The Dragon Baby

Chapter 3

Once Nova sensed my bad mode, she let me be and watched our take off. I want to be excited to be leaving but I can’t help thinking none of us should’ve been in this position in the first place. My last memory before coming here was on a bright sunny day on my 10th birthday.

The foster parents I was staying with at the time didn’t care or had time for me. But I had made a friend at school whose mom took us to the park that afternoon. We had been playing in the jungle gym with the promise of ice cream once we were done for the day. But I never got that ice cream.

My foster dad came speeding into the parking lot in an old pick up truck. He was wearing a faded wife beater and loose basketball shorts, shouting that I should’ve come straight home. The friend’s mom stepped in front of us kids and was trying to calm him down but there was a rage in his eyes that I was only used to seeing when he was drunk. I silently moved away from the mom and headed over to him. It would only be worse if I made him wait or got any adults involved. He didn’t even look at me as he grabbed my small arm in a bruising grip.

The mom looked ready to step in but I said, “Good bye, I’m sorry to have troubled you. Thank you for bringing me to the park.” I tried giving a ten years version of a reassuring face but my eyes welled up with tears while I smiled.

My foster dad sped away like a bat out of hell until we reached home. I barely had time to unbuckle my seat belt before he yanked me sideways out of the truck. The house that I was placed in was a shotty looking two story home with obvious repairs needing to be made. The yard was neglected and overgrown. A small trash bag was at the end of the stairs with two men in official looking suits with sunglasses standing there.

They both had short buzzed hair. The taller of the two with blonde hair and the other with brown hair. My foster dad didn’t say anything as he handed me over to the two men. I have never seen them before but they certainly didn’t look like social workers. I tried looking around them at the house to see where my foster mom was but I couldn’t see her anywhere in sight. She was always the nicer of the two. The suited up men handed my foster dad a suitcase I hadn’t noticed before and grabbed the trash bag. Blondie grabbed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. I hesitantly gave him one back wondering if maybe they were from the adoption agency, here to bring me to a better home.

Foster dad smiled victoriously and my stomach twisted. He didn’t smile like that when the agency came for a foster brother. He had gotten black out drunk and raged about the loss of income from the kid. I started to pull against Blondie. Whatever made Foster dad happy was not something I wanted to be a part of. Blondie sighed, before lifting me up and carrying me to the car across the street. I screamed and cried but no one in this neighborhood cared enough to take a look at the commotion.

That was the start of the rest of my life. The two guys, I now know them as Bert and Ernie (yes like Sesame Street), are some of the nicest people at the school. Ernie was the blonde and he believed he was truly saving me from a worse place than putting me with the school. They both believe they are doing right by us kids in the system. But I think they are even more brain washed than most.

When I look over at Nova, I see her deep into a book she brought for the flight. I decided to leave her to it and get some sleep instead. After setting an alarm on my phone so I don’t miss the deadline for Sergeant Cafael, I leaned my head on Nova’s arm and closed my eyes.

. . .

I woke up to a vibration on my arm. It didn’t take me much to wake up after the school started to give us emergency drill training in the middle of the night. We are trained for the slightest thing to wake us up in case we are ever attacked. It was disorientating to wake up somewhere that wasn’t my bedroom. But I remembered quickly that we were out on a mission and Sergeant Cafael told me to see him to be briefed before we landed.

Checking the time, I had a few minutes to get over to him. Nova had fallen asleep. Gently resting her head on mine. I eased myself out from under her, catching her head before it fell, and balanced it on the seat so she wouldn’t jolt awake. She hadn’t said anything about meeting her mentor earlier so I just left her there.

Around the plane most of the people were sleeping. The twins, Ethan and Tyler, had a deck of playing cards out in front of them, keeping them occupied. They were the loudest out of our group and the “trouble makers”. But in ways that were acceptable to the academy. Doing little pranks, playing loud music, somehow getting alcohol into the dorms. Not in my lets usurp the government way. Rose and Henry are snuggled up sleeping together on one row. Henry kept Rose close even while dead asleep. They are the class couple and have been together since they were 14, they will need to figure out the last name thing when they get married.

Almost everyone has dated everyone here. There’s not a very big dating pool when there are only 20 people per class. But when you realize that most of them are so brainwashed they can’t think for themselves, it kinda limits my dating pool. Anytime I tried bringing up how I’m bothered by what the government does, my partners blow me off or get too scared because of how they saw me treated in the past. I’ve worked hard to rise from full blown trouble making whistleblower to the top of my class, a perfect soldier with a hidden agenda.

Sergeant Cafael is awake by the time I reach him at the back of the plane. He has a compact map of the area spread out on the tray table.

“I know this isn't a huge map but it will help us get an idea about the area for now. Recon missions are just that, recon. No engaging with the enemy whatsoever. I don’t need any heroics out there. Heroes are the ones that end up dying. You understand me, Private Rowan?” He stared directly into my eyes with an intensity that made me want to look away. The chocolate brown of his eyes are a burning molton pool. I gulp and give him a sharp nod. He stares at me harder, if that's even possible. “I need to hear you say it. If there is enemy engagement, you need to get out of there immediately. Is that understood?”

I reassess his look. He feels very strongly about this. His posture is tense and directly aimed at me. Something must have happened before. The last time someone got hurt on one of these student recon missions was over ten years ago, that I know of. Which is definitely before his time.

“I understand, sir. No heroics.”

He nodded sharply before returning his attention to the map. “We will be landing here,” he says, pointing to a clearing. “The rogue was seen up on the mountain in proximity to a cavern system.” Pointing to a mountain on the map that had to be 5 or more miles away from the landing site. “Which runs with what we know for how they live in the wild. Now normally the younger generation tries to hide with the humans, so from what we know this may be an older adult. Everyone will have to be extra vigilant and cautious. I don’t know why they thought sending green kids on this mission was appropriate but not my call.”

Green meaning never field trained, but I narrowed my eyes at the kid comment. But I don’t say anything. He can’t be that much older than my 20. If he is, he has been blessed by the gods of antiaging.

“Each group will be approaching from a different angle to get as much info on the surrounding area as we can. We will be paired with Sergeant Ryans and his novice partner taking the most northern part. Once we are close to the cave systems, we will split up from them and explore the caverns if it is deemed needed. There was no intel on the cave system, so it was assumed previously undiscovered. Which could explain why a rogue would be out here and undiscovered for so long.”

I feel the color drain from my face. If this really is an adult rogue that's been living in the wild all this time. Then we are screwed if it spots us. They need a full tact team to take them dead or alive. At this point it'd probably be dead because they are so powerful.

Sergeant Cafael explains more about the route we’re taking and some more logistics I need to know and escape routes. If we are spotted by the dragon just run but do not run towards the group. You are on your own and should not endanger the company. We were taught how to survive in the wild and should be able to find a place to hold up for a few days before heading to a rondevu point in the closest town. The company will not wait at our landing site because it would probably be compromised if the rogue spotted it.

I’m really glad I took packing my bag seriously now that I know the stakes.