The Burden of Endurance Page 3

  Parsons sneered. “You better keep that creature under control.”

  “We are perfectly under control.” I continued to smile at him. “You’ll be the first to know if we aren’t.”

  I turned my gaze back to the recruits. The excitement was gone from their faces. “That was the easy part.” I gestured to the thrashing wild in the net. “That was not something to be proud of. Now, we get to do the crazy part. Each one of you has to approach the wild. Get up in its face as it is trying to rip you to shreds. When Kuna and I connected, there were less than six feet between us. I was close enough that one swipe of his paw could have killed me. For me, it wasn’t by choice. You must make that choice.”

  The recruits shifted uncomfortably.

  “This will work?” Reegan asked.

  I sighed. “I don’t know.”

  The woman’s mouth set into a grim line. Without another word, she took a few steps forward, quickly glancing my direction for approval. When I nodded, she strode toward the wild. I followed behind her, too nervous to let her get too close alone. As she neared, the creature rounded in the net, fixating on her. For a moment, the hope welled up inside me. Maybe it would be this simple.

  Kuna crouched down next to me, his muscles tense and ready. I laid my hand on his flank, watching no less intently as my charge shuffled forward a few more steps.

  The wild yowled and lunged forward. Instead of pouncing on Reegan, though, the Chroin’s claws became snared in the net, and it simply flopped across the ground. The wild screamed furiously as it struggled with the net again.

  Reegan looked over her shoulder at me. I gave her a tight-lipped smile and gently urged her forward. Determined, she set her sights on the wild and took another step forward. Then another and another.

  My stomach clenched as I forced myself to hang back, not wanting to interfere with their connection. With only a few feet separating them, Reegan reached out tentatively toward the wild. The creature yowled again and lashed out. The strong cables of the net snapped, and one of the creature’s clawed feet broke free. Reegan threw herself to the ground, the wild’s claws rustling her hair as it swiped over her head.

  I dove in, grabbing Reegan’s hand as she desperately tried to turn herself around and crawl away. The wild hissed, snapping at us as it struggled to push its slender body through the small opening.

  I pulled as hard as I could, sliding Reegan across the pebbly ground. Before I could get very far, pain flared in my side. Suddenly, I was staring up at the treetops, the dappled light dancing across my eyes. I couldn’t breathe. My lungs burned as they screamed for oxygen, but I couldn’t make a sound.

  A deafening roar cut through the thundering of my own heart. Kuna. His purple body streaked over me as the wild struggled to pull itself up, still half-tangled in the net. He slammed into the beast, knocking it back onto the ground. Before the creature could move, he struck again. His teeth locked around the creature’s slender throat, and he shook the wild violently.

  Hands grabbed ahold of me, pulling me across the ground. Despite the fact that they were trying to help me, I struggled against them. Waves of anger washed over me, but they weren’t my own.

  “Laure!” Brinden’s voice came to me from far away, somehow breaking through the haze of anger. “Laure, stop!” He knelt down in front of me, placing a hand on my shoulder. It took every ounce of control I had not to launch myself at him. It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, he might have actually saved my life. “Laure, you can’t go to him.”

  Carefully, I closed my eyes and took several controlled breaths.

  Kuna, I reached out. His mind was foggy and uncontrolled. Kuna, it’s all right. I knew he couldn’t hear me despite our connection. He continued to tear at the now dead wild, his mind lost in the frenzy. For a second, I began to panic. Had he gone wild again? Could that even happen? What would I do without him? A black pit of despair opened up before me. He and I were one now. We were nothing without each other.

  I opened my eyes and gave Brinden a half-hearted smile, letting him know I had control of myself again, barely.

  He still frowned back at me. “Are you all right? You got hit pretty hard back there.”

  I nodded. “I’ll be fine.” My side hurt—perhaps I had bruised a rib—but I was fine. I pushed myself up. A few of the recruits stared fearfully toward Kuna while he shredded the wild’s corpse.

  “He’s gone absolutely mad,” Ilex whispered.

  “Do you think he’s wild?”

  I cringed as they spoke my own thoughts aloud.

  “Was he ever really…tame?”

  I blocked them out of my mind. I didn’t want to think of what would happen if Kuna really had gone wild again. Instead, I pushed my way past them.

  “Laure, stop!” Brinden grabbed my arm.

  I grabbed his hand in return, peeling it off. “You’ll understand soon enough. Just know, if you try to hold me back one more time, I will make sure that you can’t,” I growled. Brinden withdrew his hand, looking hurt and confused.

  When I looked around, the first thing I saw was Parsons in the turret, aiming at Kuna.

  I sprinted full speed for the ATV. My vision narrowed to a pinpoint. All I could see was Parsons sitting in the turret. I leaped onto the back of the ATV, grabbing the roll bar and pulling myself the rest of the way up.

  As I reached the top, I grabbed the back of Parsons’s bulletproof vest, yanking him backward with strength I hadn’t known I had. With a cry, Parsons tumbled out of the turret and landed hard on the ground with a grunt.

  “What the hell?” Parsons growled, slowly pushing himself up.

  I jumped down from the ATV, landing gracefully on the ground in front of him. “Don’t you ever point a gun at Kuna again,” I snarled through gritted teeth. My whole body shook as I stood before Parsons. My fists clenched and unclenched as I kept my arms ridged at my sides.

  Parsons chuckled as he finished standing up. “Did you really just assault a commanding officer?”

  “You shouldn’t have turned your gun on a friendly. It was my duty to stop you.”

  “That thing is not a friendly. It is an alien,” Parsons hissed. “It is out of its mind and a danger to all of us.”

  “No. That alien is going to help save the human race.”

  “You are nothing but a mongrel and disgrace to the human race.”

  Without warning, I lashed out, delivering a bolo punch straight to the center of Parsons’s jaw. He crumpled to the ground without a cry.

  Punching Parsons didn’t help. It didn’t make me feel better. It certainly wouldn’t make Parsons less of an asshole. I hadn’t known what I intended to do until I had actually punched him.

  Suddenly, Parsons lunged forward, wrapping his arms around my legs and pulling them out from under me. He pinned me to the ground and pulled his arm back to throw a punch of his own. I quickly covered my face, rolling to the side as much as I could. His fist grazed my cheek, causing pain to blossom along the side of my face before it slammed into the ground.

  I struggled to work my legs free, but Parsons had them pinned. As he pulled back for another punch, I slammed my fist into his side just below his ribs. Parsons grunted, his punch halting mid-swing. I quickly slammed my fist into his side again.

  With all the strength I could muster, I shoved Parsons, sending him sprawling backward. I scrambled to my feet, not willing to get pinned again. My breath wheezed in and out of my lips. I could already feel half my face swelling.

  Blood dripped from Parsons’s mouth as he looked up at me.

  “Are we done?” I asked.

  “You started this,” Parsons snarled.

  “Fair enough,” I conceded. “Are you going to threaten Kuna again?”

  Parsons didn’t respond. Instead, he glared up at me.

  “Answer me,” I screamed, my voice a guttural roar.

  “No,” Parsons ground out, his fingers digging into the dirt beneath him.

  �
��Good.” I spun away from him. The recruits stood behind me, staring at me, fear clear in each of their eyes. My breath quickened. They couldn’t be afraid of me. They were supposed to become just like me. The humans had rejected us. The Chroins had rejected us. I couldn’t face rejection from the recruits as well.

  They don’t understand… yet, Kuna purred in my mind. I looked for him. He had abandoned the wild’s corpse and was slowly making his way toward me.

  That’s assuming they’ll even go through with the bonding now. If we can even figure out how to do it. It had seemed so simple before. It had happened to us. Were we just a fluke, freaks of nature?

  We’ll figure it out. If we don’t, we can always kill Parsons and run away together.

  Stoooop. I rolled my eyes. Maybe. We’ll keep that as plan B. I smiled.

  Kuna perked up. So, you’re considering it now?

  No! I shouldn’t have even punched him. I’m sure he’ll run straight to the other commanders when we get back. I heaved a sigh and thought about all the trouble he could raise back at the Endurance.

  “We should move on,” I said aloud to the recruits. “Any other wild in the area will have been drawn in to the noise we’ve made.”

  As the recruits trudged back to the ATV, I turned to Kuna again. Are you all right?

  I’m fine, he replied curtly. I wasn’t the one who was hurt. Are you all right?

  Pft! You are not fine. I rolled my eyes. You scared me.

  I’m sorry. You know that you don’t have to be afraid of me. I felt the hurt emanating from Kuna.

  I wasn’t afraid of you, you big idiot. I threw my arm around his leg. I was afraid that—the words choked in my mind—maybe you had gone wild again.

  It tried to kill you, he snarled with a startling and sudden ferocity. I can’t…I can’t go back. I won’t. There was an edge of desperation in his voice, a gnawing panic. Kuna wasn’t angry. He was afraid. He had been afraid for me.

  I hugged him even tighter. I just got the wind knocked out of me. That’s all.

  But you’re so small, so fragile. It could have killed you, Kuna said firmly, nuzzling my side. We shouldn’t be doing this. It’s too dangerous.

  It was dangerous when we fought off the wild before, I reminded him.

  That was different. There were others fighting with us. There were others who could watch our backs. And we were fighting together. When we are separate, it is much harder to keep you safe. Though Kuna had calmed, I still felt the panic rolling off him.

  I tensed, hugging his leg a little tighter. We can’t go back until we have bonded at least one of the recruits. We promised the commanders.

  I felt Kuna tense. They can’t control us. We are stronger than them. They can’t make us do anything, he snarled.

  It doesn’t work like that. I shook my head. We can’t fight the commanders. Even if we did, the others would never accept us like that.

  Then we’ll leave. We can go off on our own. We don’t need them, Kuna insisted. They can’t put you in danger like that.

  We are all in danger.

  But they are putting you in more danger than the others.

  That is my job, I said forcefully but gently. I was trained to deal with dangers that the others couldn’t. I can’t leave them. They need us.

  Kuna didn’t say anything, but he was still unhappy.

  Do you really want to abandon the other Chroin? I asked.

  The wild are dangerous.

  But you were wild, I pointed out.

  And I was more dangerous when I was, Kuna insisted.

  You said you were sick. That connection made you well, I insisted. I know how you feel about the others. I know they are dangerous, but I also know you feel bad for them. You know what they don’t. We can help make them well again, at least a few of them.

  Kuna’s tail twitched nervously back and forth. We don’t know how to make them well. I don’t know why we connected. Something just clicked.

  I know. I nodded, stroking his smooth skin. But we can figure it out.

  Kuna heaved a heavy sigh. We can try.

  I smiled. Come on, we need to figure out what to do with the others.

  I turned and walked back to the recruits, Kuna by my side. A few of the recruits started as he approached.

  “It’s all right.” I held up my hands. “He’s not a danger. He’s not wild.” They eyed him skeptically. Though Kuna was anything but relaxed, he lay down on the ground, making a show of yawning and trying his best to seem disinterested in the group.

  Brinden nodded, his mouth set into a grim line. I glanced over to Parsons as he stood by the ATV. Though he didn’t say anything, he glowered back at me.

  “What are we going to do now?” Arzus asked. “The net didn’t seem to work. If anything, that seemed to piss it off more.”

  The others nodded in agreement.

  “When Kuna and I bonded, we were fighting each other.” I shook my head, thinking back to the moment. I had been wielding a 50-calibur rail gun mounted on the escape shuttles from the Endurance, fighting off the wild as they tore through the wreckage of the Endurance. Kuna had been like the other Chroin, the wild. He had been crazed, trying to kill anything that moved, but something had changed.

  I shook my head. I couldn’t explain that moment. I didn’t know what had caused it, but we had to replicate it with others.

  “Do you think it had something to do with the battle?” Brinden offered. “Like the adrenaline rush and the other hormones that were running wild helped to facilitate the connection.”

  I nodded slowly. “It could be, but getting you all so close to the wild without some kind of restraint is…” Suicidal. “I thought I was going to die when it happened, and if the connection hadn’t happened, I’m sure I would have.”

  “Perhaps not every person can connect with every Chroin,” Reegan suggested.

  I nodded. “I would bet that’s probably right.” I heaved a sigh. If that was correct, how could I ever hope to bond these people with a Chroin by just wandering around in the wild looking for the Chroin?

  Why don’t we move upstream a bit? There is still plenty of ground to cover.

  I nodded again. “Why don’t we move on? Maybe we can find a herd. A small one. More Chroin has to give us better odds.”

  The others nodded in return. The looks of boredom and playful anticipation were gone. Instead, the recruits were stone-faced and serious. They had seen what taming a Chroin would look like. They had seen the danger with their own eyes, and now it was real.

  Chapter 4

  The trees around the riverbank no longer held the magic and wonder they had before. Now they were menacing. They concealed the threat. The wild were in every shadow. They were every rustling leaf and snapping twig.

  Where are all the Chroin? I asked Kuna nervously. We had only seen one. I had expected there to be dozens along the riverbank. Despite the fact that Kuna’s herd had tried to overrun the Endurance’s crash site, they now seemed like rare gems.

  They’re out there, Kuna assured me. We haven’t walked very far. The planet is vast.

  I felt a tingle creep in at the edge of my mind. Before I could react, a sudden shriek made my hair raise up on end. I whipped back and forth, looking for the source. Kuna’s head moved back and forth as well.

  The wild burst from the tree line, running at us at an all-out sprint. It kicked up dirt and leaves in its wake as it galloped toward us. Its head was small and sleek at the end of a short neck. Its body was lithe, making it seem like a missile as it sped toward us. Two more like it burst through the tree line at its flanks.

  Without a word, one of the black tendrils snaked up from Kuna’s chest. The instant it was attached, it pulled me back toward the black orb. Our vision blurred, and trepidation ran down my spine as I lost sight of the wild. When Kuna and I stopped to look around, the ATV hadn’t stopped. They were too far ahead now.

  The first wild leaped up and easily landed on the ATV, its long toes wrapping ar
ound the ATV’s roll bar. The ATV swerved wildly as the driver tried to keep it under control.

  We sprung onto another wild as it darted for the vehicle. These wild were smaller than us. They weren’t as strong, but they were faster. The wild dodged then stumbled on a tree root as it scrambled out of our way. The moment of hesitation was all we needed. We charged, our claws scraping down the creature’s hindquarters. Its scream was cut short as our claws tore open the creature’s throat.

  Lightning bolts of pain seared through our back, and we cried out. The wild’s tiny claws dug into our shoulders as it struggled to keep its hold on our back. The creature’s teeth scored our neck as its small head managed to squeeze underneath our protective frill.

  With another bellowing roar, we shook off the creature, throwing it to the ground. The wild hissed defiantly at us, arching its back as it circled around us. We lunged in, snapping frantically. As the creature dodged, though, our tail lashed out. The sharpened end buried itself in the wild’s side. It whined, and its back legs collapsed as it tried to scramble away.

  We returned our attention to the ATV. The wild sat atop the mounted rail gun, preventing anyone from using it. The creature had slashed right through the ATV’s metal roof. Ilex leaned out of the rear passenger side window, his rifle rattling continuously.

  With a sudden shriek, a body flew through the air.

  No! We roared angrily, charging the ATV. The wild was too focused on the recruits to notice us. Our jaws locked around the creature’s back, and it squealed, its tiny claws scoring our face as it struggled. We squeezed harder and harder until there was a satisfying crunch between our teeth and the wild fell limp.

  Let me out! We have to help him! My heart was racing harder and faster than I had ever thought possible. Who had been hurt?

  Immediately, my vision blurred, but this time, the transition only took a split second. My feet were already moving when they hit the ground. I saw a pair of feet sticking out of a bush at the base of a tree. They were so still. Not even the slightest twitch.

  I heard the others’ footsteps just behind me. I thought about turning to look at their faces, to see who was missing.