Chapter 16: Fearless to Fearful

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The moment she saw the lights and fires of Berk fade into the distance, Astrid quit pounding on the Nadder's foot and accepted what had just happened: She, along with her friends, were kidnapped by dragons in the ensuing chaos of a raid. She couldn't bear it. She felt something that she rarely ever felt: fear.

Each teen held on to their captors' scaly hides, more terrified of the increasing height than the thought of becoming the reptiles' next meal. The dragons, though determined, couldn't help but feel sorry for what they had done, and what they were going to do. They speculating that the teens probably thought this was their last night alive; at least they were dying together. In a way, the Nadder thought, it was...


The group flew until they reached a cave entrance situated near a cliff overlooking the island. The dragons roughly dropped the teens one-by-one and cornered them by an outcropping of the cave. Horrified, the twins huddled with Snotlout while Fishlegs dragged an injured Astrid closer to the group crammed against the cave wall.

"This is it. This is it. This is it." Fishlegs stuttered as he huddled Astrid with the Snotlout and the twins.

"I never thought to die like this..." Tuffnut whimpered as he squirmed closer to his sister. "I imagined seeing Hiccup one last time!"

"At least give me time for one last kiss!!" Snotlout exclaimed to the staggering reptiles as they crept closer. Not wanting to conceal his fate just yet, Snotlout, without warning, kissed Astrid smack on the lips. During the six seconds that it lasted, she socked him hard in the ribs. "Owwwwwww..." He squealed quietly as he collapsed on the cave floor.

Ruffnut started to drag him closer to the group when the Monstrous Nightmare stepped forward, freezing her in her tracks. Drooling it's kerosene-gel saliva on the floor, the Nightmare looked straight into Snotlout's dazed eyes. Widening his eyes to the horror in front of him, Snotlout tried to back up despite of the injury.

In parallelism to Snolout's kiss, the Nightmare snatched his leg in its mouth without warning. Screaming in agony, the Nightmare dragged him across the cave floor before placing him behind a boulder. Without hesitation, the dragon bit down hard on Snotlout's right shoulder.

Hearing his horrific screaming, the twins backed as far as they could towards Fishlegs and Astrid. Tripping over a rock, Tuffnut fell to the ground, catching the Hideous Zippleback's attention. The twins froze in their tracks for the longest gaze they were ever given.

The right-sided head swirled it's neck around Ruffnut while the left-sided head curled its stare straight into Tuffnut's eyes. Sickly yellow eyes, bearing a sense of revenge and somewhat curiosity, held their position across Tuffnut's terrified blue irises...

In less than a human heartbeat, the Zippleback's left head sank its fangs deep enough into Tuff's left leg to draw blood. Following a sickening crunch, Tuffnut screamed in horror as he tried to push the dragon's head off his leg using his other leg. All he could do was watch as the Zippleback's other head bit down hard on his sister's arm, her screams drowning in sorrow as Tuffnut seemed to lose to consciousness; his eyesight went burly as a greenish gas surrounded him. Then, in an instant, his vision was sharper, much clearer than it was before...

Cringing after what they just witnessed, Astrid and Fishlegs huddled close as they could against the cave wall. The smell of fish and granite coming from Fishlegs attracted the Gronkle as it turn its stance towards him. Rather than snatching him up rapidly, the dragon hesitantly dragged him towards another corner of the cave. The abnormal jaws of the Gronkle petrified Fishlegs yet at the same time fascinated  him. His passionate interest turned to into a realistic nightmare as the dragon bit his leg in a few seconds, but not without a look of sympathy in the Gronkle's bright yellow eyes...

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