"Down," urgently yelled an older man to the two people
behind him. Both dropped to the open wild grassy ground
surrounding them while a huge dragon lazily glided over the
group. Once he saw the enormous blue three headed dragon fly
by, the man then got up out of the prairie grass he and the
others had dove into.
"Think it noticed us Bill," the younger outdoorsy man
hesitantly asked him.
"No," Bill calmly replied peering about the wide rolling
grassy Montana plains surrounding them. "Are we close enough
for you to get a good look," the older man asked the other
person in the trio.
Off to Bill's other side lay a twenty five year old woman.
She held in her hand a huge white telephoto lens connected to a
black camera body. Briefly she peered through the camera's view
finder. The woman aimed the camera at the looming white capped
rocky mountains off in the distance. After a moment she lifted
her head and wiped some of her long windblown auburn hair out of
her face before focusing back on the rocky peaks.
"No, I need to get closer."
"How close Regan," inquired the younger man.
"Oh I think another mile and I might be able to view the
dragons better," Regan coolly replied to him.
"Alright then, let's get hiking." Bill remarked to the
other two. Regan and the other man followed suit and soon fell
in line behind the older man.
"If I didn't say it before, I wanted to thank you both for
helping me get this close to the dragons," Regan thanked Bill
and the other man.
"I've been wanting to ask you why you wanted to get close
to them in the first place, especially with the extreme danger
they pose," The younger man hesitantly asked her
"We know very little about these dragons Michael. Where
they came from, what they want, or even why they're all
congregating around Earth's major mountain peaks?" Regan
informed him as she peered intently up at the myriad of dragons
winging their way above the loft peaks ahead.
Michael contemplated that for a moment before hesitantly
asking, "that's all good, but why can't you just use satellites
or other less risky methods"
Regan didn't answer right away. She just contemplated the
huge multi colored dragons who seemed to have no problem eating
humans for snacks. "Others, like the military, are using
satellites and long range high altitude flying surveillance to
monitor them. Yet, those people are looking for a way to defeat
them. To kill what they call monsters. Things they see that
have a propensity to eat humans at will."
Michael softly cut in, "I sort of agree with them."
"So do most people around the world," Regan agreed. "But I
think these dragons aren't dumb. That they may be highly
intelligent and may even be reasoned with. If there is a way to
negotiate with them, then maybe we could co-exist."
Bill grunted, but Michael actually spoke up, "co-exist with
something that see's us as food?"
"I know, I know, but if there is a chance, then we need to
try it. Either way, this is just a information gathering
mission. I need to observe them for a while before going any
farther." Regan replied as she occasionally brought up a pair
of binoculars to her eyes and peered at the mountains ahead of
them.
As they got closer to the high snowy peaks, Bill picked up
his own binoculars and began to gaze about the open grassy land
around them. After a couple minutes Bill spoke, "ah found it, I
thought I saw something off in the distance. It looks like an
abandoned cabin. Somewhere perfect to hide inside while
observing the dragons."
With that, the trio hurried the rest of the short distance
towards the old structure. Coming closer, the three could see
that it was an old two room abandoned homestead with a couple
collapsed structures surrounding the main cabin. Michael
guessed that the place hadn't been occupied for over eighty
years. Yet with the main cabin surprisingly was still standing,
it allowed all three to dash inside for cover.
Cautiously Regan moved through the cabin towards the its
rear facing window. The opening's glass had long since been
blown out while glass shards crunched under her feet. Bringing
her camera up, she began to peer at the distant mountains. A
smile crept over her face as she began snapping photos.
"Perfect, just perfect," Regan absentmindedly commented while
peering through her huge telephoto lens.
Hearing Regan was pleased, Michael and Bill began setting
up camp within the old structure. Once they were settled down,
both men tried to angle themselves within the old cabin to get a
view of the dragons winging their way around the distant peaks.
"Wow," Regan exclaimed to the other two. "I never knew
there would be so many and they'd be so different!"
"Is there any sort of pattern to their flight," Bill asked
interestedly while trying to peer at the distant peaks with his
own binoculars.
"Not that I can see. They look more like birds flittering
around. Wait did you see that," Regan urgently called out as
she peered at a couple dragons. The dragons she watched seemed
disorganized. Then within moments the small group flew
together. Each seemed to be moving their heads or gesturing to
each other, shortly the handful of dragons all flew away in one
tight group. This group unknowingly flew over the trio of
humans hiding within the abandoned cabin below them.
"Did that looked like they were communicating," Regan
hurriedly inquired of the other two. Yet neither could see that
far with their limited binoculars. "It looked as if they
gestured with their heads and legs before forming a group and
flying off."
"And that means..." Michael asked leadingly.
"That they are intelligent," Regan asserted to the other
two.
"Could be," Bill hesitantly agreed. "Let's hunker down,
eat something and get ready to spend the night." He spoke to
the other two as he began to unload some stuff from his
backpack.
Once night had fallen, the trio camped in the center of the
structure. Their only light they had came from the full moon
outside of the structure. None of them wanted to risk a fire
being seen by a passing dragon.
The group observed the dragons for a couple days. What
they saw was that while the dragons seemed disorganized, they
were actually communicating. Regan theorized that deeper within
the mountains, these dragons must have some sort of sanctuary or
open ground where they could be congregating in. She wanted to
get closer to see if she could peak into their home. Bill
quickly dissuaded her of the idea as they had no climbing gear.
Plus there would be no hiding spot they could jump into to keep
from being spotted.
The three huddled together within the cabin trying to
figure out what to do next. Michael wanted to head home and re-
supply while Regan was eager to push on. While Bill listened to
the two silently.
However, before the group could discuss it any farther
there was a slight ground tremor. It felt as if something
really heavy landed just outside the cabin. Bill held up his
hands for the other two to be quiet as he carefully peered
through the open door.
What he saw looked like a gigantic six legged single headed
golden dragon. It had its two huge wings tucked against its
back as it casually peered about the abandoned structures with
its green three eyed stare. The dragon's huge nostrils moved
with every snuffled sniff.
The trio tried to stay as quiet and unnoticeable to the
dragon. Cautiously it moved closer the cabin, almost guardedly.
The thing began to poke its huge head around the outside of the
small structure. A head that was at least as large as the old
wooden building itself.
Each person tried to find a spot to hide deeper in within
the cabin. Conversely, the dragon angled its head so that it
could bring one of its huge green eyes close to the open door.
It squinted the eye trying to get a good look within the dark
tiny interior.
To Regan, the dragon's actions bespoke more of an
intelligent interest then feral hunting. As if the dragon
wanted to find out what was in the cabin then to just simply
smash it down.
Almost as a confirmation, the huge monster reached out one
of its limbs to delicately grasp the top of the cabin. Then it
tried to carefully remove the roof without collapsing the
rickety thing. As it lifted off the old roof, the dragon caused
some of the cabin walls to either come with it or collapse down
around the startled humans.
The sudden removal of the roof caused Regan to cry out in
fright and the men realized how exposed they just became. All
three were horrified to see that they had nowhere to hide and no
way to get away from this huge dragon.
Out of unthinking desperation, "please don't eat us!"
Regan cried out to the dragon.
Yet, for some strange reason it didn't seem to be making
any movement to grab or snap at them. To the humans, the dragon
seemed as if it was peering intently at them. Almost studying
the trio. Rapidly the realization that it might not eat them
emboldened Regan. She decided to fortify herself and try to
communicate with it.
Defiantly standing up, Regan carefully stepped closer to
the beast's head. She peered intently up into its three eyes.
Eyes that to her were the size of large hub caps.
"Do you understand what I'm saying," she hesitantly asked
the huge dragon. It's head was so close to the woman that every
breath it exhaled through its nostrils caused Regan's clothes
and hair to flutter. The thing had its head hovering a couple
feet off the ground while it's huge body was crouched behind it.
Then, to answer her question, it nodded its head.
Looking to the other two, "see they are intelligent!"
Regan exuberantly blurted out to the two men. Cautiously the
two got up and hesitantly stood behind Regan.
"Do you want to eat us," she asked the dragon while
readying herself for it to nod yes. Yet the dragon shook its
head no. Seeing that caused her heart to leap.
"Can you speak to us?"
At first it seemed as if the dragon wasn't going to reply.
Then the dragon lifted its head up away from the ground a bit to
open its mouth. The trio instinctively reacted as if it was
going to eat them before they remembered that it gestured it did
not want to.
Before the amazed humans, the dragon seemed to be doing
something within its mouth as it looked as if it was pushing
something out. All of them watched as what looked like a nude
human woman was being pushed out from underneath the dragon's
tongue. Her black hair was soaked with saliva, her arms held to
her sides, and her almond shaped Asian eyes closed. Yet instead
of fully disgorging the human, they saw that she was actually
connected to the dragon by a large fleshy tendril coming out of
its mouth.
Once fully expelled from its pouch under the dragon's
tongue, the female torso woke up. The dragon carefully closed
its mouth and lips around the torso's fleshy connection while
the woman angled herself to face them. Then the dragon laid its
head on the ground so that the newly emerged Asian woman could
come closer to the humans as if she was just another person.
Michael couldn't stop staring at the nude woman in front of
him, while Bill simply was speechless. Regan didn't know what
to say at the moment but it was this woman who broke the
silence.
"Hi, I'm Oni and you three are," the woman introduced
herself.
Regan was the first to regain her composure and soon all
three had spoken up to introduced themselves.
"So did the dragon somehow capture you," Regan hesitantly
asked Oni.
Oni easily began to chuckle, "oh no, that's all me. I'm
the dragon." She informed the amazed group of humans while
gesturing to her huge body behind her.
Regan had all sorts of questions she wanted to ask the
dragon. But first she needed to know something, "why didn't you
eat us? I mean in the past we've seen you dragons wolfing down
scores of people?"
"I had spotted you guys a while back and decided today was
a good day to investigate. To see what you three are doing,"
Oni simply stated.
"Just so I understand, you don't want to eat us?"
"Nah, I filled up on some bison and horses a short bit
ago."
"That's good to know. But I got to ask, heck the whole
world wants to know, is where did all of you come from?"
Oni chuckled a bit, "why from around here."
Regan was a bit confused, "what do you mean?"
"I'm personally from Buffalo New York," Oni informed them
while crossing her arms across her chest.
It took a moment for the three to digest what she said,
"you mean you once were human?" Regan asked Oni realizing what
she meant.
Oni nodded her human head, "yep, we all had been at one
point." She gestured to the other dragons flying around the
mountains.
Finally Michael spoke up, "but why do you eat us if you had
been once human. Why not tell the world who you were?"
Oni looked like she didn't really want to answer the
question. That if she did, she might upset them. Oni realized
that speaking to these three humans was actually very intriguing
to her. To speak to someone who hadn't changed, who hadn't
experienced what she had.
"It's complicated," Oni finally admitted. "Once you get as
big as we have, things change. Plus when we transformed we were
so hungry that our hunger drove most of us to eat humans." Then
as an afterthought she blurted out, "but most of us don't do
that now!"
"So you have eaten humans," Bill slowly deduced.
Ashamedly Oni shook her head, "I'm not proud of it now."
"But why are you all hanging out around the mountains, why
not go out and communicate with the world," Regan inquired of
the huge dragon.
"We're not sure ourselves," Oni admitted. "Just that we
felt the need to be around the peaks and that we didn't want to
disturb the world at large. I don't know if that makes sense or
not, but that's how we feel."
Regan had an idea based on what she talked about with the
two men earlier, "you know could I speak to the other dragons.
Go to the spot where you all hang out?"
Oni shook her human head, "while I said most of us don't
eat humans, a few still enjoy it. I'm not sure that those
dragons won't quickly grab you for a snack."
Regan was disappointed that she couldn't go into the heart
of where they lived.
Seeing Regan's unhappiness, "but I am enjoying this
conversation and I know a few others who would like to join in.
How about tomorrow we speak again?" Oni proposed to the group.
Seeing an opening to continue this dialogue, Regan readily
agreed. With that they watched Oni's human torso slide back
into her mouth. Oni waved to the trio of humans with one of her
huge car sized dragon hands before jumping back up into the air.
The down gust from her huge wings alone bowled the small humans
off their feet.
Once back on their feet all three began to huddle in deep
discussion. They tried to figure out what they were going to
do. Bill reminded them that they had only enough supplies for a
couple more days. Plus that now their hiding spot was destroyed
they were out in the open.
Regan urged them to take a chance. That to speak to more
dragons was too much on an opportunity to pass up the chance.
Seeing her eager face, Bill sighed and the three began to
try and find something else to shelter in. With the help of
some of the broken timbers and their tent, they had come up with
a decent hiding spot to camp in until tomorrow.
