Images
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Clarifications
Dratar: A half-dragon creature, created through tortureous experiments in the collection of stories I was writing at the time. They had the basic body structure of the original being [human, elf, orc, etc] with the addition of giant wings, a tail, and long, thick claws.

Gargoyles: An animated series produced by Disney. I had written a few fanfics in which my character interacted with those from the gargoyle world.

Hudson: The oldest member of the gargoyle clan.

Dr. Bashir: The ranking doctor from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Dax: A science officer from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

 

The Bus
01-18-1996
In this dream, I was a dratar. I wore the usual clothing, minus footwear to allow for my large claws. I had been living with the Gargoyles for many months and, this night, had been asked to escort a travel bus full of humans to the top of a mountain. It just happened to be the same bus my high school used on our senior government trip to Washington DC. A couple people from my old class were there but, mainly, everyone else was a stranger to me.

About half way up the mountain, I landed on the road and looked around. Hudson came up and landed next to me. "Why are we stopping?" Before I could answer, the bus caught up with us and stopped. Just ahead was a big, chain link gate that blocked the road. Beyond the gate was a government-type building. It looked like some sort of oil refinery compound but, from the road, all you could see were business offices.

A businessman [Man #1] came out and told everyone they couldn't pass through the gate. The driver came out of the bus and started arguing with Man #1. Suddenly, more men came out of the building and I found myself fighting beside the Gargoyles against the businessmen. I confronted Man #1, crouching slightly and growling through clinched teeth. The man wasn't phased. Another man came behind me, but I sensed him... swinging around and using my tail to knock him down. I spun back around to face Man #1 and leapt at him in one fluid motion. He caught me and held me above his head. His fingers felt like claws and they dug deep into my side. He was obviously not human, though he showed no other signs that he wasn't. He threw me to the ground and my head hit the back bumper of the bus.

Pain. Blackout.

I awoke on the bus, no longer a dratar... though, I still wore the same clothes. The Gargoyles were gone and we were driving down the road again, trying to find some lodging for the night. I was slouched in an aisle seat on the right side of the bus, about four seats from the front. My head ached and all energy had been drained from me. All I wanted to do was drift off to sleep. Trying to get more comfortable, I pushed my feet through to the empty seats in front of me and rest them on the armrests.

The bus stopped and let a man and woman on before continuing its journey. The man had grey hair and wore a long coat and black pants. The woman had brown hair, but I don't remember what she wore. The woman sat in the window seat in front of me and the man sat down next to her, in the seat right in front of me. I was so tired, I couldn't move my feet if I'd wanted to.

I don't remember how I got it, but I suddenly had a note written by the man. It was difficult to read because my vision kept fading in and out of focus. It said something like, "your feet are blue....circulation....call me." ...and at the bottom was his number. I looked above me and it looked like one of the ceilings in an airplane, where the air blowers, lights, and call buttons are... only, in the middle, was a phone. I took it down and punched in the numbers he gave me. We began to talk, but I don't remember what we said, his voice was familiar. I almost blacked out as he asked me a question. I paused, not able to get enough breath to speak... my chest was killing me. When I didn't answer his question, the man turned around quickly and looked over the seat. The woman beside him also spun around... they both looked so familiar.

The man stood up in the aisle and looked into my eyes and felt my forehead. Cold sweat was pouring down my face. He laid my seat back and climbed into the empty seat beside me. He then turned the overhead light on and the woman handed him a blanket to cover me. They started talking, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Maybe poisoning?... How?" The man recalled how Man #1 had picked me up earlier. I was confused... they hadn't been at that battle... how did they know what had happened?

"Where did he pick her up?..." He looked at my arm, searching for any signs. Nothing. Then he looked at my right side and saw red gashes, a couple of which were bleeding. He stood up. "Definitely poison." He started trying to grab his jacket and take it off. His hair was getting in his eyes and he told the woman to "get this off!" She took off his wig. It was Dr. Bashir in disguise. The woman was Dax. I was shocked but too exhausted to do anything about it. He looked at me and smiled. "Sorry I had to fool you."

He finally got his jacket off and I saw his uniform underneath. He rolled up his sleeves. I started blacking in and out at this point. "Dart....wounds....claw marks....remove...." I sort of understood that when Man #1 had thrown me, he had a tiny dart in his hand and had dug it into my side when he lifted me up. The dart had since worked it's way deeper into my side. They needed to remove it before it gave off the rest of its poison.

End.