Make sure to vote and comment!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gleaming beam of a spotlight caught the flash of red scales hidden in the dark night sky. It was but a moment of time. Easily missed. But the beaming light quickly focused in on the gleam of unusual colour. Past the dull greens and waving branches whispering in the canopy above, silhouetted by one of the two dull blue moons holding the horizon, and now attempting to escape into the glistening darkness of a starstruck night sky, was a dragon.

Shouts echoed in the undergrowth as engines revved and tires dug into the well-worn ground. There was a click of loaded weapons and a stampede of boots as more spotlights swung around to face the flying creature. Orders were spat from hurried mouths. Dark shapes moved through the tree line atop speeding motorcycles as they struggled to keep the lights trained on their target.

"Keep it steady! Remember, alive. We want it alive!"

The dragon in question beat its batlike wings strenuously, seemingly invigorated by the sudden noise as it drifted closer and closer to the tops of the trees. But as the creature tried to rise into the sky its movements were halted, slow, and lethargic. One of its forelegs was clutched to its chest, while the other seemed to try and claw for purchase on the wind. But instead of rising, the increased movement seemed to only make it fall several more metres toward the top of the forest.

"NOW!" The order echoed through the night.

The sound of metal against metal screeched as a wired harpoon was suddenly caught by several spotlights. The dragon shrieked as its struggled flight was pulled to a complete stop. The tip of the harpoon tore through the membrane of the dragon's wing, the wire connected to the vehicles below becoming taught. The dragon didn't even have the energy to fight against the pull and was yanked from the sky, crashing down into the forest. All it had time to do was curl itself around the object being held against its chest.

The dragon crashed to the ground, surrounded by torn leaves and broken branches. It heaved for breath, laying stunned as vehicles drifted to a stop around it. Larger vehicles with heavy harpoon guns on the back and four doors followed by what looked to be between a motorcycle and a hovercraft. All coloured in the same silvery grey metal with beaming spotlights marking the front. Figures moved between the vehicles, finding patches of cover within the trees or from the transportation itself.

"We got ourselves a female!"

"Yes! Is she marked?"

"Can't tell."

The dragon lay on the ground, unmoving, her breaths coming in ragged and shaky gasps. Her body shuddered and groaned. The harpooned wing lay outstretched and limp, while her other was curled as tightly around her body, as were her other four limbs and tail. A soft fin streamed from the back of her neck and down into her tail. Sharp and elegant horns sprouted out from the back of her head. The humans began to slowly approach the downed dragon, cocking their weapons with several electrifyingly fuelled clicks.

A glow began to run down the sides of her neck, a sharp fiery orange that broke through the scarlet red of her scales. A soft glow at the very back of her neck, one that began to burn its way upward in a steady neon glow. The muscles in her neck seemed to almost inflate as they filled with the fiery hue. As the glow reached the back of her skull, she leaped up with a sudden angry cry. A stream of fire escaped her mouth, burning the nearest figure to a crisp with a surge of furious flame.

"Bass vehss orass tavss, poress Yovess!" she roared as the hissing language escaped her mouth.

A moment later several bolts of lightning fired from the other figures, stunning her into silence as her body jolted, falling to the ground. The figures rushed up around her, her breathing still coming in ragged gasps as her body went limp.

"What the..." one of the figures gasped as they finally were able to get a close look at the dragon's body.

Her red scales hid most of her wounds from a distance. But now they were closer they could see the long-clawed gashes in her side. The tearing of her wings. The blood still seeped out even now. Major wounds even when looked at separately. Together, it was a wonder she was still alive, let alone able to fly. Though, as that thought entered their minds, her shuddering breaths began to falter. Then slow. Then with a final gasping huff, stop altogether.

One of the figures cursed as he kicked the side of the dead dragon in anger, "What the hell happened?"

"These wounds weren't caused by us, sir. Maybe she was in a fight with another dragon."

"Not that it would have mattered much," another said, crouching by the dragon's neck and running his hand along several far older wounds, resembling burned puncture marks, "Seems she was marked anyway."

"Dammit," the leader muttered angrily.

"She was holding something," Another crouched where she had crashed, his voice suddenly growing excited, "An egg! Oh... no... never mind. It's cracked."

The leader pushed his way to the one that had picked up the egg, quickly snatching it away and inspecting it for himself. It was pebbled black, around the size of a watermelon. The texture more resembling that of rock than the usual surface of an egg. As the man held the stone he felt a warm liquid slowly dribbling from the other side, dripping down onto the ground below. He quickly turned the stone around to see the crack that was spiraling down the back. He sighed. Cracked eggs were often no good. Though... it didn't seem that bad. Perhaps the hatchling inside would survive... if it was along far enough.

"We'll take it back with us. The body as well. May as well bring back something. After the noise tonight we probably scared off any others in the area."

A chorus of agreement followed his words. The troupe of hunters got back in their respective vehicles. They used ropes to get the dragon, who was nearly as big as one of their trucks, into a trailer. Her wings, tail, and neck had to be forced nearly uncomfortably into it in order for her to fit. With the revving of engines, they began to head off into the darkness.

They traveled for several hours through forestry terrain. The bright moons and the stars lit their way, even piercing through the thick overgrowth of the forest they traveled through. Trees with thick leafy green trunks dotted their trip, separating themselves from the usual bark brown, and burning bugs that almost resembled large fireflies hovered nearby. Occasionally one exploded from an electric jolt from one of the human weapons. Forest gave way to fields of leaf-green grass, which grew nearly as tall as the trucks. Alien creatures disappeared from the traveled road and into these fields before the headlights managed to get a good look at them. But it kept the hunters wary.

Eventually, they found their way down into a ravine, large craggy walls towering over each side of them, blocking out much of the moonlight. The ground had been worn away by constant use, making what could be described as a road, and making the last half hour of passage much easier than the constant bumping around in the open.

As the ravine came to an end large metallic doors waited for them. Man-made outcroppings appeared along the side of a ravine, with more figures sitting and watching as they arrived. All that was required was a wave of acknowledgment and the metallic doors began to part. The earth below rumbled slightly as they did. The cohort continued onward once they had been given entrance into the mountainside.

The vehicles drove up into a large hanger lit by red light. There was bustling movement on the inside. Hundreds of people awaited, prepared to meet the trappers. The vehicles all parked near the entrance along with rows upon rows of others. The white rifle-like weapons were handed off and the midnight black suits were quickly removed as grateful thanks and laughs were passed by. However, the noise quickly quietened down as the tapping of heels began to make its way along the metallic flour. Heads turned as a woman in a white dress passed by. The aggressive tapping of her shoe choice made sure no one else got in her way.

Long blond hair flowed from the back of her head, almost melding into a white suit that fit loosely over her body. Perfect skin and blood-red lips stuck out from her face, while ice blue eyes trained on the leading car as the man who lead the expedition got out. In her hand was a long cigarette holder, also white in colour, and smoke dribbled from the corner of her lips as she took a puff. When he saw her approaching he let out a sigh and stood a little straighter.

"Miss," he murmured as she got within earshot.

"Don't 'Miss' me Arthur," she took another puff of the holder, "I wanted one alive for goodness sake. Alive!"

She pointed the object in her hand to the red dragon corpse still crammed into the back of the trailer, "That's not alive!"

"She was nearly dead when we found her Miss," Arthur responded, keeping his gaze away from meeting hers, "Barely in the air. Wouldn't have lasted much longer even if we adn't found her."

He was taller than her, even if she did have heels on, with a mop of black hair and a frazzled, half-shaved face. But even still, her cold eyes made his back tingle with a shiver unlike any dragon ever could.

"She? For your sake, she better have been marked."

"She was Miss."

The woman sighed, tiredly, before turning to walk over to where the corpse lay in the trailer. Her appraising eye noted the wounds obviously not coursed by human weapons. Though she was still irritated.

"She... she also had an egg... Miss. Though it was cracked when she crashed. I... brought it along just in case..."

"A cracked egg is worthless," the woman responded, still staring at the ruby dragon in front of her with distaste in her mouth, "The hatchling inside is probably already dead. Just chuck it in the Pit."

"Couldn't we sell it?"

"What?" The woman turned back toward him, "Of course not. A cracked egg is no better than a lump of coal on Earth. Though you did good by bringing the dragon body back. We can use its scales, horns, and blood. The rest will have to be thrown away though. But... ah these wounds have ruined a lot of the good stuff."

Arthur stay silent, watching as his boss investigated the body. He handed off the charcoal-coloured egg to the nearest worker and ordered it to be thrown away. The worker, a young, dark-skinned boy, nodded, and quickly moved away, taking the opportunity to get away from the angry mistress of the organisation.

He quickly moved up a flight of stairs, holding the dragon egg under one arm. It felt oddly heavy, considering all the fluid had leaked out during the trip back. In fact, it was almost like there was something moving on the inside. But the boy ignored it, more concerned with doing as he was told that checking up on any oddities. He dodged by several of the other workers within the compound, nodding to them all as he went by. He got a few friendly nods back, though everyone was busier with welcoming the incoming convoy.

Carefully the boy moved further into the facility. He traveled through a large metal door, which took a moment for him to open with one hand, and into another large area beyond. This place was full of metallic bridges and railings, stretching like spiderwebs across a large open area. Hundreds more workers filled the place, moving from bridge to bridge, and from stairway to stairway. Shouts and yells echoed from one side to the other. A red-orange light bathed the entire area, accompanied by the thick acrid smell of festering animal waste.

The most common thing in the area, however, were the cages. Numbering close to a hundred all by themselves. Some cages were held by chains up, off the ground where they could be freely moved by the rotating machines wiring away at the top of the chamber. Others sat on the ground below, set neatly in rows. Some were empty, but most held the familiar-coloured scales of dragons. Dozens of them. Reds, greens, blues, yellows, and more. Each in their own separate enclosure barely big enough to hold them. The boy moved along the railings, making eye contact with one of the beasts. A yellow male. Four horns, two large, and two smaller, with a row of spikes running down the back of his neck instead of the long fin the females were known for. Wounds were poked all over his body, small bleeding drizzles. Scales were missing, and a familiar searing burned puncture marks that most dragons seemed to have was seared into his neck. Despite his size, he looked almost fragile in his cage. Enough to where even his ribs could be seen through his scales, and his eyes were dreary and barely focused.

The boy couldn't help but feel some semblance of remorse. He quickly gulped it down, as he often did, but continued on, moving down past the cages and toward a large concrete dome that lay at the back of the compound. As he walked up he acknowledge other workers that were busy shovelling the remains of some meal down through a whole that fell into the dome, or the Pit as it had come to be known as.

"What your got there Archer?" one of the men said.

"Broken egg," the boy, Archer, replied, "Miss asked me to throw it away."

"From the hunt?"

Archer nodded.

"Ah, sad that. We need another fresh dragon around here. Just unfortunate Miss hasn't found a breeding pair yet."

"Y...yeah," Archer responded, before taking a couple steps up to the open hole.

He wrinkled his nose as the smell that wafted out from whatever was beneath. An iron lid usually covered the hole, preventing the smell from getting out and into the open air. But the moments when it was open was a good time to be working far away. Holding back a gag, Archer lobbed the egg threw the hole, quickly backing away. The men around him chuckled at his reaction, shaking their heads before continuing to throw away the bags of rotten food and meat into the Pit.

The egg itself fell, and fell, before hitting the ground below with a sickening crack. The shell buckled slightly under its own weight, though retained much of its shape. For several minutes it stay that way, the only light illuminating it was that which was at the top of the Pit. But as the last pieces of rotten food were thrown inside, and the metal lid at the top replaced, the egg was basked in darkness, and silence.

The silence continued for several longer moments before a rustling began. The egg began to move. The silence seeming to awaken it. It rolled, back and forth, shuffling and shifting, before the shell began to crack open. A snout poked its way out of the shell, followed by a yelp of disgust as it caught the sent of its new home. It disappeared inside the egg and grew still. Eventually however, it began to move again, the hatchling inside seemed to be coming to terms with its new home. Its nose appeared once again from the small hole it had created. Then it pushed, and pushed, and with a might growl shattered the already weakened egg, spilling out into the darkness.