It was on the twelfth day since they’d brought Luther’s group home that they lost their first citizen.  Two of Luther’s people were on guard duty.  A man named Rick and a woman who called herself Candy.  The two were walking the parapet and flirting.  A guard duty shift was mainly four hours of mind-numbing boredom, since they relied on the sensor system that would alert them to incoming intruders.  At night, when visibility was low, the sensors alert would come long before the guards could see anything.

This afternoon, the two were into the third hour of their shift and only keeping a casual watch outside the wall.  It never occurred to either of them to glance upward.

That oversight cost Candy her life.  A rushing of wind was their only warning before a pair of talons locked onto Candy’s head and shoulder and dug in.  With a roar of triumph and a few wingbeats, a creature with leathery wings, horns, and a long tail dragged her off the wall and up into the sky.

Rick fired his weapon, trying to hit the creature’s wings without injuring the screaming Candy.  Shouts could be heard from the direction of the cavern as people came running out to see what was wrong.  Rick fired again, rewarded this time with a spray of blood and the sight of the creature faltering with an injured wing.  Before he could reload and fire another slug, the creature dropped below the tree line in the general vicinity of the creek.

Shouting in frustration, Rick ran down the stairs and headed for the gates.  Allistor and Michael caught up with him as he was pushing one of the doors open.

“What happened?” Allistor grabbed the man and spun him around.

“Did you see that thing?  It was a damned dragon!  Or, close to it.  It took Candy!” Rick shoved the gate open and ran out in the direction the monster had gone.  “We need to catch up before it kills her!”  Candy screamed, the sound echoing through the trees.

Allistor and Michael followed him out, Sam and Luther not far behind.  They ran across the open ground and into the tree line.   Thirty seconds later the screaming stopped abruptly.  Rick halted, leaning against a tree and panting as he searched the woods ahead.  Michael put a hand on the man’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry, man.  She’s gone.”

Rick shrugged off his hand.  “Maybe.  Maybe not.  Either way, I’m going to find that thing and kill it!”  He started off again in the same direction, moving through the trees and brush as quickly as he could.  A roar from the monster confirmed their direction a minute or so later.