Dragon time

John bit his thumb and furrowed his brows as he walked through the ash-marked and covered city. Frustration twisted and bucked through John's mind.

He was screwed. The massive bounty of free stat points that the bombing should have netted him is now moot because of this cool-down.

Maybe if he had known how beforehand he could have done something. He could have slowed down his consumption to get more stat points. But he hadn't. And now he was screwed. He couldn't grow stronger if he didn't have the aliens to eat. They were his primary source of advancement.

The bombing had destroyed all the other food.

What else was there to eat?

Maybe….. The humans?

No. John couldn't eat the humans. Cannibalism is the most abhorrent of sins. John could never. He would never…..

"What about the dragon?" John asked himself.

That's right—the dragon. It was the only other creature in this place that John could eat. It was the only other living thing in this place of ashes.

"But if I eat the dragon, won't its flames stop?"

If its flames stopped, then John wouldn't be able to sleep. Being sleep-deprived would make him vulnerable. And then the next thing he knew he would be dead.

"If I leave the city will the silence follow me? Because if so then I can't leave either."

John was trapped between a rock and a hard place. He needed to get stronger. If he didn't get strong, he would never find his mother. The only way to get stronger in the current scenario was to kill and eat the dragon. But if he did, he would not be able to sleep, making him weak. And whether or not he could kill the dragon at all was also up for question.

What was John to do?

~What's that sound?~

John paused. He heard the sound of crackling flames.

~Maybe it's another person—someone who survived the apocalypse.~

John speed-shuffled in the direction of the sound.

...

Unfortunately, John did not find another survivor

A pile of scales was nestled right next to a single surviving marble collum next to a pile of marble rubble. John was sure the collum had once been part of quite a fancy building. The scales all burned with purple flames That had singed a part of the collum black.

As John saw these scales he couldn't help but let a smile grow on his face.

"Even if I kill the dragon the flames will remain."

It was simple now that John's main restriction was removed.

It was time for John to make good on his words.

It was time for John to hunt….

...

SO!

How would an admittedly strong but nowhere near dragon-slaying being like John slay a dragon? Especially considering he didn't have access to any weapons and was currently only armed with his bare hands.

John had the answer. See John knew that Dragons could fly. Or at least glide.

And you know what that meant. They had to have hollow bones. Or at least very light bones. If not, they would be too heavy to fly without an absolutely massive wingspan.

The strength it would take to use such a massive wingspan would be nearly impossible to possess while still having a balanced weight distribution that allowed for combat effectiveness.

And John had seen when the Dragon threatened him with fire that it had sharp fangs meant for eating meat. And based on his observations of the wings folded in John did not think that the wingspan was that large. Enough to support flight with non-hollow bones.

So, it had to have hollow bones. And you know what hollow bones are weak against?

That's right! Blunt trauma.

So then John just had to find a way to create a weapon.

Using his strength John found many twisted cars and pulled the hoods off them. He then bent the aluminum metal into the shape of a club. He bent many pieces of aluminum over each other until it was so massive that it felt heavy even for John.

The dragon could shoot fire from his mouth and fly. So John knew it would be the same as a human trying to defeat a fighter jet with a club if it got into the air.

Meaning in simple terms that it was impossible to defeat.

So here was John's genius plan.

He would find out where it usually slept and when it fell asleep.

Then, once he knew that he would go to it during the night. And give it a good THWONK with his club.

And hopefully, unless the dragon was some kind of giga monster capable of bending the laws of physics.

That would kill it.

.....

John placed his club under a car for safekeeping. He placed a few alien heads that he had dismembered with his bare hands a few hours ago placed them on top of the car. They would act as a landmark so he didn't forget what car had his club under it.

Then John turned around and started to walk through the city. He planned to go to where the dragon slept last time.

It was dusk, so it would be night when he arrived. Hopefully, by then the dragon was sleeping.

John had already devised a method to distinguish whether the dragon was asleep or just had its eyes closed.

He would throw a rock at a nearby car from a distance. If the dragon reacted to the sound of clanging metal then John had to assume that it was awake.

It was a genius plan.

John couldn't help but smirk in pride for coming up the plan.

"There it is."

Off into the distance he saw the faint glow of purple light.

John knew where that glow came from.

It was the dragon.

"Time to get myself some dinner."