The screeches the cloned dragons made were fading away, flying miles to the north, wreaking a path of chaos across the San Fransisco hills. Smoke piled up from the objects that had been burning…which was everything: every business, every home, every man, woman, and child. No one would be able to tell the difference between stop sign and oak tree, between bicycle and five year old. Everything was charred black and grey, fluttering away as ash. That had been the scene Casper had emerged from the rumble to see. Smoke. Black. Death. There was nothing left alive on this block of the city. Of course, he still stumbled home, cradling his left arm which throbbed with sharp pain with every step. Block after block, everything was destroyed. He knew what he would find at home. Deep down, he knew. But maybe they survived. After all, he had. It was difficult to find his way back home. The terrain had changed, landmarks disinigrated by dragon fire. Yes, that’s right, Casper affirmed to himself. Real dragons. They had looked exactly like creations in fantasy books and films. Of course they did, because Doctor Ekhart had made them to be. “Ekhart…” Casper muttered the name aloud with a huffing breathe. This was Ekhart’s fault. The good doctor, only caring about his name being exalted in the history books, never stopped to consider the dangers of creating dragons. The hubris the man had to think he could control them… Casper tripped along, the stench of burnt rubber and metal and plastic and flesh stung his nose. Casper finally arrived at the burnt rubble that was his home. They hadn’t survived. And as he knelt beside a black pile of human skeletons, a larger one cradling two smaller ones, he wept over his dead family. And as he wept, something dark and hard and cold entered his heart. It was vengeance. He was letting it eat his future days. Casper would find Doctor Ekhart. It would not be easy. He was a powerful man with lots of influence and lots of pull with even more powerful people and institutions. He would be heavily protected. Especially now that his experiment has gone terribly wrong. He and his friends will probably try to sweep this under the rug. Casper won’t let them. It will be hard, but Casper will find the man responsible for the burning of his wife and daughters. He will find him and he will burn the flesh off his bones. ******