Chapter 43

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Day: 1230

Days Left: 4250

Lives Saved: 6

"That's everyone!" shouted Jules, rushing over as he assisted Oscar in carrying the last of the injured to the outskirts of the camp to be treated. After taking them to a makeshift bed and left to be tended to by Ivette and Rita, Oscar turned to see Princess Alfreda by Calixte's side, the man still unconscious, his amphibian mask near his face, ready to be put on as soon as he awakens to ease his staggered and water-clogged breathing.

"Any updates?" Oscar asked softly, approaching nervously. He rarely saw Princess Alfreda as she spent most of her days in her tent; it was odd to see so much of her, to see the woman he had been employed by before he had lost his memories.

The fire demon's eyes darted up at him; she appeared to have been in deep thought. Then she glanced away when she saw it was Oscar. "He is still breathing..." She cleared her throat, her voice gravelly, and then she scowled, looking over to the tent which supposedly led down to the Land of the Lost. "What is taking them so long? How troublesome is a baby dragon?"

As soon as she said these words, the ground shook and quaked, rattling the tents, and they collapsed into disorganised piles.

"Earthquake!" shouted Jules. "Everyone keep calm and-"

The centre of the camp split open and collapsed in on itself as an enormous dragon emerged to the surface. It roared in victory upon seeing the light outside, then batted away more clunks of earth, widening the hole.

"Ah, fuck..." Rin breathed, clutching her torso as the dragon's shadow swallowed the entire camp, the scaled monstrosity as tall as a skyscraper.

The seven imps cowered and clung to the nearby adults, three of them hiding behind Princess Alfreda.

The fire demon gazed at the beast, realising that...

"Where is every one..." she mumbled.

Lili and Calanthe were down there. What happened to them? What about Corinna and-

"We need to get everyone out of here!" yelled Jules, hauling people to their feet. "Get the injured and-"

"We can't carry everyone!" cried Rin. "There's too many of them! They'll-"

"Carry as many as you can!" Jules screamed, fumbling to pick up a nearby fallen, his eyes unable to break away from the dragon. "We have to get them all out of here!"

"Rin's right," mumbled Oscar. He sucked in a breath and repeated louder, "Rin's right! We won't make it in time! We can't save everyone-"

"I'm not leaving anyone behind!" growled Jules.

"We won't!" Oscar clenched his fists. "But I can buy us some more time-"

"No! Oscar!" Sumit grabbed his shoulder. "You can't do this-"

"I can slow it down! I can ensure that all of you get out safely-"

"And what about you!"

"It's either that or..." Oscar looked around at the injured. "We can't leave them behind. If we want them to make it, we need to stall." Oscar glanced back at the dragon, seeing it attempting to haul itself out of the hole, collapsing the earth around it. "And the others," continued Oscar. "We need to stall the dragon if any of them are still down there and..." Oscar's voice trailed away as he saw Sumit's face, that expression, his eyes watering, lip trembling and unable to look at Oscar directly.

"Hey..." Oscar caressed Sumit's cheek. Sumit initially shrunk away, eventually melting into it, clutching Oscar's hand with his own.

"He won't be alone," said Princess Alfreda, standing up and rolling back her shoulders. She glanced around at those who were too injured to stand up, let alone run away, and then she turned to the unconscious ones, dry blood blotched at their scalp, their memories likely damaged or perhaps entirely wiped from the fire demon's strength. And then Alfreda finally looked down at Calixte, hearing the faint rasps of breath coming from the unconscious man's mouth. "I shall aid in buying time."

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