Varis padded back to the little camp that they had established for the night, a dead deer hanging from her maw. She spat it out next to the fire and watched as Fletcher and Jay went to work skinning and gutting it.

Jay gagged as Fletcher cut away the hide. "Come on, dude."

He gagged again, turning away as Fletcher's knife sliced into the animal's flesh.

Fletcher just sighed and gestured for Jay to leave him to his work. The one with the weak stomach left to tend to the small fire. As he poked at the flames with a stick, he noticed that the dragon was giving him an odd look.

"What?" Jay asked as he watched the fire catch on a slightly larger log.

"Nothing." The dragoness spun in a circle a few times before laying down. "I just find it odd that you don't like fresh meat."

"I love it... However, I don't like cutting it from a dead body..." Jay glanced over at Fletcher and regretted it immediately as he was in the process of gutting it. He quickly looked away.

Varis chuckled quietly as she watched the small human squirm at the sight of guts. "Could you leave the entrails for me?" she asked Fletcher.

"Sure, do you want all of it?" Fletcher asked as he pulled the organs out from the still-warm deer.

"Everything but the intestines please"

Fletcher removed the entrails and cut away the intestines as requested before returning his attention to the meat. After several minutes of gagging, wet noises, and snapping of a few bones, Fletcher approached the fire with a few slabs of meat. As they speared the meat and set up a split, the green dragoness walked over to the remains of the deer and feasted on the leftovers.

They had abandoned the truck the night before because they had run out of fuel and had continued on foot. They trekked through the day then settled in for the night.

"You going to tell us where we're heading?" Fletcher asked as he cut into a piece of venison to check if it was cooked.

"Home. We're heading home." Her voice was a combination of fear and excitement.

"Your home? You mean underground?" Jay asked in between bites of meat

"Yes, underground."

"And you know where you're going?" Fletcher pointed a stick at her. "Cause I don't like the idea of wandering around aimlessly until we're killed by your kind or mine."

"I know where we're heading." she said matter-of-factly.

"And where is that?"

She sat silently for a moment. "It's... hard to explain."

"We have time." Fletcher took another bite of meat.

"Instinct... That's the best I can explain it. I have an urge that leads me home."

"Awesome... We're depending on a gut feeling... Fucking awesome." Fletcher cut away another chunk and starts to gnaw on it.

"She's an animal." Jay jumped when Varis started to growl. "A sentient animal! Her instinct is probably a billion times more trustworthy than ours."

The green dragoness stopped growling. "Call me an animal again," she glared, challenging him to do it.

Jay chuckled nervously "Humans are animals too."

Fletcher cautiously watched the dragon, trying to determine her personality. She seemed to calm down and he decided to test her a little. "You two going to have some make up sex now?"

Jay felt his heart skip a few beats then start to race. "Wh-what?"

"Sure." She had an odd amount of happiness in her voice.

Fletcher and Jay both stared at the dragoness. The crackling of the fire covering the incredibly awkward silence. Laughter shattered the silence as the two humans reacted in the only way they could think of.

"I was being serious." Varis said flatly.

"That's what makes it funny!" Fletcher was clutching at his stomach as he laughed.

His heart was trying to escape its cage as he gave the best fake laugh possible. Jay hoped that the stupid green lizard would shut up. If Fletcher found out... He had no idea what would happen. The trip would certainly be strange.

She simply huffed then rested her head on her forepaws. "I don't understand why sex is so taboo for humans..."

"Isn't it taboo for dragons?" Fletcher asked as his laughs died down.

"Not as much as it is for humans. Mating is a fun bonding experience but mating during heat is reserved for mates."

Jay had to suppress a blush as the weight of what she said hit him. He had screwed her while she was in heat. She placed her mission above that.

Fletcher was too busy to notice Jay's strange behavior. He was just glad that she had a sense of humor.

The green dragoness rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Where're you going?" Fletcher asked. Was she made at him?

She didn't respond, instead, she spun in a circle. It wasn't a mistake that her tail was hoisted higher than usual, and it certainly wasn't a mistake that her slit was clearly visible.

The crackle of the campfire took over again. This time, it was broken with a cough from Fletcher. He stammered and averted his eyes but the image was already ingrained in his mind. No matter how much he fought it, he soon had a slight issue that he tried to hide.

"Admit it, you liked it." Varis smirked as she curled up and settled down again

For the first time since they had met, Jay noticed that Fletcher was speechless. He watched as his friend tried to decide on what to say.

Instead of words, Fletcher got up and walked over to the dragoness. He leaned over and whispered something to her. Varis' eyes went wide, but when Fletcher finished she simply looked at him and nodded.

"What was that?" Jay asked as his friend returned to eating

"Nothing. Don't ask."

Jay looked to the dragon in hopes of an answer from her. She simply shook her head.

"I'm feeling left out." Jay switched between looking at the dragon and the human, neither betrayed any hints.

"For good reason. Your friend has told me some sensitive information. Just leave it at that." She lowered her head and closed her eyes indicating that the conversation was over. "When you two are done eating, feel free to sleep under the cover of my wing."

Nothing Jay did got him any closer to solving the mystery and eventually, he gave up. After they finished their meal, they moved the leftover venison away from their camp, extinguished the fire, then settled down next to Varis. Next to the dragoness, they spread out a section of canvas that they had cut from the back of the truck. When they lay down for the night, Varis covered them with her wing, shielding them from the elements and causing the interior to become a nice, warm temperature.

Sleep came quickly for Fletcher. Jay, however, was finding it much more difficult. Several things raced through his mind making sleep impossible. Was the government hunting them? Were the dragons hunting them? How long could they wander the forest like this? And the thing that bothered him the most, what the hell had Fletcher whispered to Varis?

Jay drifted to sleep when his exhaustion overtook his mind and forced him to sleep. He woke up with a dry throat, he swallowed in a futile attempt to stop the irritation. He was thirsty. Really, really thirsty. A mental inventory told him that they were totally unprepared for this. No supply of water, no packaged food, no shelter, no tools, nothing. They had the clothes on their back, a section of canvas tarp, and the dragon. Varis was their Swiss army knife. She could hunt, she could start fires, she could shelter them, and she would deter other creatures, sentient or not.

They depended on her. Jay made a mental note to say thanks. Then again, she was the reason they were here. He swallowed again, the dry feeling making it impossible to return to sleep.

"Thirsty?" Jay heard the feminine voice from outside the wing that covered them.

"Yes. Very." he replied with a hoarse voice.

"I'll go find a source of water for you two." She slowly stood up and moved away from the still sleeping Fletcher. The sun was just below its peak. It was 10, maybe 11 in the morning. "Stay alert, I'll be back soon."

She padded away from their camp before taking to the sky. At first, he was worried that she would be spotted as she flew, but his worry subsided as he saw her scale color compared to the foliage. She would be hard to notice from a distance.

His eyes scanned the surrounding area and his ears listened for any odd noises as he waited for the dragon to return. Fletcher was borderline unconscious, but luckily, he wasn't a snorer. The sun reached its zenith when he heard the beating of wings and the snapping of tree branches as Varis landed.

"There is a creek a short flight from here." She said when she had walked back to the camp. Fletcher started to stir when her tail clipped his sleeping form.

"We can't fly. How long will it take to walk?" A human could go three days without water? Jay felt like he was going to die if he didn't get a drink soon.

Fletcher sat up and rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes. "We can't fly, but you can."

The green plopped onto her haunches and stared at Fletcher, stunned that he would even suggest that. "No. I won't turn into your mount."

"We could move much faster if we didn't have to walk." It almost sounded like he was pleading.

"No. No more. We walk." her tail smacked against the ground, further emphasizing the end of the argument. "We're wasting time, let's go."

They didn't have to break down a camp. Fletcher gathered the section of canvas, wrapped a few pieces of cooked meat, and they resumed their journey. The going was slow, Varis had to consciously slow herself so that the humans could keep up with her.

As they walked, Varis would occasionally mutter something. Every few minutes, she would repeat it.

"What's that you're chanting?" Jay's curiosity got the better of him.

"I'm not chanting..."

"Then what're you saying?"

Varis remained silent as she thought about whether or not to answer the question. She finally decided that it wouldn't hurt. "It's just a saying. Words to live by."

"Can you tell me?"

He saw her head turn towards him, eyeing him. Her head dipped as she sighed. "Shelter under my wings, protection behind my scales, defense through my claws, death from my flames, life from my ashes."

"That is very poetic. Is it one of those sayings? The one that everyone knows?"

"No. As far as I know, only two dragons know it."

"What's it talking about? Children?" He looked up from stepping over an uneven patch of ground. The dragoness was looking at the ground in front of her, a few tears leaving a trail of wet spots as she walked. "Are you okay?"

Varis wiped a tear from her scales with her paw. "I'm fine. I'm done talking for now."

They resumed their trek in silence again until they heard the sound of flowing water. Small was being generous. The creek was tiny, probably a temporary flow coming down from the mountains as the winter snow melted.

"Is it safe to drink from that?" Jay asked his more survivalist friend.

"Safer than stagnant water... But it would be better if we could boil it." He knelt by the water and scooped up a handful of it, checking for any large particles. "Filter it though a shirt and it's... safe... ish."

"That's not exactly comforting." He stood behind Fletcher and watched.

His friend removed his shirt and sat there, contemplating how he could filter the water through the dirty fabric. "I should probably wash this first..." The days of walking, sweating, and sleeping on the ground stubbornly stuck to the fabric as he rubbed the sides of the shirt together to remove as much as he could. When he was satisfied with his job, he lowered the shirt into the water and formed a small pool in it. "Go ahead."

Jay lowered himself onto all fours and drank from the little circle of filtered water. It could've been brown water for all he cared, the feeling of getting his thirst satisfied was incredible. He gulped down as much as he could on one breath before he had to pull away to suck in air.

"Holy shit." he wiped water off his chin "I will never take water for granted again."

"My turn." Fletcher handed him his shirt and quenched his thirst.

They both switched off several times, drinking as much as they could stomach. Jay took the opportunity to wash his clothes, he regretted it when he slipped his shirt and pants back on and the freezing cold fabric stuck to his skin.

His high pitched shriek of surprise got the attention of the dragon. "Need help with that?" she asked as she watched him hop around, trying to escape the cold that surrounded him.

"H-help?" Jay plucked his shirt, pulling the icy shirt from his flesh. "Help how?"

"I can breath fire... Put your clothes over there" she gestured towards a few low branches.

Jay peeled off his soggy clothes and hung them on a branch. "Don't burn them please, I don't have spares."

The dragoness angled herself so that she wouldn't accidentally set another tree on fire. With a deep breath she let loose a small blast of fire near the dangling clothes. In no time, the water was evaporating and creating steam as they dried. She snapped her jaws shut after a few seconds and killed the flame.

"Thanks" Jay said as he walked over to his steaming clothes. He grabbed his jeans and started to pull them on when the metal zipper touched him. He went from enjoying the warm fabric to waving his burned finger around in a fraction of a second.

"It's hot." Varis warned too late as the human plunged his finger into the creek. As he sat there, examining his skin for any serious damage, the dragoness started to chuckle. "Not very smart."

He glared, but his anger melted away as he realized it was completely his fault. "Yeah, I occasionally have moments of genius."

When the metal on his jeans had cooled down to temperatures that didn't sear his flesh, he zipped up and pulled his shirt on. Fletcher washed his clothes and had Varis dry them too, however, he learned from Jay and avoided the metal until they were cool enough to handle.

A few bites of the leftover venison and more gulps of water made a quick meal before they resumed their trek.

The going was slow. Jay's days of sitting at home and forgoing the gym were catching up to him, every muscle in his legs burned and the relatively high altitude left him panting after only a few minutes of walking. Fletcher was the more athletic of the two. His years of hunting, hiking, and camping left him healthier than Jay but he was still sore after the days walk.

"We're probably only going twenty miles a day if we're lucky." Fletcher said as he walked behind the dragon.

"It's not very far." she replied. Mild irritation crept in her voice. They were like tired hatchlings. I'm hungry. I'm tired. My legs hurt. I need to pee. They could've been there sooner, but she was worried. Something felt wrong. She stopped to scratch at an itch on her leg.

"Do you have fleas? You've been scratching there a lot." Jay said as he caught up to the green

She snapped her jaws at him "Fleas?" she scoffed "Dragons are much better at keeping themselves clean than your dumb pets. This spot has been itching ever since they drew blood."

They didn't make much of her comment as she stood back up and proceeded to pad through the trees again. As night started to encroach on the day, the trio set up their camp again.

"You know what we forgot to bring?" Fletcher asked as he laid out the canvas section on a patch of grass that was relatively flat.

"What?" Jay asked as he gathered a sizable pile of twigs and fallen pieces of wood.

"Everything. Fucking everything. We can't boil water, we don't have extra clothes, we have my knife, this piece of rags, and our clothes. I would say my knife is our only tool but the dragon has been our Swiss Army knife." he said angrily. His intention wasn't to blame anyone, he was just genuinely upset at the whole situation.

"I'm surprised we even have your knife, how the hell did you forget it was in your pocket and then walk into a military base?" He built a campfire and backed away, allowing Varis to ignite it. After she ensure that the humans wouldn't freeze to death, she left to hunt for their meal.

Jay and Fletcher sat around the fire and took turns scavenging pieces of wood to add to the fire as they waited for her return.

Varis snorted and shook her head. It was nice to get away from the two humans for a while. They were certainly kind hearted, but they were as useful as hatchlings were. Scratch that, hatchlings could fly and hunt for themselves. She was silently flying over a road as she thought about her current situation and hunted at the same time. She could smell a few different animals on the ground below her, but this time, she was hunting for something a little different.

She was hunting for humans.

Actually, she was hunting for their homes but she was searching for their scent. She found her quarry quickly, the smell of cooked food, cleaning chemicals, and garbage all mashed together. Varis angled her wings and descended towards the source of the stink. It wasn't a fresh scent, but it was lingering from whenever the previous owners had fled.

With a few hops to stop her momentum, she landed in front of the isolated structure. It was smaller than what she had seen elsewhere and it was made of wood. She observed it from a distance to confirm that it was abandoned. When she was satisfied that no one was home, she circled the building, looking for a way in.

"Why are humans so small?" She asked herself as she sat in front of the biggest entry she could find. With a sigh, she butt her head against the window, shattering it and sending pieces of glass flying inward, several pieces skipped off her scales harmlessly. By contorting her body, and tearing out a piece of the window frame, she squeezed through and found herself face to face with a bear.

A growl rose from her throat. She was small compared to other dragons so bears could pose a threat to her if she couldn't fly.

It didn't move.

Varis almost smacked herself when she realized that the bear she was growling at was just a head. In fact, there were several heads jutting from the walls of the home. What kind of sick ritual was this?

She ignored the beady eyes that seemed to follow her as she stumbled over a chair. She left the room and entered what she assumed was the kitchen.

"Ah-ha!" she called out in triumph when she found the room. A cursory glance told her that it was empty but a few odd pieces of metal attached to the wood boxes that were all over the room caught her attention. She carefully poked at one with her paw and was delighted to see that they opened to reveal their metal treasure.

Humans sure like shiny things. She found what she wanted and gingerly picked it up with her mouth. Then curiosity got the better of her. The humans could wait a little and there were plenty of animals around so hunting wouldn't take very long. Might as well explore.

She opened up the remaining cabinets and was shocked to find not one, but several of shiny metal objects ranging in every shape and size. When she opened the ones that were further up, she discovered that they contained metal cylinders and odd boxes. She plucked one of the metal cylinders and jumped when her tooth punched through the thin metal and started to leak slimy liquid into her mouth. She spat it out before she realized it tasted delicious!

The green dragoness picked up the leaking can and tilted her head up, draining the rest of the sugary fluid. She plucked another one that looked similar and repeated the process. Not every one was the same. Some were sweet while others were salty and oily. Next, she tried the boxes but was disappointed to discover that they were filled with tiny yellow rocks that were crunchy and tasteless.

She then turned her attention to the large white rectangle that stood out from the other pieces of the room. A similar piece of metal jutted from it and she gave it a tug, opening it and unleashing the torrent of smells. A lot of it was meat. She could smell deer, rabbit, and numerous things she couldn't identify. Her mouth watered as she tore into the first piece of meat. After the clear shell, the inside was absolutely delicious! In fact, it was so good that she ignored the fact that the box seemed to be impossibly cold.

After snacking on a few pieces from the cold box, she moved over to a row shiny rocks that were in the corner. With her front teeth, she grabbed the thing top of one and pulled it from its home. It slipped from her mouth and shattered against the floor, spilling blood everywhere.

"Oops!" she nosed at the ground and watched the red liquid create pool. It wasn't blood. Careful to avoid the glass, she poked the liquid with her tongue. It was sweet, not the same sweet as the metal cylinders, but still sweet. It also had some tastes she had never had before, it tingled as she lapped up the liquid and as it slid down her throat, it burned ever so slightly.

She liked it.

She lapped up what she could and when the pool was almost gone, she dropped another of the things on the ground. Some were clear, some were red, some were yellow, they all gave her the same sensation. When she was satisfied, she gave the room another glance, nothing else grabbed her attention so she decided to check another room.

This one had a large, low box in the middle and few wooden boxes scattered around. She tested the largest box, it was soft. Very soft. And big. It was big enough for her to climb onto and lay down.

"Hmmmm.... I like it." she muttered to herself as she felt it compress under her weight. When she pulled herself away from the soft thing, she moved to one of the boxes and opened it similar to how she opened everything else.

"Ah-ha!" She found clothes! They were complaining that they only had one set of covering so she grabbed a pawful of what was in the box and threw them into a pile in the kitchen next to the pile of metal that she was going to bring.

The final room was tiny compared to the others so she ignored it. It only had a white chair made of rock and a smaller room made of glass. As she was about to gather her loot and leave, she noticed a backpack. She recognized it from when she first met the humans, they each had one that contained their useful things. She nabbed it with her jaw as she picked up as much of her goodies as she could with a single paw.

Awkwardly, she hobbled back to the broken entrance and squeezed out.

A quiet metallic clang startled both Fletcher and Jay as they sat around the fire.

"The hell was that?" Fletcher asked as he pulled out his knife.

The sound of flapping wings grew louder. "She's back" Jay looked towards the darkening sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the dragoness.

She landed behind them and hopped to a stop on three legs, one clutched a mass of cloth and metal. In her mouth, she carried a Dora the Explorer backpack.

"What the hell? I thought you were hunting?" Fletcher asked as she hobbled towards them. She spat out the backpack and dumped the clothes and pans on the ground.

"Oops, I dropped one over there." She looked towards the area where the noise had come from. "Anyways, You two complain too much. I found a small human home and grabbed these."

"Oh... Um... Thank you, I guess." he picked through the pile of clothes and pulled a pot out of it. It had a massive dent in it.

"I'll go get some food." Varis said before she returned to the sky leaving the humans with their equipment.

"Well, at least she cares." Jay said as he dug through the backpack "Do we need these?" He asked jokingly as he pulled out a set of colored pencils.

"I'll leave that to your judgment." Fletcher dug through the pile picking out useable cookware. He tossed the ones that had been dented or bent by her grip and set aside the ones that weren't. He even found a sealable tub of Tupperware that could hold water. Then he dug through the clothes. "Seriously?" he held up a very feminine shirt that was several sizes too small.

"It suits you." Jay ribbed as he pulled out a coloring book.

Judging by what he found, Fletcher figured that she had found a cabinet for a girl and grabbed all the clothes she could see. Too bad she didn't check the drawers where pants and socks would've most likely been. It wasn't a complete loss however, he found several large shirts that could fit him and Jay and he picked a few of the non-wearable ones to be used as bandages if they needed them.

"Jesus Christ!" Jay shouted as he opened another pocket of the backpack. "Fucking rednecks man, this girl was packing!" he pulled out an unloaded Glock and two magazines that were loaded with 9mm hollow points.

They had a good laugh at that as they continued to rummage through the pile of stuff. The beating of wings marked Varis' return, this time, she carried a huge buck in her front paws.

Fletcher cleaned it the best he could and they enjoyed another meal of overcooked venison before they extinguished the fire and retired under Varis' wing.

"Shelter under my wing." Varis muttered as the humans settled down on the piece of fabric.

As the three of them drifted to sleep, there was no way they could've spotted their visitor. The forth sat in the perfect position as he watched them, the wind blew towards him and his scales blended perfectly into the dark of the night. The dragoness was young, she was knowledgeable for her age, but she still had much to learn. The fourth would teach her. The watcher settled in and waited, Varis would learn. Just not yet.