Fractured Mind Episode One (A Galactic Coalition Academy Series) (19 page)

The other side of his lip cracked into a
grin, accentuating one of the massive scars that ran from the
corner of his mouth to the tip of his ear. “The hunt. You remember,
don't you? Every night. It helps us learn how you fight, helps us
to use your natural survivor instinct to keep our training programs
fresh.”

“What... what are you talking about?” her
voice shook so badly it sounded as if it had been shattered by some
great force.

“It doesn't really matter, Sarah – you won't
remember this conversation. You won't remember your life at the
Coalition Academy. You won't remember anything. All you'll remember
is how to escape. To flee. To fight. And that's all we need you to
remember.”

“That's... that's insane. This is insane,”
she rallied against the desperation and panic plunging through her
heart. And yet, at the same time, just a scrap of her remembered
that noise. As she focused her mind she heard another soft thud. It
too could to be nothing more than a rock falling off the cliff
outside.

Or it could have been a footstep. Measured,
practiced, well-trained.

Though she wanted to focus on the hope it
gave her, she couldn't. Those two words kept repeating in her
mind.

The hunt.

The hunt.

The hunt.

Suddenly she could feel the snow underneath
her body. She could feel the blood dripping down her leg from the
bullet hole just above her left knee. And she could taste the fear.
The fear mixed with anger. Those two potent emotions were all she
ever needed on the hunt.

She brought her head up and banged it
against the metal floor, a ringing thump echoing around the pod. It
was joined by the man's cruel laughter. “There's no need to injure
yourself, and there's nothing you can do. It doesn't matter, Sarah,
rest in peace knowing you're helping change history.”

“Go to hell,” she spat, a burst of anger
pulsing through her heart and tearing through her throat. That
anger – that righteous fiery anger – belonged to the woman on the
hunt. That force within Sarah's mind that always strove to keep her
alive, no matter the odds. And right now as she stared at that man,
stared at his callous indifference – that hatred burnt in her
gaze.

“Go to hell,” she screamed once more, voice
reverberating and punching through the pod with so much vehemence
the mountain outside could have cracked in half and they wouldn't
have heard.

The man waited for her to finish before he
let one more ominous chuckle ring from his throat.

Then he fired.

....

The bullet never reached her. Just as he
fired, someone slammed into his side, pulling his gun off aim. The
pulse round intended to incapacitate her slammed into the bar by
her face. It discharged along the metal.

She stared at it with wide-open eyes for
half a second before she reacted. She pitched backwards and rolled
to the side, using whatever momentum she could to shift until she
was safely behind the bar with her back pressed up against the cold
metal. Beyond, she heard the sounds of battle.

Two men grunted as they slung fists at each
other.

The natural anger that had flared before
diminished as fear took its place. She began shaking on the spot,
back slamming against the reverberating metal bar.

Despite the fear, she still found the
courage to duck her head around the side of the bar and stare at
the grappling men.

As the last dying rays of dusk split in
through the window, they illuminated the side of both men's
faces.

Karax.

Christ, it was Karax.

A gasp shot from her throat.

Though Karax knew how to handle himself, the
guy wasn't playing fair. A single second later he ducked a hand
into the invisible holster around his waist and brought out a
strange round object.

Without a moment's hesitation he thumbed it
on. It glowed an ominous shade of red, and with a slight chuckle,
he threw it at Karax.

Karax ducked to the side, with far more
nimbleness than his large frame allowed for.

But it didn't matter. That glowing red orb
shifted direction and latched onto the back of Karax's head.
Instantly it sent an electric pulse slamming down his spine. She
could even see the energy discharging over his skin.

She shrieked.

Karax stumbled to one knee, hands and arms
twitching as he desperately tried to pull the orb from the back of
his head.

The guy kept chuckling. He took several
steps backwards, thumbed the sweat off his nose, and turned in one
smooth move to face her. He didn't even bother glancing at Karax,
obviously assuming that the strange grenade would do its job.

Instead the man took a slow step towards
her, leaned down, and plucked up the gun that had been pulled from
his grip when Karax had attacked him.

He pointed it towards her. “No more
interruptions. No more pauses. It's time to go back home.”

Her eyes bulged, the bile rose in her
throat, the fear punched through her heart, and she waited to be
shot.

...

Lieutenant Karax

No. God no. he hadn't come so far to end
like this.

His whole body twitched as great arcs of
electricity shot through it. He had no idea what kind of weapon
this was, but it was lethal, or at least should have been lethal.
Though his body was being slammed around like a rabbit being jerked
by a wolf, he wasn't dead. The potentially lethal electric charges
cascading down his spine were being absorbed by his implants, not
his central nervous system. His implants were fighting back. Though
they didn't have the sophisticated kind of shielding Coalition
armor possessed, they still utilized basic countermeasures against
electrical interference. And right now they used them. It was
enough that Karax fell to one knee, then the other, then down to
his stomach without losing consciousness. His body still bucked,
but his mind still worked and his eyes were still open. Open enough
that he could see that man take a slow almost languid step towards
Sarah.

She was crumpled on the floor, face cracked
with desperation and true fear.

He wanted to scream out her name, tell the
guy to leave her alone, but he couldn't control his lips, let alone
his arms. They convulsed at his sides. Yet he didn't die. He still
didn't goddamn die as the grenade sank deeper and deeper into the
skin at the back of his head. He could feel its hooks driving into
his flesh, feel the blood trickling down his neck.

Lieutenant Karax barely knew Sarah
Sinclair.

Several weeks ago she'd been nothing more
than a frigging irritation.

Now as that guy took one final step towards
her and angled his gun at her chest, Lieutenant Karax's heart
almost exploded. As it did, something else did, too. One of the
implants down the back of his left shoulder suddenly let off a
charge of energy. It was enough that it arced up the back of his
neck and sank into the grenade.

He jolted backwards so violently that his
head slammed against the floor. And that, that was enough to unhook
the grenade.

He felt it roll away with a satisfying
clunk. Unfortunately the guy heard it, too. He twisted his head to
face Karax just as Karax tried to scavenge the strength to punch to
his feet.

It was too late. The guy was too quick. He
brought up his gun.

He didn't get a chance to fire. At that
exact moment Sarah slammed into him, somehow finding the motor
control to roll, even though her wrists were attached to her
ankles.

It was enough. She smashed into the guy's
legs with enough force that he teetered forward and fell to his
knees.

That was all the opportunity Karax required.
He pushed to his feet, jerked forward, and bellowed. He brought his
left arm around and slammed it into the guy's neck, driving him to
the floor. The blow was hard and savage enough that the guy's head
slumped against the floor with a resounding clang. It also knocked
the gun from his hand.

Karax didn't wait. He lunged forward and
picked the gun up, spun, and shot the man. A blue charge of light
sank into the guy's chest, and he convulsed once, then twice, the
then sank into a stiff stillness.

....

For a few seconds Karax could do nothing but
stand there and pant, gun still in his sweaty grip as he stared at
the guy.

Finally his gaze sliced towards Sarah.

She was still conscious, staring up at him
with wide-open, fear-filled eyes.

“Sarah, good god, Sarah,” he began as he
lurched down to one knee.

“No, check the guy first. Make sure he's
unconscious,” she snapped.

It sounded like she was the seasoned
professional and he was the cadet.

He followed the order. Dutifully got down to
one knee, gun still pressed towards the guy's chest. When it became
clear the man was very much unconscious and would likely stay that
way for a day, Karax let out a trapped breath and jolted towards
Sarah.

He fumbled with the magnetic locks around
her wrists and ankles until they clicked and released her. She
flopped down to the floor at his feet, one of her arms brushing up
against his left boot.

He was down on one knee, one arm locked
against his leg as the other pushed into the floor for support.

He'd taken a hell of a beating. His entire
body zinged with leftover electricity from the attack, and he just
knew that his implants were on the blink. But he found the energy
to smile – one half of his lips then the other.

She was still on the floor, still on her
back, still staring up into his eyes. She smiled, one side of her
mouth at a time. “Thank you,” she mouthed, trying to speak, voice
little more than a husky croak.

“Thank you,” he managed, too.

Then Lieutenant Karax reached out a hand to
Sarah Sinclair. It was time to figure out what the hell was going
on.

Thank you for reading Fractured Mind Episode
One.

Fractured Mind Episode Two is currently available.

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