Dragon Hunter

Chapter 2: Unexpected Complications

The Cerberus convoy was nearly to Claresholm when the call came in:

"We've got a plume of smoke from town, boss," the spotter said in a low voice.

"Anything in the sky?" Cooper fired back. Damn it! Had the fire bats hit their fuel depot??

"Negative. But Jonesy is pulling out the binocs. Give us a second."

Cooper looked out the back. It was hard to see the sky through the fairly dense canopy of the large forest that now stood just south of what was left of one of the larger towns on the QE2 on the way to Calgary. Which would be a problem, if the young man couldn't feel where the dragon, or dragons were in the sky out to ten kilometers.

Aaaaand there it was: a medium sized red wyvern nearly a kilometer straight up in a holding pattern over the town. Stifling a sigh of frustration, he half closed his eyes instead to get a better read on the winged reptile, which differed from a dragon by having a pair of wings and back legs, versus a dragon's four legs and wings.

It was actually better that they faced a wyvern; it would be less likely to land to finish them off, being a little less graceful on the ground as, without forelegs, it was forced to walk on its wing wrists. A full dragon would burn them hard, then drop in to finish them off before eating their burnt corpses.

"Got it, boss. Red wyvern, about a thousand meters up in a holding pattern above the town," the spotter returned onto comms to say.

"Could be a random strike," Morgan suggested from where she was checking the straps that held the crates of rifles secure.

"Dragons don't randomly strike," Cooper replied, eyes still half closed. "Nor do they get into a holding pattern unless they're looking for something."

Nope, the dragon wasn't hungry or angry. But it was vigilant, carefully watching the approach to town from the south. Shit. That meant it knew they were coming. And that meant the suspicion he had had for the last couple months that Lethbridge had a draconic spy in its midst was confirmed.

Unfortunately for the surviving humans, dragons didn't stay dragons all the time, something that Cooper, thanks to his 'gift', was aware of. The more powerful of them had the ability to temporarily take human form. A human form flawless enough in appearance, it could easily pass for one of them.

Cooper's eyes fluttered fully open as that stirred a thought. Humanity held no real threat to the dragons, which had easily defeated any force humans tried sending against them during the second wave of the invasion. So why would they care if Cerberus was trying to run guns to Calgary?

Then it hit him. What do dragons hate even more than humans?

"Cutter, it's Coop. You seeing any alien activity out there?"

That earned Cooper questioning, and frankly concerned looks from his gun crew.

"Standby, boss man," Cutter replied. "We're taking a closer look. Give us five."

"Copy five mikes. Standing by." Then he looked over at a resolute Morgan. "Go weapons hot, master-at-arms."

"Yes, sir," she tautly replied, flipping the safety on her XM7 off before looking at her crew and nodding.

"Boss. Go, no go into town?" the spotter asked, their voice as tight as a coiled spring. They were doubly nervous now, with a wyvern in an overwatch position and possible alien activity nearby.

"Go. But heads on a swivel. We're walking the edge here," Cooper grimly pointed out.

"Copy that. Rolling into town."