Chapter 8: Harsh Reality

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"Sis? You ok?" Said Nora as she walked over to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yah, I'm fine" I replied, as I began to look around at the crowd of dragons that were quietly talking to each other. Some now had small scars or one or two missing scales on their body that we're not there before. Though the children were relatively unscathed as they would take off first before the adults would follow when danger appear.

I then looked back at Nora, who was looking at me with a concerned look on her face. You could tell from the way she was looking around that she was on alert and was no longer as carefree as she was 10 days ago. I let out a sigh before I looked up at the sky then back at Nora and said "have you seen Jay?" With a clearly exhausted voice. In response, Nora shook head and said "no" before she too, began to look around for him. It didn't take long for us to spot him as he was talking with Noah in the middle of the crowd.

"Let's go" I said to Nora as I got up from where I was sitting and slowly walked to where Jay and Noah were. "Hay guys" I said, as I arrived next to them. Jay, then slowly looked my way along with Noah with a dragons equivalent of bags under their eyes. "What's up?" Asked Jay as he stared at me along with Noah. "Nothing much, just checking in. How are you guys faring so far?" I said slowly as I sat down and Nora followed suit minutes later.

Jay chuckled at this before saying "I'm doing the best I can here, it's not great but It's not terrible. I can manage". I did my best to smile at his statement before I looked to Noah, waiting for his response. Noah then looked at me and said "do you think we're gonnasurvive this?" With genuine fear present in his voice as his eyes began to dart around. It pained me to see him this way as just 10 days before it was almost completely different, it just goes to show what fear can do to you. We sat in silence as we all knew none of us could answer this question with it not being a lie or even convinced any of us.

I then looked at Nora and said "what about you? Have you been doing these past few days?". Nora was staring at her brother with obvious sadness presence in her eyes. She then looked up at me when she heard my question and said "I don't know, I really don't know. But I know I'm scared and I don't want to die … again" there was an obvious crack in her voice, as it sounded like she was on the verge of tears. I quickly shifted my body and hugged her with my upper two legs while sitting down on my lower two, balancing myself with my tail. "Shhhhh it's ok" I said, as I patted her back and tried tocomfort her to the best of my ability.

Soon after I began to hear sniffling sounds. I then squeezed her tighter while looking at the other two, motioning for them to come for a group hug. We stayed like this for a few minutes before I heard Mr. Garcia's voice telling everyone that it was time to move. When they said this, the crowd began to gather around making a circle once more around the children, but before they began to move, I looked down at Nora and said with my most soothing tone of voice "would you like to ride on my back? You seem really tired today, I don't wanna put a strain on you.".

Nora then looked at me before looking at Jay and Noah as they shook their heads in approval. She then looked back at me and said "if that's OK with you, I would appreciate it. Thank you.". I nodded my head at this before I crouched down flat on my stomach as she jumped on my back. I then propped my wings up to make railings for her as she tried her best to curl or wrap herself around my spikes before she went off to dreamland. I sighed at this once again before I looked at the two boys in front of me before we all once again began to walk down the river.

We walked for about half the day before we took a pitstop. Thankfully, this time we didn't encounter any beast that would attack us, only ones here for water. When we made it to the pitstop, I went to Jay and asked him if he could wake up Nora. He agreed and I laid flat on my stomach once again, and Jay jumped on my back before he gently woke up Nora and they both along with Noah, went to the river to get a drink of water. I followed soon after when I got to my feet and also got a drink of water before we all began to chat with one another while also being on high alert for any sound of wrestling leaves or footsteps we might've heard.

The day soon passed as we hit the road once more being as cautious and careful as possible. The next morning, I found myself staring at the pond that we had found yesterday at the end of the day. The small fish swimming around in the shallows as they water reflected the clear blue sky above us. I looked down at my reflection before Jay's reflection soon appeared next to mine. I continues to stare at the water before saying "hay Jay" Jay replied "yah?" I continued " do you think we'll actually be able to find a good home in this new world?".

Jay paused, not knowing if you should answer or not before he looked up into the sky and said "I don't know but I hope you will". I shifted my gazed to look at him as I saw him staring into the clouds with a serene expression on his face. I could tell that this was all wearing down on him, having to constantly be on alert of any dangers or simply not being able to sleep as comfortable as before, have nightmares of wolves eating him alive. I quickly shifted my body and squeezed him into a hug wrapping my wings around him, trying to make sure he knew he had me, that he was not alone.

My heart broke at the situation I found us in. It was a dangerous situation where it could even kill us if we're not careful. As we hugged, I heard the familiar sound of Mr. Garcia's call, it was time to start moving. I released Jay before I slowly began to walk towards the growing circle of dragons making sure Jay was right next to me, I didn't want to lose him.

As we entered the dragon circle, we encountered the two siblings before we all began to walk together. It had been about an hour or two when we started walking before I heard the snapping of a twig from inside the bushes. I quickly shot my head towards the direction and so did some of the adults as we all paused. We all stared tensely at the bushes before Mr. Garcia shouted "take to the air, NOW" And without hesitation, almost everyone took to the skies. When I got into the air, I noticed that Jay wasn't with me. I then looked down to see if he was still on the ground and he was. He seemed to have hit someone when he tried to takeoff in a panic and fell.

I immediately went down to the ground, and as I was nearing the ground, a familiar black figure darted out from the bushes. -FUCK- was the only thing I thought, as I tried my hardest to flap my wings, trying to dive faster and get to him first. The creature that was darting towards Jay as he was shaking his head to rid himself of the dizziness of falling was a giant black wolf, easily the size of a human. The wolf was skinny with jet black fur and piercing yellow eyes, it seemed malnourished, likely alone wolf without a pack nearby.

As I dove headfirst towards Jay, I reached out my legs, which to my dismay were shorter than my head as I neared him. "JAY" I called as I crashed into the ground, grabbing him and making sure he was safe as I wrap my wings around him wile we tumbled and rolled across the ground. Pain shot through me from all over my body as I groaned before looking up and seeing the big black wolf dashing toward us. I widen my eyes in shock as its giant canines neared my head before it disappeared from my sight. I looked over to the trees only to see Mr. Garcia had knocked onto the wolf from the air.

He towered over the wolf, pressing his whole body weight on his two front legs, making sure the wolf couldn't move before looking back at us and screaming "GET BACK INTO THE AIR, NOW" and without hesitation, I scamper to my feet before taking off into air and coming down to grab Jay into my arms and flying up to the rest of the group. As I began to fly, the pain seemed to be even worse than before as I grimaced every time I flapped my wings or move my body.

The only thing that's keeping me in the air was my willpower and my survival instincts. I knew that if I went down to the ground now, I don't think I would be able to get back up into the air again and that was a death sentence. I panted heavily as Mr. Garcia returned to the group and we all began to glide or fly over the river. Noah and Nora rushed to me as we began to slowly follow the crowd of dragons and said frantically "are you OK? You look badly hurt". I then replied with an out of breath voice and said "I'm fine" while I squeeze Jay tighter, making sure he was still there.

I could feel Jay's movement and that was enough as just moments ago, I thought I lost him. My heart was still pounding as I ignored all that was happening around me as I continue to follow the crowd of dragons while only focusing on Jay and his breathing. -he's alive, it's ok he's alive- I kept repeating in my head as I followed the dragons. Nora and Noah followed behind me in silence as they looked at my battered and shaking body. Jay also kept silent as he held onto one of my legs and placing his head on it, trying to comfort me as much as possible. He knew it was his mistake that had caused the mess. If he hadn't panicked, he wouldn't have bumped into the dragon that had already taken flight above him, and he wouldn't have tumbled to the ground.

Jay sighed at his own recklessness as he continue to rub his head against Amy's front leg. Amy was carrying him with all four of her legs as the front two were holding his upper body and the back to were holding his tail and such. Soon after Mr. Garcia lead the group of dragons back down to the ground as they landed and continue to walk while watching their surroundings. I didn't land how I usually would as I tumble to the ground wrapping my wings around Jay's body before I open them and released him. As soon as Jay got out, he ran around to my head and said "are you OK?" With concern clearly shown in his voice. I smiled at him before nodding my head yes, as I slowly staggered up back onto my feet and followed the group of dragons.

I would stop every few seconds making sure Jay was with me before I continue to move forward. Noah and Nora had followed us all the way, they could see the bad shape I was in and the dragons around were also starting to take note of how I was staggering to stand. Soon after the group stopped as someone had informed Mr. Garcia of the bad shape I was in, he then came to take a look to see if we could keep moving or if it was actually severe, as he walked around me he nodded his head and said "we're taking a rest here" as he helped me to a spot that was relatively crowded but still had enough space for my to lay down.

He then looked at me with concern clearly visible in his eyes as he said "why didn't you tell me you were this banged up earlier? Why did you push on?" With concern creeping into his commanding voice. I didn't register what he was saying, as I laid down and closed my eyes breathing heavily as the pain in my body shot through me. With a sigh, Mr. Garcia then turned away and went back to his wife, saying a few words before they both came back and started to look over my many small wounds. I had cuts All over my body, a few scales missing and places that you could tell we're just going to bruise over.

Mrs. Garcia began looking over my wounds as she sighed before looking at all three of the young dragons that were sitting a bit of ways away, trying not to get in the way. Nora noticing the gaze of Mrs. Garcia quickly asked "will she be OK?" With clear concern in her voice. Mrs. Garcia then nodded slowly before saying "she's pretty hurt. She needs to be patched up a little, but we don't really have any good medical supplies here and we don't really know our own anatomy". Jay grimaced at the thought of Amy not being able to get any medical help. As he continued to stare at her as she slowly took in her labored breath. The group had decided to used big leaves to wrap her wounds.

The group decided to stay at their current spot until Amy was better as people would take guarding patrols, making sure that Amy encountered no threat whatsoever. Jay and the white siblings were continuously worried about Amy and her recovery. They would check in on her whenever she woke up and other dragons would give her fish or help her walk to the river to get some water. When she was well enough she would talk to the three young dragons to pass the time before taking a long nap afterwards.

Her recovery was swift and with each passing day she got better and better. Everyone was sure that with time she would make a full recovery and everyone would be back on the road. The brake everyone got from this was much needed as the children were able to finally rest and play as well as relax somewhat. The adults got to relieve some stress that had piled onto their shoulders from all the tension of the past few days continuously traveling. The group had stayed there for a total of five days before Amy was healed enough to continue the journey.

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