The Orphanage 10: Caleb (musc)
by Jaypat
I don’t know why you want me to write this, or why anyone would even care what happened at The Orphanage that last day. I mean, I didn’t see everything. I was locked up in my room most of the time. Mr. Gibson kind of ordered us to stay there. I wasn’t part of any take-over plan or anything, so I pretty much stayed in my room, playing the old video game I got from Kevin the night before. I knew nothing was supposed to happen until that evening, so I didn’t really worry about it. Anyways, I was due for my final treatment after lunch and that was really all I was thinking about. I wasn’t doing too good on the game.
I think the first sign that something was happening came when I started hearing loud banging noises. I didn’t know what it was then, but later I found out it was Matt going through the change. I was kind of curious but not enough to get up from my game. I kind of wish I had. It would have been cool to see. I only saw one guy go through the change that day, and that was pretty cool.
Anyway, I heard a couple of doors slam and I got curious enough to get up and look out my door. I didn’t see anything but Blotz—that’s the guard who always watched the third floor. He was coming down the hall toward me, so I closed the door fast and hoped he’d keep going past. I didn’t like Blotz. He was always grabbing me. He would take any excuse grab my arm or my shoulder or ruffle my hair. And he was always calling me Sport. Once when I was coming up alone from dinner, he stood right in my way and wouldn’t let me pass. When I tried to get by him, he tried to grab me, but I ducked back before he could.
“Let me by,” I said.
“I’ll make a deal with you. Let’s wrestle. If you win, I’ll let you pass.”
What, was he kidding? I was only thirteen. He had to be like thirty, and he wasn’t small either. I didn’t know what to do. Luckily Kevin and Mikey came up the stairs right then, and when he stepped aside to let them pass, I went with them.
He ruffled my hair as I went past and said, “I’m just messing with you, Sport.”
But the worst thing he did was on that morning, the morning of the last day. As I was coming upstairs from the assembly, he frisked me. He said he was just following orders but I didn’t notice him frisking anyone else. And when he was running his hands over me, he was putting them in places they had no business being. Sure, like I’d be hiding anything there.
So, when Blotz didn’t come into my room, I was really relieved. I was about to go back to my game when I heard a huge pounding. My room was shaking from it. I wanted to look but I was afraid Blotz might still be out there so I didn’t. After a few minutes it stopped. I wanted to go back to my game, but I couldn’t. I was way too curious about the pounding. I knew something must be happening, and I was dying to know what.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer and I opened my door and looked out. I figured if Blotz was there I could still duck back inside. But he wasn’t there. In fact, there was no sign of him at all. The hall was empty. That was weird. A couple of the doors stood open. That was weird, too. I could hear a tremendous creaking, like floor boards when someone is moving heavy furniture.
“Hello?” I called.
Suddenly one of the doors flew open. It was Glen. He ran out of his room holding his head in his hands and then dropped to his knees.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
He looked up at me. He was breathing really hard, like he’d just done the hundred yard dash or something. He was sweating, his face was bright red and the veins were sticking out on the sides of his neck. “I’m fucking great,” he said through gritted teeth.
And then I saw him start to grow. I think it was his neck that I noticed first. It just started getting thicker. Then his arms started to change. He was wearing a t shirt so it was easy to see as the muscles in his forearms started to shift under his skin. It was weird, like he started with one pretty obvious muscle and then it started to divide into a bunch of interwoven cords and tendons that just kept getting bigger and thicker. And his bicep, I could see it swelling up, pushing his short sleeve further up his arm toward his ballooning shoulders. He noticed me staring and then looked over at his arms and just started grinning. He flexed his bicep and it bulged up huge and split his sleeve apart. “Oh fuck, yeah,” he said. “Oh fuck, yeah.”
Some kind of spasm shook him and he dropped down on all fours. His head was down. I couldn’t see his face but I could hear him making some kind of grunting/moaning sound, which kept getting lower and deeper. I saw all the wrinkles smooth out of his shirt as his back expanded beneath it. Then it started to stretch and grow tighter and tighter. Suddenly with a ripping sound, huge tears began opening up in it. It was a little creepy, like those movies where a creature pops out of a guy. But the only thing forcing its way out of that splitting shirt was a monstrous back. It had so many huge, bulging, writhing muscles that it barely seemed human. I heard a weird low guttural sound and then I realized it was Glen chuckling.
He suddenly let out a grunt and I heard another explosive rip as his jeans split apart, releasing a pair of gigantic thighs. “Sweet,” I heard him rumble. There was a pop as his waist band snapped and more tearing as his calves exploded out of his pants and his expanding gluts and quads finished destroying his jeans. There was one last tearing sound as his shredded shirt, which had still been stubbornly clinging to his bulking frame, finally lost the battle and it slid onto the floor in a pathetic heap.
Glen was huge. He had more muscle than I had ever imagined. He had biceps like footballs, shoulders like soccer balls and his chest had blown up into colossal twin boulders. He looked at me, still sweating, still breathing hard. Then he flexed his mammoth arm and stared awestruck at his own powerful veined peak. Then he said, “Look at my arm, dude. Look at the fucking size of it.” And he laughed again before he turned to me and said, smirking, “And no way is this over. It’s not even slowing.”
And he was right. We both watched as his bicep kept bulging up bigger and bigger. And it wasn’t just his arms. His whole body was getting wider. Muscles were just rippling out all over him and swelling to unbelievable proportions. And he was getting taller, too. Suddenly I realized that even though he was on his knees he was way taller than I was. And he just kept expanding, bulking up with pound upon pound of ripped solid muscle. When it finally ended he was gigantic. He had insanely massive muscles bulging up all over him. And the look on his face—you could tell he knew just how fucking bad ass he was and he fucking loved it. He tried to stand up, but he just couldn’t do it. He was crouched over and each massive shoulder touched the opposite wall. Each pulsating, vein-covered, gargantuan arm was as big as a grown man’s body. He filled the corridor, more than filled it. It was too small for him.
“God damn doll house,” he said. His deep voice rumbled through me like an amped up subwoofer.
Suddenly Kevin came out of the same door Glen had stumbled out of minutes before—when Glen had been—you know—a normal guy. “Caleb, what are you doing here?” asked Kevin. “Go back to your room.”
Who the fuck did Kevin think he was, my father? “What’s going on?” I asked.
“There’s been a change of plan. We’re taking over right now.”
“I want to help.”
“You can’t. It’s too dangerous. You’re not… equipped.”
That’s right. I was still just an ordinary kid. After my final treatment I wouldn’t be, but right then I still was—and I sure as hell didn’t want to be. I wanted to be like Glen. “But if you take over now, I’ll never get my final treatment.”
Kevin just looked at me, his mouth frozen open, like he was going to say something but stopped before he did. But Glen, he had no trouble speaking.
“Oh, dude, it sucks to be you,” said Glen, “because this is fucking awesome.” He flexed his mammoth biceps and they swelled up to mountain size. He was just grinning. You could tell he just loved every inch of his massive powerful body.
“Shut up, Glen,” said Kevin.
Glen scowled and thundered a step closer to Kevin. “I’d watch what you say to me, little man.”
“Or what? You’ll squash me like a bug?”
“I was going to say rip you apart, but the bug squashing thing works too.”
Suddenly the hall started shaking with huge, earth shattering crashes as doorways all up and down the hall started exploding outward. I covered my head with my arms trying to protect myself from all the flying debris but a piece of wood caught me on the cheek and I started to bleed.
When I looked up, the plaster dust was starting to clear and I could see a huge shadowy form emerging from one of the blown out doorways. I had to blink. It was Danny Glover. Only he was fucking huge now, every bit as big as Glen. He squeezed out into the corridor but even hunched over, he could barely fit, too. “Everything’s so fucking tiny,” he said. He took one of his massive fists and started taking out the ceiling. I had to duck again, but when it was over, most of the ceiling had fallen and Danny was standing straight up, his head looking down at me from the attic! Fuck.
Then another behemoth emerged, and another and another. In a moment, the hall was stuffed with the insanely muscular giants. At first I was a little scared, but when I looked up at them, I could see that each of them had the face of a kid in The Orphanage. I suddenly realized that all my friends had transformed into awesome, twelve-foot-tall, massively muscled titans. And they had done it without me. They were leaving me behind.
“This fucking sucks!” I screamed. “Why couldn’t you wait?”
“Sorry, Caleb,” said Matt—at least I thought it was Matt. I looked up, but all I could see were mammoth pecs hanging over cinderblock-abs. I actually had to take a step back so I could see above them. The face was Matt’s; but.it was really weird thinking of him as Matt. I mean he didn’t even sound like Matt anymore. It was like he used to be Matt and now he was Mega Matt. “We didn’t have a choice,” said Mega Matt. It’s kill or be killed, dude. Kill or be killed. At least you’ll be alive at the end of this.”
That didn’t make me feel better at all.
“Yeah, dude, sorry, shit happens,” said another giant. I looked up at him and fuckin’ A it was Kenny! Kenny was six months older than me, but we used to be pretty much the same height. I could already beat him in arm wresting and I was pretty sure I was going to out grow him… but not now. Now he had titanic biceps that were three times the size of my head, with thick veins running all over them and down to bulging forearms that were basically the same size as my entire body. Fuck! It just wasn’t fair!
“I think I’m ready for an arm wrestling rematch,” grinned Mega Kenny, squeezing his fists and making his fucking mega arms bulge. They swelled up so fucking huge I actually gasped. “He could probably flatten me with his pinky.
“Oh yeah, any time, dude,” he said and then he grabbed his cock like he was getting off on how much larger and stronger he was than me. I wanted to fucking scream.
“Did everyone change, but me?” I asked.
“The whole third floor,” said Mega Matt. “Except, there are only ten of us now. Brad went over to the other side. Fish and Mikey aren’t here. Kevin decided not to change. And then there’s you…”
All I could feel was rage. “I fucking hate you. I fucking hate all of you.”
And suddenly there was gunfire. I guess someone downstairs must have heard all the noise and figured out what was happening. I think someone got hit. I don’t know who. I didn’t get to see much because Kevin grabbed me and dragged me through the door into my room, slammed the door—it was one of the only undamaged doors on the floor—and jumped on top of me, knocking us both to the ground.
“Get off me,” I yelled.
“You can’t go out there,” said Kevin. “You’ll get killed.”
“So what?”
“See? That attitude is why I’m not getting off you.”
Kevin wasn’t that big of a guy, but he was big enough to keep me pinned no matter how hard I struggled. I really wanted to go out there. Partly because I wanted to know what was happening and partly because I really was kind of hoping a bullet would find me. I was so pissed at missing my chance to become a behemoth that I really didn’t care if I lived or died.
“Look,” I know you’re upset,” said Kevin, “but if you think about it, you’re really better off.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“No, really, I actually envy you. I mean, me, it’s over for me. It’s only a matter of time before I become like them.”
“Fuck you.”
“But you, you’ll still be able to walk down the street without people staring. You can walk into a restaurant and have a meal with out having to rip out the ceiling, so you’ll fit. You can go to movies, learn how to drive. I’ve always wanted to do that, and now I’ll never get the chance. But you will.”
“Go to a movie? What the fuck are you talking about? Go to a movie?!!!! Fuck that! I want to be a monster. I want to have awesome power, to be someone who can’t be ignored, or stepped on anymore. Because that’s what it’s been like my entire life. You talk about changing rules? Well I want to change the rules too. I want to be huge with massive muscles bulging out all over me. I want people to stare at me, to wonder what it’s like to be me, and I want them to fucking shake with fear if I so much as frown at them. That’s what I want. You can keep your fucking ordinary life.”
Kevin sighed and grew quiet. I could here the sounds of the guys thundering around in the hall outside mixed in with gunfire. “I shouldn’t do this,” said Kevin. “You’re only thirteen. You really don’t completely understand what you’re saying.”
“Shouldn’t do what? What are you talking about?”
“There’s no help for me, but I think maybe I can help you.”
“What do you mean you can help me?”
“I saw your file on Fish’s computer. Your final treatment was going to be a shot of your altered genetic material. That’s it, just a shot. And it’s already prepared and waiting for you down in the lab. It shouldn’t be too hard to find it.”
“Seriously?”
Kevin nodded. Man, it was like Christmas morning and I’d just gotten everything I wanted. I was so happy and excited there were butterflies in my stomach. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Kevin rolled off me, but kept his hand on my arm. “Yeah, not till its safe. In case you forgot there are guards with guns out there.”
“Are you kidding me? Our guys will plow right through those dorks.” I paused and listened. The gunfire had definitely stopped. “See? It’s over already.”
“All right,” said Kevin listening carefully. “We’ll take a look.” We got up and went over to the door. Kevin paused listening again, but there were no sounds at all.”
“Come on,” I said. “It’s over. It’s got to be.”
“Yeah,” said Kevin, “but who won?”
“Who do you think?” boomed a voice and suddenly the door was ripped off its hinges and flung across the hall—or what was left of the hall. And there was Mega Matt, looking as massive as ever, and kneeling down so he could see us. “Check me out,” he said. “I got shot.” And sure enough he had a bullet hole in his gigantic shoulder. But it was the size a pin prick would be on a normal person. There was some blood but not much. Anyway he seemed pretty happy about the whole thing.
Looking past him I could see a lot of the walls were gone now and the third floor looked like a war zone. “What happened?” I asked.
“They came. They saw. We kicked their butts,” said Matt as he flexed his mega arms causing his mountainous biceps to explode up and peak. I saw those massive upper arms just erupting with power and I wanted two just like them. And I wanted them now.
“Was anyone hurt?” asked Kevin.
“Not really,” answered Mega Matt. “Glen got shot like twelve times, but he’s ok. We’re all pretty fucking strong now. It’s pretty fucking awesome.”
I heard a couple of shots from downstairs. “What was that?”
“A couple of guys went down to the second floor, just in case Gibbons got it into his head to hurt the kids who hadn’t changed yet.”
“I suppose they brought the accelerant with them,” said Kevin.
Mega Matt looked a little guilty. “Oh yeah, about that…” He pointed to a place on the floor. “We had a little accident.” The remains of the bags of accelerant lay there, smashed to smithereens by a fallen wall. “It looks like we’re going to have to get by with the guys we got.”
“Does this mean I’m not going to grow today?” I asked.
Kevin shrugged. I don’t know. No one has ever been given the final treatment without the inhibitor. I don’t know how it will affect you.”
Mega Matt looked confused so I quickly explained what Kevin had told me.
“Ok, cool,” he said. “We just have to get you to the lab.”
“Can we go now?” I asked.
“Ah… not a good idea,” said Mega Matt. “From what we can see from the window, Gibbons is calling all the guards to the ground floor. That’s probably where they’ll make their stand.”
“I thought you guys already took care of all the guards.”
“No,” said Mega Matt. “Only a few came up here. And when they shot up Glen and he didn’t go down—he just got mad—they took off running. The war’s not over yet. But if that’s the best they can do, it shouldn’t last long.”
“I wouldn’t count them out yet,” said Kevin.
Just then another Mega kid came lumbering over. He had Lenny’s face, so I guessed he was now Mega Lenny. He passed by one of the walls that was still standing and rammed his fist into it for no apparent reason. The wall collapsed into a pile of rubble and part of the ceiling collapsed on top of it. Kevin and I had to duck for cover.
“Jeeze! Watch it, will ya?” yelled Kevin. “Not all of us are indestructible.”
“Sorry,” said Mega Lenny grinning. “Couldn’t help myself.” He flexed for us. I’d seen these guys flex a couple of times already—they always seemed to be flexing—I guessed I would be soon, too—but no matter how many times I saw it, I still couldn’t get over the size of their fucking muscles, gigantic panicles of rock hard flesh entwined in thick ropey veins. “When can we take the first floor?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” said Mega Matt. “Lenny, what happened on the second floor?”
“It’s all good,” he said. “You were right. Gibbons sent some guys up there, but Ethan had already changed and he took care of them.”
“Ethan?” I cried. “That walking stick?”
“I wouldn’t let him hear you say that, little dude,” said Mega Lenny “That stick is just as big as me now.” And he flexed again. Fuck.
“Did anybody else change?” I asked.
“No, it looks like it was just Ethan. But there’s something wrong with Anthony. He might be sick. He’s like a fucking rag doll. And no one knows where Aaron is.”
“They’re under the house,” said Mega Matt. “Both him and Mikey, I can hear them.”
“They’re ok?” asked Kevin. “You’re sure their ok?”
And then Mega Lenny paused and listened. “Oh yeah, they’re like moving rocks or something.”
“So, are you going to take the first floor, or what?” I asked. I was really impatient to get going. I couldn’t help but be nervous about my last shot. What if Gibbons decided to destroy it or something? The sooner I got it, the better. And I couldn’t wait to have those huge muscles busting out all over me.
“Guys,” said Mega Matt, “We’re going to take the first floor now. You ready?”
I looked around but the only two behemoths I could see were Matt and Lenny.
“Yeah, tell them I’m sorry about that, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Matt continued. It was like he was talking on a cell phone but there wasn’t any cell phone.
“Who’s he talking to?” I asked out loud. I wasn’t really expecting an answer but Kevin gave me one anyway.
“They can hear really, really well,” he said. “I’m guessing he’s talking to someone on the second floor.”
Mega Matt just grinned and gave Kevin the thumbs up. Jesus, his bicep exploded with size just doing that. But I guessed Kevin had been right about who he was talking to.
“Ok, we’re going now. You guys had better stay here,” said Mega Matt.
“No way,” said Kevin. “I’m coming too. There might be a way to solve this without violence, but you guys are too in love with your own muscles to bother looking for it.”
“Without violence?” said Mega Matt. He looked like Kevin had just suggested showering without water. “If you think so, you’re welcome to try, but it’s probably going to be dangerous for you little guys.”
“I’ll risk it,” said Kevin.
“I’m coming, too,” I said.
“No,” said both Kevin and Mega Matt.
“Look,” said Kevin, “these guys are practically indestructible. You’re not…yet. And if you get yourself killed, you never will be.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Careful isn’t the problem. These guys don’t know their own strength. Look at that gash on your cheek and you haven’t even seen any action.”
I reached up and felt my cheek. When I pulled my hand back it had blood all over it. I really wanted to go, but I wanted to grow huge even more, and it would really suck if I got hurt before I got a chance to do it.
“I promise I’ll come back for you when it’s over, ok?”
“As soon as it’s over? First thing?”
“First thing.”
“Ok,” I said, and I sat down on a pile of rubble and watched the three of them disappear down the stairs. I strained my ears trying to hear anything I could. There was a lot of thumping and creaking. I guessed that was just the guys moving around. I wondered if I’d hear anything when the real action started.
“Well, hello there,” said a voice. I looked up startled. I’d thought I was alone, but no. There was Blotz. He was a mess. His uniform was torn, he was covered with plaster dust and it looked like he was bleeding from his scalp. But I didn’t feel bad for him, and I was not happy to see him.
“You better hurry up down stairs to your friends,” I said. “In a couple of minutes, they’re going to need all the help they can get.”
He just smiled and shook his head. “They’ll be alright. Gibbons still has one or two surprises up his sleeve.”
He took a step towards me. I didn’t like the look on his face so I got up and backed away from him. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll find out… Or maybe you won’t. After all, you’re not one of them yet, are you?” He took another step toward me and I backed away some more.
“How do you know?”
“I know.” Suddenly he leapt at me and I turned and ran. He ran after me. I had to get to the stairs. But I was just a kid and he was a grown man. He caught me pretty quick, grabbed me by my shoulders and swung me around.
“Whoa there, Sport. Don’t be in such a hurry.” I tried to break away from him but he was just too strong.
“Let go of me!”
“Don’t be so unfriendly. We never had our little wrestling match.” I tried to wrench myself free again, but I couldn’t.
“I don’t want to wrestle you.”
He smiled. “But you already are, Sport. You already are.” Then while still holding me in one vice like hand, he reached over and tried to yank my pants down. It hurt. But I was wearing a belt and he only managed to get them a little ways down.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“This is very special wrestling.” He began fumbling with my belt, trying to undo it with one hand.
Then I realized what he was doing and I got scared, more scared than I’d ever been in my life. “Leave me alone,” I cried.
“Ha,” he grunted smiling. “Not a chance.”
Then I got angry, so angry I couldn’t see straight. What I could see was his crotch. Something was swelling up pretty big inside his pants. Suddenly, without even thinking about it, I brought my knee up and nailed him in the gonads as hard as I could. I heard a wheeze of pain and he let go of me instantly. I turned and ran for the stairs without looking back.
I was so scared I was running without thinking and before I knew it, I was at the foot of the stairs. The front hall was packed. At the base of the stairs stood Kevin and eleven behemoths. The hall was actually big enough for them to stand completely upright, and holy crap they were just fucking mega huge gargantuan. For the first time I got a good idea of exactly how tall they were. I’d have to go half way back up the stairs just to stare one in the eye. And they had so much fucking muscle exploding out all over them; their bodies were just distorted with it. Every time one of them shifted on their feet, you could hear the floor boards groan in protest. Just looking at them all gathered together like that made me a little dizzy. And I don’t think I was the only one.
There were about thirty guards in the hall also. And Mr. Gibbons. The guards all had their guns drawn and aimed right at Kevin, Matt, Kenny, Danny, Glen, Phil, Ethan, and the rest of them.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” Kevin was saying. “We don’t want to see anyone hurt.”
“To tell you the truth, son,” said Mr. Gibbons. “I’m not interested in what you want, you or any of the other lab rats.”
“Lab rats?” growled Glen, stepping forward with his massive fists clenched, the thick cords all up and down his arms writhing under his skin. “Come here. I’ll fucking show you lab rats.”
Kevin looked up at Glen and shook his head, and the behemoth, although still glaring, held his ground.
“Now,” continued Gibbons, “If you want to avoid being hurt yourselves, just turn around right now and go back to your rooms.”
“That might be a little difficult,” said Matt. “Our rooms don’t actually exist any more. We kind of out grew them.” He flexed to make his point. He didn’t need to, but he did it any way. Those fucking gigantic twin peeks swelled up on his arms again and made me weak in the knees. Maybe he was just trying to scare the guards. It sure as hell would have scared the shit out of me.
“I don’t think you understand, Mr. Gibbons,” said Kevin. “You’re not in charge here anymore. We are.”
“Ha,” said Mr. Gibbons. “That’ll be the day.”
“Give it up, Kevin,” said Matt. “The old fart isn’t going to listen. We’ll just have to show him whose boss.”
“Yes, you do that, boy,” said Gibbons. “But before you do, let me show you this.” Gibbons held up a small canister. “All I have to do is flick this open and you’ll all be dead in thirty seconds.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a gas that we, who still have our genes in tact, will find quiet harmless. You, on the other hand, will not.”
“Bull shit,” said Glen.
“I don’t think so,” said Kevin, looking worried. “I think it’s for real.”
“Smart lad,” said Gibbons.
Suddenly Glen started to laugh. Then the other behemoths joined in.
“You think I’m joking?” shouted Mr. Gibbons. “I’m not joking!”
“What are you guys doing? This isn’t funny.” said Kevin, looking scared. I didn’t blame him. I was a little scared too.
“Don’t worry about it, Kev,” said Matt. “We’ve got it covered.” And then he nodded over at the wall behind Gibbons. I didn’t see what he was nodding at. There was nothing there but the basement door. Was he trying to tell Kevin to run for the basement? He’d never make it.
“Go ahead, Gibbons,” said Matt. “Do your worst.”
“Fine,” said Gibbons. “You asked for it.” He raised the canister above his head and suddenly the entire wall behind him exploded outward. Gibbons jumped clear right into Matt’s waiting arms. He quickly snatched the canister from the old man and gave it to Glen. When the dust cleared two huge dark figures were standing where the wall used to be. They were both covered with coal dust. One of them was a behemoth and the other one, although huge by any human standard, was somewhat smaller.
“Here we come to save the day,” sang the smaller one. That could only be one person. Kevin raced across the room and threw his arms around the smaller one, who was, of course, Mikey.
“Hey,” said Mikey, “take it easy, Kevin. You’re going to spoil my new macho image.” The guy was over seven feet tall now with wall to wall muscles and Kevin looked like a child next to him, but Mikey looked like a child next to the behemoth standing next to him. I peered at his face. It was Aaron. Fuck, he was huge. Just like the rest of them.
But the rest of the room was erupting in chaos. Half of the guards had a wall fall on them and the other half were scrambling to get away. Matt hefted Gibbons up into the air with one hand. The old guy was huffing and puffing, red with anger.
“Wha’s the matter, old man? Don’t you like what you grew? I have to admit I think it’s pretty sweet.” And he flexed for Gibbons. “The power I have in my body could fucking level a city,” he said flexing his chest, making his pecs bulge. “But I guess you know that.”
“You sound like you like it,” said Gibbons.
“Like it? I’m fucking loving this. But next time you mess with somebody’s DNA, maybe you should ask first.” Then Matt threw him against a wall. When the old guy hit the floor he was out for the count. Any guard stupid enough to stand and fight, met pretty much the same fate. Most of them were smart enough to run.
One took a shot at Glen, hit him in the chest, and then turned and ran.
“He shot me!” shouted Glen. “He fucking shot me. Why do they always shoot me? What is it? Do I have a fucking target on my chest? I’m going to get that little cocksucker! That’s the last time any one fucking shoots me.” Then Glen took off after him.
“Wait! Come back,” shouted Matt. And to everyone’s surprise he did. Only he looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“Guys,” he said, “you better come look at this.” We all hurried over to the big hole in the wall that used to be the front door. Not everyone would fit. Some of the guys couldn’t see. I guess I was lucky I could look right through their legs, and what I saw was the army. It sure looked like the army. There were troop carriers and tanks! And they were pulling right into the front yard.
“Fuck!” shouted Matt. “What are we going to do now?”
I looked out through the guys’ massive legs at the army filing into the front yard of The Orphanage.
“Get away from the door,” shouted Kevin.
“I’m not scared of them,” said Glen, flexing his mammoth arms. “I’ve taken thirteen bullets already. They weren’t even as bad as bee stings.”
“Yeah?” asked Kevin? “You been shot by a tank, big guy? Maybe it’ll be like a hornet or maybe it’ll take your fucking head off. You want to risk it?”
Glen appeared to think for a second before he shook his head and stepped away from the door. I guess the other guys didn’t want to risk it either because they backed away too.
“What’s your plan, Kev?” asked Matt.
“Mikey,” said Kevin, addressing his seven and a half foot tall friend, “go up to the second floor and get all the kids who haven’t changed yet and lead them out through the mine. If those tanks start blasting away at the house, there’s no way they could survive. Caleb, you go with him.”
Mikey nodded and took off up the stairs, but I wasn’t about to follow him. There was no way I was budging from the house until I was a behemoth. My only chance was a syringe in the lab, and I was sticking close. “Not til I get my shot,” I said.
“But…”
“Not til I get my shot.” Somehow I knew if I left without getting my shot, I’d never get it at all.
“Fine. But if you die…”
“That’s not going to work this time. You want me to go, get me my shot.”
“I can’t at the moment. There’s a little matter of an army on the front lawn.”
“Ok, fine,” I said. “I’ll wait.” And I crossed my arms and met Kevin with my best don’t fuck with me, stare. Kevin just threw his arms in the air and started for the front door.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Matt. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going out there to see what they want,” said Kevin.
“What, you mean by yourself, all alone?”
“Yup.”
“But you’re so… so… small.”
“That’s the point. I’m still just a kid. Odds are they won’t just open fire on me. You guys on the other hand… “
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” said Matt. “But what if you’re wrong? What if they do start taking shots at you?”
“Then you guys will have to come and bail me out.”
Matt thought about it for a second. “Ok, Kev, we’ve got your back. But I still don’t think you should go alone.”
“Maybe you’re right,” said Kevin. “Caleb, you come too.”
“Me?” I said at the same time Matt said, “Him?”
“Sure, just look at that baby face. No one’s going to shoot at that.”
I had a mustache coming in and at least three zits. What the hell did he mean, baby face? Fuck you,” I said.
“Sure, he’s real cute—as long as he doesn’t open his mouth,” grinned Matt.
Ha. Ha. Very funny. Suddenly I was a big joke—no, more like a little joke.
“Well, Caleb,” said Kevin, “You coming with me or are you scared of the big guns?”
“I’m not scared of them,” I said, even though I was a little.
“Then let’s go.” And Kevin headed out the front door. I followed right after him.
Neither of us said anything as we crossed the front yard toward the army. Those tanks looked really big and I was sorry that Matt or one of the other guys wasn’t with us, because if one of those tanks opened fire on us, we’d be dead real quick. But it didn’t seem to bother Kevin any. He just walked right up to the first jeep and started talking to the guy in the back seat. I guess he must have been the general or something because he had the most bars and stuff on his uniform.
“Hi,” said Kevin. “What’s up?”
“Good afternoon, young man,” said the General. “You having some trouble here?”
“No,” said Kevin. “We’re all good here.”
The general kind of frowned and looked hard at Kevin. “You sure about that?” Oh oh. It looked like the General didn’t believe Kevin.
“Absolutely,” said Kevin. Wow, he was a great liar. He didn’t even blink. Even I believed him. I guess it came from all those years of pulling practical jokes.
“Then why in the name of hell did Gibbons send for us?”
“Mr. Gibbons sent for you?”
“This morning, and he better have a good explanation for it. You tell him to come out here straight away.”
“I don’t know,” said Kevin. “He’s kind of busy.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass how busy he is,” roared the General. “Tell him to come out here.”
Kevin and I turned to go back, but the General stopped us with a word.
“Just a minute, son. What happened to your front door?” Kevin turned pale. The fact was we didn’t have a front door, not any more. Fish had demolished it last night, and now there was nothing but a twelve foot high, eight foot wide gaping hole in the side of the house
“Oh, that,” said Kevin, for the first time sounding a little uncertain. “We had kind of an accident.”
“What sort of accident?”
“I better let Mr. Gibbons explain,” said Kevin, and he grabbed me by the hand and pulled me back toward the house. As soon as we were inside, Kevin looked up at the muscle giants towering over us and asked, “Are the normal kids gone yet?”
“Yeah,” said Matt. “Mikey just took them down to the basement a minute ago. Why? How did it go with the army? What did they say?”
“This isn’t going to work. We have to get out of here.”
“What?” cried Glen. “Why are we letting them push us around?”
“Because they have things called tanks,” cried Kevin. “Remember?”
“So what?” said Glen, flexing his insanely huge arms. “I’ve got a couple of tanks right here, growing out of my shoulders. I’ll put my guns up against theirs any day.” Glen’s little display set the rest of the guys flexing too. They were all fucking massive, and each one of them seemed to want to fight the army. And suddenly I felt this overpowering urge to get huge and help them. I wanted to be out there battling tanks with my bare hands. That thought was beyond cool.
“What the fuck is the matter with you guys?” cried Kevin. “They’re going to blow you to pieces!”
“Maybe not,” said Matt, feeling his own boulder of a bicep. “Beside, we’re probably going to have to go up against the army sooner or later anyway. Why not now?”
“You’re crazy,” said Kevin. “The fucking change has affected your brains.”
“You just don’t understand,” said Matt, flexing some more. “You don’t understand how it feels to be this big, this powerful. It’s fucking awesome.”
“If growing that big fries your brain, I don’t want to understand.”
“But you will,” said Matt. “Sooner or later, you’re going to change. You have no choice. Like it or not, you’re going to be just like us.”
Kevin went silent. I could tell he didn’t like that thought at all.
“Why don’t you do it now?” said Matt. “No sense putting it off. Besides, we could use another guy.”
“No,” said Kevin. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. The accelerant was destroyed.”
“Then how did they grow Brad?”
“What?”
“They grew Brad after you swiped the accelerant. So, they must have more. The lab is right over there. Go help yourself.” Matt flexed again. His titanic arms swelled up huge and hard. Then he said, almost to himself, “So much fucking muscle, so much fucking strength. I can’t fucking believe how good this feels. You can feel it too, Kevin. Go on, go become one of us.” Kevin looked uncertain.
Kevin may have had trouble making up his mind, but I didn’t. “Come on, Kevin. You promised to give me my shot.” Kevin looked at me, then he looked at the lab door. For a second he seemed frozen. Then he finally seemed to make up his mind. He turned to Matt.
“Look,” he said. “First of all, I don’t think this is the army. It looks like it’s just the National Guard.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The difference is these guys are all pharmacists and auto mechanics, not exactly the same thing as a professional soldier. None of them have probably ever seen any kind of action.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but don’t let it go to your heads, cause you guys don’t have any experience either and I’m willing to bet they’re better trained than we are.”
Matt nodded slowly. He seemed to be taking it all in.
Secondly, they don’t seem to know what’s been going on here. At least they’re not expecting anything big. You guys should be quite a surprise to them. The guy in charge wants Gibbons to go out there. I’m guessing when he doesn’t show, they’ll send someone in after him. Hell, the general might even come in himself. Anyway, you can take out whoever they send—don’t kill them or anything, just knock ‘em out or lock ‘em up or something. You might be able to get a lot of them that way, reduce their numbers first. Don’t rush out to meet them. Make them come to you.”
Matt nodded. “Ok, Kev, that sounds good. Now, go get massive, then come back here and help us pound them.” Matt drove his fist into his palm for emphasis and I felt the wind from it. If I’d been wearing a hat it would have been knocked it off. Fuck. I couldn’t wait to be like him.
Kevin’s eyes kept looking from one behemoth to another. He looked like he didn’t know what to do again. “I don’t want to pound anyone,” he said.
“Get your shot,” said Matt. Feel your body grow hard with power. Watch your muscles explode with mass, ripping their way out of your clothes. See the world shrink around you as you keep growing bigger and more massive until you’re impossibly huge and muscular, with arms that can crush rocks into sand. You’ll feel different then.”
I sure as hell didn’t need to hear more. “I’ll help you pound them,” I said.
“Of course you will,” said Matt. “You guys both go get your shots.”
That couldn’t come soon enough for me. “Come on, Kevin. Let’s go,” I said pulling his arm toward the lab. He followed after me reluctantly.
The lab didn’t actually have a door anymore either. At some point, one of us must have busted his way out of there, leaving another twelve foot high, eight foot wide hole in the wall. And when we stepped through it, the lab looked empty. Kevin went straight to a glass fronted refrigerator and looked inside.
“It’s not here,” he said. “There’s nothing but Inhibitor and real vitamin shots.”
“That’s right,” said a voice.
I looked over and there were Doctor Myers, Doctor Sawyer and Doctor Burns. Doctor Myers had a gun. “You two just stay right where you are,” she said. I didn’t know what to do. I got scared. Damn! If only I were a behemoth already, then I’d show them. I wouldn’t be sacred of anything then. But I wasn’t. I was still just a kid and I sure didn’t want to get shot, so I did what she said. So did Kevin.
“Shoot them,” said Dr. Sawyer. “Shoot them now, before they change.”
“They can’t change, you idiot,” said Doctor Burns. Kevin’s inhibitor shot is good for another two days and Caleb hasn’t been fully processed yet.
“They managed it,” said Dr. Sawyer pointing toward the front hall. His arm was shaking.
“Well, now we know what happened to our missing accelerant,” said Dr. Myers. “That was you, wasn’t it?” she said, waving the gun in Kevin’s direction.
“I don’t want to become a monster,” said Kevin. “I don’t want to be like them. Is there anyway out of it?”
Doctor Myers looked at him for a moment before she spoke. “There might be,” she said. “But if I’m to help you, you have to promise to do exactly as I say.”
Suddenly Kevin got really quiet, and when he spoke it was almost a whisper. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“Kevin! Don’t do it,” I shouted. “Don’t do anything they say!” But he ignored me.
“First of all,” said Dr. Myers, “Where’s the rest of the accelerant? I counted twelve subjects who have entered cascade. Which means there are at least eighteen doses unaccounted for.”
“They’re smashed,” said Kevin. “A wall fell on them.”
“Kevin, you traitor!” I shouted.
“Good, that’s good,” said Doctor Myers. “That means we only have to deal with those twelve.” She walked over to a lab bench and picked up a canister like the one Gibbons had said would kill everyone. She handed it to Kevin. “I want you to walk into the middle of your friends and open this canister.”
“What will it do? It won’t kill them, will it?” asked Kevin.
“No, of course not,” said Dr. Myers. “It will only… knock them out.”
“Don’t believe them, Kevin,” I shouted.
“Burns, Sawyer,” said Doctor Myers, “why don’t you take young Caleb here and lock him in the storeroom.”
I tried to make a break for it but the doctors caught me pretty quickly. No matter how hard I struggled, the two adults managed to force me into the storeroom. The last thing I saw was Kevin heading back out to the front hall with the cylinder behind his back. That bastard! Then I was pushed into the small room and they locked the door behind me. FUCK! I was getting pretty tired of being shoved around by everybody all the time! I pounded on the door, but it was no use. All I did was hurt my fist. My friends were about to be killed and there was nothing I could do about it.
The storeroom was dark. But feeling my way around I felt something brush my face. It was a string. I pulled it and a light came on. There really wasn’t much to see. Just shelves filled with bottles, jars and boxes. They were all labeled but I had no idea what they were. But there was also a stainless steel fridge in the room. My heart started beating faster. What if my shot was in there? I pulled the door but it wouldn’t budge. It was locked! Crap!
Suddenly I heard some loud noises coming from the lab. It was like the lab tables were being knocked over. Someone was shouting. Then there were a couple of gun shots, then nothing. What was going on? Did someone get shot? I hoped it was Kevin. That bastard deserved it.
Then I heard someone at the door. They were unlocking it. I stood back out of the way so I would see them before they saw me. And when the door finally opened, it was Kevin. I didn’t have to think about it. I jumped on him. I must have caught him by surprise because I knocked him to the ground. I wasn’t really expecting to do that but I took full advantage of it and just started pounding him, just hitting him with everything I had.
“Jesus, Caleb, stop!” He shouted. But I didn’t listen. I was way too pissed. He’d killed all the guys and now I would never get my final treatment. I wanted to hurt him and hurt him bad. Suddenly I felt an iron grip close around my middle. Someone was lifting me off of Kevin, someone huge. I twisted around. It was Mega Matt. Mega Matt had survived. “You!” I cried. “It’s you. But Kevin… He killed you.”
Mega Matt just laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me? He saved us… again.”
“What?”
“He tricked those assholes into giving him their secret weapon and then he handed right over to us. Then I came in and finished them off.” He pointed. The three scientists were slumped unconscious against the wall. “If Kevin hadn’t done that, who knows how many of us they would have gotten with their little gas bomb.”
Shit! I’d been punked! I felt so stupid. “You could have told me,” I said to Kevin.
“No,” he said getting up and rubbing his jaw where I’d hit him. “You were the one who really sold my story. If you hadn’t been so pissed, I don’t think they would have believed me, at least not so easily.”
I should have guessed that’s what he was doing. This wasn’t the first time I’d been the victim of one of Kevin’s jokes.
“So, “he said, “let’s find you your shot.”
“Seriously?”
“On second thought, I don’t know if I should. You hit me like that again after you change and you’ll take my head off.”
“I promise never to hit you again! Never, never, never!”
“Ok, ok,” said Kevin laughing. “I’m going to hold you to that.” Then he looked around and saw the fridge. “Well, what have we got here?”
“It’s locked,” I said.
“I bet one of our friends over there has the key,” said Kevin waving toward the three unconscious doctors.
“Don’t bother,” said Mega Matt. Then he reached one of his massive arms in through the storeroom door—that was about the only part of him that would fit. He wrapped one of his enormous hands around the fridge and said, “You guys might want to step back.” He didn’t have to tell me twice. I backed up against the far wall and Kevin disappeared back into the lab. Then with a sudden jerk, he yanked the fridge out of the storeroom and into the lab. The door wasn’t quite big enough, but a little thing like a wall didn’t even slow him. He ripped the fridge right through the door and part of the wall came with it as easily as if there hadn’t been anything there at all. Then he held the fridge in one hand, and tore the door off with the other. Then he crumpled the stainless steel door up like a scrap of paper and tossed it away! Man, I wanted arms like that.
He set the fridge back down and Kevin walked up to it and peered in. “The key would have worked just as well,” He said.
“Yeah,” said Mega Matt, “but it wouldn’t have been any fun.”
Kevin was going through the fridge looking at all the different bottles and packages.
“Is it in there?” I asked. “Did you find it?”
Kevin produced a small brown bottle. “Yup. This is it.”
“Fuck yeah!” I shouted “Give it to me. Can you give it to me now? Do you need a syringe, ‘casue I know where they keep ‘em.” I was hopping up and down.
“Yeah,” said Kevin sighing. “We’re going to need a syringe.” That was all I needed to hear. I raced out into the lab and over to the cupboard where they kept the syringes. I had had so many shots in this place, I could have found them in the dark. I grabbed a bag and pulled it open. A bunch of wrapped syringes fell out on to the ground. At first I started to pick them all up, but then I thought screw it, and grabbed one, left the rest on the floor and ran back. But then I thought what about the accelerant? I’d need some of that too. So I doubled back and I grabbed a second syringe and started back but then I thought what about Kevin? He was going to need one too. So I doubled back again and grabbed a third syringe and then I ran back to the broken fridge. “Here,” I said handing the syringes to Kevin. He looked kind of confused.
“Three?” he said. “You’re only need one shot.” But then I said, “What about the accelerant. I want some of that too.” And then he said, “I don’t know, Caleb. I don’t think it’ll work right after your final treatment.” But then I said, “I want some anyway.” So then he said, “Well let’s see what happens when you get your final shot.” So I rolled up my sleeve and stuck my arm out toward him.
He paused for a moment and for one terrible second I thought he had changed his mind and wasn’t going to give it to me after all. But he did. He stuck the syringe in the bottle, filled it and then jabbed me in the arm with it. I felt the cool liquid spread out inside of me. It was just like most of the other shots I’d gotten since I’d been there. I knew it was different but it didn’t really feel any different.
“When’s it going to happen?” I asked. “When do I grow?”
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. Wait a couple of minutes and see what happens.”
I looked up a Mega Matt. “How long did it take for you to grow?” I asked.
“Dude, it happened right away. I started bulking up almost instantly.” He flexed his arm like he was remembering what it felt like.
“Yeah, but you had been fully processed for months,” said Kevin. “And you used the accelerator.”
“So, give me some accelerator,” I said.
“There was some in the fridge,” said Kevin, “but I don’t know what it will do to you. It might not work. It might hurt you.”
“I don’t care. Just give me some.” He just kind of stood there looking at me.
“Look, you wanted to grow and now you’re going to. I just don’t know when. Taking accelerator is stupid. It’s a stupid, unnecessary risk.”
Before I could say anything else, Mega Lenny came thundering in. “Hey Matt,” he said. “I think the soldiers are on their way.”
“Fuck,” said Matt. “I’ve gotta go. What about it, Kevin?”
“I’m not giving Caleb the accelerator.”
“Who’s talking about Caleb? What about you? Time to get huge.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, come on Kevin, you’ll fucking love it. I promise. Besides, this is it, the big battle. We’re going to need every man we can get.”
“I… I…”
“You’re not going to let us down, are you?”
“I can’t just… Now? Right this second?”
“You could wait til tomorrow, but I’m betting the battle will be over by then.”
Kevin looked down at the two unused syringes in his hand.
“I brought an extra one for you.” I said. He looked at me in a shock-scared kind of way.
“Five minutes, just give me five minutes,” he said.
“Ok,” said Mega Matt, “But if you wait any longer it’ll probably be too late.” Then he turned and thundered out of the lab with Mega Lenny following after him.”
“Are you going to do it?” I asked.
“Get out of here, Caleb. I mean it. Go to the tunnels and run as far and as fast as you can. If they turn those tanks on this house it will be kindling in no time.”
“I’m not going. I want to help,” I said.
“There’s nothing you can do,” he said.
“Maybe there would be, if you’d give me some accelerant.”
“And maybe it would kill you? I don’t think so.”
“It won’t kill me. But the army might. If you give me the shot at least I’ll be able to go out fighting.”
“If you run now, you can hide someplace. They won’t find you.”
“Hide? Where? Where’s a twelve-foot high guy going to hide? They’ll find me sooner or later. This way at least I can stand by my friends.”
Kevin shook his head, sighed and filled the syringe.
“Is that for me or for you?” I asked.
“You. After I change, my hands’ll be too big to do this.” He reached over hand gave me the shot in my arm. Then he stood back. I closed my eyes and waited for something to happen. Nothing. There was nothing.
“What’s going on? Why didn’t I change?” I cried.
“I told you I wasn’t sure it would work. You’d better get out of here. There’s no way you could survive this battle now.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll do it. I just need a minute. Now, get out of here. Go find Mikey and the others. Stick with them. You might just get your heroic last stand after all. Although I really hope you’ll find a better way.”
“But—“
“No more buts. Get out of here while you still can.”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to go.
“Go, damn it!”
Slowly, without really wanting to, I turned and headed for the basement. I felt like I was running out on my friends. But since the accelerant hadn’t worked, I really didn’t have a choice. Kevin was right. I could find Mikey and everybody else. And when that battle came, I knew I’d be ready. I’d be huge and unstoppable.
I made my way quickly through the front hall. All the guys were there, waiting quietly in the shadows. Mega Kenny nodded at me. “Later, Caleb,” he said. It was funny to think I might not see him again. Suddenly I didn’t really care about the whole arm wrestling thing.
“Good luck, Kenny,” I said and then I just didn’t want to hang around anymore so I booked it down to the basement. It wasn’t hard to find the entrance to the tunnel. A huge hole had been smashed in the basement wall. I went through it and into the dark tunnels beyond.
I hadn’t gone very far when I noticed something weird. There weren’t any lights in the tunnel. It should be pitch dark. So how could I see?—only dimly, but I shouldn’t have been able to see at all.
I started on my way again, but then I heard something behind me. I turned and looked. I could barely make out something moving in the dark. I looked like it might have been a person. Not a behemoth, but a regular sized person.
“Who’s there?” I called. No one answered, but I could see someone coming toward me. Was it one of the guys? It could have been someone like me, someone who hadn’t changed yet. They were all supposed to have come this way. Maybe he got separated from everyone else.
“Rob, is that you?” It kind of looked like Rob.
The guy still didn’t answer and he was getting close. It was starting to creep me out. This was just the sort of thing Kevin or Mikey would do, but there was no way this guy was either one of them.
I took a step back and the guy spoke. “Look who we have here,” he said. There was no mistaking that voice. It was Blotz. Fuck. I turned and started to run but he was on me in two seconds. He knocked me to the ground, turned me around so I was face up and jumped on top of me. I tried to get away from him. But I couldn’t. He was too heavy and too strong. He put his face right up against mine. I remember thinking he was wearing some king of goggles, probably night vision.
“Get the fuck off me,” I shouted.
“We never finished our little wrestling match,” he said, “because you pulled an illegal move.”
“Fuck you.”
“But don’t worry about it. I won’t hold it against you—much.” He stuck out his tongue and licked my face. Uch! It was disgusting.
“What are you doing? Stop it!” Then he hit me, right across the jaw. Fuck, it hurt. Then he hit me again. It hurt so fucking much. I started to cry. I didn’t want to. I really didn’t want to. But I couldn’t help myself.
“Now you’re not going to give me anymore trouble, are you?”
“No,” I squeaked. God, I sounded like such a baby. I hated myself for sounding like that. But I was so scared. I hated myself for being so scared.
“Good boy,” he said. “You ever give head?”
I shook my head. I may never have done it but I sure as hell knew what it was. Oh God, what was he going to make me do?
“Today you learn a new skill.” He sat up on me and began to undo his belt.
“You put that thing near my mouth and I’ll bite it off.”
“I thought we agreed no trouble.” He raised his hand to hit me again. But when his fist came down to strike me I put I my hand instinctively to block it. I couldn’t block his blow but I managed to slow it down enough so that when it hit me, it didn’t hurt. I was kind of surprised I could do that much. From the look on his face, he was too.
He grabbed my wrist and forced my arm to the side. “No resistance, Sport. That’s going to cost you a penalty.” Then he got ready to hit me again. This time, I caught his fist with my other hand and stopped it cold. But I couldn’t have. He was an adult. I was just a kid. What was he doing? Was he playing mind games with me? No. No, he wasn’t. I could tell from the expression on his face. He was trying as hard as he could to force my arm to the ground with his fist and I was holding my own. Fuck. How could I do that? Was I changing? I had to be.
And as soon as I thought it, I began to feel it. Hard lumps were forming on my arms, on my chest, all over my body. I could definitely feel myself getting stronger.
I was also starting to see a lot better in the dark. I could see the amazement and frustration on Blotz’s face when he couldn’t force my arm to the ground. And suddenly, holding him back wasn’t any challenge at all. Oh my god. He couldn’t touch me. He was trying as hard as he could and he couldn’t touch me! I was safe. I felt so relieved I almost cried again. But then I remembered how he had made me cry earlier and I got mad. I tried to force his hand back. I pushed as hard as I could. At first it wouldn’t budge but then slowly I began to force it back. I was doing it! I was actually pushing him away from me. I saw the confusion on his face and I grinned. I couldn’t help it. I wondered what else I could do. I tried squeezing his fist.
“Ahh,” he cried. There was a look of shock and pain on his face as he noticed, at the same time I did, just how thick and muscular my forearms had suddenly become. I thought they looked awesome. I don’t think he agreed. In fact, I think that was the moment he realized what was happening. He looked scared. Good.
“But, you’re not one of them,” he stuttered.
“You sure about that?” I said. I could feel those hard lumps bulging and swelling under my clothes as I grabbed both of his wrists and squeezed as hard as I could. I heard some cracking as I felt his bones cracking under my thickening fingers.
“God damn it!” he shouted. He tired to pull away, but I wasn’t about to let him go. I had him now and I wanted him to know it.
My breath was coming faster now. But the sensation… Ahhhhhh fuck! I was changing. I could feel it. My muscles were shifting under my skin, changing shape, getting even bigger, even harder. And it felt so fucking good. I could feel my rock hard pecs becoming rounder, fuller, pressing out against my t shirt. They felt so fucking strong. And they just kept getting bigger. And my back…growing broader, thicker. So fucking powerful. My body was stretching out longer. My t-shirt bottom slid up, and I could feel a breath of cold air hit my bare stomach as my skin tightened and my abs began to form into solid bricks. Oh fuck, this was awesome!
Without letting go of Blotz, I stood up, pulling him with me. I was so fucking strong now. And I was taller too, even if I wasn’t as tall as Blotz. Not yet anyway. But I was stronger then him, oh yeah, much fucking stronger. I could feel him pulling against me, but I held him tight without much effort at all. And I could feel myself continuing to grow, continuing to bulk, continuing to get stronger. My iron-like thighs were thickening, straining against my pants and my t-shirt was stretching tight as my growth slowly and steadily continued to pack it with swelling, heaving, bulging muscle. My shoulders were expanding into softballs, and my biceps were becoming a couple of grapefruits, with huge, thick, pulsing veins running right down the middle, and my forarms were already pretty thick. I had large, powerful arms now. Fuck yeah!
Blotz yanked his arm, trying to break free. Not a chance.
“What’s the matter?” I asked him. “Don’t you want to finish wrestling?” Then I flexed my rock hard pecks, felt them strain against the cloth, and suddenly my t-shirt tore apart as they exploded out of it. They were huge, twin striated orbs of power. Fuck, they were beautiful.
“Let go of me, you fucking freak!” screamed Blotz.
“Don’t you like my new look?” I asked. And then while keeping hold of him with my left hand, I slowly flexed my right arm. I loved the feel of that hard mass of powerful flesh as it slowly swelled up on my upper arm. I could hear the snap, snap, snap as the threads began to break and then the long riiiiiiip as my gigantic bicep erupted out of my sleeve. It was a fucking boulder!
“For the love of God, let me go,” begged Blotz. That was good. I wanted to hear him beg. I wanted to hear him beg a lot. I wanted to completely terrorize him, the way he had terrorized me. I wanted to see him cry like a baby, the way he had made me cry. And it was starting to work. He was scared but not scared enough. I would have to get bigger for that, a lot bigger. And I didn’t seem to be changing as fast as the other kids did. I needed some time.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I said. “We’ll play a game.”
“A game?”
“Yeah, it’s called Hide and Go Seek in the Dark. You hide and I’ll seek. If you get away, then… you get away.”
“You mean it?”
I nodded. “But if I catch you, I’m going to fucking break you in pieces.” Even in that dim light I could see him go pale. I let him go and he made a break for the house. I ran in front of him and cut him off. Man, I was fast now.
“Uh, uh, uh, not that way,” I said, and I pointed deeper into the mine. “That way.”
“I’ll get lost,” he said.
“I never said it was going to be easy.”
“You’re too fast,” he said. “I’ll never get away.”
“I’ll count to ten.” And then I started counting. At first he didn’t seem to know what to do. It took him until I hit three before he turned and ran into the mine. I could actually hear his footsteps against the rocky ground as he moved away from me. I could tell exactly what direction he had gone in, and about how far away he was. How fucking awesome was that?
Some kind of seizure hit me. “Nunngh!” I cried as I doubled over. It wasn’t exactly painful, just kind of like an explosion of pressure. I felt my body expand in one quick surge. I was suddenly thicker. My arms, my back, my chest, everything felt like they were covered in even thicker layers of solid muscle. I don’t know how to describe it. I’d never felt anything like it before, but it was the most amazing sensation I’d ever had in my life. I straightened up and I was taller, a lot taller, at least as tall as Blotz. I looked down at my left bicep, bulging in the sleeve, now stretched to its limits. I flexed my left arm but didn’t even get half way before it blew the sleeve to pieces as it exploded with size and power. Fuck, I was huge. So fucking strong now. And I knew I’d be getting bigger. Much fucking bigger. I was suddenly sorry I’d let Blotz go. How fucking awesome would it be to have him watch me as I just kept getting bigger, as muscles exploded out all over me. I wanted to watch his fear grow as I did. I had to find him. I could hear him scampering around in the tunnels ahead, going this way, that way, desperately trying to find his way through the maze of passages. He’d never get away from me.. Never.
I started walking in his direction, taking my time. My sneakers were gone, blown apart by that surge of growth. But somehow I didn’t mind the feel of the rocky floor against my bare feet. My feet were tougher now. All of me was tougher now. My legs felt awesome, like I could walk forever and I’d never get tired. Every time I took a step, I could feel my thighs flex and bulge against the inside of my pant legs, stretching them tight. My pant cuffs were high now, up around my calves. As I walked I felt my engorged muscles rip through them. Awesome.
I could tell Blotz was just ahead of me. He had stopped moving around and I guessed he must have heard me coming. My enormous body wasn’t exactly quiet as I thudded down the tunnel. He was either hiding or he was setting up some kind of ambush. I flexed my right arm and felt my huge bicep ball up into a steely powerful mass. He could ambush me all he wanted. I wasn’t afraid of him, not any more.
I rounded a corner and felt something slam into my stone-like abs. I stumbled back, more from the surprise than the impact. When I looked, I saw Blotz standing there with an old sledge hammer he must have found somewhere. Holy crap! He looked really small now. I must have grown some more while I was walking. I was much taller than him, by at least a foot, and about twice as wide. Fuck yeah! I was huge, so fucking strong. I could tell from the shocked expression on his face, he hadn’t expected me to be quite this big. I hoped I kept on surprising him.
He lifted the hammer and took another swing; but this time I caught the head in my hand and held it tight. He tried to pull it away from me. He was heaving and heaving and he couldn’t even budge my arm. What a fucking trip! I began squeezing the head, harder and harder and I began to feel it compress. My fingers were slowly sinking into to the solid piece of steel, leaving indelible impressions in the cold metal.
Blotz saw what I was doing to his hammer and he suddenly dropped the handle and stood back in terror. I continued to squeeze, crushing the metal. My forearms were just bulging all over with hard corded sinew. My face broke out in a shit-eating grin. I couldn’t help it. With my bare hands I was making the solid steel collapse in upon itself like it was an aluminum can. I was a fucking monster! I dropped the destroyed hammer and turned my attention to Blotz. “Did you like that?” I said. “Next, I think I’ll do that to your head.”
“Please don’t,” he whimpered.
I was about to answer him when I felt another growth seizure hit me. “Nuuungh,” I cried as I felt my legs explode out of my pants and my arms grow longer and thicker. Pound after pound of bulk was just erupting out on my chest and back. It was like I was some kind of muscle volcano, it was just busting out of me., making me huge, unstoppable.And as I grew, I pulled a most muscular, displaying my bulking body for Blotz. He was fucking scared shitless.
“Keep away from me you freak!” He cried.
“I think its time you called me Mr. Freak,” I answered as I took a step toward him. “And pretty soon now, I’ll be calling you Mr. Greasy-Spot-On-The-Floor.”
Suddenly Blotz grabbed a pickaxe. I don’t know where he got it. I hadn’t seen it lying there. For a second I thought he was going to take a swing at me, but he didn’t. Instead he took a swing at an old wooden support beam. The thing shifted and all kinds of rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling. Holy crap, that guy was going to burry us both alive!
“What the…?” was all I got out before he swung again. Instinctively, I raised my arm to block the falling debris.
“If I have to go,” said Blotz, “I’m taking you with me.” And then he swung a third time. I raced to stop him but I was too late. The pickaxe connected with the splintered beam and it shattered. Suddenly there was a cascade of rocks and dirt raining down on me, smashing me, covering me and then there was darkness. I couldn’t breath. Desperately I forced my powerful limbs to move through the rubble, pushing against it, moving through it. It felt like each time I moved some of the rocks, even more would cascade down to fill in the gap. But I kept pushing and shoving and inching my way forward. Breathing was the worst part. Every time I opened my mouth sand and dirt would rush in. I had to rely on my nose and hardly any air was getting in. But still I struggled on, and just when I thought I would pass out, I finally tumbled out. I looked back at the wall of stone and dirt I had just emerged from. It had closed up again, like I had never been there. I laid there gasping for breath for a few minutes, just glad to be alive. I stared at my massive bulging arms and realized I had them to thank for my life. Then I saw it: a pale, limp hand sticking out from the rubble. I pushed the rocks aside and uncovered Blotz’s face. Even I could tell he was dead. The guy had tried to kill both of us, but I was so fucking strong now, he’d only been half successful. I’d never seen a dead guy before, but I didn’t feel sorry, or even happy. I was just glad it was over. He’d never molest anyone ever again.
I heard a tremendous explosion come from above my head, as more debris fell from the ceiling. I guessed the battle must have started. I decide to go back. I may not be quite as big as the others yet, but I was still growing and I knew I could find some way to help them. So without another thought, I headed back towards the house as fast as I could.
That's what happened, I swear. You pretty much know the rest.