A Dragon's Tale #Watty's2015

Lone Survivor

About ten minutes after I'd fallen asleep, Hudson walked in, the door opening was what stirred me. He was dressed in a black shirt and pants with his handgun strapped to his leg.

“Yeah Hudson?”, I asked yawning

“Come here John”, Hudson replied, “bring Adelind too, you both need to see this.”

Hudson turned and walked out. I nudged Adelind a wake and the kids with her.

“What is it Daddy?”, Helix asked yawning.

“Your Mom and I have to go with Hudson for a minute, will you kids go to Sozenn's room?”

They nodded and we walked out. Sozenn was still awake and agreed to watch them until we came back. Adelind and I then followed Hudson out. The smell of the crushed eggs, the smell of death, was still so strong in the air that Adelind about passed out. The three of us walked down to the hatchery and entered, against better judgment.

It was a scene that came from the deepest, darkest abyss. There were broken eggshells everywhere. I couldn't take a step without their sharp edges digging into my paws. The sticky yolks were everywhere, that same tinted red liquid that had made Shadow temporally insane. There were dead hatchlings, some half-developed, laying lifeless in their eggs. The four little kids that Tyson liked to play with had their throats torn out, the oldest male seemed as if he'd tried to face down Mark, as his back was broken and twisted, he'd died to protect the littler ones. None of us could find the words to describe this scene, there weren't any truth be told.

Adelind came in close to me, I could tell she was ready to cry and to be honest, I was too.

“I can't even”, Hudson said, “I just can't.”

“Let's get out of here Hudson”, I said as Adelind left, “I can't stand this.”

Hudson either didn't hear me, or just ignored me.

“Hudson”, I said yawning, “let's go...”

That's when I spotted it, a single, untouched egg. How it survived the slaughter, I'll never know. It was a tan color with lighter tan spots, suggesting it was the egg of a desert dragon.

“Are there any desert dragons on base?”, I asked.

“Not that I know of”, Hudson said, “I was in here just before we left for the mission and this was not here...what should we do with it?”

I smiled, “give it to Shadow and Nina, something's telling me it's there's.”

Hudson looked it over, “it looks a lot like theirs did for sure, wonder where the tan color came from?”

“Who cares?”, I asked, “as long as they got one. I'll take it and go to the beach, if you can get Hunter to track down Shadow and get him to the beach, we'll see if we can't help a brother out.”

Hudson handed me the egg and left. I walked outside to find Mnerloth and Adelind talking, Mnerloth looked like she'd been crying, they both did.

“You guys okay?”, I asked.

“Just tired”, Mnerloth said through a yawn, “what do you got there?”

I held up the egg, “one survived, can you guess who it belongs to?”

Adelind and Mnerloth both smiled, “we can guess.”

“Were going down to the beach head”, I said, “I'll give it to him there.”

Adelind and Mnerloth followed me down to the beach. Fireclaw brought Nina, who cried her eyes out to Adelind and soon Hudson arrived with Hunter and now red eyed Shadow in tow.

“Shadow”, Nina said walking up to him and nuzzling him, “how are you feeling?”

You could tell she was trying to make her voice seem less shaky.

“I'm fine”, Shadow said, “but more importantly, how are you?”

Nina didn't answer and just leaned into him.

“Bad huh?”, Shadow asked hugging her.

“Hunter, Tyro”, Nina asked, “why are we here?”

They both looked at us.

“We found something”, I said, “and I decided it should go to you. Especially after all that's happened.”

“What did you find?”, Shadow quickly asked.

“This”, Adelind said as I opened my wings to reveal the unbroken egg. I saw the color drain out of both Shadow and his mate.

“Hudson found this while they were cleaning out the hatchery”, Hunter said, “we don't know if it's yours or not, but Tyro felt it should go to you.”

“That's...you...how?”, Shadow stuttered.

“Luck”, I said, “ “that's all it was.”

Shadow simply sat there staring at it.

“You gonna take it or not?”, I asked smiling.

Nina reached out and took it from me. Her paws were shaking heavily. Shadow put one of his paws on her to stop the shaking. Nina started crying teas of joy and Shadow soon followed. I smiled, they were a family again.

“Tyro”, Shadow stuttered, “guys, thank you.”

Shadow pulled us all into a big hug, Adelind, Mnerloth and I laughed, while Hunter growled a bit.

“You know I hate shit like this”, he said.

“Shut the fuck up you old worm and just enjoy it!”, Shadow said letting us go.

“Your both welcome”, I stated.

“Right”, Shadow said, “I owe you my life Tyro, you and Hudson both.”

“Your payment will be raising that egg with utmost love and devotion”,Hudson said.

“Right”, Shadow said again, “thanks guys.”

“I'm going back to the room to get some sleep”, Nina stated, “You coming Shadow?”

“Yeah”, Shadow said as he and Nina turned and walked away.

“Now”, Hunter said, “about that bastard Mark.”