There was a knock on the other side of the door, the sound of knuckles hitting would banging across the room. "Come in," General Peter told the one knocking, "and be quick."

  A tall, slender man walked into the room carrying documents and papers. Peter beckoned for him to sit, and he did so. He was noticeably nervous, his hand clenched, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead.

  "Well, tell me the reason you're here," The General stated bluntly.

  "We- Well sir, uhm. I have brought some news, but I can't really say its good news." He replied while rubbing his hands together. "One of our trains has, well, uhm, derailed." He said with a shaky voice. "We don't know how yet."

  "That is incredibly unfortunate, depending on what they were transporting."

  "Weapons and ammunition sir, and possibly some food for the soldiers. We are working on covering it up and saying it was only grain." His voice had gotten quieter while speaking.

  "How about this, we find whoever made the rails and give them a 'talking to', then we can chat later," Peter said with a hint of malice in his voice.

  "Y-Yes sir, I can do that."

  "Good, now I think you should go back to your job, don't you think?" He replied.

  "Yes, General. I will see you later," he stopped at the door, "I shall see you later."

  ***

  He shut the General's door behind him and let out a breath he had been holding, that was way too stressful for his liking. The General was just terrifying to be around, he made him feel unsafe and uncomfortable.

  He walked into a nearby coffeehouse, as he was pretty hungry. He ordered his food, a sandwich along with some coffee. He needed energy to drive the long distance that was his nightmare called a job. Even after ordering, he studied the menu even more. Looking over their food items like sandwiches, salads, and even something new supposedly called a "Grilled Cheese."

  He looked out the window and looked at the busyness of everything. Bikers on the sidewalks, pedestrians walking in and out of stores, restaurants and the theater. He sighed and close his eyes. He was in his own world long enough to not even notice the plate and cup right in front of him. He grabbed the op and bottom piece of bread and shoved it into his mouth. His gaze returned to the outside.

  Hope there isn't a draft, he thought, people would be unhappy. Its all glory and honor as long as its not them at the front.

  Of course, they don't know yet. Only few know, including me. Probably because I have to ship the munitions and everything. He stopped chewing to think, If I plan carefully, I could escape. But its a long ways to any nation not in our little pact. I know damn well they think I'm expendable, just canon fodder. I can't deal with this shit.

  He pushed his seat out and stood up, then walked to the door and opened it. Due to the restaurant being dim inside, opening the door caused a flash of light in his vision and blinded him. After the flashbang he walked into the street once again. However, he went to his car instead of walking into nearby stores. When he was inside he reached for the knob that turned his radio on.

  A voice came over, "Our top news: A train carrying grain has been derailed on its way to the city of Traum. The cause of the derailment is unknown, but one of the bigger theories is failure to build the railway properly. One of the crewmen was injured while the other appears to have gone AWOL. Could this be a purposeful sabotage? Nobody knows. This has been our top news."

  He sat there for a minute just letting his car run. Could it have been sabotage? Are there others trying to delay the plans and escape? The higher ups will definitely believe it was sabotage. I do believe the rail company is partly at fault, but he must have done something while the other person was looking away. He put his foot on the petal and started driving. It is reasonable, but we were told what would happen if we defect. I remember "The Room" and what they showed us in it.

  He turned around a corner and just remembered the footage of being dismembered, skinned, even medieval methods like stretching your limbs until they were pulled from your sockets. He admitted he was stupid to plan an escape, but now whoever was in that train is in much much worse danger than he is. The higher ups didn't know what he was planning, but they sure as hell knew what the man in the train did and they were going to find him.

  That train derailed near the Bulgan Forrest, its going to be hard to find him but its also going to be hard for him to make it out. It goes on for miles and miles, who knows what could happen? He doesn't have food, I think, he probably doesn't have anything to hunt unless he stole some ammunition and a rifle from the cargo. Its summer though, so he won't freeze, but the nights still get cold.

  I shouldn't be worrying about him right now, I need to think about what I should do. Once I disappear they'll know. They're going to send everything after me so this information doesn't get out. Its a risk, however, it could be worth it. Warning Gr?sen or Veruckt could save many and stop a greedy conquest before it even comes. Actually that wouldn't stop it, they'd just start sooner. What am I thinking?

  I do have something to help me escape though, he looked back at what appeared to just be a regular suitcase, but hidden inside was a gun. That could help if I needed to defend myself.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He turned right out of the city limits and onto an open road and sped up. Leaving the city behind him he turned on the radio again, but for music. There was a lot of static as the radio was fairly new, one of the greatest inventions in his opinion. Allowing him to listen to news, radio shows and music.

  The road became quite bumpy after he left the city, it was unpaved and covered in dirt. Many little rock could be a danger to the wheels but he still drove on, watching the scenery pass by him.

  I forgot to unload the pistol, shit.

  He needed a good place to stop, somewhere where he could be unseen by others passing by. Where to st- he was cut off as a big creature stepped out in front of his car and he swerved, his car hit the creatures leg. He rolled, there was so much shaking, he cant stop it how can he stop th- BANG! He felt pain in his abdomen, he looked down at the blood gushing from his belly.

  My pistol went off, it went off because it shook so much. Oh no, no..

  He climbed out of his beaten up car and onto the road. His movements were jumpy and janky, making it hard to walk. His sight was blurry, there was glass stabbed into so many parts of his body to the point he wouldn't be able to get them out.

  He saw the creature again, red scales, huge wings and smoke coming from its snout. I- I think I'm going to rest here. No time for hallucinations.

  And he blacked out.

  ***

  He looked at the scavenger knowing what he had just done. He had gotten it killed. After crawling out of the weird beaten up metal thing it just layed down and died. This wouldn't have happened if he didn't walk out of the trees.

  He had noticed the metal box going down this pathway towards him. Inside he noticed there was a scavenger so he walked out to greet it. However, this metal box didn't stop and it hit his leg quite hard. It felt like dozens of heavy boulders had crashed onto it all at once.

  He couldn't even walk on it anymore, the pain was just too much.

  "Did you just get a scavenger killed?!" Hurricane the seawing yelled to his left.

  "I didn't know that would happen! I just saw it in that box thing and walked in front! I don't know what I was thinking!"

  "Well, now we have a dead body!" Hurricane yelled back. "What are we going to do? Burn it? Bury it? Find other scavengers? They're going to know!"

  Thunder just looked at him. He's right, he thought they're going to know.

  "Well, how do we know it's dead? It could still be alive." Thunder said.

  Hurricane scoffed, "Won't it just go find other scavengers once it realizes 'Oh wait, these are dragons and they kill us.' Yea, smart thinking there. That is way too much blood to be alive." He pointed to the red pool.

  "Why don't we just see huh? It's not like I blasted fire on him."

  "Fine, do whatever you want. But now I have to be near the dragon who just killed a creature we're not supposed to kill."

  Thunder walked over to the body and placed a talon on it, "Please be alive..." but the body chest didn't rise or fall. There was no air coming from it's nose or mouth.

  Oh moons, I really did just get it killed.

  He then looked towards the metal box. What was that thing? There was nothing pulling it, and yet, it moved. There were no hills going down so it couldn't have gained any momentum from those. It did have wheels on the bottom, but nothing to move them. He also noticed there was a quiet noise coming from inside of it. He walked over to investigate and listened.

  [W?hrend das Milit?r nach Deserteuren sucht, feiern Cerviuns im ganzen Land das j?hrliche Frühlingsfest. Treffen Sie Cerviuns auf den Stra?en und genie?en Sie unseren charakteristischen Wein, unser Bier und viele andere alkoholische Getr?nke. Wir bieten auch verschiedene Fleischsorten an, darunter Rind, Wurst, Hühnchen und Steak. Warten Sie nicht, gehen Sie raus und feiern Sie mit! Aber vergessen Sie dabei nicht, den armen Menschen von Grasen Wohlstand zu wünschen, w?hrend sie unter Tyrannei leben.]

  Wha- What was that!? It sounds so similar, yet different to dragon. It didn't even sound clear, and there is nothing around to make that noise.

  He looked back at the dead body. It was still unbreathing. He started digging a hole in some soft dirt by the side of the path. He could at least bury it to show he was sorry.

  "So you're burying it," Thunder looked at Hurricane. "Now let's go. We don't want to be seen here."

  Thunder nodded and finished his burial. He started walking through the forest. He couldn't fly or else that would attract scavengers near the area. There was still fresh blood in that area.

  1234

  He counted his steps.

  1234

  It helped pass the time.

  1234

  Wait, that metal box is still there. Are scavengers used to those things? If they are, that is a definite sign of something happening.

  He looked back at his leg it crashed into, it was throbbing with pain and it was hard to walk. He continued on.

  Should we go back? Is it worth it to go back? Oh moons, we shouldn't have left it.

  Hurricane! We left that metal box thing, we have to go back! Thunder shouted at him.

  Hurricane looked at him angrily. "Really?! Come on! Go get it then! Don't just stand there!"

  Thunder scrambled back towards the path and metal box. Ignoring the pain in his foot, he started running. It hurt a lot of course, but not enough to stop him.

  Please let there be no scavengers, or dragons.

  He arrived at the site once again, but there were scavengers. They were wearing a shiny, green, turtle shell looking thing.

  [Was zur H?lle war das? Was ist das?]

  They were making the same noises from the box. They must be connected.

  [Oh, was zum Teufel? Sieht aus wie ein Drache, aber die gibt es nicht, oder? Erschie? ihn!]

  The other scavenger nodded and pulled a long stick from its back, What is that stick going to do? Well, the stick in question made a loud crack noise, and then there was even more pain in his leg. It felt so sharp, and so small, but it was so painful

  There were more sharp cracks until his knees buckled under him, blood pooling from tiny holes in his legs.

  [Fesselt ihn! Seid vorsichtig, ich erschie?e ihn, wenn er irgendetwas versucht!]

  ***

  "G?rvan! The mighty dragon killer! Tell us, how did you find such a creature!" Asked the drunken Merkel on his left, his breath reeked of alcohol.

  "You were there! Why are you asking?" G?rvan asked the drunken man.

  "I just want you to tell the rest of us!" Merkel said.

  "Oh, fine! Let's get on with it then!" G?rvan stated, "I was walking through the woods with this drunken buffoon named Merkel, on a regular hunting trip. We were hoping to get lucky with some deer, or some bear. But some rustling from the bushes and we see those scaly creatures." He continued on, "Of course, the first thing me and Merkel did was pull our rifles out. We aimed for their heads, we didn't want to risk too much. But even then, it took a couple shots because Merkel can't hit anything." G?rvan threw at his friend.

  "Am not!" Merkel said with his voice slurred.

  G?rvan sighed, "Anyways, one of them got into the air and we shot as much as we could. That damn thing got away, but now we have those dragons. I gave them to the scientists." G?rvan didn't say anything else, only his thoughts making noise.

  I wonder if there are more...