Dark City

70.

Beneath the shine of his headlights, Nathan saw the deep grooves along the hiking trail. The car treads were eventually too obscured by brush to follow. Nathan parked his car. He checked his ammo in the gun he'd lifted off the she-demon. The cartridge was empty, but he guessed there might still be a bullet in the chamber. When he opened his door, he heard music. Beneath the layers of stereo noise, he heard Tom's voice shredding the air in the distance.

Nathan lunged into a sprint, propelled by surges of adrenalin. Soon he was heaving. His endurance had limits, but he pushed through the pain. Even as his hip and knee joints ached, as he felt his phantom limb shriveling and clenching under his weight, he kept running. He followed the sound of melodic rock until he saw the headlights of a vehicle pouring light onto the scene.

Tom and Alex were tied to trees, facing one another, and the dragon was whispering obscenities as he ran his long, hideous tongue up and down Alex's exposed front. Nathan skulked around the back of the vehicle and checked the backseat for a weapon. He found a large bag like Tom used for his fencing gear. Inside was an assortment of collectible steel swords. Nathan reached in and unsheathed the biggest, nastiest looking broadsword. It had a vicious gut hook at the root of the blade.

"Fuck," the dragon snarled. Nathan had been too loud with the rustling of swords. He hid himself behind the car. "That you, Lace?" the dragon called.

Nathan crept around in the shadows. He could hear the dragon snorting and slithering around the car. Nathan got to the tree and ripped the saber out of the bark. The dragon heard him and it raised up on its haunches and breathed fire. The stream of flames missed Nathan, but it left a distinct stench of gunpowder in the air.

If any shred of Nathan's sanity remained, it was gone when he smelled that gunpowder. He ran in a blitz attack. A war cry exploded from his throat. Gunshots rang out in the night. One of the bullets grazed Nathan's neck, but the scream of the side arm filled him with nostalgia and he kept coming as if he felt nothing. He brought the broadsword down on the dragon's leg and cut right through the bone. The beast's roar was louder than anything Nathan had heard all night.

The creature curled up on the ground and wailed in horror, wrapping everything it could around its dismembered limb. Nathan swung his sword at the monster's head, but the creature dodged it. It shrieked, kicking into the soil to scoot itself away. It backed into the tree where Alex was still bound up.

The music played on from the car stereo, the percussion tapping on Nathan's brain like shrapnel skittering across the Humvee. He held up his gun, pointed it at the dragon's face and pulled the trigger. It clicked. It had been empty all along.

"Nathan!" Tom cried. "That's enough, man. It's over."

"They were monsters," Nathan whispered.

"Enough, Nathan! That's enough! They weren't monsters!"

Nathan chuckled. "What are you talking about?"

"They were just people. Junkies getting fucked up and playing pretend. They were people."

Nathan dropped his gun in the dirt. "Ain't that always the way, man?" He chuckled again and reached into his pocket for his phone. "I'll signal Carl for a casevac. Don't worry, brother. We'll get you out of here." Nathan dropped his phone in Tom's lap. Tom struggled with his binds.

The dragon was dying slowly, it's eyes opening and closing. As it's life force faded, it began to take on a more human form. Nathan recognized the beast as Liam.

Tom screamed into the cell phone, "Send an ambulance! We're in the Pine Barrens! I'm sending you a drop point."

Nathan stomped Liam's knee, pressing down with his artificial limb. He began to sing.

From the halls of Montezuma,

to the shores of Tripoli,

we will fight our country's battles

in the air, on land and sea. 

"Nathan! Come back to us!" Tom shouted. "Come on, man! Untie us!"

"It was you who killed my Hypatia... why?" Liam whispered. "Why did you kill the only woman I ever loved?" Nathan stabbed Liam's leg. With the other sword, he ripped the sword up and then stabbed Liam's arm.

"Because my God is Greater," Nathan said.

He ripped out his swords and then with a kneeling plunge, drove them into Liam's belly. Like a pair of giant scissors, the hefty blades tore him open, releasing a foul stench as his entrails spilled over the dirt. Blood spattered Nathan and Alex both.

Behind him, he heard Tom repeating, "You killed him."

Nathan pulled the fabric from Alex's mouth and cut her binds. Bruises on her arms, her clothing torn, her hair chopped on one side, she was more broken than ever. Her stockings were stained in blood and dirt. She cried as he held her, trying not to touch the gore on his uniform.

Nathan brought her into the shadows away from the mess he'd made of Liam. For a long time, she just cried. He removed his gloves and wiped away the tears and the blood on her face. He could hear Tom speaking wearily to emergency services, trying to explain what he remembered from the trunk of the car and what his surroundings looked like.

"Tell me the story of Guigemar," Alex said. Nathan could remember how Guigemar went, better than ever now.

"Guigemar was hunting in the forest, when he stumbled upon a pristinely white doe." Nathan shuddered. His head felt light. He touched the hole in his neck. As he pulled his hand away he saw a thick mass of blood dripping down his palm. He had a wound in his chest as well.

"Is it bad?" he whispered. Alex touched his collar where bloodstains swelled. She bunched up her skirts and pressed them against the wound.

"And then?"

"He hunted her. And in the process became fatally wounded."

Nathan saw the shadows of knights silhouetted by mystical blue and red auras.

"Nathan," Alex cried, pressing hard on his neck. She squeezed his hand and kissed his scarred knuckles. "Just hold on a little longer. Tell me the rest of the story. He found a boat. Remember?"

Nathan could see Lacey in his memory, her eyes full of false tears. He could see wings sprouting from the scars on her back, papery dragon wings that extended from each joint, hypnotizing him like a spell.

He squeezed Alex's hand. "No. He never did. Guigemar searched and searched and he never found the boat. He never met the beautiful queen."

"No!" Alex shouted. "That's not what happens. You're not going to die. You can't. Nathan, I love you."

"Love isn't enough to heal a wound like this," he whispered, his lungs growing heavy with blood. "Promise me something. You take care of Tom. Live a good, long life."

He squeezed her hand, fighting so hard to stay awake. A trickle of water fell out the corner of his eye. As Alex folded in over him, he felt her tears on his neck. He imagined himself on horseback, riding into a cloud of explosives, and as he released his maiden's hand, he felt the world around him and all the bonds of love and hate slip away.
______
Here ends Nathan's story. Thank you for reading this, my early novel. I appreciate that I had the opportunity to share it with you. It is a strange text with a nonstandard plot that not many people understand, but it has interesting components and characters. Its themes are especially relevant in today's world. I hope they will spark discussion or further cogitation. There will be an epilogue next weekend. Until soon, reader.