Venom and Earth

by Turnbull, Jessica

  “It’s inhumane.”

  “Pfft! They’re animals! Useless in every way except for their blood.” The doctor strokes the tube in Drea’s neck lovingly. “You three bought me some good ones; I was running low on ice. You even brought an extra one! So kind.”

  “How would you like it if someone did that to your dragon?” I spit.

  He smiles darkly. “Idiotic child. Have you seen me with a dragon at any point?”

  “You…”

  “Yes, my ‘companion’ as you call it, was the first to go. It brought me such joy to see the life sucked out of her.”

  “How could you? She was your friend!”

  “She was a tool and she played her part. It hurt when the bond was broken, but we all make sacrifices for the greater good. I’d say these four have about one or two more sessions left in them before they have finished contributing.”

  I can’t let this happen. My life wouldn’t be the same without Aqueous.

  “I won’t let him die here,” I snarl.

  “Hm?” Dr Gard ignores me and returns to the machine.

  The mass of plugs and wires to which the machine is connected catches my eye. I shoot a stream of water at the pile, sending sparks scattering around the room. The machine turns off with a sickening hum, and all the tubes disconnect from the dragons’ necks. The leftover liquid sloshes on the floor and onto the dragons themselves.

  “What have you done?” Dr Gard screeches, hitting the machine.

  “I’m freeing them.”

  Aqueous looks up at me with shining eyes, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

  “You will pay for this!” He rushes towards a big red button on the wall, which sets off a blaring alarm.

  Knowing that the Wyrms will be here any minute, I rush over to my companion and help him to his feet. “We have to get out of here, now!”

  The doctor rushes out the door before I can stop him, slamming it shut behind him.

  “We need the key to get out of here and get the others!”

  The dragons all nod at me, their eyes dull but filled with determination. My gaze falls on the liquid on the floor. If it healed me, could it also help them?

  “Try drinking some of the liquid. Hopefully it will make you feel better. It healed me, after all.”

  Drea turns her nose up in disgust, but each dragon obeys and laps up some of the coloured liquids on the floor. Although it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect, I can tell they’ve got some energy back.

  Loud hissing from above makes us all jump. Clangs and creaks mean that the Wyrms are in the vents, searching for a way down to us.

  “Shit!”

  A long grey tail pierces a hole in the vent, wriggling around wildly to make it big enough to crawl through. The dragons each get into an attack stance, ready for when the Wyrms drop. One Wyrm pokes its head through the gap, its mouth open in a large hiss. Bluey screams in fury and shoots upwards, grabbing onto the Wyrm’s jaw and snapping it. The limp grey body falls to the floor, dead before the fight could start properly.

  Several tails pierce through the vent and create holes, leading to many Wyrms dropping into the room. One aims for Drea, but she whacks it away with her clubbed tail. The Wyrm crashes into a table, knocking over glass containers before getting up to hiss.

  “You stupid child!” it screeches. “Dragons are useless; we will be the ruling species!”

  “Whatever you say.” Panic starts to rise up in my throat as a watery shark crashes into the Wyrm, surrounding it in a bubble of water. The Wyrm screams in the water, desperately trying to find a way out before it drowns, but the shark engulfs it until it falls still.

  More Wyrms drop, trying desperately to attack a dragon before they can be defeated. Damayanti and Drea work together to tear one Wyrm to shreds, while Bluey attacks the ones that try to reach the floor. My companion stays close to me, fighting off any Wyrms that get too close.

  Fewer and fewer Wyrms drop into the room as the bodies pile up, instead retreating back into the vents before they too can be slaughtered. A Wyrm sneaks up behind Aqueous and tries to twine itself around him, only to get torn away by Damayanti. She shakes the Wyrm back and forth like a dog playing with a toy before it falls limp.

  After a few more minutes of fighting, the rest of the Wyrms are defeated, with the dragons having minimal injuries. The dragons crowd around me, waiting for their next instructions. I scan the room carefully, but the only way is through the metal door that needs a key or…

  “The vents! I can go through the vents and find the key!”

  Aqueous immediately shakes his head, growling at the vent as if another Wyrm will come crawling out of it at any second.

  “What other choice do we have?”

  The black dragon flattens his ears and brushes his cheek against mine, whining softly. Drea snaps at him, making him lash his tail.

  “Come on, I have to. I can take care of myself, you know.”

  Aqueous casts another look at the vents before sighing and nodding reluctantly. He presses his forehead against mine for a few moments before stepping back. I clamber on his back to get a bit more height. I grunt with pain as I grab one of the jagged holes the Wyrms created and Aqueous rises onto his hind legs to give me a boost until I’m fully in. The vent is cold and dimly lit, but I can make out where I’m going. There’s not much space, so I’ll have to shuffle along. Grunts of encouragement from below make me start moving. Although I don’t know my way around, if I can find a way that leads to a corridor or something then I can drop down there and search on foot. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m on edge or because of the vent, but the air is thin.

  Don’t panic; panicking makes it worse.

  A fork in the vent appears in front of me. I choose to go left. Clambering ahead of me makes me freeze in fear. A low hiss radiates through the tiny space, forcing me to shuffle slowly back. I hold my breath as the clambering gets closer, and tears stream down my face at the prospect of coming face to face with a Wyrm. The clambering suddenly picks up pace, and before I can move, two beady red eyes are staring at me. Swallowing back a yelp, I crawl quickly through the right side of the fork, desperately trying to shuffle faster. The Wyrm slithers after me, growling at the prospect of a hunt. Knowing that I’m being followed makes my crawling more urgent and panicked. Light shines in front of me through a vent cover. Deciding that anywhere is better than here, I go towards it, banging my fists and elbows against the metal floor of the vent. The Wyrm grabs my foot carefully between its teeth, making me scream in fear.

  Kicking blindly doesn’t seem to do much, so instead I keep moving forward. My shoe slips agonisingly slowly off my foot, giving me a few seconds’ head start to move towards the vent cover. It’s not screwed or bolted down, so I’m able to throw myself through just as the Wyrm starts snapping at my ankles. The grey body of the Wyrm flies over my head as it launches itself out of the vent, landing in a messy heap in front of me.

  “You can’t run, child!” it cackles, towering over me with its tongue flicking back and forth in anticipation.

  Panic rises up inside of me once more as the shark shoots from my outstretched hand. The Wyrm smacks it with its tail, but the shark reforms as quickly as it disintegrated. The shark circles the Wyrm, nipping at its tail and face. The Wyrm screeches in fury and goes to bite it, but goes through the shark’s watery body. The shark wraps itself around the Wyrm’s head, trapping it in a vortex of water. The Wyrm writhes around helplessly, its red eyes bulging at the lack of air. Finally, it falls to the floor and the shark disintegrates around it.

  For a few minutes I’m unable to do anything but lie on the floor, gasping and sobbing. The shark is helpful, but it takes such a toll on me. Once I’ve recovered enough to control my breathing, I take in my surroundings. All around me are tables filled with various dragon horns and scales in grey vials. At the end of the room is a small computer with a disc poking out of it. Rising to my feet, I hobble towards it and push the disc in.
Black and white camera footage of the room that my companion is in pops up, but the date is from four years ago. Several scientists are hooking a dragon up to the machine that I destroyed earlier, but this dragon is slumped on the floor with its eyes closed.

  This must be its final session.

  “Power up the machine.” The audio makes me jump.

  A female scientist turns the machine on and it powers up, liquid flowing towards the machine. The dragon slowly opens its eyes and paws helplessly at one of the scientists, who shushes it.

  “You will be doing so much good,” the scientist says.

  The amount of liquid flowing from the tube gets thinner and thinner until it stops completely. The dragon lays still, its eyes closed as if it were sleeping.

  Monsters.

  “That’s all we can get out of him,” one scientist says while unhooking the tube from the dragon’s neck.

  “Take a scale and leave it to the Wyrms,” another orders.

  The scientist chips off a scale and then steps back as small slimy bodies enter the room. They look nothing like the Wyrms that I just fought; they’re smaller and they don’t have their needle-thin teeth.

  “Clear him up,” one of the scientists says.

  The Wyrms pounce on the dead body and start tearing it apart. I quickly turn the computer screen off. Bile starts to rise in my throat at the thought of that being Aqueous. This time I’m unable to stop the stream of vomit.

  Once I’ve emptied my stomach the alarm turns off. I’d become so used to the sound that I forgot it was there. Curious, I head towards the door before forgetting that I need a key.

  Shit.

  The thought of going back in the vent fills me with fear, so I decide to look around and see if I can find anything else that might be useful. The drawers and cupboards seem to only contain paperwork, but something glinting in the light catches my eye.

  A keychain.

  Excited at my luck, I snatch it from the cupboard and rush towards the door, unlocking it with a swift click. The hallway is eerily empty. I don’t recognise it, but it can’t be far from where the dragons are. Using the vents above as my guide, I follow the direction I think I came in to a door that looks familiar. Upon opening it, my companion flies out and barrels into me, licking my face.

  “It’s okay! I’m fine!”

  The black dragon nuzzles me lovingly before stepping off so I can stand up. The other dragons exit the room a bit more carefully, looking out for any Wyrms.

  “Come on, we have to get Braith and Marco.”

  The four dragons nod in agreement and lead the way towards the room where we were kept for so long. As soon as I open the door Marco and Braith shoot to their feet, shocked to see me.

  “Haze? What’s going on?” Braith asks timidly.

  “We’re leaving. We need to find our way to the lab that Draca was talking about.”

  The two of them step out into the corridor.

  “So where do we need to go?” Marco eyes up a few doors.

  “I dunno. Guess we just go through some until we find a way.”

  “I knew something was up when the alarm went off,” Braith grins, light creeping into her eyes once more. “What did ya do?”

  “I’ll explain later. The Wyrms aren’t happy I did it, I can tell you that much.”

  Marco makes me jump when he wraps his arm around my waist, the first bit of physical contact we’ve had in a week. Being trapped in a tiny room together really took its toll on us. Quickly I move out of his grip to walk beside Braith, ignoring the look of hurt on his face.

  “So, what’s it like around here, Hazy?” she asks, prodding me lightly on the shoulder.

  “Infested with Wyrms,” I mutter seriously. “Keep an eye out.”

  “Don’t worry ya pretty little ass off, I’m lookin’. I just meant whether you found any of their research or not.”

  “I did.” I cringe thinking about that dragon having the life sucked out of him. “I’ll tell you everything once we get out of here. I don’t want to stick around long.”

  “I don’t think any of us want to stick around long,” Marco says behind me.

  * * *

  The next thing I know I’m no longer in the laboratory. Freezing wind buffets my face as it howls around the mountain, sending flurries of snow flying in all directions.

  “No, this isn’t a good time!” Braith shouts over the wind.

  Begrudgingly, I follow my friend up to the familiar cave, with Draca’s orange scales slowly coming into focus. The large dragon prepares a small fire for us at our feet, making my hands and feet tingle at the drastic change of temperature.

  “I’m sorry,” Draca sighs, bowing his head. “I know this is not a good time.”

  “Draca, we could get attacked at any minute!” Braith stomps her feet. “We could get captured again!”

  “I will make this quick,” the dragon promises. “I wanted to congratulate you on making it to the laboratory.”

  “That’s the lab?” I scoff. “It doesn’t look as if it housed hundreds of people.”

  His amber eyes narrow. “Well, it did. Now that you have seen it and discovered some parts about their research you can leave.”

  “Where will we go?”

  “Up to you,” Draca shrugs nonchalantly.

  The lab definitely isn’t big enough for hundreds of people to work and live in. Surely there must be something more? Maybe we’re missing something.

  “Why are you doing this now?” Braith whines. “This is dangerous. It’s almost as if you want us to get caught again!”

  “Don’t be foolish!” the dragon booms, a flash of red lighting up his mouth for a second before disappearing.

  Braith and I slowly back away, each sharing a new fear of this dragon. He may be tamed, unlike the old Draca, but we can’t predict what he might do.

  “Look, can you send us back now?” I ask timidly.

  He looks between us for a few seconds. “Be careful while you are there. When the opportunity arises, leave immediately.”

  “Why? Is it more dangerous than we think?” Braith pipes up, but Draca ignores her.

  “But we need supplies-” I begin, only to stop when Draca turns his harsh gaze towards me and nudges my chest with his snout.

  “You will leave immediately. You can find supplies elsewhere.”

  “But where?” Braith jumps as the dragon swings his head towards her.

  His mouth opens in a hiss before the world goes black.

  * * *

  “Get up! Get up!”

  I’m pulled away from the mountain by my body being vigorously shaken. My eyelids flutter open to land on Marco, who looks distressed.

  “What’s going on?”

  “There are Wyrms everywhere!”

  I jump to my feet with a start, but I don’t need to look far before my gaze lands on the Wyrms surrounding us. There must be about a dozen flanking us from in front and behind and also hanging from the ceiling.

  “You were supposed to protect us!” Braith snaps.

  “We did! There are too many of them!”

  “Why don’t you be quiet, children?”

  My mouth shuts instantly, and my throat closes up, preventing me from speaking. Dr Gard pushes through the Wyrms to face us, his face contorted with anger.

  “You stupid child!” he screams, pointing at me with a bony finger. “You have ruined my machine!”

  “It was killing dragons!” I scream back.

  Marco and Braith look between each other with their mouths slightly agape, but can’t say anything. Dr Gard goes silent at my outburst, a hint of fear creeping into his eyes.

  “You spoke?”

  “Yes, you’ve heard me speak before! Why are you-” Then realisation hits me. I defied the Wyrms.

  “Why don’t you be quiet?” one Wyrm hisses, more urgently this time.

  “No.” The word slips out of my mouth easily. The Wyrms are not affecting me.

  The Wyrms swing their
heads towards Dr Gard, who has gone white. The Wyrm nearest to him glares at him head on, its mouth opening and closing.

  “Care to explain, doctor?”

  “I don’t know! Only those who have been exposed to the scale can defy your words.”

  “This child has been nowhere near the scale! You have fed us lies. Our deception is failing!”

  “No, I can find a cure…”

  “Lies!” The Wyrm twines around Dr Gard’s body, ignoring his whimpers.

  Dr Gard falls to his knees on the floor, clasping his hands together to beg. “Please! I can fix this, please, just not me! Not me!”

  “You have lost your use.”

  “I haven’t, I swear! I need more time!”

  “We have had enough of your empty promises.” Another Wyrm slithers up behind him, wrapping itself around his legs.

  “No, please!”

  “Goodbye, doctor. I hope you do not see the faces of all those that you have wronged in the afterlife.”

  “Left corridor! Straight on! Third door on the right!” the doctor shouts, waving his arms at the three of us like a mad man. He’s giving us directions. Before he can say anything more, the Wyrm wrapped around his torso unhinges its mouth and swallows his head, muting his screams. The Wyrm below begins to swallow a leg, while another moves up behind to take the other dangling limb.

  “Quick, while they’re distracted!” Marco hisses in my ear.

  The dragons fall back to let us take the lead as we charge through the Wyrms down the left corridor. The Wyrms get squashed against the wall by each other as we pass, all of them trying to attack at once.

  “Get them!” a Wyrm behind us screeches in fury.

  The door to the left corridor was left open, so we can rush through without fiddling with the key. Slithering and banging behind us indicates the Wyrms are following. I count two doors as we run, halting by the left one.

  “Hurry, Hazy!”

  My hands shake so much that it’s hard to fit the key in the lock, but once it flies open we all barrel in. Our companions are busy holding the Wyrms back, desperately trying to prevent them from getting in.

  “Come on!” Marco shouts, pulling on Damayanti’s tail.

  The black and white dragon backs through the door, not dropping her attack stance. Aqueous and Bluey follow, leaving Drea to hold off the Wyrms as she squeezes through.