Drakin: The Story of Raiya

by James Harrington

  “Can I ask you something, Lieutenant?” Jagger asked.

  “You can if you call me Rollins.”

  “Breaking protocol?”

  “Would you rather us just go back and forth saying lieutenant, lieutenant, lieutenant?”

  Jagger chuckled, “Okay fair enough… So why do you keep your civilians up here when you have such a large facility underground?”

  “As I said before, there simply isn’t enough space to permanently house all of these people. Trust me, I wish we could.”

  “So, what if a dragon were to attack those buildings?”

  “Remember the tunnels you saw?” Rollins asked. “In the event of a dragon attack breaching out defenses, each compound has escape tunnels carved out underneath them. It’s safer than having them scatter above ground.”

  “Yeah that I agree with.” Jagger thought to himself as the screams of the New Framingham residents echoed in his mind. A tear formed in his eye as he watched his friends and neighbors die all over again.

  “Hey, you okay?” Rollins asked, breaking him out

  “Yeah I’m all right.”

  The people passing through the large encampment were completely destitute. Jagger caught sight of one older woman as the Humvee passed by. Her face had deep wrinkles and black soot all over. Her stair was emotionless as she exchanged glances with him. Her clothing looked worn out and covered with patches from multiple repairs. Some of her rags looked as though they were a compilation of various torn up pieces of clothing that had been stitched together.

  Each tent had a makeshift fire pit in front of it. A small grilling tray hung over each and many looked like they had various meats and vegetables being cooked.

  “Well at least everyone eats okay.” Jagger said.

  “Yeah we do what we can to make sure everyone is fed a healthy meal. We have to ration a lot of the crops, but our underground gardens seem to do the job.”

  “Where do you get your meat?”

  Lt. Rollins pointed beyond the residential buildings to what looked like a fenced in pasture with brown fences, “We have a decent herd of cattle here. The dragons have tried to attack it before, but we keep them in the most secure area. Nothing gets through.”

  “Impressive, you guys seem to have thought of everything.”

  The expression on Rollin’s face seemed to brighten up, “Thanks, it is tough work sometimes, and we don’t really get much appreciation for it, but at least we’re able to survive.”

  The building where the group had been staying was a decent distance from where he jeep was kept. It took them almost half an hour to get back. Having to avoid military processions and any patrols going through the area made their trip even longer, but they didn’t want to be stuck behind them for hours.

  When they arrived, Jagger hopped out and nodded to Rollins, “Thanks for the lift.”

  “No problem, any time.”

  Jagger turned and walked past the guards, through the door. The elevator was open and waiting for him on the ground floor. He proceeded inside as the door closed behind him.

  The elevator doors opened on the sixth floor. Raiya was standing on the other side with a look on her face that made his blood run cold. Her left eye twitched and her lower jaw trembled as she stared at him.

  Jagger took a step back as her yellow eyes burned into his face, “Are you okay?”

  “No. They stuck me with needles, put me on a scanner… I was treated like a lab rat!”

  “Sorry. You said you’d be okay, I wanted to come with you but…”

  “I know that, but… urgh! I just wish you had been here. This whole experience was unpleasant to say the least.”

  Jagger nodded, “Sorry, I was hyper suspicious of what was going on around here. I wanted to make sure that everything was all set for us to leave when we got the information we wanted. I basically tested the guards to see if they’d try to keep us here.”

  “Did they?”

  “No.”

  “Okay good.”

  Jagger stepped off the elevator and sat down on a nearby couch, “So what did they tell you?”

  Raiya joined him and sat on one leg, “Nothing.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ve been sitting here for over an hour. They said the blood tests would take time. Dr. Castillo disappeared after the initial round of testing, while his assistant continued to poke and prod me!”

  She huffed as she sat down next to him, “I really never want to do that again.”

  “Hey if it helps us…”

  “No!”

  “All right… I just hope we got what we needed.”

  He turned to her as she sat back, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah I guess… It just wasn’t fun…”

  “Did you find out anything?”

  “Just some things about how Dragon’s Bane works.”

  “And?”

  Raiya looked over at Eric’s room, “Dragon’s blood is lethal if it comes into contact with the human blood stream. It works like a disease. You should be safe. Most city kids are immune because of the treatments… but someone who’s not inoculated, like a nomad, should be careful.”

  Jagger nodded, “I’m sure Eric already knows. It’s fairly common knowledge to avoid dragon’s blood.”

  “Right.”

  “Speaking of which… where is Eric?”

  Raiya shrugged, “He was asleep when I got back. Fool probably put himself into a food coma.”

  Jagger chuckled, “Yeah he did kind of stuff himself.”

  The smile disappeared from his face as he looked at Raiya, “Are you okay?”

  “I suppose so… that was unnerving, but…”

  At that moment, the doors to the elevator slid open, “Raiya?”

  Raiya grimaced at the sound of Dr. Castillo’s voice. He was accompanied by Andrea as he stepped out into the main suite. Jagger couldn’t be certain, but he thought he’d heard whispering coming from the elevator.

  “Yeah I’m here.” Raiya replied. “What is it?”

  “Your results are in and… they’re… intriguing to say the least.” Andrea replied.

  The two doctors sat down in the chairs opposite the couch as Eric also came out of his room. He picked out a seat at the table and relaxed onto the cushion, “What’s going on everybody?”

  “We’ve got news about Raiya.” Jagger replied.

  “Indeed we do.” Dr. Castillo replied. “Raiya… I hope you’re ready for this. Because I can scarcely believe it myself.”

  “What is it?” She asked.

  Dr. Castillo looked over at Andrea, signaling him to speak. Andrea looked into Raiya’s eyes as he answered her, “We tested your blood and took a close look at your DNA. After we got the results… we recalibrated the equipment and tried again. The same results occurred and… they’re almost impossible to believe.”

  “What were they?” Raiya asked as she shifted uncomfortably in place.

  “We’re not sure how it happened, but according to our results… you’re a hybrid.”

  “Hybrid, what do you mean?”

  Dr. Castillo leaned forward, “It means your DNA is only half human. Believe it or not, you’re part dragon. There is no mistaking it.”

  Raiya lowered her eyes, “I had a feeling… I guess I was always hoping for some other explanation.”

  “What?” Eric asked from the back table. “How is that even possible? I mean dragons are huge! How would you… I mean could you even… what the fuck?”

  Dr. Castillo scoffed, “What the fuck indeed… Truthfully, it isn’t possible. Even if a human and a dragon could somehow… successfully mate, dragon seed is too large for a human egg.”

  “Then how could she be a hybrid?” Jagger asked.

  “Well I have a theory on that.” Dr. Castillo replied. “Dragon’s Bane doesn’t just attack blood cells. It attacks anything small enough for it to use to make copies. In theory… if your mother was at the right time of her menstruation cycle when sh
e became infected… it is conceivable that one of the cells carried the right genetic material from the dragon. When it attacked your mother’s egg, it actually wound up fertilizing it. This is only a theory of course, but it happens to fit what we know.”

  Raiya sat back in despair. She rested her arm on her stomach and closed her eyes. The skin of her eyelids became gloss as her lips formed a disgusted grimace, “So… my father…?”

  Andrea nodded, “Is a dragon, all evidence points to it.”

  “It gets even more interesting than that.” Dr. Castillo replied. “We know exactly which dragon too.”

  Raiya looked up in surprise, “Huh?”

  Dr. Castillo nodded, “We recovered blood and tissue samples from the Richmond massacre. You mentioned that your mother was present during it.”

  Raiya closed her eyes. She went stiff, as though she anticipated being struck. Jagger also braced himself, having a bad feeling about what was to come. Oh jeez…

  “We compared a sample of it to your DNA… and it’s a match. The dragon lord that attacked Richmond… is your biological father.”

  Raiya buried her face in her hands, “No… No, it can’t be… It just can’t… Anyone but him… God… why?”

  Jagger rubbed her shoulder, “I’m sorry Raiya…”

  She flinched and pulled away, “Don’t… don’t fucking touch me! Everyone just stay the hell away, leave me alone!”

  Jagger lowered his eyes as Eric spoke up, “Well that complicates things. I’m sorry Raiya… –Did you doctors find out anything else that’s useful?”

  Andrea nodded, “As a matter of fact, we did. You mentioned to Dr. Castillo about her resistance to flame… well her skin has a layer of scaling that we believe shields her from burning. It’s reinforced by the fact that she can’t regulate her own body heat. In other words, she absorbs it from outside sources. When the dragon flame hit her, she simply absorbed the blunt of it.”

  Dr. Castillo nodded and picked up, “We’ve also noticed that you have a very unique salivary gland under your tongue. While the rest of your glands produce regular saliva, that one produces an extremely flammable fluid. It looks like it has to be manually activated, but we haven’t figured out how that works yet.”

  Jagger’s eyes narrowed, “You mean she can breathe fire?”

  Dr. Castillo nodded, “Likely she’d be able to do it as well as most of her dragon brethren, if not better as she could focus it easier due to her narrow mouth. The radio images of her front teeth indicate that they’re made from a substance that’s not unlike flints. So, likely if she can activate that salivary gland, it would function as a flame thrower.”

  “Wow…” Eric replied. “That’s actually kind of awesome.”

  “Sure…” Raiya replied sarcastically as she raised her face from her hands, revealing a look of absolute disgust. “It’s fucking awesome… So, all this time… the dragon that murdered my family… he is my family.”

  “Not willingly, I’m sure.” Dr. Castillo replied.

  “Wait a minute, there is something I don’t understand.” Jagger said. “If she’s half dragon, why does she look more like a human?”

  “That… I don’t know…” Dr. Castillo replied. “Your physical makeup is that of a human, although many of your organs are definitely dragon. If I had to guess, your mother’s genes were likely extremely dominant over those of the dragon, but I can’t give you a definitive answer based on what we have.”

  Jagger looked over at Raiya, “So what do you think?”

  “I… I don’t know…” She replied. “I don’t think this changes anything though. I don’t care if we’re related or not, he murdered my mother and massacred an entire city. He has to be brought down.”

  Jagger nodded, “All right, then we should probably get going.”

  Dr. Castillo stood up, “Go? I don’t think so.”

  Jagger looked up, feigning surprise. He’d had a feeling that they would try to prevent him from leaving, but he’d hoped he’d been wrong, “What do you mean?”

  Dr. Castillo looked at Raiya, “You really are a miracle of evolution. You could be the answer we need to fight this war. You have all of the dragon’s strengths, but you’re still human. With your blood, I could find ways to genetically enhance humanity to be able to withstand dragon attacks. Think of it, a whole new race of human/dragon hybrids. With you around, humanity would quickly become obsolete. I’m afraid I can’t let you leave. We need to run more tests, take more samples, and study you in greater detail.”

  “And if I refuse?” Raiya asked.

  Dr. Castillo snapped his fingers. At that moment, five soldiers carrying assault rifles filed into the room, “I’m afraid there is no refusal.”

  Andrea looked up in shock, “Dr. Castillo, we can’t do this. It’s unethical!”

  “Unethical?” Dr. Castillo scoffed. “We’re fighting a war we can’t win, on the brink of extinction and you want to sit here and debate ethics? Are you mad?”

  “What about our oath, do no harm?”

  “We’ll be doing humanity a world of good by continuing our experiments. Think about it, you could be there at the very beginning of the turning point. Are you going to turn that up?”

  Andrea sat in silence for a few moments. He was clearly conflicted, but finally he nodded, “Fine… I’m with you.”

  Dr. Castillo smiled, “Good boy, now let’s get our specimen out of here.”

  “Yes… doctor…”

  He stood up and extended his hand to Raiya, “Please follow me.”

  Raiya crossed her arms, refusing to move. The guards pointed their guns at Jagger and Eric. Clicks from the rifles indicated that the safeties had been removed.

  Jagger and Eric jumped to their feet, only to have the muzzle of a rifle pointed directly at each of their foreheads. Jagger clenched his teeth, “Shit…”

  There was no way out of it. No matter how quick they were, there was no way they could dodge a rifle on full auto, let alone several of them.

  Raiya finally stood up and nodded, “Fine… I’ll go.”

  “Raiya, no!” Jagger protested.

  “Shut up… just get out of here. It’ll be all right.”

  She was lying and Jagger knew it. They’d treat her like a lab rat for as long as they could and most likely euthanize her to get more of the samples they needed. He wanted to help, but with a fully automatic rifle pointed at them, there was nothing he could do.

  Jagger sat back with a defeated look, “You son of a bitch… I swear to God…”

  Dr. Castillo got up and ignored him, “We’ll make arrangements for you to be dumped outside of the city with that junk heap you call a car. I wouldn’t recommend that you try to come back. We won’t be as hospitable next time.”

  Jagger kept his eyes locked on Dr. Castillo as the group surrounded Raiya. They slowly backed into the elevator, keeping their guns pointed on Jagger and Eric as they went.

  The moment the door closed, Jagger ran up and pounded on it, “Son of a bitch!”

  “You were right…” Eric replied. “You knew all along. Did you hear him? He called Raiya a specimen.”

  “She’s not even human to him. As far as that doctor is concerned, she’s a means to an end. A new anomaly to satisfy his curiosity.”

  “I can’t believe it…” Jagger could feel his entire face heat up as he turned back, “Three decades of war does weird things to people. You have to be careful if you’re going to survive.”

  “Yeah I see that now… so what’s the plan? They’re going to kill her… you know that, right?”

  Jagger pushed the down button on the elevator. To no one’s surprise, it made a buzzing noise, but did not light up, “Yeah I know… For now, we lay low. We’ll have to wait for someone to come up here.”

  Jagger raised the bottom of his shirt, allowing Eric an obscured view of a pistol. Eric’s eyes widened in surprise, “What the… How’d you get that in here?”

  “They didn’t search me when I ca
me back. I had it under the seat of my jeep.”

  “All right… so you’ve got your gun and I’ve got my knives, now what? We’re still trapped here.”

  Jagger nodded, “When someone comes up, we jump them and try to make our escape.”

  “You think it’ll be that easy?”

  “Hell no, I’m not stupid. We’ll just have to make things up as we go. What choice do we have?”

  “I dunno man…”

  Jagger lowered his eyes, “I can’t let them kill her. If she dies, we’ll have no way of stopping that dragon.”

  “Yeah… the greater good doesn’t know a limit. Trust me, I’m familiar with that one.”

  “All right… let’s just wait for now and see what happens.”

  Chapter 12

  Night fell and still no one had come to escort them out. Jagger set up next to the elevator while Eric hid behind a nearby chair. They waited and waited for the inevitable. Eventually someone was going to have to come check on them.

  Jagger was extremely tense. He could only imagine what that sick doctor was doing to Raiya. What kind of tests was he performing? How badly would she be hurt? Worst of all, would she still be alive when he found her? It agitated him beyond belief to the point where he was ready to rip open the elevator and climb down the shaft to help her, “I can’t stand it anymore… Come on, help me.”

  “What are you going to do?” Eric asked.

  “If no one’s coming, then we’re going to rip this door open and find our own way down.”

  Eric walked over to the other side and tried pulling on the opposite door, but they would not budge, “I don’t think this is going to work. This thing is sealed shut.”

  “We need to get out of here!”

  “I know, buddy. Believe me, I know… I just don’t think it’s going to be this way.”

  At that moment, the sound of gears turning echoed up the shaft. Jagger’s eyes widened, “Someone’s coming, get back!”