Book #1 Covenant

Chapter 15: A New Family

Thoughts poured throughout each and every one of their heads; what could be the reason for this ENF to call them? What was the ENF and why hadn't they heard about it before? Ryder shifted in his seat; no one could get comfortable with questions on their minds. "Samuel, where are Mike and Justin?" Samuel looked away from the window. "I saw them earlier today at the training grounds, but I haven't seen them since."

"How's Josef doing?" Samuel turned back looking out the window. Buildings, trees, and people sped by. "He lost a lot of blood when that blot hit him and he's still recovering from it. I think he's starting therapy on it since he doesn't want a bionic leg or anything, not that I would."

"Yeah, I wouldn't either. Yeah know, this ENF thing, the letters are basically the same as SNF but without the S. I just can't figure out what the E stands for. What about you?" Adalyn frowned in thought. "Could it be, I don't know, epic or something?" Ryder smiled. "Epic nova force? Actually, that doesn't sound to bad, you could be right."

The rest of the drive was spent in casual talking. They passed through the city they had come out of, Chandler, and continued through farmland and fields of grass and trees. The mountains became closer and they each wondered if that was this destination. They had all heard of secret military groups that did in fact train in the mountains then traveled back once every three months and only for two days, training would then begin again up in the mountains.

Two hours into the drive, most of them fell asleep and if they weren't already they would be soon. By the third hour everyone was asleep, tired from training earlier in the day and sitting in a transport for three hours.

Samuel awoke to great shaking in the ground; he was lying in a field of green grass near large piece of metal. Smoke trailed above him, flames licked the sky giving the smoke an orange flare. "Oh no! Adalyn! Silvia! Anyone!?" He quickly stood up looking around. The grass around him was scorched, blackened with soot. He ran over to the main wreckage, bodies scattered the ground, burnt and bleeding. "What could have happened?" One of them moved. Samuel ran over kneeling down. "Something's off, I can't put my finger in it."

The person's head was facing down, buried in the ground. Samuel was caught off guard, the body jerked up; in its hand he held a knife. Samuel then noticed this it was Galkarian, not human. Samuel lunged at the hand holding the knife; both hands out he grabbed the wrist, twisting it around and behind the Galkaras back. He let go with one hand and grabbed the back of the Galkaras head, and then in one motion, he brought up his leg, kneeing him in the face. A loud crack was heard as the Galkaras neck was broken by the sheer force of Samuel's knee. The body crumpled to the ground, covering itself in blood and soot. He breathed hard; suddenly a sharp and burning pain erupted from his left leg. Looking down he saw the knife protruding on either side of his leg; blood seeped down like rivers of red water. Instantly a sickening feeling came over him as he dropped to the ground. "How did this all happen?" Leaning down he pulled the knife out, screaming in pain as it cut through muscle and severed nerves, then wrapped it in a cut piece of cloth he had in his armors side pocket. "Wait, why am I dressed in armor?"

He looked at his hands and noticed they were covered with spiked gloves. "The clone, I guess I'm still linked to it." A wave of relief swept over him, Adalyn and Silvia were safe as well as everyone else. "I'm still on the planet. I'm assuming the wreaked ship is the stealth wing, must've had a remote detonation or something, the Galkara tried to start it without the key. But how did I end up here?" He got up and walked over to the nearby trees, he could get cover there for the night.

Samuel sat down against a tree watching the fire burn. Over the last few days he had noticed a change in the clones behavior. Somehow he could tell it was picking up on his fighting style; whatever he did, he was assuming it picked up. Almost every time he returned to the clone it was in the strangest places, it wasn't dumb anymore, it could learn. "Now the question was, how am I goanna get this clone back to New Earth? Maybe the clone will find a way if it can read my thoughts." He soon fell asleep only to wake up again.