Everyone in the room was screaming at that point. The sound of the fire devouring the top part of the museum sounded scary in itself. We could still feel the shaking of the earth and it was even worse now since the dragon was right above us.

I looked around the room. Luisa and Lupita were in the corner with Emily. Emily had passed out and was laying on the ground. The sisters were hugging each other and sobbing loudly.

Many of the children had passed out and were laying on the floor. Somehow Luca had kept them organized. The kids that were passed out were in one part of the room and the kids that were still conscious held on tightly to him. They were screaming to the top of their lungs, yet it looked like Luca did not hear anything. He had a strong face and was even making calming sounds. It was not like the children were paying attention to this, but my ears were able to pick the sounds up. It was nice to know that there was another calm person in the room beside me.

A few of the security men who were on shift were there, including Emily's parents. They must have came when I had left. That was a relief.

Seeing them made me think of my own foster parents. They moved cities while I was in college. My foster dad was in the military and they currently lived on base. They must have been safe there.

After ten minutes, the shaking was less intense and I could sense that the dragon was moving on. I was sitting next to Emily, Luisa, and Lupita. Emily was still knocked out cold and I had moved her head to my lap.

The screaming in the room had died down. All that was really heard was the sobbing from the children and Emily's dads attempts trying to find a station on a radio.

The older adults in the room were huddled near the radio. Luca was still with the children.

I would catch Luisa staring at me. When I would look back she would look away.

"I think we're close!" Emily's mom said, "I'm hearing something!"

The static started dying down as audible words began to form.

"It's happening all around the world. Japan, Canada, China, Italy, all over. If there's humans, there will be dragons. Reports show that they all started at the same time. It does not seem they want a negotiation, they just want to destroy human civilization. The dragons targeted military bases first, the cities around them, and then any other major cities. There's too many of them to count! Think about it, the world is huge yet there are dragons everywhere, not just America. They could not just be hiding in caves, we would have seen them by now. Really think about it! They have been hiding among us! They must have human forms! Your neighbor, your coworker, your friend. They could be anyone. If you are hearing this right now, consider yourself lucky. You either haven't been hit yet, or one of the few that survived the surprise attack. If it is the first, good luck and try to go somewhere that is fireproof. Somewhere deep into the ground. Take everything you would take for a natural disaster; food, water, first-aid kits. If it is the latter, congratulations on making it this far. And to everyone listening to this, do not rely on the government to save you. Like I said earlier, the military bases were hit first. Everything is in chaos. My advise, stay where you are for as long as possible. Stay hidden. And lastly, pray and hope your food and water does not run out. This is Johnathan Mayer, signing off."

It became static again.

"Oh, great, it was a conspiracy theorist," Emily's dad said, "isn't there anything more official?"

"He does have a good point about the dragons having a human form," one of the security men said, "how is it possible for us to miss a giant fucking lizard that breathes fire?"

"Language," Luca said. The kids were still clinging onto him.

"Oh, right, sorry," the man said.

Luisa looked at me.

I looked at her for a second before looking at the ground.

She must know that I am not like them, the other dragons. I was not a part of this. I had no idea anything like this would happen.

"Is this real?" Emily mumbled something.

She sat up slowly, "did that really just happen."

Her eyes got big as she saw me, Luisa, and Lupita.

She hugged me tightly, "you made it back! I didn't think you would make it in time!"

I patted her back but could not bring myself to say something.

"What about my hug?" Luisa said with a chuckle.

"I'm getting there," Emily said, still holding onto me, "I was really scared, Eli."

"I was, too," I said softly.

"I couldn't tell. You looked so strong, so confident. Me on the other hand..."

"How can you say that when you successfully brought everyone here," I said, "Luca and all the kids are alive because of you."

"She's right, Emily. You brought all of us here," Luca said. He smiled at me and I softly smiled back.

"He is hot," Luisa whispered in my ear.

"And you!" Emily let me go and pointed her finger at Luisa, "if you didn't call in for work, Eli wouldn't have had to risk her life to get you!" Emily wasn't really screaming, she had just raised her voice, which was a lot for her.

"I mean, I would have gone back for my sister. Sooooo," Luisa said, looking at her sister, and then back at Emily.

"Shut up and give me a hug," Emily was tearing up. Emily and Luisa hugged and I stood up.

I was not sure where I was going to go. It was either the older adults or a bunch of children with a cute teacher.

The cute teacher won.

I walked over to Luca and the other kids.

"Miss Elise," Mia let go of Luca's right arm and walked over to me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face into my shirt.

"I'm scared," she sobbed.

I rubbed her back, "I know, sweet girl."

I'm sure she wanted me to say that everything was going to be okay. That I would take her back to her parents and all of this would seem like a distant memory.

But I would be lying.

So I just rubbed her back and let her cry.

After she cried it out, she pulled away from me but reached for my hand. She held my hand and walked me back to the other kids. They were all conscious now and Luca was talking to them.

"We're going to have to stay here for now," he said, "I need you all to be patient. Can you do that for me?"

They nodded their heads but it looked hesitant. They were scared.

He looked up at me and it seemed like he wanted to talk.

Emily and Luisa walked behind me and Emily whispered in my ear, "I'll watch the kids so you two can talk."

I nodded my thanks and gave Luca an eye signal that we could talk somewhere else.

"Hey, guys, I wanted to introduce you to my friend," I heard Emily say as Luca started following me to a part of the bunker where there was no one around.

That was a little hard to do as the size of the bunker was the size of a typical classroom. One corner had the radio that was surrounded my Emily's parents, three security guards, and Lupita. The other corner had Emily, Luisa, and the children. Then the third had a bathroom area. And lastly, the fourth had boxes of supplies.

We went to the corner with the boxes and I sat down and leaned against a box that was labeled "canned goods". Luca sat down next to me.

We were silent for a moment.

"That was really brave of you. Getting your friend and all," he said, breaking the silence.

"It was just something I had to do," I said, "I would never forgive myself if she died and I knew I could have saved her."

"You could have died, though," he said.

I looked down at my hands, "yeah, I could have."

He nudged his shoulder into mine, "I'm glad you didn't."

I looked at him and smiled softly, "thanks, me too. Theres too many things I still have to do."

"Like medical school?" he asked.

"More like figuring out what we're going to do with these children," I said. Medical school did not seem so likely anymore.

He rubbed his temples, "I've been thinking about that this whole time. I have a class of twenty kids. How am I going to be responsible for twenty kids? Do I even try taking them back to the school. Is the school even there? Is anything left standing? The radio said not to rely on the military, so it's not like I can just put it off on them to find homes for the kids. How am I -"

He kept on talking but what he said about the military had me thinking about my foster parents. They lived on base, which the radio said was the first cities targeted.

I put my hands over my eyes and started shaking.

"Hey, what is it?" Luca put his arms over me and pulled me against him.

"My parents...they, they live on base. What if they didn't make it?" I was crying silently.

"If they're as smart as you, I'm sure they're fine. You can't be worrying about them in a time like this. You just have to put your trust in them," he said in a soothing voice. And it worked. It did sooth me, even though I knew his words were empty. Even though a voice in the back of my head was telling me they could not have survived, I told myself that I should believe that they were safe somewhere and that I would see them later.

I wiped away my tears and nodded my thanks.

He squeezed me lightly before letting go and returning his arms to his side.

"We can have a meeting with all the adults when the kids fall asleep later tonight," I said, "then we can really discus our course of action."

"You're a really good leader, y'know that," he said.

"I don't know about that," I said.

"No, really. As soon as the shaking started, you took action. You were so confident, it inspired me," he said.

I could feel my face redden and I covered my face with my hands.

"Don't say things like that," I said into my hands.

He chuckled and nudged my shoulder again, "what, are you embarrassed?"

"Stooop," I laughed.

"Move your hands," his hand gently touched my wrist, "I want to see."

"No," I kept laughing and as I was about to let my hands lower, one of the guards shouted at us.

"Hey! Keep it down! The adults are talking," it was the oldest guard, Mr. Joe. He was an older black man who had worked at the museum since we were kids. We always had to follow the rules when he was around since he would tell on us in a heartbeat.

"Sorry, sir," Luca said to him.

"There isn't a reason to apologize," I whispered so Mr. Joe would not hear me, "we didn't do anything bad."

"No, we didn't," Luca said with a smile, "but I don't feel like arguing with an old man."

In the corner of my eye I could see Luisa stand from where she was sitting with the kids and walk over to us.

"Hey, Eli, do you think we could talk for a second?" she looked at Luca.

"I should be getting back to the kids," he said as he stood up, "It was nice talking to you, Elise."

"Likewise," I smiled.

He smiled back before turning and walking to the kids corner. Luisa took his spot next to me.

"Sorry for interrupting you two. It looked like you two were getting along nicely," this was something the she would normally tease me about, but right now she just looked like she was deep in thought. I was not used to this side of her. She was usually loudbut right now she was quiet and unsure of what to say next.

"It's okay. I understand you have a lot of questions," I said, "thank you for not...um...telling the whole room about me."

"I haven't told anyone, neither has my sister. And we won't. Thats your secret to tell. I just, well, I just have a few questions I hope you can answer," Luisa said.

"Ask away," I said, "I'll try my best to answer them."

We were not looking at each other as we talked. We both were looking at the floor. It must have looked awkward.

"Did you always know you were a...um... a dragon?" she whispered this last word very quietly.

"No. I knew something was off that one day where I passed out at the pizza place after that soccer game. Shortly after that I met a male dragon who told me a few things about being a dragon. Remember how I had to move houses because someone broke in? It was a dragon," I said.

"How did he know where you were?" Luisa asked.

"Apparently dragons have a 'heat', and when we're in heat we give off this scent that male dragons can follow," I said, "so he just followed my scent."

Her eyes went wide, "wait, does that mean they can...they can find us if we're with you." She sounded scared.

I quickly looked at her and then away. I could feel myself shaking. In a small voice I said, "I would never put you all in danger like that."

Luisa put a hand on my shoulder, "I didn't mean to say it that harshly, Eli. I know you care for us. You saved my sister and I, remember. I know you're not like them. I'm just...scared."

"I'm scared, too," I said, "I was supposed to go to medical school, become a doctor, help people, and then die when I was old. No one was supposed to know what I really was and maybe I would even forget it, as well. And now, now I feel like my truth is going to come out and that scares me. It scares me that people could see me as some kind of monster."

"The people that know you will never see you as a monster," Luisa said.

"You did," I said, "when you first saw me you were scared."

"Well, what the f*ck did you want me to do? A dragon wasburning down the city and you jump four stories down and don't even flinch. Your hands then become f*cking demonic and you climb up the apartment building like f*cking Spiderman. How the f*ck am I supposed to respond to that? Cheer? " she seemed to be back to normal. She was cursing like her old self, but this time she kept her voice in a whisper so the room wouldn't hear her.

I laughed, "I guess you're right. I was still hurt, though."

"Yeah, well, you're like Em in the sense that you're feelings always get hurt," she said.

"That's not true!" I playfully shoved her.

She shoved me back, "is, too!"

I laughed out loud. It was nice to be normal with her again.