“The prisoner will have to walk on his own,” the girl—Tess, Eric was pretty sure—butted in. “Might as well get him used to it now, or he’ll be wobbling like Liam’s dad after a Saturday night.”

“Let’s leave my father’s alcoholism out of this, operative,” the big guy retorted, stiff as a board. He crossed his arms so the muscles in his shoulders all popped out like mutated grapes. “I’m in charge of this squad, in case you forgot. So stuff it, Tess.”

“Yeah, Tess, your mom’s not a peach, either,” the edgy kid sniped, climbing out the back of the van with the tall, dark, and tragic one. Tess’s head just about did a full 360 on her neck to glare at him.

“I haven’t seen my parents in years,” the tall, dark, and tragic one blurted before Tess could start yelling. “I’m beginning to wonder if they were executed for their sins.”

That quieted her right down. No one wanted to meet the guy’s gaze. Not that they needed to worry—he was staring at his feet like he might find a childhood down there somewhere. Jesus.  

“…Anyway,” Liam huffed, throwing his cloak over his shoulders. “Tess, let’s get the prisoner on his feet. Killian and Seraph, get the Portal open.”

Edgy Guy and Sins-of-Our-Fathers Guy both nodded. They jogged away from the van towards the field of standing stones. Liam and Tess yanked Eric up from the ground, crossing their weapons in front and behind.

Tess was right–after being forced to the floor of the van so long, Eric’s legs tingled furiously. The cage of swords, though, was incentive to ignore it. The hunters kept a tight grip on either side of Eric, and absolutely refused to look at each other.

Trust a bunch of dragon-slayers to bring their baggage along for the hunt. If Eric’s eyes rolled any harder, his skull was going to implode and kill him before these teen chucklefucks ever got the chance.

“Walk,” Liam ordered him. Eric did.

-Black Dragon

Yikes. It’s been awhile. Unexpected move, broken computer, vanished flashdrive–the works. But I am back and in business now, and if the Productivity God grants it I should be about done patching my life up soon.

In the spirit of perseverance, I’ll post the rest of my Camp Nano pieces as I manage to retrieve them. Not to worry, though, the usual prompts, Writer Confessions, flash fictions, and topic articles will resume as normal.