When Darkness Falls

Patrick's and Furia's lives are at stake. Patrick takes his friend Adam to Furia in order to escape the forces of The Government.

When Darkness Falls

Once Adam and I arrived to my father's lands, on the way to the house, Adam said…

-Who else knows about your dragon?

-Just my father, my brother, Mr. Flynn, the land keeper and now you…

-Once you contact her, first thing you'll do is to tell her you are with a friend. Dragons aren't much entrusted to strangers.

-Ok.

I parked the car by the house and contacted Furia. We decided to wait for her to come down…

What are you doing here? It's Tuesday…

You won't believe all we have got to tell you...

We? Is your father here too?

I'm with a friend, his name is Adam. Come to the house, hurry.

Adam and I waited for Furia by the car. In the meanwhile, we had a talk.

-This is the only possible place for you to keep your dragon, isn't it? -Said Adam.

-I'm afraid so, why?

-That means it's hundred percent sure they'll hit this place at any time, we have to be gone by that time; yet we can do nothing within daylight, your dark dragon will be spotted like a firefly in the dark. We'll wait for nightfall; it's a couple of hours to that. F**k… confrontation with Hunters is inevitable. Which leads me to ask you: have you shot a gun before?

-A .22 rifle, to hunt coyotes and other small animals. It's in the house, along with my father's 12 gauge hunting shotgun…

-Go get everything… and all the ammo.

I went to the house with my copy of the keys and grabbed my single shot .22 rifle, the detachable 4x scope and my ammo belt. When I was going to grab Dad's gun and the ammo crate, I heard a scream.

-S**t! Patrick, come out!

I ran outside as fast as I could and found Adam crouching behind the car and Furia hissing with a ferocious look on her eyes, also showing off her sharp, curved fangs.

Furia wait! That's Adam, my friend!

I thought the one called Adam was with you, I didn't know who this was…

Furia answered while lowering her guard, but never taking her sights from Adam, who slowly got out from behind the car.

-This… this… this is amazing…

Said Adam; trying to surpass the block in his throat.

-… I never thought I would see such… a majestic creature… I always kept my hopes high… but it always seemed so impossible...

Adam began to get slowly closer and closer to Furia, timidly stretching his arm towards her.

I'm going to have him for snack if he dares to touch me.

Furia said hissing lowly and guarding up again. Adam stopped his approach as I got near him and said...

-You better don't get close to her.

-Maybe you are right… we should get back to the scape plan. What have you got?

-My single shot .22 rifle, my Fifty .22 cartridge belt and my detachable 4x scope. The shotgun and the ammo crate are inside the house.

We went inside, directly to the gun locker. I gave Adam the shotgun and all the shells while I stayed with my rifle and all the bullets. He also gave me one of the pistols. After I saddled Furia, Adam said…

-Now let's go somewhere we can see this area from.

What are you two on to now?

Long story. We are lucky you didn't eat him.

He is the lucky one.

Believe me… we are the lucky ones.

We walked to Furia's usual resting place; she selected it because of the view. On the way I told her a quick version of what was happening while I loaded my ammo belt. We sat down on the ground and Furia asked me.

You know what's bugging in my mind? If those Hunters mean such a great menace to us, and he knew it, why didn't he kill them at the moment?

Furia was right. Why not killing them at the college? What if Adam was with them? What if he just took me to this isolated place to kill me along with my dragon at the same time? I proceeded to load my rifle. Once the bullet was in the chamber I asked him…

-Why didn't you kill the Hunters back in the college?

-I knew this was going to be brought up… This will sound not much for an excuse: I didn't kill them because it would've been harder to bring you here, don't you think? You would have probably run away from the armed guy who started killing cops for no apparent reason.

-I guess that makes sense… I hope so…

-Nothing have changed, we are still friends. The fact that you are still alive proves it.

-How?

-I could have killed you at the moment we arrived here.

-No, you couldn't. Not so close to Furia to hear the shot. You wouldn't have made it out of here alive.

-That's a good point. Though you are missing something, remember when I told you that riders survived without their dragons?

-Yeah?

-There were no rider-less dragons in the end of the battle. Dragons can't live a single minute after their rider's death. It's exponentially more devastating for them than their death is for the rider. When the rider dies, the dragon roars one last time; the loudest and strongest roar ever heard from that dragon. Then… it dies. Dragons suffer the worst death ever if their rider dies… they die of Sadness. In conclusion, the easiest way to kill a dragon is to kill the rider.

I ran into silence. I just looked at Furia and she fixed her sight on me.

-It won't take a lot until I get to prove I am on your side. -Adam said.

I kept my sight on Furia, waiting for her to give me a hint. Because… I didn't know what to do… Through the events of today my thoughts were… ok, I can handle a little bit of history… oh sure, now I just have to be a fugitive for the rest of my life… How cute? Now my life is at stake...- But now… the whole event of mine, and most important, Furia's survival rested on the decision of trusting or not my old known friend despite of his weird and unguaranteed statements.

I can't see any other option… Patrick.

Should we trust him, then?

No, but we'll do as he says… We'll keep keen eyes on his moves.

-We'll follow you, Adam. As you are the experienced one, you'll make the calls.

-Lovely… -Adam said patting my back- There's still an hour left for nightfall, they will arrive at any moment. This is what we are going to do…

Adam explained us a strategy to make time for the nightfall in the case of a confrontation with the Hunters. Furia would stay there to be our eyes, telling us through me any useful detail of the enemy. While we went downhill, positioned ourselves not very far from each other and waited. If they didn't arrive, well then, we proceeded to the escape tactic, which consisted on Furia taking Adam to his lands following his directions, then to come back, pick me up and take me to the same place. Going both of us on the same trip crossed our minds, but the idea was discarded because of the risk of Furia not being able of taking that weight for a long distance; she would need to rest midway and there was no guarantee of a safe place to rest.

Over half an hour later, I felt Furia contacting me.

The Hunters have entered the lands! Two vehicles approaching!

I informed Adam.

-Remember Patrick, to the head! You won't do much with that .22 otherwise! Keep them as far from us as you are able, that's our advantage despite being outnumbered!

I have never shot a person before; still, it could be just the same as hunting coyotes… that little puff of red smoke after the bullet's impact was common for my eyes. As the car came closer, straight toward us; I went to a prone position and put the cross on the driver's head. I'm on a hunting trip… I'm the hunter here, not them… they are prey… prey… prey… And I squeezed the trigger slowly until I made the shot. Immediately, the bullet hit the glass leaving it with a tiny hole. The car lost control for a moment, and then went for a stop.

-Nice shot, Pat! Keep it going!

I reloaded my rifle and aimed again. The second car stopped behind the first one. Three people came out of the first one and four came out of the second one. They went to the trees and got harder to pick as targets. I went to a crouched position because of the movement it granted me. I finally managed to put my scope on a head… and I shot. I won't forget that day… that very second… The bullet hit the man on the side of his head, then his corpse fell dead on the ground. I threw up immediately; luckily I twisted my head before staining my rifle with vomit.

-Patrick! Are you ok!?

I simply nodded, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.

-They are too close, forget the scope!

Adam said unloading a shell. Its detonation made my .22 sound like a B.B. gun. I then proceeded to detach the scope and began using the iron sights. The Hunters began to shoot as well, once we were on their S.M.G's (Sub-Machine Gun) effective range. One of their bullets hit the tree I was taking cover so close to my face that woodchips flew right at my eyes.

-F**k! My eyes!

-Were you hit!?

-No! I'm ok!

-We need to retreat! They are overwhelming us!

One at a time, Adam and I retreated. But it was useless; the Hunters kept closing on us continually. Our guns never stopped shooting, except for the reloading times, which didn't mean a lot for me; my rifle was a single shot, so, yet with a low fire rate, I never stopped shooting. Also, neither did the Hunters. One of them met my iron sights, and I didn't hesitated. Adrenaline made me react right before I could remember what I felt when I saw that man falling dead on the ground. This time my bullet went through his neck. That meant five Hunters left and shooting at us, but in a moment they became four as Adam blew half a face with the shotgun.

Suddenly, I felt a punch on my chest that brought me to the ground with piercing pain. I didn't manage to scream before falling, my hands wanted to turn to fists but the rifle was in the way. That was how I wasted my last rifle round.

-Patrick! Hang on!

I felt weak and like a buffalo danced on my chest. I left the rifle on the ground and awkwardly took my hands to my chest; it felt wet. I heard a voice, but it wasn't clear…

Patrick!... Patrick! Wake up! Patrick!

I felt a slap on my face… and I saw Adam's.

-It's just a scratch!... -he yelled at me.

He took my pistol from my pants and put it in my right hand.

-…raise your arm and shoot! Come on you weak b*****d! Shoot!

Adam then got behind and dragged me by my shoulders. As he told me, I raised my arm and shot, though I wasn't sure of what I was shooting at… Everything was dark and blurry.

Enough! I'm coming down!

-Furia… coming…

-Tell her not to! It's too early!

There were some sunrays still alive. We had to wait for the complete nightfall for Furia to take action. We couldn't allow Furia to get hurt, not when she was our only hope for survival. With a continually weakening mind, I told her to wait.

There was a moment in which I just couldn't lift the gun. I tried and tried, but I just couldn't lift it. I informed Adam about the situation…

-Adam… I ca… I can't… shoot…any… more…

-F**k no! Patrick!

He took his pistol and began to shoot fast rounds. It wasn't very important to actually hit someone; keeping them at bay was his goal… one that we both failed with catastrophic conclusions. Adam was hit on the shoulder and fell to the ground behind me. But Adam wasn't defeated yet; he emptied his gun, took mine and emptied it as well. He put his hand on my chest and talked to me in low tone. My vision was barely working and my focus was lost.

-Stay with me Patrick… I know you can hear me… just don't go… stay here; you will make it out of this…

Once the last ray of sun died, all Hell broke loose. We heard their footsteps breaking branches and leaves as they got nearer and nearer, but they stopped with one of Furia's roars.

-Hurry! Find the ri…

Furia landed in front of the one who was talking, bit half of him off and threw the corpse away. Furia used one of her claws to reduce her second target to mashed meat. And the last two targets were eliminated simultaneously with a whip of her tail.

Adam torn apart his own shirt to strips and bandaged our wounds. He then pushed me up to Furia's saddle and strapped himself. Holding me tight, he ordered Furia to take off. I was in a critical state, and Furia knew it… trusting Adam or not, she cooperated sharply. On the way, I lost all consciousness.