Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (18 page)

    
I stared
into the trees, still expecting to be attacked. Almost hoping for it, in a
weird kind of way. I think I would have felt better if we’d stepped out right
in the middle of a fight. Does that sound crazy? Maybe it is, but I’ve come to
believe that waiting for something bad to happen is a lot worse than having it
actually go ahead and happen.

    
It’s like
being laid out with a blade strung up over your head. You know it’s going to
fall but you don’t know when. That’s a terrible kind of torture, let me tell
you right now.

    
“Where are
they?” Frank whispered.

    
“They’re
trying to draw us out,” Megara said. “Trying to get us to fight on their terms.
But we aren’t taking the bait. We’re going to stay right here and make them
bring the fight to us.”

    
So we
waited. A light breeze shook the tree leaves. And we waited. A bird sang
somewhere off in the distance. And we waited. I tried not to think about Zack.
And we waited. I worried about my friends. And we waited.

    
I know it
couldn’t have been as long as it felt like it was, or else Tim and the other
dragons would have reached us. But I swear it felt like time dragged to a stop
as we stood there. And then a subtle shift in the wind set off warning bells in
my head.

    
A dome
like shield of air covered us. I don’t know if it was Megara, or Frank, or one
of the others, but I was obviously not the only one who recognized the feel of
a coming attack.

    
Megara
eyed me. “Are you ready for this?”

    
“No.” Not
what she wanted to hear, I’m sure, but I couldn’t see how putting on a brave
face was going to help anything. That little panicky flutter had started up in
my chest and I was having to work really hard not to let it take control.

    
“You best
get ready,” she said. “Or else die. Your choice.” Real good motivator, huh?

    
Leaves
slapped the side of the dome. Twigs too. That might not sound scary, but they
were flying straight at us like sharp little missiles. Each only bounced
harmlessly away, but that didn’t stop me from wincing. I had to wonder what
they thought they were doing. Any air dragon had to know they couldn’t
penetrate our shield with some twigs, no matter how fast they were flying.

    
Then it
hit it me. They were scared. Of course they were. Megara and I were the bogeymen.
Those dragons out there had no idea what we could really do. All they had were
stories. They were testing us, trying to see what we would come back with.
Trying to see if we were as dangerous as they had been taught we were.

    
“They’re
scared.” I surprised myself as much as everyone else by saying the words aloud.

    
“Of
what?” Dee asked. “They’re bound to have us outnumbered.”

    
“Of me.”
I looked over at Megara. “Of
us
. We should push ahead. Let them see us.”

    
Megara
snorted. “Suddenly so eager for the fight, are you?”

    
I shook
my head. “Why does there even need to be a fight? If you and I put on a little
show, they’ll run. I guarantee it. Nobody has to die today.”

    
“You
overestimate the power of a legend,” Megara said. “But even if you were right,
it wouldn’t matter. Scare them away today and they’ll come back tomorrow twice
as strong. I told you, it never ends. Not until every last one of them is
dead.”

    
“Why are
you so bound and determined to kill people?” I asked. “Are you really that
bloodthirsty? Maybe it was dragons like you who started this whole us versus
them thing. Did you ever think of that?”

    
“They
came here to kill us,” Megara said.

    
“They
came here to do exactly what you were planning on doing to them,” I countered.
“They just got to it first. This doesn’t have to happen your way.”

    
Megara’s
expression went neutral. “Fine. You think this can be handled without killing,
try it. Go one over there and see what happens. But don’t expect me or any of
these others to come to your aid when your foolishness is revealed to you.”

    
I looked
around at the others and saw no support for a peaceful solution on any of their
faces.
 
What could I do? By myself I
wasn’t enough to convince the other side to stand down. I couldn’t even
convince my
own
side to see things in a different way.

    
My
shoulders slumped. “All right. You win. But this is wrong. It’s not going to
fix anything.”

    
“There now,”
Megara said with a self satisfied smirk. “I knew you weren’t a fool. Let’s move
forward. The cowards are taking too long for my liking.”

    
We moved
into the woods. At first the light stayed pretty much the same, but then it
started to dim in a way that seemed strange to me. I looked up through the
canopy of the trees to see dark clouds forming directly above us.

    
“Uh, that
doesn't look so good,” I said, drawing Megara’s attention skyward.

    
“It’s
nothing,” she said. “A little air dragon trick meant to intimidate us. That’s
all.”

    
“Yeah,
well, it’s working,” I muttered. And judging by the looks the others were
giving the sky, I wasn’t the only one concerned.

    
Megara
smiled coldly. “If it’s a storm they want, it’s a storm they’ll get.” The dome
shield dissipated. “Abigail, you’re in charge.”

    
I had my
mouth open to protest this crazy idea, but before I could say a word, Megara
spun the air around herself and lifted off in a mini tornado. One thing you
could say for her, she sure knew how to make an exit.

    
The other
dragons were looking at me expectantly, waiting for their orders, and had no
idea what to say to them.

     
Cold air
pressed down on us from above. I looked up again, a stirring in my gut warning
me this was something more than intimidation. I knew exactly what Zack would
say if he were there. Never underestimate your enemies.

    
I pulled
a shield over us less than three seconds before a hailstone the size of a
basketball fell from the sky. It hit the shield, causing the air to indent
before rebounding and sending the hailstone crashing into a tree.

    
I turned
around in a circle, frantically searching for our attackers. I saw no one. How
was I supposed to fight back if I didn’t have a target? More hail fell, making
the shield ring like struck glass. It wasn’t going to hold forever.

    
“What do
we do?” Dee asked.

    
Everybody
was staring at me again, fear and panic in their eyes. It was the first time it
occurred to me that, even though they were all older than I was, they had no
more experience with this sort of thing than I did. In fact, they probably had
less. Had any one of them ever had to fight for their lives before? Probably
not.

    
That left
me responsible for them and I had no idea how to handle that. “I--” The ground
erupted, flinging me into the air.

    
I hit the
ground and rolled into the brush. All around me, the crack and boom of snapping
trees was loud as thunder. I lifted myself up just in time to watch a hailstone
blown slantwise by a gust of wind dash out Dee’s brains.

    
I dropped
my face into the crook of my elbow to muffle a scream. My stomach rolled and I
gagged up a stream of bile laced water. Closing my eyes, I took several deep
breaths. Which didn’t help too much considering I was smelling my own vomit.

    
I rolled
over onto my back. Wind tossed leaves danced across my field of vision, but I
no longer heard the sounds of falling hailstones. I took a risk and sat up,
steeling myself against whatever I was about to see.

    
Eight
bodies were scattered along the path of destruction made by the torn up earth
and the hailstones. That left four dragons either alive or dead somewhere out
of my sight. Tim and the other dragons were surely coming, but I couldn’t see
how they would be able to help. We were all going to die.

    
I don’t
know how long I sat there, stunned and frozen in place. If any of the enemy had
come across me, they could have killed me easy. It was my good luck it was
Frank who found me instead.

    
“Are you
hurt?” he asked, looking down at me.

    
It took
me several seconds of staring stupidly into his face before my sluggish brain
wrapped itself around the question. “I... I don’t know.” I was a little sore
from my tumble. My stomach, throat, and eyes were burning. I felt a little
light headed. But aside from that I thought I was okay. I rose to my feet,
holding my arms out to the side to keep my balance, a little afraid I was going
to throw up again.

    
“I think
I’m okay.”

    
“Good.
That’s good.” But Frank wasn’t looking at me anymore, he was staring at the
bodies. His face was slack and ashen. He looked liked a corpse. The thought
made me shiver.

    
“We...”
He wiped a trembling hand across his lips. “We have to do something.”

    
I didn’t
let myself follow his gaze even though some part of me wanted to. We never want
to see something terrible, but sometimes it’s so hard not to look. “We should
find Megara. Or... or maybe we should wait for the others.” Where was Zack,
anyway? I really could have used his help right then.

   
 
“Yeah.” Frank swayed slightly. It was only
then I saw how his left arm hung limply at his side. Blood dripped from his
fingertips.

    
I
frowned. “You’re the one who’s hurt.”

    
“Am I?”
Frank looked down at his arm. “Huh.” His eyes rolled back and he fell face
first to the ground.

    
I jumped
back with a little yelp. From his left shoulder all the way down to his waist,
Frank’s back had been shredded. It looked like raw hamburger meat. Bile rose up
in the back of my throat, but I clamped my mouth hard to hold it in. I kept
repeating to myself over and over that I was not going to throw up again. I
needed to try and help Frank, though I had no idea how to go about it.

    
A dull
whomp
shook the earth. But it wasn’t like an earth dragon
attack. It was more... I don’t know, organic maybe? Like a tree falling over.
The sound was muffled, but still loud. And it didn’t come from the direction
we’d been going in. It came from behind us.

    
“Oh god,
no.” I stepped out into the path of destruction, where the broken canopy gave
me a good view of the sky. Smoke rose over the trees. Part of me wanted to
believe it was the bunker, but I knew better. It was too far away. Coming from
behind
the bunker. Where the hidden entrance lay. Thoughts of Frank and the battle
and everything else flew out of my mind as I broke into a run.

                                      
CHAPTER TWELVE

    
The woods
had turned gray with smoke. Screams sounded all around me. I had no idea where
they came from. I had no idea of what direction I was running in. All I knew
was I couldn’t stop until I found my friends.

    
I had
enough thought in my head to keep the air in my general area moving in a circle
around me so I could at least breathe. But it didn’t do anything for the heat.
Tree roots rose out of the ground to trip me up. I stumbled, barely caught
myself from falling, and decided I was going to have to stop before I had an
accident.

    
I stood
with my head hanging, dragging in deep breaths, my hand pressed to my side
where a burning pain had started. My body didn’t appreciate all this running.
The soft sound of coughing caught my attention. I froze, trying to orient
myself toward the sound. I should have been afraid. After all, it could have
been an enemy dragon. But I wasn’t.

    
Moving to
the left, I pushed the air further ahead of me so I could see. A little, dark
haired girl of maybe nine or ten was huddled at the base of a tree ten feet
away from me. “Are you okay?” I asked.

    
She
cringed away from the sound of my voice. “Hey,” I softened my tone further as I
approached her, “it’s all right. I’m a friend. I’m not going to hurt you. My
name is Abigail.”

    
The girl
looked up at me with big, dark eyes. Something about her was familiar, but I
couldn’t fit her face to a name. “Abigail? The hybrid dragon?” She shifted
slightly, letting me see another, smaller girl behind and kind of beneath her.

    
“That’s
right.” I smiled. “You know me?”

    
“My
brother is friends with your cousin.”

    
So that’s
why she looked familiar. She did resemble Luka, now that I thought about it.
And the smaller girl was most likely Bailey. “What’s your name sweetie?” I
knelt down beside her.

    
“Serene.”

    
“What a
pretty name.” I looked her over. She was splattered with blood but I couldn’t
see a wound, and she was still hiding Bailey too much for me to get a good look
at her. Kid that small, she must have been really scared to stay so quiet. “Are
you hurt?”