyraach jumped on the couch, Arcade got the love seat, Ian got the wooden Rocking chair and Jake got the blue chair.

“I’ll be right back,” I told them, “I need to change.”

“Yeah, I might need to asss well.” Wyraach said as he looked at the blood on his shirt. “You got a black T-ssshirrrt?”

“A Chicago police one that says ‘homicide’on it.” I told him.

“Perfect.” he answered with a smile.

After a quick change for me and a quick modification to the T-shirt, we were both cleaned up. I gave him a pair of my black jeans so he didn’t have to walk around in the digital ones that had some blood still on them. Scales had some blood on him so I let him borrow one of my older gray T-shirts that had escaped modification since he didn’t need it. He took a shower in my downstairs bathroom.

“You have a great shower Farm.” He said as he dried himself off with a towel as he made his way out of the bathroom, “I can fit in there no problems.”

“It’s a dragon shower stall Scales,” I told him as I looked over the camping gear on the gray shelves for sleeping arrangements, “It’s meant to handle dragons.”

“But it can also handle a dragontaur.” He said back as he put on his borrowed shirt, “That’s something.”

“Dad knows how to build ‘em to work.” I said while pulling out the sleeping bags.

Everyone else had made it out clean as a whistle. Mom, Sam and Dad got back and we pushed the Ford off the trailer and into the shed. It was the best place to work on her, all the tools are there. It did have a gravel floor which made it necessary to have a sheet of plywood to lay on, but that isn’t a problem at our house. It was hard seeing her like that, but it was late and we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

I had set up the sleeping arrangements when I first got home. We all slept in the basement apartment. Scales and Wyraach both got inflatable mattresses and enough sleeping bags to make sure they didn’t pop them. Scales was set up in the living room while Wyraach got the kitchen. It was really one big room separated by a couch, but that’s how I look at it. Arcade got the big red couch and Jake claimed the wicker couch. Ian set up the camping bed in the computer room and that was it. Pillows and blankets were passed out and everyone climbed into bed. I donned my night clothes and climbed into my bed and went to sleep. It was such a hard day; I wondered what else was out there that I didn’t know about.