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CHAPTER 3Ghosts of my Past

Tom's leg was healing rapidly in just less than two weeks. It had almost completely healed. During those two weeks, Tom and Rena had started to bond.

Having Tom around was certainly a pleasant change in pace for Rena. She really didn't have anyone to talk to in such a long time. She also used this opportunity to try to get to know Tom better. For some odd reason, she felt a kind of connection with him.

It was strange. She felt like she could just be open with him, that she could completely be herself around him. It was very odd being that they only just met, and she already felt like they were becoming close friends.

Tom felt the same way. He felt like he could trust Rena with anything. This was especially odd for him. He didn't trust many people, but Rena was different. He felt like he knew her all his life, but in reality they just met.

Over the past two weeks the two shared many stories from each other's pasts. Rena even told Tom of how she had run away from her home village in Kitsune Valley. Running away from the creep her father wanted her to be with, and how she had been living out here ever since.

After listening to Rena's stories, Tom would tell stories of his friends Bartel and Devin, and even a little bit about his mother.

He told her about all the antics they used to get themselves involved in back on Orion. When he wasn't training, he was exploring the woods that surrounded the base, or laying on the large parade grounds on hot summer nights. Just looking at the stars, those two were like family to him.

Rena chuckled at some of the stories, especially the one were Devin figured out the code to the armory. They booby trapped the door to Zach's locker to set off a flash bomb when he went to retrieve his gear. Though someone called Captain Martinez, and he gave them a hard thrashing.

As she kept listening to his stories about his friends, it eventually made her wonder why he would run away from them. If they meant that much to him, and what this Spartan program truly was, he wouldn't go into detail on it at all. All she knew of it was it was a military program, and he did a lot of training. She was curious as to why he wouldn't tell her more. He obviously trusted her with other personal information; why not tell her about it? It wasn't until the day before they departed for her friend's home that she decided to ask him

Tom was taking a last mental inventory of what he had before they left the next morning. He had originally packed for a week long hike to Orion space port, so he had plenty of supplies [A week's worth of MRE's, check. 64 rounds AP for my primary, check. 200 rounds for my pistol, check. Energy swords, check. Suppressors, check. Change of clothes, check. Water, check. Sleeping roll and sleeping bag, check and check. Fire starters, check. Four fragmentation grenades, check. 5 flash bang grenades, check. Ok, that's everything! (the woods of Orion can be a dangerous place)].

Rena watched her new friend as he silently started to repack all his supplies into his large pack. She sighed to herself. [It's now or never], she thought.

"Hey Tom?" she asked nervously.

Tom looked up from his pack with a smile "Yeah Rena, what's up?" He had a soft look in his bright, blue eyes that over the past two weeks she grew quite fond of.

"Umm can I ask you something personal?" she stammered.

"Sure what it is?"

"When we first met, you told me that you ran away from some program. What exactly was the program for?" Rena saw the softness in his eyes leave to be replaced by a sorrowful and pained look. He gazed toward the ground. She felt terrible. This subject was obviously something that he didn't want to discuss...

"I-I'm sorry. Forget I asked," she apologized, trying to change the subject.

"No- no, it's fine! I guess if we're going to be traveling together, you should know exactly what I am." Tom let out a deep sigh as he prepared himself to relive the hard memories of his childhood.

"I was a part of a military project called Project Spartan IV. In a nutshell, the program was set up to create a generation of super soldiers called Spartans".

He paused to catch the surprised expression Rena's face. Normally, he didn't care telling non-Spartans what he was. He didn't care what they thought of him. This time it was different. He didn't want her thinking he was some augmented super freak as most people outside the program tended to think of Spartans. This time, he actually cared what someone thought of him, and he didn't know why. He let out another deep sigh and continued.

"Most Spartans were born from donor genetic material that went through genetic modification to make the genes as close to perfect as possible, adding in the ideal mix of traits as well as modifying certain genes to create the perfect human."

"But your mother, how..." Rena began to say but was cut off.

"I was born different. My mother was the head of the project and used her own genetics to have me 'naturally'." He paused for a second as if he were going over what he just said.

He noticed the disgusted look on Rena's muzzle. She was angry about his mother's decision to put her child though something like that.

"How could a mother use her own son in some twisted project? Her own flesh and blood!" she yelled.

Tom had almost instantaneously started to defend his late mom. "She wasn't a bad mom; she loved me a lot and always cared deeply for me. She had her reasons for keeping me in the program. I know it always hurt her to see what I went through..."

He paused again and looking as if trying to remember a nightmare he long tried to forget. After a deep breath he continued. "When we turned six, we went through an augmentation process, making us stronger, faster, and smarter. Some didn't survive the processes, and others body's rejected the augments and died or were crippled. I was one of the lucky seven hundred and seven to survive the augmentation process." Tom stopped as he tried to bury the nightmares he endured during the augmentation process once again.

"From there we were trained to fight, to shoot, and to adapt to any situation...to survive...but all that didn't matter. It didn't matter how good a shot or how stealthy or adaptive I was, I just didn't fit in. I wasn't like the others...I was different. I knew it and so did they."

"What made you so different from the others?" she questioned. Rena saw this was hard for him to share. It was like watching someone try to relive a nightmare. She didn't want to hurt him, but there was no stopping now. She wanted to know everything about her new friend the good and bad.

"I never was accepted by the others. I was the freak to the others. The runt, the outcast. Devin..." he stopped at the mention of his friend's name, trying to keep his emotions buried. He felt tears well up behind his eyes. He fought hard to keep them from showing.

"Devin was one of the only people that ever accepted me for being different.... her and my mother...."

Rena was truly curious despite the horrible things the program did. How could he just leave his close friends behind in that hell?

"Even as bad as it was, why did you leave them behind? If they meant so much to you, why not try to bring them with you?" she asked curiously.

Rena saw Tom had been trying to fight back tears. His blue eyes were glistening while he desperately tried to hide his sadness.

"Because they're gone! Her and my mother! Both dead! Gone forever! Even Bart couldn't stay with me anymore! Everything I had held close was gone forever..."

Tom had lost his battle with his emotions. All of his pent up feelings had started to flow out, like water from a broken dam.

Then he started to cry. Something he hadn't done in front of anyone, even his own mother. Something he only did when he was alone, never to let anyone see him, but that didn't matter anymore.

"Now I have no one ..." he cried, tears streaming down his face, letting out soft sobs. "I couldn't stay in that place any more. I had to take care of myself. I had to run ..." His voice was now shaking with grief as his sobs became louder "And now you probably think I'm some kind of freak killing machine..."

Rena now looked at the sobbing boy and couldn't help but feel saddened. She had been living on her own for over a year now, but she did this by choice, and she knew she still had her mother and her family. She even had her father to go back to if things all went wrong. Despite her current feelings for them, they were still alive and there for her. Especially her mother.

Tom was truly alone. She felt sorrow, but it was strange. She didn't just feel sad for him, from what he went through she felt sad because he was sad. It hurt her to see him like this.

[I must truly care for him if I feel this sad. To see him cry like this...I guess we really have become quite close these past weeks,] she thought to herself.

What she did next surprised even her a bit, but it just felt like the right thing to do. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. Tom had almost instantly stopped crying. He was a bit shocked by the sudden show of affection, but the surprise didn't last. It felt good to be hugged. Her fur was so soft, and she was so warm. He felt safe, like nothing bad could ever happen. In that moment in time, his troubles seemed to melt away .Tom soon returned the hug, placing his head on her shoulder, and he could feel her soft mane against his face.

What Rena said next as she hugged him stunned Tom even more. "Tom, you're not alone. You have me. We are two of a kind. I've only known you for a few weeks, and I already feel so close to you. I'm never going to abandon you. I swear."

Tom had broken the embrace. He wiped away the tears that stained his face. His sadness and pain were replaced by overwhelming feelings he hadn't felt before, ones he couldn't describe. He felt the connection with her too, like this friendship was meant to be.

"Thank you Rena...you're a true friend, and I'm never going to leave your side!" Rena smiled down at him as he gave her a tight squeeze.

Right there, Rena vowed to herself, [I'm never going to let anyone harm you Tom! You are my one, true friend!].

The rest of the night was very peaceful. When they had turned in for the evening, each felt like they had found a long lost part of themselves. But unknown to either of them, that the bond they shared goes beyond just friendship, and that indeed forces set in motion long ago had brought these two together...