The Survivors

The Mandatas

I heard screeching all around me as several of the other dragonets flared their wings in panic. I watched as the cages before me seemed to shake and suddenly, they began to fall. The cages broke open as they hit the ground and the variations of white and silver dragons popped out.

I immediately started to call to them and soon, someone was at my cage door, fumbling with the lock. Their claws pulled the handle to the side and then down, releasing the cage and allowed the glass door to slide open. I was free!

I immediately flew out, relishing the chance to be free from the cage and practice my flying. It didn't last long though as I had a job to do. I immediately got to work on Levi's cage next to me, successfully unlatching the cage after a few unsuccessful tries. His larger form flew out and tackled me mid-air and we tumbled to the ground.

No matter how much my instincts screamed to play along with him, I gave a huff of annoyance and nudged his flank. "We need to get out of here! Now!" I said to him with a hint of urgency. He didn't respond and instead took off down a hallway. Amidst the cluster of other dragons, I followed him.

He seemed to know where he was going and I wasn't sure how, I just knew that I needed to trust him if I was to survive. Upon arrival to a door, I just looked on in despair. There was no way we would get out of here. The door was simply too big and too heavy for such a small creature like myself to push open. It seems that I was wrong though.

Levi just barreled through the door as if it was nothing and I began to wonder if we had an increased strength that I knew nothing about. I would have to test that later. Right now, we were finally back out in the open, except the sight was horrific.

There were ships outside. Ships that were not from this planet based on the markings. I squawked in surprise and received a fearful look from Levi. No words were needed as we mutually agreed. We needed to get out of here and fast. So we flew. We disregarded the other dragons as right now it was a flight for survival.

We could not spot any humans as we flew. All we saw was the destruction of several buildings and the alien ships about us. They seemed to not care much for our presence and it unnerved me a bit. Hopefully, since we were not in the shape of a human, we would be left alone.

Levi and I found a small wooded area that we landed in. We had discussed our options in our hasty flight and had agreed that a wooded area where we could dig a shallow den would work the best. So we did exactly that. We used out sharp claws to rid the ground of any roots or bugs, creating a shallow cavern wide enough for the two of us to hide in. Hopefully, hopefully this would all be over soon and those aliens would leave.

We were sadly wrong.

Five years later and those creatures were still here. The Earth has changed. No longer was it full of green plants. The ground was now a thick layer of snow and all the trees had been stripped bare or had begun to rot from lack for nutrients.

Levi and I struggled to find any sources of food in the freezing conditions. There were rarely any animals out here and there was a major lack of fruit. We had severely dropped in weight and we were beginning to consider our options.

The alien race who had invaded, The Mandatas, were a vaguely humanoid species. They had darker brown skins, much like you would find in Central African humans. They were about four feet taller than the average human male and had long white hair. Their eyes were always a striking blue that would make anyone freeze if pierced with their gaze. They were practically solid muscle, but despite their intimidating appearances, they seemed quite gentle.

Their gentle nature didn't deter our instincts though. Levi and I knew they were aware of our existence. The Mandata's lived in cities that had a fortified dome around it, protecting them from the harsh elements of the ongoing Ice Age. They often came outside the dome to see if they could find anything to hunt. Inside their cities were the foreign plants from their home planet. These plants also contained some delicious fruits that tempted me and Levi, but we held back for safety reasons.

"Levi I really think we need to consider our options here. We have no food and we only get our water from the snow. It's freezing out here and this is coming from the two dragons who should be capable of withstanding cold temperatures. If we just visit the city for a couple of days we could get our fill of the food and then leave." I begged. After five years of a brutal life, I was ready to take the risk to survive.

Levi gave a low growl at my idea. I knew he disapproved and no words were needed from him to show me his thoughts. Regardless, I would go anyway and I knew he would follow. We had gotten close the last five years. We were each other's own company due to the loss of the rest of the dragons. We shouldn't have left them so quickly or else we might have had more numbers to stay save with. I cursed myself everyday for that reckless decision.

"I'm going Levi. You can join me or you can die out here. I am not asking you to snuggle up to those aliens. I am only asking you to go enjoy a decent meal with me for once." I snapped. I unfurled my wings with a snort and leapt into the air. If he decided not the follow, then that was his choice.

I beat my wings and rose higher into the air, a cold breeze running down my scales. I shivered, but soon found a current of air to glide along towards my destination. It was a short and quick flight. I landed outside the dome and a thump to my left indicated that Levi had followed me after all.

I lifted my right foreleg up to the dome and was shocked that it went right through. Maybe a dome wasn't the right word for it. It was more like a force field. I gave Levi a shocked look before taking flight again, flying through the dome with confidence. The wing beats behind me showed Levi was about a tail-length away from me, but they sounded much more forced to indicate his anger at my wish to head into the city.

As white-scaled dragons, it was easy for us to be spotted amongst the crazier colored alien objects. Their buildings were cylindrical and were varying shades of red and orange. The plant life was darker, being green and blue. It seemed nothing from their home planet was colored white, brown, grey, or black. They seemed to prefer everything to be colorful and bright.

I looked down and noticed that a few of the aliens had stopped on the sidewalk and were pointing up to me and Levi. I felt uneasy and banked right towards what resembled a park. I landed on the blue grass softly, Levi landing mere seconds later. I looked up at him, still smaller as usual. I attributed it to just being a female as it seemed common in some animals.

I sniffed the air and immediately looked to my
left. A bush with small berries on it was now in my line of sight. I looked at Levi with a smile and said, "told you this would be worth it. Just look at the amount of berries on this bush. It could last us an entire week. And listen! I can hear running water farther into the park! I knew this would be perfect."

"If you call constantly being on edge perfect, then I have to agree doll. Those aliens noticed us when we flew in. We are going to need to be careful during our time here." Levi responded.

I only huffed and turned to the berry bush. I bit into a berry without a second thought and was greeted with a flavor that resembled a blueberry. I squeaked in excitement and stripped off a few more, passing them to Levi. "You have got to try these. They are so good!"

He popped one into his mouth and hummed his content. The two of us shared the pile of berries I picked until none were left. It was in that moment that I heard something crack and I swiveled my head to the right. A flash of white startled me and I got up with a growl, my ears laying flat against my skull. "It would seem we have some company."