Jared looked at Scarlet and shook his head causing gobs of rabbit fur and guts to splatter on the ground. "Okay, you win! I won't tease you about the dang rabbits anymore." Jared stripped his nasty garments off and scrubbed them using the sand nearby. Water was a scarce commodity, so he often resorted to scrubbing his skin and clothes with sand. It sucked, and he always felt chaffing after, but it was better than walking around with blood and guts all over.

When it rained, he tried to stay under cover and only expose himself for short periods of time. The rain was often acidic and caustic, which quickly degraded his clothes and gear and often left abrasions or rashes all over. He once got the rain in his eyes and it felt like exposing alcohol to an open wound. His eyes puckered and burned from the acid. It took almost an entire day before he opened his eyes without the stabbing pain.

One of the great side-effects of nanites coursing through his body was they eventually consumed any residue left on his skin. It eliminated body odor, infections, and any foreign substance given enough time. It wasn't enjoyable to wait long enough for that to happen and it did nothing for his gear.

Jared finished going through his gear and scrubbing as much of the fur and blood out as possible before putting it back on. Finally finished erasing his embarrassment from the rabbits, Jared excitedly stood up and walked over to admire Scarlet's transformation.

"Scarlet, you are huge... Oh, um... in a good way!" Jared amended. He recalled saying that to a girl he liked after seeing her for the first time in a year. She'd smacked him across the face and ran off crying. His dad, seeing the whole event, tried hiding the wide grin that split his face. Poor little Jared stood there in mute shock, no understanding of what he'd done wrong. It wasn't until several years later he understood... Well, I thought I did. He looked at Scarlet chagrined.

"What I meant to say is... Wow, you grew a lot! I thought the growth would only be twenty percent?"

The nanites nanites increased my size by twenty percent, but I am also maturing as a dragon and my body is still growing from the essence granted by my mother.

"I have to say, it is awesome! You look... magical... ferocious..."

Thank you, Jared.

Jared ran his hands along her scales. "They feel so much stronger and appear a little darker than before... thicker maybe?"

Yes, they are much stronger and can withstand sharp objects like teeth or claws. I do not believe they will stop a bullet or phase round from your weapons yet.

While he was in physical contact with Scarlet, he amplified his admiration, awe, and excitement to travel along their bond adding depth to his words. He felt Scarlet's appreciation for him and their companionship. The more time they spent together, the closer and more intimately entwined they became.

Scarlet filled a void in Jared's life. A void that opened after his parent's died. The void was voracious like a black hole and no matter what he sought to fill it, the despair remained unquenched.

Until Scarlet... Jared used his mental bond with Scarlet to speak and tried to push his emotions along with his words. You are family now! He tried to show Scarlet that empty void and how it ripped a cavity in his heart after his mother and father died. That same space that'd been empty for so long, gone. In its place was Scarlet.

Scarlet expressed sympathy and shared her feelings with him in the same manner. A scene flashed in front of his eyes. The scene of Scarlet hatching followed by her first transformation.

If not for you, I would have be alone, without protection, and without the ability to use the nanites. I would have been half the size of my first transformation and left to fend for myself as my mother left.

Jared felt a pang of sadness from Scarlet, but it was not a sense of loss as he'd have thought. It was a sense loneliness; not being able to speak with her mother... No, it's more than that...

Scarlet felt a sense of loss because she was the only dragon awake and had no one to mentor her and help her grow.

"We will find more of your family Scarlet," Jared assured her.

Dragons revere family above all else. Before they went into hiding, all dragons adopted any hatchling and helped guide, nurture, and protect them. Because all the other dragons have yet to return to this world, I never would have experienced that, and might have died out here by myself, and with me the future of any more fire dragons. You have given me hope that one day I can experience what it is like to be part of a true dragon family... Both of us can experience that feeling.

Jared felt the sincerity of her words down to his core and knew acceptance he'd only felt when his parents lived. A family... my family... He felt overwhelmed once again.

Stepping out of his melancholy, Jared shattered the peaceful moment. He suspected the sun would rise at any moment and he wanted to go through all the changes wrought in Scarlet.

"Are you able to give me a breakdown of the various changes?"

As you have already observed I am much bigger. My skin, bone, and scales hardened. My strength increased proportionally. I used the remodeling to create the row of spikes down my spine and a small area for you to sit.

"Does this mean you are strong enough for me to ride on your back for a while?"

I should be able to fly for several hours with you, but I will not know for sure until we try it. The increase in your bone density likely means you weigh more than you should, and it could affect how long I can maintain flight.

"Yes!" Jared couldn't contain his excitement. He'd only dreamt about flying when he watched the drop ships make their annual runs to his home. Now, I get to fly!

Jared wanted to jump on her back right then and take off, but he forced himself to resume the task at hand, "All right, what else changed?"

My senses heightened. I can notice slight variations in my ability to sense the surroundings, but with no life forms near I cannot say to what degree. My fire breathing has increased in strength, heat, and distance. Also, I feel it will not hurt me as much as the first couple times I used it. Last, I gained two abilities from the lizard creatures we killed. Although, I suspect it is just one ability with multiple applications.

"What? Why didn't I get this ability?"

You also have the ability, but I was unaware until you touched me a moment ago and looked at your nanites. The two abilities are heat sight and magnified vision.

"How do I activate... whoa!" The moment Jared thought about heat sight, his visage blurred and a blinding bright inferno seared into his retinas. Shutting his eyes against the intensity, Jared looked down and slowly opened one eye. It was darker, but he could see the brightness emanating from Scarlet's body.

"Scarlet, you look like a raging inferno!" Rather than trying to look at Scarlet again, Jared turned away and looked out at the horizon. Everything was dark, cold and dead. He risked another glance at Scarlet, prepared this time for the brightness.

She burned like the sun. Every part of her body radiated heat, but the coolest part was he could see where that spark of flame lived in her chest. It writhed and undulated like a living organism. Jared had no words to describe what he witnessed, but he would never forget it as long as he lived. Jared imagined it was like looking directly into the mouth of a volcano. Amazing... He felt his eyes itch, and a tear leaked out from the brightness.

Turning away, Jared asked, "Scarlet, how do I turn... ah, got it!" Again, the moment Jared thought about turning off the heat sight, his eyes switched back to their normal vision. Well, not normal I guess... It was dark out, but he could still see. It wasn't night vision like he'd seen in books. In those, it showed everything in hues of green. Instead, it was like everything lightened and had a weird ghostly look to it. He suspected the nanites absorbed more of the ambient light from any source available and amplified it.

Similar to my vision, the heat sight enables you to see thermal wavelengths The nanites created additional cones and rods in your eyes similar to a snake. In reptiles, the heat sensing occurs using glands on the skin developed by the trigeminal nerve, a part of the nerves controlling some senses. Rather than creating new glands for us, the nanites detect the thermal wavelength and the additional cones and rods enable you to see them.

"How do you know all of this? I understand some of what you are saying from school, but you've only been alive for... oh, right five hundred years. I keep thinking you were just born."

Although I know how the anatomy works, the names for each part I pulled from your memory to help you understand.

"I appreciate the effort and maybe I'll understand everything, eventually. To be clear though, you said I have reptile eyes now, right? Are my pupils slitted like yours too?"

Yes and no, you have the same abilities as reptiles, but your eyes remain the same. The nanites provide the functionality and only changed your eyes enough to enable the ability.

Jared embraced the change regardless of the consequences in physical appearance. "All right, let's try out this magnification..." Jared thought about zooming his vision and the landscape blurred as his vision narrowed like a tunnel. He looked into the distance and guessed he could see nearly a half mile away as if it were a few feet in front of him.

The nanites fuse the lens of your eye with the ciliary muscle. Both control the curvature of the lens. When you focus on magnifying your vision, the lens squeezes together which allows you to see further.

"These are some awesome abilities!" Curious, Jared pulled up his status screen to see if they appeared. The abilities manifested in the same diagram as the rest of the categories to enhance.

"I'm assuming you put these into the right categories and that since they're listed here I can upgrade them further?"

Yes, you can enhance them, but I would caution against that unless the ability will give you a major boon.

"If they show up here, then in theory I could have made the changes myself if I could guide nanites like you did for replication?"

Yes, but the nanites that allowed the abilities to manifest contain hard-coded parameters with the abilities. Think of them as imprinted to perform a certain function. If we wanted to do the same, it would require a lot of nanites to achieve the same effect. Inheriting like we did, sped up the process and did not require free nanites to gain the abilities.

"I feel like going on a killing spree now! If we got abilities like this for killing some unintelligent lizards, I can't imagine what we'll achieve taking out some bigger and smarter creatures! So... based on my status screen, we gained no nasty side-effects from those rats?"

Correct. The rats had no abilities other than being carriers for bacteria. It's likely the nanites within them also purged any viral infections.

"Oh, that reminds me... those rabbits I fought? Well, that big one you saw me vanquish right at the end gave me some nanites. I saw them dissipate into my flesh just before the blood covered my face, and I have three percent available to assign. Not too bad for an easy..."

Scarlet gave him a side-long glance.

"Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't nearly as dangerous as the rats and lizards we killed. In fact, I only got hit once when it kicked me in the back, and that's only because it moved silently and I thought I'd killed them all."

Excuses...

"Oh, all right miss all-power and the mighty dragon. You get the next batch while I get to be lazy and take a nap." Jared smirked and felt amusement radiate from Scarlet.

He looked beyond Scarlet and saw a faint glow touch the horizon.

"Sun's up, time to get moving. Should we give this flight thing a go?" Rather than answer, Scarlet knelt and lowered her neck for Jared to clamber aboard. He double-checked his gear, strapped his pack on and climbed into the natural seat created for him. It fit him perfectly and felt comfortable.

Jared positioned himself, looking around for a hand-hold, "Ahh..." Thump. "Ouch!"

Scarlet launched herself into the air with no provocation or warning and Jared promptly fell off her back smashing his shoulder into the ground. The fall jarred him and left a throbbing ache in his shoulder. He rotated his arm and although nothing appeared out of place, he suspected a bruise would form later.

"Um, maybe warn me next time so I can brace myself. There's not exactly a harness up here and not a lot to hold onto."

Sorry. Scarlet said chagrinned.

"Let's try this again." Jared messaged his shoulder before climbing back up. It will definitely bruise...

Settled back into the seat, Jared tightened his knees and wrapped his arms around her neck as best he could. "I'm ready!"

Scarlet tensed her legs and lunged upward. Jared felt his stomach drop to his toes and the force of the acceleration pinned him to Scarlets neck. Her wings unfurled and the powerful thrusts carried them higher. The bobbing motion while Scarlet gained altitude caused Jared's stomach to rebound like a Yoyo.

Taking a deep breath and squeezing his eyes shut, he focused on maintaining his seat until the up and down motion ceased. Finally, it leveled out, and he opened his eyes.

"Wow...," Jared whispered expelling the breath he'd held. "It's... I... "

I told you, words cannot describe it.

Jared didn't describe or express his feelings. He sat atop Scarlet and absorbed his surroundings. The sun crested the horizon and cast a shimmering veil over the landscape. From his vantage, the Earth almost looked beautiful. On one side, the sun shimmered and painted everything in red and orange hues of splendor. On the other side, dark foreboding reigned on the twisted and ruined New York city. The two halves stood in stark contrast promising a future that could come until reality overtook that dream.

One day... Sighing, Jared returned his attention to their current goal. "Let's make a pass to see if they've broken camp yet." Scarlet banked and headed toward the last known location for the explorers. They arrived overhead right as the group continued south.

"Let's fly ahead and see what lies in their path. I've never been this far south. When we get closer to their camp, maybe we can locate it ahead of them, and investigate. It would be nice to see what we are up against before they let the rest of them know about us. It's likely Iliana relayed the bonding information to them and no doubt they are eager to spread the new. I'd like to be in a position to observe how they all react. We also need to figure out their plans for taking over a jump ship, and if they'd really harm other survivors to do it. We don't need ally's who devalue human life for their own agenda."

Eventually, some people will come to harm if you continue down our path.

"Yes, I know Scarlet, but if I can keep those harmed to the ones above, or at least the ones responsible for my mother's death, then I'll try my best to achieve that."

I am warning you that there may be collateral damage and fallout from any kind of protracted battle we take against the cities.

"I get it. That doesn't mean I can't try to reduce the number of innocents, if they are innocent."

Although Scarlet said nothing, Jared felt frustration he was unwilling to budge on his principles. If I seek vengeance by destroying anything in my way, I'll be no better than them. I'd be throwing away everything my mother represented. She believed all human life worth saving, even those that left to live in posh cities. She always said they needed guidance and someone to open their eyes. Jared believed some of that faith in mankind misplaced, but he also wanted to honor her beliefs. The apocalypse occurred nearly a thousand years ago and maybe most don't even know the reality of their situation anymore.

If they no longer knew what transpired down on the Earth, Jared needed to open their eyes to humanities plight. He'd find out what happened to those responsible for creating the virus, the company that distributed the boosters, and enlighten the rest of humanity to the lies. One step at a time...

The first step involved building an army, but he didn't trust those he'd met from the Daggers fraternity. They weren't out of the question, but he may end up seeking allies elsewhere.

They'd flown thirty minutes ahead of the explorers when Jared observed buildings in the distance. Using his new ability, he magnified his vision.

"Scarlet, let's head toward those buildings over there. It looks like a fort or stronghold." For the past thirty minutes the ground was barren, just like the crater around New York City. He suspected, the land they flew toward was what remained of Sandy Hook and all the military installations that used to exist there. It looked like half the island blew apart from a direct nuclear attack.

"We should explore this island." Is it still considered an island if there's no water around? Shrugging, Jared continued, "It will take them a few hours to trek this far and I bet there's all kinds of useful stuff there."

There are probably many creatures around here. This close to a nuclear detonation the mutations will be more severe. I think the only reason we encountered so little in the other city was because of my mother's presence.

"Okay, let's make a couple passes. We can use our new abilities to look for heat signatures."

Scarlet circled the island and Jared found several life forms of average size, one bigger than the rest, but by itself and unmoving. If these buildings used to be military compounds, then they likely descended underground. With the abilities being so new, Jared did not understand how effective the heat sight was at penetrating walls and dirt, but there was only one way to find out.

"I see nothing particularly troublesome down there. Nothing bigger than you are now, anyway."

Just keep in mind I cannot accompany you inside buildings or through smaller passages underground.

That gave Jared pause as he'd failed to connect the dots. Before Scarlet he never thought twice about exploring solo, but he'd taken her presence for granted.

"I survived for two years on my own, I'm stronger, and have abilities that can help me survive now. If I run into any trouble, I'll run away and lure whatever it is back to you and we can both fight it."

Jared surveyed the area for the best place to start and spotted a large building just off what used to be the coast. "Let's head over there," Jared said. Rather than pointing, he shared a mental image of the large structure. Scarlet banked and carried them to a large dome-shaped building. It was mostly intact and made of concrete with reinforced steel beams. A bunker maybe?

Jared jumped off Scarlet's back after landing and headed toward the building. The doors to the building no longer existed so Scarlet accompanied him inside. The interior was dim, and the shadows flitted around the interior so he had trouble making out details. Activating his heat sight, Jared looked around for any signs of life. Thankfully, he saw nothing to pose an immediate threat save for a couple normal sized rats.

Ignoring them, Jared started a thorough exploration of the large room before heading to the doors in the back. Judging from their location and the nature of this building, they led into a small hill at the back of the building.

"Scarlet, I'm heading down. Stay here and let me know if you need me."

Cracking the door, slowly this time, Jared made sure he didn't cause the door to scream like last time. He had no desire to awaken another horde of rats. The hinges resisted at first, but with a sharp tug and a whispered grinding, they gave way and the door swung open.

Not seeing any heat signatures, Jared started down the stairs. They descended at least three or four stories into the hillside. The structural integrity of the building was solid, and he made his way down with little effort. He kept the heat sight on while exploring since he'd likely see any heat patterns before his normal night vision picked out anything. The downside to the heat sight was that everything seemed dulled and blurry. I'll just scope out the area and the switch back to night vision.

Moving room to room, Jared ensured that no creatures lurked in the area. He was just about to switch back to night vision when he noted a dim glow coming from one room he'd just left. Cautiously, he crept to the room and drew his phase pistol. Standing to the side of the door, Jared leaned around the doorjamb leading with his pistol. As before, the room was empty, and he didn't see a heat signature.

Furrowing his brow, Jared moved into the room, studying his surroundings. Toggling back to night vision, he moved from wall to wall examining everything. Maybe I'm seeing things...

Attempting it one more time, he flipped the heat sight back on and saw it again, but it disappeared immediately after. Jared swapped back to night vision only to see the back wall, empty. Maybe there's a hidden compartment or door to the other side... Jared checked the rooms on either side, but saw no way to get beyond.

He moved back into the center room and scrutinized the back wall. Nothing...

Jared grabbed a metal pipe leaning against the corner and tapped the wall. First, he tapped where the light originated, but it sounded and felt as solid as everything else. Working out in a circular patter, he reached the sides of the room and still found no entrance or evidence of something beyond.

Scarlet, there's something on the other side of a wall down here and I can't find a way around or through. I'm going to see if I can break the wall down. The noise might attract attention so stay vigilant.

Testing the pipe he'd been using, Jared slammed it into the center of the wall.

"Ouch!" The pipe bent in half and the impact sent sharp vibrations rampaging through his hands and arms. They instantly went numb, and he dropped the pipe to the ground with a sharp metallic clang. Jared messaged his hands as the ache receded.
That was stupid you moron, Jared berated himself.

Wait... where's the light? The heat signature hadn't appeared after he hit the wall. Jared slowly backed away from the wall brandishing his pistol at the wall. Why would it stop after I hit the wall? Unless...

Immediately after Jared had the thought, the light behind the wall returned and intensified. Just as swiftly, it blinked out of existence. What is going on...

It flared again, even bright this time accompanied by a tremor that knocked debris loose from the walls and ceiling. The light winked out again and silence filled the room. He thought whatever made the earth shake left until the floor of the room bucked and he fell backward.

Scarlet, I'm coming out! There's something alive down here and I woke it up!

Jared ran as fast as possible through the room and up the stairs. Before he reached the top, the earth bucked again sending him into the air where his head made a sharp retort on the ceiling, "Dangit," Jared cursed. He grabbed the top of his head which came away slick with blood. His vision swam as he stood on shaky legs and made his way into the large hangar where Scarlet waited.

"Scarlet, I don't know what's down there, but it's got to be massive. I don't think we want to be around to find out. Let's get out of here!"

Jared and Scarlet ran to the exit, but before they reached the threshold, a massive cylindrical appendage shot out and barred their passage. It originated from a large hole to the side of the room Jared assumed resulted from an explosion when he'd first searched the room..

Sidestepping the appendage, they altered course only to have another of the appendages shoot from a second hole.

"Scarlet, use your fire!"

Scarlet sucked in her breath and let loose, "RAAWWWWRRR!" The roar deafened Jared and was much stronger than it'd been the first time he'd heard it.

A jet of blue-tinged fire burst from Scarlet's mouth. Blue? Jared pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

The flames did the trick, and the appendages retracted enough for Jared and Scarlet to race past. He vaulted on to Scarlet's back and she leapt into the air. They'd made it thirty feet off the ground when, unbelievingly, the thing slapped them from the sky. Jared instantly blacked out as they sailed over the edge of the cliff into the crater where once rested an ocean.

###

Feeling a sharp kick to his side, Jared opened his eyes to a splitting headache. Spitting blood and seeing stars he tried to sit up, but he couldn't get the leverage he needed. His arms and legs were numb and he couldn't move them. Slowly, feeling returned to his limbs, and he realized it wasn't from the fall, I'm tied up?

Jared tried to shake the vestiges of grogginess from his mind, but whatever happened after that creature slapped him from the air really did a number on him. Finally gaining use of all his faculties, Jared sat up and surveyed the scene.

"Scarlet!" Jared shouted after seeing scarlet tied up and one of her wings protruding at an odd angle. "Scarlet!"

Jared... I... I couldn't stop them.

Jared looked around for the source of their imprisonment. Standing just behind him was Loch, I'm guessing that's who kicked me, and there, sitting not fifty feet away... Iliana...

"YOU!" Jared began and felt a sharp pain to his temple before darkness claimed him once again...