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Chapter 4: Boot Camp
John's POV
The first week of boot camp went in a flash for him as he adjusted to the grueling pace. It was probably a good thing he awoke early naturally or these mornings would have been hell on him. They were up at five am daily, followed by dressing and breakfast by six, after that the first hour was spent doing various exercises, followed by weapons training with breaking apart, cleaning, and putting together their guns until lunch, a brief lunch followed by marching and other unit building and exercising, dinner was a bit longer, then clean up, free time, and bed.
During his free time, he spent a lot of time wandering around the base shielded. Each practice improves how long and well he can use the shields, though starting off they drain him, making him feel exhausted. Thus he determines that he needs to continue practicing until he can do so around large groups without it tiring him out. At this point he can shield for several hours while there are very few people around but when people are around he cannot go as long or as effectively.
The first day of the second week the squads are assigned for training with. His squad includes all of the shifters he had noticed that first day. The tallest is Eric, he is an elite black cobra, his healing gift can feel that there is something wrong with him but cannot identify anything physically wrong, which means it must be an emotional problem. The smallest is Cyanne, a mouse without a clan link but nothing that he can sense wrong past that, her link was willingly broken, so it was not traumatic. Jacob was the one who carried himself like a noble, he is an elite peregrine falcon and the first person he got along without any posturing which is unusual among elites. The one who smells like a hyena is actually a multiform named Christopher who is respectful right off though distrusting, he has never had a pack bond from what he can tell, and is reacting to him out of instincts not training. The grey eyed cat is a hybrid between cloud leopard and eagle that seems to hide what he is named Zachary. The other male cat is a cocky elite cheetah named Thomas that likes to brag about what he is and has massive problems with authority. The female cat is a multiform whose pack had broken her link because she was also a mouse, leaving Elspeth to feel restless. The last two members of their unit are both humans, one a male name Sawyer with an extreme attitude problem, the other a human male named Lee trying to escape a life of poverty not the smartest but very stubborn.
Almost as soon as the squads are assigned there is a bit of a competition for the squad leaders spot. While himself, Cyanne, Eric, Jacob, Zachary, and Lee do not try to fight for the spot, the other four in their unit do. It really wouldn't have been a problem, except for some reason the higher ups had selected him as the squad leader and the other ones were trying to fight with him to win the right to the spot. He understands it is the way of shifters, but it makes it no less annoying.
Three days into the third week, he finally gets frustrated with it, and snarls low in his throat at the cheetah, which is the worst of the challengers. The one who had beat the others for dominance, leaving him at the top of his annoyance. The cheetah growls back at him.
"Fine, you want to fight, we'll fight, tonight after curfew when there is no one around we'll have a traditional dominance fight." He snaps, "However there will need to be three shifter witnesses."
The grey eyed cat remarks, "I'll witness."
"So will I," snaps the female cat who did not take losing to the cheetah very well.
He is surprised when the cobra is the third to agree, "I will witness the dominance as tradition demands."
The cheetah snarls at him again and the day passes tensely. That night after midnight the all eight shifters make their way outside and to a part of the base that is off of camera sight and not regularly patrolled. When they get to the spot, the six witnesses fan out around the pair.
A moment later he has shifted into his wolf form, while the cat turns into his cheetah form. Since they are both elites, they stand almost as tall in their animal forms as they do in their human forms. Actually, his wolf form is bigger than his human form. Standing nearly nose to nose, he studies the other shifter. The cheetah is roughly a foot shorter than him. However he is longer and sleeker. He is not made of heavy muscle but lithe grace.
The cobra steps between them, motioning the other two to take their place on either side of the shifters.
Thomas, Elite Cheetah, you have challenged John, Elite Wolf, for the leadership position. This is a fight to submission, there will be no fatal injuries. Proceed. The cobra broadcasts to the entire group.
As he steps back, the cheetah lunges at him, swiping with a large paw at his jaw as he tries to ram his shoulder blade into his legs. He jumps straight upwards, springing over top of the cat to lash out with his own paw at the cats shoulder as he moves. He connects with the cats shoulder before he lands, spinning around to face the now frustrated cat. Growling the cat lunges at him again and he barely moves out of the way, stumbling a little as he does so. Round three is when the cat again tries to slash at him with his claws. He is just barely hit but it burns something fierce as it seeps blood.
Growling, he concentrates on using his limited empathy-telepathy combination to see what the cat is going to do next. When he gets a feel for what he is about to do, he hops backwards, waiting patiently while the cat lunges at him again, only this time he catches the cat by the back of the neck, sharp teeth sinking into the fur without harming but tight enough to keep hold. The cat growls at him. Attempting to twist and turn out of his grasp, lashing out with his claws in an attempt to injure, using his tail as a weapon. Only none of it works because he is not fighting another cheetah who is more speed than strength, he's fighting a wolf, a wolf who learned how to fight from other wolves. Finally the cat wears himself out and ends up slumping down exhausted, his entire body seeming to give out.
Do you submit? He growls at the cat.
I submit, the cat replies.
Releasing the cat's neck, he watches as the other shifter returns to human form, on his knees, body still bent double.
"Elder," the cat murmurs, accepting that he has lost.
He shifts back to his human form, looking carefully at each of them. "There will be no more of this during our training. You selected to live and work among humans, now act like it."
All of the shifters except the cobra agree, the cobra merely watches him with narrow eyes.
Silently, the eight shifters return to their bunks, however he takes reaches out and touches the cats arm as he walks in the door to the room, healing any damage he might have done before heading to bed. This earns a peculiar look from the cheetah that he had just beaten, apparently it was not expected.
The next few days go smoothly for the first time since they were assigned their groups. All of the shifters work well together, though the cobra is distant. Since a clear hierarchy seems to be developing the problems that had originally plagued their squad vanish and they become some of the best in the training field. Once they get past the trying to determine dominance, their abilities explode outward, with their group picking up the skills faster than anyone expects, particularly among the shifters.
By the first day of the fourth week a new routine has been settled on. Not only do they do all of the tasks within a regular day, they also have added a tendency to check in with him, making sure he knows what they are doing, at least all of them but the cobra does. Since they are not part of a formal pack he ends up questioning this, and during one of his conversations with Jacob at night he inquiries about it while they sit on the roof of their dorm building.
"Why are all of the shifters checking in with me so regularly?" he inquires of the slightly older man.
The dark haired shifter chuckles, replying, "You're the Elder of our group, it is important to follow the direction of the elder, none of us have active coops."
He hums in response, making a noise to show he understands while continuing to think about it. He is the elder of the group? How? His only fight was against the cheetah. Wait. The cheetah had won against the others. Oh. He had participated in a dominance fight. A formal one. The type that would have been called an Alpha fight within the wolf packs. He was unbonded alpha of this little pack of shifters. None of them were of the same variety, but he had been the one to win, thus he was the one that was respected. Well that might make things interesting. It would be good practice for when he is the alpha of his own pack.
The falcon smiles as he looks out at the mostly dark base. "You're good at it, despite the fact you seem completely surprised by the idea. You know, you're the only one with a coop mark on him. Is there a reason you left your coop to join the human military?"
He shrugs, replying softly, "Several members of our pack were in the military when the war started. Several more joined, it is something of a tradition among our pack to have military members. But all of them have either died or vanished, their links going silent. I am seeking to find a way to help shifters. Our pack and others. If possible, I wish to bring the missing ones home."
The taller man nods, continuing to stare out. For a while the two of them sit there silently until the falcon suggests, "We should probably get to bed, it's fairly late."
He nods, and the pair of them stands and stretches before jumping down, both landing with easy grace on the ground before they head inside to their respective rooms to sleep.
The following day is actually the first day of practicing with live ammo. The first few rounds go well. He had passed the gun usage tests with ease so he was assisting others in his squad. Then the squad next to them has a problem, one of the young men is trying to figure out if his safety is on when his gun goes off and he feels more than sees as the cobra in the squad collapses to the ground, hand clutching his side as he hisses in pain.
Almost before he can think he is barking orders, Jacob, Elspeth, keep the humans back. A moment later he is dropping to his knees next to the cobra, reaching out with his power as his fingers gently pull back the fatigues to reach the skin below. Sinking his power into the snake, he switches is vision from regular to iota sight. The bullet had ripped into his left side directly below his ribs but because of how tall he is the bullet went upwards shredding his lung, tearing the muscles, and exiting through his right shoulder blade. He was bleeding out.
Frowning, he falls into his power surging through the cobra's body, focusing on the blood vessels and lung. There will be internal scaring because he is doing a speed job, but the cobra will not die. He is determined of that.
You are a Thera. He hears deep within his mind, instinctively knowing he is the only one who can hear the tall man.
Please do not tell the others, I don't care if they know I am an iota, a healer, but they do not need to know how strong a healer. He replies to the cobra as he continues to work.
A mental nod is the response he receives from the injured shifter.
It takes him less than two minutes to repair the majority of the damage leaving just enough to make it look believable to the human doctors he is sure are going to take care of this. Once he is stable he sits back as the human medics rush to assist, and he gets to his feet looking around as he does so. The cobra is taken to the onsite medic center and the man who shot him is taken for questioning to make sure it really was an accident.
"Elder, what would you like us to do about this?" the cheetah inquires, his voice low so that the humans cannot hear him.
"We will wait until the cobra is back before anything is done. He is a strong telepath and will be able to determine if it was an accident or not." He tells the other shifter softly.
The cheetah nods, relaying the message to the others as the commanders tell them to get back to their practice. That night before dinner, he heads to the medic center to visit with the cobra. His shoulder and torso are wrapped in bandages but he is sitting up glaring at every single person who gets too close to him.
I dislike people who smell of fear and terror for no reason. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the feel of fear when it is earned but it has to be earned. The cobra tells him before he has a chance to say anything. My loyalty you have.
"Hello Eric, how you feel?" he replies aloud before telepathically responding, Dark empathy? Why would you be loyal to me?
The cobra inclines his head in acknowledgement. "Like I had a bullet rip through my chest,"
his voice is snarky. I am loyal because you are a Thera. Wolves may not understand the importance of that but I am a cobra. I do. Do not mind if I prefer this means of communication, I forgot how nasty a smell can taste. Dark empathy, indeed, it was my bond gift.
He nods once before chuckling at that pronouncement. Understanding that snakes can taste and smell through their tongues just like in their animal form. He also knows that cobras have different standards than any of the other species among the shifters. They stick to the oldest of traditions. It was probably through that that the cobra understands exactly what type of healer he is.
Please say nothing to anyone about the fact I am a thera. It is something I try to keep to myself. Most do not appreciate what a thera can do. He asks the cobra as he carefully unwraps the shoulder and lays his hand against the injury. Closing his eyes he falls into his healing gift and switches to iota sight as he opens his eyes. Most of the massive damage is healed from his earlier work, now there is only the surface damage, part of which has been worsened by the human doctors attempting to fix it using stitches and heat.
The cobra inclines his head politely. As you wish.
"It's looking better," he murmurs aloud as he checks first the shoulder than the side, sending small surges of healing gift through the injuries, healing more of the damage. "I'll be by in the morning to look at it once more," he tells the cobra as he re-bandages him.
Alright. Rest well. The cobra tells him before settling back, his black eyes closing.
He smiles at the cobra before leaving and heading to his room to go to bed early. Healing can be tiring, particularly when he heals and keeps going without taking a break. After doing his stretches and taking a shower he lies down and passes out. His body going into hibernation mode as he sleeps deeply until just before the alarm goes off.
Once he is up, he takes the time to shower again before heading to breakfast. Once he is done with breakfast he heads back to the medical building where he waits until the other medical staff is gone before carefully checking and healing the injury a bit more. While he works the two of them have a silent conversation before he inclines his head politely and heads to the training field. That day flows much the same as the previous with one large exception, no one gets accidently shot. When he is done with his training and dinner, he heads back to the medical building and works on the cobra some more before returning to his room to sleep.
The following morning the cobra is released from the medical center and he meets him on his way to the mess hall for breakfast. When the two of them come in, the cobra's eyes sweep the room before resting on the human who had shot him. For a minute the two of them stare at each other before the human looks down and stares at his plate. The cobra's eyes return to sweeping the room before he tilts his head towards him questioningly. Nothing is said, but nothing needs to be.
The rest of the week goes smoothly and soon enough they complete weeks five and six before anything else occurs. Through this time he is carefully considering what he should do next. At this point he is the alpha of an unformal pack. Perhaps the best idea would be to formalize the pack between them. That would give them a bit of protection that they otherwise would not have. It would also allow them to link so they would be able to communicate silently amongst themselves. He would approach Jacob about the idea in the morning.