HOME | DD

Description
Runners: Chapter 4

"Run, Now!"
Aurora didn't have to think twice.  Turning tail, she darted into the relative safety of the canopy, Rorick and Krayt close behind her.  Suppressing a chill down her spine, Aurora focused on the trail in front of her.  The loud noises and her brother's panic could only be brought out by one thing.
The droning noise became incredibly loud as the vehicles moved overhead.  How they were tracking her thought the dense canopy, she had no idea, but they were staying right in top of her as she darted through the forest.
Behind her, both Krayt and Rorick began snarling as their situation became clearer to them.
"What the hell are we supposed to do?"  Rorick shouted as he jumped over a downed tree.  "We can't fly, we can't hide, and ancestors know that we can't sit in the same spot."
"We could always try to fight them… but I'm assuming you think it's as good as of an idea as I do…"  Krayt ran alongside Rorick, both breathing heavily not from exhaustion, but from anxiety.
"We barely got away from one of them last time, and there are way more of them up there now.  There isn't a chance."
"Maybe we could…"  Krayt was interrupted as the ground to their right exploded in clods of dirt in synch with a series of loud pops above them.
Krayt Jumped in front of Aurora and began to guide her off to the left.  "What the hell was that?  Are they shooting at us?"
Another series of pops linked up with more showers of dirt and the ground erupting to their right.
Rorick let out a low growl, "they're not trying to shoot us… they're trying to guide us…"
"Guide us where?"    Aurora shouted from the front of the group.  "Where ever it is it can't be good."
Krayt tightened the group, still shouting to be heard over the roar of the machines overhead "alright, next burst, we run through it after it passes.  We can't let them dictate where we move."
Aurora wanted to protest, her muscles tightened in anxiousness, and every part of her body was screaming to get as far away from the hail of fire as she could, but before she could protest, another series of clacks came from above.
Krayt pushed his sister through the rain of dirt as he and Rorick turned and charged though the forest.  Above them, Krayt could hear the sounds fade slightly.  Still running, Krayt turned behind him.  "Aurora, you keep running, Rorick, let's see if we can get a better look at these things and where they're trying to push us., just keep close to the treetops
Rorick nodded, and together they sprang up into the tree line, both weaving in opposite directions to make themselves harder targets.  Aurora noted in the back of her mind that they seemed to work well together, but that thought was quickly suppressed as she was forced to concentrate on running through the trail in front of her.
Flinching at the sound of more clacks overhead, Aurora craned her neck in an attempt to spot Krayt or Rorick through the trees.  Her fearers worsened when she heard a large explosion from behind her followed by strained noises coming from one of the pursuing machines.
Her fears turned to dread when both Rorick and Krayt came crashing thought the trees, both landing heavily on their backs.  "Krayt!"  Fear shot through her again as she approached her brother, but his and Rorick's groans of pain told her they were at least alive.
"Krayt, are you ok?"  Aurora helped Krayt slowly stand to his feet, looking him over for injuries as he stood.
Krayt groaned and stretched his neck, a few bones popping back into place as he stretched.  "I wouldn't say ok, but I can still move."
"Don't mind me… I'm ok too…"  Rorick called out as he stood to his feet as well
Aurora shot him a look, but it softened as she saw him struggling to his feet.  "Are you ok?"  It was a sincere question.
Rorick grunted, "I'll manage."
Aurora smiled and nodded, getting a small smile from Rorick in return.
"Did you have to hit it like that?"  Krayt took a sharp breath and recoiled as he tried to put weight on his right shoulder.  Pain still shooting up his arm, he grit his teeth and forced his weight back onto his shoulder.  They couldn't stop, not now.
"How was I supposed to know it would do that…?"  Rorick limped forward a few steps as well, "it's not like we had much of a choice anyway."
Krayt grunted… "I know… it's just…"
He was interrupted by a heavy machine crashing through the trees above them, the heavy metal groaning as an especially thick tree caught the machine in its canopy.
"You did that…." Aurora looked at the smoldering wreckage.  It was mostly intact, but she could see where one of its "wings" was crushed and mangled, small flames flickering out of the rear of the machine.
"Turns out their pretty fragile, I didn't hit it very hard."  Rorick seemed to prance in place as his gaze flicked from the forest to the wreck.  "Now is not the time though, we need to go.  They'll be back soon."
Aurora narrowed her eyes, "There are people in there."
"That's not our problem now; we need to get out of here."  Rorick took a few steps into the forest.  Krayt close behind.  "Come on Aurora."
Aurora looked at Rorick before glancing back at the flaming wreckage.  "They're not getting out of there."  She took a step back toward the wreckage before Rorick stepped up and stopped her.
"We need to go."  Rorick nudged Aurora to move forward.
Krayt called to her from the tree line, "this isn't the time Aurora"
"We can't just leave them there to die!"  Aurora looked back at the flaming wreckage in the trees; she could see a figure scrambling on in the inside of the machine
"They're the ones trying to kill us, now let's go…" Rorick pushed her forward, but she ducked under him and began to run toward the wreckage
"Damn it Aurora."  Rorick growled angrily and took off after her, Krayt following closely behind.
Aurora had already jumped into the air and manage to perch herself on the machines' canopy, looking for a way to pry it open.  Rorick landed heavily next to her, the whole helicopter swaying as he landed.  "Are you nuts?  These people are still trying to kill us!"
Aurora snorted as she scraped her talons on the glass, looking for a way to break the seal.  "Yeah, well, we're here now, so you might as well quit yelling and find a way to help me out."
Rorick grunted again, before turning to the glass Aurora was struggling against.  Dark splotches stained the glass and smoke filled the inside, making it hard to see.  But even through the smoke, Rorick could see two figures inside.  The one in front was slumped over a console, but the other was scrambling furiously inside, his gaze flicking from the straps across his chest, to the fire approaching behind him, to the dragons standing outside of his canopy.  It seemed he was stuck.
Rorick looked at the glass canopy again.  There was little to no way they were going to pry it open, he couldn't find anywhere for his talons to gain purchase on the glass. "This isn't going to work…" looking back, he could see flames licking closer to where they were standing.
"We don't have time for this. Aurora, stand back."  Aurora had only a moment to back away before Rorick whipped his tail across the glass canopy, shattering it into pieces.
Rorick saw the man sitting in the back look up in shock before scrambling to pull something from alongside his right leg.  He knew all too well what the motion entailed.  Growling, Rorick quickly reached forward and pinned the man's arm against the seat, growling a low warning.
The man looked at him in fear again, and Rorick heard something metal clatter to the floor, the man's face draining of color and his body going limp.  Satisfied that the man wasn't an immediate threat for the moment, Rorick gave another low growl before moving his talons to rip through the harness holding the man to the seat.
Grabbing the back of the man's uniform, Rorick wasn't gentle as he pulled the man from the seat, slinging the man under his arms as they perched precariously on the edge.  His charge had long since given up struggling below him; Aurora was pulling the other person out as well.
"Let's go."  Pushing off the wreckage, Rorick felt his wings strain as he tried to slow his decent.  These people weighed a lot more than he expected.
Gliding away from the wreckage, Aurora and Rorick landed hard as they hit the ground, both dropping the soldier's to keep from falling over.
"Wow… they were heavy."  Aurora groaned as she stretched her wings, taking a few slow steps in a circle.
"Do you know how stupid that was?  I don't even know where to start." Rorick growled at Aurora as he began to push her deeper into the forest.
"Hey that's enough!"  Kyat growled and pushed Rorick away.  "We can't do anything about it now, so let's just go."
He was interrupted by a downdraft of wind as one of the machines parted the trees above them, a bright spotlight shining down into their eyes.
Krayt cursed "Run!"
The three dragons took off into the woods as heavy ropes from the machine slapped against the ground around them, Aurora taking the lead as Krayt and Rorick limped behind her.
Even while crashing through the trees, Aurora could still hear the shouting of the people behind her, only spurring her to fun faster.  Her lungs began to ache as her feet thudded against the ground.  It would have been so much easier to fly, but their pursuers made that option impossible.
Breaking out of the bushes into a clearing, Aurora took a brief moment to stop and catch her breath.  It was at that moment that she realized that she was alone.  The sounds of a chase still came from in the woods, but it all seemed farther away than it should have been.  With growing concern, Aurora noticed that neither Krayt nor Rorick was with her anymore.
She hesitated as the sounds of the chase grew closer to her position.  On one hand, it could be Krayt and Rorick catching up to her, but on the other hand…  glancing around Aurora looked for somewhere else she could run… somewhere she could hide, but even when she found a possible alternative, she couldn't get herself to move.  Her feet were rooted to the spot.
A green blur burst out of the trees, slamming into her and sending her rolling across the ground.  Moments later, she felt herself getting pushed to her feet while her head continued to spin.
"Come on Aurora, we need to keep moving," Rorick was pushing her deeper into the woods toward an anxiously waiting Krayt.  "We only have a few moments until they're onto us again, and that last machine dropped some onto the ground too."
Stumbling over her own feet, Aurora somehow managed to get her feet moving again, slowly returning to her dead sprint through the thick forest.  It was a good thing too, as Rorick was right about the machines not being too far behind.  In a matter of moments, the roar of the machined overhead assaulter her ears and fear began to rise in her chest as thoughts of bullets raining around her began to plague her mind
Aurora stopped as she heard a series of quick whooshes rush overhead, seconds later the forest in front of her disintegrated into a combination of fire and shrapnel.  Turning her head away from the explosion, she was pelted by wooden shards, most of which bounced harmlessly off her scales.
Too stunned to move, she stared at the scene in front of her, what once had been lush woodland had been turned to smoldering wreckage in less than a second, and the attack had been far too fast for her to see.  A sense of dread and fear began to eat away at her.   If what they were going up against had that kind of destructive power…
Rorick pushing her to move once again brought her back to her senses.  Looking over, she could just make out what he was saying over the chaos of noise around her.
"Come on!  We need to keep moving.  Run along the fire, we can't let them push us back the way we came."
Aurora cringed as she pushed through the now splintered forest, embers and sharp wood fragments digging into the bottom of her feet.  With growing concern, she noticed the ground beneath her slope down with each step.  Glancing to the side, she could see the edges of a ravine beginning to rise above them on each side.  Behind them the sounds of the machines began to fade away.  She didn't know if they had given up or simply lost them in the woods, but she didn't care.
"Krayt…."  Aurora called to her brother nervously as the ground continued to slope up around them
"I know…"  He scanned the forest quickly for options, "look, over there."  Without waiting for the others, Krayt dashed into the trees.  With no better options, Rorick and Aurora quickly followed him.
They quickly broke out onto a large dirt path running through the trees.  Off in the distance, they could see traces of the road winding through the forest and out of the ravine.
"It looks like we could follow this out of here."  Aurora motioned up the road.
"But for how long… we'd be exposed the whole way" Rorick looked back the other direction.
Krayt pointed down the road, "Lets follow this road for a second and see if we can get out of this gorge.  Stick to the tree line, that way we can run back into them if we need too." Looking up at the sky, Krayt could see heavy clouds overhead, the sky glowing an eerie green color.  "It looks like a bad storm is brewing, if we can outlast them until the storm gets here, we have a good chance of getting away, we just have to make sure we don't get caught in the storm too.  Let's go before those things catch up to us."

Logan turned down the volume on the radio in the Humvee.  He had turned it up to listen to a report coming in from one of the airborne squads, but now he almost wished he hadn't. Looking to the back of the Humvee, he could see the very faint traces of anxiety and disbelief on each member of his squad.  No one wanted to believe that their targets had taken an aircraft right out of the sky.
"Eye's out squad, we're nearing the approximate location of where our targets were heading, if those reports were anywhere near accurate, which I highly doubt at the moment, they will be crossing this road in the next few minutes.  So do me a favor and stay awake and watch the sides of the road.  The sooner we can get off this carousel ride the better.
Logan's squad set its sights out the window, each solider looking for traces of their targets, but none knowing exactly what to look for.
"There!  There in the ditch!" Moore's arm shot forward, pointing to the ditch on the front right side of the Humvee.  Webster slammed on the brakes and whipped the car to the side, skidding the Humvee to a stop sideways in the road.
Logan braced himself against the dash as his body jerked from the sudden stop before looking up into the ditch.  There in front of him stood three different dragons, all looking at him with a mixture of fear and confusion.  Both groups stared at each other, the moment seeming to hang in the air.
It was only broken when one of the dragon's flared its wings in preparation to take off.  Logan reacted quickly.
"Malarkey, keep them on the ground!"
A grin speak across Malarkey's face as he pressed down on the trigger, the .50 cal on the top of the Humvee roaring to life in sustained fire.  The dragons reacted quickly, bolting into the woods in search of safety. Malarkey followed them with expert accuracy, spraying rounds above their heads and into the woods, obliterating trees and leaving an easily followable swath of destruction.
"What the hell did you put in that thing Malarkey?"  Shifty looked from the decimated tree line up to Malarkey.
Malarkey gave a small grin. Reaching down, he picked up a new belt and showed it.  A red ring was fitted around the top of the casing with a tungsten cone protruding from the tip
"Holy shit, is that a SLAP-T round?
Malarkey's grin only widened as he fed the belt into his 50-cal and pulled the charging handle
"You know we're trying to catch them, not turn them into a bloody pulp," Shifty steadied himself on the handle of the Humvee as Webster whipped it off the road and into the woods to pursue their targets.
Logan smiled from the front seat.  "I wouldn't be making quips about the guy on the .50 shifty, besides, he knows he's not supposed to hit them…. yet."
"It's just such a waste of perfectly good ammo."
Hefferon smacked shifty from the other side of the Hummve, "hey, why bother when Uncle Sam is footing the bill.  Those rounds might come in handy later too.  Who knows how thick the scales are on those things."
Webster drove over a large fallen log, jostling the squad in the back of the Humvee and smacking Shifty's head against the roof causing him to grunt in pain.  "Hopefully not as thick as Shifty's head!"
Moore picked Shifty's helmet off the floor of the Humvee and slapped it on his head "And you wonder why I tell you to keep your helmet on."
The Humvee sped on in pursuit, Webster somehow finding a way to weave through the trees and still keep their targets in sight.
"Did you see them?  It's bizarre; they were in all different colors."  Moore spoke with a sense of awe as he looked forward, his hands tightening around his rifle.
Webster shouted from the front seat.  "Moore?  You see mythical creatures that aren't supposed to exist, and you're most interested in the fact that they come in different colors?"
Shifty piped in. "Yep, get your mythical creatures here.  Now in a variety of colors for your personal preference!"
Logan couldn't help but smile a little as he studied himself on the handle of the Humvee. "Alright, can the chatter.  Webster, eyes on the road, or at least what you're using as one. Malarkey, try not to get your head taken off up there, and Moore, quit your gaping and pull out that map, tell me where they're taking us."
Moore grumbled and began to pull a large laminated topographic map from a pouch on his chest rig, the cumbersome paper necessary due to the restricted GPS over the military base and buildings not officially on record.
Pushing Shifty forward, Moore slapped the map across his back and began to scan his fingers across it.  "It looks like they're running deep into a gully; no way up except back the way we came. If we can keep them on the ground, we'll have them corralled.  The only problems we might have are a few caves at the end here, but the maps say they're all dead ends.  Looks like you have about a minute until we're at the edge of the gully, Webster."
"Alright, headsets on everyone.  Stay quiet so we don't spook them.  Keep them on the ground Malarkey.  Moore, Webster, Hefferon, you cover the right side. Shifty, you're with me.  I want you to keep your distance from these targets, we have rifles, and we might as well use them." Each member of his squad responded quickly, pulling their headsets onto their heads and turning them on
Seconds later, their Humvee broke through the trees, Webster slamming on the brakes to keep from crashing into a large stone cliff face in front of them.  They had chased their targets to exactly where Moore had predicted, the gully convening into a large semicircle in front t of them.  The dragons were trapped,
"Let's move.
Malarkey let lose a burst from the fifty, peppering the stone above the dragons and showering them with dirt and rock, while Logan moved with the rest of the squad out of the vehicle, taking up positions to pin the dragons against the pocketed stone wall.
Logan saw the two dragons in front bare their teeth and let out a low growl, they were obviously protecting the female dragon they had pushed to the rear.  "Everyone be careful, these things seem to run on instinct, and they're not going to like getting cornered.  They haven't moved at us yet, so don't make a move unless they do.  The plan is simple; we sit here and wait until one of the helio's catches up.  Then we can make a move from there.  Keep an eye out for one of them trying to attack though, if that happens, I want all three of them taken down, no hesitation."
Several clicks through his headset signaled his team's conformation.
Tense moments passed as Logan waited for the backup that was minutes behind them, and the dragons seemed to sense it as well.  Each twitch was met with a louder growl or the swivel of a rifle, neither group breaking concentration.  But to Logan's surprise, nothing happened past that.  His targets didn't move, didn't try to attack, and didn't act like any feral animal he knew of.
The stalemate was broken by the all too familiar sound of rotor-wash coming over the tree tops, signaling the air support Logan had hoped for.  But the dragons had noticed it as well, and Logan saw a look of recognition and fear cross their faces before each turned and bolted into one of the caves pocketing the wall behind them Logan knew to lead to a dead end.
"Flashlights on, perimeter around the cave, but don't get too close, let's see how deep this goes and wait for our 'backup' to arrive."  His squad immediately closed on the cave, flashlights on the rails of their weapons flicking on to illuminate the otherwise dark cave.  What he saw surprised him though.
One dragon, the green one, stood in front of the other two, his eyes closed and his front feet spread apart and braced against the ground.  Something wasn't quite right.
"Whoa, whoa, back up guys…"  Logan took a step back followed by the rest of his squad as he kept his eyes focused on the dragon.  He only took another step back as he felt the ground begin to shake beneath him.  His mind quickly flashed back to the pictures he had seen in the report, particularly to a pair of tanks ripped apart by rocks jutting from the ground.
"Take him down!"
but Logan's call came a second too late, the sound of gunfire from his rifle was easily overpowered as a cluster of rock spikes jutted from the mouth of the mouth of the cave, all of them converging in the center and forming a solid stone wall over the mouth of the cave.
As the sound of ricocheting bullets and gunfire stopped echoing off the surrounding the walls, he and his team were left in stunned silence.
Shifty lowered his rifle first and turned to the rest of the team.  "Did anyone else just see what happened?"
Logan lowered his weapon as two apaches and an osprey appeared in the clearing overhead, his mind still filled with disbelief over the sheer power behind the dragon, and the fact that it hadn't been directed at his team.  As ropes from the osprey slapped against the ground, he tried to figure out how to explain what had just happened.
Shifty turned to look at the cave and then back again.  "Seriously, am I the only one who saw that happen?"
Webster smacked the back of his head, his face stoic.  "Shut up for a second will you."
Logan shook his head in disbelief.  "Oh they are never going to believe this.

Rorick let out a strangled gasp as he released the flow of energy, the rock wall now completely covering the entrance save for a small gap at the top.  They were safe for the moment, but they were also trapped.
"Rorick, can you tell if there's a second way out of here?" Krayt's voice echoed off the walls of the cave.
Rorick was quiet for a moment before shaking his head.  "No doesn't seem like it.  Our only way out is back the way we came.  I'm sure I could break through that wall if we need to, but it's going to be a while."
Aurora let a burst of fire jet between her teeth, briefly illuminating the otherwise dark cave.  "I would bet our friends outside will be trying to get through as well, and seeing what they could do with those machines, they probably won't have any issue doing it."
"It's possible they won't even bother," Krayt scraped his talons on Rorick's erected wall, "if they know this cave doesn't go anywhere, they might just wait for us to come out.  They know we can't say here forever."
Rorick shot another forlorn look at the rock wall "even though I left a hole at the entrance of the cave, I don't know how long the air in here will last.  If we pushed it, we might be able to spend the night here, but I wouldn't suggest it…"  As his eyes adjusted to the faint light filtering thought the hole, Rorick caught the saddened looks of Aurora and Krayt
Krayt nodded, "your right, but even so, we've bought ourselves a few minutes rest.  Aurora, you and Rorick should go rest; I'll stay up here and watch just in case."
"Are you sure?"  Rorick looked questioningly at Krayt, "I could stay up here if you want, you need rest as much as we do."
"Not quite, Aurora isn't used to this, and you just erected a large stone wall.  You both need it more than I do at this point.  Just go rest; I'll let you know if anything happens."
"Alright, if you say so…"  Rorick turned and walked toward the back of the cave where the roar of the rain wasn't as loud, Aurora followed closely behind him.
A loud crack of thunder caused both dragons to spin toward the entrance quickly, both startled by the sudden noise.  Aurora pushed up against Rorick, and he placed a wing around her protectively.  At first it was simply instinct, but the feeling of Aurora shaking against his body soon made him aware of his position. Taking a step back, Rorick used his wing to draw Aurora toward the back of the cave.  "Come on, let's go lay down.  We have a moments rest; we might as well use it."
Rorick led her to the back wall of a cave and motioned for her to lie down.  Once she had seated herself, Rorick laid down beside her.  It unnerved him a little to be this close to a female he didn't really know, but the thought was pushed to the back of his mind as exhaustion took over.  As he lay there, Rorick became aware of Aurora trembling beside him.  Extending his wing again, he pulled Aurora to lie up against his side.
Aurora gave an embarrassed smile as Rorick's wing tightened around her.  "Sorry… I just can't stop shaking…"
Rorick returned a comforting smile, "not used to having so much adrenalin wearing off?"
"No… I don't think I've been so scared, or so tired, in a long time.  This isn't exactly something I'm used to."  Aurora shuddered again, causing her to turn her head away from Rorick in embarrassment.
Rorick gave an amused snort, "running from those things isn't exactly what I'm used to either you know."
"yeah, but you and Krayt react like there's nothing to it while I'm struggling just to put one foot in front of the other.  I don't know how you two manage to do it."  Aurora sighed heavily and set her head on the ground.
"Well I can't tell you how your brother manages to do it, but I know that I do it because it's the only thing I can do.  Each moment I have the decision to keep fighting, or to just give up and lie down.  I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to give up yet."  Rorick pulled his wing tighter around Aurora and turned his head to look her in the eyes.  "You shouldn't sell yourself short; you have come just as far as your brother and I have.  A lot of other dragons would have given up by now.  You've done more than you think by just moving forward.  Don't think that we're doing anything different, we're just a little bit better at hiding our feelings."
"Thank you Rorick…"  Aurora yawned as her shaking finally stopped.
"Go ahead and sleep, your brother and I will keep watch, and you might not get another chance soon."
Aurora nodded and looked at the ground "Um… Rorick, I'm sorry about earlier…  I know I shouldn't have gone back there…"
Rorick let out a heavy sigh, "Don't worry about it, it wouldn't have done us any better if we had left them, and thanks to you I have a clear conscience.  Please don't make it a habit though."  Rorick smiled and nudged Aurora.
She returned the smile.  "Alright, I won't."
"I do have one question though.  What made you go back for them?  Most other people would have high tailed it out of there without a second thought."
Aurora hesitated a moment before answering.  "It just seemed so senseless to me… that those people would have to die.   They seemed like soldiers, and we're not actually trying to kill them.  I guess I just hope someone would do that for me if I was in that kind of a situation."
"I guess, but how often are you going to find yourself in a situation like that?"
Aurora smiled again, "After today, I don't know…."
"I suppose you're right.  You should get some sleep though.  We have a long road ahead."
Aurora nodded and shifted closer to Rorick, but looked up when he stiffened, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable…"
Rock quickly shook his head dismissively, "no, you're fine, I don't mind."
Aurora shuffled closer again, "ok…" shifting her head alongside Rorick; Aurora closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.
Rorick waited until Aurora was fast asleep before letting out a pent up breath.  He had been forcing his body to remain still thought the entire conversation.  The truth be told, he was just as scared as she was, and he had no idea how he had managed to make it through talking with Aurora without breaking down.  Anger, fear, relief… everything seemed to rush though him at once, but his mind wouldn't let the emotions slow down.  Whatever was hunting them was just outside the cave entrance, and he knew it would only be a matter of time until they would be running again or captured.
Rorick shifted and drew Aurora closer with his wing, as much for his own comfort as hers.  The cold cave floor was sucking away what little body heat he had left, and what little food he had pulled from the doe wasn't doing much to give him energy.
Setting his head down next to Aurora, Rorick tried to share his body heat to catch some sleep, but his anxiousness and the ebbing cold made it impossible for him.  Not to mention what was waiting for them outside the cave entrance.
Taking a deep breath, Rorick tried to quell the anxiousness in his chest, but the doubts plaguing his mind kept his stomach churning.  His instincts and his pride had kept him calm and positive in front of Aurora, but experience told him what little chance they actually had.  They were in an unknown land against an unknown enemy that not only vastly outnumbered them, but used technology that Rorick knew was far beyond anything he was used to.
If it had just been him, he might have been captured or killed already, either from choosing to stand fight or from getting cornered by him.  Running really wasn't his style.
But he wasn't alone.  Krayt gave him someone to rely on… a comrade in arms.  And Aurora gave him a reason to keep running.  As much as he wanted to live, he might have been able to accept him fate, to go down in a blaze of glory.  But she deserved more than that, and his instincts drove him to protect her.
A few more minutes passed before the sound of talons against stone broke the silence of the room
Rorick looked from the sleeping form or Aurora up to the darkened outline of Krayt, "do you want me to go watch?"
Krayt shook his head.  "I figure it won't make a difference, if they make it through that wall, we have ourselves cornered.  We might be able to hold them off for a while, but I doubt we would make it out of here."
Rorick nodded sadly, "what do we do then?  I might not have much energy left, but I'm up for anything that might put us on the winning side."
"I'm not sure, but I might have an idea.  Not long after the rain started, the loud droning from those machines faded away.  If I'm right, and were lucky, they left because of the heavy rain.  With those things out of the air, we might be able to fly long enough to get away from whatever they left on the ground."
"We can't fly out in that rain, "Rorick voiced his concern but didn't object.  Experience had taught him that there was often more to a plan that what was heard the first time
"I know, but now is our best chance of getting out of here.  We may not be able to see out there, but neither can they.  We just have to get far enough away from them so they lose our trail."
"So you're saying we should just wing it for a couple hundred meters?  Are you sure that's a good idea?  If one of us gets hurt it's going to make for one short escape plan."
"I know… I know… but I can't think of a better alternative, and we're running out of time.  I can hear them moving outside, and I think they're planning something as well."
Rorick stayed silent for a moment, trying to come up with a better alternative to throwing themselves at the mercy of the storm.  But much like Krayt, he couldn't find any.  Letting out a heavy sigh, Rorick shook his head.  "I guess you're right.  We should get going."
"I guess we should wake her up then…"  Rorick motioned to the sleeping Aurora.
"Wait…." Krayt hesitated and sat down.  "I want to ask you something first."
Rorick took another glance at Aurora before turning back to Krayt.  "Alright, shoot."
"You and I both know just how slim our chances are at the moment, but Aurora still has hope, even if she's terrified."  Rorick nodded, "I just wanted to say…   If something were to happen to me…  Could you make sure Aurora gets out of here safely?  She's my sister, and I need to know someone can take care of her."
Rorick gave Krayt a skeptical look "She's not that much younger than you is she?  And it seems like she's a strong dragoness."
"I know that, but she's my sister.  I need to know someone will be there to push her in the right direction."
Rorick looked at the ground, "If it comes to that… I'll make sure your sister is safe."
"Thanks, I know we don't know each other very well, but this means a lot."
"Not a problem.  We should get going though.  Do you want me to wake her up now?"
"Hold on, I got this…"  Krayt smiled and walked over so he was facing Aurora.  Nudging her with his nose, Krayt spoke softly to his sister, "Hey Aurora, quit snuggling up against your boyfriend and get up, we have places to be."
Aurora's eyes shot open as her brother woke her, uttering a small squeak from under Rorick's wing.
Rorick let his wing get brushed out of the way as Aurora quickly shot to her feet, a slight red tinge on her cheeks even with the low light and the color of her scales.
He laughed as Aurora's angered gaze turned on her brother.  She held the look for a few moments before they too broke into laughter.
Rorick's grin only grew wider… Just for a moment, they were at peace.
But they all knew it couldn't last forever.
""What's going on?
"We need to get out of here before the storm lets up.  We might not get another chance like this, and we can't wait any longer." Krayt motioned toward the door.  "Once Rorick breaks down the wall he made, we're going to fly out and over the cliffs to our right.  If we get over those, and their machines aren't behind us, we should be able to lose them for a while."
"We're going to fly out in that?"  Aurora could still hear the torrential rain outside.
"We're at least going to try…"

Logan laughed as the troops outside the Humvee stumbled and fell in the thick mud.  The crew had hoofed it all the way to the cave after their Osprey had dropped them in the woods, and they had been stranded without shelter once their transport left due to the heavy rain. They had been waiting outside the cave for some time now, leaving Logan more time to ponder the strange occurrence he had seen earlier.
He however, remained relatively dry in the closed canopy of the Humvee with the rest of his squad.  Just one of the benefits of being on the ground.
Added Webster nudged him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his musings.  "Looks like one of them is headed this way."
"We'll he's not getting in my vehicle if that's what he's looking for" Logan cracked the window as the solider approached, frowning as rain splattered through the open window.  "How can I help you…?"  Logan scanned the soldier's black uniform for any trace of rank, after a moment he caught a familiar insignia on his left arm. "…Lieutenant?"
The lieutenant scowled and replied in a gruff voice.  "Command wants us to blow the entrance to the cave, more accurately, they want you and your squad to set the charges and then provide support as we sweep the cave.  Have one of your men set some charges; we want to be ready in ten minutes."
"I didn't receive any commands, we have a radio too you know…"
"Capitan, you and your squad are here as liaisons, as far as you're concerned, you take orders from us, regardless of the circumstance, now get your men ready, I want that wall ready in ten."  Without waiting for a reply, the lieutenant walked back into the darkness to rejoin his squad.
Webster looked over from the driver's seat.  "So what do we do?"
Logan sighed.  "As far as we're concerned, he's right.  We'll follow along for now."
Shifty groaned from the back seat.  "That means one of us has to go out in that rain... I don't want to go"
"It's not like any of us do Shifty, "Moore slapped the back of his helmet.  "What are we going to do, draw straws?"'
Logan turned around and smiled "why don't we let out 'demolitions expert' go out and do it."
"Do I have to go out there?"  Heffron groaned as he looked at the torrential rain through the window
"Hey, cheer up, you're the one who gets to place the charges on the wall" Webster smiled as he tossed a bag of plastic explosives back to Hefferon.  "Besides, it will put that fancy education of yours to work."
"Still doesn't mean I like getting wet…"
Logan turned around to scowl at Hefferon "You're going to be more than wet if you don't get out there and set those charges.  Now move!"
"Alright, alright…"  Hefferon kicked open the door of the Humvee before slowly trudging out into the pouring rain.
Once Hefferon had walked his way out of earshot, Shifty' spoke up from the back of the Humvee.  "Wow, it was easier to get him into the rain than it was to get Malarkey out of it.  Man I thought we were all going to get soaked with how long he stayed up on the fifty."
Malarkey wordlessly reached over and punched him in the arm.
"Hey, I'm just saying, some of us want to stay dry."
"Cut it out Shifty, or you're going to be out there helping Hefferon."
"Fine."  Shifty pouted at Logan and sat back in his seat.  "Do you think we're going to be support on this whole operation? It's not like I think it's bogus after what we saw on the road, but why are they keeping us as backup?  Since when have we pulled backup duty?'"
Webster spoke from the front seat.  "They're all in their exclusive little club in there, and to them we're just some hobo's who wandered in.  Just don't step on their toes and this will be as painless as possible."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"I didn't say you did."
The Humvee drifted off into silence again, and Logan returned to watching Hefferon set the charges in the high beams, methodically pulling a charge from the wall and attaching it the stone covering on the cave.  Reaching into the bag again, Hefferon pulled out another charge only to have it fall from his hands and bound away from the mouth of the cave.  Logan laughed as Hefferon cursed, walking over and pending down to pick up the dropped charge.
That's when everything changed.  Hefferon disappeared in a shroud of dirt and rocks as the mouth of the cave blew outward with a resounding boom.
"Shit!  Did those charges go off?"  Logan had kicked open the door and was half way to the mouth of the cave before the rubble had hit the ground.
"No way, that wasn't loud enough to be C4, and the blast went the wrong wave." Webster was right behind him, his shotgun shouldered with its flashlight scanning the entrance.
"Captain, Hefferon was still setting the charges."  Shifty formed up behind him, the tension still in his voice.
"We make sure it's clear first, and then we get Hefferon."  No sooner had he spoken, then all hell broke lose
"Contact!"
Three blurs shot out of the cave into the heavy rain, one plowing into a member of the airborne squad and knocking him to the mud.  Logan's squad swiveled to follow the attackers, but between the rain and the scrambling of the other quad, their attackers were indistinguishable in the chaos.
"Shit where are they?"
Logan ducked as the sound of rifle fire erupted around them, some of the rounds bouncing dangerously close off the rocks around them.  "Damn bunch of greenhorns.  They're going to get us all killed."
"Logan look, up there."  Webster pointed his rife into the air, the flashlight on his rifle silhouetting a shape above them."
"Malarkey, light up the sky!"
Behind them, Logan could hear the .50 on the Humvee roar to life, Malarkey filling the sky with a hail of tracer rounds.  Between the brief flashes from the gunfire and the glow of the tracer rounds, he could barely make out three dark shapes weaving through the air before disappearing off into the night.
Second later the gunfire quieted down, making the falling rain unnaturally loud in the otherwise silent night.
Logan let a few second pass before speaking.  "Everyone here ok?" four affirmatives brought a small amount of peace to his troubled mind.  "Alright then:  Moore, Shifty, you're with we, were going to get Hefferon, Webster, you go make sure none of those idioms over there shot themselves, and Malarkey..."  Logan looked back to see him still scanning the sky with the .50 "You just keep doing what you're doing. Let's move."
Logan and Moore moved quickly toward the entrance to the cave, their flashlights scanning the ground for signs of their squad mate.
"Over there."  More pointed his flashlight at the ground, illuminating a groaning figure."
"Hefferon, are you ok? Can you hear me?"  Logan knelt down and brushed some of the smaller rocks off Hefferon's chest as Moore reached down and checked his vitals
Hefferon groaned from the ground "Go plant the explosives, they said…  You'll only get a little wet, they said…"
Logan smiled and pulled Hefferon to his feet, much to Moore's displeasure.  "I think you'll be alright."
"Doesn't mean that was any fun… felt about like a horse kicked me in the chest…"
"Or maybe a dragon…"  Logan looked over the debris field.  It was scattered almost thirty meters from the entrance to the cave, making him wonder just what kind of power these dragons had.
"Hefferon, let Moore check you out, I'm going to see what those airborne guys are up to."
"Yes sir."  Hefferon and Moore both nodded as Logan walked away, passing Webster as he walked back to the Humvee.
"So Webster, did any of them manage to shoot each other?"
Webster smiled, "Not that I can tell, I don't know who these guys are, but private military or not, they can't shoot worth shit.  Looks like one of those dragons hit one of them pretty hard though, he's unconscious, but he'll be ok."
"Alright, thanks… go ahead and round up the rest of the guys and wait in the Humvee" Logan looked around again, spotting their commanding officer standing off in the tree line.  Walking over, he tried to manage some civility as began to speak.
"Lieutenant, you seem to be the ones that are supposed to know what's going on here, so do you mind filling me in?"
The lieutenant, his black clothing soaked and his rifle slung across his back, turned to Logan.
"It looks like the mouth of the cave blew outward, allowing the three targets to escape.  It was probably caused by excessive pressure one the rock above due to the heavy rain."
Logan ignored the stupidity of the statement, "Excessive pressure huh?  Did you see where they went?"
"No, they moved fast, and the rain was too heavy to get an accurate shot on anything."
"No kidding, you almost shot us in your carelessness, not to mention your own team.  Did you even stop to consider the fact that you were shooting into a solid stone wall?"
"That's not the point…"
"Sure it isn't.  Do we at least have something to go on?"
"No, they're gone, and there's no telling where or how far they could have gotten in this rain."
"So you're telling me we have no idea where they went" Logan resisted the urge to run his hand across his face.
"No, and it will be a while until our birds can be up in the air again."
"Well shit…."