Around him, the noise of screaming humans and cars was more stimulating than hot coffee. Pushing himself off the ground, he saw the crumbled buildings, the scattered fires, and the mangled bodies. His steel blue eyes shot wide open at the sight, his mouth hanging in shock. The scene was unbelievable and horrific. When he heard Samantha calling again, he turned his head to face her. Even though she looked terrified, the fact she looked alive gave him a source of stability.
"Shugo! Shugo, you too. Get up!" She cried frantically, "We have to move! Mikale!"
Mikale took one last look at the dragon. A real life dragon. With vibrant red scales, powerful leathery wings, and crazed yellow eyes. It was digging through a line of parked cars like a hungry raccoon looked through trashcans.
In his daily life, Mikale was often criticized for being clueless. His father and mother had been sure to remind him that he was an idiot. Whether the reminder was verbal or not, Mikale had that fact beaten undeniably into his bruises. When he did not understand something, Mikale would button his lips and not call attention to his dangerous stupidity. As a result, he was very good at going with the flow and accepting things are they were. Without question. Even now, with his situation improving, there were some terrible lessons he couldn't unlearn.
Today, in the case of the dragon, Mikale reasoned this tactic was to his advantage.
He did not question the events unraveling around him. There was no time to ask Samantha 'how' or 'why,' or to even elaborate on 'what.' Instead, Mikale hoisted himself to his feet. Seeing that Samantha was terrified for their friend, Mikale moved to solve her problems one at a time. With a firm grip on Shugo's unconscious body, he lifted the skinny nerd into his arms.
There was only one question on his mind, and he directed it squarely to Samantha.
"Where to?"
To Mikale, this was an obvious first question. No matter what kind of abuse he was weathering, a safe place to wait out the storm was his solution. There was a dragon behind them, ripping apart parked cars in search of more human bodies. It was only a matter of time before it noticed the three teenagers, who stood only meters away. All that was between them was some fire and thick smoke, which likely did not actually hinder a dragon. Putting some actual obstacles between them was an obvious priority.
But to Samantha, the question was not so obvious. Mikale never knew what went on in her mischievous brain, but 'where to hide' had apparently not been in there. She pressed her lips firmly together, accepting without protest that Mikale's 'where' was more important than her 'how will I beat that dragon.' That part of her logic, Mikale had guessed. When it came to problem solving, he was the one to run away from danger while Samantha was the one to strike it with a bat.
He watched as she narrowed her eyes and covered her mouth with her sleeve. She twisted her body in quick motions, searching their surroundings. The street they were on was lined with shops, but there was both a barrier of fire and live dragon between them and the stores. Even if they could reach the safety of the stone buildings, the they were badly damaged and burning from the inside-out. The damage looked more like the aftermath of a bomb than the result of one hungry dragon zipping about.
Mikale vaguely noticed that there was something else off-putting about their surroundings, but he couldn't quite place what it was. Something about the trees, which were not native to their hometown.
But he shook the thought off, literally shaking his head to expel it. After all… He was an idiot. Too stupid to know native trees from foreign ones, even if gardening was one of his favorite hobbies. His theory was probably incorrect.
"The school!" Suddenly, Samantha spoke up. She pointed down the cracked sidewalk, towards the black iron fences that surrounded their high school. The smoke was not as thick there, suggesting it might not be on fire. "Dragons can't like school, right? It'll probably avoid it, right?"
Mikale normally didn't like to question people, but he almost spoke against her strange logic. Samantha was, after all, the only person he felt safe contradicting. And her logic was almost stupid.
Then he remembered that their high school was one of the newest buildings in this shopping district. It had been reinforced with earthquake resistant technology and was built with frequent fire seasons in mind. If any structure in this area would be dragon proof, it was the new school. Her reasoning for the suggestion might have been… "Charming." But it was valid.
"Right." He flashed her a weak smile and nodded his head, "Lead the way."
"Okay!" She returned the smile, which soothed any panic he had been neglecting. Their smiles were a promise that they would be okay.
The brief calm was abruptly cut. There was a horrible screeching sound behind them, like the noise of a chalkboard being scratched. When curiosity got the best of him, Mikale turned around to see the dragon had finished peeling a car apart. It would be looking for new prey any second now—-
"Ughh… What the hell is that noise…?" Whined a certain nerdy best friend.
Mikale looked down and remembered that he was carrying Shugo, bridal style, through this entire ordeal. It seemed like his friend was waking up, but this was not the time to set him down. Heck… Mikale was probably faster carrying Shugo than Shugo would be running on his own. He was about to tell his friend to at least be quiet, and to not attract dragon attention, when Shugo ruined everything.
"A DRAGON!" He yelled.
The dragon swung its long neck and head full of fangs, yellow eyes pointed in their direction. For a few seconds, the chaos seemed to fall still. Mikale and Samantha held their breaths, watching the dragon with the same tension as rabbits in a nature documentary.
Then the dragon lunged at the three teenagers.
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