A Dragon's Tale #Watty's2015

Stock Destruction

Days past, Shadow and Nina didn't return. There were rumors going around base that they had been killed. In the light of them, Nolan called us up and gave us one objective, find Talon squad. Due to the fact that they were ambushing a DK convoy, there were possibility we all refused to acknowledge openly, but I think we were all panning them in our heads. They could have been captured, crushed if the bridge had collapsed or simply shredded by DK fire. We worried ourselves sick, but Taro and Mnerloth had the hardest time of all of us. Taro, after losing his mate, didn't need to lose his son and best friend and Mnerloth didn't need to lose the only bit of a family she had left. Adelind was worried about little Taro as well, as there was a clean cut chance he had lost both his parents in the same afternoon.

The searching was ruining all of us. My body ached from the constant combat, lack of real food, the flying and the weight of my gear. I had pain in my ankles from my own weight and my vest was rubbing the scales off my back and sides. My friends weren't faring any better. Both of Val's eyes were infected as a result of a tear gas grenade, Ator had begun to have problems walking, Sozenn had a few bullet holes in his chest from being attacked by a shot gunner, The Anthro's were all sick with some intestinal bug and Hudson and the humans were simply getting too tired to keep going.

One morning our 66 touched down and the hatch dropped to reveal Nolan in full combat gear and the grass of Romeo.

“Finally”, Tess groaned as we stood up, “were home.”

“You sound like a little school girl Tesselth”, Syralth said.

“Please not now”, Tess said, “it hurts to stand up and to talk.”

“Judging by the way your carrying yourselves I take found a little more than nothing?”, Nolan asked.

“We checked the AO, searched a 20 mile radios and more than a few tropical islands on the way back”, I said, “some of which held natives that weren't...welcoming. Only evidence we found of them was a piece of titanium. Off their 22 by my guess.”

Nolan looked down at the ground and sighed, “fuck....go and get cleaned up and then get some rest, that's an order Raven, leave the equipment behind. Dismissed.”

“Yes sir”, I answered as I kicked off my vest, glad to finally be free of it.

My friends and I walked down to the wash room and the humans there scrubbed us clean. We then went to get food before the Anthro's went to the vet and the Feral's and humans returned to the barracks. When I walked into my room, I found Adelind and the kids laying in front of the TV.

“Daddy”, Helix said, “your back.”

The kids got up and started walking towards me.

“Not now guys”, I said holding out my paw, “I'm too tired.”

“Are you okay Dad?”, Tyson asked.

“Just tired son”, I replied, I looked at Adelind, “can you help me to the room, it hurts to stand.”

“Sure”, Adelind said. She again allowed me to use her as a crutch and walk to the bedroom. I lay in bed and Adelind turned up the AC.

“Thanks”, I said stretching out a bit.

“You have sores on your ankles and all the way up and down your legs”, Adelind voiced, “when was the last time you took a nap?”

“In between the 4 minute flights to and from the AOs”, I answered, “my body hurts.”

“You didn't find them did you?”, Adelind asked looking down at the ground.

“No”, I answered, “all we found was a piece of scrap metal.”