Chapter 3: Storm of the Mind

The youth sat weeping on a large rock on the beach. He had run for miles, tears streaming down his face, until even these unnatural legs could run no further. What had he done to deserve this fate? The voice in the back of his head whispered to life again.

Hiss

"Leave me alone," said the youth, speaking his thoughts aloud. He struggled to force the other mind away.

Hiss

"You shouldn't even exist."

I do. said the reptilian voice. No audible sound or real spoken word did it make, yet the young man somehow couldn't help but understand.

"You're just another experiment."

So are you, now.

"I don't want you. Now just get out of my life!"

To where? I'm as much a part of you now as you are of me.

"No."

Hiss...yes.

I will not be put aside. I see your thoughts, your memories. We are joined minds, remember? I know what kind of man you are. You shrink from confrontation, you expect everyone to cater to your desires, you settle for mediocrity, and then you sit here and weep over the unfairness of it all. You are weak. I will not be put aside by your impotence.

Tears streamed down the youth's face. The voice settled to a whisper even more fearful.

You let him die.

The image of the hijacking flashed through his mind. The image of the kidnappers standing over his father's body, the smell of the gunsmoke, it all came pouring back to him.

"No. I couldn't have done anything. They killed him. They had guns, I couldn't do anything. It's not my fault, it's not my fault!"

Hiss.

On and on went the argument. The youth shuddered beneath the pressures warring beneath his skull. His hands clenched in tight fists, sweat pouring from his forehead, and streaks of color waved down his skin.

"I just want to die," he sobbed.

His reptilian half hissed in derision.

Wresting control of himself, the young man suddenly made a desperate lunge into the water. The reptilian mind shrieked.

I'm not going to let you kill us.

"Better to die than let you out. You think I can't feel you there? You don't avoid confrontations; you cause them. You're aggressive, a predatory animal that thinks of no one but yourself, how you can get to the top. You hate everything that does not fit your own ideas, including me. We both deserve to die."

I'll not die for your ethics, boy.

"I'm not going to live hell on earth for your existence."

The youth stood there, waist deep in the ocean brine. Contortions of hatred, fear, and despair twisted his face. His chest heaved in exertion. He ordered his body forward, the other part of him ordered back. The two wrestled for control.

By this time Silas and Tarq had reached the portion of the shoreline where the young man now fought desperately with himself. The two plunged into the water towards him.

"Leave me be," he shouted to them.

"My friend, please do not do this," implored Tarq.

"I said leave me be!"

Silas and Tarq drew up short of him. A predatory snarl warned them against approaching further. The two watched the turmoil before them.

Slowly, the boy's mouth formed words.

"I cannot live this way."

Then to the astonishment of the two onlookers, the raptor mind forced its way to the surface. With a series of chirps, snarls, and whistles the velociraptor responded.

"By the sunstones, I don't believe it," said Tarq.

"What? What'd he say?" implored Silas.

"He's speaking perfect velociraptor, though the dialect is ancient. He says that he will not die this way either."

"But he just said..." Silas began.

"I know what I said," interrupted the youth, this time in English again.

It seems we are at a stalemate.

"An impasse."

Whistles and clicks responded.

"I will not yield," said Tarq, translating the raptor mind's response.

"Nor will I," the youth replied to himself.

For long minutes no one spoke, even the young man's minds were silent. The rolling boom of waves on the sands seemed to mark out the seconds of inexorable time as the young man struggled against himself.

Silas took a tentative step forward.

"My friend, I don't know all the horrors you faced in your old life. I don't know what it is that reeks havoc against yourself. I only ask that you come back with us. Do not give into this despair. Here you may at least have the chance to find your balance. Please, come back with us."

The young man's eyes stared back at Silas, as if seeing him from a great distance away. Silas extended a hand to the boy. The boy's minds argued silently.

Well?

'What shall we do?'

We can't just stand here all day, and night is fast approaching.

'You just want to get out.'

I still speak the truth, though.

'I guess we'll have to accept then.'

I will survive.

'Then so must I, somehow.'

Taking a deep breath the young man turned toward the shore. Slowly, he began walking back toward solid ground. Silas and Tarq followed closely. When the small group reached the shore, the full weight of his battle came down on the boy. His legs locked, and were it not for Silas close at hand to catch him, he would have fallen. Exhausted by his ordeal, the young man gratefully accepted Silas's assistance. With an arm over the older man's shoulder the young man and his companions slowly began making their way back up the road towards Sapling Grove.