Forewarned (BEING REWRITTEN)

Framed

BEEP BEEP BEEP! Ugh that sound was boring into my brain. Red lights flashed, illuminating the hallway in a bleak hue as emergency lights led the way down the hall like an airplane runway. Caedmon peeped and covered his ears with his paws, shutting his eyes tightly. Quickly Rihanna and I raced for the closet and she pulled it open, grabbing two gas masks and one for Caedmon. I slipped on my own gas mask hurriedly, inhaling shakily as the alarms thrummed through my entire body. Then I quickly slipped Caedmon’s gas mask onto his little muzzle. He peeped and shook his head, obviously hating it. I stuck him in my jacket, zipping it up as I raced after Rihanna to join the others who were shuffling down the packed hall on their way out.

I got out just behind a big electric dragon who was taking up the whole hallway. I groaned. We would be in big trouble for evacuating so slowly and it was all this.. wait.. that was Avery’s dragon. I would have thought she would be smart enough not to go this way. What was she doing in here anyway? I went on my tiptoes as we shuffled forwards, trying to see if Avery was around and sure enough I saw a flash of her bleached hair as it swished from a savage turn of her head. From the looks of it, she was telling off a guy next to her, telling him to shut up, though her voice sounded funny through the mask.

After what seemed like centuries, we finally made it out the door into the frigid Alaskan air. My throat burned from the first inhale and Caedmon pulled his head back inside from peeking out my jacket. He made me look like I had serious man boobs by the way he was hanging out just below my collar bone.

“Attention!” The General barked, his word puffing smoke into the air and for a second I thought he was Mardu. But then I realized he wasn’t glowing like a fairy and I knew it was the human. “You call that an evacuation? In that time, the enemy could have eaten a happy meal, filled the place with gas, and blown the dang place up!” he yelled. “All of you should be dead right now!”

We all looked at the lightning dragoness who shifted her weight and glared back at us.

“And by the end of the day, you’ll be wishing you were dead!” The General continued, spraying saliva on the third rank as he walked through the crowd standing at attention. “Everyone’s going to be shoveling the snow off the driveway down to the treeline.”

That was almost a mile long! My eyes got huge.

“Well what are you staring for! Go go go!” He yelled and everyone shuffled to the driveway with muffled groans.

I didn’t have gloves, and before ten minutes passed my knuckles were white and fingertips blue. This wasn’t training. This was child abuse! I remember all the times when I was little and didn’t like my foster home. I would call the hotline for child abuse and cry that they were mean to me and locked me in my room for days, when I only was given a time-out. I guess it was my own fault for never being adopted. But boy, did I wish I could do that right now, I thought bitterly as I plowed through the snow with grit teeth. Caedmon didn’t like all the jostling and I could tell by the way he wiggled in my jacket, but at least he was a heater.

After twenty minutes of mindless work suddenly I felt a burn on my ears, a sunburn sort of burn and knew who it was. Mardu. I turned to see the beautiful light dragon padding over the snow and not leaving a single footprint. His wings shuffled at his sides as he curved his neck to look down at me. “You are needed, now, in the office.” He said bluntly.

I looked at the two guys next to me wildly. “Me?” I echoed, gulping.

“You, Justin. Now.” Mardu said in his angelic tone, finned tail swishing over the snow and bonking some kids but they didn’t even notice. Perks of being an invisible Patronus I guess.

“Yes sir,” I mumbled, putting my shovel away. A mix of emotions swirled inside me. I wanted to get out of this freezing weather but at the same time I did not want to see General Landin. As soon as I opened the door I exhaled as the warm air surrounded my body and made my cheeks flush further. After unzipping my coat I ventured further, to General Landin’s office, wondering why on earth he would want me.