The Call of the Wild

Chapter 1

Hi everyone!

This is not the first story I have written but it is the first story I have published on here so I hope you like it! I really appreciate any criticism you may have cause I want to try and improve my writing so any comments you can give will be welcome.

I am currently on a break from University but the course I am studying is very full-on and doesn't leave much time for writing so I'm not going to promise to update consistently. That said I will try and write whenever I get the chance so please just bear with me!

I do not own James Cameron's Avatar all rights go to its creators!

Not edited.

It was said you didn't dream in cryo sleep at least that's what the briefing the scientists had given us said. The briefing room had been buzzing with anxiety and excitement as they informed us of what the trip to the faraway moon, Pandora would be like. I was just glad to be leaving our own rapidly decaying planet behind. There was nothing left for me there.

Coming out of cryo was not dissimilar from waking up from a long night's sleep. One where you feel almost too rested with all your energy sapped away from your body. I could remember fleeting sensations from my time asleep, a hazy dream slowly slipping further and further from my grasp until all that was left were vague impressions of soothing emotions, the wind rushing around my body, a hand softly caressing my face as a forehead pressed gently against my own. A warm flicker remained alight in my chest that calmed the uneasy rolling in my stomach as the cryo chamber extended out of its port in the wall.

My throat felt like sandpaper and the light overhead was torture on my eyes that had been resting in darkness for the past five years. My hand instinctively shot up to try and block the harsh light but I found it trapped under the restraints. It was only then that I noticed the weightlessness as my body floated up off the bed to press into the straps holding me down. I started to look around noticing other pods extending out of the wall the ship slowly starting to wake up and come alive.

One of the medics floated over my way, hovering over top of me so he could check my vitals and undo the restraints. "Are we there yet?" I asked softly my voice thick and slightly scratchy after years without use. The tech smiled down at me gently as he tugged off the last strap, "yeah sunshine, we're there."

He moved off quickly to assist others as I floated off out of my bed. A loud voice reverberated around the room, "you've been in cryo for five years nine months and, twenty-two days. You will be hungry, you will be weak." My stomach clenched uncomfortably at the thought of food but I shook it off for the time being. We weren't allowed to eat until we reached the compound, something about our bodies needing a recovery period from the cryo sleep they had just endured.

Zero gravity was strange, my body felt incredibly light and my movements were all delayed without a force pushing back on them. There were rows of lockers in the centre of the room, they had our bags inside. We had been told that the ship had limited storage space for personal belongings so only the essentials were to be packed, everything else would be provided. I hadn't had much in the first place, so I packed some clothes and a few sentimental items I knew I would miss on my long stay on the moon but that was all. Everything else had to be left behind.

We were shuffled quickly out of the transport room and into locker rooms to change out of our travel gear, they told us we'd be briefed on the shuttles down to the surface. I stared at my reflection in the mirror on the wall as I ran my fingers through my hair, the long red locks tangled after so much time without maintenance. My skin was dry and slightly sunken from the trip but my eyes were as vibrant as ever the bright hazel green standing out against my pale skin. I looked like a mess but what can you expect when you've been in medically induced stasis for almost six years.

Putting on my own clothes was somewhat therapeutic, there was something about taking off the sleepwear helped me shake off any lingering fatigue from the journey. I was desperate for a shower but unfortunately, that would have to wait until later. Right now I had a shuttle to catch.

We were all settled into the shuttles as the artificial gravity kicked in. It left my head spinning at the sudden weight pressing down on my body and I leaned over slightly to quell the dizziness. You will never truly appreciate the weight of gravity on your body until you have been without it. A hand gently placed itself on my shoulder as the dizziness began to subside and I tensed at the unexpected contact.

I had an incredibly strong dislike for being touched and I glanced up sharply at the offender ready to not so politely tell them to take their hand off my body when I noticed their face. Instantly my muscles uncoiled and the scathing remark died on the tip of my tongue. A soft face was staring back at me with dark hair cropped short in a military-style cut and bright blue eyes peering down into my own. They were the eyes of a very good friend of mine.

Jake Sully had been a friend of mine for years. He saved my life in Venezuela just days before his own life-changing injury and we'd wound up in recovery together in the hospital. We supported one another through everything both fully aware of the demons the other carried. Life was easier with him around and it had been him who had finally pushed me to go back to college and study as I had always planned on doing but had never truly gotten the chance.

My path had pushed me to be strong and ruthless and fierce but that was not who I was on the inside. I had always been softer, quieter with a love for the natural world that I would never get to know cause we had destroyed it on our world beyond compare. I was curious but shy and afraid to speak my mind in case it got me in trouble with the ones around me and under the rough exterior that had been fashioned onto me that little girl still lived.

It's what made me go into xenobiology in the first place and for the first time since I was a little girl my curiosity and eagerness to learn were fostered as I delved into the new information. It was there that I thrived learning about plants and animals that once existed on our planet and how the ones we still had today (no matter how few they were) had changed to adapt to their new conditions.

I learned quickly, so fascinated by what I was learning that it accelerated my study time and soon enough I was graduating with honours after finishing a four-year degree in two and a half years. This, of course, caught the eyes of the RDA and they shuffled me along to their training program with the promise of more knowledge and the chance to travel to a place where all the life still thrived. Jake hadn't been too happy when I'd given him the news, Pandora was a long way away and there was little to no hope that he would be able to come with me. That had certainly put a dampener on my mood.

Tom Sully was a name I knew well both from Jake and from others in the training program and yet I never truly knew him. We were in some of the same classes and I saw him around the building occasionally but I was never brave enough to approach him. The fact that I knew so much about his rocky relationship with Jake didn't help. Still, he was a good guy always bright and vibrant and incredibly smart, and when he died we all mourned for him. His funeral was the first time Jake had turned away my support, saying he wanted to go alone, he needed to go alone. He cried like a baby when he got home and I held him through it all as he lamented his broken relationship and cursed the suits who were inconsiderate enough to try and coax him into his brothers' position when his death was still so fresh.

Even now I hated myself a little bit for feeling glad that Jake was here with me. Cause that meant that in some sick way, I was happy that his brother had died and given Jake the chance to take his place and it left me feeling sick to my stomach every time I thought about it.

"Hey Jake," I breathed out softly smiling up at my best friend as he rubbed gentle circles onto my shoulder blade before sitting back upright. "You look like shit, Kida," he intoned lazily with a slight smirk on his face and I turned a deadpanned stare onto him.

"Thanks, sunshine you don't look much different," I remarked back dryly with a smirk of my own as the queasiness began to ease. I removed his hand from my shoulder gripping it firmly in my own as the transport separated from the main space station and we began our descent onto Pandora. We were together and that was all that mattered. This would be a fresh start for both of us and who knows where it would lead.