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You are correct Miranda, how very intuitive of you. Jake continued stressing; now you must hide
this thought in your mind. Do not think about it again, Dixon might be able to sense it in you.
Can you take me away from this place?
Soon Miranda, very soon I will come for you, until then be very careful child.
Thank you, oh thank you so much.
Two blocks away Dixon was in a foul mood. He had just received a report that his men had not
checked in for over a week now. This did not bode well; he knew in all probability they had
been found out and dealt with. Just how much information they had revealed did not bother
him. He never told them his plans, only what they were to do; so he felt relatively safe in the
fact that his true plans were still safe.
Damn it, that Jake has a hand in this, I know it. He thought to himself. He’s got to have someone
on the inside here. I know all my trusted men; they would die before giving any information. No, it
has to be someone I would never suspect – but who? I’m going to have to keep an eye out, see if I
can figure out who’s supplying that bastard with information.
He slammed his fist on the table.
Well it will do them no good; we leave in a couple of weeks. Then we will put an end to this Jake
and his dragons. My surprises are almost ready; we’ll take down those dragons and then plow
thru their so-called army.
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4
Daniel, Joe, Steve and Michael and Andrew stood on the front porch of the Riders House. The
map was spread out before them and they were going over it.
“Which one should we try first,” said Daniel looking at the other men.
“Daniel, my team and I know of a place near White Sands,” offered Joe. “It’s underground, in
one of the empty missile silo bunkers. Few knew of it; it was one of those last resort areas. We may still be able to get in there.”
Daniel looked at the map, “It’s not marked on the map.”
“It wouldn’t be, only a few of us knew about it,” replied Joe earnestly.
“Gentlemen, what do you say,” asked Daniel, “do we go with the map, or try Joe’s armory.”
All agreed, to go with Joe’s place. For some reason Daniel felt uneasy.
They mounted their dragons and Joe took the lead. Daowyn told Joe to think of the location in
his mind and he would be able to find it. As they made their way across the land they saw
several areas where the people came out and waved to them. It made them all feel good that
they weren’t afraid of them anymore. About an hour later they could see the approaching
desert. They came over a large sand dune and Joe began to descend. They landed on a flat
plain leading to a small mountain. They dismounted near a tin shack.
“This is it,” said Joe. “Inside that shack is an elevator; it has its own generator. It will take us down forty or fifty feet into a large cavern. That’s where the arms are stored.”
“Let’s take a look,” said Daniel walking towards the shack.
The men went to the shack and opened the door; the inside was sandy and full of cobwebs. Joe
went over to a sidewall and moved a piece of tin from the wall. There was a keypad.
“It needs a code to operate it,” asked Steve, “will it still work after so long?”
“Sure, I told you it had its own generator,” said Joe entering some numbers. “Simplest code
there is: 1-2-3 to go down and 3-2-1 to come back up.” He grinned.
They heard a metal scraping sound, then a low humming. Suddenly the back wall began to
shake, and then it slid to one side revealing the inside of an elevator.
“Hidden wall, damn!” said Steve surprised.
The five men got in the elevator and the door slid shut and they began to descend. Five minutes
later the door slid open to reveal a huge lighted cavern. There were row and rows of arms and
ammunition, all stored on wooden pallets.
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“Son of a bitch!” exclaimed Michael as they stepped off the elevator. “Hey, it’s cool down
here.”
“Will this be enough for what we have planned,” asked Steve of no one in particular?
“It’s a start,” said Joe looking around. “Enough for a small army, but we are going to need a
lot more if we plan to stop them for good.”
“Okay,” whispered Daniel. He looked around and then said, “Jake says we load up everything
in the trailers, and then we go to the next one. We don’t want to be lacking firepower when
they make their move. Joe,” Daniel called to him, “are there any flame throwers here?”
“No, not here,” answered Joe quickly, “maybe in the other bunkers.”
“Steve, you and Michael and Andrew go and get the first trailer and load up everything here
you can.” Looking at Joe Daniel continued, “Joe and I are going to scout out the other
armories. Keep in touch.”
“Right,” answered Steve, “I’ll let you know when we’re finished here.”
“Good.” Turning to Joe Daniel continued, “let’s go Joe.” They headed for the elevator and
were soon above mounting their dragons. “Now we try the Vegas site, for some reason we have
to go there; can’t explain it, just a feeling in my gut.”
Daniel and Joe took off and headed west, northwest. They flew over the broken remains of
what once was Las Vegas. There was no movement below them. They didn’t expect any; this
was one of the first places hit by the black dragons. They turned west and followed the map to
an abandoned airfield. There were burnt remains of several jets, and a destroyed tower and
hanger that had been shredded. Joe headed towards the hanger motioning Daniel to follow.
“There was always an entrance in the hanger,” he called over his shoulder. “We just have to
find it.”
Both men began lifting the twisted tin slabs and moving them out of their way. Their dragons
offered to help, but Daniel was worried about booby-traps. As they lifted a rather long piece of tin, Daniel spotted a wire.
“Don’t move Joe!” he shouted.
Joe froze as Daniel followed the wire to its source. It was a simple enough device and Daniel
quickly defused it. The scare was close enough; now both men were much more careful in their
movements. They concentrated on the area where Joe was sure there would be an entrance to
the bunker. So engrossed in what they were doing, they never heard the boy sneak up on them.
“Don’t move,” yelled a shaky young voice. Both men froze.
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Daniel, shall I teach this boy a lesson for you, asked Queenie quickly.
No Queenie, he hasn’t seen you two yet. I think he came up from underground. We can take care
of him. But I thank you for your gracious offer anyway. Daniel looked at Joe and made a signal with his hand.
Joe understood quickly and fell to his knees yelling, “No don’t shoot me! Please don’t shoot
me!”
The boy’s attention was momentarily distracted and that was when Daniel struck. He flipped
the boy up in the air and took his rifle away from him in one fluid movement. The boy hit and
lost his breath for a moment. He lay there on the ground looking up at the two men.
“That was pretty slick,” he said dryly. “So now what, gonna kill me?”
“Why would we do that,” answered Daniel, “we don’t even know you.”
The boy looked at the two men puzzled.
“We’re not marauders son, we just came to get some ammo to fight them,” Joe explained
quickly.
“Well, why didn’t you say so right away,” the boy said in exasperation, “I could have killed you
both?”
He stood up and told them he knew where the opening was; he’d been living down there ever
since the dragons had fired the base. He and two other boys had been hiding there while the
dragons attacked; they heard what was happening above them. After several days they came
above, but they couldn’t find anyone. So they had returned to the bunker.
“How old are you boy?” asked Joe.
“I’m sixteen, I think; I’m not too sure about the date.” The boy scratched his head, “Sam and
Billy are eleven and twelve. They’re still below hiding.”
Daniel looked at the boy and marveled that he and his friends were still alive. No wonder he
had felt the urge to come here first.
“What’s your name boy,” he asked in a kind tone. “How have you managed to live out here all
this time?”
“My name is David, sir,” he answered a little hesitantly. “Oh we have plenty of food; there are
crates of MRE’s down there.”
“My name is Daniel, and this is Joe. What if I told you we have a safe place we can take you,
David?” Daniel put his hand on the boys shoulder.
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“Really,” he asked in disbelief.
“They’re lying David!” A decidedly female voice shouted out, “don’t believe them; there are
two dragons outside! Run David, run!”
The boy jumped but Joe held on to him. “It’s ok, they’re our friends.”
Daniel couldn’t see where she was, so he stepped out into the open. He had an idea that only
the truth would work with this one.
“The silver one is called Queenie, she’s my companion.” He shouted to the back wall, “The
large green one is called Daowyn, Joe rides him. They are our friends, with their help we
managed to kill all the black dragons. We live to the east in a place called Dragons Hill with a lot of other people. There is a large force of marauders coming our way. We came here to find
arms and ammunition, so we could fight them.” Daniel waited.
The girl was well hidden. She wanted to believe them, but so much had happened she wasn’t
sure. They haven’t hurt David, maybe they are telling the truth. Oh God, I don’t know who to
believe!
“David,” Daniel looked at him, “what is your friend’s name? Maybe we can convince her
before she does something foolish.”
David sighed, “Her name is Amy... she’s why we’re still alive. She was a sergeant on the base
here; she made it to the bunker and dragged us in; she kept us safe after they left.”
Daniel called out to her, “My name is Daniel, Major Daniel Sherman of Special Ops. I am
asking you stand down soldier.”
“That won’t work on me,” she answered quickly.
“Daniel saw Queenie’s head rise over the rear wall of the hanger; I see her, my Daniel, she is
very frightened.
Hold there for a moment Queenie, maybe we can end this. Daniel took a step forward and called out, “Amy, if we meant you any harm, that dragon behind you would have roasted you by
now.”
Amy spun around and looked up, her eyes flew wide in terror, she screamed, and fainted dead
away. Daniel rushed to where Queenie indicated. Daniel lifted her up and carried her to Joe
and the boy. Joe took his canteen and poured water on her face. She sputtered and sat up
fighting them away from her.
“Who in the hell are you people?” She asked quickly looking around for the dragon.
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“I told you the truth Amy. I can appreciate what you and the boys have been thru, but it is
over now. You can come with us, and if you don’t like it, I’ll bring you back myself. You have
my word.” Daniel smiled at her and she was taken aback by his gentle manner.
“You are telling the truth,” she whispered finally convinced.
“Now, why don’t you bring your friends up here so we can introduce all of you to our dragons?
Dragons are sticklers about manners and polite behavior. I wouldn’t want my Queenie to think
of you as a bunch of ruffians.”
“Dragons have manners,” she said sarcastically raising her hand to her head, “Oh I’ve lost it,”
Shaking her head she turned and got a good look at Joe for the first time. “Holy shit!” she
jumped to her feet and saluted sharply, “Sir! Sgt. Amy Hicks, reporting, sir!”
Joe stood at attention and returned the salute, “You know me Sergeant?”
“Yes sir; you reported in at our base in San Diego just before the Burning started. I was on
orders to try out for your group in the Fall, I know all about you and your team sir.”
“Well then, believe everything Daniel just told you. It’s a different world now Amy, get used to it. Now, call those boys up here, they must be scared to death by now.” Joe ordered forcefully.
An hour later all four were standing between Daniel and Joe in front of the two large dragons.
Daniel and Joe had inspected the armory, and sent word for Michael and Steve to come back
with a trailer the next day and load up. Daniel gave the small group a short version of the last three years and then instructed them on how to approach a dragon in requesting a ride.
Permission was given for the dragons to speak with them.
David and Sam were delighted, and bowed and asked for a ride from Queenie. They were
thrilled when Queenie lowered her head and agreed, calling them young warriors. Daniel
instructed them how to climb on and the boys were on her back before he finished. Grinning
from ear to ear they sat there waiting for a laughing Daniel to mount.
Joe took Amy and Johnny with him and introduced them to Daowyn. Amy’s fear seemed to
vanish when she heard Daowyn’s strong voice in her mind complimenting her on her care of
the young boys in her charge. She did as instructed and helped Johnny do the same. Soon they
were on Daowyn’s back with Joe in the lead seat. They rose into the air and headed back
towards Dragons Hill. The boys were in heaven enjoying the ride as only young boys can. Amy
was full of questions and kept Joe busy answering them almost the entire ride back. Finally Joe
told her he would introduce her to Master Jeffery and he would be able to answer all her
questions.
Daniel called ahead and relayed all that had occurred to Jake. The mesa was full of riders and
dragons when they landed. As they dismounted they were all brought to Jake and
introductions were made. The thrill of hearing Jake call them young warriors and welcoming
them to Dragons Hill left them all with the ‘grin’ on their faces. They were taken below to the
Great Hall and introduced to the residents of Dragons Hill.
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The boys adapted quickly and were soon seen running all over the place. Amy found her way
to Master Jeffery and questions began flying. He gave her a copy of the Dragon Chronicles to
read telling her all her answers would be found in them. She read and reread, and two days
later a different Amy approached Daniel and asked what she could do to help. He asked her if
she would like to go to Evansville to help in training their army.
She quickly agreed and caught a ride with Joe when he returned there to check on things. She
made a special effort to compliment Daowyn on his prowess and regal bearing. She received a
nudge in return upon landing which thrilled her. Joe had kept Stuart and his men informed
and up to date on everything that had gone on, so they were prepared for Amy’s arrival. She
was put in charge of the women’s barracks and their training in the use of firearms. She was
content in the knowledge that at last she could do something constructive to put an end to this
nightmare.
All the residents of Evansville had pitched in and helped with building the barracks for the
army they would need. They were simple buildings, enough to protect from the elements. The
men and women who volunteered for the fight soon began arriving on the backs of dragons and
in the specially equipped trailers. Training began as soon as a barracks was filled.
Amy trained her women well in the use of Crossbows and rifles. She had them work out
constantly, teaching simple hand-to-hand combat techniques. She knew it could make all the
difference if things got nasty. From her group she selected two women who excelled showed an
expertise in being able to handle themselves. These two women were both quite tall, lean, and
well muscled. She trained with them and taught them the use of another kind of weapon - a
samurai sword. In the weeks that followed, she and they could be seen towards the back of the
town going thru their moves with grace and precision.
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