Darkness Falls

[Kero Sima]

"AH-OWW!" Kero stumbled back with the collar of his jacket right up against his neck. His hand flew up to the collar to tug it back, because Andy was choking him to death with it! "Let go! What the hell!" He turned back to slap Andy's arm.

Geez! That was some over-reaction to black paint! Kero had already wiped the paint off his fingertips on his pants, where they left a smudgey smear on his jeans. "It's just paint!" Why somebody would be painting out here at this hour, Kero didn't know, but it was there all around them. Little pools of black stuff. Some of it even draped over bushes, and on houses. Kero frowned. Pranksters? Some of the kids at school would do stuff like this—but with toilet paper, rather than paint.

One thing was apparent, however; the dragon was gone. So where was Dragon, the dragon guy? Did he change back? Kero looked around again, absently grasping on to Andy's sleeve. "I don't see anything, Andy." Not the Dragon guy and not even the things in the fog that went after humans. All he saw was fog, and Andy, and black paint.

[Andrew Zhong]

"No it's not!"

He stared at it.

"It's not!" He insisted again, even though Kero hadn't argued. It wasn't just paint. Andy could smell it. It was just like the dragon guy. A special sort of ink that made up the creature. Yeah, he was a dragon but not the same kind that Andy his family were. He was something else. Andy reached up and pressed the back of his hand against his nose and mouth, trying not to smell it.

"I think it's what's left of that Dragon guy."

[Kero Sima]

It wasn't paint? Kero didn't argue because he was busy looking around for Dragon, the dragon guy. When he looked over his shoulder at Andy, Andy was covering his mouth and nose and Kero lifted his brows. What was he doing? Kero didn't smell anything weird. He even sniffed the air, but all he smelled was... the air.

"Huh?! What's LEFT of him?!" What did that mean? Did Andy think the black stuff was the dragon guy? Did dragons work like that? Kero was partly repulsed and partly amazed. Amazingly repulsed? He looked down at the smear on his pants and made a half-disgusted noise. He had... dragon guts on him? Or blood or whatever. Puree of dragon.

"But then what got him??" He held on tighter to Andy's sleeve, just as something rustled the bushes close by. They formed a neighbor's hedge, and Kero leapt back like he was shot. The bushes rustled again, ominously, and he stared so hard that his eyeballs hurt. "What was that?!" he whisper-screeched. Was it the thing that got the dragon guy?!

[Andrew Zhong]

Ugh. Dead dragon. It was totally dead dragon and now he was creeped the hell out and just wanted to leave. Why did he let Kero drag him out here, anyway? It's not like I'm in danger, he tried to tell himself but the truth was, if that Dragon guy got killed and all that was left of him were these inky stains, what chance did Andy have? He sure as hell wasn't as powerful as Dragon!

"I don't know. Maybe it's the thing that's been getting the humans."

But that didn't make much sense, did it? If it went for humans, why would it go after a dragon? Andy was already kinda nervous but with Kero leaping like a man shot, Andy let out a yelp and jumped, too. Damn it! He sounded like such a girl! He grabbed onto Kero and half shook him.

"Bastard," he started but whatever was in the bushes was still moving around. Andy kicked out a leg toward the bush. "Who's there?!"

[Kero Sima]

Kero wasn't really the calm-in-a-crisis type. He was more the get-everybody-into-the-crisis type, with his enthusiasm and adventurous spirit and uncontrollable need to know. He liked the adventure, but not the danger--two things that often went hand-in-hand, unfortunately, living in a backwoods place like Hazleton. When Andy leapt on him, he full on yelled (a little bit like a girl, but not as much as Andy).

"It's not MY faul--" he began, then shimmied back when Andy decided to kick the bushes. "Don't DO that! You'll make it mad!" he hissed violently, dragging Andy with him and onto the road--thereby putting them in more danger. It was sort of a judgement call, really, between getting flattened by a car or getting shredded by the thing that got the dragon guy.

Something dark crawled out of the bushes. Kero screamed, shrill and loud. It was--it was a zombie! "ZOMBIE!" he screeched right in Andy's ear, as the black-covered thing reached out for them, looking 900% like every crawling zombie out of every video game, ever.

[Andrew Zhong]

"SHIT."

Andy didn't know why the hell he let KERO TALK HIM INTO THIS. The thing coming at them was like something straight out of a horror movie. Seriously! It was like half-dead, crawling toward them with an outstretched hand like it was going to try and infect them! Andy started to raise his foot to kick at it again--despite what Kero said. But then he realized that the stuff covering it was more of that inky stuff. Squinting at the form, Andy lowered his foot and leaned slightly forward.

"Dragon guy? Is that you?"

[Kero Sima]

"WHY AREN'T YOU RUNNING?" Kero shrieked as he turned to run, shortly before the THING spoke.

Kiney... it said--or rather, croaked. Kero paused. Kiney? Dragon guy called Kinley that before... Suspiciously, he turned to look at the dark mass on the ground; it had stopped crawling towards them now.

But it also looked real dead.

"I think it's him!" Kero didn't move forward, though, in case it was a zombie. But he, too, squinted at the figure and he realized that it did look familiar. It was just covered in wounds and black paint--er, black blood, Kero supposed.

"Holy crap! We gotta get him back home!" He inched a step forward.

[Andrew Zhong]

"BECAUSE!"

He couldn't run if he wanted to. Part of him was rooted in place, too far in shock to do anything except try to kick out. But since it looked like the dragon guy, he couldn't kick it. If it ended up not being him, boy were they both in big trouble. It sounded like it was talking though, and it seemed more  pitiful than frightening. That made Andy relax--slightly--but then came the part where they had to get him back home.

"Uh..."

He was covered in that black slimy stuff, for one thing! And for another, under that slime, he sure looked naked. Andy balked for a moment but still, if KERO was moving forward, Andy didn't want to be outdone. He moved forward to and then dropped beside the dragon guy. He was just a dragon in human form. Nothing to be intimidated by. Andy was one too, after all! Even if he bled blood like a person and not this weird inky stuff that was all over him. Smelled like dragon, though. Inky dragon. Ugh, it really wasn't a good smell.

"Come on," he said. "You grab one end and I'll... er. Grab the other end."

[Kero Sima]

"...okay," Kero said hesitantly, not sure which end he wanted to grab, exactly. The head part? Or the feet? He, too, noticed that the dragon guy was naked but in the moment, with him so injured, it wasn't the most pressing issue keeping Kero at bay. What was, however, were his injuries. Kero wasn't good with open wounds. Then again, was anybody good with them?!

He went to pick up the dragon guy's feet, trusting Andy to hold up his end. "NNNRG! He's heavy!" Heavier than he looked! Kero wondered if they were carrying a whole dragon's worth of weight, stuffed into a human-sized body. For a human, the dragon guy was pretty short too!

"Kiney... no... Kiney... danger..."

He said some other things that Kero didn't understand, but which sounded cool, because Kero just knew that it was dragon-language. "What's he saying?!" he demanded of Andy, as he waddled back toward Andy's house. 

[Andrew Zhong]

"Kinley's not in danger anymore. He's inside with my brother."

And because he was so busy saying that part, he mostly didn't hear what else Dragon had to say. Yeah, he spoke a language that Andy understood but... like. He was all quiet about it and he was kinda half dead, too. Whatever got Dragon probably thought it had taken Dragon out and was off doing something else.

"I don't know." Andy shrugged. "He thinks that thing that was attacking him is going to come after Kinley. But it would have a better chance to go after you, now that you're out here."

Which... honestly wasn't the most comforting thing to realize.

"Come on. Let's hurry and get him out of here!"

[Kero Sima]

"...GEE THANKS!"

Because, yeah, it made Kero feel SO much better to be told that the thing that almost killed a real live dragon was going to come after him next! If Dragon, the dragon guy, didn't stand a chance, how the hell was Kero going to fare against whatever was out here earlier? He did hasten—but not because Andy instructed him to. He did it because he didn't want to become the next splotch of paint on the ground!

Thankfully, the house wasn't that far away. Unfortunately, Kero wasn't accustomed to carrying a grown dragon around and his arms grew tired half-way back to the house. Kero struggled manfully to hold up his end of Dragon, who kept babbling and murmuring away, occasionally muttering Kinley's name. He was restless, too, making carrying him difficult. Once or twice, Kero almost dropped him, and he was utterly relieved when he saw Andy's house again.

The moment Kero set foot through the door, he bawled out at the top of his lungs, "KIN! KIN COME DOWN QUICK! IT'S THE DRAGON GUY! HURRY!"

[Andrew Zhong]

"Ugh..."

Kero so wasn't holding his end of the dragon. Andy shot him a look. Well then again, he was a weak little human guy, so. Andy smirked to himself, then let out a relieved sigh when he saw the door to his house. Nothing seemed to be tailing them as they dragged Dragon inside. The couch felt like it was miles away--the one he and Kero had been sitting on earlier. Static still played over the television as they hefted Dragon onto the couch.

Upstairs, Andy heard talking and then the sound of somebody racing down the stairs at top speed. So fast, actually, that Kinley looked like he was going to trip down the last few steps. Somehow, he managed to grasp the banister and twirled on his socked feet before skidding to a halt across the room. Then his excitement turned to horror as the color drained from his face.

"Dragon?"

[Kero Sima]

"We found him in the bushes! We thought he was a zombie and Andy tried to kick him but then he said your name and we realized it was him so we carried him back here!" Kero explained all in a rush, without stopping for a single breath. He panted slightly after he finished, sidling closer to his brother, who looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Or... a really messed up dragon guy.

"Is he gonna..." Kero couldn't finish the sentence, not with how his brother looked. He reached out to squeeze Kinley's hand.

Dragon, the dragon guy, stirred faintly. "Kiney..." he murmured, tossing his head. "Kiney... dan...ger..."

Tim thudded down the steps too, so fast that he tripped and had to hang on to the railing to stop himself from falling. "Holy shi-!"

[Kinley Sima]

"How do we help him?" he asked Tim, who also nearly tripped down the steps. Well, their brothers were shouting bloody murder down here--how could they ignore it? And of course, once Dragon was mentioned, Kinley was right on top of it. Despite the fact that Dragon was whispering something about danger, Kinley came over to sit beside him on the sofa. He really looked bad. Paler than normal, with all that inky stuff everywhere. Kinley didn't think he was any kind of healer. Really, he was nothing but a typical human being.

Frowning, he reached up and tried to smooth back Dragon's damp hair from his face.

"What do we do?" he asked Tim again, since he was the only one of them who seemed to know anything. After a moment, Kinley dug around his pocket for the card that he'd found Dragon on. Of course, it was empty now. Nothing on it. "Can he recover if he... goes back?"

[Tim Zhong]

"If he goes back, he might not be able to come here again..." Tim frowned as he approached the limp figure on the couch, whose black, ink-like blood was staining the cushions. Damn! He wished his parents were here. Maybe they would know of some way to help the poor guy.

Kneeling beside Kinley and Dragon, Tim touched Dragon's shoulder gently. It looked like his entire body was covered in injuries, from scratches to deep gouges. No guts hanging out, though—at least there was that. Underneath the dark blood, he saw the dragon tattoo moving sluggishly. Where it passed over the lighter wounds, they healed, but the heavier marks remained.

"I think we need a potion." Tim looked over his shoulder at their younger brothers. Kero was hanging on to Andy, in lieu of Kinley. "Andy, you and Kero stay here with Dragon and make sure he stays conscious. Kin and I are gonna have to find a potion for Dragon. You up for it, Kin?" Tim rose, dusting off his knees. He could go alone, but their odds were better with two people instead of one. Plus—and Tim didn't want to admit it—he was scared of that dense fog, too.