Phoenix Academy

The darkness fell like shadows behind bright comets of fire. The screams of frightened civilians echoed off of the ruins of what used to be New York City. Identical events were happening all over the world. No one was left out except for those who spontaneously vanished years ago.

Susan ran as fast as her body would let her. She prided herself in her balance, despite the heavy bundle in her arms. A large beast followed closely behind, crashing whatever was left of the buildings in its way. Its tail whipped around trying to stab her with the end. Susan could feel the hot breath against her neck and could smell the pungent saliva. She envisioned green acid pouring out of the giant mouth but dared not turn around.

Dead end. A ten foot brick wall loomed ahead of her, and she almost sank to her knees in defeat. Being as proud as she was, however, she turned to face her foe. Seven ugly heads stared right back at her. Then they roared.

The sound was shrill and high pitched. Any dogs within a fifty mile radius would probably drop dead instantly upon hearing it. One would have thought a roar of a seven headed dragon would be deep, but this sound-this was almost a shrill, manic laughter.

The gray pointy tail came lashing toward her. She turned to cover the burden she carried, expecting this to be the end. Instead, she heard that crushing, building destruction sound. The beast had missed and hit the wall in front of her, creating a hold she could climb through. She would have to be fast, though.

Susan took one look at her angry predator and ran. The tail lashed out at her again, but just barely missed. Then she was gone. The beast howled and went to charge her, but seemed to change its mind. She watched it snap all heads around and then watched it storm off. She didn't wait to see why. The baby in her arms would awaken soon.
The wolf lunged at him again. No way was he going to let loose that annoying scream again.

The dragon was pretty fast for such a large creature, but not as fast as the black timber that now taunted the beast. The thing's teeth almost got him a few times.

The enemy was angry. Shadow would have laughed at the tantrum fit it was having if he weren't too busy dodging its crashing feet and seven mouths full of teeth. Now if he could only find a way to get up there close enough to blind the thing. Granted, the canine knew its sense of smell would be close to his, but it could possibly give him a slight advantage. This whole seven head thing was tiresome.

Sometimes it sucked to be a lone wolf. Then again, he kind of doubted any pack would help against an angry thing like this. No, they'd run with tails tucked between their legs. Not that he'd blame them-he understood. The thing was as tall as the statue of liberty-probably taller.

Shadow growled as he leapt onto the swinging tail. It was a graceful move until he latched on. That's when he realized that he had a growing jealousy for the common housecat. Unlike said beast, wolves were only able to hold on for so long. A feline, however, would most likely be able to climb the lashing appendage, as he had planned to, to get to the top of the nearest head to blind the creature. Instead, he looked like a poor rag doll holding on for dear life.

As the dragon's tail neared the ruins of an apartment complex, Shadow took a breath, said a short prayer, and lunged for it.

His front paws took purchase, leaving him hanging with back paws scrabbling against the building. He glanced at the side and found precisely what he needed-a jutted out brick. It was sticking out just enough to put his right rear paw on it, giving him the leverage he needed to get to solid ground.

As soon as he got situated and was able to face his foe, the dragon attacked with one of his heads. Shadow was prepared to evade once it was almost too late to let the dragon get a bite of concrete, but a baby's cry made its way to the fighting animals. It was only slightly distracting to the wolf, who had expected it before too long anyway, but all seven of the hideous heads whipped around, and off he went toward the sound.

Oh no you don't! Shadow, like the previously envied creature, leapt onto the dragon's back, ran up its spine, up its neck, and launched himself off of the nose of the middle head. Driven by some unknown force, he managed to contort himself in such a way that he was able to land on the dragon's main weapon for destruction and launch himself back towards the beast's weak spot. Somehow, he was able to do all of this without the demon noticing him much.

However, as the wolf's claws sank into the small unprotected spot in the middle of the dragon's chest, the thing began to scream. It was like nails on greenboard times infinity. To some crazed animal lover who had missed the damage part, it would be mournful. To Shadow, it had a completely different effect. He tore into the heart like he would a deer.

She watched as the beast went down. The ground shook as each head hit the asphalt, just a few feet from where she was standing. She had hidden behind the wall but had heard some interesting sounds, and her curiosity had gotten the best of her. All she had seen was a black thing going mad, and then that scream of pain and suffering. If she hadn't witnessed the killing of thousands of innocent people, she would have tried to save it.
The black thing landed to the side of the corpse and looked at her, heavily panting. The yellow eyes would stay with her forever.

It limped toward her slowly, and she realized the thing that had saved her was a wolf-and a big one at that. The wolf stopped just in front of the closest head and simply looked at her.

Hoping it wouldn't run away, she set the crying baby down and took a cloth from the bundle. The wound on his leg would need tending to. It was pretty deep.

She slowly made her way toward him, and when he didn't tense or look like he was going to move, she knelt and tried calling him to her.

"Here boy. You are a boy, right? That leg is bleeding pretty bad. Let me look at it. I promise I know what I'm doing." She felt a little crazy talking to a wolf, but he seemed to understand and limped the rest of the distance.

He chuckled at the woman kneeling down in front of him with a cloth in her hand. He really hadn't noticed the gash in his leg until he landed wrong after taking down the big, ferocious dragon. He wasn't sure leaving the crying baby was such a good idea, so he kept a guardian watch on it as the dark haired woman pet him on the head.
He gave her paw even before she asked for it and let out an involuntary yelp when she took it. He was glad he could fight the urge to snap at her.

"Well, yeah, it's going to hurt. You know that when you gave your leg to me, didn't you?" She scolded him like she would her child. It was an affectionate scolding.

He looked at her in the eye for a second and then went back to the baby.

"That's what I thought." She finished wrapping his leg and pat him on the head. "Now. No more attacking things that aren't your size or smaller."

Though she teased the pup about picking on things his own size, she was very grateful that he had.

"And stay off of that leg for a week or so." She doubted he would listen to that command, but it was worth a try.
As soon as she made a move to stand, the black wolf limped his way to the baby. It seemed he really was trying to stay off of the wounded limb.

Susan stood and made her way to the baby, curious to see what the canine would do.

Shadow nudged the baby with his nose, and she instantly stopped crying. Her little arms went up, and the infant grabbed his nose. He smiled and touched her forehead with it. She giggled happily.

He looked at the baby's mother and nodded. Hell was finally over.

He limped away wondering if the world would ever recover.