“How you holding up?” Jagger asked.
“It hurts… badly… but I’ll manage.” Raiya replied.
“Sorry.”
“For what… you didn’t throw me in front of the bullet. I jumped in.”
“I know… anything I can do?”
“Do we have any water?”
Jagger nodded and turned to the trunk of the jeep, “Yeah let me grab it.”
He carefully moved so that Raiya wasn’t disturbed. The water bottles were resting comfortably above one of the ammo cases. He quickly grabbed one and turned back. Raiya grabbed it out of his hand, ripped the cap off, and quickly emptied the bottle into her mouth.
“Feel better?” Jagger asked as she fiercely finished the bottle.
“A little… at least I’m not as parched now.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s the blood loss.” Andy replied. “You should start feeling better if you keep drinking. Your body is trying to repair itself.”
Raiya nodded. “Jagger… I know we’re heading back to New Framingham, but…”
“What?” Jagger asked. “Having second thoughts?”
“No, not exactly. It’s just… You realize that if a Dragon is there, I may not be able to protect you all. I don’t think I’ll be at one hundred percent by the time we get there.”
“It’ll be okay. You’re not the only one who knows how to take care of themselves.”
“I hope so. Dragon Lords are nothing to mess around with.”
New Framingham
Westcon Territory
Formerly Massachusetts
Chapter 13
The group arrived back in what was once Massachusetts. The sun was just beginning to rise in the distance. They pulled onto the remains of Route 9 and headed west.
The mood was quiet and somber in the jeep as everyone waited and watched the trees. Jagger got the feeling that everyone knew what they were likely going to see, but still waited and watched. The trees were like a relentless wall that would not permit them a view of the city that once stood beyond.
To Jagger, this was like returning to the scene of the crime. He could only hope that maybe someone had survived under all the rubble and was waiting to be found.
Raiya had slept through most of the trip. Her wound wasn’t life-threatening, but was still serious.
“How’s she doing?” Andrea asked.
“She’s sleeping. It looks like the color is coming back to her skin.”
Andrea nodded, “She lost a lot of blood and her anatomy is very different from what I’m used to seeing… but if her human half has any say, she should make a full recovery.”
“Good to know…”
As the jeep passed through what used to be the town line between Natick and Framingham, the trees slowly began to clear. A large tower of dark smoke could be seen in the distance. It climbed several feet into the sky and disappeared in the clouds.
Jagger sat back and sighed, “So it is true…”
“Are we going?” Eric asked.
Andrea looked back at Jagger, “There could still be people alive in there. I was told to prepare for casualties, but the aerial surveillance revealed nothing. So, I was told to stand down.”
“Let’s go…” Jagger said softly.
The jeep pulled a left onto a side road and approached the massive wall in the distance. It was a familiar sight for Jagger until more detailed features came into view. Burn marks and holes appeared on the once-mighty wall. Half of it had been completely knocked over. The gate had been smashed and burnt corpses were scattered about the grounds.
Eric drove the jeep through the gates and stopped in front of the trucks. Jagger looked out at the old army vehicles. The tires were melted, the green paint was covered over in black burns, and the cabins had been all but melted, “They didn’t even stand a chance…”
Raiya sat up and looked around, “Wow… I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
Jagger looked at the blood-stained bandage on her hip, “How you doing?”
Raiya nodded, “Better… it doesn’t hurt as bad.”
“Good… we should probably look around. –Eric, keep driving. Let’s get to the town square. Keep going straight.”
“You got it.” Eric replied.
Horrific scenes frozen in time played out before Jagger’s eyes as they drove. Burnt husks that had once been human beings were standing, kneeling, and laying in agonized positions. Some had their hands raised, while others covered their heads in a fetal position.
It made Jagger feel nauseous. These were people he’d lived with for a good portion of his life. Seeing them burnt and twisted like this made him struggle to against the urge to vomit.
“Hey… you okay?” Raiya asked.
“No, I feel sick.” Jagger replied, not looking at her.
Raiya stared at each burnt corpse they passed and rubbed Jagger’s arm, “Did I do this? Did I somehow bring that Red Dragon Lord down on them?”
Jagger sat back as he finally regained control, “How? The thing attacked at night. It didn’t even attack anywhere near where you were staying.”
“No, I mean the second time. Did it come back looking for me? Is it possible that after telling its buddies about me, they decided I was some kind of threat?”
Andy eyed another mound of burnt husks, “Look at that. A family… two children and an adult. This is what happens…?”
“It happened in Richmond.” Raiya replied.
“And in Foxboro.” Jagger added.
Andy looked like he was going to be sick, “… it’ll happen in Charleston too I bet…”
“Unless something changes.” Jagger replied darkly, “Yeah probably. –Eric, I’m surprised the nomads haven’t come by.”
Eric kept his eyes on the road, careful not to hit any bodies, “They will eventually. Typically, they don’t go near attack sites for a few days just in case a dragon is nearby, but they’ll come. They’ll check for survivors and bury the dead like they usually do and salvage anything they can use.”
An uncharacteristically sad look appeared on Raiya’s face. “Unless we find a way to bring down the Dragon Lords, this will be the entire world.”
Andy didn’t respond as the jeep pulled into the city square. Everything was burnt. The dragon that attacked had done a thorough job of completely going over every inch of space. Buildings had been smashed, anything metal had been melted away. Where there were once green grass and trees, there were now only skeletons and soot. Nothing was spared.
Eric stopped the jeep at the roundabout in the middle of the square. He got out and pulled the seat forward for Raiya. She carefully stood up and stepped over the seat. Jagger jumped out the back with Andrea right next to him.
“I don’t see any evidence of a rescue mission.” Andy said glumly. “Wouldn’t the Westcon have come to look for survivors?”
Jagger shook his head, “We’re not much better off than Fort Charleston. The Westcon would have sent a scout plane out to take a look, survey and see if there were any survivors, but it’s unlikely they would have set down unless they saw evidence of life.”
“And there isn’t any…”
“Doesn’t look like it.” Jagger said. “The dragon did a pretty thorough job.”
“I still want to look.” Andy insisted.
Raiya stepped forward with a limp, “So do I…”
“All right.” Jagger replied. “Let’s split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.”
Eric nodded, “I’ll go check the large buildings over by the trucks.”
“I’ll stick around here.” Andy said. “There are plenty of good hiding places to check out and if anyone is still alive, I can set up a treatment camp.”
Jagger got back behind the wheel of the Jeep, “Right, we’ll meet back here. I’m going to go check the residences. Two hours sound good?”
Raiya climbed into the passenger’s seat, “I won’t get far with this damn gunshot in my leg. I’ll go wi
th you.”
“All right.”
Jagger waited for her to climb in and nodded to his friends, “Two hours, be safe.”
The jeep pulled away from the city square and headed for the building where he used to live. Raiya’s eyes focused on the burnt trees and smashed buildings, “Hard to believe… only a few days ago…”
She lowered her eyes and sat back, “This is my reality. This is what I saw when my grandparents were killed. Had those nomads not taken me in… I probably would have starved to death.”
“How old were you?”
“I think about ten...?”
“Must have been awful.”
“You have no idea.” Raiya replied. “I was a little girl… I was starving and went the gates of some nearby towns begging for food. I even offered to work for food… No one cared, no one helped me. The ones that told me to leave were the nicer ones. I took a fist to the face more than once.”
“I thought you said you scavenged.”
“I did, but I was still young. What did you think I was going to find?”
Jagger shrugged, “Not much, I suppose.”
A look of anger appeared on her face, “I was near death… I could barely move, my stomach hurt, and I was so skinny…”
Raiya placed a hand on her stomach. Jagger wasn’t certain if the pained look on her face was for her bullet wound or her memory. Either way, he kept quiet to let her vent, “I finally just collapsed in the dirt and soot. I didn’t have any fight left. That’s when a group of passing nomads found me. They taught me to hunt, how to fight, and above all, how to survive. I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for them.”
“Where are they now?” Jagger asked.
“I’d assume most of them are dead. Nomadic groups don’t tend to stick around one place for very long. They also don’t tend to stay together. For better or worse, they often go off on their own to hunt and because a large group of people are a tempting target for a dragon…”
Jagger frowned, “But with the growing number of juvenile dragons…”
“Exactly… lone nomads would get picked off as easily as a group would.”
Jagger turned the next corner and came to the building that he used to call home. He stopped the jeep, got out, and looked around. The building was little more than a skeleton. The brick siding was almost all that was still standing.
Jagger climbed the concrete staircase at the entrance and looked down into the pit below. The floor had collapsed onto the lower level, making entry impossible. He didn’t even recognize it anymore.
Jagger sighed, “Yeah there’s no one alive down there.”
He was about to turn and leave when the sound of moving rubbed caused him to turn back. A hand appeared from behind one of the larger pieces of debris. It waved slowly, indicating that its owner was still alive.
Jagger quickly jumped into action, “Raiya, someone’s still alive down there!”
Raiya carefully got out of the passenger side and limped over to the doorway. Her eyes widened when she joined him on the stoop, “It’s so small… gotta be child. How do we get down there?”
Jagger scratched his head with his right hand, “I… I don’t know. If only we had some rope or…”
He quickly turned and looked at the front of his jeep, “Or a winch!”
Raiya looked at him oddly, “What are you talking about?”
Jagger ran back to the jeep and pulled it close to the stairs. He let the engine idle as he got back out. Raiya’s eyes followed him as he began pulling a hook and metal line off a large black spool on the front of the jeep.
Jagger tugged until he was confident that he had enough, “I hope this old thing still works.”
He flipped the switch on the side of the spool back towards the jeep. A loud cranking sound filled his ears as the winch began to wind the chord back into place. He stopped it and pulled the switch towards him. Again, it turned but this time it unwound the chord.
Jagger smiled as he clapped his hands together, “Awesome, we’ve got life!”
Jagger immediately wrapped the cord around his waist and used the hook to lock it in place. Raiya touched the cord he’d wrapped around himself, “Are you sure this is safe? This looks like it might hurt.”
Jagger nodded, “Yeah if it gets pulled too tight, it could, but I’m only going down one floor.”
“All right. What do you need me to do?”
Jagger pointed to the winch, “Pull the level towards you. That will lower me down. Then when I’m ready to come back up, push it back towards the jeep.”
“Right…”
Jagger climbed over the side as Raiya flipped the switch. He was slowly lowered down to the rubble below, “Be right back!”
“Just be careful down there. The ground might not be that stable.”
“Will do.”
It was a slow ride as the winch wasn’t very big, but it got him to the ground floor within a few minutes. He quickly undid the cord and dropped it on the ground as he ran over to the hand. The floor was little more than a few feet of ash and rubble, making it difficult for Jagger to run, but he managed without slipping.
Whoever it was had apparently heard him coming and began to wave more franticly. Their fingers stretched out, searching, hoping that a hand was nearby that would clasp them. The short, thin fingers waved in the air, trying to reach.
Jagger grabbed the hand as he reached the pile of rubble, “Gotcha!”
He quickly knelt down and slowly began to pull large pieces of debris away from the arm. Once the smaller pieces were clear, he went to work on the remaining slab.
“Any luck?” Raiya called from behind.
“No… there is a pretty big piece of rubble down here on top of this person… looks like it was part of the ceiling.”
“Can you get it off?”
“I’m trying.”
“Be careful… if you move it the wrong way…”
“I know.” Jagger replied. “Trust me, I’m being careful.”
Jagger grunted as he pulled the gray piece of concrete towards him. It was incredibly heavy, forcing Jagger to put all of his weight into it and rely on gravity to do the rest. The only way to get it to move was by pulling it towards himself and hoping that he could get out of the way in time.
“Don’t move.” Jagger said.
No response.
“Hey, can you hear me?”
The hand waved in response.
“Are you injured?”
The hand waved more quickly.
Jagger nodded, “All right, I’m going to pull this thing off you. Don’t move!”
Jagger leaned back and carefully began to pull. The concrete was even heavier than it looked. After pulling it up high enough, he quickly got on the other side and began to push. The crumpling sound of rocks being crushed under the weight of the concrete filled his ears, “Just a little further… a little more.”
The crumpling intensified as the debris from the ceiling began to move freely. The weight was now working in Jagger’s favor as he pushed the rock out of the way.
Underneath was a young girl with dark brown hair, wearing a filthy white dress. She was only seven or eight years old at best. Her forehead had a large gash that was bleeding out and her left eye was black. It looked like it had been damaged.
She looked up at him with her one good eye. The expression on her face reminded Jagger of Raiya. It was complete stoicism. She was badly injured, but even that didn’t seem to faze her. Her face was completely emotionless.
Jagger recognized her immediately, “Oh my God! Miranda… Miranda Foster? You survived?”
The little girl looked at him lifelessly, but did not respond. Jagger smiled warmly, “Can you speak?”
Again, no response. All he got was a blank stare.
“Find someone you know?” Called Raiya.
“Miranda Foster… the little girl who unmasked you at Jerry’s.”
“Really? Is she okay?”
“No.
” Jagger replied. “She’s badly hurt… I think one of her eyes is damaged… and she won’t speak.”
“We’d better get her to Andrea.”
“All right, I’m coming.”
Jagger turned to Miranda, “Can you walk?”
The little girl looked up at him and still refused to speak. Jagger got up and was about to pick her up when she got to her feet. She shook her head with a frown.
Jagger nodded, “You don’t want to be carried. Got it.”
She followed Jagger over to the wall. He quickly wrapped the cord around his waist and reached out to Miranda, “I know you don’t want to be carried, but can I just get you up to safety?” Miranda nodded and stepped forward. Jagger picked her up by the arms, trying to be careful, “All right Raiya, pull us up!”
Raiya pushed the level back towards the jeep. Jagger felt a quick tug and was lifted up the wall. The cord quickly got tight on his chest as it pulled, but he ignored it. He only had a little bit further to go.
As soon as he was in arm’s reach, Raiya took the Miranda from him. She grabbed the girl by the waste and placed her on the ground. The two girls looked at each other silently for a moment.
Raiya frowned, “This… is so cruel…”
“Hey um… a little help, please?”
Miranda remained silent as Raiya turned to grab Jagger and help him up. She tugged gently on his arm until he was far enough up to climb.
Jagger pulled himself back onto solid ground as Raiya turned her attention back to Miranda. The massive cut on her forehead was bleeding badly. “Not good… God only knows how much blood she’s lost.”
Raiya ran to the back of the jeep and grabbed one of Andrea’s medical cloths out of the back. She bit down on the fabric and cut it with her back teeth. The cloth easily ripped as she pulled on it.
Miranda stood by watching and waiting as Raiya cut the cloth into strips. She remained motionless. Was she somehow not feeling the pain?
Jagger began to wonder if she was completely there mentally. Was it possible that she somehow didn’t even realize that she’d been hurt? He wasn’t a doctor and had never seen anything like this before. The way this little girl was behaving, was creepy at best.
Drakin: The Story of Raiya Page 17