An Apocalyptic Invasion

i reunite with old friends

Jeremy didn't want to be part of a gang.
But he was dragged into it after the stupid plague suddenly hit the entire planet. Man, he hated his life.
And as he was walking with Dakoda down a dusty road, he had thoughts of ending his misery.
"Dude, where could he POSSIBLY be?" Dakoda asked.
Jeremy shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't Riley tell us that he was in a building somewhere?"
"Yes, but she wasn't specific where it is or what it looks like. All she said was, 'Just find a tall building with dirty windows and he'll be there.'"
God, that just caused too many problems. They almost got killed by a homeless dude because they stumbled into the wrong building.
When Riley found out that they were still alive, she sent them a call and told them where they were so they could meet her there.
Jeremy was all for it. He was excited to meet Riley again after thousands of years, and didn't care if he was hit with a rainstorm.
Now, as they walked in the godforsaken heat, he was beginning to regret his decisions.
The gang they were part in wasn't even a real gang. They just called themselves that because it made them feel intimidating.
Please. We're as intimidating as a cucumber, he thought.
The sun beat down on his brown skin, causing him to sweat. He was smart and wore shirts and a short sleeve t-shirt; but Dakoda, like the idiot he was, decided to wear ALL BLACK clothing.
So, as a result, he was sweating more than Jeremy was. "Today was the wrong day to wear this," he muttered.
"Yeah, after I specifically TOLD you that today was going to be over a hundred degrees," Jeremy snapped. "But did you listen? NOOO, you didn't. You just decided to go with the flow."
"Okay, I get your point. No need to be so grumpy."
He looked down the path, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. There was a tall, skyscraper-like building at the end of it, and it looked like a place Riley would be sheltering in.
He pointed at it. "Dakoda, look. We can stop to rest there, and maybe you'll stop complaining about the heat."
Dakoda wiped his brow. "Honestly, I don't even care if it's dirty. As long as we're out of the sun, I'm good."
Mustering up their last bit of strength, they sprinted towards the building.
When they got near it, they stopped to catch their breath.
Dakoda leaned over and placed his hands on his knees, panting severely. Jeremy forgot he had asthma, and was about to panic when Dakoda gave him the 'I'm fine' signal.
There was a large truck-car that was patrolling around the small town they were in, skirting along the edges. The driver waved at Jeremy.
He watched it go. "Well, it seems like we're in the right place," he said.
Two guards were posted at the front of the building, making Jeremy confused. Why in the ever living hell would an abandoned building need GUARDS? It's not like this is 'Night at the Museum' or something.
The guards straightened when they saw them. "Jeremy Garcia and Dakoda Felming?"
"That's us," Dakoda said.
"El Burro wants to see you two. Come on in."
As they stepped inside, Jeremy's confusion was replaced by Now I know why there are guards here. Oh my god.
It was like an officeplex. There were over a hundred floors, and everything inside the building looked sleek and modern.
The receptionist desk looked cool, too. It was shaped like a wave, with one end curling upwards.
Jeremy took the time to take in everything. It was possible that he would see something cooler.
"Who the hell is El Burro?" Dakoda demanded.
"Well, Dakoda, I thought you would never ask."

The dragons offered us a tour of the ancient dragon and human civilizations.
I, for one, thought it was a perfect idea. Flihkfhur, amazingly, thought it was wonderful, but my other siblings weren't fond of it.
"Do we have to walk more?" Ghitpethal whined. "My legs are sore."
"Yeah," Trihtleph agreed. "If we're gonna do more walking, I might as well not go."
"Walking is overrated," Fhlotleph added.
Flihkfhur and I shared an annoyed glance. They were acting like khits again, and usually I don't really care. But the fact that it could be an opportunity to see something new...
In front of all the dragons, the two of us smacked them with our tails. "You really have to ruin everything, don't you?" I snapped.
Flihkfhur's back fur stood up. "Stop whining and acting like khits. The dragons offered a new adventure, and you complain about it like idiots. Has it ever crossed your small minds that, perhaps, we will be FLYING on the way?"
The three of them crouched low onto the ground and stared up at us with wide eyes. "Well, uh... n-no, it didn't," Ghitpethal said.
"Then just accept it," I growled. "And if you ever complain in front of guests, I swear to ever-loving COMET that Flihkfhur and I will tie your tails together and throw you into the water."
"Okay, we get it!" Fhlotleph yelped. "Just... please, stop embarrassing us."
We stepped back and let them stand up. The dragons were watching everything with wide eyes.
"Are we ready to go?" Phyline asked. He gave me a nod of respect, and I felt pride warm my fur.
"Yes, we are." I shot a glare at my siblings, but they kept quiet and lowered their gaze to the ground.
We eventually were flying in the sky. Below us, the ocean glittered in the sunlight.
The mountains rolled by, and we saw deer trotting about, their white tails in the air.
Tuiline pointed to a destroyed house. "We're close. That was a human settlement that was very active thousands of years ago."
I whistled. "Wow. I wonder what happened to them?"
"They got wiped out by us," Phyline said.
"What did they do?" Ghitpethal asked.
He snorted. "A whole bunch of stuff, but mainly they were ransacking through our nests and trying to steal our eggs. I say 'try' because we caught them before they could any damage."
"Imagine being that stupid," I scoffed. "Crazy to believe they thought that was a good idea."
Scryion flicked his tail. "Yeah, well, it didn't end up good for them. They got driven into near-extinction." He looked at me. "They moved to your island, actually."
"Really?" So it wasn't just us that had beef with humans- the dragons had it with them, too.
"Do you know what the humans did that made you guys hate them?" Scryion asked.
My siblings and I all shook our heads.
"Well, they were alright at first. Then they started getting a bit too... brave. They sauntered into the early camps and just took whatever they wanted. The Catwings, naturally, didn't like it at all, so they chased them down before they could anything else."
"This happened for around, I wanna say, thirty-thousand years," Phyline added. "Slaughlitte actually was alive while this was happening, and I remember him telling me that they actually had armor and weapons back then. I think your human friends are writing a whole book about it."
I whistled. "The both of us have so much history. Another thing we have in common."
Scryion smiled. "We do. I really am proud of that, honestly. We literally lived on the same island as you, and even when we moved away we remained close."
Ruline nudged me. "Down there. See it?"
It was getting foggy by now, but the ruins could be seen perfectly. Stone houses were scattered throughout the hillside, and I could see ancient buildings with pointy things at the top crumbling to pieces.
"Wow," Ghitpethal breathed. "It's much bigger than I imagined it to be."
In case if you're wondering what happened to the cage, I took it with me. Why? Well, partially I have no idea, but also because I wanted the little rats to see what happened to them after they got too brave and just did whatever they wanted.
I held it up and looked inside it. "See. this is what happened after you did stupid actions."
The humans stared at me wide-eyed, like they couldn't believe I was talking to them. Although, from their perspective, I'm guessing they just heard a lot of meows and growls. Riley told me that's all she heard before my father gave her the ability to speak our language, which is Felidis.
The village took up more space as we continued flying. It finally ended at the edge of a ravine, overlooking the ocean.
We decided to land and forage through the rubble to see if we could find anything. Scryion, having the largest wings, offered to take the cage as he scouted from above. He dashed off once I gave it to him.
The stone crumbled to dust in my paws, but I immediately found little things in the crevices.
Ghitpethal found a book that was under a small wooden table. "Look how tiny it is," she said.
It was about the size of a blueberry, with a faded leather cover. The pages were so old they were turning brown- I was surprised that they didn't disintegrate completely.
"Maybe the humans can read it or something," I suggested.
"It's in English, so they must surely recognize it."
Of course I know that humans can speak different languages, but for some reason all the ones who end up at our island speak English. Why? Beats me, but maybe because it's the most common language in the whole world.
Scryion swooped back towards us. "Hey, Scry. We found a little book that the humans can read in case if they ever get bored."
He didn't object to it. He pinched the spine of the book with two claws and pushed into the cage. "Maybe you can learn something about your kind and why you're so stupid," he suggested to them.
He continued scouting for anything valuable. Ruline and Tuiline were also in the air, and I saw Ruline straighten, his eyes wide with excitement.
"Guys, I think Ruline found something," I said to the others.
With impeccable timing, Ruline jumped up and down and yelled, "I found something!"
"See?"
We rushed over to his side, where he brought out a stone tablet with an inscription under it. Above it was a crudely drawn picture of a Catwing and a dragon with their wings outstretched.
He looked up at us excitedly. "Do you know what this means?"
Scryion hovered closer to take a look. "Wait... is that-"
My siblings and I shared confused glances. "Sorry, but we don't," Flihkfhur said.
That didn't discourage Ruline. "The humans saw us together."
"Okay," Phyline said slowly. "But how is that special?"
"The OceanClaws had spent millenia on finding evidence of Catwings co-existing with dragons at one point," Tuiline explained. "Our ancestor is a lot younger than yours, and for the longest time we believed that the Catwings and dragons lived at different times in different places. But this tablet shows that we were co-existing at one point, and the humans captured it."
"Didn't you guys live with us a few millenia ago?" I asked.
Ruline nodded. "But that was being in the same island. Co-existing meant that we bought food, sharpened weapons, and melded armor."
This was a new breakthrough. Dragons lived with us at some point, but that isn't the same thing. They did their own thing, we did ours. However, this artifact proves that we actually did everyday activities together, not separately.
Scryion had an expression of wonder on his face. "Wow. All this time, I thought we just saw the Catwings as peaceful friends. But now... we have more of a reason to think that they truly are our other sides."
"Exactly," Ruline said. "You guys changed our lives, and the younger dragons don't believe us, since they weren't hatched until after we moved away." He waved the tablet. "But now... we can show it to them and finally find out why we're so warm and friendly towards you."
Scryion lowered the cage. "So, little humans, it turns out you weren't so useless after all. I suppose we owe you one."
"Although you'll stay trapped in that cage," I added. Scryion and I smiled at each other.
"We have to be careful not to break this," Ruline warned as he slowly stood up. "Do any of you have, like, a soft leaf or something?"
"Found it," Flihkfhur said. Ruline touched the leaf's surface. "Oh, that's perfect. Wrap it with this."
I was searching around for some vines to tie it all together. Once I found some growing on the side of a wall, I cut them at the base and scaring a lizard in the process.
When I brought them back to Ruline, he took them and tied them around the leaf, securing the tablet.
The humans were back to reading the book, and I could see their expressions of fascination. It amazed me to see how something so small could create something that proves a large part of our history.
"Should we see if we can find anything else?" Ruline asked.
"I'm up for it," Flihkfhur said.
For once, the rest of the siblings didn't complain, and instead agreed.
"I think we should split up," Tuiline suggested. "We can find things quicker that way."
"We'll split into five groups," I said. I counted them: Ruline, Tuisine, me, Flihkfhur and my other siblings, that's seven. Oh, and Scryion, Phyline, Giysine, and Kuione. Eleven in total.
"One will have an extra," Flihkfhur said. He turned to me. "You wanna be part of my group?"
"Sure, why not?"
"We'll go search the north side," Phyline said.
"The south side sounds like a nice place for something," Ruline said.
"I'll be with Giysine," Scryion said. "I'll make sure to bring the cage, because I have a feeling the humans might have the urge to explore."
Agreeing on our groups, we began our search to find ancient items that showed the co-existence of two completely different creatures: Catwings and dragons.

Jeremy looked up at the stairway that was on the left of the building. He saw a familiar face give him the smirk that always annoyed him. "No. fucking. WAY," Jeremy exclaimed.
"In the flesh, man," Carlos said as he came down the stairway. "Dude. It's been so long."
He took turns dapping the both of them up. "Anything new?"
"We're part of a gang now," Dakoda said. "Heavy airquotes implied, though."
Carlos laughed. "Hey, if you need to join one, mine is open."
"Why is your name 'El Burro' man?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. Already two weeks in leading a gang, and I already have a nickname."
"Do you have another one?" Dakoda asked.
Carlos looked away. "Uh... kinda?"
"Now you HAVE to tell us," Jeremy said.
He looked at him again. "If you must know, it's 'El Corcho.'"
Jeremy could barely hold in a laugh. "'The Cork?' Are you serious?"
Carlos smiled again. "Apparently, it's because I'm very hard to pull out when it comes to business. Also, might explain why they called me 'the Donkey' since I'm stubborn."
"They might as well call you the Ass while they're at it," Dakoda said dryly.
"What brings you here?"
"We kind of need to join your gang," Jeremy admitted. "Ours is a lot smaller than it used to be, and the members aren't really reliable."
"Okay," Carlos said. "Let's see here... we do have more than a hundred gaps. Yeah, sure. Welcome to the gang."
Dakoda gaped at him. "That simple? Really?"
He shrugged. "I find those weird initiation ceremonies a waste of time. It's much more simple saying, 'you wanna live your life to the fullest? Join our gang and get high on drugs!'"
Jeremy laughed. He was relieved that Carlos's personality had remained the same. He actually read the book that he released, and Carlos shipped it to him with a letter saying 'sup. uh... not much to say, but here's your preorder for free. don't worry about paying me- i'm swimming in money.'
He couldn't believe that Carlos went through all of that. He had a feeling that he was holding on to some trauma and had PTSD, but was hiding all of it so his friends wouldn't worry about him.
He was always like that. Jeremy remembered when Carlos broke his leg and spent a couple months wearing a cast. He would still joke around with people, but he knew that Carlos was hurting. Badly.
"Are you planning to do anything else?" he asked.
Carlos looked up like he does when he's trying to remember something. "Let's see... I'm planning to open restaurants called 'Burro's Diner' that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, I just found out that I'm making millions per day, so maybe I'll donate some to charity and just go to fancy hotels."
"The ones who charge $5000/night?" Dakoda asked.
"Uh huh. I'm not stupid with my money, though. I'll just spend like a week in a hotel and get back that money by selling my book," Carlos said.
"You have it all planned out," Jeremy said.
"It's a bit easy, honestly. You already know that I plan everything out before I actually do the stuff."
"Wow. Is that Jeremy and Dakoda, the two troublemakers?"
Riley came down from the stairs and stood in front of them. "'Sup, Riley," Dakoda said.
"It's nice to see you two," she said, smiling.
They hugged. It felt good seeing her again. They went to the same primary and middle school until she disappeared.
Jeremy hadn't seen Sam yet, though. He met her in fourth grade after Carlos and Riley got the bully expelled. He remembered he and Dakoda crying-laughing and being trolls on social media by posting '#britthebitchisgone'. It got over a million retweets and resends.
"Where's Sam?" Dakoda asked.
"She had to do something at the island," Carlos said. "Pretty sure she'll be back in like an hour."
"Let me show you around," Riley said. She motioned them to follow her.
"You gonna be alright?" Jeremy asked him.
"Don't worry about me. I have a pregnant girlfriend to check on."
"You're gonna be a dad?" Dakoda asked. He looked absolutely flabbergasted.
Carlos smirked. "If we have time, I'll tell you more. Right now, just tour the place."
"I'm guessing you're gonna fly," Jeremy said.
"You have been reading my book," he said appreciatively. "Yeah, I will. See you later?"
"Sure. Bye man!"
Jeremy watched as Carlos strolled outside, opened two giant wings, and took flight into the sky.
Dakoda turned to him. "Well, guess we're gonna see the Donkey's headquarters."