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   Copyright 2017 by Jadyn Chase - All rights reserved.

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  The Phoenix Dragons

  By: Jadyn Chase

  Table of Contents

  THE PHOENIX DRAGONS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE PHOENIX DRAGONS

  CHAPTER ONE

  There was one good thing about living in a ruined city out in the middle of the desert: the wide-open vistas made it easy to spot dragons flying by moonlight. They were out there now, gliding from buildings to light poles and back to the ground, dirty white in color and screeching hideously like the reptilian monsters they were. Dragons had always been much more beautiful in the movies.

  The full moon, brilliant in the clear sky, was well above the horizon as Kaley Rose Jameson quietly left Terminal Two of Sky Harbor Airport. Carrying a couple large canvas bags marked Sunward Air and filled with empty jugs and plastic jars, she crept along the outside wall of the building – careful to stay in the shadows – and started the nearly one-mile trek to Terminal Four.

  The summer heat was oppressive in Phoenix, Arizona. It was normal for temperatures to get well above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year. And it was worse on asphalt or concrete, which reflected the heat upwards and made it nearly intolerable.

  Right now, despite the late hour, the tarmac still radiated heat. The air remained hot, too, and would throughout the night. But at least the sun was down and she was out of its blistering glare.

  As far as Kaley knew, it was late August or maybe the start of September. That was monsoon season here in Arizona, which brought violent thunderstorms and torrential rains to the otherwise bone-dry desert. She was only sure that it had been barely three months since the end of the world, though most of the airport – and what she'd seen of the rest of the city – looked like that disastrous night had been much longer ago.

  It was amazing how quickly things deteriorated with no one around to maintain them. Windows were filthy. Weeds grew up through the sand and fine gravel of the desert landscaping. Trash blew everywhere and piled up near the doors of the buildings.

  There were some parked planes, still at their jetways, that were beginning to fade badly in the desert sun. Their huge tires were going flat, causing the planes to sit crookedly. Most had their doors open and had been thoroughly looted for any food or other valuables, including seats, which could be used to furnish the many makeshift homes and campsites where people now tried to live.

  When the world was normal, Kaley had flown on these very planes as a flight attendant for Sunward Airlines. She was based right here in Phoenix, and all she'd had to worry about was wearing a nice uniform and helping people get where they were going each day.

  It seemed like paradise compared to now. Now she wore oversized jeans and t-shirts and a pair of men's boots, all of which she'd taken from luggage abandoned in the terminal. Her long, light brown hair was scraped back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. Makeup was a thing of the past.

  There was no way to know what had really happened. One night, there had been brilliant streaks and flashes of light way up in the sky. Some people said they had heard distant explosions. But the immediate result was the loss of the electrical and communications grid – and it had never come back.

  She had to accept the fact that whatever it was, it must have been worldwide because nobody ever showed up to help them. If this had been only a local disaster, there surely would have been military and other aid quickly sent down to the city. If it had been an invasion, an enemy would have shown up by now.

  But there had been nothing. Nothing except the dragons. They'd shown up a couple of weeks after the end, and now the bizarre and frightening creatures seemed to be everywhere. She didn't know how many there were – only that there was a colony of them right here at the airport.

  Kaley kept going, keeping her eyes on the enormous complex ahead that was Terminal Four. It had a huge eight-story parking garage on top of it and had once been the largest terminal at the airport. Now it was the home of monsters, and she was going there to steal from them.

  Maybe it was the bright moonlight bringing the shadows to life, but Kaley kept feeling as though someone was following her. This was not the first time she'd gone into the dragons' lair, and she'd thought it might get easier – but apparently not. There was a knife in her belt and a small claw hammer, too, though at her size there might not be much she could do against a determined attacker. Especially not against a dragon.

  But fighting wasn't the only way. Kaley needed what the dragons had; there was no way around it. She just hoped that the beasts had found the little gift she'd left for them inside the vastness of Terminal Four. That would make her job a whole lot easier tonight.

  Kaley went on, staying in the shadows as much as possible while crossing the open space to Terminal Three. Moving along the side of the building again, she watched Terminal Four and saw a few dragons perched at the top of the parking garage.

  The dragons were about twenty feet from nose to tail, she estimated, and their wingspread was probably about the same. They did not seem to be terribly good flyers but preferred to just travel in short hops up the sides of buildings, or mountainsides, and then glide out to wherever they were going. The group up there now was doing just that, in between picking screeching fights and doing their best to drag each other off the side of the garage just for fun.

  They really were monstrous. Kaley didn't know if there were any female dragons among them. These were just like a street gang, vicious and destructive and entirely uncaring about how they affected anyone else.

  They were sometimes difficult to see because, like chameleons, the dragons could change their color to match whatever was around them. Most of the time they seemed to be dirty white with patterns of grungy grey and black all over them, as though trying to blend in with broken pavement and ruined buildings

  But their color wasn't all they could change. Far more freakish and inexplicable was the way they could actually change their entire shape, going from dragon to human and then back again whenever they felt like it.

  Which fortunately wasn't too often. She could see why. A dragon was far better adapted to living out here in this very dry desert. Why be a man when you could be a tough beast that could actually fly?

  Kaley found that she'd rather have them as dragons, if they had to be around at all. Dragons were easier to see. And hear. And she did not think she ever wanted to talk to a man who'd been born a dragon and could change into one at will, especially when nobody had any idea where the monsters had come from or why they'd suddenly appeared. Or why they had the ability to change their shape in such an impossible way.

  But as much time as she spent thinking about them, there was nothing she could do about any of that. Best to get on with her life and focus on her own survival.

  Eventually she reached the foot of the enormous Terminal Four and crept towards one of the wide spiraling ramps that ran up the side, meant for driving cars up to the parking levels.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kaley took a deep breath and began trudging up the ramp. It was terribly hot in this concret
e garage, but the dragons seemed to love the heat. She'd seen them basking in the worst heat of the day up on the mountains and buildings.

  That was another reason to move somewhere nice and cold. It didn't seem like any of these creatures would want to follow.

  Kaley kept going. For a moment she thought she heard a footstep somewhere behind her, but it must have been just an echo. She knew that the dragons wouldn't be caught dead crawling on these ramps. They always hopped and crawled up the side of the garage and rarely went out in human form – as mandragons. The ramp was safe enough and the easiest way for Kaley to get where she was going.

  As she approached the top floor, she could hear the sounds of laughing and swearing, glass breaking, and occasionally a dragon screeching. Kaley halted at the end of the ramp and peered around the corner.

  In the light of a couple of small fires, out on the vast floor of the parking garage, she saw maybe fifteen human-looking men. Another ten or so dragons were hanging around with them, though the dragons had to keep their heads down when inside and usually preferred being on the roof.

  The mandragons were very tall and strong, with broad shoulders. At any other time they might have been considered good-looking. But now, in their torn jeans and filthy shirts, with their long and unkempt hair, they were just frightening.

  They reminded Kaley of nothing more than a prison gang that had somehow escaped and learned to live as dragons.

  Still, she couldn’t help feeling a little guilty flicker of lust in her gut as she stared at their toned forms as they ran and leapt and showed off for one another.

  Whatever they were, Kaley was just glad to see that they had indeed found the little gift that she'd left for them down in Four. All the glass bottles of whiskey now lay empty on the concrete floor, some of them smashed – and so were the mandragons.

  Right now, they were roaring with laughter. A couple of them were actually holding bottles of vodka for the dragons so the beasts could drink them down. Necks outstretched, wings raised to keep their balance, the dragons looked like gigantic baby birds being fed by a parent. The men all laughed and cursed and laughed some more.

  Kaley worked fast. These days, about the only thing harder to find than ammunition was liquor and she was not about to waste this. It was going to buy her some water – five gallons, if she could manage to get it while they were all busy with the alcohol and getting drunker by the minute.

  She crept along the wall, right behind the big open tubs of water that they kept all along the sides of the garage – bathtubs, livestock tanks, kid's wading pools – whatever they'd been able to haul in here and fill up later. The dragons would make trips to the mountain lakes and drag small containers through the open water as they flew over, bringing them back to add to their water hoard.

  Though not strong flyers, they could fly and glide short distances with a hundred pounds or so of water. And that water was exactly the reason why she risked staying here at this nightmare that used to be an airport.

  She took out the first of her collection of plastic jugs and submerged it in the nearest tub. But just as she did, one of the dragons caught her eye.

  The beast had dropped to the floor. It lay on its belly with its head stretched out in front of it and its eyes closed. The other men and dragons occasionally kicked it or threw an empty bottle at it, but otherwise went on with the party.

  Kaley took out the plastic jug, put on the lid, and stowed it in her bag. She took out the next jug and dipped it into the water, too, glancing up to see what the dragons were doing –

  Most of them were still partying. But the one lying down was beginning to look very strange.

  Suddenly she realized that it was shifting. It was in the process of turning to human form. Right in front of her eyes.

  Kaley had never actually seen one do this. It was mostly hearsay and stories, though the witnesses were always emphatic about what they had seen. But now – maybe because it was so intoxicated or because it would be more fun to party as a man – it was happening right here.

  Quickly she went back to filling up the jugs, one at a time, and stowing them in her canvas bags. But it was difficult not to watch the shapeshifting dragon.

  It was hard to see it clearly in the flickering light from the fires, but at first the dragon seemed to shrink down. Its twenty-foot body appeared to contract as if it were melting, pulling in the neck and legs and tail and, of course, the wings. In a few minutes the thing looked almost like a dirty grey-and-white blob on the concrete floor.

  Kaley kept working on getting the water. This was taking longer than it should, but she could not keep her eyes off of the dragon. It was beginning to reform, now, into the general shape of a man, with limbs and head and tall body becoming evident.

  One more water jug to go. Five gallons was the most she could hope to carry, for five gallons of water meant forty pounds, and it was a long way back to Terminal Two.

  As she sank the last container into the tub, she was fascinated to see that the former dragon was slowly crawling up to his hands and knees – and then he stood up, staggering a little, as a man. He looked much like the others, young and strong and absolutely filthy – and absolutely naked.

  Whoever he was, he wandered away towards the others and their rapidly dwindling supply of liquor. One of them threw a pair of old jeans at him. "Hey! Slick! Put these on! Nobody wants to see that!"

  "Yeah, well, some of 'em do," said Slick, taking the jeans and pulling them on. "Plenty of the women down there in the town. Just 'cause they don't wanna see you, Bolt, don't mean they don't want me!"

  So, they did have names. The men all began another round of raucous laughter and insults.

  After another minute she lifted the last dripping plastic carton out of the tub, resealed it, and put it back in her canvas bag. After slinging both of the bags securely over her head and shoulders, she carefully stood up and began creeping along the wall towards the ramp, trying to get her balance under all the sudden weight.

  All she had to do was get a few feet to the ramp and start down. Then she'd be safe – but suddenly she cried out, for one of the dragons had just leaped straight in front of her and was blocking her way to the ramp.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The beast screeched so loudly that it hurt her ears, drowning out her own scream. It was terrifying to look at, like something out of a nightmare, with its vicious jaws full of teeth and its strong front legs capped with very large claws.

  They would eat anything. She had seen that. Animals, scrap food, garbage –humans.

  Kaley fell back against the wall, sliding down with the heavy canvas bags on either side of her. She looked out over the tubs and pools full of water and saw that the men and the other dragons were wandering over to see what their companion had caught.

  Kaley tried to scramble to her feet, but there was nowhere to run. She was trapped by walls and bathtubs and dragons and frightening men.

  "Aw, now, look at this," said the one that had just changed shape – Slick, they had called him, with his long stringy hair. "I hate to see this kind of breakdown of law and order."

  "That's right," answered another one. He was a little shorter and even more muscular, with lighter hair. Bolt, that was his name. "Stealing from us, when we never did a thing to you."

  Kaley was no coward. She'd handled more than one onboard emergency, back when airplanes still flew, and come through them well. But she found herself shaking now. It could well be that it would all end here. She did not see a way out this time.

  "I say we should just keep her," said another of the men, with a yellow-toothed grin. This one was actually red-haired and seemed to be freckled all over beneath the grime. "Might be fun."

  "Oh, no ya don't, Scorch," said Slick, who might have been their leader. "You know the rule. No females in the aerie."

  "That's right," said Bolt. "We can have women any time we want. There's plenty who are willing to do it the easy way and trade for food or water."
<
br />   "Yeah, well, maybe you have to trade," sneered Scorch. "But I find plenty who like our kind. They line up for me!"

  "Yeah, just keep 'em outside," yelled another mandragon from somewhere in the back. "It's a lot more peaceful with no females up here tryin' to tell us what to do."

  Slick laughed. "I like it that way, too," he said, and turned to swagger in front of Kaley. "But I'm gettin' tired of this one. I know she's done this before. I've seen her, even though she thinks we haven't."

  "Just another rat to kill off," growled Scorch. "Just another annoyance. Let's just finish it off this time!"

  Kaley clutched the bags close to her, but they would do little good against this hideous gang of monsters that had her surrounded. She shut her eyes and waited for it to be over, very much wishing she had more time.

  I guess everyone does at the end.

  There was a sudden hard thudding sound and a startled little squeal from in front of her. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see the dragon being hit hard across the head and face by somebody – or something – on the ramp that she'd walked up to get here.

  The dragon actually retreated back into the garage, blinking and shaking its head. "Girl! Run!" came a loud male voice from the ramp. She could not see him, but he was yelling at her. "Run! Down the ramp! Run!"

  There was nothing to do but leave the water and run. And she did, getting around the corner now that the dragon was out of the way.

  A very tall, fair-haired man stood there. She hesitated for an instant – who was this? He didn't look like the others. She'd never seen him. But he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her past him.

  "Go! Run! I'll take care of them. Go!"

  The man was tall, wide-shouldered, strong, and cool as ice. He was dressed in good jeans and a white t-shirt. In one hand, he had a huge piece of twisted rebar which must have been what he'd used to hit the dragon and make it back off. He also had a shotgun slung across his back.