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Operation: Dragon, Part 2

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        Operation: Dragon, Part 2

        With me being turned into a bipedal, red and yellow dragon, this airsoft OP was getting a little more complicated then I would have liked. But with help from Sam and my friends, I managed to get back on my feet. Now on the rest of the story.

        “Sam, you almost ready?” I asked.

“Almost,” she yelled back from the other side of our little camp site, “I just need to load the last few mags.”

“Well, I’m heading to the bonfire. I think John is about to announce the next game.”

“Sure, I’ll be with you in minute.”

I walked off towards the bonfire. As I passed out of the blue light of my camp and into the orange light of the bonfire, I must have been something to see. Lumbering out of the darkness was a 8’ tall dragon, armed with an M16 in its claws. A number of people just could not help but stare at me. Several jaws must have hit the ground as I walked up to the briefing tent close to the bonfire. Almost everyone was already there. I was one of the last ones to get there, outside of Sam and few others.

“I see you got your gear squared away.” said Kramer as he looked me over.

“Thanks to Sam.” I replied.

“So, the dragon is going to play.” said Ted from across the tent.

“Enough, I don’t want to hear anything about it.” ordered John.

“Fine.” Ted shot back.

“Okay, standard elimination.” said Jake. “We all get in the trucks and ride to the sawmill. One team will hold the sawmill while the other attempts to take it.”

“The teams are the Gladiators and their team and the Skulls and there team.” said Kramer.

“Skulls with hold the Sawmill first.” John said.

“Now hold on, why do we have to hold it first?” ask one of the Skulls.

“Because the Admins tossed a coin and you won it.” Ryan told him.

“If there are no other questions, load up.” John said with a smile.

We all climbed up into the backs of pickup trucks and vans. I got into the bed of a brown Dodge pickup. It wasn’t comfortable for me to sit on my tail, but I had to. I just let it stick out between my legs and shifted to get the most comfortable seat as possible. I just leaned up against the side and held on to my carbine. Everyone else that piled into the back with me was a friend. Sam, Pat, Lucas, James, Will, Jason and Lurch. James walked around too much looking for a spot and stepped on my tail.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

As we rode to the sawmill, I couldn’t help but notice I could see better. Sam was always the one with the freaky night vision. But now I could see every shadow, every stick, every tree and almost every rock. I guess it’s draconic vision. I could hear better too. I always could hear well, but not as sharp as now. The slight rushing of the trees was clear to me, even over the sound of the truck’s engine. I had to fold my wings up as small as I could make them avoid them getting hit by tree branches. They still got scrapped by a few of them, but they really didn’t do anything to them. After about ten minutes, we made it to the sawmill. We got to hit the sawmill from two directions. I was put on the team that had to start in the woods. Not a big deal for me because of how well I could see, but everyone else had a hard time seeing ten feet in front of them.

“Can you see anything?” asked James.

“No, I can’t.” answered Will.

“What about you Farm?” ask Pat.

“I can see just fine.” I replied, “Its like the middle of the afternoon for me.”

“Showoff.” said Will.

“Sam, how about you?” I asked.

“Probably not as good as you, but I can see.” she answered.

“You two.” said Lurch. “I guess then you guys are our eyes.”

We heard John call, “Game on!” and we started to move. It was a little walk down the road to the sawmill. It didn’t take long to get to the stopping point just out of range of enemy fire and earshot. We all stopped. The only thing to do now was listen. Any clue to the enemy position was a good thing, especially at night. I could see through the trees well enough to make out the sawmill. It was a long short structure. Right in front of it was the lumber shed, a taller square building that was half lumber storage and half hay storage. All the hay was storied as huge round bales. There was a building beyond those that was nothing but sawdust and hay storage shed that was a little smaller then the lumber shed. I could hear some movement and low talking coming from the sawmill complex, but I really couldn’t pin down their positions.

“Okay, what’s the plan Farm?” asked Lucas.

“Well,” I said as I thought up a plan. “Sam, can you get around back of the complex and get to the sawdust shed?”

“I can try.” she answered.

“Do it. Pat, you and Lurch will take the woods come up from the side.” I said as I moved my hand to indicate a lower left side approach.

“Got it.” he said.

“James, you, Lucas, Jason, Will and me will be going straight in from the woods.” I ordered, “We will hug the road as much as possible, but we will be sitting ducks on it.”

“Rodger that.” James replied with a smile.

“Okay, let’s move. Slowly and quietly.” I said in a low whisper.

I hoped my plan would work. Night games where not my specialty. We all took a little walk in the woods. Leaves seemed to be everywhere on the ground and they make a lot of noise when you step on them. It takes a little time to learn how to walk on them. The trick I use is to walk on the balls of my feet, limiting the size of my foot and limiting the size of the noise. But now I had to walk like that all the time and I was making very little noise anyway.

“Do you notice how little noise Farm is making?” asked James from the back of the group.

“Yea. Kinda creepy. But then again, he always made very little noise.” replied Lucas.

“Shhhh.” I whispered as I turned around, putting a finger to my snout.

We were close to the sawmill. I could see some people behind some barrels and stacks of wood. They were about one and fifty hundred feet away. I could possibly hit them from here, but then they would know where I was and it was too easy for them to get to better cover. I needed to be closer. I got down on my stomach, spread my wings out along the ground and started to crawl closer to the lumber shed. Now, being in the dark, crimson red is kind of hard to see. But yellow, even a dark shade of yellow, is easier to see. I had to keep my underside out of sight. I crawled as slow as I could on my hands and knees. I could hear the others behind me had chosen not to crawl, but move up cover to cover. I suddenly saw a head poke around the side of the lumber shed forty feet in front of me. I froze. The thought of just being another dark spot on the ground was all that was running through my scaly head. The guy just went back to what he was doing on the other side of the shed and I started to move again. I crawled up to back of the shed. It was just a roof supported by legs that covered a large amount of round hay bales. I knew some guy could be hiding in these hay bales, I would. I just slowly poked my head between the gap of two bales. Thankfully, nobody was there. That didn’t mean it was clear. It was hard before to slide around in hay and not make noise, but now I had wings to keep in mind. I folded them closed and slid in gap. Moving as slow as I could, but any movement makes some noise. I stopped to listen for any signs of life. The sound of breathing was what I got back, someone was close. The best I could figure, he was hiding to my right. Due to fact he was breathing quite heavily, I guessed he knew I was there. The only options I had was to pop out and shoot him or slowly slide out at shoot him. I choose the first option, speed was better. I also decided to throw a little dragon flare in it. I sunk my talons into the hay bale to provide a steady platform to kick off of. ‘One, two,’ I mentally counted down, ‘THREE!’ Kicking off with all the strength in my leg, I shot out between the hay bales. I was right about the side he was on and he was looking right where I was. As I basically flew through the air, I fired and hit him. He must have froze up and he didn’t fire a single shot. I just kept firing till I heard a “Hit!” come from the guy. By that time I had slammed, head first, into the dividing wall of the shed and fell on to a parked wagon. Ignoring the pain and just laid there on my side keeping my eyes on the guy. The guy just looked at me as I kept my carbine aimed at him.

“Okay, I’m hit.” He said, “Don’t shoot me anymore.”

I lowered my weapon and started to look around for another target. Rubbing my aching head, I could hear the others had moved up by the shed I was in. The enemy team had heard this little fight and were now talking. The other half of our team seemed to take advantage of this and launch a small attack from the opposite side of the sawmill.

“You dead?” an enemy team member asked.

“Yes.” replied the guy I just shot. “That dragon just popped out of the hay bales and raked me.”

“What was that loud bang?” asked another guy.

“The dragon hit the wall when he slid out too fast.” replied the dead guy.

“Okay, guys, the dragon is in the lumber shed.” called out an enemy team member.

At that moment, hell broke loose. The rest of my team knew that the enemy was focused on me and with all that talking, they had a fix on a lot of their positions. The right side fired first. I couldn’t see them since I was in the back of the shed, but I could hear them. Pat and Lurch opened up on the lower left and my team around the shed took pot shots at anything in the center of the complex. I crept closer to the edge of the shed towards the road. While standing on the wagon, I poked my head around the corner as high up the wall as I could. There was a guy standing there at far end of the shed. He was looking too low to see me. Very slowly, I slid the barrel of my carbine out and took aim. It must have been a sight to see, M16 sights with a gold, reptilian eye behind them. With a quick trigger pull, he was down. He looked up and saw where I had taken the shot and cursed under his breath. It was ‘something’ dragon. By that time, we had broken the line on all sides and the enemy was dropping fast. It wasn’t even by me, I had only gotten two when John called game.

The next game, we flipped places and we had to guard the sawmill. I spent the game up in the lumber shed’s second level, taking pot shots at the enemy’s right side. I think I only got three of them. We did have some of the best people with night vision on our team, not including myself. It was a mop up. After that game, I was too tired to keep playing. So, was a lot of people. It was about 11:00 at night after all. We all loaded up and rode back to camp. Once we got back, someone got the gall to ask me a question.

“Hey! Dragon!” I heard as some guy came running up to me.

“And you are?” I asked.

“Keith. I have a question for you.”

“And that question is?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“If you are a dragon, then you should be able to breathe fire right?”

“I guess so.”

“Then let’s see.”

Now this is new. I knew dragons should be able to breathe fire, but I didn’t know how. This conversation must have been heard by most of the camp because more people came over to see. There was a small lake next to camp, looked like a good place. I walked up to the edge of the lake. I just thought about it, what it would feel like. I took a deep breath and I could feel something inside me move like it just kicked on. I exhaled and out came a large stream of fire that hit the water, steam poured off the surface. It didn’t last long, just a few seconds, but it was enough to get a round of applause.

“Thank you, thank you.” I said as I turn around and took a bow.

“Wow! That was cool.” said Keith.

“No worries.” I said, “Now, I’m tired. I’m gonna get some sleep.”

I walked up to my tent. It was rather small now. Could I even fit in it anymore? As I unzipped the tent, I came up on another problem. I had also an inflatable mattress. Sure it had a sleeping bag on it, but it still was a balloon.

‘I just have to be careful.’ I thought.

I had a John Deere quilt (I know, I like John Deere) that Mom had made for me. So I came up with the plan to keep the sleeping bag on top of the mattress and use the quilt as a blanket. With my two blue pillows and my quilt, I curled up into a ball. I was surprised to how tight I could curl up. The quilt is a good size and could completely cover me. As I slipped the pillows under my head and pulled the quilt over me, I thought about the day. It wasn’t what I thought it would be, but still, I had fun playing airsoft. I pulled the quilt over my head, but let my muzzle stick out. I hate stale air. As I dozed off, the sounds of the few people crazy enough to keep playing began to drift away into silence.

I was awakened by Sam, who had played all night thanks to her giant bag of Skittles, early in the morning.

“Wake up.” she said as she unzipped the tent and poked her head inside, “We need you.”

“What time is it?” I asked without moving.

“8:30 in the morning. Now get up.” she said as she zipped the tent back up.

“Fine.”

As she walked away, I heard someone ask her what I looked like. My guess is they were checking to see if it was all a dream.

“All I saw was a red snout sticking out from under a John Deere quilt.” she replied.

I knew it wasn’t a dream. I could feel my wings and tail. But it was so warm under my quilt, I didn’t want to leave it. My inflatable mattress was still inflated, that was good. After about ten minutes, I got up the strength to leave my little warm spot. Pulling my quilt off, seeing that I still was wearing my uniform, I carefully got up. The unzipping sound of my tent must have been something people were waiting for. Because when I did, everyone who was awake looked at me. I just poked my head out the little hole I made.

“When is the next game getting started?” I asked to the large group of people.

“Uh, in about a hour.” said John.

“Good.” I replied.

As I came out of the tent, many people must have gotten their first good look at me. It was dark when it happened and still dark when they saw me last. Now in broad daylight, I was fully visible.

“Oh look, Sam woke up the sleeping dragon.” yelled Ted.

“Will you shut up!” yelled Sam back at him.

It was at that time that the owner of the farm in his red pickup came over the hill. He was a good distance away so I ran over to my truck and hid behind her.

“Morning guys.” I heard Steve, the owner, say.

“Good morning.” John replied.

“You guys have a good night?”

“Yea, very eventful.”

“Well that’s good.” said Steve as he got out of his truck.

‘Dang.’ I thought.

“Well, you guys seem prepared.” said Steve.

“Yea, pretty well prepared. Listen, Steve, I want to ask you something.” asked John.

“Sure.”

“It’s about a cave in the gorge, what’s in it?”

“Nothing, I have been in that cave. But I wouldn’t recommend going in there.”

“Well, one of our members did and he found a rock.”

“Caves tend to have rocks.”

“A red rock.”

“Good for him, why would you ask me about a red rock.?”

“Because of what the rock did.”

“What did it do?” asked Steve in a now concerned voice.

“Well, I can show you better than I could tell you.” replied John, “Just don’t be scared, it’s still him. Farm, can you come out here?”

“Are you sure?” I said in a very nervous voice, “It can be a little scary.”

“Just come out here.” John ordered.

All I could do at the point was stand up, poke up over the top of my truck. I could hear Steve gasp.

“Don’t be afraid,” I said as I came around the back of my truck, “I’m still me.”

“What happened to you?” he said as he collected himself.

“I was kind of hoping you would tell me.”

“I don’t have a clue. I’ve lived here for forty years and never seen anything like this.”

“Well, I went into that cave, like John said, and found a red rock. When I accidentally crushed it, this happened.” I said as I pointed to my face.

“This is new to me.” he replied.

“Well, I guess I’m stuck like this.” I said with a depressed tone.

“It could be worse,” said Ryan, “you could have lost your memories.”

“Yea, that was a very good thing.” I replied, a little happier now.

“Well, I am sorry for what happened to you. You can still play as much as you like, I won’t stop you.” said Steve.

“Well that’s good, I was kind of worried about how you would react to me.”

“Now that I know about you, I really don’t care. Just don’t burn anything down.”

“Sure thing.” I replied as I put a big draconic smile on my muzzle.

The rest of the morning went pretty well. I grabbed some granola bars for breakfast and started to load up my equipment. James was eating his MREs (Meals Ready to Eat or better known as Meals Rejected by Ethiopians) for his breakfast.

“James, what are you eating?” I asked.

“MREs.” he replied.

“I can smell that stuff all the way over here and it cannot taste good.”

“It doesn’t. I don’t know why I bought them.”

“You wanted that authentic military feel.” said Sam.

“Man, my snout burns.” I said as I tried to get away from that smell.

My sense of smell was improved just like my vision. I could see better than I used to, but not to such a high degree that I notice that much a difference. Putting on all my gear was pretty easy compared to the first time I tried to get it on. Fully loaded and with food in my stomach, I was ready for another day of airsoft.

“Next game is standard elimination in the gorge.” yelled Jake.

“No way!” yelled some new guy, “That’s where that guy found the rock.”

“Come on! He said there was just one rock.” said Ryan, “Listen, don’t go in the cave. It’s that simple. Don‘t be a sissy”

“Fine.”

“Okay, same teams.” boomed Jake.

We all loaded up in the vehicles and moved out. On the way there, Will got the idea to ask me a question.

“You know, you have wings. You could just fly there on your own.”

“But that would deprive you of my company and I wouldn’t what to put you through that, now would I.”

“No, I guess that would be too much for me to handle.” he said with a smile.

He was right though. I could have flown to the start point. It’s just that I’m not a big fan of heights. I’m not scared of them, I just don’t like them.

As we bumped along the road to the gorge, I could tell this game was going to be hard. Hiding in the dark while big and red was one thing; hiding in the daylight while big and red was another. We all got to the start point and John began going over the game.

“Skulls will ride to far end of the gorge, Gladiators will start here.”

With that, the battle wagon and the brown van drove off down the road. Now comes the fun part for me.

“What’s the plan.” asked Lucas.

“Will, you take five of the new guys and Lucas, flank around to the right. James you take the other five new guys, Jason and Cameron and flank to the left. Hug the road as much as possible. Sam, I want you to walk the edge of the field and try to slip up behind them. Pat, Lurch and me will take center and try to break them up.”

“Right, sounds like a plan.” said Pat.

The game went pretty well for the most part. Just like I thought they would, they massed on the road and moved toward the gorge. They were sticking to open areas and paths, which made them predictable. I had the largest concentration of guys near the road to block them off. The second largest batch was free to get up around them and flush them toward the road and center. Right into the waiting jaws of me and my small team and as a bonus, Sam was free to cause as much chaos as possible. It only started to go a little south when Will and his team started to suffer heavy losses. I had to make adjustments in the field by reinforcing Will and Lucas with my team. That left James in charge of the left flank, road and woods. He could handle it for the most part. It was a little hard to find cover big enough for me, most of the time I just flatten out on the ground behind a small bump or behind a large tree. Thanks goes to James and Sam for coming up with the win by pinning the enemy in between us and them. They drove the enemy right to us. We lost all the new guys but one, the Skulls lost it all.

“Okay guys, reload. A sawmill game is up next.” said Kramer.

“Gladiators will hold first.” Jake said.

I had brought my ammo box with me, so I could reload. Some other players did the same. Since I had a lot of ammo, I let other players reload with mine. It wasn’t a long distance to the sawmill so I just walked. It felt good to just walk again, the wind coming down the road and a crossed the field, blowing against my scales. I just felt better. I had started to walk before everyone had finished loading so I was there all alone. I must say, the sawmill is impressive. Steve had built it himself. I couldn’t hear anyone coming so I just thought they must be taking their time. The thought occurred to me about flying. I mean I had wings, so naturally I could fly, right. I spread my wings out and took a look at them. Theoretically they could work, I’m no aviation engineer. I gave them a flap, nothing but a little dust off the ground. I flapped harder and I started to rise up off the ground. I came up with the idea to be sitting down on the roof the lumber shed when they got here, so that’s what I did. I flew up and landed on the metal roof of the shed. It was a little hard to land on a slope without putting hole in the roof, but I did it. I sat down right at the peak of the roof with my carbine in my lap and waited. It wasn’t long before I could hear the sound of engines coming. They stopped on the road and everyone got off. They walked into the middle of the sawmill, surprisingly no one saw me.

“Where’s Farm?” ask Lucas.

“I saw him walk towards here and we didn’t pass him on the road.” replied Pat.

“How could we miss a big red and yellow dragon?” asked Will

“I think he is hiding, probably going jump out and scare us.” said James.

I could not help but smile at that. I wasn’t hiding, I was in plain view. It just was that I was on the roof. Well, I had my fun.

“Up here.”

“What?” asked Pat.

“On the roof of the lumber shed.”

“How did you get up there?” asked James, finally seeing me.

“Oh, I don’t know.” I said as I opened my wings.

“I knew you could fly.” said Will.

“Of course I can fly, I am a dragon after all.”

“Well, come down here. The game is getting ready to start.” said John as he walked up.

I jumped off the roof, and used my wings to control my landing. I must say, it was fun. John went over the game. We had to defend the sawmill from the entire enemy team, but we had to lose all of our new guys. It was straight up, Gladiators only. Thankfully, Lurch and Pat had signed on to be on our team for the OP. The plan this time was more of everyone just does what they do best. We all just picked our positions and got ready for the coming assault. I took cover in the sawdust shed in the hay bales. When John yelled “Game on!” it didn’t take long for me to see the first enemy. It was just some new guy wearing a full face mask. He didn’t look very imposing, but any armed target is a potential threat. But right now he was too far away, and firing at him right now would give my position away. So I waited. Two more guys came into view, then another three. Now I was getting a little more than I could handle alone. Jason was in the sawmill itself, Sam was on the other side of the shed I was in and the rest of the team was scattered around the rest of the complex out of sight of what I was seeing. I slid back behind a round hay bale and took aim at the farthest guy, better to pick off the hardest guy first while I had the drop on him. I got him and rest of the guys got in cover.

“Where did that come from?” I heard one guy say.

“I think the shed.” said another.

“Uh, guys. I think I see a wing in that shed.” piped up another guy.

‘Crap.’ I thought, pulling my wing in tighter.

“Yep, I saw it move. The dragon is in the hay bales.” said the first guy.

“Hold your fire. That dragon is mine.” I heard Ted yell from the back.

‘Great,’ I thought, ‘nothing like that guy after me.’

I poked my head just barely around the corner with my carbine in my claws. There was very little of the enemy showing, but I could try to hit them. I popped off a few rounds and scored a hit on a close target. A pity, it wasn’t Ted.

“Nice shot, reptile.” yelled Ted.

“Why don’t you come out and play Teddy?” I taunted while slamming a new mag in the receiver, trying to make the click as loud as possible, “I promise it’ll be fun.”

“Now why do you have to be that way?” he asked, “All I want to do it prove I’m better then you.”

“Even if I am dragon now, you still have a long way to go before your better at airsoft than me. How long have you played this game?”

“Two years.”

“Ha!, I have been playing for five years. Your just getting started compared to me.”

“Well, you old dragon, I just I am just going have to show you what a young man can do.”

“I’m hearing a lot of talk, but not a lot to back it up!” I yelled as I leaned out and fired again. Some guy behind a tree got nipped in the foot and was out.

“You’ll pay for that!” yelled Ted.

“Make me!” I yelled back, “I dare you!”

Then I heard a snap on my left side. Someone tried to come around that side to get the drop on me. As soon as I saw a body part, it got hit. Sure enough, it was an enemy team member.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” I yelled at Ted.

“Try this on for size!” he yelled.

He lobbed an airsoft grenade into my little hidey-hole. I quickly grabbed it and lobbed it back out at him, just in time in see it go off and take out two of his own guys.

“Nice work,” I said to him, “but not good enough.”

“I’ll get you for that.” He said as he was forced to fall back with his remaining guys.

“That was quite a fight, Farm.” said Jason as he took shots at the retreating team.

“Ya, it was,” I replied, a little out of breath, “I don’t know what that guy’s problem is.”

“Who cares.” yelled Sam, “You showed him up and not using any of your dragon abilities, just your airsoft skills.”

“He’s a cocky rookie still trying to prove his worth and the way to do it is to take down the biggest, meanest looking guy.” said Lurch, “That’s you.”

“Great.” I said in a huff, “I’m going to get shot sometime; I just hope it’s not by him.”

“Well, just keep your head in the game,” said Pat, “we’re not done yet.”

“Right.” I said.

Two more assaults and we only lost Jason and Will. We were inflicting heavy losses to the enemy, but they had a bigger force then us. Ted’s group was spotted moving around to the back of the sawmill. I climbed out of my spot and took cover along the side of the hay bales. Nobody was going to hit that side and I needed a wider field of fire. Then it hit. A hard charge of all the remaining enemy forces at the opposite side of the sawmill that I was on, right for the lumber shed. Pat and Lurch held out for as long as they could, but were both hit. Lucas and James took cover behind the sawmill out of sight. Cameron got shot trying to get to their position. Sam disappeared. I heard to people coming up on both sides of the shed, I was pinned. Pulling out my M1911 Colt and held it in my right hand while my M16 was transferred to my left. I pulled the Colt’s slide and ready her for combat. They both wheeled around at the same time and I just pressed into the hay bale as hard as I could, while firing both guns in two separate directions. The thought of, ‘please hit something.’ in my head. I heard a pair of “Hit!”s and I looked to see that both guys where down. My Colt’s slide was locked back, empty. I checked the M16, dry.

“Wow that was lucky.” I said to myself.

Ramming in a new mag into the M16 and Colt 45, hitting slide release on the Colt, locking the safety and putting back in the holster. I looked back at the depression I made in the hay. It was a large dragon shaped depression, it looked pretty cool. As I slid up along the hay to the edge to get a better look at the center of the complex, I could hear people moving around. I pulled up as I leaned around the edge. I fired only two bursts before I felt a round skip off my goggles.

“Hit!” I yelled as I rose up my carbine.

“I got him!” yelled some guy who was thankfully not Ted, “I got the dragon.”

“Good work Jeff.” yelled Ted, “That will teach that monster not to mess with us.”

“Ted!” yelled John, “No more of that or your gone.”

“Fine!” he yelled back.

That battle took two hours to complete, mostly because the enemy could not find Sam. She killed almost half of the remaining enemies by herself before they finally got lucky. By the time it was all over, it was lunch time. So we all started back to camp. As everyone loaded up in the vehicles, I decided to try to fly back to camp.

“You sure about this.” asked Sam.

“I have wings. I might as well learn to use them.”

With a jump, I was off. I swear, it is very exhilarating to be able to fly. Wind in my face and blowing through my hair. Granted, only the hair that came out around my hat, but I could still feel it. I had to leave my weapons with Sam, didn’t want them to fall out. It was only a minute or so before I saw the camp, some people who didn’t come with us to play or came back early where walking around. When they saw me coming, it must have been a little bit of shock. I landed right in the middle of the camp.

“What’s cooking?” I asked.

“Nothing yet, Jake needs to get back.” said some guy, I really should know their names.

“Well he’s on his way now.” I replied.

I walked over to my tent and got out my box of Cheez-its. I love my family sized box of Cheez-its. When the guys finally got back, Jack started to prepare the burgers for lunch. We had a little trouble starting a fire, which I helped out with. Jake is a very good camp cook. The burgers were nice and greasy, I love greasy food. Yellow peppers and ketchup, that’s a good burger to me. The only way to make it better was to put lettuce and pickles on it. As I sat down next to the fire, happily munching away at my burger, I felt something hard hit the side of my head. Looking over to Ted and a few of his friends near the lakes edge about thirty feet away, there were a lot of rocks there. I looked down at the ground to see a rather large rock sitting next to me that hadn’t been there when I sat down. I never am one for violence, despite my hobby. Usually, I just take it and the guys get tried because I don’t react to them. Then, another rock hit the same spot. I could hear a conversation between Sam and John.

“Why doesn’t Ethan do anything?” asked John

“Ethan doesn’t see violence as a good idea.” answered Sam.

“But he’s being hit with rocks.”

“Ethan will either sit there and take it or get up and leave.”

I wasn’t about to do either when I turned my head to say something and a third rock hit me right in the tip of my snout. I reached up and touched my nose and red blood came back on my claws. I had enough of this. I got up and curled my claws in to fists and started to walk towards them.

“Oh look, the dragon is mad.” said Ted in a joking manner.

“Uh, Ted. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” said one of his friends.

I just kept walking closer to them. About half way, the thought crossed my mind that I had claws. I didn’t need to use fists to cause damage. With my hands still at my sides, I spread my claws out and forward in one smooth motion. The sound that came from me doing that sounded like switchblades flying out. This must have come to a shock to a few of Ted’s friends and probably to most of the camp. They never really have seen me angry, because I’m very rarely angry. This was one of those times. As I got closer to them, Ted’s friends ran off. A twisted draconic smile appeared on my face.

“Ethan.” I heard Sam say in a very stern tone.

“Is he really going to fight him.” asked John.

“I really don’t know, I never have seen Ethan smile like that.” Sam said.

“Come on,” said Ted, “Show these people what you really are.”

“YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I REALLY AM?!” I roared in a very deep and throaty voice, “DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?!”

I was only ten feet from him now. I guess Sam decided that I might do something I would regret and ran over to stop me, but she was too late. I balled my claws back in to fists, closed the gap between us and threw a punch. He tried to dodge, but it landed right in his gut. The force of the punch lifted him off the ground and he flew back on his rear end. I couldn’t help but let out a deep chuckle. I didn’t give him time to get up. I formed my right hand into a flat spear head with all my claws lined up straight forward and leapt on top of him.

“THIS IS ME!” I roared right in his face as I brought down my clawed hand.

Everyone just looked at the scene in wide eyed terror. They could not believe I could get that angry. Ted opened his eyes to find my hand buried up to my wrist in the dirt next to his head, missing by less than an inch.

“Remember that.” I said calmly as I pulled my hand out of the dirt and stood up.

“Ted, you have had all the chances I care to give you,” said John, “Pack up and leave.”

“You just saw what that beast can do,” Ted pleaded, “It attacked me.”

“You hit him in the head with rocks. He fought back.” said Jake.

“He could have killed you right there, but he didn’t.” said Pat.

“Ethan would not kill you over something like this.” said Sam.

“You have only one way to get me to try to kill you.” I told him flatly, “You have to try to kill me.”

“So you would kill out of self preservation.” he said as he got off the ground.

“So would you.” said John, “Now enough of this, get out.”

“This is not over dragon.” he threatened, “I will get you.”

“You need a life.” I replied.

He packed up his stuff in his car and drove off.

‘Good riddens.’ I thought.

“Sorry it came to that Ethan.” said John, “I hope you’re alright?”

“I’m fine, just a little ache.” I said rubbing my head.

“Man, I thought for a second there you were going to rip him to pieces.” said Pat.

“Na, I just thought I would give a good scare.” I said with a smirk.

I went back to my food. While I ate, Ted’s friends came up to me.

“Listen, sorry about the rocks.” said one of them.

“Yea, we’re sorry. We didn’t like he would go that far.” said the other one.

“It’s okay. I don’t blame you. I just suggest you pick your friends a little more wisely.” I told them.

“Yea, you can say he’s off our Christmas card list.” said the first guy.

The rest of the day went on pretty much like normal. Well as normal as it could get. We won more games then we lost, so the OP went to the Gladiators. Yay us! Now comes the fun part, driving home. The first thing was the fact I had to drive. After we loaded up the truck with all the gear, I had to figure out a way to fit a 8’ tall dragon with a 6’ tail and a 14’ wing span into a 1990 Ford F-150. I had to run my tail between my legs and along the floor to get it out of the way and folding my wings up as tight as I could, they just barely fit in the door. Leaning on them is not very comfortable, but it is drivable. I had to scrunch down in the seat to get my head to line up right and I had to readjust all my mirrors. A little shifting in my seat and I could drive my truck again.

“Good luck Farm.” said Pat as he got in his car.

“Thanks, I feel like I’m gonna need it.” I replied with a smile.

The drive home was uneventful. Thankfully I didn’t get pulled over for something or need to stop for gas. (Yay, double tanks!) I never speed, my truck doesn’t like it. As I pulled in the driveway, it was about 9:00 at night. The lights were on and I knew my parents were up, waiting for us to get home. I just had a sinking feeling in stomach and I knew I couldn’t get rid of till I faced them.

“I will go in first and prepare them.” said Sam.

“Thanks.” I replied with a smile.

As I pulled up and shut off the engine, Dad came to the door. Thankfully it was too dark to see and my main interior light doesn’t work. (She’s old)

“How was your trip?” he called.

“Great!” Sam yelled out as she open her door.

“Yes, very entertaining.” I said from the driver’s side.

“Hey, Dad, could we talk for a minute in the house?” she said.

“Sure, what about?” he asked sounding a little concerned.

“Well, I tell you in the house.”

She hopped out of the truck and ran into the house. I tell you, Sam is a tough girl. I couldn’t really hear what was going on in the house, but a sudden increase in the volume of the voices told me that she probably told them about my little problem. The kitchen door opened again and this time, Mom and Dad came out. Sam was in the doorway and Mom and Dad was on the steps.

“Ethan, is what Sam told us true?” ask Mom with her voice quivering.

“Well, I don’t know what she said, but I guess I have to go with yes.”

“What do you look like?” ask Dad this time.

“Red, with a yellow underbelly.”

“Okay, now come out here where we can see you.” instructed Mom.

“Are you sure you are ready?” I asked in timid voice.

“I don’t think we will ever be ready, but we might as well get it over with.” said Dad in his no holds barred southern voice.

I opened the truck door. Its metal click sounded across the eerie silence of the backyard. As I poked my head over the top of the truck, the light from the house hit my face. Mom suddenly screamed, like she always does when she’s startled. She did it before when anyone came up behind her when she was on the computer. Dad just stood there, not moving.

“It’s still me.” I said as I walked around the front of the truck.

They just stood there, staring at me. I had to flex my wings, neck and tail; they had been cooped up for two hours. All that movement I guess triggered Dad to say something.

“Well, this is … different.”

“I know. It feels weird, but I’m still me.” I said as I walked a little closer to them.

I guess Mom broke or something because she ran over to me a wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed as hard as she could. With tears streaming down her face, she looked me straight in the eyes and said,

“We will always love you, no matter what.”

I couldn’t stop myself at that point, I just broke down and started to cry too. I gave a hug right back.

“I love you to Ma.” I said through the tears.

Dad isn’t really one for emotional outbursts, but even he couldn’t stand this. He came over and hugged me, Sam even joined in too. We all just stood out in the yard, with tears running down our faces. Just thankful that we still had each other.

After that, we still had the truck to get unloaded and the gear put away. As Sam and I unloaded truck, we told our battle stories. The pressing questions were put on hold till we all were in the living room and sitting down. After the tents were back downstairs, the food was put away, the airsoft equipment was back in our rooms, it was time to get to the business at hand. We all sat down on the couches in the living room. I sat down in the wooden rocking chair next to the entertainment center, pretty much in front of everyone else.

“Okay, I guess you guys should ask the questions you want.” I said.

“How did it happen?” ask Mom.

“I was tossing a red rock in the air and accidentally crushed it.”

“Where did you find the rock?”

“I found it in a cave in the gorge.”

“Why did you go into a Missouri cave?” ask Dad.

“I was being chased, it was during a game.”

“Still, that was not a smart idea.”

“I know that, I didn’t like the idea either.”

“Was there other rocks?” Mom asked.

“No, only the one rock.” I replied.

“Did it hurt?” ask Mom with a very worried expression on her face, like she didn’t really want to know the answer.

“Well, let me put it this way.” I said, trying to come up with good examples, “Image your hand being stuck into stream then being hit by a car as all your bones break and having them all fuse back together as if they are being welded, your skin being cut by thousands of little knives and having things pushing their way out of your body. Then have your insides move around like someone is treating your chest like a mixing bowl.”

“Oh Ethan!” She said, covering her face.

Dad just sat there. He had a concerned look on his face, but he didn’t say anything.

“Well, I survived it.”

“He didn’t yell that much.” said Sam.

“You saw this happen?” asked Dad.

“Start to finish.” she answered, “The sounds alone were enough to make me sick to my stomach.”

This caused Mom to start crying again as she thought of what of what I went through.

“It’s okay Ma,” I said, trying to reassure her, “I made it through.”

“It’s just you went through that without anyone to help you.” she said with tears welling up in her eyes. “You must have been so scared.”

“I was scared.” I replied. “I had no idea what was going to happen next. I don’t think I have been more terrified in my life. The only thing that got me through was what you guys taught me. Never give up.”

“Ethan, we are so proud of you.” Mom said. “We could not ask for a better son.”

“Thanks.” I replied with a draconic smile on my muzzle.

Well after that night, things were different for me to say the least. I had two weeks before I had to go back to college and work. So, I decided to take advantage of that time to have fun. Tomorrow was a new day. I climbed into my bed; I was all it could handle before I was a dragon. Curling up into my little ball to fit and pulled the covers over me. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered what adventures awaited me when I woke up.
This is part 2, I had to break it up because it was too big for DA. I hope you guys like this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Characters are based off of friends of mine.

James is based off of :iconbeatcrusherx2x:

Previous--->[link]

Edit*
This story continues in Here's My Two Weeks. That story picks up immediately after this one. I hope you enjoy.

Here's My Two Weeks, Part 1---->[link]
© 2009 - 2024 Farm-Fresh
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MircetKelp's avatar

Well, it has been a couple years, but I am reading this story again. I found this about 10-12 years ago around the time I was graduating high school/beginning college. I don't know exactly what it is about this story, but to this day, it is one of the very few stories that has completely captured my imagination. I, too, am from a more rural area in the Midwest (Northern IN), so it is also nostalgic to me. So thank you for writing this all those years ago!


Also, just a side note, "Meals Ready to Eat or better known as Meals Rejected by Ethiopians" hahaha at least he didn't pack "box nasties!" Some MRE's are at least decent, but box nasties are just universally...well...nasty.