Cole was dead.
The love of my life is gone gone, one little bullet. All it takes. I look up. He would want me to get to the base. Two corridors down, one left, three corridors. I could do it.
I start walking. Shakily, one foot in front of the other. I blink deeply, breathe hard. I shake my head and start to run. The pack on my back shakes as I jog down the sterile white-lot hallways. Total silence. But I bet they're watching.
I reach the door and pull a key out of my pack. Old school door, with a lock. I've only seen one other.
Jamming the key into the lock, I can't reach my pistol before someone slams me into a wall. My back is to them. I can feel armor pressing against my back as they maneuver my hands behind me. They peel back my fingers. I struggle and fight, but they only laugh. Eventually my fingers open like a flower's petals to reveal the key.
The key is taken from my hands, a gun pressed to my head. I speak.
"You won't hold us back. We will burn you to the ground. You will be nothing! Our revolution will rise!" I snarl.
The figure behind the tinted glass laughs and I freeze. I know that laugh.
"How can something rebel," the figure leans in, "If it no longer exists? Your organic bodies cannot stand a nuclear blast. You are the last. And even you will fall. You cannot outsmart centuries of evolution."
The gun presses harder against my head. Trigger pulled. Pain---
END

Once Upon A Time...
There was a dragon residing in a cave. Besides taking the occasional cow from the local village, the dragon was peaceful. It had outlived its glory days and was now in retirement, so to speak. The dragon had an enormous amount of treasure.
So of course someone wanted that treasure trove as their own. That someone was King Andrew. He was greedy, stupidly so, and believed that he could outwit a thousands year old dragon. So he sent his best soldiers.
The dragon promptly sent them back to the king in flames or as charred corpses. Because when a small army of humans attacks you with metal toothpicks, what else is one to do?
The king, flabbergasted to say the least, sent out a decree that anyone to slay the dragon would be married to his daughter. This daughter, Princess Andrea, wouldn't stand for it. But instead of whacking him on the head with an axe or giving him a healthy helping of poison, she just decided to visit the dragon.
Of course, the dragon was satisfied to just talk, since recently it seemed that humans preferred violence. So they talked. And then a plan formed.
➖➖➖
The king was sitting in his throne room one day, not exactly doing much to help the welfare of his kingdom, when the dragon decided to visit. Via roof.
Once the dust had cleared (and after the king recovered from almost choking to death), the dragon spoke.
"King, why dost thou wish to gain my treasures? For if thou wishes, thou mayeth be given a portion." As you can see the dragon spoke rather... backwards. This was because it was older than your grandparent's parent's parents. Either way, the small speech left the king spluttering, until Princess Andrea made an offer.
"Oh great dragon, will you leave my, er, poor father alone?"
"Yes, small princess, I may, if thou wouldst be so obliged to leave this kingdom with myself?"
The king recovered and so started to talk back to the dragon.
"You cannot tell me or my family what to do and what not to do, this bloodline has existed for a century! You cannot-you-GUARDS!"
" Oh my. Well, lowly king, mayhaps this will allow thou to see reason." The dragons head snaked forward until the king could smell a smell of death coming from deep in the dragon.
"I have lived a thousand years," it said slowly, deliberately, "and never hast I seeneth a human as dull as you. In fact, your daughter mayst well be the first of your bloodline to be wise. For she dost not love you, nor like you. That is true wisdom, to not like a self-serving, prideful fool. So as you humans of this age say, good day. "
And with that, he scooped up the princess and left.
➖➖➖
Princess Andrea became Queen Andrea and went on to win several key battles for her kingdom.
King Andrew later suffered a stroke and then died of a heart attack.
And the dragon returned to its cave, taking the occasional cow, and giving the occasional advice. You can find it still, if you look hard enough.

The End.