Tolbert awakened with a jolt at the sound of roaring. His sword sat across his lap and not too far away a dragon breathing fire at a sleek grey ship caught his eye. He stood up with a groan. Pain seared his face. Touching it, he discovered bruising.

Tolbert noticed the two women standing behind the ship's shield, fighting the dragon. Recollection flooded into his mind, and a wave of seething anger boiled up inside of him. He was not some helpless wimp; he was a man at least.

Standing up Tolbert grabbed the sword off his lap. His face went blank, as he came up behind the dragon. Tolbert watched the dragon breathe and fire erupt from its mouth. Tolbert spied a small hole in its armour just under its head. Tolbert ran straight along the length of the dragon. The noise of laser fire and belching fire drowned out the sounds of Tolbert’s feet. He ducked under the head of the dragon as a gout of flame issued forth. As it finished, he thrust his sword right into the chink in the armour. The blade passed through the dragon’s neck and spine, killing the dragon instantly. The deadweight of the dragon fell on top of him.

The two pirates ceased shooting as the dragon crumpled into a heap; they stepped out and investigated.

“You would think that a city with a dragon would at least be fireproof,” Blonde commented.

“It looks like the city came before the dragon,” commented Black, observing the ruined streets and collapsed buildings.

“I am just glad those shields kicked in,” returned Blonde.

“Worth every credit if you ask me.”

“Too right.”

As they circled around the dragon, the dragon shook and heaved. Bursting forth from the mouth of the dragon, Tolbert was covered in slime and grime, in several varying shades of blue and green.

“Are you Okay?” questioned Blonde, approaching Tolbert.

Tolbert lifted the sword and turned to face the two pirates. In a quick succession of sweeping cuts, he downed both pirates before they knew they were dead.

Tolbert spat at the black-haired pirate’s remains. The raging fire cooled a little as he let go of the pain. I don’t think I will ever forget but at least I feel a little better. He quickly walked up the gantry into the sleek grey ship. Sitting down in the command chair, he smiled pleasantly. The control interface was the very same one he used on his ship. He closed the gantry and took off.

After take-off, the computer asked Tolbert for his clearance code.

Tolbert looked around the small cockpit and spied the mountain of Jewellery piled on a bench, “Loot”

“Error. Clearance code incorrect,” the computer declared. “Shutting down main thrusters”

“Dammit,” cursed Tolbert as the ship began to glide over a building its engines stalling before going offline altogether. I killed a dragon. I will not let a simple computer kill me. Pulling back on the control yoke, Tolbert tried to control the ships landing. The grey ship crashed into the corner of a low sitting building, bouncing off and barrelled through the window of another, finally dropping to the ground and crashing into the side of a road. On one side were high-rise collapsed buildings and on the other a vast open park. Inside, a support beam ruptured and pierced through Tolbert’s, and impaling him to the chair. He coughed up blood every intake of breath painful. Life slowly ebbed out of him with each strained beat of his heart.

A loud crash to the west drew Strikers attention. Striker had found a place in an untouched building, one he could bunk down in for the night. It was a place just below ground level, a two-room apartment not too dirty and safe from the monsters. Another loud crash sounded as a small grey ship came out of the neighbouring building and plummeted to the ground, skidding to a stop against the park wall.

Striker shut the door to the apartment and trotted over to the spaceship. As he arrived, puffing, the gantry opened up to him. Striker paused and looked inside. He saw a small ship that was just a single room on each side of the cabin and two bunks strapped into the wall. At the front, two chairs sat facing the viewscreen. It was fuzzy with static. Striker then spotted a support beam that had skewered the chair.

Cautiously, Striker edged inside the craft. As he neared the command chair he saw blood dripping down the support beam and pooling underneath the chair. He gingerly stepped around the pooling blood and found Tolbert lying impaled to the chair, the support beam coming out of his chest.

Striker cursed. Every time he got close to Tolbert, it was seconds after he had died. Why couldn’t I have reached him before he died?

The forward console shuddered, emitting a spark. Striker covered his face involuntarily. A second spark greater than the first followed, Striker backed out of the craft. The sparks grew brighter and more frequent. Striker continued to back off. The spark stopped flashing and maintained a steady glow.

Striker backed away from the craft. Suddenly, the ship ignited and blew up. The blast was contained by the ships own shields. Striker looked on in horror as the small grey craft went up in a brilliant explosion and a white-hot flash of light.

Down the road, a pale woman in a white shift watched the explosion with a grin. She frowned with the dimming of the light as she saw Striker standing outside the blast radius. The pale woman blinked out.

Groaning awake, Tolbert took in his surroundings. He lay leaning up against a wall, a longsword sitting in his lap. At least my swords are coming with me. Glancing down an alleyway, he saw a raptor root through the bins looking for food.

Tolbert stood up and the noise attracted the raptor. It spun to face him and warbled off a single chirp.

Tolbert watched it as it came down the alley. This little raptor is not going to stop me. I killed a dragon I can take on anything. As it got closer, Tolbert raised his sword and swung when the raptor reached him. The single strike connected and decapitated the raptor. Tolbert shouldered the sword and turned; the headless body of the raptor crumpled to the floor.

He smiled to himself. Walking along the street with a swing in his step, Tolbert hummed to himself, a tuneless ditty. The sound of his humming attracted a couple of raptors. They ran screeching out of an alleyway. Tolbert brought down his sword, crumpling a raptor to the ground. He lashed out with a foot and sent the other skidding back into a wall. Tolbert lifted the sword out of the dead raptor and strolled up to the other. The second raptor rose to meet Tolbert and gave off a single gurgled chirp as Tolbert brought the sword down in a killing blow.

Wiping the dead raptor blood off the sword, Tolbert resumed his tuneless humming while sauntering down the street. Where are all the people? This must be real. There are no people in this reality. They must have all fled, leaving me to deal with the trolls and raptors alone. I am tired of dying alone.

As raptors emerged from the alleyways and side streets, Tolbert dispatched them all with ease. Tolbert arrived at a major intersection. He stopped, looking, but failed to find any standing readable street signs.

A roar came from Tolbert’s left. Turning, Tolbert saw a large troll standing all alone in the middle of the street. Tolbert readied his sword for the troll. Tolbert held his ground as the troll charged. At the last moment, Tolbert leapt to the side, avoiding the first strike. Landing expertly on his feet, he charged at the troll that was now facing away from him. He sliced at the troll’s legs and hamstrung it.

The troll growled.

Tolbert came from the side slashing, taking off an arm. Tolbert frowned. He quickly avoided a clumsy swing from the immobilised monster. He stabbed at the creature’s side.

Blood poured out, but the monster swung again at him.

Tolbert blocked the fist with the flat of the sword. Everything slowed down. He could see every move the troll made and reacted to it before he knew what he was doing. Tolbert jumped onto the back of the troll and impaled the troll. He had punctured a lung. The troll gurgled blood. He stepped up the creature’s back and sliced through its neck, taking its head clean off. Finally, I am getting better. Now when I find someone to help me, I won’t be useless.

In the shadows, Gaby watched Tolbert cut and slice the troll with his longsword. She lined up his head and cracked off a single bullet. Noiselessly, the bullet sped towards its final destination and impacted Tolbert’s head the hollow point bullet going straight through him and out the other side. He was dead before he realised that he was in danger. A satisfied smile lit up her face as she melted down the alleyway. You, Tolbert, should be with Striker right now.