Independents: Taoree Trilogy #2

by Michele Notaro

  “What? What is it?” Wes asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t… I’ve never been there before.” Which was true… mostly. I’d never been there before, not in real life, not physically. I’d never been to the field before, but the dream version of me sure as hell had… many times… and always with Orrean.

  I could feel Wes’s eyes on me as I stared down at the drawing of that field with the stars up in the night sky. Why the hell did I draw this?

  Wes shoulder bumped me. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.”

  I finally tore my gaze away from the paper and said, “I’ve only ever seen this place in my dreams. I don’t think it’s real.”

  He eyed me again, then said, “Why don’t you draw me a badass dragon or something for my next tattoo?”

  “Pfft.” I rolled my eyes, appreciating the subject change, and I flipped the page. “I can draw you something better than a dragon… but you sure as hell aren’t getting another tattoo.”

  “Because obviously I have to do what you say.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Obviously,” I agreed, pretending he wasn’t the most sarcastic little shit ever.

  He snorted. “What could possibly be more badass than a dragon?”

  I took that as a challenge and set to work, joking with my brother, silently thanking whatever higher being would listen for keeping him alive.

  ***

  That… alien I was trying not to think about… didn’t show up—again. I had shown up at the fence every night for three nights in a row… and Orrean never came. When I woke up, I felt oddly disappointed, even though I didn’t want to talk to or even see Orrean. And to top it off, my chest felt sorer every day. I spent most of my time rubbing at the spot that I tried desperately to ignore.

  I hadn’t even seen Orrean since we came back to our suite from the medical wing. I’d been staying in my room resting, eating, and visiting with my family members, but I knew it was time to get over it and explore this crazy place.

  Cal came to find me after my shower—with hot water and real soap and shampoo, yay—and decided to take me on a tour now that I could actually walk around on my own. He led me first to the mess hall so we could grab some breakfast.

  He pushed open double doors and I followed him in, but came to an abrupt stop as soon as I passed through. The room was fucking huge. There were probably a hundred long tables lined up in long rows across the floor and there were people sitting at just about every single one of them. Not just humans, though; there were humans and Taoree sitting together, talking and eating, and looking like they were enjoying each other’s company. There had to be a couple hundred people in there. It was such a strange sight that I couldn’t even get my feet to move.

  I watched as a rather large human man dressed in dark fatigues, carrying a tray piled with food, threw his tray down in the middle of a table where ten Taoree were already sitting. The Taoree all greeted him and one even stole a roll off the human’s tray. In response, the human picked up a second roll and chucked it at him, hitting the Taoree in the forehead and causing everyone at the table to crack up laughing and start joking around together.

  Then I was even more surprised to see Nolan and Tabitha carrying their own trays to that same table, where they immediately started joining in on the conversation and general goofing off.

  Cal smacked my arm. “Come on, let’s go get our food, then I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

  I nodded at him, then slowly followed him around the perimeter of the room to the left side where a kitchen line with warming trays full of food and people—again, humans and Taoree—were serving a huge array of breakfast food. Cal passed me a plate, took one for himself and led the way down the line. Once I had eggs, toast, bacon, and biscuits piled high on my plate, I followed Cal to the table with the large human, many Taoree, and Nolan and Tabitha.

  Cal stood at one end of the table and announced, “Hey guys, this is my brother, Jeremy.” I shot him a glance at his calling me his brother, to which he half-shrugged, like it was no big deal. I gave him an appreciative half-smile before giving an awkward wave to the table.

  Cal then proceeded to introduce the fifteen people sitting there, so I literally didn’t catch any of their names. Then the huge human guy, who was closest to me, waved at the empty seat next to him. I walked over and sat down next to the big muscle-man.

  He leaned over and said, “In case you didn’t catch it, I’m Riley.” He held out his hand to shake, which I took. He gave me a quick, precise, very strong handshake, then said, “I heard you were in medical for a while. You doing okay now?”

  I took a sip of water and cleared my throat before answering, “Yeah. I’m fine now, thanks.”

  He glanced at me and nodded before shoveling a giant bite of sausage or something into his mouth.

  The Taoree on the other side of him leaned forward to address me. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Jeremy. I’m Beknuhm, in case you missed it. But you can call me Bek.” He smiled at me, and I was surprised how well he spoke English. He hardly had an accent at all… he sounded like it was his first language.

  “Nice to meet you too,” I managed to get out after my initial surprise.

  He smiled, still leaning around Riley as he told me, “So I hear that you’re going to start training this week. Once you finish, you’re going to be added to my team. Riley here is on our team too.” Apparently every ‘soldier’ was assigned a team, and luckily, Cal and Nolan had ensured that we would all be on the same team. Family sticks together. That was our motto now. No matter what, we stuck together and didn’t leave anyone behind.

  I honestly hadn’t cared about any of the other bullshit as long as I was with my brothers.

  Cal and Nolan had already finished the three-week training session, since they started as soon as we arrived. Wes was two weeks behind them, even though he should’ve rested longer than he had. And I, well, I was starting as soon as they’d let me. Cal was going to walk me around the base after breakfast, so I’d get to see the training rooms. He’d told me that we were already a little ahead of the game since we’d been fighting with shoians and reelians for weeks. But the Taoree and humans who ran this place—and yes, there were humans and aliens in charge, which blew my mind—wanted to make sure we had the proper fighting skills and everything before they started sending us out on missions.

  At the moment, most of the missions were just going out and scouting for other humans and Taoree that were seeking refuge, and bringing them back here to safety. All the vehicles they used had their own technology that blocked out the Taoree Legion’s tracking system. It was all overwhelming, but also amazing. I couldn’t wait to go out there and help some people.

  “Yes,” I finally answered Bek. “I’m looking forward to it.” I sent him a genuine smile because I truly was looking forward to it. I was also grateful that Bek was willing to wait for me to finish training before heading out too far. Not that he had much choice, if he wanted my brothers on his team. And from what I’d gathered, Wes was a commodity. Apparently he’d become some kind of crazy-awesome fighter. I wasn’t completely convinced that Wes, Cal, and Nol weren’t just pulling my chain. But I guess I’d see for myself.

  Once I finished training, we would travel for a few days at a time before coming back to the camp. Until then, they’d stay close, taking lookout shifts right outside the base walls. Or rather, above and around them, since the base was underground and partially in the side of a mountain.

  “As am I,” he responded to me in Taoree. I was finally able to tell the difference. “I heard that you are able to conjure an onghu?” he asked, still in Taoree.

  I had a feeling that he was testing me to see if I really spoke his language or not. It was pretty obvious from the looks I was getting from everyone around the table that I’d been a topic of discussion. So I answered in Taoree, “Yes, I am able to conjure an onghu, are you?”

  He smiled at me. “No, that is not in my skill set. But
I am happy to show you what I can do in the training room later in the week.”

  “That sounds good to me,” I replied before taking a sip of my drink. Then I switched back to English. “What are your plans for today?”

  Riley answered, “We’re going to scout and guard the area for a few hours, and once our shift is over, we’ll meet you and Wes here for dinner.”

  Wes was training, but I had to wait at least two more days before the doctor cleared me. I was going to watch my brother so I’d be doing something other than just sitting around in bed. “Sounds good,” I replied to Riley.

  He shot me a smile before saying, “Part of your training is learning to work with your team, so we’ll be in and out of the training room with you over the next few weeks.”

  I nodded at him, then buckled down to eat. I had a feeling that I’d need all the energy I could get over the upcoming weeks.

  When I was nearly finished with my food, I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth. I felt a weird energy inside of me and without looking, I knew he was standing behind me. I knew if I turned around, I’d be faced with those stupid purple eyes. So I took a breath, then refocused on eating. I could tell that everyone around us was waiting with bated breath for what was about to happen, but I didn’t care. Avoidance was key.

  Or at least that’s what I thought before the bastard sat down at the other end of the table next to Cal—the traitor.

  As soon as I finished my food, I got up, nodding to the people around me, then made a hasty exit out of the mess hall. I only made it ten steps before I felt him behind me again. I stopped in my tracks, but I didn’t turn around.

  “Jeremy.” His voice was soft and made my heart squeeze at the amount of pain he could fit into that one word.

  It took me a moment, but eventually I asked, “What do you want?”

  “I… I’m sorry, Jeremy, for everything,” he said in that same soft voice.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Could we... talk? Please?” he asked quietly.

  I blew out my breath, then turned to face him. “There’s nothing to talk about, Orrean.”

  He seemed to sink in on himself. “Please.”

  “Orr… I… I just need some space, okay? Maybe we can talk later, but I just… can’t. Not right now… not yet.”

  He looked so heartbroken as his eyes got a little glassy-looking and he whispered, “Okay.”

  I couldn’t stand being there any longer, so I turned on my heel and walked away. But I didn’t get far enough to drown out Cal’s voice saying, “Come on, Orr, J’s being a dick, like usual. Just ignore him. Let’s go finish eating, okay?”

  I didn’t look back. I figured Cal would come find me for that tour after he ate. Whatever.

  Cal found me in my room an hour later. Mandy had surprised me by bringing me paint the other day, so I’d started painting my walls. I had started by painting a field on one wall, though I’d also sketched out where I was going to paint Colt on another wall. I thought about him constantly, so it wasn’t really surprising that I’d started painting him. I kept going back and forth between the field wall—my and Orr’s field—and the Colt wall, unable to settle on just one.

  “You finally ready for that tour?” Cal asked from the doorway.

  I finished up adding a small detail on the trees in the background of the field. “Yep. Let me just clean off my brushes.” I got up and did just that before following him out of our suite.

  By the time Cal and I walked back to our apartment, I was completely blown away with how big the place was, and how many people were living here. So many humans and Taoree, and they were getting along, talking to each other, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were two different species. It was a beautiful thing and something I never really thought I’d see.

  I was also completely overwhelmed with where everything was. There were ten levels of housing units, set up much like apartments. Some were single units, while others, like ours, were multi-units. There were two floors of training rooms. One level was divided into five very huge training rooms, set up for training individuals or small groups, and the other was one gigantic training floor, designed for entire teams to train together. There was a floor with several rooms dedicated to education where all the kids were required to go, and adults went to learn Taoree or English, respectively. Then there was the level that had a community center, a pool, and even a library. There were two floors dedicated to nature that had artificial sunlight to grow crops and keep animals alive. The medical wing was set up with different rooms for checkups, emergencies, and long-term patients. There was apparently a control room and some meeting rooms for the Independent leaders, though Cal didn’t take me there, as well as some holding cells, or ya know, a prison all the way at the bottom. The mess hall floor had a huge kitchen and a little store where you could get snacks and things for your apartment. Though no money was exchanged, everyone was expected to help out. You either went to school, you had a job around the base, or you became a soldier.

  It was fucking humongous. I’d been calling it a ‘camp’ this whole time. The others had started calling it a ‘base’ since I’d woken up, and now I understood why. It wasn’t a ‘camp,’ it was a fucking city.

  It made me wonder just how long these people had really been planning this, because I didn’t understand how they could’ve possibly built all of this in the nearly three years since the Taoree had come to earth. It didn’t make sense, though I didn’t know anything about alien technology or the tools they used, so maybe it was just more efficient than how humans built things.

  I was exhausted by the time I laid down for bed that night. When I fell asleep, I went to the field, thinking that maybe Orrean would meet me there since he hadn’t come to the fence. But he still didn’t show up.

  Chapter Seven

  I landed hard on my back, all the air rushing out of my body, knocking the wind outta me. Fuck. That is going to bruise.

  My trainer was not taking it easy on me—at all. I’d thought that maybe he’d take pity on me since I was still a little weak from healing myself and that alien I wasn’t thinking about. At. All. But it was pretty clear that he didn’t give a shit.

  “Get up and try again,” Hakhor, aka Hawk, my trainer, yelled out.

  I groaned in response, but sat up, just in time to see Wes get in a punch to Hawk’s face… totally worth moving for. Then my eyes widened as I watched my little brother get a couple more punches in. He was moving so fast that he was matching the Taoree’s speed. How in the fuck is he doing that?

  Wes jumped up higher than I’d ever seen him and somehow managed to kick Hawk in the face, making the big guy fall to the ground. When Wes landed on his feet he muttered, “Oh shit.” Then he knelt down beside the fallen alien. He grabbed his shoulder and rolled him so he was on his back.

  Apparently they hadn’t been yanking my chain at all. My brother was a badass. Not that I’d tell him.

  Suddenly the Taroee started laughing as he caught his breath. Then he looked at my brother and said, “Nice shot. I’m going to have to get Bek to take a shot at you, he’s our best fighter.”

  Wes started pulling Hawk to his feet. “He should be here in a half hour.”

  Neither of them even noticed that I was still on the floor, out of breath, sitting with my arms around my knees. I just sat there, trying to get my breathing under control after fighting for six hours straight with the fucking craziest Taoree I’d ever met… not that I’d met many yet, but still.

  “Come on, J, we need to go again,” my little brother called over to me with way more energy than necessary after all of this freaking training.

  I groaned, “I can’t move, Wesley. I have zero energy left.”

  “Well, that sucks, but you’re gonna have to get off your ass anyway,” Bek called out from behind me. I hadn’t even heard him walk in.

  “Don’t even think about making an excuse, J,” Cal added as he came into the room too.

/>   I groaned, but I knew he was right, so I got up and faced Bek. Before I could even blink, he was in my face, punching me in the gut. I stumbled backward and clutched my stomach, then raised my arm to block his blow to my head. He kicked me in the hip, then punched me in the stomach, then the shoulder, and the hip again. Each punch was pushing me farther back in the room until I was against the wall. I couldn’t even punch back, and he was fucking hurting me. He wasn’t just getting in practice hits, he was hitting me for all he was worth.

  I coughed when he punched me in the side, then I tasted blood in my mouth. I could hear my friends yelling at him to stop as they tried to pull him away from me, but he was too strong. And I heard the moans from my own mouth, but the bastard just kept hitting me.

  When he hit my face and I heard a crunch, I realized that this guy wasn’t going to stop. This fucking alien bastard was going to kill me, he was going to fucking beat me to death. And I didn’t want to die. I needed to be there to protect my family.

  I felt something deep inside of me start to bubble. It felt like anger and love wrapped up together in some kind of weird, hot energy, and I needed to get it out. I could tell that it wanted to be released. So I let out a yell, trying to push the weird energy away from me, and suddenly a huge white light blasted out of my chest and hit Bek, making him fly across the room.

  I took a deep breath as I slid down the wall to sit on the floor, and my brothers came running over to me. Wes covered a wound on my arm and Cal was grabbing my face to look me in the eyes. “Holy shit! Are you okay?”

  “Just peachy,” I managed to get out.

  I heard Hawk’s pissed-off voice from across the room, “Was that really necessary?”

  “Yes,” Bek replied in Taoree. “It was the only way to teach him how to use his onghu as a linhu. You know I wasn’t going to kill him, I’m not stupid.”