David felt his stomach knot up.
Two black eyes suddenly opened...
"HUUHH HUHHHH!!" Frightened, he looked around, even preparing to head back to the tent. He had learned his lesson... and his gaze finally landed on the young man to the right, not far from the tent, about twenty meters in front of him...
Azure eyes speckled with emerald, medium-length black hair cascading smoothly around his neck, but above all... the necklace that emitted the same cursed sound and that the human wore around his neck...
A moment of silence punctuated only by the rhythm of the alarm, a brief moment when all the characters were motionless, calm... David could see in the beast's large black eyes the immense panic, the fear of being tortured again... of being replaced little by little...
By hatred...
The one-ton monster slowly... rose almost gently, to its full height, on its two legs, reaching 3 meters.
And without making a sound, it didn't roar, its mouth wasn't even open... The bear put its arms on the ground and... advanced towards him.
At first gently, like a gentle animal companion approaching, but very quickly... it accelerated... Faster and faster, step by step, it was no longer a gentle trotting…
"Beep, beep, beep..." and the sound of the collar finally stopped. But it wasn't because the bear was approaching the tent. No, as the bear approached him, it was actually moving away from the tent.
From the beginning, the predator was not limited by an invisible rope to the tent, but to him...
Their two collars were connected, the bear couldn't move away from him, and maybe he couldn't either...
But he focused on the danger running towards him.
"Boom! BOOM!!" The distance between them wasn't that great, and he was only 5 meters away from him.
His pace quickened into a run, his run turned into a charge. Still silent, the only clue to what awaited him, what he would do to the boy, was in his wide-open brown eyes, two completely black irises focused on David. The bear would not look away for a moment, would not look elsewhere, would not even blink... even if it meant his death... His eyes remained fixed on him...
And there it was...
David leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding a clawed paw that almost tore his head off. David ran straight towards the tent.
He thought of a plan that might work. He entered the shelter, but did not go far inside, staying close to the canvas.
He pulled the fabric door of the shelter slightly open and watched the bear outside.
'(Distance, position, speed...)' David assessed where the beast, which wanted to smash the tent, was going to come from.
David let go of the fabric and concentrated.
He moved slightly to the right and planted the spear diagonally in his hand, the sharp edge pointing upward, putting all his strength into the object and pushing with all his might.
Little by little, the spear dug deep into the ground.
'(The angle is a little too high...)' He forced the spear down a few inches, but he didn't have much time. Without even glancing up, he could tell that the beast was approaching quickly, judging by the loud sound of its paws striking the ground.
"Boom! BOOM!!"
David leave the tent.
He moved a few meters to the right and stood just in front of the tent fabric.
He stood there, straight as a statue, frozen but unshakable.
Facing him, the raging beast plowed the ground with its massive claws, throwing up showers of dirt with each stride as every second reduced the distance between them.
Yet the man did not move. Not a muscle, not a flinch. His gaze remained fixed on the monster's furious advance, defying the beast.
'(He's not going to get caught a second time, he has to be close, very close...)'
The wind howled, the earth shook, and he... he remained.
He had no weapon, no armor. Only his upright silhouette and his inhuman calm. And the whole world held its breath with him.
'(Not again...)'
What had been a large, black, furious mass became clearer...
The young man discern the muscles rolling beneath the charred fur. Bundles of raw power, taut as steel cables, David could see and count the scars on the mottled skin.
The young boy's nose was filled with the smell of burning that still lingered on the beast. And when the fangs finally approached... he was still there. Motionless.
'(Not yet...)'
And when the boy's eyes could make out the smallest details of the monster's two black eyes, counting the number of spots in its irises, shining like two yellow, burning, fixed lights, there was no blind rage, but a cold intention.
When a mouth appeared, wide open, David ignored the huge fangs, his interest curiously aroused by the rest of the tendons and bones that were in the jagged gaps between its canines, accompanied by the hot breath laden with a wild and putrid smell that escaped from its mouth.
That's when he moved...
He moved to the left, a sharp, desperate movement, snatched away at the last second. Dodging the beast on the same time as a crack from his shoulder echoed throughout his body.
A monstrous paw grazed his shoulder... thank God the claws hadn't touched him, only part of the beast's palm, and that was enough to almost tear off his limb. A sordid crack rang out, sharp and deep. His arm hung limply, dislocated, broken clean off...
"Hmhhhh," David struggled to hold back the scream that tore at his throat.
The beast lunged forward at full speed, crashing into the tent behind which he was hiding... his end: his bushy chest crashed into whatever was hidden behind the canvas, his own weight piercing his chest.
His charge continued nonetheless, the sharpened iron bar broke in two, leaving one part embedded in the ground and the other embedded in the flesh of his chest, his run ending in an uncontrolled roll.
"BAH BLAH BAHH" He crashed again and again, rolling over himself like a living ball before finally coming to rest after rolling 5 meters.
A guttural groan escaped from the beast's mouth. It reared up, convulsed... then collapsed, impaled, with a final strangled roar.
The bear finally collapsed, lifeless.
"Hmmmm..." David continued to hold back his cry, his jaws clenched, he had to make sure the threat had been eliminated... but he couldn't get up...
Silence returned, broken only by the man's ragged breathing as he knelt, one arm limp, his gaze fixed on the monster's lifeless eyes.
It seemed that the threat was gone...
David remained motionless, breathing heavily. He turned slightly, staring at the corpse, his heart pounding.
He had won. But he now knew one thing: he wasn't there by chance.
Someone wanted to test his survival.
'(Who? Why...?)' So many questions ran through his head when he suddenly heard
"Clap, clap..." He turned toward the sound to see a man of middle age with graying hair, standing straight, dressed in a decorated uniform, standing just at the edge of the forest surrounding the camp, applauding him.
'(I must say, this kid is dedicated...)' Admiral Steinz looked at the child, and that was his only thought as he watched the boy immediately stand up when he saw the military officer.
David ignored the pain in his bleeding arm hanging down at his side as he stood straight and performed the military salute with his only good hand.
"At ease!" David nodded and lowered his arm at the commander's firm voice, but remained standing straight and still.
Steinz smiled and took a package out of his pocket.
The admiral threw the package of bandages to him and turned away.
"Follow me..." said the man simply as he walked toward the edge of the forest.
David followed him and began to bandage his left arm as best he could.
After a few minutes of silent walking, during which David endured the pain and finally managed to bandage his wounded limb with his right arm and teeth, he spoke.
"Commander, may I ask a question?" His voice was dry and tired...
The admiral, who was walking, turned around and looked at him.
He seemed to be trying to guess the young man's intentions...
'(Strange reaction...)' thought David. The whole situation had been strange since he woke up...
"Permission granted, David Blake," said the gray-haired man before resuming his walk.
"Hmmm..." David took a few seconds to gather his thoughts before following him.
"Where are we, Commander?" asked the boy.
"We are currently a little over a mile from the laboratory." The man traced the path as he answered the question.
The two men walked through the woods...
"I see..." Blake's blue eyes were elsewhere, lost in his thoughts...
'(So we have to go back to base, we're not very far...)'
But what the boy really wanted to know was what he had experienced that day.
"And what was that whole scene? A test?" asked the boy.
His blue eyes looked at the admiral's back, who simply replied
"Affirmative..."
"Hmmm..."
'(But it was risky... I almost lost my life, what's the point...?)' the boy wondered.
He knew better than to question the orders or intentions of his superiors, but he didn't understand the point. After all, he had risked his life in a gladiatorial combat against a raging bear...
'(To test my ability to survive...? For a mission...?)' Theories and hypotheses jostled in his head.
The commander continued walking ahead, David looked at him, hesitant...
'(Should I...)'
But he wanted an answer...
"And sir... what was the purpose of this test?"
The admiral, with his neatly combed gray hair, stopped in his tracks and turned around, facing him for the second time...
The man said nothing and looked at him, piercing him, almost undressing him with his gaze, as if trying to see what was beyond the skin, beyond the mask of calm that David wore.
David did not flinch from his gaze, remaining upright and composed.
The admiral, after a long minute of silence, scrutinizing the face of the miraculous abomination that was this boy before his eyes, seemed to finally find what he was looking for. He took a step forward. His shadow enveloped David, but the latter did not flinch. There was still palpable tension between the two...
After a minute of silence, the admiral finally spoke... he spoke softly
"We had to make sure..."
The admiral looked him straight in the eyes, leaving him nowhere to look away. His voice was low, almost a whisper, but it carried a firm authority. He didn't blink. He spoke slowly, weighing each word like a judgment.
"That you were still in control... Still human."
In the light-filled woods, the green leaves rustled softly in the breeze, casting dancing shadows on the ground covered with grass and twigs.
A moment of silence passed after his words, words that were a simple statement...
David's only reaction, despite his respect for authority and his devotion to obeying without question, was to glance strangely at the man in front of him.
In the boy's eyes, one could see doubt and skepticism...
'(Is this a joke or...)' But one look at this man, the seriousness and authority that emanated from him...
'(No... that's not it...)'
David finally expressed what was tormenting him...
"I, I'm not sure I understand, sir..." he said confusedly.
The admiral said nothing, resuming his silence as he stared at him, and after a few seconds
"Everything will soon be clear, follow me..." he finally said, turning around and starting to walk again.
David wondered if this was still part of the test or something else, but he followed the general.
They walked for another two minutes before leaving the woods and arriving in front of a gigantic outpost. The building was heavily protected, with walls covered in a solid mixture of concrete and steel, and sentries equipped with heavy machine guns stationed at equal distances around the walls.
The two men approached the door, and Admiral Steinz nodded to the soldiers standing high above the entrance.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" shouted the soldier at the nod of his superior.
There was a loud click, and the door slid slowly open, letting out a breath of cool air from inside the complex.
The door opened and they entered the base. David saw that he was in what appeared to be the place where the soldiers trained and spent their time.
David discovered a well-organized camp: soldiers were training in various physical exercises or target practice, tables were covered with neatly arranged weapons, and further away, targets were set up along a firing range.
"Admiral Steinz," a firm voice saluted.
A high-ranking soldier had approached. He was carrying an assault rifle slung over his shoulder and was impeccably dressed. A lieutenant, judging by the silver insignia on his collar. He was followed by a dozen men, all similarly equipped, their faces impassive.
They all performed the regulation salute, but... surprisingly, neither the lieutenant nor his men behind him looked at the admiral, their eyes fixed on the young man behind him, a dozen pairs of eyes watching him intently...
A mistake normally considered an insult, but the admiral let it pass... given the circumstances...
How could David not notice their behavior, their sustained gaze?
He looked back at them...
And absolutely all of his men immediately stiffened...
Their hands tightened their grip on their weapons, their fists clenched firmly around the butts of their rifles until their knuckles turned white...
And... They had this strange look, an emotion that made their hands tremble...
'(Huh...?)' David even noticed that some of them had their feet slightly apart, their shoulders tense, unconsciously assuming a firing position...
'(Is it fear ?? )'
David looked at them and... despite their combat stance, despite the automatic rifles they were clutching tightly, their pupils were trembling.
They weren't just afraid, they were terrified...
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