by Alex Just
~ Island – pacific ~
From his perch, Martin could see a panther fighting, he swung the rifle round, his finger tightening on the trigger. Martin contemplated shooting Tom there and then, payback for Tom’s betrayal and the death of his parents. The panther was shot before he could do anything, and he was glad he hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger, before his eyes the panther changed back into a human form that was not Tom, but Rose. So his whole family was in on it. The events unfolded rapidly in front of him. He witnessed the whole scenario and had the power to prevent Tom from being pulled into the air by the dragon that had turned out to be a man with white blonde hair. He watched it all, payback, he’d let Tom be kidnapped, that way he wouldn’t have to kill him himself.
Once the chopper disappeared out of his field of vision, Martin sprinted over to the fallen figure of Rose, Tom’s mother. She’d done nothing wrong, and he didn’t want to leave her lying there, she looked like she might still be alive. He reached her safely. Crouching down at her side he inspected the wound and saw it was closed up already, but it looked nasty, the area where the bullet had entered was swollen and red. Grabbing her under the arms he hauled her up and dragged her roughly across the concrete into a small cluster of bushes, that had by some miracle avoided being burnt up or blown to bits.
‘Wait.’ A whisper knocking at death’s door prevented him from leaving her there.
‘He’s a were-dragon. One of the last alive. They’re the most deadly creatures,’ each breath was a huge effort. ‘You have to find Tom; you can’t let his father take him to his boss. They’ll force him to become someone he’s not. So much is at stake now; Tom is the key to all of this.’ Martin tried to shake off her hand she was making no sense.
‘Please, the prophecies...’ Her plea ended as her eyelids fluttered shut.
Martin made sure she still had a pulse then returned to the fight which was nearly over. There were not many soldiers left. They were all hunkered down behind a barrier, leaning out from behind to fire the odd bullets, but without any fight. They knew it was over and were putting up a last brave front. Seeing where two of them were, Martin got rid of his last grenade, lobbing it up high, so that it fell squarely between the two hiding places. It was still for a moment before it erupted, blowing both the men high into the air. He watched their bodies fall lifelessly onto the ground and continued to search for more of the guards.
He was stopped short as the earth trembled and shook. More dust and rubble crumbled down from half destroyed buildings, and all heads turned as one to the skies to watch orange streaks of fire speeding up into the dark and then separate. The rumbling stopped and all was silent. From behind their hiding places emerged the few remaining soldiers, their hands raised in surrender. Martin didn’t care about surrender; they killed his parents in front of him. He raised his rifle and killed them all. Not sparing a single man. Even when they were all dead, he continued firing blindly till he heard the click of his gun as the last bullet was spent. The clang as the casing fell to the ground was loud in the silence that remained. From different sheltered hiding places the rest of the prisoners emerged slowly, converging in the middle of the area by the destroyed tower, around Martin. Some were carrying injured friends and others were shaking badly. They were a mess. Just then, Martin could make out the sound of a car engine approaching. Immediately he reloaded his weapon, eager to end more lives. He raised the scope to his eye and watched as a battered jeep roared into sight. Seeing all the people it stopped sharply.
Speaking loudly and clearly Martin told them to get out of the car, hands raised. He would execute them in front of everyone just as his parents had been killed. It was shock that he received instead when he saw, Stan, Julia and Adrianna stepping out of the car looking hurt and dejected. The lack of hope in their eyes was a wakeup call for Martin. There was no reason to feel satisfied at the kills he’d made. It was a tragic waste of human life. He stood up slowly and listened to what they had to say.
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