Viper (Second Wave Book 1)

by Mikayla Lane

Even as a child the animals had never bothered her, always staying just out of sight, watching out of curiosity. As if they knew that she was different. That she didn’t belong. Unlike her fellow humans, the animals had accepted her though.

  If she paid close enough attention to them, she would hear the warning cries or howls, and the echoing of various creatures sending the message of danger through the forest. Centering herself more deeply, she concentrated on the sounds around her for a while.

  Lara spent the next several hours listening for any sign that they had been found and getting everything ready to move them to their next location while Viper slept. She hoped that his head and vision would miraculously heal the same way the rest of his injuries had. However, Lara wasn’t holding her breath; her luck never ran that good.

  By the time Viper had begun showing signs of waking, she had everything packed and ready to go. Hunkered down at the mouth of the cave, Lara waited until she knew Viper was almost awake before moving over to him.

  Lara’s heart almost melted in her chest when his big green eyes opened, and he gave her a brilliant smile. Pushing her thoughts and feelings aside, she handed him a bottle of water and two protein bars.

  “You need to eat and drink some water. We have some traveling to do today if we’re going to avoid them. Do you have a fever?” Lara asked, not waiting for his reply she felt his forehead herself.

  Nodding her head, satisfied that he wasn’t feverish, she began clearing the cave of any signs that they had been there. By the time she’d covered her tracks farther back into the cave, Viper was already standing and trying to fold the sleeping bag.

  Grabbing the sleeping bag, Lara pointed to one of her packs near his feet. “Go ahead and put the trash in there for now. Then grab that tin of grease paint and write something on the walls for your people to see that those ass holes won’t be able to decipher. Let them know we’ll be heading North West, if you can.”

  Lara didn’t bother to turn around and check to see if he was doing as she asked, she turned from him and expertly folded the sleeping bag and stored it back in its hiding place. She needed the time to pull her head back into the game.

  Watching him wake this morning, seeing his bright green eyes and his smile had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. When she’d touched his forehead, she had felt like she had been plugged into an electrical outlet.

  Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and help wake her up, she headed back into the main cavern where Viper was writing a message on the rocky wall with her black face paint. She glanced at it quickly, only understanding part of the cryptic and vague message he had written.

  “How is your vision this morning? Your head?” Lara asked, standing beside Viper.

  Viper turned his obviously unfocused gaze to her before shaking his head slightly. “I’m sorry; I still cannot see much. It is clearer than yesterday, but I’m afraid I still won’t be of much use to you.”

  There was no mistaking the sadness and regret in his voice and for some reason, Lara didn’t want him to feel bad. Forcing as much cheer into her voice as she could she lightly squeezed his hand.

  “It’s ok. I don’t plan on running unless we have to and where we’re heading is only a day’s hike. Your people might even find us before we get there.”

  Viper smiled sadly before pointing to the wall and his message. “Can you understand that?”

  Lara looked at the wall again. “Most of it. But the important thing is that your people understand it. I don’t need to find you; I already did. They need to find you now.”

  Viper looked curiously at Lara’s smiling face. “Read it back to me please, so I know I got it right? My eyes…” Viper’s voice trailed off, and he hoped that she would just read it to him.

  Lara looked at him a moment before turning back to the wall. “Dread hunt ten boy good plus one good. I’m assuming you’re telling them a reference to where you would hunt when you were ten years old? To tell them the direction?”

  Viper was speechless for a moment, his mind racing with questions. “Yes, that’s exactly what I was telling them. My brother, Dread, will know where we are heading when he sees it.”

  Viper stared at her while she looked at the wall, willing his eyes to focus more clearly on her. He wanted nothing more than to see and memorize her features.

  “You guys have some interesting call signs. At least, you told them someone was with you, and that I was a good guy. Are you ready?” Lara said, turning to look up at Viper.

  Lara sucked in her breath at the black that swirled like a storm in Viper’s green eyes. “What the fuck?”

  Viper looked around quickly, cursing his inability to see anything. “What is it?” Viper asked moving to put her behind him.

  “Um… your eyes look…” Lara grabbed Viper’s jaw and turned his head from side to side, studying the black swirls in the early-morning light.

  “What?” Viper asked, wondering if there was some visible injury to his eyes that he wasn’t aware of.

  Lara was trying desperately to understand what could be causing his eyes to look like that. She wondered if it was even safe to move him, or if she should stay here in the cave and wait for his people.

  She was no doctor, but the only thing Lara could think of that could cause something like that would be a brain bleed or a serious tearing in his eyes. The black in his eyes had to be blood, there was no other explanation.

  “There are black spots in your eyes. It could be blood leaking or blood that leaked from the initial injury. I don’t know if it’s safe for you to travel. We could risk permanent injury if we continue to move you.” Lara had to tell him the truth. The decision was his to make. If he chose not to risk the permanent loss of his eyesight, then she would stay and defend him here if she had to.

  Viper turned to fix an unfocused stare on her. She didn’t understand his beast swirls? He felt like an idiot. She was human. He’d just assumed that she would magically understand when she read the wall. Hell, he thought, even he didn’t understand what was going on.

  “It’s fine. A childhood… illness. If you think we need to leave, then we need to leave.” Viper assured her, unwilling to be the reason she put herself in even more danger.

  Viper could feel her intense gaze on him. As if she were judging his honesty and well-being. He could feel the tentative tendrils of energy as they reached out shyly, and he held his breath, waiting for the inevitable collision with his own.

  He was disappointed when Lara nodded her head sharply and turned away from him. He watched her blurry form bend down and grab one of the packs and her rifle.

  He remained standing silently when she turned to him and checked to make sure the knife she had given him at the clearing was secured at his waist and the 9mm in his waistband.

  Lara looked briefly into his eyes, still worried about the black swirls. “Grab the other pack. We’ll do it just like yesterday. We covered six miles yesterday; we need to do ten today in order to get to the next safe shelter. Let me know now if you can’t do it.”

  Viper didn’t hesitate to respond. “I can do it.”

  Other than his head and his vision, he actually felt pretty good. Whether it was the sleep or the energy she had inadvertently shared with him yesterday evening or both he didn’t know, but he did know that he couldn’t let her do that again.

  He could hear the weariness in her voice, and he knew that she probably hadn’t slept at all last night. The guilt swamped him at what she was doing to keep him alive, when it was his duty to keep her safe.

  “Ok then, let’s go. Let me know if you need to stop for anything.” Lara said, then took his sleeve in her left hand and led him out of the cave.

  Even though he couldn’t see very clearly, Viper could tell that Lara knew exactly where she was going. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she had told him that she knew the forest. It had surprised him at how well stocked the cave had been. It was obvious that she had spent a lot of time out here if she had suppli
es stored.

  After several hours of uneventful hiking, Viper’s curiosity finally got the better of him. “How long have you lived out here?”

  Lara was surprised at the question and smiled to herself. “All of my life. My parents lived in an old farmhouse that my mother inherited from her father when she got married. It was right on the edge of the forest.”

  Instead of giving Viper the answers he wanted it only created more questions for him. “How did you end up in the military? Weren’t your parents worried for your safety?”

  Lara cleared her throat, choosing her words carefully. “My parents loved me very much and wanted me to be happy. When I chose the military, they had high hopes that I would find my niche in the world. Settle what they called my restless spirit.”

  Viper considered what she didn’t say as well as what she had said. “You never felt like this was where you were meant to be?”

  Lara was uncomfortable with the conversation and his intelligent observations. It was one thing to feel like an outsider, a reject, around other people. For some reason, admitting she was a stranger in her own hometown made her feel like the most unwanted person in the world, and she didn’t want him to know that.

  “I just always felt that I was meant to be elsewhere, doing other things.” Lara said vaguely, her tone of voice telling Viper that she no longer wanted to speak of it.

  She had unwittingly told him some of what he had wanted to know anyway. She may not remember who she was, but she knew something was wrong. It was a start; he thought.

  Lara returned her focus to the forest around them, listening carefully for any signs that danger was near them. After several hours of silence, she felt it was safe to take a break.

  Lara carefully pulled the pack off of her good shoulder and set it on the ground at her feet. Turning to Viper, she pulled his pack off of his shoulder and helped him over to the fallen log she had stopped in front of.

  “Are you all right?” Viper asked, concern evident in his voice.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I just thought we could use some water and food. We’re halfway there, so this was a good place to take a rest.” Lara answered while rummaging around in her pack.

  Lara placed a bottle of water into Viper’s hand and when he had a hold of it, she went ahead and opened the cap for him. Grabbing another one for herself, she sat heavily on the log beside Viper and downed the whole bottle in one long drink.

  She had hated to admit it to Viper, but she really needed the break. She was exhausted. The nights without sleep prior to coming out here had already taken its toll on her body. Finding him and trying to do a detour, the long way around, to keep him from the assholes trying to hunt him, didn’t help things much.

  Pulling her pack closer to her feet, Lara rummaged around in it again, looking for the extra protein bars she had packed before realizing that she had already given Viper two for breakfast, so he could keep his energy up. Besides the guy was huge and needed the calories. John had been the same way; she thought with a small smile.

  Lara looked longingly at the last two protein bars before handing both to Viper. She had more supplies where they were headed, and she knew she could wait until they got there to eat. With his injuries, Viper needed the nourishment more than she did.

  “Eat those, you need them. I’m going to scout ahead; I'll be right back.” Lara said as she stood and stretched her tired, aching muscles.

  “Are you all right?” Viper asked curiously.

  He could tell by the sound of her voice and the subtle difference in the way she was walking that something had changed since yesterday. Not for the first time, he cursed his still pounding head and blurry vision that kept him from checking her himself.

  “Of course, I’m just a little tired. Have those gone before I get back.” Lara said, unable to keep the commanding tone out of her voice.

  Viper grinned at Lara, “Yes, Ma’am.” Then he tore into one of the protein bars. He hated the stupid things, but had to admit they served a purpose, and he needed to heal so he wouldn’t complain.

  His eyesight seemed to be improving but not fast enough for him. It wasn’t only the fact that he hated to be so vulnerable; he couldn’t stand that he was a burden to Lara. He was supposed to be the one to protect her, and he wasn’t comfortable being a victim.

  With the rest of his wounds almost healed, his body felt much better. In another day, he would be back to one-hundred percent. It was his head that was worrying him. He still couldn’t communicate with his beast, Zaxin. The trauma had to have been severe in order to impact his beast and create such a problem with his vision.

  As a Tezarian, Viper had a parasitic species, known as a Beast inside his brain. The sentient species lived in harmony with its host and increased their senses, strength and speed. The beast was also what enabled the host to communicate along the universal energy path known as the Shengari’. He needed his beast healed in order to contact his brother Dread.

  Tearing open the last protein bar, Viper choked down the sand flavored lump, just as he heard Lara’s low whistle, telling him that she was heading towards him.

  Viper shoved the wrappers in the pack at his feet and stood, bringing the pack to his shoulder as he did so and waited for Lara to join him.

  “Come on, we need to go. Now!” Lara said grabbing his arm and pulling him back in the other direction.

  “What is it?” Viper asked, feeling her fear and apprehension the moment she touched his arm to guide him.

  “They are close. A lot closer than I expected them to be. We have to change our plans. If we keep heading where we were going, we will end up right in their path. We need to head to an alternate location.” Lara said, panting slightly from the increased pace and her own fear.

  Her fear was not only due to what she had seen either, but what she hadn’t seen, she thought as she guided them to the last place she wanted to go, but the only place left. Her cabin.

  Chapter Four

  Lara was so caught up in replaying what she had seen over again in her mind that she didn’t realize Viper was speaking to her until he tugged on her arm.

  Without turning to look at him or slowing their pace, she asked in a whisper, “What?”

  “I asked what you saw. I can tell… by how tense you are and the sound of your voice that something has shaken you.” Viper said, stopping himself from saying that her energy was screaming her emotions to him. He knew she was scared and deeply worried.

  “I was just surprised to see so many of them this close to us. They are moving a lot faster than I expected and with eight of them, they are covering a lot of ground.” Lara said, hoping that would be enough information to make him stop asking about it.

  She was still struggling to understand what she had seen. There was no way in hell she could explain it to him without sounding completely insane. She was even beginning to question her own sanity. Either way, she needed to get Viper far away from them.

  The fact that they were able to get there so fast concerned her. It meant that, for some reason, they already had a presence in the area, or they were using government resources in order to get their personnel there.

  There was no other way that those choppers would go unnoticed in the airspace over a national forest without someone being notified and someone else being paid off to ignore it.

  The new American way, sell your soul and your constituents for your cut of the silver that you raped from them with unsustainable taxes, regulations and a ruined job market. She hated it. Hated that so many elected officials despised the working class so much that they had basically enslaved them.

  Now they were being hunted. In her own damn forest, they were being hunted. That pissed her off. If she were alone, Lara would have relished the confrontation. The chance to take them out and leave what was left of them to feed her animal friends for days.

  With Viper’s allegiance unknown, his inability to see and her shoulder, which was already swelling and hot to the touch, she would b
e lucky to keep them alive until they reached the cabin.

  Plotting an offensive was out of the question. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t start deploying her counter measures as they went, she thought with a grin.

  Lara had years to create unique security measures around the cabin. Natural ones that would have a low chance of harming her animal friends, but would come in handy to slow down the assholes that were after Viper. She just needed to buy them enough time for Viper’s people to get to them. She figured once he was gone, the threat would most likely follow him, and she could go back to her original plans.

  They’d gone another half-mile when Lara slowed to a stop. “Wait here a minute.” She said, dropping her pack on the ground.

  Curious, Viper nodded his head and listened as she moved off into a darker blur of the forest. He assumed it was a more dense area due to the variations of the shadows. He watched as Lara moved around for a few seconds before heading back to him.

  “What was that about?” Viper asked as Lara picked her pack back up and led them forward again.

  “My grandfather maintained the family’s old homestead here in the forest. It’s been my place since I was six, I’ve maintained it ever since then. On our first trip there, he pointed out to me some of the… security measures that our ancestors had put in place to protect them from attack either from natives or unsavory wanderers.”

  “He made his own upgrades over the years, and I added some of my own. That’s where we’re heading, so I’m setting them as we go. We won’t be lucky enough to get them all before they start looking out for the traps, but we’ll get a couple and injure a few more before they get to us.” Lara said simply, seeing no reason not to tell him what she was doing.

  She figured it was better he be warned anyway. In case anything happened and she didn’t make it out, he would know to look out for them.

  Viper was getting worried now, the tone of her voice and her energy was too fatalistic. “What did you see? I need to know.”

  Lara let out a soft sigh; the breath puffed the stray hairs around her face out adorably, and Viper couldn’t help but reach out to the blurry image and push the strands back behind her ear.