This scene happens on Page 382 of my unedited, raw 'final draft' of my first, unnamed (as of this moment) novel of a forthcoming five-novel sequence. It's well before the climax. Fortunately, Sanderston, New Mexico---a fictitious desert town in an eponymous, fictitious valley---was evacuated before the tactical nuclear strike. A related, nearby emergency instigated by the antagonists and a renegade faction of the alien race featured in 'Phil At the Gate' prompted the evacuation, so casualties were minimal although the radiation is of some benefit to the alien species.
No, it's never a good feeling watching your hometown mostly pulverized in an instant by a tactical warhead with a fifteen kiloton yield. Especially on such a beautiful day.
Jak'edrac sel'Gury, the dragon, is sad because his kind is rather sensitive to nuclear radiation although he is somewhat protected. There are cures and remedies on his highly advanced homeworld, inhabited by both humans and dragons. Yet he is much sadder because his mate-for-life Jul'eweisa is not there to soothe and comfort him, as Phil (the main character) and Tracy are trying to do for each other. George, the all-around most talented human character (in the Michael Jordan tank) is probably the saddest of all. His fiancee dumped him after some commotion in the novel, and he made a catastrophic mistake that helped bring on the destruction of Sanderston. He'll be okay in the end, though.
Originally done for an Elftown contest called 'Waking Nightmares III', run by TheRogue, AKA <a href='http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/t/h/therogue/therogue.html'>Marc Guerrero</a>. Go there and bow down before his art, and see what a real SF/F artist is all about! Me? I'm a total duffer by comparison
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