The Heart of the Dragon

As time passed with no chance of help, Angie and her friends began to lose hope as they all sat there in silence. Nobody has said a word for the past five minutes or so, it was all quiet except for Eli who was tapping his fingers on the floor he was sitting on.

“Does anyone have paper and a pen?” he suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

“Why?” Tammy questioned.

“So I can write my will.”

“Eli...” she groaned.

“Hey, we could die today, so now seems like the best time as any.”

“Well, if I’m going to die today, I’m not going to do it on an empty stomach. Those assholes better bring us some food soon.”

All of a sudden, they heard a click at the door which caught their attention as the door swung opened by Commander Darabont with a couple of soldiers behind him.

“Miss Brighton,” he spoke, “We need you to come with us.”

“What?” Angie’s eyes widen, “Why?”

“Now is not the time for questions.”

Fearing for what they wanted her for, Angie felt her heart beating with fright as she gave her friends a worried look, too frozen to get out of her seat.

“Miss Brighton,” the Commander took a step towards her.

“I can walk out myself” she declared with her hands up.

After giving her friends one last look, she stepped out of the room as she watched the Commander close the door, trapping her friends inside.

“This way” he directed.

With the two soldiers behind her, Angie had no choice but to follow as they went down the hall. If the soldiers weren’t with them, she could’ve taken the chance to run. But since they were here and armed, she knew it was no use, especially since she wasn’t going to escape without her friends and the hybrids and dragons.

However, being the smart girl that she is, Angie took this chance to observe her surroundings. She tried to see where every door is, specifically exits and prisons where the hybrids and dragons were being held, though she could hardly tell which doors they were being held in. But when she heard the sound of a loud roar that played close by, she kept that in mind seeing how they could be near.

“Miss Brighton,” Commander Darabont suddenly spoke, “I was having a little chat with your dragon boyfriend-”

“What?” she scowled as she stopped “Where is he?!”

“Relax, he’s fine... for now.”

“What did you talk about?” she demanded with her hands on her hips.

“Basic stuff, including this,” he pulled out her necklace as she felt her stomach flop “This is a very remarkable pendant. Did you know that this stone can power an entire city for at least 3 months?”

“That’s cool” she frowned.

“Just imagine many other things we can do with this stone. And with the dragons and hybrids, they can surely help me and the Professor from going bankrupt.”

“What?”

“You heard that. The Professor and I are on the verge of going broke, and we’re not gonna let that happen.”

“Oh,” she remarked with a fake smile “Well, I’ll have you know, Mr. Darabont that there are other ways to prevent going bankrupt. For example, don’t spend your money doing experiments on my friends!”

“Hey, if you wanna blame someone, blame the Professor, all of this was his idea.”

“Oh, I know that. But you’re still going through his plan! And I swear if you hurt the dragons and hybrids I’ll make sure you regret it!”

Angie could swear her face was turning red with anger. But Commander Darabont didn’t appear threatened by her outburst, she didn’t expect him to, especially since he just gave a smirk.

“Miss Brighton,” he said while looking at the necklace “Do you know where the rest of these stones can be found?”

“No,” she spat “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“I know that. Follow me, please.”

Having no choice with the soldiers still behind her, Angie followed the Commander into a room where she spotted Hayden still chained to the table as she felt terror running through her blood.

“Hayden!” she screamed as she tried to run to him, only to be grabbed by the soldiers who held her back as she struggled against their grips.

Hayden too was struggling against his bonds when he saw her as growls escaped through the muzzle. With Angie in the grips of the soldiers, Commander Darabont walked over to Hayden who’s muscles had tightened against the chains and straps as he continued to growl loudly.

“Are you ready to have a little chat?” the Commander asked him while standing broadly with his hands behind his back.

Hayden’s growls had stopped, but his glares at the Commander stayed as he took the top part off the muzzle.

“Angie,” the hybrid breathed “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine” she assured, though nervously “What about you?”

“I’ve been better” he muttered.

“Now,” Commander Darabont spoke while looking down at the hybrid “Are you ready to answer some questions?”

“I already told you,” Hayden growled, “I’m not answering anything.”

“I beg the differ. If you won’t talk, I’ll make you.”

He then walked over to a lab table where he picked up a syringe needle and a small vessel containing some fluid. Wondering what he was doing, Hayden and Angie watched as he placed the needle into the fluid and sucked it up into the syringe.

“Tell me, Hayden,” the Commander began, “Have you ever heard of aconite?”

“What?” Hayden responded puzzled.

“Aconite. Also called wolf’s bane to most people.”

“That’s a poison, right?”

“Correct, a poisonous plant. Symptoms include tingling, numbing in the mouth, nausea, heartbeat weakens, and then finally, death.”

Hayden could already feel his heart pounding against his chest, it was so loud to him that it practically shook the chains a little. And that’s when it began to pound faster when he watched the Commander walk up to Angie as one of the soldiers held out her arm towards the Commander and held it there.

“No!” she screamed as she struggled to break away while feeling the soldiers grips tighten as they forced her to keep still.

“What are you doing?” Hayden demanded with fright.

“I didn’t want it to come down to this,” Commander Darabont reported with the needle still in his hand “But you leave me no choice. So, you can either tell us where we can find more of those dragon stones, or you can watch your girlfriend slowly suffer the symptoms.”

“NO!” Hayden cried out while fighting against the bonds with all his might.

“All you gotta do is tell us where we can find the dragon stones, and I’ll let her live.”

Hayden just growled as he kept fighting the bonds furiously.

“Going once,” the Commander noted while drawing the needle closer to Angie’s arm that was starting to turn red from the soldier’s grips.

“Hayden, don’t,” Angie begged in panic.

“Going twice,” the Commander warned as he brought the needle even closer.

“They’re on the mountains of the island!”

The words just gave up and blurted out of his mouth as the Commander drew the needle away from Angie’s arm.

“Say that again,” he ordered the hybrid who had relaxed his body and was breathing heavily.

“They’re on the mountains,” he mumbled with defeat, “The stones are found within the crust.”

“And how exactly do we find the stones in the crust?”

“They can be spotted through thin crust that can be broken off.”

“Excellent,” Commander Darabont smirked proudly while putting the needle down on the table “Thank you, Hayden.”

As she too felt the defeat, Angie couldn’t take her watering eyes off of Hayden who stared back at her with the same emotion.

“We leave immediately,” the Commander ordered his soldiers “And we take her with us.”

“Wait, what?!” Hayden and Angie both exclaimed in shock as Angie felt herself being dragged out of the room.

“What are you doing?!” Hayden shouted against the chains, “Let her go!”

“I’m afraid we have some business to take care of,” the Commander stated while placing the top part of the muzzle back onto the hybrid.

“Hayden!” Angie screamed as the door closed between them.

With both of them struggling against their grips, neither of them could describe the fear they were feeling, both more scared for the other and what’s the become of them.