Winged

f o u r

Chapter Four

Missy

     Two months and plenty of physical exams later, I had mastered the art of flying around the examination room. I'd even learned to swipe at those pesky scientists all the while avoiding that annoying tranquilizing spray. It wasn't long before they dubbed me to be the most troublesome dragonet in the facility. Every scientist in the facility hated my scaly behind, but they couldn't hurt me, and that's where I'd gotten most of my confidence from.

     I sat on my haunches on top of the filing cabinet I'd perched myself on. I felt smug as I stared down at the scientist whose face had turned beet red. He was my favorite person to endlessly tease. He was also the man who was slapped for handling me so poorly two months ago. I shared the image of his beet red face with the rest of the dragonets through the general mind link. I was instantly met with their chuckles and amusement.

      Kate sighed as she sent her disapproval down the link.

     "You are far to brave. They have the power to out you down, you know."

      I snorted, "They can't touch me. We are far too rare for them to hurt a perfectly good dragonet. He would be punished severely if he ever hurt me, and he knows it. Besides, I long to see if his face ever turns redder than my scales."

     I could hear multiple giggles through the link.

     "I am positive you are mentally ill," the ex-spy chuckled.

     I grinned as I stated down at my victim who was already sporting multiple scratches from his inability to evade my claws.

     "Get back down here, you stupid lizard!" The man blasted his spray at me, and I took off to the air, evading the fumes. I came down behind him, scratching his back. His white lab coat, along with many, many others, tore and he growled in irritation.

     "And that makes 100!"

     Cheers sounded through the general mind link. After ripping up my 20th lab coat during my first two weeks here, I had made it my goal to reach 100. There was no time limit; I just wanted to reach 100.

     I swelled with pride upon reaching my goal. I had been the cause of the death of 100 white lab coats. I settled down on the examination table, opting to play nice since I'd achieved my goal.

     "You are seriously something else," Kate chuckled. I could picture her shaking her head at me.

     After my examination, I was transported to my cage where I immediately stretched out as much as I could inside of the small human cage under my heat lamp. I hummed as I welcomed the glorious heat. Being only four pounds and as big as a house cat, getting cold was much easier than it was when I was a human.

     Kate tapped on the glass with her claw, gaining my attention. I rolled my eyes as I met her narrow-eyed gaze.

     "You really have to stop antagonizing that poor man."

     I swished my tail mischievously.

     "They deserve it after what they did to us. As long as I'm trapped in his cage, I will always make their lives a living hell and tear up as many lab coats as I can."

     She went to reply but was interrupted by a sudden tremor. I sat up in alarm as the lights flickered.

     A timid voice immediately entered the general mind link.

     "Was that an earthquake?"

     "Possibly."

     Another unfamiliar voiced joined the conversation, "I don't think so, the earthquakes I am used to feel a bit different. That was almost like the vibration of an explosion."

     I turned to Kate who was up and alert, her eyes shining with fear.

     "Explo"

     I was cut off as a huge explosion blew my cage off of the shelf. I shrieked in terror and surprise as my cage crashed against the hard, tile floor. My world spun for a second before settling down. I whimpered as I stared out of the cracked glass, my eyes widening as I saw the outside world from the large whole the explosion had caused. I crawled out of my broken cage and turned to survey the damage.

     I winced as the agent's panicked voice filled my head.

     "Quick! Open the latches on the rest of the cages and we can all escape! Swiftly!"

     I immediately followed his frantic orders. My small body trembled with fear as I hastily unlocked as many cages as I could. My ears ringed loudly, and I flattened my ear tuffs to ease the irritating noise. My senses were assaulted by the smell gunpowder and my eyes leaked tears from the debris.

      The secret agent immediately screamed for us all to flee as soon as every dragonet was no longer trapped within the confines of the small cages. I didn't waste any time throwing myself into the air and flapping my wings for all I was worth. I was free! Upon reaching the outside world, I was shocked to see that the facility we were trapped in stood on the edge of a city. I was also shocked to see that we were in a tropical biome. Being trapped inside of my cage, I was never too sure where I'd ended up.

      Explosion after explosion resonated through the air, hurting my sensitive ears. I ignored the tall skyscrapers and other buildings. My eyes were on the hundreds of space crafts that lined the sky. Through the mind link, I could hear the other dragonets questioning what the hell we were seeing. We soon got our answer. I squawked in surprise as I saw a human turn into a pile of black goo and clothes. What the actual fuck?! For some reason, I immediately knew what it was. White aliens from a distant planet had come to claim the earth as theirs.

      My eyes turned towards the murderous yellow light that was quickly gaining on us. My heart beat furiously in my tiny body.

     "Fly!"

     Momentarily distracted by the voice, I failed to notice the stray bullet that was coming my way until it was too late. I screeched as pain exploded through my wing. Thrown off my trajectory, I went plummeting swiftly to the ground. My vision swam and I became disoriented as my body quickly lost blood. The last thing I remembered was a green dragonet speeding towards me before I was out like a light.