Author:
Anna Mantovani is an author, blogger and songwriter based in Turin, Italy. She has a degree in Media Engineering and works in the railway sector. With her sister Maria Carla, also a science-fiction writer, she manages the blog “The Mantovanis”, which focuses on independent speculative fiction and geek culture. With her husband Dario (and sometimes their two kids as guest stars) she plays in the electropop duo “Sedona”. Find out more at: www.themantovanis.blog.

The story is set in the fictional city of Europa, in Central Europe, the last city left after a nuclear war that made most of the Earth uninhabitable and woke up dragons - prehistorical creatures that caused an mass outbreak of a lethal disease that decimated the population and turned the survivors into scale-covered, violent mutants that rebel against the government.

Sophie, a young doctor working for her boss Amanda Solarin in a medical facility, accidentally meets an elderly woman, Emma, who miraculously recovered from the dragon plague, and whose blood could be the key to a vaccine. Saving Emma from government persecution, Sophie goes on the run with her.

Meanwhile, Erik Persson, a police officer, sets out to track Sophie and Emma, while suspecting that a mole might be hiding in the ranks of the police.

Sophie and Emma hide in the slums and after almost getting caught by the police several times they finally fall in the hands of the rebels; in her captivity, Sophie discovers that the plague survivors are not as irrational and violent as the press portrays them and agrees to work with them to develop a vaccine. She also discovers that some of the survivors have the ability to communicate telepathically with a dragon.

She meets the General, the leader of the rebels, whose name is Cain, and despite her fear for his terrifying looks and enigmatic personality, she is strangely attracted to him.

The Dragon Plague

 Erik showed up on his new job on Monday morning, a little early.


The job was in the tenth ring, and he had left with plenty of time to spare, but the trip was shorter than he had expected.


Staring at the façade of the anonymous building, not could not restrain a sigh. He couldnt believe that, after all these years of service, Hoffman could move him to such a position.


He had said goodbye to his colleagues on Friday afternoon: they were all very nice, some even visibly moved despite doing their best to play down the episode. None had mentioned the conspicuous absence of Hernandez, who had quietly gone away the week before.


It's just a see you later, isnt it? Meyer said. You just keep it quiet for a while, and in a few months you'll be back with us.


Erik felt much more melancholy than he had imagined he would as he said goodbye to Laura Meyer: after all, she had been a constant presence in his life for more than ten years, with her intelligence, her humour, her beauty... 


Chapter 37