The Last Dragon

Chapter 7: Invasion

“Onomatopoeia; it’s like a word used to describe a sound. Like ‘bang!’ or ‘whack!’, you know?” The dragon snorted, apparently unimpressed. “Okay then, that’s probably enough for today anyway.” John told him as he checked his watch. 8:10 pm. Right now, Guzray will probably be with his friends, having a chat with his friends before heading off to sleep. It had pained John to hear Guzray at lunch time, coming to feed the dragon. But John knew no one had had a better relationship with a dragon since 2000 bc. Besides. He reasoned. Guzray might have tried to do something, he might have got us both killed. That did not help John at dinner time. John yawned. The dragon said something to him in its native language. “You... tired,” he translated aloud from the limited words he knew in the dragon tongue. “Yes,” he confirmed. He lay down on his bed. The dragon nestled about two metres away. With a sneeze and a ruffle of his wings, he reduced that distance by half. John smiled. “Come on then.” The dragon looked away, pretending not to have noticed, then shuffle closer, until they were touching. The dragon’s belly was soft and smooth. John chuckled, recognising it as the ‘warm and silky’ feel from the previous night. “The secret’s out now,” John teased. The dragon snorted, almost as if in embarrassment.

14th February, 2013 (Two Weeks Later)

Guzray had gotten into a regular routine now. He had pushed thoughts of John from his head - he and his boss had come to the conclusion that the dragon had eaten him - and was now accustomed to the dragon’s constant absence from the public part of its cave. At meal times Guzray would just call ‘breakfast’ or whatever meal of the day it was, and leave the food on the floor for the dragon to eat later. Although Guzray respected the dragon, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he never saw it anymore. Guzray had joked to one of his friends that it was creating something out of all the electronics it had stolen, and when he thought about it, it wasn’t that far-fetched.

John, meanwhile, had fallen into a routine as well. Every morning, he would wake, have breakfast, and then he and the dragon would extend each other’s vocabulary until they got sick of it, which was usually around lunch time. From then until dinner, they would usually talk and learn about each other. Once they had eaten their final meal of the day, they would go to sleep. Currently, John and the dragon had just finished lunch.

“I really need something more in my diet, straight meat isn’t balanced enough,” John complained. “Also, I need exercise.

Yes, you have put on some weight, the dragon replied, with John translating in his head.

“And whose fault is that?” John asked, indicating towards the shackle on his ankle. If the dragon could blush, he would have. Once John had gained the dragon’s trust, they had found the dragon couldn’t remove the shackle without destroying it, which the dragon was unwilling to do. Apparently, it had taken some time to make. However, he was loosening it more and more with each passing day. Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook. Seconds later, piercing alarms sounded throughout Heaven.

“What the hell?” John cried over the top of the screeching sirens.

I will go and see... the dragon decided.

“No!” John shouted. “Wait! Let me out of this thing first! Don’t leave me trapped in here!” The dragon did not pause in his exiting of the cave. John picked up a loose piece of rock and threw it at the dragon. “Come back here!” he yelled. The rock bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s scales. An explosion dented the enclosure door inwards, its hinges just holding. John’s eyes widened. “You have to free me! Now! I know who it is! He’s come for you!” A second explosion caused the door to fly off its frame and onto the floor. The dragon snarled. John sat down, looking for something, anything; he could use to free himself. John started banging away at the chain with a rock. In the main room, the smoke cleared, and thirty-one humans clad in pure black, carrying guns, entered the room. The dragon watched as one human sent four others to investigate the banging noise. One of the four men laughed as he saw John pathetically hitting his bonds with a rock. John stopped and looked up.

“Looky-here,” one of the soldiers jeered. “It’s the amazing John Spiro! Set out to clear his name!” The others joined him in his laughter. They stopped at a roar from the main room.

“Cut that idiot loose,” the soldier who had first spoken commanded, switching to ‘business’ mode. “I’m sure the boss will be happy to see him.” One of the lesser soldiers aimed his gun at where the chain met the wall and fired. Another one hauled John to his feet and started to drag him out the cave.

“Fool!” John shouted at the dragon, who had six tranquiliser darts sticking out of him, gently swaying as if dizzy. The soldier that appeared to be the leader removed his helmet. John gasped. It was Drake. It wasn’t like the coward to embark on missions himself. John pointed this out to Drake, who smiled and casually replied with:

“Too good to miss my dear boy. So ,what excuse can you give me that’ll stop me from killing you right here and now?”

“I can translate everything the dragon says,” John claimed.

“We have yet to prove that, but I will enjoy watching you try!” That was the last thing John heard before a sharp pain in the back of his head caused his vision to dim. When his captor hit him with the butt of his gun for the second time, John’s vision went completely black.

“John was right,” Guzray informed. Dareen swore at him.

“That or he’s the one who staged this.”

“He can’t have. He died two weeks back.”

“He disappeared two weeks ago,” Dareen corrected. He rushed off to command the defence force and left Guzray staring dumbly at the pistol in his hands. Unable to think of anything else to do, Guzray pocketed it and headed for the dragon enclosure. If Dareen was wrong, and John truly had good intentions, that was where he needed to go. When he stepped over the remains of the door worriedly, he was met with a lone soldier, picking up the last of the darts that had bounced off the dragon’s natural armour.

“Where is he?” Guzray demanded, startling the soldier, who aimed his gun at him.

“Where is who?”

“The dragon. What have you done with him?” The soldier laughed.

“The dragon’s asleep. He’s going on a little ride.”

“This is John’s doing, isn’t it?” Guzray growled. At this, the soldier lifted a black tinted visor to reveal a broadly-grinning face.

“You know John?”

“Yeah. I brought him in. Trusted him... seems I was wrong to.” The soldier approached Guzray.

“I bet John feels guilty about you,” the soldier said, more to himself than Guzray. “We could use that...” Before Guzray could react, the soldier stabbed one of the many darts he was holding into Guzray’s neck. Guzray collapsed to the ground. “Yes,” the soldier continued. “He shall be very useful indeed.”