The Heart of the Dragon

Because the Commander was armed with a gun, Hayden had to watch out to avoid getting shot as he quickly hid behind a boulder just as Darabont fired a bullet that missed his target. Hayden desperately needed to fly, but with his wings still healing up from being broken, he knew he had to wait a bit longer.

“Come on out hybrid!” Darabont ordered, “I’m not finished with you!”

With his blood boiling and his fists clenched, Hayden could feel the fire inside him urging to come out as he let out a loud growl. But all of a sudden, just as he was about to jump out from behind the boulder, he heard a loud shriek which he recognized as Angie’s as he turned to the direction it came from.

And from where Angie was, she was still dangling off the side of the cliff by the crack that was beginning to break apart, thus causing the piece of the mountain she was hanging on to shift. With her heart banging against her chest with agonizing fear as heavy tears flowed down her face, Angie felt that her hope was lost as she felt another shift while letting out another loud shriek.

“HELP!” she screamed as more tears poured down her cheeks.

After hearing Angie’s screams, Hayden too felt his heart banging against his chest with terror. Even though he couldn’t see where Angie was from where he was hiding, he could tell she needed his help, but with Darabont on the other side of the boulder and with a gun in his hands, Hayden knew he had to do something to help Angie without getting shot.

“You can go to her” he suddenly heard the Commander speak “I”m not gonna shoot you if you do.”

“Somehow I don’t feel reassured” Hayden grunted.

“I’m serious, I don’t want you dead. Well, unless you attack me of course. I just want to finish what I came here for, and I’m gonna give you this one last chance to save your girlfriend. I promise I won’t shoot you.”

But even though Hayden didn’t feel convinced that he was telling the truth, he knew he had to do something to get to Angie. Even if it’s worth taking a shot or even using his wings that weren’t ready to be used.

And as for Angie, the more the crack she was holding onto began to break, the more she felt death coming to her as she watched herself slowly descending back from the mountain piece that had finally broken off. And as she let out a terrified scream while feeling herself plummeting down, she closed her eyes and waited for the fatal impact. But as she fell, she didn’t expect to feel herself landing on something so quickly, especially something that didn’t end her life.

At first, she thought she was already dead and was being lifted to heaven, but when she slowly opened her eyes to see the light, that’s when she saw herself flying through the air in a pair of strong arms. And when she turned her head, she found herself looking into the green eyes of Hayden. Just when she thought she had lost all hope was waiting for death, her hybrid swept down at the right moment to save her, even if it meant using his wings that were most likely still healing.

And as she held on his broad shoulders, Angie didn’t dare to look down as they landed back on the mountain of a flat surface where he gently set her down as he leaned himself against a boulder to catch his breath.

“Hayden!” she gasped as she leaned towards him while putting her hands on his face.

“Are you okay?” he panted.

“Yes” she replied while she spotted his wings that appeared weak “But your wings. They look weak, I don’t think they were ready to be used.”

“They weren’t” he winched as he sank his wings in his back “I knew they weren’t ready. But I couldn’t let you die.”

As his eyes began to water, Angie too felt tears flowing as Hayden took hold of one of her hands as he held it to his face. But even though Hayden had once again saved her life, Angie knew it wasn’t over.

“Jackson’s father has the button,” she told him.

“What?” he gasped.

“I found the bomb, but then he showed up and took the button from me.”

“Where’s the bomb?” he demanded.

As Angie showed Hayden where she found the bomb, they stayed away from the edge as they kneeled down in front of it and saw something that made their hearts stop. The bomb had been activated, it was going to go off in 10 minutes.

“Oh, shit” Angie gasped in shock “He already pushed the button!”

“We gotta get everyone off this mountain!”

“How?!”

“Leave that to me. Come on.”

He helped her up the mountain to a high spot where he took a few steps away from her.

“Cover your ears” he ordered as she did so.

And at that moment, as he hunched over to prepare himself, he shot up as his dragon fire escaped his mouth along with a loud roar. As Angie stood back with her ears covered, she was amazed by the sight of Hayden’s fire breath that shot up into the sky which created a swirl pattern in the dark clouds. She had never seen Hayden use his fire breath except for the little demonstration when they first met, but now that she was seeing a full show, it was truly a sight that took her breath away.

From below the mountain, as their friends were finished setting off every explosive they could find, they turned their attention to the line of fire that was blasting up into the clouds and creating the swirl pattern.

“Oh my God” Candace’s eyes widen.

“What is it?” Tammy asked.

“That’s a warning signal, we gotta flee!”

“Wait, what?!”

“Everyone get off the mountain!”

Without even hesitating, everyone began to hurry down the mountain as Angie’s friends hopped onto some dragons who flew them down. But as they did so, Candace stayed behind as she flew up to the fire signal.

“Candace where are you going?!” Tammy shouted.

But the hybrid was too far to answer her question as she was able to find her brother and Angie.

“Are you guys okay?” she demanded.

“Not for long” Hayden spoke, “There’s a bomb that’s about to go off, that’s why everyone needs to get off the mountain.”

“Holy shit” she gasped.

“Take Angie with you.”

“Wait, what?” Angie’s eyes widen “What about you?”

“I’m going to try to set off the bomb.”

“But-” she gasped while gripping onto his shoulders “I’m not gonna leave you here alone.”

“Angie,” he held onto her arms “We’re already wasting time talking here, go with Candace, I’ll try to hurry.”

Without even getting a chance to answer or say goodbye, Angie felt Candace’s arms wrap around her waist as they took off away from Hayden. And as Angie held onto the hybrid, she didn’t want to think about what will happen to Hayden if he doesn’t make it.

But the moment he saw Angie being taken off to safety by Candace, Hayden hurried back to the bomb that was set to go off in 7 minutes now. Without thinking, he began to tear apart the wires he could find, but to his horror, none of them turned off the bomb.

“What the hell?” he gasped in shock “Why isn’t it working?”

But as he tried to find another way, he suddenly felt a presence behind him, a presence that caused him to turn around as he quickly grabbed onto the Commander’s arm and threw him to the ground and held him there.

“How do I turn off the bomb?!” he demanded harshly.

“There is no way” Darabont spat while using his legs to knock the hybrid over.

As soon as he got up, Darabont grabbed onto Hayden’s shoulders and lifted him up as he slammed him against a jagged wall. After breaking away from his grip, Hayden began to back away from the Commander who went after him while pulling out his gun. Now away from the ticking bomb, Hayden did his best to avoid every firing bullet. But it wasn’t until he felt a thick chain wrap around his neck as he felt himself being yanked to the ground as a pair of boots held him down by pressing against his arms.

“I’ve got him” he heard the professor’s voice speaking as the chains around his neck pulled up the upper part of his body so that he was forced to face the Commander.

“Nice work, Professor” Darabont commented, “I was running out of bullets.”

As Hayden watched as the Commander began to refill his gun, he struggled to get the professor off him. But because he was so tired and weak, he could barely get up just as the Commander had finished refilling his gun with new bullets.

“Now we can finish this one” he sneered as he aimed the gun at Hayden’s face “I’m done messing around.”

“Hold on a second” Hayden winched while holding up a finger “I’ve got something I wanna say.”

“Make it quick.”

“It will be. Because the only thing I have to say is- I hope you’re feeling chilly because I’m about to make it hot.”

And just like that, after gathering as much of his strength, the hybrid blew out his dragon fire at the Commander who immediately jumped back. But he wasn’t quick enough as most of the fire got onto him as he cried out in pain while trying put out some of the fire on his clothes.

“Did you forget that I’m part-dragon” Hayden smirked as he turned around and grabbed onto the chain that the professor was holding onto.

Before the professor could even react, Hayden yanked the chain away from the professor’s grip and knocked him down as he took the chain off his neck while gasping for air. But as he rubbed his bruising neck, the professor got up while pulling out a pocket knife as he tried to swing at Hayden. But the hybrid moved out of the way while grabbing onto the professor’s arms and giving him a shove back.

He didn’t shove him back that hard, but when the professor tried to take another swing, he suddenly felt himself slipping back on the crate as he fell backward and began to tumble down to the edge. It all happened too quickly in front of Hayden’s eyes as he gasped when he watched the professor slide off the edge of the mountain, the very same spot where Angie had dangled from. And as he heard the professor’s screams, Hayden ran to the edge and gazed down to see the professor plunging to his death.

He never had attended on killing anyone, but it was too late for the professor, his screams had stopped and his body had vanished within the jungle. As guilty as he felt, Hayden didn’t have time to stare down as he made his way to the bomb that was now set to go off in 3 minutes. At that moment, he knew he didn’t have time to find a way to shut it off, he didn’t even know if there really was a way to do so. And as he frantically tried to think of a way, he soon heard a faint gasp as he turned to see the aching Commander slowly crawling towards him.

To his horror, Hayden couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw how badly burnt the Commander was. Pieces of his burnt flesh were shown from the holes of his clothes, some even had bits of skin hanging off. Hayden could tell he was slowly dying, and it was because of him.

“I’m sorry Darabont” he apologized while picking up the bomb “But you left me no choice.”

And with that, Hayden spread out his wings and flew off the mountain and headed up north that was away from everyone. Because his wings were still healing, he was in a lot of pain as he did his best to fly while trying to steady himself. But all he could think about was everyone’s safety, knowing what he was doing could most likely kill him if he didn’t hurry.

But back on the shore, with everyone gathered there, Angie grew more worried by the second when she saw no sign of Hayden.

“Where is he?” she questioned with fright “What’s taking him so long?”

“He’ll be here” Candace tried to comfort her as she too kept her eyes out for her brother “I hope.”

As soon as the timer read 60 seconds, Hayden stopped flying as he hovered in one spot. And using the remaining strength he had, no matter how weak and tired he felt along with the pain that took over him, he threw the bomb as far as he could. Because of his dragon strength, he was able to throw the object far away as he turned around and began to fly back.

On the beach, nobody realized what was about to happen as the bomb got ready to blow while falling through the jungle as it read 3... 2... 1.

Before it could even reach the ground, it did what any other bomb would do- it blew up. And from the shore, everyone felt the vibration that was so strong it knocked everyone over as they fell onto the sand. The blast was so loud that it felt like their eardrums were exploding as well. Everything happened so fast and it felt like forever until everything began to die down. As soon as the rumble muffled and the shaking decreased, everyone slowly got up with their ears ringing as they quickly spotted the mountain.

Most of it appeared fine, but the back part was surely destroyed. From afar, it looked like a volcano had finished exploding as pieces of its crust broke off. But everyone wasn’t focused on the mountain, there was still no sign of Hayden.