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If you had told me a month ago that I would be a dragon that would get eaten alive by giant spiders and quarter sized mosquitoes, I would have called you crazy, but as events played out, I was a dragon being eaten alive by large insects. The jungle was so thick that John and the others had to take machetes to it everytime they wanted to step forward and since the bugs were hiding in the plants, the swings agitated them and made them jump out at us. The spiders were biting holes in my wing membranes and the mosquitoes loved to buzz in my ears and try to bite them, I found that they twitched everytime that I felt something in or on them and it kept most of them away, but the buzzing was still driving me insane. As if that wasn't enough, it was suffocatingly hot, so humid that it soaked John and his friends down to their skin and the water was condensing on my body and rolling off in large drops. It helped cool me off a little, and I was secretly thanking God that I wasn't dressed ion long sleeves, body armor and carrying 120 pounds of army gear. We were also sinking into mud with what seemed like every other step and I held up the party for at least an hour when I fell into a mud pit and John and the others had to help me out. Soon after the mud disaster, John stopped the party in the middle of a path way.

"Wow", he said holding his arm out, "hold up guys."

"What is it?", I asked peering over his shoulder. There were two snakes curled in the middle of the path, staring right at us.

"Those are the baddest snakes on the planet", John said, "Inland Tipans. One bite packs enough punch to bring down an elephant."

"This is the wrong part of the Earth though", I said, "those are native to Australia not Vietnam."

"Does it matter where they come from?", Hudson asked, "they could kill any one of us with one bite and their in our way."

"We ain't scaring them off", John said, "look at that little fucker, he's just eyeballing me."

"Shoot them then", Issac said.

Before I could open my mouth in protest John had shot both snakes straight through the skull, shattering their heads like glass. I cringed as he then kicked their bodies out of the path.

"Was that necessary?", I asked, trying to keep back a growl.

"I'm sorry", John said sarcastically, "would you rather have tried to go around them and take the chance of getting bit?"

I sighed, I saw that I wasn't going to win the argument because John didn't look at things the way I did. I let the subject drop as our trek through the Macon continued. It was about another hour before John gave the order to halt again.

"I can see something up ahead that looks man made", he whispered, "Frank, you come with me to investigate, the rest of you stay put here, if you hear gunfire, then you can move."

John and Frank crept off. A few minutes of tension passed before Frank came back.

"It's an empty hut", Frank said, "come on guys, John said were stopping for today."

We rose from our spot in the grass and crossed a small river to a small, tin roofed straw hut. The others entered and I slunk through the door after them. The hut was a decent sized building, the floor was made of dirt and there were a few hammocks in the corners and a stove up against the wall. It fit us, but if I had tried to stretch out, which I so badly wanted to do, I would have run them all out. Instead, I coiled up like a snake and sat myself in the corner.

"My god", John sighed as he pulled his boots off, "last time I was this miserable was Basic."

"Basic?", I asked as Frank took the pack off my back.

"Military training", Hudson said, "something we all went through when we joined."

"I remember", John said, "basic was LESS miserable, I'd rather be back there doing pushups then out here."

"You hate push ups", Issac quipped.

"I know", John said, "says a lot doesn't it?"

Issac smiled and laughed slightly, lifting the tone of the room somewhat, but it fell when Hudson sighed.

"Sucks Jackie ain't here", he said, "he'd have us all laughing by now."

John sighed, "Kid didn't deserve what he got, no one deserves to die like that."

"The Russian bastard did", Hudson growled, "he got what was coming to him."

I sighed. I had heard the way they talked about that man during their shootout in the bunker. If this was the way they felt about people who kill, then I guessed that I deserved the same fate as the "Russian bastard" for killing Antony. Trying to shift my thoughts from it, I spoke up.

"So what's the plan John?", I asked.

"We dry ourselves our, get some food and water into us and take some time to rest before we move on", I replied, "I need to take another look at that map and figure out where we are as well as look over my weapons."

"Sounds good to me", I said yawning and drifting into a light nap. I woke what I assumed was a few hours later to John shaking me.

"Hmm, what?", I asked blinking a few times."

"A little", I said yawning.

John petted the back of my neck and then turned to Frank. He put what looked like beef stroganauf into their mess kits and then carved up a large chunk of meat that looked like deer, sliding the bulk of it to me. Normally I would have thanked him for it, but I was so hungry after having flown halfway across the planet on a few hours of sleep, that I let it all go and just ripped into it. It was tender meat for sure and it tasted amazing, then again, I'm pretty sure a few carrots would have been pretty good after flying for so long.

"Damn girl", Hudson said taking a bite of his own meat, "you can eat."

I pretended he wasn't there as I finished the deer and curled back up. Frank started cleaning out the mess kits as Hudson stepped out, soon coming back with a large log.

"The hell you doing with that?", John asked as Hudson shoved it up against the door.

"Locking the door", Hudson answered, 'course it won't help much if the VC find us and decide to throw Molotov's in here."

"Lets' hope", John said.

"Hope is something I got plenty of brother", "Hudson said, "ain't ready to quit just yet."

"Amen", Issac said.

The sub began to go down. Damn time zones, I was barely used to the shift from America to Iraq, now I had to adjust all over again. It only felt like it was four in the afternoon, but the sun was already going down. I sighed and curled up once again, closing my eyes. I was almost back to sleep when I heard John talking with the others.

"We need sleep", Hudson sighed, stating the obvious just to keep himself occupied.

"We should leave someone on guard duty", Issac said, "what if the VC are near by?"

"Emelia would smell them", Hudson answered, "I mean, she's a dragon."

Out of the corner of my cracked open eye, I could see John shoot me a look, "yeah, she is."

There was a pause.

"I won't lose anyone else to this", John sighed, "human or dragon."

"She's part of the team now ain't she?", Hudson asked.

John nodded to him, "she's a Marine, just like the rest of us. I'd lay down my life for her just as quickly as I would the rest of you...jack too."

"His death wasn't your fault", Frank said, "it was that piece of trash who cut Jackie's throat. You and Hudson gave him what he fuckin deserved."

There was another pause.

"Yeah, your right Frank, let's get some sleep", John said.

"Don't have to tell me twice", I thought as I let sleep take a hold of me.