Freezing Wings

Chapter 13

A yellow light appeared, engulfing a few of the dragons at the back of the group and scaring the bejesus out of all of us. It moved over every single one of the dragons in the group, causing us to instinctively flatten ourselves to the ground, as if that would do anything. After a few pass overs  it melted into the wall, disappearing without a trace. 

We all stayed frozen for a moment, stunned. A distant rumble reminded us that we only had a little bit of time and we snapped out of it, surging forward. Savannah went first, soon tearing down the flimsy human staircase and climbing up the stone wall.

Lucas followed right behind her, me still on his back. He went vertical and I clung to his neck, trying not to fall off. I wasn't really paying attention to his facial expression but out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn that I saw him smirk. 

The pack followed behind us, gripping the wall and hauling themselves up. The wall was about only about two hundred feet up so it only took us a few minutes, but the real problem came with the small doorway. I might fit through if I really tried to, but the rest of us would not. 

All of us were 9+ feet tall, weighing in at 1,000+ pounds, a regular human doorway was not going to cut it. We would have to cut out the rock around the door for us to fit.

Savannah started at it, using her back claws for balance and kicking in the door with her front. The door was made of steel and practically crumpled under the force of her push, flying off it's hinges. 

We all gathered near the doorway, most looking through the crowd from the back wall and the sides of the doorway. Lucas, Savannah and I had the best seats in the house.

Dozens of reptilian eyes looked out from this space too small to fit them all, taking in the outside world. For the few that couldn't see through everyone, the ones that didn't get up there fast enough and were still waiting near the bottom, were described to - in great detail - through hushed whispers as to not spoil the moment. 

The world outside was beauteous in its splendor, taking my breath away. I had seen a scene very similar to it countless times over the twenty years of my life, but now, it was all the more stunning. After only seeing concrete and stone for the past eight months, I had been craving the open world,  practically addicted to the idea of seeing the outside. 

A mountain ridge stood tall from the surrounding forest, a picturesque scene of frozen winter. Icy blue glaciers covered the upmost peaks, pure white snow blanketing the wood and spreading into a frosty wonderland. The stars were like pure jewels dashed over a navy blue background, shining like diamonds. The evergreen trees standing tall in the face of snow just added to the effect, telling me where I had gotten the pine scent before. 

A soft clean breeze blew in the facility, stirring the stale air. The weather outside was freezing, not that much different then in here, but more realistic. I inhaled, taking in the unique scent of snow and pine. The cold air soothed my still burning lungs and made me relax, my tense muscles loosening.

Just as we were about to walk out of there and into the night air a boom resounded out, the sound of warfare and terrified humans disturbing the silence. We finally realized that the earthquake we were experiencing wasn't an earthquake at all, it was the aftershocks of tanks exploding.  

A circular object floated in the air, appearing in our line of sight from behind our viewpoint, a beam of light very similar to the one that had just covered us all coming from it. There were tanks and airplanes shooting at it from the air and sky, previously going unnoticed by us since we were absorbed into our reverie over our surroundings.

Tanks appeared out of seemingly nowhere, firing missiles at the floating object. It looked as if the missile was going to blow it to smithereens, but a blue shield appeared around it, causing the missile to rebound off of it and fire back, blowing the very tank it was shot out of to oblivion, as well as the tanks around it. 

There were troops on the ground, firing with various infantry weapons at it, but they suffered the same fate as the tanks. The floating object, which we now saw was a spaceship, flew over a group of soldiers. 

The yellow light passed over them and automatically they were turned into a disgusting green goo, their clothes and weapons sticking out of the puddle, the snow turning directly into steam. The rest of the people that were around the first group suffered the same fate, all of them pooling into one massive pond of green goo. I felt my stomach churn and my mouth went dry, my heart going cold with fear.

We had just been under that light, barely two minutes prior. It might just be a fluke that we weren't just like those soldiers, a puddle of goo with scales. 

Even from half a mile away, which was where we were, we could smell them, thanks to the wind. A stench similar to rotten eggs, cat urine and vomit mixed with blood made us all gag, a bit of bile rising in my throat. One girl in the back couldn't take the combination of stimuli and dropped down to the floor, dry heaving.

We all recoiled and didn't go any further outside, watching. Although the spaceship seemed to be slow, it was actually moving quite fast, spinning in the air. A few others showed up from behind our viewpoint and began combing over the army, soon turning everything to goo. 

After they had decimated the humans they went on to the forest and eventually the mountain, making sure they covered every inch of it. In less than five minutes the warzone had turned into a massive lake of steaming green goo, full of half-sunk tanks, weapons, and clothing. The stench wafting off of it was so strong my eyes watered, tears running freely down my face. 

A few of the weak stomached dragons dropped down with the first girl, heaving together. It was a disgusting scene. 

The spaceships left as soon as they came, leaving the revolting display behind them.