Drakkon part 12

“We have arrived.”

The dragon, who is still unnamed, stares at the building before us. It looks abandoned. There are cars littered around with fire damage and melted tires. A single human skeleton pokes out from the snow, and there is enough silence to make a cemetery seem like a party.

If not for the lights that emit from the fifth floor of the building, I would have thought that all hope was lost. Daisy must be upstairs.

A sense of fulfilment relaxes my shoulders. It feels like my mother’s embrace. I made it. I’m so proud of myself for hauling ass and keeping my unspoken promise to my sister. I found her!

“As you assured, you will follow me willingly after you find this sister of yours?”

Of course I won’t fucking follow him willingly. I need to get Daisy away from him and all the death that trails after him.

“Yes.” I lie through my teeth. I’ll keep lying until my teeth are rotten and fall out if that’s what it takes to get Daisy through this. She is my last ounce of humanity. I must protect her.

As soon as I find her, I’m going to escape the dragon. If I have to worsen his back injury, then so be it.

“Do not waste energy lying to me. Your plans won’t get you far.”

It sounds like a warning, not an accusation. He’s going to keep a close eye on me. I have a small window to escape, but it’s now or never. Since he can’t fly due to his injury, this is a tremendous advantage.

“I will lead and clear the rooms. You must stay fifteen feet away from me at all times. Do you understand?” he asks sternly.

This, I have no problems with. I don’t know what we’re walking into. He’s the only one qualified to dive into the building.

“Let’s do this,” I answer.

He moves to the entrance. The inside is as askew as the outside, with water damage everywhere.

We take the stairs, glancing at every shadow in the place. There are no voices, but I know someone is here, or at least left recently. That’s the only explanation for the lights.

I’m panting by the time we reach the fifth floor, and the scratches at my side burn as if re-opened.

This floor is far more organized and metallic. It was once a laboratory.

The dragon checks every corner, eventually leading me to a room with huge vaults installed into the wall, like at a bank. There are long tables with computers and random equipment.

A man stands in there with his back to us. I can tell he’s older by his balding. He wears a torn lab coat and goggles.

The dragon signals me to stay by the wall and enters the room.

“Who care you?” he calls for the man.

The man turns. “I could ask the same of you. I am Dr. Harris. What are you doing at the FEMA headquarters?”

”I’m looking for a female,” the dragon replies. “By the name of Daisy. You will tell me if you have seen her.”

“Hmm…” The doctor clicks his pen and drops it in his breast pocket.

Why is he avoiding the question?

“The female,” the dragon presses.

“Daisy went out with her companion a few hours ago. She will return shortly.”

Companion? What did Daisy step onto the surface for? She has never been very brave.

I make my presence known and ask, “what companion?”

“A man by the name of Taylor. He is my security personnel. We found Daisy when we were collecting the deceased dragon for an autopsy. I invited her to the facilities, offering her food and water if she helped me.”

“Help you with what?” I demand, getting choked up with frustration because none of this makes sense. He’s telling me that Daisy left willingly, without leaving me as much as a note. She didn’t get captured. It hurt me that my sister didn’t think of me while I barely slept, wondering if she was alive.

“I needed her to help me with my studies.”

But Daisy is so skittish that she would never leave the shelter of the underground. I have always been her protector, and all she had to worry about was chatting with friends and studying mushrooms. I have always been fine with this balance, because my sister made me happy.

“Daisy…” I shut my eyes to relax my glare. “Daisy is no scientist. She only knows a few things about plants. What could you have wanted with her?”

Dr. Harris smiles. “You don’t know, do you?”

“No, I don’t!” I snap. It’s becoming harder to reign in my temper, because I want answers. I want my sister. All this man is giving me is word puzzles.

“You calmed the dragon beside you. You made him non-violent against humans. Daisy has the same capabilities. That is why I asked her to join me. I wanted to study her effect on dragons.”

Shock ignites inside of me. How can he tell that a dragon is in the room? Most importantly, why isn’t he running for his life?

“How— how do you know about…”

The dragon stands beside me and takes my arm, as if sensing that we walked into a trap.

“Oh, please.” Harris takes out a revolving chair and takes a seat. “You two are in no danger. I’m only a curious scientist. Sit down, will you? I know you must have plenty of questions.”

I sit only because I feel like I’ll fall to my knees if I don’t.

Harris’ smile doesn’t falter. He looks like a kind man, but I learned long ago that appearances love to be deceiving. I’m getting out of here as soon as I get my answers.

“Why do we have this effect on dragons?” I ask, admitting my capability to him.

“Because of your father. When I saw Daisy, I instantly knew she was the daughter of Dr. Martinez. You two are the splitting image of him.”

I don’t remember much of my father. He died when I was very young. Even his face is a mystery to me.

“What does he have to do with this?”

Haris’ gaze moves to the dragon.

“The dragon’s violence is not voluntary. They kill humans because, well, they were commanded to. Humans wanted to weaponized dragons. Your father and I worked on the same team that designed the disease that infected the dragons with madness.” His smile thins out, replaced by shame.

My heart drops, and the dragon beside me takes a step forward. I reach out to grab his wrist.

“Speak!” he commands.

“Kill me if you wish. I have lived with shame for many years. That is why I have dedicated the rest of my days to fix what I’ve done.”

“Why did my people come to this retched planet? Tell me before I rip your head off.”

“The dragons came because they needed women. Their home planet is running low on fertility. You wanted to recruit human women to move to your planet and give them a good life in exchange for birthing your children. Your offer was fair, but we had no intentions of spreading your terms to the women. We wanted to let you go extinct, but before that, we wanted to use you to get rid of targeted humans. We hijacked your heightened scent to make you violent toward designated groups humans, hoping that you would decimate their populations. You were supposed to target certain countries outside of the United States, but it all went wrong.”

The doctor is blinking rapidly, as if processing the truth he accepted years ago.

The dragon is trembling with bubbling fury. Me? I’m a block of ice.

“The dragons didn’t attack targeted scents like they were programmed to. Instead, they became violent towards all of humanity in a crazed haze. They decimated cities in days all over the world. No military could stop them. There were hundreds of them, and we only took out a few dozen.”

He looks at the dragon with a broken look. “I don’t blame you for what you’ve become, son. I blame us. We did this to ourselves, as we always do.”

My head is spinning. This is too much information to contain. The dragons were forced to downsize humanity by humans themselves?

“And me?” I whisper. “What does this have to do with Daisy and I?”

“Your father was a brilliant man. Far greater than what I’ll ever be. Somehow, he excluded you and your sister’s scents from the formula to protect you both. You sisters are immune to the dragon’s rage. You don’t send them into a frenzy. It’s more than that, though. You two cure them. Once they’re around you, they snap back to reality. You girls are the saviors of humanity, and I’m trying to use your sister’s scent to formulate a cure for all dragons across the planet.”

I’ve heard plenty of crazy stories— such as cannibals eating each other, but nothing like this.

His words explain why the dragons are so attracted to me, but I can’t accept it. It’s too much for me to grasp. I’ve been living as a roach for years, and now this doctor is telling me that I’m a fucking butterfly?

There is nothing special about me. There never has been.

The dragon tugs me to my feet, his hand dwarfing mine.

“How did we get here? And how do we get back to my planet?”

We?

Oh, no. He’s planning on taking me with him.

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