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  I’d had enough of him for one day. This was what he did. He thought that he could say whatever or do whatever he wanted as long as he apologized for it a little later and then all would be forgiven. When I first came here, I thought those apologies were sincere, but now I knew better.

  I walked along the sidewalk that went down Main Street. Life went on like a normal town. There was a small gathering area that was a lot like a coffee shop, except nothing was sold there. We didn't have any goods to spare. Everything was rationed, and the food was carefully distributed. But nevertheless, people insisted on being social. So there were only tables and a friendly environment. There was a library and a movie theater that had old projectors, no computers needed. Other than that, there was not much to do other than walk around in nature and hang out. Everyone had a job in order to keep this place a well-oiled system, but most could do their job in half a day and then the rest of the day was for leisure. We considered a day without a cyborg attack a great day. It meant we were successful at staying hidden.

  “Good day, Dr. Lopez,” I heard over and over again as I walked, passing the outdoor tables. I smiled even though I wasn't in a happy mood and nodded my head in greeting. I only wanted to get home and be alone.

  My home sat away from the Main Street area of the village. It was one of the very last corner houses on a street in the far back of the town. I liked the isolation. Most people lived clustered together and wanted neighbors. There were so many abandoned houses that I didn’t understand why they would want to be so close. But I was a bit of a loner; it had always been my way.

  I walked in and ate a light snack of a slice of bread, a chunk of cheese, and a large container of water. Then I went down to my basement to work on my own project. No one knew that I was working on it. They would probably not approve of it. It was very dangerous, but I thought it was necessary. It involved using a laptop. This was forbidden. Laptops were very dangerous nowadays. But I knew that if we wanted to defeat the machines, it was going to take a machine. But I felt like I was the only one that understood that.

  You see, once the artificial intelligence machines took over and started to manufacture Clenok cyborgs to kill humans, all of Earth eventually outlawed computers and digital devices. It made sense. Any computer could be used against us by alerting the regional keddle of its existence. Then the keddle would send in a band of cyborgs to check it out. Since humans used digital devices, it was easy for them to find us in the early days. So eventually all digital devices were outlawed and burned.

  The keddle was the main source of instruction to a group of Clenok cyborgs. A keddle was a very large machine that oversaw a local army of Clenok cyborgs. We thought of it like a general overseeing an army. But this was much more sinister and harder to stop. We didn't really understand them.

  My secret project involved trying to create a computer virus that could be uploaded to a keddle. If the keddle went out of order, then the Clenok cyborgs it oversaw would stop working. So I always thought taking out the keddle was more important than taking out an entire army of Clenok cyborgs. But no one could ever figure out how to create a virus to upload it to a keddle because they did not want to run the risk of creating the virus using a computer. But how else could it be done? It was necessary.

  So when I moved into the abandoned house, I was fortunate to find a very advanced top-of-the-line laptop hidden away in a safe inside the walls. When I found that, I told no one. I knew what needed to be done and no one would understand.

  So in my free time, this is what I did. I taught myself computer coding. I had a medical background, not a computer background. But I was a scientist after all, and I could pick up anything. So every day I went through the computer books, teaching myself about code. But I never turned on the computer. I wasn't ready for that. I still had a lot to learn, and I wouldn't work using the computer until I knew what I was doing. It was the best way to protect the village.

  Chapter 3

  King Karik Korinth

  “We lost a good soldier two days ago. His loss will be remembered forever. But we have come to Earth with a mission. We have to carry on that mission and honor the death of Moxor. He would want it that way,” I said as I sat around the table with Azlo, Jex, and General Razook. They were my trusted counsel and second-in-command.

  “So what is our next move?” Azlo asked.

  “Continue with the plan that we had previously set in motion. First, we debilitate the local Clenok cyborg army. We have done that with the raid on the facility. Now, we find the nearest human habitation. Our scouts are searching. As soon as we have coordinates, the two of you will accompany me to the village. General Razook will stay behind and look after the army until I call upon them,” I said.

  “Just the three of us? That sounds dangerous. What if the humans are hostile to our arrival?” Azlo asked.

  “That may be their first reaction. But it would be even more so if we show up with an army. No, it is better to show up just us so that I may speak with them and tell them why we are here,” I said.

  “Sounds good to me. If the humans can help us with this new plague burdening the Veruka here and on Tivoso, then I am all for it,” Jex said.

  “Yes, we must help the humans fight the Clenok. They could have answers for us. Their medical expertise is far more advanced than ours. They might be able to figure out why we are suffering from this plague all of a sudden. But we will not have those answers unless we protect them from the Clenok cyborgs. I think it is a good trade. We help the humans to protect themselves, and in return, they help us with their medical advancements. I only hope they're open to it,” I said as I stood up and began to walk back-and-forth in the room of the grand ship. We had come to Earth from Tivoso with an entire fleet ready for battle. My ship was very fast and grand, and now that it was parked, it served as my home in the forest.

  “They will accept our help once they see our army. I am sure that the Earth humans have nothing like it. Plus, they cannot shift the way that we can. We are fierce dragons. The humans are fragile,” General Razook said.

  “Yes, I agree, and…” But I could not finish my sentence. I suddenly felt like I was in a fog. I felt weak. I stumbled and put my hand down on the table to hold myself up.

  “My king!” Azlo shouted as he stood up and grabbed me. The other man stood up and came to my side.

  “I am fine. I am all right. It was just a moment of… confusion,” I said trying to bring myself out of the fog. They were quiet as they all looked at each other.

  “It is the plague,” Azlo said.

  “No, not him. He is our king. We need him. The Veruka cannot survive without him,” Jex said.

  “I said I am fine,” I said getting frustrated. But I knew that he was right. It was the plague. It was the first symptoms that every weredragon said they felt. Once they started the first symptoms, they had a month to live.

  “There is no time to waste. We must go soon,” Azlo said.

  “I will go find out where the scouts are. I will have a location of a human habitat before the end of the day,” General Razook said. Then he ran out of the room to get to work.

  “I guess we will not need to take a sick weredragon with us on the journey. I am the one that could be tested,” I said.

  “No, it is too dangerous,” Azlo said.

  “I am the one that gives orders here. Now go, both of you, and prepare for our departure. We will need a small speeder ship and supplies. We will leave as soon as we have coordinates of a human village. Now go,” I said.

  They reluctantly left my side.

  I went to my room and laid down. I needed to conserve energy. I knew that I would be leaving within the hour or by the end of the day on the journey. I wanted to be alert and rested. The plague did not scare me. I risked my life every day fighting in battles. When you were a soldier, you had to come to terms with death. I lived on the edge of life and death daily. I fought hard, and I was arrogant in battle. So the plague did not scare me.
What scared me was abandoning the Veruka to uncertain futures.

  The next morning we had coordinates to a human village one hundred miles away. Our fast ship could get us there in twenty minutes or less. Jex, Azlo, and I set out on the journey. I left General Razook behind in charge of the army.

  “There it is,” Jex said.

  I looked out the windshield in front of us. There was a massive wall, almost a hundred feet or more high. It went around the entire human habitation.

  “It looks like they have a good defense set up against the Clenok cyborgs. Look at the coils on the ground in front of the wall,” I said.

  “Electrified?”

  “Yes. The Clenok cyborgs would fry in that tangled mess.”

  “What are your orders, my king?” Azlo asked.

  “Set the ship down over there, far from the village. We will shift into dragon form and fly over the wall. Then we will dive low among the trees. Let us see if we can find one human alone. If we make a surprise visit to a group, they could grow hostile before we are allowed to speak our terms. With our flying speed, it will be easier for us to go undetected in weredragon form.”

  “Roger that,” he said.

  A few minutes later, we were out of the ship that we had set underneath a crowded area of trees. We shifted into dragon form and flew fast. We were over the wall and diving low among the trees inside the human habitation, looking for a human to speak to. Then we finally found one. It was a lone human female walking along the woods alone. I landed directly in front of her. She let out a soft scream as she jumped back.

  “Do not be alarmed. I will not hurt you, human. My name is King Karik Korinth.”

  Her mouth fell the wide open. She said nothing, and she looked at me in shock. Her long black hair was down around her shoulders. Her brown eyes were full of fear. She was trembling. Her pink lips were shivering, and her body was petite and shapely. She had a figure that was unlike the female Veruka on Tivoso. I was enticed by it. She was beautiful. I was not expecting the human females to be so beautiful.

  Jex and Azlo landed on either side of me. The ground was shaking underneath me as they landed. It must've been a fright to her. She let out another scream, turned, and ran. I looked at Jex and Azlo in disapproval.

  “Perhaps you should've waited to make yourself known,” I said. Then I went after her.

  Chapter 4

  Dr. Vanessa Lopez

  I was taking my daily walk. It was my alone time. I did it every day before going into the lab or the clinic. It was a way to wake myself up. It had replaced coffee. As I walked, I heard a strange noise, like a giant bird flapping its wings overhead. I couldn't see anything. But then suddenly, boom! The ground trembled as a tall figure landed in front of me. I felt like I was hallucinating because there was no way that I could possibly see what I was seeing. It was a very tall man with skin that looked like he was spray-painted in silver sparkly dust. He was almost nine feet tall with emerald green wings that spread out from his back. The wingspan was at least five feet. He did not wear a shirt, only tight gray trousers that were fitted against his legs and tucked into very high boots that had straps on them. Inside were the straps for various gadgets. There was a belt around his waist and a clunking gray metal with lots of compartments.

  I looked into the eyes of this monster. They were light brown eyes accentuated by his long black hair. He was looking at me as though he was just as shocked to see me as I was to see him.

  I was shaking. What the hell was I looking at? I had never seen anything like it. What was he? His wings reminded me of a mythical dragon. But that could not be. There were no dragon men on Earth. I waited for him to say something even though I knew it wasn't possible that he would speak my language. As I look at him up and down, I found myself feeling to emotions clashing together. On the one hand, I felt aroused. I have never seen such a perfect male form before. On the other hand, I was scared out of my mind. He was so large, intrusive, and dominating.

  “Do not be alarmed. I will not hurt you, human. My name is King Karik Korinth.”

  Holy shit. It was speaking. It was speaking English. I took a step backward, ready to get out of there. Then suddenly, in a blur, two more dragon men landed on either side of him. They looked frightening. I screamed and turned around and ran away. I knew that at any second they were going to pick me up off of my feet and carry me away. They were going to eat me.

  Then the first dragon that called himself a king was standing in front of me once more, blocking my path.

  “Get away from me!” I shouted.

  “Human, I am not going to hurt you. Please allow me to speak,” he said as he got down on one knee. I did not know why he was doing it. Was he simply trying to show me that he was not going to be aggressive? Even kneeling down he was still taller and bigger than I was. It didn't make him any less frightening.

  “What are you? Where did you come from?” I trembled the words out of my mouth.

  “My name is King Karik Korinth. I am from a planet called Tivoso. We have come to Earth to plead with the humans,” he said.

  “Tivoso? Are you not from Earth? You are an alien?” I asked.

  “I am a weredragon. I am king of a race known as the Veruka. I am alien to you. But I do not consider myself an alien,” he said. There was some sarcasm in his tone. It caught me off guard. Was he making a joke? A weredragon? Was he serious?

  “Weredragon? You mean that you are a dragon?” I asked.

  “We are shifters. We can shift into this half-dragon form that you see before you. We do not want to hurt you. We only want to help the humans, if you will help us,” he said.

  “What? Nothing you are saying is making sense to me,” I said.

  “It is a long story. But we have traveled across the galaxies for your medical expertise and…” He did not finish his sentence. Suddenly, he toppled over onto his side into the grass.

  "My king!” The two other weredragons were at his side in a flash. I didn't even see the move. I realized that they moved so fast that you couldn't see anything but a haze. What were these things?

  “What is wrong with him?” I asked, taking a step forward but still cautious.

  “It is the blackness,” one of the weredragons said.

  “The blackness?” I asked.

  “It is a sickness making him weak. We don't know what it is. It has spread among us. Our king started showing symptoms yesterday. That is why we have come. We seek the medical expertise of the humans. The knowledge of humans is known to be advanced, and we hope that medical experts can help him,” he said.

  “I am a medical expert. I am a doctor,” I said as I walked over to them. I was still scared of them, but my need to take care of others was kicking in. I was a doctor, after all, and this alien shifter needed my help. I got on my knees beside him and began to do some basic checks. I was checking his heart rate, pulse, and temperature.

  "He is burning up,” I said.

  “We are dragons. We are always hot. It is the normal state of us,” one of the weredragons said.

  “Well, that makes things difficult, doesn't it? I treat humans. I know what is normal for a human, not an alien. I can't help him out here. We need to get him to my lab,” I said.

  “I am fine,” the king said as he sat up. He suddenly had more energy. I was confused by this.

  “This is what the sickness looks like. It only comes in waves,” the weredragon with the silver hair said.

  “Thank you, Azlo,” the king said looking at him. I guessed that was the name of this alien shifter with the silver hair and stark blue eyes that looked like ice.

  The king got to his feet quickly. I was still on my knees as he rose to his tall height. He was even more impressive from down on the ground. He towered over me. Then he extended a hand out to me. I placed my hand in his. It was very hot. He helped me up to my feet. I was only inches away from his strong chest. I was in awe of him.

  “Okay. I need a minute to gather my thoughts. This is all ver
y strange to me. I don't know what to think of this. I would think that I was dreaming. This can't be real,” I said, pacing back and forth in the forested area of the Haven Brook Village.

  “That is why we chose you,” the king said.

  “What? You chose me? What do you mean… um… King…?”

  “King Karik Korinth, but you can call me Karik,” he said with a bright white smile.

  “Well, I definitely wasn't going to call you king,” I said with a sassy tone that left me shocked that I had said it in the first place. These dragons could snap me in two in a second, and I was being sassy?