Fate Of The Dragon

by Richard Lovegood

  “Thank you very much, sir.”

  “No problem at all. I’ll pray for your safety, but I must be on my way. I don’t want to be involved in whatever you have going on.” He says.

  “I completely understand. Had the situations been reversed, I wouldn’t want the same either. Thank you for your prayers.” I watch him leave with his grandson, at a slightly brisker pace than when he initially started. For safety’s sake, I’m going to get back in the dumpster and wait. Chuck should be here in about an hour or so. I wonder if I should take a nap while I’m in here?

  25

  Dream Sequence 001

  "Good, he’s out. Initiate the dream inducer." the captain says.

  "Ma'am, what dream will he have and isn't this his first one? Is this fair?" asks a concerned crew member.

  The captain lets out a heavy sigh. "No, it isn’t fair, and yes, this is his first one, but we are under strict orders from His Majesty to do so. As to what kind of dream it will be, we have no idea. That will all be dictated by our King. He told us to start up the sequence, and He will provide the necessary material for Aiden to view while he sleeps. We’ll have to keep a close watch on his vital readings up here. No one is to go to sleep until Aiden is born. Am I understood?”

  The crew responds with a thunderous, “Ma’am, yes ma’am!”

  During her training to become captain, she had always wanted to try out the dream inducer. The simulators had great ones to learn with. Some featured gigantic food, or oddly colored animals. Some even had vehicles with wings. However, the nightmare section was completely off-limits during training. With this being Aiden’s first dream ever, she was under strict orders to initiate a nightmare that is to bring him to the brink of death. The schematics were not to be revealed to anybody else due to its incredibly strict classification. They were for her eyes only. She has to watch as Aiden suffers, and it’s going to take everything for her not to interfere.

  The captain chokes back some more tears as the dream sequence feed begins. She has no idea what’s to come.

  26

  Where One Tail Ends, Another Begins

  Tap tap. Knock knock. Tap tap tap. “Elverson. Elverson!” There’s a metallic sound to the knocking that forces my eyes open a bit. Through the slits, I can see Chuck peering down at me. He made it! “Oh, thank goodness. You’re alive! I couldn’t tell if you were dead or asleep.”

  “Nope, not dead. Just resting my eyes, a bit.” I say with a sheepish grin.

  “Come on. Let’s get you out of here, and in the car.” Chuck reaches in and grabs me by the hand, pulling me gently out of the dumpster. “Dude, even though it’s only been a short time, I have to tell you what’s happening back home.”

  “I can’t wait. When you’re done, I’ll fill you in on what I found out up here.” Looking at my haggard appearance, and smell, I ask, “Do you think I should get a shower first before I get into your car?”

  “No, man. I don’t care. Besides, that’s what the windows are for!” he says with a laugh.

  Chuck had pulled directly into the alley to make it easier for the both of us to get in and get away as fast as possible. He backs out and pulls onto 35th avenue. Coming to the traffic light at the corner of 35th and Main, we have to wait because of the “No Turn On Red” sign. Nonchalantly looking around, my gaze shifts to my left. The two goons are coming this way down the sidewalk!

  “Chuck, we need to move now!”

  “Why?”

  I point past his nose and out the window. “Those two goons are trying to kill me. They’re the same ones that dragged me out of the church and left me in the desert, and the same ones who found me here.”

  “I don’t think they see us yet, let’s hope this red arrow turns green soon.” Chuck says. He starts tapping on the steering while staring up at the light. “Come on, light! Hurry up! Hurry up!”

  My attention doesn’t leave the beefy idiots that are still heading in our direction. Based on the head swivel from both, they don’t see us. Still a good distance away, they may not be searching for cars. They may not be searching at all. A quick inventory check confirms that all of Chuck’s windows are down. That’s good.

  Chuck inhales deeply to let out a sigh but chokes a little. “Thank God for windows. You do stink. As soon as the light goes green, we’re getting out of here and those windows are going down shortly after. I think I can bear the smell a little while longer.”

  I’m still watching. They are getting closer. My heart is pounding now, and I sink a little in the passenger seat trying to make myself as small as possible. Perhaps a bit too far, the view out of the window is not an option any more. Well, dang. That’s ok. If they don’t spot me, then all the better.

  “There’s the green light!” Chuck says and drives away.

  After a few blocks, Chuck rolls down every single window; including the sunroof hatch above. “You can sit up now…please.” He says with a cough. “The coast is clear, and nobody is following us.”

  “Fantastic. Thank you so much!” I say, breathing out a sigh of relief. For the duration of the car ride back to Los Pobres, Chuck fills me in on what’s been going on back home. Even though it’s only been less than a day, a lot has happened. There was a huge outpouring of people that came from the Dragon’s Garden. Some with chairs and table legs as weapons; half of which were on fire. A mob was formed, and led by some of the wait staff. It was all over the news, and of course, Sally was there to cover the whole thing. I shared everything that happened with me as soon as Chuck was done. I talked about the restaurant, the food, and the wonderful music. Dessert is not something on the menu and is definitely not something that needs to be ordered. All of the wait staff are prostitutes, and will kill you for form of payment if cash isn’t present. The whole place is funded by Jeffers, and they all report back to him directly.

  Chuck’s phone rings.

  “Hey there hotness!” That must be Brie. “Yep, I have him now and we’re heading back. What’s up?” Slight pause. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Another pause. “Wow. Ok, yeah that sounds crazy.” He takes in a breath ready to start his next sentence, but waits. Then he says, “They’re chanting what?! I’ve got to check this out for myself. You won’t believe what Elverson told me. Yeah, I’ll tell you all the details when I get home. Love you bunches!” He hangs up, and puts the phone away.

  “What was that all about?” I ask.

  “Dude, our little town is going absolutely bonkers. More and more people are flocking to the Dragon’s Garden demanding more food, and more fortune cookies. What’s got me baffled though, is that the people are chanting ‘Jeffers is our savior!’ and ‘Long live Jeffers the king’. That doesn’t make any sense at all to me.”

  “I’m afraid of what I may find there myself.” I say. “Let’s go to the restaurant and see what we can find out.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. When did you want to confront Jeffers?”

  “Soon. I think I have enough, but I just want to make sure of a few things.” I say.

  The rest of the ride goes by in silence, and the one-hour trip becomes a symphony of breathing, wind, and tires across the asphalt.

  When we pull into our home town, there is a very noticeable plume of thick gray smoke coming from the center. Chuck follows the trail, and it leads us right to the restaurant; or at least where it used to be. The whole place is a huge pile of burning debris.

  The dragon statue itself is melting atop all of the rubble. There are loads of people standing around watching it burn; even the fire department! It seems that they drenched the border of the property with water, to ensure that the fire wouldn’t spread. Now, they stand there along with everyone else with their arms crossed. As large as the crowd is, I don’t see any of the wait staff! I blink my eyes just to make sure, and I can’t see a single one. No hosts. No servers. No cooks. Nothing. Chuck puts his car in park and gets out. Not wanting to sit here, I want to satisfy my curiosity as well and I get out.

  We
both walk up to join the immense crowd that has gathered. One would think that with as many meals as this place served on an hourly basis, you would smell burning food. This is not the case. It smells rather like burning wood, and plastic. There is a hot, sweet, smell that I can’t place, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what it is. Chuck taps one of the bystanders on the shoulder to get his attention.

  “Not to sound dense or anything, but what happened here? I mean, I know that the building is on fire, but how did it catch fire?” Chuck asks.

  The man, without turning to look at Chuck, says, “The priest said this would happen. He said that its time was coming.”

  “Which priest?” Chuck asks.

  “Father Jeffers.” The man says. My heart skips a beat. “He said that this place was being run by the devil himself, and that he hoped it would burn to the ground one day. He was right.” Other people close by grunt in agreement. Others spoke up to voice their opinions.

  “I heard that after eating here one time, Father Jeffers got food poisoning and came back the next day to protest.”, says one man.

  “I heard that he ate a fortune cookie and ran for his life, because of what his fortune said.”, says another man.

  “He’s such a nice man.”, says a woman nearby.

  “He is a gift from Heaven!”, says an older woman.

  “I heard he bought this place, bought a ridiculous insurance policy for it, and hired someone to burn it down in order to increase his congregation size.” This last comment was the clearest and most pronounced. The man that spoke this was standing right next to me. He spoke with certainty, and an icy edge in his voice. He continued on, “Now, he’s probably sitting happy and rich in his stupid office. That’ll make short work for me.” With that, he ran in the direction of the church.

  “Wait, what?” I ask. I walk up to Chuck and get his attention. “We have to go to the church right away!”

  “I know, I know. I want to find out more about what happened here.” Chuck says.

  “No, you don’t understand. There’s a man on his way to see Jeffers right now. I think he’s going to try to kill him! I can’t let that happen!” I say.

  “Ok. Let’s go.” Chuck turns and heads to his car, and I quickly follow. We both get in, and Chuck takes off. I look for the mysterious man from the fire, but I don’t see him anywhere. Did he disappear? He should be pretty easy to pick out. He’s wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a long duster. He reminds me of a modern-day cowboy without the boots.

  We get to the church parking lot, and I see Jeffers’ car along with two other vehicles. There’s a two-door car that’s in some serious need of repairs. It’s covered in bumper stickers all over the back window, and the rest of the car is a rusty brown color. It probably belongs to those two thugs that dropped me out in the desert. Then again, as I read some of the stickers, I don’t think this car belongs to them. Some say things like ‘Feed the Homeless’ and ‘World Peace’ and then a random one that says ‘Beware of my pet dragon. For you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.’ The second one is a motorcycle. It’s one of those that you have to lean forward on. Death traps I say. Who could be driving that thing?

  We get out of the car, and enter the church through an open side door that leads to the office hallway. Closing the door behind us, we turn to see a man standing just outside the door that leads to Jeffers’ office. It’s the same guy I saw back at the fire! He looks at us, and holds up a finger to his lips to signal silence. He points to the office, points to himself, and then gently raises a pistol with a click. He slowly reaches out his hand and pauses just over the doorknob. It sounds like there’s an argument going on inside the office. I walk closer to the office, and I stop about five feet from the door. One voice is a male; that is clearly Jeffers. The second is a female. She sounds panicked, and sobbing vigorously. Being this close I can hear them talking.

  “Please,” says the woman. “Please let me go. I’ve done nothing to deserve this! Help!”

  “Ah, but you don’t understand my dear. This is the will of God for your life. You will serve a great purpose for me. Think of it as being a mother to the future women in my program. The mother you always wanted to be, but never will be!” Jeffers says.

  “You monster! I want no part in your pathetic trafficking program! I refuse to…” she is cut off.

  “Should you refuse, then I will see to it that your husband is executed in jail for murder.” He says.

  “You wouldn’t! Steve hasn’t murdered anyone! He doesn’t belong in jail to begin with!” she says. My face is horror stricken. The realization of who’s in his office hits me like a freight train! It’s Steve’s wife, Rebecca!

  “You know very well what I am capable of, my dear. I was the one that planted the fortune paper at the scene for your husband to find. Then, he assaults that poor little reporter and gets arrested. That was priceless…you can’t script these things! All it would take now is for one of my men to see to it that Ms. Stormfield has a tragic accident, and then have the blame fall on your husband. I have contacts in the police that would see to immediate incarceration.” A shuffling sound is heard, followed by various objects crashing to the floor, as if items were being knocked off his desk.

  “No! Let go of me! You can’t make me!” The sound of a solid thud echoes in the hall. “Ah! Get me off of this table!” There is the sound of ripping clothes. “No! Dear God, NO!” Rebecca yells.

  “Shut up, woman!” Jeffers yells back.

  A cell phone rings, and everything goes silent.

  The man, and I turn swiftly to look at Chuck who is now beet red from embarrassment. He darts outside to answer his phone. I know what that look could mean. Inside the office, however, the door handle jiggles slowly. The mystery man flattens himself against the wall, and I do likewise. The door slowly opens, but nobody comes through the door. Rebecca yells again, and then an unmistakable smack is heard. Jeffers quite possibly hit her across the face to silence her. With incredibly poor timing, Chuck comes back into the hallway.

  “Hey, Elverson!” Chuck says. “That was Brie. She’s going into labor, but something is wrong. I have to go! Are you coming with me or are you staying…”?

  Jeffers bursts through his office door, and immediately turns to face me. Chuck runs away and shuts the door behind him. Jeffers didn’t see the man on the other side of the door. I don’t hear Rebecca, but I think I hear her breathing. Jeffers eyes me suspiciously, and I can see he is practically tracing me with his glare.

  “Can it really be you, Elverson?” Jeffers asks me. “You are nowhere near as fat as you used to be; quite the opposite actually. I could have sworn I sent you out to die.”

  “Yes, Jeffers, it is I. And yes, you did send me out to the desert to die. Yet, here I am.” I say with a strange sense of confidence. I feel this rushing, warm sensation building up within me.

  “Your face looks like the fat loser I used to know, but what happened to your despicable stutter f-f-fat boy?” Jeffers asks me in a mocking tone.

  “Have courage, my son. You are almost done. You are doing such a great job! I’m very proud of you.” The Lord says to me.

  I smile.

  “What are you smiling about, weirdo? Don’t you know that I can get anything I want? Don’t you know who I am?” Jeffers threatens. “And what happened to your stutter? Weren’t you born with that pathetic impediment?”

  “Actually, I do and I was. I’m also not threatened by you, and you don’t intimidate me anymore. I know that you came here with a greedy spirit, wanting to glorify yourself and make yourself rich.” I say. “And as far as my stutter, the Lord has given me a new sense of speech. Now, I ask that you please turn from your ways of evil. It’s not too late, Jeffers. Jesus loves you very much, and died on the cross so that you could be forgiven of your sins; as long as you believe and accept His gift. If you reject it, your punishment will be the second death known as the burning lake of fire.”

  Jeffers turns red wit
h anger. “The only person to catch fire will be you! Just like I set fire to that restaurant down the street! Once those people hear that I “prophesied” about it burning down, they will flock to this church and fill my collection plates. Ultimately, I’ll have enough to buy this whole town. Once that’s done, I’ll move on to the next town. And some pathetic, washed up, desert trash hobo isn’t going to stop me!”

  The pistol clicks. “No, but I am. You’re just another poison pastor like the rest of them”, the man says and pulls the trigger. Jeffers spins at the sound of this man’s voice, but is unable to make a complete turn before the gun goes off. The bullet slices right through the midsection of Jeffers, tearing through his clothes and his gut. In an instant, like something out of a video tutorial for surgery, Jeffers’ intestines spill out onto the floor. Jeffers tries to grab hold of everything and push it back in. He falls to his knees, and lands on his side shaking. Seconds that seem like hours go by, and Jeffers’ body stops and becomes very still. Motionless. Breathless. Lifeless. Jeffers is no more.

  “I am so sorry.” The man says pointing at me.

  I look down and see a spot of red growing on the floor. There is a new hole in my outfit, and there is a strange terrible pain growing in my midsection that I’ve never felt before. I clasp my hands over this spot, because that’s what they do in TV and the movies. It doesn’t take the pain away though; this is more painful than gallstones and kidney stones combined!

  “Go to the house of Charles and Brie. They are about to have a son named Aiden. His name means ‘Little Fire’. You are to anoint him in My Name.” the Lord says to me.

  “What can I do for you?” the man asks me.

  I have trouble getting the words out, “I need to go to Chuck’s house.”

  “You mean that guy that left you here?”

  I simply nod my head, and notice Rebecca coming back into consciousness. “She’ll be fine. I will come back for her. Trust me.”