This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL

First published on my wordpress: Here

-------------------

The two stared at me with questioning eyes until I finally gave them an explanation. “As you grow a resistance to the poison, your body grows stronger, sturdier. Remember the red mist expulsion technique I spoke to you about on the radio? When you use it, the effects on your body are even more pronounced. Also, the effects remain for a few minutes after you stop using the technique. This mean that you should be able to suture my wound in a few minutes.”

The two were silently staring at me in the eyes, trying to decide if I was being honest or not. Truthfully, they had no reason to doubt me, especially after witnessing themselves how hard my skin could become. “This is astonishing. How much stronger have you become?” Curiously asked Robert.

“Last time I checked, I could lift 1000 pounds.” Their eyes became round like coins and their jaws dropped. “I-I can’t believe this… So this is how you could defeat all those monsters?” Then inquired Camille, to which I responded with a silent nod.

“Any negative side effects?” She then continued. So far I hadn’t noticed any negative side effect. Seeing red fog everywhere was certainly annoying, but I was getting used to it. I also didn’t know if the others would “evolve” the ability to see it themselves later since they can’t see the red sun.

We continued our idle chatter as Robert was poking my wound with a needle containing anaesthetic. At first he couldn’t, but after a few more minutes the needle finally went it allowing him to finally numb the pain. “Woaa! You were right. Now the suturing needle should be able to go through if I apply enough force.” He finally said before beginning the stitching.

A sudden moment of awkward silence was a perfect excuse to look around the room. (Which was actually a corridor.) The floor was dirty, the walls were also dirty, the survivors themselves were dirty. They told me they gathered rainwater from the roof, so water shouldn’t be the issue. I suspected them to be this way because they had given up and were slowly waiting for death.

Camille was silently observing the stitching process, throwing occasional glances at my chest. I was getting embarrassed, I knew my chest was amazing and everything but how could she blatantly stare at me like that. What a shameless woman. While I was lost in my delusional ‘shut-in’ world, Camille finally opened her mouth.

“Hemm, I have been looking for a while now and I was wondering…” Woaaa? Really? She’s going to admit it just like that? And now, does she want to offer me sex or something? Wait, that doesn’t make sense right? My cheek instantly turned red in embarrassment. What was I even thinking about.

“That necklace, what is it? I get a creepy vibe from it.” Haaa! So that’s what she was looking at? I am so dumb… *Face-palm* I had no real reason to hide the dragon story from them, so I quickly recalled the story while Robert finished dealing with my shoulder. I was happy, that way the awkward silence was over.

“You’re saying there’ real dragons like in the movies living here?” Robert couldn’t help but yell. Instantly, many heads began to pop out from doorways and were looking at us with questioning eyes. Sigh* Look like we still had a lot of catching up to do, but to be honest I couldn’t wait to be alone again.

Everybody got into the room as I was putting my clothes back on. We all sat in a circle surrounding a camping propane lamp. It was my first time getting to clearly see them all at the same time. Nobody was keeping watch apparently… They were all in a hurry to learn about the dragon but I first wanted everybody to introduce themselves.

I already knew Robert the surgeon, Camille the doctor, Marc-André the mechanic and Alice the rock specialist/jewellery maker. I hadn’t seen Alice yet but I knew she was 55 years old and there was only one woman fitting that age.

She was a big lady who didn’t have a gentle face. The wrinkles on her face seemed to indicate a stern temperament. Knowing these guys had been starved for a few months, she must have been seriously obese in the beginning to still be this fat.

Next was the hot chick, the one I first met after the men. She was terribly beautiful with her dark brown hair and Persian blue eyes. (Actually quite similar to mine.) “My name is Emanuela Tamez. Don’t go thinking I’m Mexican because of my name, I actually can’t speak Spanish. I’m 24 years old, I used to work for a swimsuit modelling agency but my dream is-, was to be a singer.” She had lost her smile by the end of her presentation and became gloomy.

Well, what can I say. On paper, totally worthless. But on paper I was a NEET, so I knew better than to judge her based on her job. After her was an elderly man. It was a miracle that he had survived thus far. “Urr, my name is Léopaul Garon, 63 years old, retired engineer. I am the one fixing things around here. Hurhuhurhu*” He said before giving a hearty laugh. He had long grey hair, a big red nose and gave a warm and gently impression.

Engineer… No wonder he was still alive. They had definitely protected him. He not only seemed incredibly nice, but his knowledge made him even more precious considering our situation. Last but not least, was a young girl who seemed to be around 12 or 13 years old.

She was hiding, totally glued to Camille and I hadn’t heard her say a word since the beginning. When she noticed I was looking at her and expecting her to introduce herself, she swiftly hid behind Camille who showed a warm and gentle smile as she patted her head.

“She’s Annie. I’m not sure about her age but she should be around 13 or 14. She went through a lot for her age, and since her parent’s death, she hasn’t spoken a word.” Everybody was silent, apparently sad for the little girl. Seeing how much she clung to Camille, I had first guessed she was her daughter or little sister.

Curiously, everybody had blue eyes and almost everybody also had brown hair. Only Camille had blonde hair and Léopaul’s were grey. If I was to say who was attractive and who wasn’t, I’d have to say that Emanuela was a 9.5/10, Camille a 7.5/10, Marc-André a 7 I guess.. Hard to judge guys. Then Robert the surgeon with his balding head was no more than a 5, Alice and Léopaul were old and ugly so there was no use to give them a rating. Then the young Annie, well I don’t rate kids. She’s super cute, as a kid…

As for me, I never considered myself ugly, but not a toyboy either. Anyway, I was happy to see that I personally knew none of them and didn’t need to hide my identity any longer. “Ok, now is my turn I guess. I am Nathan, 30 years old, dragon slayer.” I first thought of starting with a joke, since talking in public was making me sick to my stomach.

Some of them giggled, but Camille and Robert who knew what I was wearing around my neck didn’t. I then recounted the day I had killed the dragon once again and got a few gasps and visibly, some of them didn’t believed me. After giving them a few more details, I believed I had convinced most of them of the veracity of my tale.

Alice who used to be a jewellery maker seemed to be especially interested by my necklace and even asked to hold it. I gave it to her and she quickly began to inspect and fiddle with it. “This look like a glass eye to me. These teeth are also quite small for dragon’s tooth…” She then said, rekindling people’s doubts about my story.

“That’s because I picked the smallest tooth. The big ones would have made the necklace even bulkier and more awkward than he already is. I kept the dragon’s head at a safe location. I also tanned some of its skin, kept tendons, bones and even the liquid napalm it can spit. Anyway, what would I gain from lying about this?”

Everybody seemed convinced by my answer this time but Alice wasn’t finished. “What about I take these materials and make you a proper, professionally made necklace out of it?” I had my doubt about her offer. Could she simply want to steal it from me? Why would she even offer to do this for me? Seeing my doubtful expression, the fat lady showed her usual frown and continued.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am not offering to do this for free. In exchange, would you accept to help and teach us how to survive the way you do?” That was quite a good offer since I had already decided to do it for free. I was also curious to see how she intended to make this necklace ‘better’.

“Alright but not until I make another one with the other eye. It might only be my superstition, but I could swear this necklace has the ability to scare some monsters away.” They were all very interested by this, but they were already the ones indebted to me and wouldn’t dare asking for more at the moment.

If they wanted a dragon necklace, they could go out and try to kill their own dragon and see how easy it is. (Sarcasm over 9000!) “Perfect! I will make something really nice out of this. Butttt…. I will need my faceting machine and jewellery making tools… They are at my shop on the main street.” She suddenly added without an ounce of shame.

Urgg.. I knew there was a catch after all. The sun should soon be rising, but I hadn’t slept or eaten in awhile. All I wanted was to get this over with and go back to my bunker. “Sighh* I get it. Who’s coming with me to the grocery store for resupply? I will be your bodyguard but you lot will do the looting. I brought you masks that will give you more mobility and protection.”

They all hesitated for a while but the sexy Emanuela eventually raised her hand and with a mischievous smile said; “I’ll go! I’ll feel safe if Nate guards my body. teehee*” This instantly made Marc-André frown and raise his hand as well. Camille said she wanted to come but Annie began to cry so they decided she should stay.

Then the only one left to consider would have been Robert, but he looked really bad. He was very thin and adding to that last night’s injuries, he seemed barely able to walk. It looked like we would be 3 after all. The sexy Spanish girl and her jealous boyfriend. Sigh* Wonder why I hate human interactions?

What made our first meeting even more awkward was the obvious conflict of emotions I could feel from them. I mean, they had lost a certain guy named David a few hours back, but were probably desensitized since they had lost more than 50 people in less than 5 months.

They were also happy since I brought them some kind of hope, so they were grieving in silence not to be bad hosts I guess. I took my necklace back from Alice and grabbed my backpack. “Get ready, we leave at sunrise.” I said before leaving without saying goodbye. “Where are you going?” Inquired Emanuela.

“I’m going to prepare a vehicle. You, prepare yourself.” I said before closing the zipper. I then walked down the corridors, inspecting the barricades and making sure nothing had come in. I eventually exited the building and stood in front of the hospital. The sky was deep red as the sun had yet to appear on the horizon.

“Nogg Nog noG NoG!*” That familiar sound froze my blood. The giant Godzilla carcass was being devoured by hundreds of little ‘alien mutant monster chickens’. What a familiar scene this was. This time I would remember not to mess with them. As long as you don’t bother them, they should ignore you.

I soaked in the rising sun and lit a cigarette to relax. I knew for a fact there was a pickup truck inside the garage of the big house I was currently staring at. This was the house I had gotten my katana from yesterday. I already knew where the truck’s keys were and couldn’t see any threatening creatures around. This was going to be an easy mission.

I strolled, cigarette in hand across the parking lot. Some cockroaches spotted me but seemed to keep their distances. This was getting a lot easier thanks to my necklace. Or maybe they had learned that I was a threat to them? Who knows how smart or dumb these creatures really are.

Groolowlwolwo* My stomach was aching, sign that I was getting seriously hungry. Finally reaching the house, I entered, closed the door and pulled a few pieces of dragon dried meat out of my bag. This will have to do for now, I thought to myself.

I grabbed the keys which were still where I had last seen them and went to the alcohol cabinet for a few sips. Then, while still munching on some jerky, I made my way out to the garage. This time it was a grey dodge ram. Almost everyone had a pickup truck in my town. This was now very useful.

I started the engine and made sure everything was in working order and also if there was enough gas in the tank, then got back out of the truck. The garage door was an electric one but there was no electricity anymore. Luckily, these doors also had a manual mechanism. It was a string that you needed to pull in order to release the lock, then simply lift it manually.

I opened the door, got the truck out and closed it back. I sat back in the truck, adjusted the mirrors and seat position. Then, I lit a cigarette and drove off toward the hospital. This truck seemed to be in good condition and had plenty of power which was a good thing. I stopped in front of the hospital and waited for the other two to come out.

As I was relaxing and smoking, I noticed a pair of sunglasses hanging from the sun visors. Since it was sunny, I decided to put them on and since I was also getting bored, I decided to put some music on. The CD collection in the armrest was quite shitty, but the best pick seemed to be Nirvana, the “NEVERMIND” album.

There were two CDs so I inserted disk one in the CD player before looking at the back of the box for the titles. The first song began, and it was “Smell like teen spirit”. This was one of my favourite songs so I felt no hesitation to pump up the volume a few notches.

As I was flailing my arms around, singing along with a cigarette in hand and sunglasses on, I failed to notice movement to my right. When I finally did, I saw two persons standing there. They had guns in hands, gas masks on, hanging jaws and incredulous eyes.

A bit embarrassed, I quickly turned the radio off and acted cool, as if they had seen nothing. “You truly are something aren’t you?” Said the beautiful Emanuela with a bright smile. As for Marc, he seemed displeased and mumbled something I couldn’t hear. “I can’t believe this guy, seemingly enjoying himself in a world where the rest of us drop like flies.”

Not to incommode them, I threw my cigarette out and waited for them to jump on board. Emanuela had a rifle, while Marc-André had a shotgun. Emanuela instantly hijacked the front seat next to mine, forcing Marc to grouch his way into the back. He should consider himself lucky, if this truck had been a 2 seater, he would have been stuck in the box.

When everybody was in position, I drove off and went past the giant Godzilla carcass. I was wondering why Emanuela and Marc didn’t make a big deal out of all these monster chickens, but it was later clarified by Emanuela. “You should avoid driving too close to them. We never messed with them since they don’t attack us but I’m sure it could get ugly if we did.”

What can I say, they had been smarter about it than me back then. I needed to remember to never mention my ‘evil chicken misadventure’ to them at the risk of losing some of my “Dragon Slayer” credibility. I wanted to be their pillar of strength, the one they could rely on for their protection. I couldn’t afford to show weakness when I was with them.

I drove straight past the two intersections and entered the grocery shop parking lot. I parked the truck right next to the front door like I usually do and left the engine running. There were a few creatures that had been attracted by the engine noise and were running toward us, so I got out of the truck with my katana in hand and turned to my two acolytes. “Stay in the truck until I’m finished clearing the area.”

I closed the door and unsheathed my sword with a smile on my face. I needed to be wary of my left shoulder but swinging my sword around needed only my right arm. I began to leak some red mist out of my body which made my hair and clothes move like the wind would.

Some of the creatures immediately stopped and ran away, but there were still 10 creatures coming at me. They were now less than 20 meters away so I grabbed a small pebble and threw it at one of them. The pebble went right through and exited on the other side of its body like a bullet.

Now at 10 meters, I grabbed another rock and did the same again before charging at the 8 remaining creatures with my sword. I effortlessly slashed the first 3 creatures, but one of them flanked me and bit my ankle. It broke its teeth on it and got its head chopped off afterwards but this could have been dangerous without the red mist power.

‘Enough playing around’, I then thought to myself. Letting my mind drift into the ‘red mist trance’, I began to stomp, slash and punch everything coming my way. I had tried to avoid this “berserker” type of fight, but it was what I did best after all. The only problem was that I was once again covered with smelly blue/purple blood and guts.

Annoyed to always end up covered in this shit, I walked back up to the truck and gestured them to get moving. They opened the door with a crowbar and entered. I followed behind them after closing the door and participated in the corpse removal routine. To me it was a routine, but I could tell that it was a traumatizing experience to them.

Actually I was surprised to see Emanuela doing a lot better than Marc who was discretely puking in the corner. You know what they say, if it’s about mental strength, many women will give any men a run for their money. As I was dragging another corpse to a corner, I noticed my two partners had suddenly disappeared.

Worried, I called out to them but got a worrying answer. “Wef wereh! Fonf wowwy.” This was Emanuela’s voice, and she sounded like she was in trouble. Worried, I ran toward her voice and jumped with all my strength over an entire aisle before crash-landing into some shelves. It was my first time jumping with all my strength under the ‘red mist doping’, and I was not disappointed.

I wasn’t expecting to be able to jump more than 3 meters high. This unknown had caused me to crash into some dried pasta shelves. I was feeling quite stupid but it got worse when Emanuela and Marc simply walked up to me, mouths full of granola bars and asked; “Awe fou awfright?” “Sigh* Yea nevermind me. Next time warn me before disappearing like that.”

A bit annoyed, I walked away and exited the store before sitting on the hood of the truck. There, I lit a cigarette and kept a lookout for any potential dangers while the other two began filling the truck with rice, beans, pasta, canned food and other stuff. I would occasionally get down and kill some creatures before getting back up on the hood.

Every-time when Marc was alone inside, Emanuela would come to me and try holding conversations. As I suspected, her behaviour seemed to indicate there was something between the two of them since she felt the need to talk to me discretely. I was not very interested in love triangles, and had no intention to get involved with this, so I was vaguely ignoring her at this point.

It took only 30 minutes but the truck was already quite full. I told them it was enough for now and sat back in the truck. We still had another place to go before heading back to the hospital. That fat lady had promised me a professionally made necklace, and I was intending to take her up on her offer. The problem was that her shop was located in an area I still hadn’t explored so far. It was very close by, but the unknown was what troubled me the most.

Marc quickly got in the truck with me while Emanuela was closing the door of the store. He was annoyingly staring at me through the mirror for a while before finally saying what he had on his mind. “She acts that way just to piss me off but keep in mind that’s she’s my girlfriend. So don’t get any funny ideas in your head.” He then said with a menacing glare in his eyes.

God I hate human interactions, it’s always filled with crap like that. I didn’t touch her, I didn’t want to touch her, (Ok maybe a little) but most of all, I wanted nothing to do with their relationship. Not knowing what to say, I blurted out what came to mind. “I’m not the one doing anything here.”

Obviously, he didn’t seemed satisfied with my answer. Emanuela finally jumped in with us while still munching on some dried fruits. She looked like a squirrel… “Munch munch* Are we going back now?” She asked in between two mouthful. “No, one more place to go. We have to get Alice’s tools. Grab your guns and be on full alert from now on.”

The two of them did as I asked as we pulled out of the parking area and through the intersection. From there on, it was unexplored territory. I drove slowly, swerving between abandoned cars parked in the middle of the road. A few cockroaches came at us but I simply drove over them.

We turned right and finally reached the main street. It was not a big street, actually it was a very small one since it dated from the colonial period. Because of its history, this street was very narrow with the buildings sitting right next to the street. This place was stifling, I couldn’t help but feel like the buildings were closing in on me.

With our heads on a swivel, we slowly drove down the street before finally reaching the jewellery store. Same as last time, I got out and killed a few creatures, but when I turned around to tell them to come with me, I noticed they had some sort of argument, so I decided to leave them to sort it out and went in the store alone.

Luckily, the door was unlocked as usual. It was dark so I pulled out my trusty flashlight and had a look around. Alice had asked me to bring a few necklaces, her boxes of precious stones stored in the back and her tools. I immediately began to break the display cases and fill my bag with gold, silver and all kind of expensive stuff.

In this situation, I totally looked like a robber. I rapidly grabbed what I needed and went to the back-store to get her tools but was met with a very bad surprise. Most of her tools were not a problem but she had explicitly asked for her faceting machine. The problem was that this machine was as big as these old bulky sewing machines from back in the days.

Using red mist doping, I eventually managed to load it in the back of the truck while being careful not to pop my stitches out. Enamnuela and Marc had been fighting and yelling at each other the entire time as I loaded it. I almost didn’t want to get back in and felt like chilling out until they were finished.

They didn’t seemed to care if I could hear so I ended up eavesdropping on them a little. From what I could understand, Emanuela had a boyfriend back on earth, but ended up hooking up with Marc-André during these last months. It’s not like she would ever see her boyfriend again anyway. (Not that I had given hope of finding a way back home, but…)

It also seemed like Emanuela didn’t consider her relation with Marc as something serious, but Marc hadn’t seen it that way and had grown attached to her. What I thought about this, was that Emanuela was simply trying to dump him since she had found someone better. (Me) This was a situation you often see in dramas, so I knew it would only end badly. Even more reasons to stay away from this mess.

As soon as I opened the door, the two of them instantly went silent. This was a good thing for me, so I silently sat and immediately drove off. This time, I drove a lot faster as I wanted these two out of my sight as fast as possible. I made a turn right into a small road but stomped on the break, sending Emanuela fly into the windshield. “Owwww What the f-”

She interrupted her scolding as she saw what had made me stop so suddenly. “W-wha- Kyaaa!” A few meters ahead of us was something I had hoped not to encounter again. It was the titan snake from my first expedition. I wasn’t sure if it was the same one as last time, but it looked a lot like it.

This thing was huge! Estimating its length was almost impossible since it was all coiled up on itself. The creature was staring at us, in a ready to strike position. Its tongue was flickering nervously but the snake wasn’t coming toward us. He didn’t seem ready to attack, but more ready to defend itself.

With Emanuela and Marc both freaking out next to me, I backed away very slowly and turned around toward the direction we had come from. Even if it was longer, we would take the longer route. Better make detours and use routes we know to be safe.

A few minutes later, we were finally back to the hospital. Emanuela ran off to bring people to help unloading, leaving me alone with Marc once again. This time he didn’t speak to me and didn’t even look at me. Annoyed, I simply ignored him and did my things.

With the entire group helping to unload, things went pretty quickly. At this point I was hungry, tired, and sick of being in other people’s company. Wanting to be gone as soon as possible, I dropped Alice’s tools and emptied the jewelries I had in my bag. The fat lady then came up to me and browsed through everything I had brought.

“Hmmmm looks like you took everything I need.” For once, she wasn’t frowning and seemed relatively happy. I gave her my dragon necklace and said my goodbye to everybody. Camille, Emanuela and the old Léopaul wanted me to stay for a feast but I wanted to be back home and sleep for 12 hours straight at this point.

I made my way out with a few of them following behind me, then jumped back in my truck. We waved at each others as I left the hospital and soon enough, they became small dots in my rear view mirrors. Knowing they were now relatively safe, I could relax and enjoy my solitude once again.

I didn’t know if it was because I didn’t have my necklace anymore but I met a lot more monsters than usual on my way back. Luckily, they were all the weak blue blooded type so I simply drove over them. As I turned left on my road, I finally began to relax once again.

I turned right and went up my driveway. I was very happy to see that nothing had been touched. Knowing they could use this truck to locate me, I parked it behind the house, out of view. Next, I pulled the second eye out of the now completely rotten dragon head’s eye socket and stuffed it in my pocket.

I would need to make another necklace while Alice was working on a fancier one. I then entered and rapidly went down in my bunker. There, I once again threw all my equipment in a corner of the room and jumped in the shower.

These other survivors were so dirty and stinky that I felt like washing twice just in case. I then quickly cooked and ate a steak before collapsing on my bed. I couldn’t tell if this had been a good or a shitty day to be honest.

As I was about to drift asleep, Camille spoke through the radio. “I hope you made your way back safely. Emanuela told us how amazing it was to see you fight. I hope I will get the opportunity to spend some time with you as well. If you can hear this, thank you for everything.”

Then the radio went silent. As my consciousness was slowly drifting away, I couldn’t shake the smile off my face. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.