The blinded creature didn’t see it coming, and the impact knocked it off balance again. The severely damaged leg that his companions had been savaging with their blades buckled under its weight, and the creature fell again. The airmen dashed to one side, as any good gamer would. But one of them was too slow, and he disappeared beneath the creature’s bulk.
The others moved forward now, concentrated fire pouring into the monster’s eyes from just a dozen feet away. Eventually one or more of the rounds reached its tiny brain, and it stopped moving.
There was no celebrating over the kill or the fact that they’d leveled up. Every single team member dashed toward the spot where the airman had fallen. Shoulders were wedged against the thing’s body, and they managed to roll it onto its back far enough for someone to grab a boot and pull the airman free.
“Medic!” Andrea yelled, before realizing they didn’t have one. Allistor cast a heal on the man, shocked he was still alive. A quick check of his health bar showed it was rising from about five percent. Allistor cast two more heals on him before he opened his eyes and groaned.
“Don’t move!” Andrea ordered, pushing at his chest to keep him immobilized. “You’re busted up pretty bad, Jenkins. Just hold still.”
“That thing smells like baked ass,” he complained, closing his eyes and relaxing on the floor.
“You wouldn’t have had to smell the ass up close if you’d moved your own a little faster,” Airman Weiss teased him. She’d been right next to him, as evidenced by the bloodied blade still in her hand.
Allistor handed Andrea a healing potion, which she poured down Jenkins’ throat. A minute or so later he was feeling well enough to sit up with his back against the dead boss. Allistor reached out a hand and looted the corpse, receiving three hundred klax, the creature’s heart, ten sharp fangs, two stacks of agamid meat, one stack of agamid leather, and one foreclaw.
He pulled the claw from his ring to examine it while the others looted the corpse. It was longer than his forearm and curved. The wickedly sharp point gleamed an ebony-blue in the fluorescent light, and the inner curve was honed to an edge both jagged and sharp. Already in his mind, he was working out a way to affix a handle and make a wicked scythe weapon out of it.
Before they left, Helen recruited half the team to help skin some of the tough hide from the creature. When she mentioned that it could be used to craft armor, she had no shortage of volunteers. As they exposed some of the flesh, Fuzzy went to investigate. A quick sniff followed by an experimental lick, and the bear decided raw lizard was tasty enough. He took a few enthusiastic bites as Fibble and the airmen watched with equally blank expressions.
Allistor and Jenkins rested and recuperated as the others went about their work. Allistor gave Jenkins some jerky to chew on. When he was fully recovered, he went to reclaim his spear. When he pulled the snot-covered weapon free of the nostril, he almost abandoned it. The foul-smelling slime coated the lower half of the weapon completely. Instead, he set it on the floor and used Flame Shot to burn away the slime. Then he used the butt end of the spear to break off several of the massive teeth, and put those in his ring along with the spear.
Ten minutes later everyone was good to go. They hit the stairwell and descended to the fourth and final level without incident, as expected.
Beyond the door, they found a mostly empty corridor. The walls and ceiling were blackened with soot, and some small debris was scattered here and there on the floor. Wires hung down, along with scorched ceiling insulation. There was a strong odor of burnt… something in the air that Allistor couldn’t place.
Jenkins, at the back of the group and still moving slowly because his mind told him he should still be hurt despite being fully healed, said, “I’ve seen this before. When a ruptured gas line ignited. It created a flash burn like this here. Really hot, but over pretty quick. A few folks died, but it was the lack of oxygen that killed them. Their bodies were barely burnt.”
They proceeded carefully down the corridor, Allistor in the lead once again. Each room they checked was the same. Either the door had been closed during the fire, and the room was untouched, or the door had been open and the room was just as black as the hallway. Jenkins piped up again. “This doesn’t seem right. The rooms shouldn’t be as burnt. At least not on all the walls and the entire ceiling. The blast should have funneled down the hall…” He trailed off as his eyes got wider. Everyone turned to look at what he saw.
Rounding the corner at the end of the hall was a dragon. A tiny, flying dragon. No more than three feet tall, not counting its tail, the little thing resembled a mature dragon in every way except its size. Tiny horns protruded from its head and the joints of its wings. Sharp talons adorned all four clawed feet. A ridge of spines ran down its back to the tip of its tail, which was itself a hardened leaf-shaped spike.
The moment it saw the group of humans, it belched a gout of flame that extended maybe six feet from its snout. Then it let out a squawking cry that was quickly answered by several others.
“Oh, hell no!” Andrea said. “Friggin’ dragons? Really?”
Bjurstrom said, “Relax, they’re just babies. Check them out.”
Allistor and the others all Examined the one they could see.
Infant Fire Drake
Level 6
Health: 3,200/3,200
The baby dragon hovered as if trying to decide whether to attack. As the humans and dragon stared at each other, Weiss murmured, “So much for your gas explosion. I’m guessing these little guys have just been practicing their flaming skill on everything in sight.”
Jenkins nodded. “Yeah. Short bursts, probably really hot. This is going to suck.”
Allistor thought they could probably take down this one infant drake before it got close enough to burn anyone. But if there were several… “Hey, guys, let’s retreat into one of these rooms and close the door. We need to figure out a strategy before the others arrive.”
Without hesitation, the others picked one of the undamaged rooms, entered, and secured the door. They’d chosen a bunk room, which made the quarters feel a little close with so many bodies. Several of the airmen took to the bunks, making more room for those still standing. They stayed silent for a minute or more, waiting for some kind of attack on the door. But they heard nothing at all, no scratching or flapping.
“Maybe it forgot about us?” McCoy ventured, his voice barely above a whisper.
Helen nodded. “If it has a tiny or undeveloped brain, it might have the attention span of a newborn. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“Okay, so maybe if we keep it from making noise, it won’t call for backup.” McCoy gave a single nod as if sure the statement was fact.
Helen added, “Allistor can stun them, maybe keep them from flaming while we shoot them down.”
Bjurstrom asked, “How quickly and often can you cast that? Does it have a cooldown like in the games?”
“It takes me a second to cast. And no cooldown that I’m aware of, but it’s not guaranteed to work. There’s some formula with levels, intelligence level, maybe a dice roll from the RNG in there somewhere.” He shrugged. “Also sometimes the stun is only for a second or two. Or like with the big lizard, as much as ten seconds. And I can cast it maybe twenty times before I’m out of juice.”
They all paused as a flapping sound outside the door was quickly followed up by a questioning squawk. A moment later flames licked under the door, causing those closest to it to press back against the others. They all remained silent as the flapping sound continued, then faded away.
Whispering now, Allistor asked, “So do we try and fight them in the corridor? Seems like a tight space. I think it might be better if we could spread out, maybe kite them around a big room? Is there something like that down here?”
Andrea grinned. “The pool! The pool is on this level.”
Helen blinked a couple times. “You guys have a pool down here?”
Andrea nodded her head. “I mean, it’s not mea
nt for recreational activity. When you dig this deep underground sometimes you run across natural springs. Can’t have damp, drippy halls and rooms, so the engineers redirected them into a great big natural cavern cistern down here. It’s deep enough to hold a lot of water, and we use it as a supply for both drinking water and fire suppression.”
“And it’s a great place to go swummin’ if ya don’t mind the cold water,” Goodrich added.
Helen nodded. “So we could fight them in there. Hop in and dip under the water if they get too flamey?”
“Yeah, but how do we get there? The pool is at the end of Corridor E. That’s about a hundred yards from here. If more of those things are between us and that door…”
Jenkins, who had been only half listening as he munched on some more jerky, suddenly looked up. “The pool? Shit… I got this!”
He pulled one of the blankets from the foot of the bunk nearest him and wrapped it around himself, covering his head. Then he grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall. “Wait five seconds, then follow me!”
Before anybody could stop him, he yanked open the door and dashed through. There was a squawk in the hallway, followed quickly by a blast from the extinguisher and some wild laughter.
“Jeeenkins!” Andrea yelled after him, but he was already gone. “Shit! Let’s go!” She followed him out into the corridor in time to see him rounding the corner ahead with a white-coated and angry dragonling flapping after him. The entire group rushed out to follow, Allistor moving to the front in hopes of stunning the little dragon chasing the airman.
They heard two more blasts of the extinguisher before Allistor reached the corner and was able to see Jenkins again. The man was far down the corridor, still laughing as he ran. Behind him were three of the baby dragons, all flapping after him. Allistor watched as Jenkins hit the ground in a baseball slide and blasted two more of them as he passed underneath. In a flash, he was back on his feet and sprinting away. The first three dragonlings crashed into the two who’d just been blinded, slowing all of them down as the insane airman turned another corner.
Allistor held the group back until all the dragonlings had disappeared after Jenkins. There were a few hissed protests, but he used his radio and said with a whisper, “That lunatic is either dead, or he’s actually accomplishing his mission and leading them to the pool. We can’t aggro any of them here, or they might turn back. Let’s follow at a safe distance.”
He matched word to deed and started down the corridor at a brisk pace. The others followed right behind, weapons ready. Two more airmen ducked into rooms to grab fire extinguishers. When they reached the next corridor, Allistor peered around quickly and whispered, “All clear,” into his throat mic.
Andrea whispered, “The end of this corridor, turn right and the door to the pool is right there, about twenty feet down. They must all be inside now.”
Allistor took off at a run. The others picked up their pace as well. Reaching the end, he didn’t bother to slow. The dragons had to be in the room ahead. He could hear angry squawking. Rounding the corner, he found the door wide open, and about twenty dragonlings flapping about in the large chamber on the other side. Below them was a large pool that stretched off toward the back of a natural cavern.
There was no sign of Jenkins.
Allistor was about to enter the room and search for the crazy man when his head popped up out of the water. He shouted, “Little help, guys!” before taking a deep breath and plunging back below the surface as several of the dragonlings shot flames in his direction.
Allistor cast Restraint on the one closest to Jenkins, causing its wings to freeze before it plunged into the water right above Jenkins. There was a thrashing below the surface, and he assumed Jenkins was trying to kill the mob.
Andrea took charge, saying, “Focus on the closest ones in your lanes. Headshots if you can. You guys with shotguns, shred their wings. Be ready with the extinguishers if they look like they’re going to flame.”
The group advanced into the room, guns up and ready in a rough half-circle. Each of them chose a target in their firing lane. When Andrea gave the command, they fired. Six of the dragonlings went down bleeding, two more were injured but remained airborne. All of the rest focused on the humans and attacked.
Allistor stunned as many as he could as quickly as he could. A few more got dumped into the water, but most fell on the stone floor between the pool and his group. Helen and the airmen picked those off with easy headshots at close range. Some of the ones who’d been downed but not killed by the initial volley were hopping or crawling their way closer. A gout of flames scorched two airmen on the right side of their arc before one of the extinguishers could stop it. The two men fell screaming, rolling around trying to put out the flames.
Allistor cast heals on both of them, but the damage was too severe. The dragon fire wasn’t going out as they rolled, and the extinguisher blast didn’t put it out either. The screaming stopped as both airmen died.
“Sons of bitches!” Bjurstrom shouted, switching his rifle to automatic. He took aim at a group of the grounded dragonlings and cut loose. Dragon flesh exploded as thirty rounds pounded into them in just a few seconds.
Allistor went back to focusing on those still in the air. There were only four of them left, and they had been distracted by Jenkins, who’d burst from the water for another breath and blasted them with his extinguisher. Allistor hit each one with Restraint, dropping them into the water. Just as the last one hit, Jenkins resurfaced.
Allistor shouted “Run to us!” but he needn’t have bothered. Jenkins was already running as fast as he could in the waist-deep water, pumping his legs and shouting “Mama!” for some reason. A few of the airmen chuckled at his antics even as they finished off the dragonlings that were on solid ground.
Their laughter stopped abruptly when the water behind Jenkins erupted, spraying nearly to the cavern ceiling. When the water succumbed to gravity again, it revealed a much larger dragon.
Fire Drake Matron
Level 12
Health: 9,000/9,000
“Jenkins, move your ass!” Andrea was screaming at him.
The terrified man was reaching knee-deep water and plowing forward as quickly as he could. He let the wet blanket drop off his shoulders and dropped his nearly-empty fire extinguisher to lighten his load. He was screaming one long word as he ran, pausing for breaths then continuing. “Shiiiiii…iiiiiii…iiiiit!!
Behind him, the drake took a moment to survey the cavern. Upon spotting her offspring lying dead or dying, she raised her head and let out a roar that caused rocks to shake loose and fall from the ceiling. Turning toward the humans, she began to stride through the deep water.
She was massive, larger than the forest drake that had snatched Candy from the wall of the Warren. Though half her body was still submerged, her neck extended a good twenty feet from shoulders to head. About twenty yards back from her shoulders, a spiked tail emerged from the water and slapped back down. Her scales were a deep crimson, shining wetly as her body undulated. Spines on her forehead looked long enough to impale a buffalo, and her eyes glowed a bright flaming orange. A bow wave formed in front of her as she pushed her way into the shallower depths in pursuit of Jenkins and the murdering invaders.
Jenkins cleared the water amid much shouting and arm-waving encouragement. Andrea screamed, “Back through the door!” and her people immediately complied. Allistor hesitated a few seconds, trying Restraint on the monster. The spell had little effect, only causing her to pause for a second and stumble in the water, angering her even more.
Allistor fled like the rest. Campbell was waiting by the door, slamming it shut the moment Allistor was clear. He cranked the wheel that locked the hatch shut even as the drake’s roar was followed by a sound that could only be flames beating against the door. Campbell pulled his hands away, saying “The door’s gettin’ warm already.”
A moment later, a heavy weight slammed against the door and wall. Metal complained as
it bent slightly.
“How the hell do we fight something like that?” Jenkins gasped, hands on his knees and breathing heavily. “Also, I might have shit myself.”
Nobody took time to laugh or tease the soaking wet airman, though a few took a couple steps back from him. Everyone was staring at the door, which was beginning to ping from the metal being heated.
“That door won’t last long,” Andrea observed. “Any ideas?”
“We could open the door and get it to stick its head in. Then chop at it?” Helen offered.
“That head comes with some nasty teeth, spikes, and fire,” McCoy countered.
Allistor liked the idea though, and a plan was forming in his head. He thought it out loud for the others. “If just a couple of us stood on either side of the door, the rest of you could be around the corner. You could pop out and fire between flaming breaths while we damage it from the sides. I’ll try to stun it before each breath, to maybe give you more time to hit it. I tried once, and it only worked for half a second, but that might be enough.”
Bjurstrom nodded, reloading his weapon. “If every shot is a head shot, and we can get some crits while it’s stunned… might work? Are crits a thing here?”
Allistor nodded. “Yeah, the usual. Sneak attacks, hits from behind, incapacitated opponent, and just the RNG granting you a lucky shot.” He looked around. “I’ll be by the door. I won’t ask anyone to stand there with me. It’ll be dangerous, maybe suicidal.”
Airman Weiss held up her blade. “I just put two points into Strength. I’ll hack pieces off mama dragon with you.”
Campbell held up his hand to volunteer, but Andrea stopped him. “No. You’re a marksman. We need you out here shooting.” The other three security officers who’d been about to volunteer lowered hands that had been on the way up.
Shadow Sun Survival Page 37
