The College Drag, Part 26

It was a hot, stuffy and muggy night. I ended up waking up three times in the night. I tossed the covers off me the second time and the third times I took my shirt off. That finally made me cool enough to get some sleep, at three in the morning. To me, it always seems like a long blink, but then sunlight was beaming in from my little window and two seconds later, my alarm clock radio went off.

“Dang it.” I said and then let out a long yawn.

I rolled out of bed and walked to my closet to get a new shirt.

“Screw it, I don’t care enough.” I said to myself as I kept walking and went to my bathroom.

After doing what I had to do there, I went upstairs to get my breakfast. It was just past six in morning, so I was the only one up besides Dad who was in the kitchen getting his breakfast as well.

“Morning sleepy head.” he said as I got to the top of the stairs.

“Morning.” I replied, still a bit sleepy so I wasn’t ecstatic with my words.

“I made pancakes.” Dad said as he pointed to a plate full of pancakes.

“Thanks Dad” I said as I got a plate and fork.

I sat down, put three pancakes on my plate and pour on the syrup. I was hungry and tired so I stabbed the fork right through the middle of them and put the entire stack in my jaws. I chewed them up and swallowed and I felt a bit better, a little more awake.

“You look tired.” Dad said to me, he looked a bit concerned, “You feeling alright?”

“Just worn out,” I replied, “With all that’s happened, I’m surprised I can drag my tail out of bed, much less the rest of me.”

“Well you know you have work to do and you do it.” he said, “That’s important. Keep your nose to the grindstone and you’ll get there.”

“Thanks Dad.” I said, still a bit sleepy.

I toddled downstairs and fought the urge to get back into bed. I put my clothes on for the day, picking out my same outfit. As I got to my boots, I stopped. I didn’t have any socks. This had been bothering me for a bit, but this time I got an “ah ha” moment.

“Oh, it’s so simple.” I thought, “stitch a tube for each toe and them one big tube for the rest. A hole in the end to let the talon out so it doesn’t shred the sock while I’m wearing it. So simple, why didn’t I see it before?”

I’m big on my feet being comfortable. I don’t like being barefoot and I like my socks. Till then, I never could figure out how to make them. So I looked in my old sock drawer and found two big long socks and six regular sized ones. Taking a pair of scissors, thread and a needle from the breezeway where Mom kept all of her sewing stuff, I cut them to size by putting them on where they were supposed to go, except the long ones, I had to just guess there, and used a marker to mark were I was supposed to cut. Now, I’m pretty good with needle and I stitched them together in their new, incredibly funky way. A quick snip on the ends and a run around with the needle made the talon holes nice and neat. Well I shouldn’t say that, serviceable is closer to the truth. I can do it, but Mom is a much nicer seamstress. It took me about an hour to do all that, but I wanted to test out if they made me more comfortable. I slipped them on carefully and I felt a bit better with socks on. It was funny to see black talons poking out of a solid white sock, but it wasn’t like these were for show, they were for adding cushion to my feet while I was wearing my boots. I promptly put my boots on and felt a difference. Without the sock, the boot’s leather tried to grab my scales and caused friction. It wasn’t too bad, but still it was annoying. I have a high pain threshold. I did before and it only got higher after I was changed, but the rubbing of the leather did cause me to notice it. Now with the sock to provide padding, I didn’t feel that rubbing and it felt great. I walked around a bit and never did I feel the boot leather grab, but nice and even pressure and cushion room.

After I looked at the clock and noticed it was 7:30, I grabbed my stuff and headed upstairs. A quick stop in the breezeway to put Mom’s stuff back, I have to or she gets angry when she can’t find them, I was out the door. Since I was a bit tired, I drove to class. It didn’t take long for me to get there and be in the back of the class, bored and almost passing out. When Mr. Sexton walked in, he looked like he was ready to get with it.

“Okay class.” he said, “For all of you who missed classes last Thursday, you will be relieved to know that the campus suffered a power outage. A squirrel got in an electrical box and shorted out the entire campus. All classes were cancelled.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt a bit sorry for the squirrel, but he had given me a day off. Good thing to since I needed it. We went through the normal routine. Numbers were doing backstrokes in my head the entire time. Once that joy of algebra was over and my head hurt from all the calculations I did, it was off to English to stretch my creative side. When Miss. Kowski gave us our assignment, I was a bit surprised.

“I want you all to write a three page paper on a fictional creature.” she said, “It should contain all the basic physical descriptions and abilities of that creature, history and why you picked it. It can be any fictional creature you want. Gryphons, phoenixes, minotaurs, werewolves, vampires even unicorns. Have fun with this assignment and enjoy the realm of fantasy. And before you try it, no papers on dragons, they aren’t fictional creatures anymore. We do have one right in this room and so we know it for a fact. Try to look deeper into the world of fantasy; there are plenty of other creatures to pick from.”

“Miss. Kowski?” a blond haired lady asked as she raised her hand, “Can we do ancient dragons, like ones from way back in medieval times. Dragons like him are boring anyway.”

I frowned at that.

“I may be boring, but I’m still a dragon you know.” I shot back.

“But you do everything that we do.” she replied, sounding like she really was disappointed, “I saw you and thought, ‘wow, a real live dragon. I want to be a dragon.’ Then I see you day in, day out. Always doing boring things like school and working at a library. Here you are, a fierce and powerful beast at a computer and typing up papers like the rest of us. Why don’t you go out and breathe some fire or shred a car to pieces with just your claws. Maybe you could stop dulling your appearance with those clothes and show off your true scaly self. If I was a dragon, I’d never wear clothes again. I’d show off my beautiful scales for everyone to see and I’d love every second of it.”

I sat there stunned. She looked really upset and frustrated, like this has been on her mind and she was just aching to get it out. She was all red in the face as she stared at me.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not that kind of dragon.” I said as gave her a shrug, “I like my life and it’s just the way I am. The only thing I have to say is be careful what you wish for.”

That set her off. She shot up out of her seat, got right up in my face and grabbed my shirt collar.

“You have a way to turn me into a dragon don’t you!” she shouted, “Give it to me! What it is it?! Do you have to bite me?! Do I have to eat one of your scales?! What?! Tell me!”

“Ms. Edwards! Sit down!” Miss. Kowski shouted, “Don’t grab other students.”

She didn’t let go, she continued to stare at me.

“I don’t have a way to turn you into a dragon.” I said to her, trying to get her to believe me, “Honestly, I don’t.”

“I don’t believe you.” she said, sounding even more upset.

She grabbed my lower jaw and tried to force her forearm in my mouth. I kept my jaws clamped shut.

“Go on, bite me!” she shouted, “You know you want to. Do it!”

Miss Kowski came over and started to pull on this deranged girl’s shoulders.

“Let go.” Miss Kowski scolded.

She didn’t let go. Instead she stopped trying to get me to bite her and yanked out one of my neck scales.

“Ow!’ I yelled and put a hand over the wound.

Before anyone could stop her, she ate it. Then she walked backwards to the center of the room.

“I’ll be a dragon in a few minutes and then you’ll all be jealous of me.” She said with a strange smile, “You’ll see.”

Everyone in the class stopped and stared, I did too. I didn’t know if this would work or she would get a very bad case of constipation later. Seconds past like hours as nothing happened.

“It didn’t work.” she said quietly, “Damn! It didn’t work!”

Two security guards came in, a big one and a old one, and took positions around her.

“Ma’am, please come with us.” said the big one.

“How could it not work?” she asked herself, “It works all the time in the stories.”

I didn’t get a chance to answer her because she collapsed on the floor. She began to groan and moan, holding her stomach.

“Get her to the nurse’s office now!” Miss Kowski said, “Mr. Compas, you go too. They might need you.”

“On it.” I said as I got up out of my chair.

I was strong enough to carry her on my own and keep a good pace, so I was the one to get her to the nurse’s office. Once we got there, I told the nurse what happened and she got out the stomach pump. I was in the next room, but I could hear the sounds. It wasn’t a pleasant series of noises to hear. After that was done, the nurse came out with a plastic bag and something in it.

“I believe this is yours.” She said as she gave me the plastic bag.

Sure enough, there was my scale. It was all covered in goo and so I just tossed it into a nearby trash bin.

“Good choice.” she said, “That scale was trying to get into her intestines and was tearing the stomach lining. If it had gotten into her intestines, it would have cause a lot of internal damage. She might has well had gone for the gold and eaten a piece of glass.”

“She’s going to be okay isn’t she?” I asked.

“She’ll be on soft foods for awhile, but she’ll be fine.” the nurse replied, “You can go if you need to.”

“I do have work to do,” I said, “I guess I’ll be off then. Take it easy.”

“You too.” She said as she went back into the medical office.

I was on my way to the library when I spotted someone who I thought would have had the smarts to not show his face at LC for a long time. Sitting on a bench in Caldwell Hall eating a candy bar was that same jock, the one that drugged me and basically sold me as a combo meal to that rich prick.

“You!” I growled as I pointed a clawed finger at him.

He looked up and his face turned to a state of shock. I wasn’t surprised when he shot up and ran down the hall, trying to get away from me. I wasn’t about to let him get away from me, I took off after him. He was fast, but I was faster. Even with him darting around corners, I was gaining on him. Several people scrambled to get out for the way.

“Stop him!” I yelled.

Up ahead, I saw that white haired security guard see what was going on and rush straight at the guy. For an old guy, he sure had an impressive tackle. That jock was flat on the ground and pinned in seconds.

“What did he do?” the security guard asked me.

“He drugged me last week.” I told him, still glaring at the jock as he struggled against the security guard, “He gave me some kind of sedative and hauled me off to sell to Mr. Kersington.”

“You should be dead.” the jock snapped at me, “You’ve ruined my life again. I’ll get you for this.”

“You just don’t learn do you son?” said the security guard as he turned him over and slapped the cuffs on him, “You ruined your own life. Don’t you go blaming others because all the muscle has cut off blood to that tiny peanut you call a brain. Now get up.”

“I thought that since you would give me a fresh start, then the least I could do was forgive you.” the jock said as they lead him away, “But now that you have ruined my life, I’ll be back and you’d better watch yourself because when I do, you’ll wish you’d been eaten.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.” I said to him.

A pair of security guards showed up and helped haul him away. Once I told them the details of what had happened and they pulled the security camera footage from the bus stop, they knew they had the guy. I never saw the tapes, but they told me I could go so I figured they had their evidence. After I was released, I went to work. After signing in and doing all my usual startup duties, I was free to do what I wanted. This time it seems I was in a country music mood, so went from Jason Aldean to Darel Worley. Any country song I cared to listen to, I could find it on YouTube and play it as I wrote my latest story. I had a few questions asked, mostly why G12 didn’t print.

“It didn’t print.” asked some clueless guy, the fifth one that day.

“When the help desk set the printers, they let that one stay on the test printer.” I said as I got up and walked over to G12, “It prints to a printer that doesn’t exist.”

“That’s dumb.” He said as I reset the default printer.

“Every time someone logs in, the setting change back to what the help desk set.” I grumbled. “G12 and G02 both print funny. G02 prints to OneNote which is not a printer, but a program. It’s annoying. We’re in the middle of installing new security measures to keep people safe and mostly not looking at things they shouldn’t.”

He didn’t say anything as I reset the printer to the right one. He got his job done and left. It was then I realized something. People tend to go to G12 a lot. G13 and G11 are both right there, but they always go for G12 first. The whole back row could be wide open, but they will sit down at G12 over all the others. I guess people like the number 12. The reverse is true with G13. That computer is left alone like it is covered in beetles and spiders. There has to be no other computer open most of the time for someone to use G13. I just thought it is interesting bit of information.

At about 3:20, two people walked into the front lab and were talking about a police cruiser on campus and a student getting arrested.

“You know, Josh Karten was always a dick.” said a red haired lady, pretty good looking too, “He’d either be a pro football player or land himself in prison.”

“Looks like he didn’t make it big before that ego of his got him in trouble.” said a African American lady with long black hair next to her, “When I saw the Madison sheriff’s car pull up to the security building and them put that jerk in the back, I knew he was full of sh*t when he said he could whisk me away on some fabulous tropical getaway. Two-bit fraud was probably selling drugs.”

“May I ask what are you talking about?” I asked them.

“Look, it talks.” said the red head with a sort of distasteful look, “You know another trick? It’s called mind your own business.”

The two of them turned up their noses and walked out.

‘Well I guess they haven’t grown out of high school clicks yet.’ I thought as I returned to my work.

After that joy and nearly knocking a sixty year old lady with my tail and she came into the lab with her walker, my shift ended at five and I could go home. All during my shift, I noticed the window getting darker and darker. A storm was on its way it and a bad one from the looks of it. I did my final checks of the printers and idle computers. After grabbing my backpack and walked out the door, I found myself looking at one of the nuns that attend LC. She was right in front of me, just on her way into the lab as I left. She was one of the young ones too, couldn’t be much older than me.

“Out of my way beast.” she snapped at me.

“Pardon me Miss.” I said as I stepped out of her way.

Till I sign out, I’m required to be nice. She stuck up her nose and walked into the lab and I went to the circ desk to sign out. The little comment nagged at me. I tried to ignore it, but with nothing to take my attention off of it, it was hard. I signed out and left. It felt good to leave, but the weather didn’t help. Rain was pouring down; lighting was all over the sky and thunder rumbled through the air.

“Perfect.” I groaned, “She’s parked all the way over in the Trimpe Parking lot. I’m having a great day.”

I didn’t have an umbrella, but I did have wings. After a little trial and error, I angled my wings over my head, scrunching my neck down to give my wings plenty of room to get where I needed them to be. It wasn’t perfect, but it kept my head dry. Once I was out in the rain, it felt weird and kinda nice with the rain beating against my wing membranes. Once I made it to the Ford, I put my backpack in the passenger seat, stretched my wings back out to shack off the water pools if any were there, flapped once, folded them up and climbed inside. Once I shut the door, I noticed my T-shirt was dry in the front, but I could feel the wetness across my back.

“Oh well,” I said I started her up, “Can’t expect everything to work out like you hope.”

It was fun time driving in the pouring rain. Lighting striking all over, none of them too close though. The ditches kept getting more and more filled with water the closer I got to Brighton. Once I was got to town, it got bad. The wind kicked up and the rain now had a mist to it, making hard to see. My windshield wipers were going on full speed and my headlights were barely giving me any visibility. There was a pair of taillights from the car in front of me and I hoped he knew what he was doing. When we got to the four-way intersection in the middle of town, he went straight and I had to make a right. I was on my own from that point on. It was Brighton-Bunker Hill road that made it interesting. Right outside of Brighton, water was standing on the road and I couldn’t see the road. I slowed down and eased my way across the flooded section. It was a long section, about seventy-five feet across. I could hear water being tossed up into the wheel wells and I did my best to keep her moving forward. If you go too fast, the water gets up on the engine and kills it. You can go as slow as you like, but you don’t want to stay too long. Rooster tails sprayed up along either side of the hood and half way through I lost a bit of rear traction. She tried to turn sideways, but a pump of the brakes got her right. The drums were filled with water so they weren’t doing too well, but they worked to a degree.

After that, it was between the corn field is the misty rain and gusting winds. This is white knuckle driving and it’s really nerve racking. The wind and rain cut visibility to about twenty feet and the wind had a bonus to it. Since the Ford is a tall truck and kinda flat on her sides, she catches the wind very easily. I could feel the wind push against her right side as I drove at thirty-five miles per hour. Corn stocks blew across the road in front of me and sometimes they slammed into her side. The loud ‘thump’ made me think I hit something till I realized it hit the side of the truck. There is a large downward slope and then an ‘S’ turn in the bottom of a valley in a wooded section of the road. The wind wasn’t as bad there, but the rain had made large puddles on the road. I got down the slope alright, but when I got to the ‘S’ turn, someone was coming the other direction way too fast. He was driving like it was a sunny day, had to be going fifty-five mph or more. Once his right front wheel hit that puddle, his car spun out and was headed right for me. I slammed on my breaks and hoped they weren’t water logged to the point where they wouldn’t work. I swerved to the right and just barely missed the ditch as I saw the front end of the other car slide past my driver’s side door. I saw the terrified expression on the driver’s face was horribly distorted by the rain water on his wind shield. I drove into a driveway and ground to a halt and I heard the sounds of the other car as it slid off into the ditch. Once I pulled off the road, I checked my rearview mirror to see if he was okay. He climbed out of his car and had his hands in the air. Even from fifty feet away in the pouring rain, I could hear his shouts and curses.

“Serves you right dickhead.” I said as I pulled back on the road.

I wasn’t involved in the accident, I avoided it. As far as I was concerned, he was going too fast and nearly hit me. Not my fault he hit a puddle and wiped out. So I drove on leaving him to sort out the mess he caused. Once I got home, I shook off my wings just before I went inside; I changed into some dryer clothes. I didn’t really think much of that guy; it wasn’t the first time I’ve seen people wipe out. People on the roads out were I live are nuts. They drive so fast on roads that have huge pot holes in them. So many of the kids that just saw The Fast and the Furious would race their pickups and sedans out here and seeing them spin out in a ditch was just entertaining. I was digging post holes in the front pasture when three idiotic teenagers spun out and hit our lawn mower. I was using it to haul posts, shovels and post hole diggers and left it in about the center of the field, about fifteen feet off the road. I heard tires squealing and looked down the slight hill I was standing on. I saw nothing but hood. They were skidding sideways and headed straight for the lawn mower. I was powerless to stop it as it hit the front end. Thankfully the car had slowed down enough and only popped the left front tire. Outside of a bent bar and the tire, the mower was fine and we still use it today. Others weren’t so lucky; people have died on our road. So if people want to drive that fast, then they can. I just don’t care when their stupidity comes back to haunt them. If it’s a serious accident, then I try to help, but I’m not going to stop for a simple wipe out into a ditch.

As the storm continued to rage outside, I sat in the game room in the basement and worked on a few projects. It had been a while since I’d painted my Lizardmen and there were a few details left to put on. Highlighting scales sucks, just so you know. Carefully putting a fine line of paint on each scale on a tiny model is annoying, but the effect is awesome. As I did that, I couldn’t help but get the feeling something was watching me. I looked up to my very little window and nothing but blackness was there. The storm outside made it useless to see anything. As I was about to look away, a bolt of lightning struck somewhere far away, but it lit up the sky just long enough for me to see a dark outline of something looking right at me through that window. Whatever it was, it was big. I was so startled that a fell out of my chair and scrambled to the back wall, slapping the light switch as soon as I got to it. The room was in total darkness, but my draconic eyesight could still see the room pretty well. I couldn’t help it; my breathing was so fast that my chest began to hurt. Just as I thought maybe I was seeing things, another lightning bolt lit up the window again. There it was again, it hadn’t moved. This time I bolted out of the room.

“Holy Sh*t!” I said to myself, as I made my way to my bedroom.

I got to my bedroom and reached under my bed. Under it, I had stashed my new revolver. I grabbed the box it came in, pulled it out, took out the box of ammo and loaded it. I put five extra rounds in a speed loader and pocketed that.

“Man, I just get this thing and now something comes along before I get a chance to practice with it.” I muttered to myself as I checked it to make sure it would work.

Once I was certain that it would work, safety off and fully loaded, I began to slowly make my way up the stairs. The rain was still coming down hard and lighting flashed through the kitchen door window. Once I made it to the top of the stairs and looked outside. There it was, a big dark thing in the middle of the back yard. I could only tell it was a large mass, it was too bunched up to see a clear outline. I pulled the kitchen door open, opened the screen door, holding it open with my foot and aimed my revolver right at the thing.

“Don’t move!” I shouted.

The figure shifted as it seemed to get closer to the door.

“I said don’t move!” I warned whatever it was.

I needed to see better, the storm was messing with my senses. I flicked the outside light switch with my tail to help me see. When it turned on, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was her, the purple dragoness that let me go. Those emerald green eyes just brought it all back, I recognized them. She looked terrible. Her scales were all worn dull even with them being wet, her brown hair was all soaking wet and she looked thin as a twig, like she hadn’t eaten for days. Even her black horns on her head were all dull looking. I lowered my revolver to try and calm the situation.

“Jesta?” I asked, “Is that you?”

She didn’t say a word, but those eyes of hers told me something was up. She kept closing in on me and she had a wild look in her eyes.

“Come on now.” I said as I raised my weapon again, “Say something.”

She got even closer to me only about ten feet away and stopped. Her head sort of wondered lazily around like she was eyeing something.

“Now that’s close enough.” I told her, “Now please tell me why you are here.”

In the storm, I didn’t see it coming. She lashed her tail around just as thunder rolled in and slapped the revolver from my hand. It hit the screen door and landed on the ground a couple of feet in front of me. I didn’t get a chance to grab it before her tail lashed out again and grabbed me by the waist. She pulled me out into the yard and slammed me to the ground. She was still pretty strong for as bad off as she looked. She whipped around and pinned me to the ground with one forepaw. It was then I noticed she was looking over my clothes that I smelled something. I didn’t know what it was, but it was certainly strong. I took a big sniff and I had it, she was in heat. She was trying to figure out how to get my clothes off.

“How on now,” I said as all this sunk in, “We just met and I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Quite.” she growled, “You’ll enjoy it, I promisssse.”

“Please no.” I pleaded as I struggled under her weight, “I’m not that kinda guy. I don’t do that on a first date.”

She didn’t listen; instead she popped the top button off my pants. She was moving onto the zipper fly when I looked up to see a large metal pipe hurtling towards her head. It hit with a loud “bong” right behind her skull and just before her neck. Out she went and collapsed on top of me.

“Ahhh!” I said as air escaped my lungs.

“You and girls.” Sam said as she walked where I could see her, she was holding a large pipe in her hands, “I bet she weighs a lot too.”

“Get…her…off…me.” I groaned, her weight as beginning to cut off circulation to my legs and tail.

Sam used the pipe to pry up on her to give me enough room to wiggle out. The storm died down as I got out. It was too late to save my clothes, they were very muddy all on my back and my wings were covered in mud and grass.

“So, what do we do with her?” she asked.

Mom and Dad came out of the kitchen door to see what was going on.

“What is going on out here, Oh my God!” Mom said just as she cleared the door.

Dad grabbed the revolver off the ground and aimed it right at the purple dragoness.

“Is it dead?” he asked.

“No, she’s not.” I replied, “But she’s in bad shape.”

“Well let’s not take any chances.” he said as he walked outside to get a clean shot.

“No Dad.” I told him as I stood in front of him, “She let me go, I owe her one. I need to pay back that debt.”

“You sure?” Sam said, “She did just try to get your pants off.”

“She did what?!” Mom shouted.

“She’s in heat I think.” I told her, “I’m not sure, but it fits. Listen, she’s in bad shape. Probably hasn’t eaten for days. I think if we can help her, she’ll behave.”

“I don’t know.” said Dad, “I female in heat, regardless of the species, is a thing to be careful around. A female dragon in heat sounds like a really dangerous thing.”

“We’ll chain her up like you guys did me.” I said, “That way when she comes too, we can offer her food and shelter without her trying anything.”

“Alright.” he said, “But do it fast.”

We didn’t waste time. With nothing but the light from the house and the light on the barn, we chained her up to the hedge stump. After that was done, we waited for her to wake up. Mom and Dad took the first shift because they needed to be awake in the morning. Granted I needed to be as well, but this was my idea. I quickly got a cooler of meat from the basement freezer and used a bit of my fire breath to cook it quickly. I figured I’d have my ace in the hole right with me, so I sat on the cooler and waited. At about midnight, I saw her move. The sounds of chains rattling seemed to make her jump. Her eyes shot open and she looked at all the chains that held her. Then she saw me.

“Let me go.” she snarled.

“I can’t do that.” I told her.

“All I want isss to mate with you.” she said, “Any other male would not even had waited for me to come to them. They would have found me. But now that I’m and outcassst, no one will mate with me.”

“Listen.” I said to her, trying to sound calm, “I understand that you have all these urges, but I’m not going to do that.”

“Why not?” she pleaded, “Am I not pleasssing to you?”

“You’re a fine looking dragoness,” I said, “but I’m not going to take advantage of you. You’re not thinking straight and it would be wrong to do anything like that in your condition.”

“My condition is that I’m ready.” she growled, “You don’t understand. When I’m ready, I’m ready. Now let me go and give me what I want.”

“I think you’ll want this more.” I said as I got up and pulled a sirloin steak from the cooler.

Her mouth dropped open and her forked tongue flicked out. I gave it a toss and she snapped it up.

“Now,” I said to her calmly, “I’ll give you more food if you promise to back off this mating idea. Deal?”

She looked at me like I was nuts. I guess to her, I was. If I was understanding correctly, then if a dragoness goes into heat, males come from all over to mate with her. Here I was trying to get her to back off. Among dragons, I’m a weird case, but probably not alone in my ideas.

“If you have more food, then I have to agree with you.” she said, “I don’t know how much longer I can go without food.”

I tossed her another steak and as she ate it, I freed her.

“Remember our deal.” I said as she looked at me again.

“You are a ssstrange male.” she said, “Every other male that I have ever encountered as tracked me down and mated with me without the slightest hint of restraint. Why don’t you do the same?”

“One, I’m not an animal.” I told her as we walked into the house; she was only about six feet tall since she did walk quadruped ally and about eighteen feet long. I carried the cooler in with me, “Two, I was raised southern. I respect women. Three, I’m not a forceful guy. And Four, that is just wrong by my rules. You should never be forced into that.”

“You act like a human on this.” she said, settling on the floor of the dining room. I guess the carpet was nice.

“Damn right he does.” Mom said. I didn’t notice her coming upstairs, “He’s a good boy and I didn’t like what you tried to do. I don’t know why he is helping you, but if you let him go once before, then I have to say thank you.”

She hung her head when Mom said that.

“And that decisssion lead me to the ssstate I am in now.” she said sadly.

“Why did you let me go?” I asked her, “You didn’t have to, but you did.”

“When I sssaw you flying through the air,” she said as she looked back up, “all I sssaw wasss another dragon to bring into the fold. A lost sssoul if you will. Giving you a place in our world I thought would have been what you wanted, but when I sssaw you from a clossser distance, I sssaw that you had a place. You were loved and it ssshowed in your eyesss and they way you fought to protect your life. I couldn’t take that away from you, not when it was taken away from me.”

“You were captured weren’t you?” I asked, now feeling quite a bit sorry for her.

“I wasss.” she said, sorrow was in her voice plain as day, “I was changed over fifty yearsss ago. It was a pleasssant sssummer day in June 1956. I had just turned sssixteen a few daysss prior and I was going over to a friend’sss houssse a few blocksss from my home in Sssan Francisssco California. I past a park on my way and I sssaw sssomething ssstrange in a ditch just off the sssidewalk. I picked it up and sssaw it wasss a purple ssstone. I thought it was my lucky day sssince I loved the color purple. I gave it a light sssqueeze as clutched it tight to my chessst, but it broke into dussst. Then I wasss in terrible pain asss I turned into what you sssee before you today.”

“And you ran.” I calmed said to her.

“Yesss, I did.” she said, still in sadness, “How could I not? I looked like a monssster, I couldn’t go home to my family or sssee my friendsss looking like thisss. Ssso I ran to the woodsss. I had a hard time getting out of the city. I had to wait till night fall and sssneak out when there was lesssss people on the ssstreetsss. Once I was in the wild, I sssearched for anything to eat. That voice in my head told me that I would be better off if I allowed it to merge with me. I didn’t know what elssse to do, ssso I let it in. Sssince that point, I’ve never been the sssame. It’s urgesss and inssstinctsss are now a part of me and I can’t alwaysss control them. When I have to hunt, I hunt. When it comesss time to mate, I mate. It’s all ssso basic that a part of me is disssgusssted with it, but it’s now a fact of life for me. I don’t think I could ever be the sssame again.”

“Jesta.” I said as I walked over to her and gave her a nice big slab of beef, “I want to help you. You can live a normal life again, you just need to remember what makes you who you are is still there. You wouldn’t have let me go if you didn’t still have a spark of humanity still left in you.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she looked up at me and said,

“I just want to be loved again. Loved by my family. I missss them ssso much.”

“The first step is the hardest.” I replied, “What is your name? Your real name.”

“Heather.” she said with a sniffle, “Heather Armssstrong.”

“Okay Heather.” I told her as I patted her neck, “I’m here for you and I’ll get you back to your family.”

Tears streamed down her muzzle as dropped the meat and gave me a big hug.

“Thank you, thank you.” she said, her muzzle was lit up in joy, “You are the firssst dragon to try and help me and the firssst person to call me by my name in fifty yearsss.”

“I’m just doing what’s right.” I said to her, “Now you need to eat and get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll see what I can turn up at my college and if you want, you can come along so we can get you acclimated back into human society. A lot has changed in fifty years.”

“I know.” she said as she let go and returned to eating her meal. I just pushed the cooler over to her and let her have at it, “I’ve ssseen the wondersss of technology grow over the yearsss, but I’ve never been able to experience it myssself.”

“I guess you couldn’t go into town to check out the latest stuff then.” I said, slightly joking a bit.

“No I couldn’t,” she said, “But that’sss not the only reassson.”

“What else is there?” I asked.

“I’m sssure you’ve found out about the Hierarchy.” she said.

I nodded and she went on.

“Well they have an entire network of basssesss and campsss in cavesss all over the world.” she said as she continued, “They have your ssso called ‘internet’ at them and they have dragonsss prowling it, looking for potential recruitsss and humansss that can be usssed to help them acquire certain thingsss. If they need sssomething, they have channelsss to get it. Low dragonsss like me were forbidden to ussse computersss or anything of the sssort. Phonesss were alssso forbidden in the sssame manner. Mossst of the time, we operated to train new recruits and sssend out ssseeder and collection teamsss.”

“Seeder and collection teams?” I asked, that didn’t sound good.

“You ssshould know what a collection team is sssince you did meet the one I led that night. A ssseeder team isss a pair of dragonsss or maybe even just one dragon that puts ssstones in placesss that a human might find them.” she said, sounding very blunt with this really shocking statement, “Now thessse aren’t in extremely public placesss. Mine must have been wassshed to where I found it because they don’t put them in placesss like the normally. Just inssside the woodsss at a park or in a cave. Sssomeplace out of the way, but not too far. This createsss a delay. From time of hiding to time of finding can be yearsss or even decadesss.”

“Maybe you can answer a question then.” I said, know very curious, “What are the stones and where do they come from?”

“I don’t know for sssure.” she said as she seemed to think hard about it, “They come into a bassse or camp and then get handed to a ssseeder team and then they go out. Where ever they come from, it mussst be very hard to make them becaussse they come in a sssmall box, only about thirty at a time. And we only get about one box every two yearsss. We were told to never ask about them. Any that did were banissshed to live on their own or were killed.”

“It would seem like a dragon should be able to live alone.” I said, “Since we can hunt for ourselves with our claws and teeth.”

“You ssshould talk sssince you live in a home with food provided to you.” she shot back.

I didn’t have a response to that. I just looked down for a bit and gave the floor a little kick.

“We can live on our own for a while,” she said, “but if too many huntsss turn up empty, we ssstart to lossse energy. Before too long we’re too weak to hunt and die of ssstarvation. It only takesss about two or three daysss of bad hunts for it to be too late.”

“How long has it been since you last ate?” I asked her, now worried about her health.

“I haven’t eaten in three daysss before today.” she said, “My mating cycle ssstarted and my instinctsss told me to look for a mate, ssso that’s why I came here. You have been on my mind, ssso I tracked you down. All the energy from my drive to mate gave me just enough to find you. I’m ssso tired.”

As she got to the end of her sentence, she started to droop. It didn’t take long for her head to hit the floor.

“Come on, let’s get her to the basement and get her tucked into my bed.” I said to Mom, she had been standing there the entire time just listening to Heather talk, “She needs a good night’s sleep.”

“Al!” she said, “We need a hand here!”

Dad came in and all three up us picked her up and carried her to my bedroom. Once I got her tucked into bed, I went to the downstairs living room after changing into another set of clothes in got from my closet, put them on in the bathroom and fell asleep on the red couch. Just to make sure, I closed my bedroom door and tied a bell on it. Once I was sure I wouldn’t be visited it the night, I feel asleep. All the while I just kept wondering why these things keep happening to me.

‘Oh well, I have work to do then.’ I thought as I finally feel asleep.