Chapter 8
“I’m not sure what he’s trying to accomplish. He’s been circling for the last few hours and your mother has been watching him intently. This is highly unusual and it worries me that I have no idea what their tactic might be.” Marcel knew almost everything there was to know about his kind. He was starting to get the idea that maybe they were switching things up. They probably thought that he might be in league with the humans and they weren’t taking any chances.
They were both dressed and they had been awake the entire time that that green dragon was circling above. It was kind of nerve wracking and both of them were slightly surprised that Catherine hadn’t done anything more than to watch him. She wasn’t acting on the pure instinct of survival. This was some kind of fascination and there was no doubt that there would be a break in the stalemate.
“You say that the dragons are not acting normally, but I can say with a degree of certainty that my mother is playing along those same lines. She has always been a shoot from the hip kind of girl. For her to stand by and let them circle like that and not do anything is out of character.” Natalie knew that from this moment on that where ever she went that she would never be alone. They would stand by one another and they would wage whatever war had to be fought on any front. “I didn’t think that I had anything to live for besides my job. Protecting my mother’s interests has been a fulltime career and one that I’m willing to walk away from. I thought that I needed her approval, but now I know that my happiness means more to me than having the pat on the back.”
There was no sign of any security guards that were looking to make their bones with Catherine. It seemed that all their attention was on watching this one lone dragon circle incessantly. It was getting a little monotonous and then the first stream of fire started something that one side was going to finish.
“I’m going to go out into the hallway and see if I can’t find some way that we can listen to what’s going on between them and your mother.” Marcel barely made it out the door when he was accosted by a guard that just happened to be going by on his rounds. Gerald felt that this man was his steppingstone to something bigger. He didn’t want to always have to bend to Catherine’s will and there were other positions that the capture of this creature would bring to him on a silver platter. He was just doing his duty, but he also wanted to protect his family and give them the kind of life that he never had growing up.
“You make one wrong move and it will be your last. I don’t know if you are a threat or an ally. It really doesn’t matter and my duty and my orders are clear.” He was trying to remain calm, but underneath he was terrified of what this creature was capable of. “Get your hands in the air and down onto the floor with your fingers interlocked behind you. I’m only going to ask you this once and then I’m going to have to use extreme force. I want to believe that you’re on our side, but everything that you’ve done has been to the contrary.” Gerald was thinking that maybe it would be better off to put him down like a dog in the street.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to go off half cocked, soldier. Like I told your commanding officer, I might be the only one that can get you out of this. She thinks that she can handle this on her own, but I can assure you that my kind does not intimidate easily.” The whole building was rocked with one blast that blew out the windows on most of the floors including the one that they were on.
Gerald stumbled and he glanced up in time to see this creature now becoming something that would make the little boys and girls afraid of the dark. He was literally lifted off his feet with the gun in his hand now being wrenched from his grasp. He had heard what the creature had done to the commander and how she was hell bent on making each and every one of them pay. He didn’t have time to debate the issue, as his body was slammed into the wall at the highest point on the ceiling. The last thing he saw before falling to the floor was the smug look on this creatures face. He tried to raise a hand, but the blackness of unconsciousness was rapidly closing in around him.
Marcel didn’t have to go very far to find a communication device. He took the radio from the soldier’s belt and carried it back to the room. He opened the door and saw that the windows had exploded and fragments of deadly glass shards had scattered everywhere. He was worried for Natalie’s safety, but she had found a safe haven by climbing underneath the large rectangular desk in the middle of the room. The rushing air coming from outside was a reminder that this creature was deadly and didn’t mind showing force.
He handed the communication device to Natalie and she turned the dial to the frequency that she was looking for. “We have him where we want him. He is making a break for it. We have the helicopters already dispatched and we will follow him back and destroy every one of them.” The voice was distinctly her mother’s. She thought that she was getting the upper hand, but somewhere deep down Natalie knew that this was nothing more than a ploy to lure them into a battle that they couldn’t win.
“They’re going to bring the enemy to them instead of attacking straight on. They have seen what your military has been able to do and they’re not willing to take the chance that they might have something more up their sleeve. They are going to find themselves in a trap.” Marcel had no idea who the leader was, but he feared that maybe Jackson had taken his rightful place at the head of the table. If that was true, then he was unpredictable and there would be no way to know what he was going to do next.
“I have to warn my mother. I know that she probably hates me and loves me at the same time right about now. The one thing that she doesn’t condone is free thinking. She likes things to be simple and for her orders to be followed to the letter. I would like to get a bird’s eye view of where they are going. I know that I’m asking a lot and to betray your own kind has to weigh heavily on your heart. If you’re going to adopt this world for your own, then you need to realize that even fighting your own kind will be necessary to convince anyone that you are not a part of this.” I touched his chest through his shirt. I’d found some clothing in a closet nearby and he was really going to have to be more careful about changing while in clothes.”
“I have a plan, but it would have worked a whole lot better had we been able to implement it here at the facility. I’m going to have to improvise and one thing that we need to do is to get that scud missile into the air.” Russell followed her down the hallway to an elevator that appeared out of nowhere. This was not the normal kind. This was specially made.
“I’ve known about her arsenal for a long time, but I’ve never actually seen it in person. I really didn’t wanna know how she could justify having ways of killing people right underneath her feet. I’ve been deluding myself into thinking that I wanted to be more like her. That couldn’t be further from the truth.” “I’m suspecting that there won’t be anybody down there and that her full force is right now about to attack. It’s going to be devastating for the people of the United States and the world abound.”
“I want you to know how much it means to me that you’re standing by me in all this, Natalie. I know that it can’t be easy and you hide it well, but betraying your mother has to hurt you where it matters the most. I suppose we’re both sacrificing a lot, but we need to make sure that there is continued peace and prosperity for your world.” They entered into a complex and they both looked around quite shocked at what they saw with their own eyes.
Natalie went over and used her cardkey to access the armory. She went inside and found all the necessary supplies that were needed to fulfill his secret request. She filled the container. “I hope you know what you’re doing. These elements are dangerous in the wrong hands. I’m trusting to put all of this in your hand, but there’s no way that I can get a jet. Then again, we already have the ability to fly.” I was hoping that I was going to be able to find a way to get into the air, but the place had been totally locked down from the moment that the dragons came here.
“I hope that I can keep it together long enough to do what needs to be done. With you by my side, I believe that I can conquer anything. I should be on the side of my people, but I found a second home right here on earth and I don’t want to lose it. Having you come into my life gave me a reason to hope for that happy ending. I’m guessing that you won’t want to miss this, but I suggest that you take some precautions. You have been trained by the best and it might be that training that helps you to live through this. I would suggest that you grab anything that is flame retardant. I’m assuming that your mother has already instituted that command to her troops.”
They went back up the elevator and came out on the same floor that they had just vacated. They look at each other and they knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. They had decided that it was better for the planet to make sure that the dragons didn’t get a foothold on this world.
“I was hoping that we would find a way to live in harmony, but I don’t think that’s going to work. Your kind has a blood lust that almost matches the one that my mother has. They are evenly matched and my mother will give as good as she gets.” “I have no idea what Marcel is thinking, but apparently it was going to take some amazing altitude. We were Airborne and we didn’t just fly into the sky. We are hidden within the clouds. It’s almost like he can navigate without being able to see beyond. Being in his arms and the thin air is causing me to grab for the oxygen canister that he presented to me after taking it from the armory.
They circled behind a mountain and then Marcel landed on the ledge to leave Natalie there to witness at a safe distance. “I don’t want to have to worry about you. This is where you’ll be able to see everything, but not get personally involved.” He didn’t allow her to say anything in response. He took flight with the weapon in hand. He used his destructive claws to rip it open. The contents were now feeding the clouds above. He wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but it was only thing that he could come up with in all the years that he had been on this planet. He knew that he could never return to his old life. It was time to start a new chapter with the woman that he loved.
He emptied the container and then returned to watch what was going to transpire with Natalie.
“You were right about your kind bringing them into a trap. That valley has only one way in and one way out. The dragons are going to use that to pick off the troops one at a time like shooting fish in a barrel.” “I want to ask him what he did with the weapon, but maybe not knowing gave me a sense of plausible deniability.”
“I knew from the moment that I came here a few years ago that this atmosphere was a little toxic to my people. I’m going to make them believe that it’s deadly and that their only option is to leave.” He flew down in the mists of the battle. He landed in between the two factions and he stumbled toward his kind looking like he was drunk. It was about that time that the air became cooled and the clouds opened up with a rain shower from above.
“I came as soon as I could get away. I wanted to reach out before now, but I was unable to. I had to warn you before you came here and discovered it for yourself.” Marcel fell to his knees and crawled on his hands and knees looking like he was parched from a desert journey that had left him almost on death’s door. “This place…the environment is not safe. I wanted to come home, but I couldn’t. I’ve been living day to day as a human for my own continued survival. You can’t say that you haven’t felt different and that’s only going to get worse. I’ve been living…on borrowed time. I had to shelter myself by staying indoors as much as possible. Being penned in like an animal…is no way to live for our kind.” He felt the effect of the rain hitting his skin and he made one final gasp before dropping at the feet of Jackson in a fragile and human form.
Jackson feeling something in the air took a deep breath and began to wheeze uncontrollably. He turned his attention towards the enemy. They were cowering behind their vehicles waiting for some moment to strike. Jackson felt like his lungs were on fire and his entire insides were burning up. A little heat was normal, but this was suffocating and taking the very breath from his body. He turned to see that his brethren and those loyal to him were having the same problem. It appeared that Marcel’s warning was too late to save him, but maybe it wasn’t too late to save the rest of them.
He was about to go over and collect the body of Marcel, but felt that his soul had already been welcomed into the dragon of Elders. The body was nothing more than a husk and getting off this planet was paramount.
He made a motion to his soldiers and they all took flight with their wings flapping and receding into the distance, until they were a mere speck. Once they were in space and aboard their ship they didn’t stick around. They had hid behind the moon to avoid detection from the many satellites littering the neighboring space.
Natalie had found her way down from the mountain. It wasn’t easy by any means. She was scraped and now running with tears in her eyes over to the fallen Marcel. Her mother seeing the angst on her daughter’s face decided to give her this moment.
She put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder “I want to know that what he did was the ultimate sacrifice. I was wrong about him and I’m sorry. I don’t know if you will ever forgive me, but I hope in time that we can put this behind us. I’m going to give you time to grieve, but in a week or so, I plan to continue where I left off.” She left behind a black vehicle for her daughter and then she made her way slowly back to the complex.
Natalie was cradling the head of Marcel who was in that naked desirable human form. There was an explosion that could barely be heard in the distance. “You won’t have to worry about them coming after you. All the others that survived will have to go underground. My mother will have to start over and I destroyed her data and any backups that might be pertaining to the subject of her experiments. “I’m going to miss you and these feelings are much too overwhelming to ignore. I would rather die with you, but you probably knew that it was better this way.”
It took a bit of doing, but she managed to put him into the vehicle in the back. She would bury him with honor and suddenly there was a hand touching her shoulder. She swerved to the side of the road, looking back to see that he was smiling. Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her mouth.
“I had to pretend to be dead and I had to make it look real. Your reaction sold it and I hope that you can forgive me for not telling you this part of the plan. That toxic atmosphere was enhanced and I was lucky that I was holding my breath or things could have gone a whole lot worse.” Marcel saw the anger in her eyes and was terrified that his little ploy had destroyed the one thing that he couldn’t live without. “I meant no harm and I only wanted to do what was right for everyone. This way, your mother will still have her crusade and my people know that coming here will only be detrimental to their health. I’m not sure they will stay away forever, but for now they’ve seen the effects of what this world can do to me and that was more than enough to prove to them that staying here any longer than necessary was stupid. I know that what I did was wrong, but I had to weigh all the options.” She had pulled away from him and was looking at him with this distaste and shock mixed into one.
“I should hate you. No woman or any one should feel that kind of crushing pain from losing the one that they love. You went about this wrong and you made this arbitrary decision without even consulting me. I can’t fault you for your reasoning and my outburst and subsequent grief had certainly proven to my mother that you were worthy of her respect. I suppose I could forgive you, but that’s on the precipice that you can forgive me.” “I should’ve told him, but I was unsure myself until this morning. Feeling my stomach turn was only a sign, but the test that I did under the sly had proven that what I suspected was true.” “I promise that I won’t make the same mistakes that my mother did. I hope that this is the only time that you keep these things away from me. You need to remember that we are a family and all three of us are going to have to rely on one another.”
Marcel was taken back for a second and then he realized the full meaning of what she was saying to him. They were going to have a baby born of love and that was something that they could both share. The way that she hugged him told him that his ruse did not ruin what they had together. He was worried that she would feel betrayed, but this was essentially the only prudent course of action.
They held hands and they drove into the sunset with their lives forever linked. Fearing reprisal from the government they decided to leave before being discovered all over again. They did not return to his home world and the vessel that had brought him here was repaired after the child was born.
They found an oasis that was uninhabited and began a simpler life of living off the land and on the love that they had for each other.
THE END