The Dragon Under my Bed

Expedition

"Day 2: The tunnels have grown very cold, probably due to the pouring rain outside. It has been raining almost all day. We cannot make a fire, because Zagem said it would attract attention. plus, there's no dry wood. But today the worst thing has happened. We ran out of water. We thought we had brought more, but we were wrong. We don't know what to do, and dehydration is our new enemy. We must find water to prevent- Owie!" I stopped narrating at the impact of Zagem's tail against my shin. "What was that for?!"

"You're getting on my nerves," Zagem said, irritated. "You should be lucky that we haven't run out of food yet."

I noticed that Zagem has seemed rather irritated since we've come into the tunnels. I doubt that it's from isolation because the tunnel is pretty big. I figured it must be from the stress of the coming threat. Speaking of food, Zagem has been eating a little more every day, so I bet we'll run out of food eventually.

Zagem wandered around the tunnel nervously, occasionally scratching at the rocky floor with his claws. "I apologize for my behavior lately, Garret." He said. "I still have fear at the back of my mind, gnawing away at me like a parasite. He growled softly.

"Don't worry about It, Zagem," I said reassuringly. "I'm worried too."

Zagem walked back over to me, his tail waving slightly. "And I'm worried about you too, small one. You are small, weak, and rather annoying at times." He began walking to the other side of the cave.

"Thanks, buddy," I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious, Garret. Well, I meant to say it a little nicer, but still." Zagem stopped walked and laid down sadly. "This person is hurting me like an arrow to my heart."

I sat down next to Zagem. "I know. But we need to stay strong, my friend."

Zagem nodded.

"We need to do ask you said: 'think about something else. But we can't be unprepared.' We might as well shift gears until he does come if it's going to keep effect us mentally."

Zagem looked up at me. "Yes. We cannot let him get to our head. He is a human, a bloody human for god's sake! I am the king of the sky, I refuse to be afraid of a cowardly human, No offense."

"None taken, as long as you're feeling better," I said.

"Now, We must figure out what we're going to do about our water supply. We must head outside and take advantage of the rain while it's still here."

"What are you saying?" I said standing up.

"We must prepare ourselves for an expedition Garret..."

The rain was still falling as we moved the rocks and exited the tunnel. Being outside felt good after being inside for almost 2 days.

"time to put all these bottles to good use," Zagem said. "Line them up here and let them fill." Zagem and I put the water bottles in an open area, letting the rain fill them up steadily. "Great. Now we must wait for them to fill. Go and explore if you wish, take advantage of our time outside."

I began walking around the golf course, It was deserted due to the pouring rain. It felt nice to go for a run around the empty golf course. Although it was rather muddy. I stopped running to pick up a nearby stick and headed towards one of the wet sand hazards. I began drawing various shapes and designs in the sand when a little piece of something caught my eye. I began to dig it out with my stick and stared at the object in confusion. The object looked like a bear trap, but larger, and with larger spikes on it. Almost as if it was used to capture something larger than a bear. Almost as if it was used to capture a dragon. I dashed back to the tunnel to find Zagem, He should know about this as soon as possible.

"Zagem!" I called, holding the dragon-trap from the bottom to avoid losing a hand. "I found this, I think it's a trap for- what the heck are those?"

"It's our dinner!" Zagem said proudly. He held up 2 small rabbits in his bloody jaws. "What do you have there?"

"That's what I came to show you. I think it's a dragon trap."

Zagem leaned closed to sniff the trap and growled. "Indeed. Placed by that maggot-eating blood-lusting murderer."

He carefully took it from me with his mouth and breathed a jet of fire at it, causing me to recoil in fear. He didn't stop until the metal was nothing but liquid.

"I bet there are more traps around here. He's here, and still looking for us as we speak." Zagem growled. "Take me to where you found it."

I lead him to the sand hazard, and he began to examine the area. Until we stopped at the edge of the pit. "I picked up an old scent, follow me."

"You have the nose like a dog," I said, following him.

He leads us to a single tree, where we found a few human tracks under it, which looked fresh.

"He was just here," I observed. "Probably. It probably wasn't him."

"It was, look." He held up a small object in his jaw.

"What is it?"

"A dragon scale. He collects them." Zagem explained. "And it couldn't have been another dragon, these are humanoid tracks."

"I bet he was leaving when he left these tracks. It's getting late anyway." I said.

"It's a possibility," Zagem said. "We can't take that chance though. We must head back to the tunnel"

On the way back, we managed to find some dry wood, which was enough to make a small fire to dry my clothes and cook Zagem's rabbits.

"Can't dragons eat meat raw?" I asked, taking a sip from a rain-filled water bottle.

"They can, but humans can't," Zagem said. "Ever had rabbit before?"

"No, why?" I asked.

Zagem smiled. "We're going to have rabbit tonight. Since we have to rationalize."

"Hmm. I've never eaten an animal that was killed and cooked by a dragon," I said curiously.

"Then this should be an interesting experience for you, then," Zagem said. "Catch."

Zagem tossed the cooked flesh to me, and I caught it, juggling it between my two hands due to the heat. I squeezed the meat curiously.

"Zagem, I can't eat this with the eternal organs inside of it. I'll get sick." I said.

"Oh right, you're a human. Let me see that." I handed Zagem the animal, and he looked at me once more. "You sure you don't want the organs? They're the best part."

"I'm fine, thanks," I reassured him. In one swift motion, he slices the rabbit open and began picking out the organs and skeleton and consuming them messily. A rather disgusting thing to watch.

"Here, Should be good now," Zagem said, offering the rabbit back to me. Hesitantly, I took a small bite of the cooked flesh, trying not to think about the fact that it was just killed 3 hours ago (Or the fact that it had been gutting by a dragon.) I had to take a bigger bite to get past the singed fur, but it didn't taste that bad, almost like a burger patty.

"Well?" Zagem said.

"It's better than I imagined," I said, continuing to eat.

Zagem smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Just don't eat the head, I didn't remove the skull or the eyes."

I and Zagem continued to feast on rabbit and saltine crackers until we ran out of both. We fell asleep with the drizzle outside, and our full bellies.