Dr. Vanessa Lopez
I stood on the wall watching the king direct his army. I loved watching him. It turned me on. I should not be aroused during a battle like this, but I could not help it. He was in his element. Seeing him in dragon form made my mouth water. I was glad that I was able to be with him again. It was bittersweet considering it could be the last time that I was ever with him. Watching him, I wanted to burn his memory into my mind and keep it there forever. He was such a beautiful specimen to watch. He was tall and commanding. He was very dominant, and every one of his weredragon soldiers obeyed him and hung on his every word.
Then a noise brought me out of my fantasy of staring at the king. It was a loud boom. We all looked down over the wall just in time to see a large group of Clenok cyborgs throwing themselves into the electric fence. The electricity burned a bright blue, causing the explosion. Then it died. Suddenly Clenok cyborgs that were at the fence were not getting burned.
There was complete chaos on top of the wall. Dragons and humans were running around trying to adapt to this new reality. I looked at Karik. He looked at me and frowned.
“I know. But just give it a chance. Maybe the fence will come back on. Give it one minute,” he said.
“Dragons, full fire assault,” he said into his armband. I watched as a large group of dragons flew off of the wall directly down to the group of Clenok cyborgs and shot fire at them, melting them. Then they swooped up into the sky and came back around and did it again. It was good. It was holding back the very front line of the Clenok cyborgs, but there were thousands behind them. It wasn't going to be enough. I knew that the keddle was on the other side of the wall. I needed to get there. I needed to see if it was with that group.
“Lieutenant! Take over. Keep the front line of Clenok cyborgs away from the wall. We are going after the keddle. We are going after the source,” he said.
Karik scooped me up into his strong arms. Then he flew across the village to the other side of the wall. He landed on top of it.
“Fine. First, we need to locate the keddle,” I said peering down into the battle below.
“Azlo, Jex,” he said into his armband. Within seconds, Jex and Azlo were standing beside him. Then I saw it. I saw the keddle. It was at the very back of the army of Clenok cyborgs. We would have to cross the entire army in order to get to it. I felt discouraged.
“She wants to do what?” Azlo shouted. I turned to them. All three of them were looking at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.
“Maybe, but so is all of this. Now that the fence is down, how much longer do you think it will be before the Clenok cyborgs are breaching the wall? We need to do it now,” I said.
“Yes. A perfect match. But extremely frustrating. We are doing this. We need a plan,” Karik said.
“I found the keddle. It is in the very back of the army. Look,” I said directing them in the direction to look. Finally, they saw it.
“I think we should take a ship. Let us go off in the opposite direction and go around. It is smarter than flying directly overhead. We will go in the opposite direction and make a big loop and come up on the rear of the army. Then we will land the ship and fly with wings to the keddle. The three of us will give Vanessa cover while she does her work,” Karik said.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Tell us how to do it, and we will go do it for you,” Karik said grabbing my hand.
“No, it has to be me. The keddle will not open for you. I have a feeling it will open for me because I have already been connected to it,” I said.
“I can't believe we are going to do this. Let's get going then. The longer I think about it, the more I won't want to do it,” Karik said.
“Perfect; lead the way,” Karik said as he scooped me up into his arms and flew down into the village following the other two soldiers.
We landed in front of a small white ship. I had never seen a spaceship up close before. It was spectacular. The door opened, and I stepped inside. Everything was a stark white. There were flashing lights all over the place.
“Buckle in. It is going to be a bumpy ride,” Karik said to me. I strapped myself in in the back of the ship. The rest went to the front of the ship. Soon we were off the ground and flying chaotically in the air. This was it. I was really going to do this. I had to find all of my courage.
“We are almost there. We are coming around the back of the army,” Karik shouted over his shoulder to me. He was piloting the ship. Was there anything that he could not do? He was a king. He was a soldier. He was a magnificent lover. He was a dragon shifter. He was amazing at almost everything he did. He was my rescuer.
The ship both jolted! There was a flash of light. Then I felt the sensation of falling. I could barely open my eyes. I was falling, falling, falling. Boom! I hit the ground hard. I open my eyes. I was still strapped into my seat. I realized then that the ship had been blown apart in the air. I was in the back part of the ship, and it had hit the ground. I was in shock. I could hear a loud piercing ringing in my ears. I shook my head back-and-forth, trying to figure out what had happened. I unbuckled my belt and fell out of the seat onto the grass. I quietly and carefully walked around the ship. I felt into my pocket. The drive was still there. I was relieved.
“Karik?” I whispered. “Jex, Azlo,” I whispered. I didn't want to shout. I would just alert Clenok cyborgs to my presence. I could not see the rest of the ship. My heart felt like it was going to explode as I realize that perhaps they did not survive. It would be all my fault. An entire race would have lost their king because of me. I had to make this count. I had to get to that keddle no matter what. Everything relied on it. I would not let the death of these dragons be for nothing. Especially the one that I loved so dearly.
I walked in the direction of chaos and noise. I knew it was the cyborg army. It was complete suicide for me to walk in that direction. But I had to find the keddle. I snuck around in the brush, and as I got closer, I got on my belly crawling forward like a soldier. Then I stopped and looked around. I could see it. I could see the keddle. It was not guarded. I thought that was surprising. But there were so many Clenok cyborgs in front of it between it and the village they were not expecting to be attacked from behind. I stood up quietly, trying to not make any noise. Then I calmly walked toward it. I knew that if I ran, it would be too obvious and it would cause Clenok cyborgs to look in my direction.
I walked looking directly at it. Then a cyborg stepped in front of me. I stopped. It raised its gun at me but did not fire. I held my breath. Maybe it was computing that I was the one hooked up to the keddle earlier. Maybe it had no sense of time and thought no time had passed at all, and it would hook me up to the keddle again.
Then the cyborg was lifted into the air. The gun was pulled from its arm. I looked up to see Karik pulling the cyborg away from me. I smiled. He was alive. I was happy. But I could not savor this moment Long. The Clenok cyborgs would've noticed one of their own in trouble. I continue to walk straight to the keddle. I went to the side that opened, and I put my hand on it.
Suddenly it opened. The hydraulics are allowed. I could feel Clenok cyborgs turning toward me. I acted calmly, like this was normal. The keddle opened, and I took the seat that I had taken before.
I sat down and pulled the drive from my pocket. I knew exactly where I was going to put it. I saw a cyborg walking toward me. It did not have a gun in his hand, and I knew that it was going to hook me up to the keddle. I had to be quick. I plunged the drive into a port. The light on the drive began to blink. I looked at the screen and saw the code that I had written flashing on the screen. It was taking the virus. I guess it thought that it was hooked up to my arm and it was willingly absorbing the information.
The cyborg continued to walk toward me. I didn't know what it was going to do when I realize that I was not plugged in. The needle was close to my arm, but it was not inside of me. But I couldn't move. If I took off running, then the keddle would know that it was not connected to me and that it was somehow getting information from something. It would reject it. I couldn't let that happen. The cyborg started a couple of yards in front of me. It was looking directly at me. The head turned to the screen. The sound of the mechanical head was frightening. Then it turned and looked at my arm. It was processing. Any second it was going to figure it out. I held my breath.