The Heart of the Dragon
Chapter 30

Angie couldn’t believe what was happening to her, she had a feeling she was going to die today, but she never expected it to be like this. She found herself zip-tied to a metal horseshoe pole that had been drilled into the crust with a pack of explosives that was also attached to it, and it was about to go off in a few minutes. She tried everything she could to break free, but it was no use, not only was this pole drilled deep into the crust, but she had nothing on her to help her break free or even disable the dynamite.

The only thing that can save her now is hope.

But not knowing what has happened to her friends and the hybrids and dragons, she had no idea if she ever was going to get saved as she allowed her frightened tears to flow down her face that had gotten stained with sweat and dirt. And as she felt her heart banging against her rib cage, she desperately tried to keep her hope alive, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel it slowly slipping away.

On a different part of the mountain, Commander Darabont and his two soldiers had just finished setting up the remaining explosives that were in his backpack as they began to descend down the mountain.

“Let’s get the rest,” he ordered, “And after the first one blows up, we continue with the others.”

But as they continued down, they suddenly noticed the sky getting darker, the clouds had completely covered the sun and a low rumble was heard.

“Now what?” the Commander complained, “Is there gonna be storm now?”

But at that moment, as they were distracted by the clouds, one of the soldiers was suddenly tackled down by Candace who jumped out from behind a boulder and was followed by Hayden who did the same thing with the other soldier. Commander Darabont didn’t even hesitate as he began to run down the mountain as carefully as he could. But he didn’t get far when Hayden jumped on him as they began to tumble down while Hayden still clutching onto the Commander. And when they came to a stop at a ledge, Hayden placed himself on top of the Commander where he held him down by the throat.

“Where’s Angie?!” he growled with his sharp teeth exposed.

“If you don’t hurry,” the Commander panted, “She’ll be gone.”

“I SAID WHERE IS SHE?!” he thundered as he flashed his yellow eyes.

But instead of getting an answer, Hayden suddenly felt a sharp pain in the left side of his thigh as he let out a loud roar as the Commander pushed him off. When he spotted a bloody small pocket knife in the Commander’s hand, that’s when Hayden looked down to see a small stab wound in his leg as he quickly clutched it to hold the bleeding. Because it was a small knife, he knew it wouldn’t kill him, unless he didn’t get it bandaged in time.

But as he took off his shirt and tore off a piece, he began to hurry up and wrapped the cloth around his leg while gazing around to locate Angie. But because of the sudden dark clouds, it seemed harder when he turned to Candace who had flown towards him.

“Candace,” he breathed in pain, “Go get help, I need to replace Angie.”

“I’ll try to hurry,” she promised as she flew off.

As the timer got closer to finishing, Angie was still struggling against her bonds, she struggled so hard that her wrists had turned red and were already aching by the soreness. And as she watched as the timer decreased, she began to lose all hope as she collapsed her body onto the crust with both exhausting and hopelessness. She realized that there was no way for her to break free, her bonds were too tight and the dynamite was getting close to going off.

All she could do now was wait for a miracle or for her death.

“Angie!”

At that moment, Angie shot up to the sound of what might be the miracle.

“Angie!”

She knew the sound of Hayden’s voice, and as she frantically looked around to see him, she felt her hope coming back when she spotted the hybrid from afar who too was frantically looking for her. He didn’t seem to see her due to the distance and the sudden dark clouds, and because of that, Angie knew what she must do as she gathered all of her strength and took a deep breath.

“HAYDEN!!!!!” she screamed at loud like she’s never screamed before.

Her cry had echoed across the mountains as Hayden turned around and to both of their relief, he was able to spot her lying on the crust as he flew towards her with his dragon speed.

“Angie,” he gasped as he hurried to her side.

“You need to shut down the explosives!” she gasped with fright, “It’s gonna blow any second!”

Seeing how she was right, Hayden was about to shut down the dynamite when he realized that it was going to go off in 15 seconds!

“I don’t have time!” he exclaimed as he used his strength to break the zip tie off her wrist as he helped her up “We have to go!”

But as they began to dash down the mountain, Hayden turned around to see that the explosive was just seconds before going off. And at that moment, he knew they wouldn’t be able to make it down in time, so he knew what he had to do. At the right moment, once they were far enough, he pulled Angie in front of him and held onto her tightly as he wrapped his wings around her.

And just like that, the sound of the explosion was so loud that everyone from shore heard at as they turned their attention to the mountains where they saw the blast that immediately knocked Hayden and Angie forward. The impact was so strong that tumbling down the mountain was a painful process for the two, mostly for Hayden who did his best to keep Angie unharmed with his wings and arms wrapped protectively around her.

For what felt like forever, the two soon came to a stop at the bottom of the mountain with Angie on top of Hayden who allowed his wings to drop but still kept his arms around her. The two laid there for a moment to rest their pain, but Angie was the first to regain herself as she slowly lifted her head up to try to see what was going on. Her vision was a bit blurry from the fall, but the moment her sight began to clear up, she was able to see Hayden beneath her who too was trying to regain himself.

They both had some cuts and bruises all over their bodies and faces, but Hayden appeared to have it worst when Angie spotted a gash near the crown on his head.

“Hayden,” she gasped in shock as she got off of him and carefully helped him sit up as he moaned in pain.

“Are you alright?” he asked her in a mumble.

“I’m fine,” she assured when she spotted his wings “Oh my God, your wings.”

His wings appeared to be out of shape with some small tears here and there. Angie reached out to gently touch one to see how broken it was when Hayden gave a sharp wince.

“I think your wings are broken” she gasped.

“They’ll be fine,” he puffed out while lightly touching the gash on his head to see how bad it was bleeding.

“Here,” she pulled out a bandana from her pocket and handed it to him.

As he held it against his wound, they then turned their attention to the mountain where they saw how much the explosive had destroyed it. Even from the bottom, they could see the bright colors of the dragon heartstone peeking out from the crusts there were still falling off.

“Oh my God,” Angie breathed in horror “Hayden, I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he assured, “You could’ve been dead by now.”

“I know but, Commander Darabont had already set up some more explosives and he’s gonna keep adding more. We gotta do something or else this whole island might be destroyed.”

“You’re right,” he tried to get up but found himself falling back down from the pain that was still aching him.

“Hayden,” Angie spoke to him calmly, “You need to rest, you can’t fight them or do anything when you’re in this state.”

“I know,” he groaned, “I just hope Candace and the others make it here soon.”

“Well, I’ll wait here with you” she offered, “I won’t let you out of my sight.”

He gave her a weak smile as she laid her head on his shoulder while holding onto his muscular arm. Because they were too sore to move, all they could do now was wait for help to arrive.