Second Puberty 13

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“It’s time,” I said. I was ready to kick Gil’s butt! I didn’t care what anyone said. I felt strong. My body was thick with muscle; it looked and felt pretty damn powerful. And, thanks to Geoff, I now knew a thing or two about fighting. I was ready to hand Gil his ass on a platter. They were going to be talking about this for years to come. I was going to be a legend, respected by all—or at least I would except for one slight flaw.

I kind of looked like a homeless clown.

The garishly ugly shirt Joe had bought for me was now stained with old mashed potatoes and gravy from the food fight. Not to mention large brown patches from the anti-pheromone goop.

“I don’t mind putting on a show for half the school,” I said to my friends, as we got up from our lunch table. “I only wish I wasn’t the comic relief.” I tugged at my shirt to make my point. Veronica crossed her arms and gave Joe a stern look.

“What?” asked Joe.

“Shouldn’t you give your brother that package your mother left him?”

“What package?” Joe and I asked simultaneously. I would have said we sounded exactly alike except, Joe’s innocent tone wasn’t entirely convincing.

“You know what I’m talking about, Joe,” said Veronica. “And if you don’t tell him, I will, and then any bruises you incur will be your own fault.”

Joe’s eyes darted back and forth between me and Veronica for a second, before said, “Ok, fine, have it your way.” He reached back behind his chair and tentatively handed me a shopping bag from the Big & Tall store. I ripped it open and found a very large sleeveless black shirt and a huge, baggy pair of black cargo pants. I almost wept; they were so beautiful. I don’t anyone can truly appreciate normal clothes until they’ve spent the day dressed like a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. “I’m going to change,” I said.

“Oh sure,” said Joe, “give up the extraordinary for the ordinary. None of you people have any vision.”

I ran for the bathroom and quickly stripped off Joe’s loud shirt and salmon shorts, and traded them for the black ones. The pants fit fine, and the shirt was even a little loose. I looked in the mirror. Dressed all in black, I looked like a real bad ass. All I was missing was the studded belt. But my bulging bare arms more than made up for it. Now, that was an image I could go into battle with. I flexed in the mirror and watched my biceps expand and grow their peaks. There was no fat on these puppies. Every vein and striation was visible. They looked and felt incredibly powerful. I had to remind myself once again that these were really my arms, really my biceps. I ran my left hand over my right gun. It was like stone. This was not my imagination. My ponderous arms were two hard, solid facts. Fuck yeah!

As I walked out of the bathroom I thrust the bag with the clown outfit into Joe’s hands. “A souvenir,” I said. He sighed and looked sulkily into the bag.

Veronica obviously liked the new outfit. As she looked up at me for a minute, I thought she was going to start drooling. “We are going to The Clearing for the wrong reason,” she said.

“Amen,” said Charles. He was staring, and it looked like a little saliva might soon be leaking from his mouth as well. Joe elbowed him in the side and it snapped him out of it.

“Of course I liked the other shirt better,” he said hastily. But I could tell Joe wasn’t entirely convinced of his sincerity.

“Dude, you look fucking scary,” said Colin.

Good. I wanted to look scary. Then it suddenly hit me. I had never wanted to be scary before. But now I did. I wanted to inspire fear—mostly in Gil Stafford—but now I also realized I wanted other people to be afraid of me, too. Not in a run-away-in-terror kind of way, just in a way that would keep people from fucking with me. Not that anybody had recently, probably because they knew I could rip them in two. And with these arms, there weren’t many guys at school I couldn’t rip in two. And I have to admit, I kind of liked that thought.

“Where’s Geoff,” I asked, suddenly realizing that my coach wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“He said there was something he had to take care of. He’s going to meet us out there,” said Veronica.

A first I couldn’t understand what could possibly be more important than the fight in The Clearing, but then I remembered his mysterious hints about surprising Gil and I guessed his absence had something to do with that.

“I guess we should go,” I said. The others silently nodded and the five of us left the building and started walking across the field toward The Woods.

As I looked around, I saw that we were not walking alone. Kids were leaving the school in droves; some on their own, some in groups of two or three and a few groups were as large as twenty. They were all making their way toward The Clearing. When I had said the fight would take place in front of half the school, I thought it had only been a figure of speech. Maybe not. This might be the biggest fight Milton Gower High School had ever seen. I wondered what the teachers would say when they noticed half their students were missing.

“I want you to know I’m all prepared,” said Joe.

You’re prepared?” I asked.

“That’s right.” He pulled a small wallet size card from his pocket. “Mom’s insurance card. All ready to give to the ambulance driver.”

Great. “And I suppose you have 911 programmed into your phone.”

“Absolutely. One touch and the paramedics will be on their way.” He paused for a moment and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. “Maybe I should call them as soon as the fight starts. That way they can get a head start.”

“Why don’t you call them right now?”

“Now? Why would I call them… Oh. Very funny. Ha ha. There’s nothing like gallows humor, is there?”

“Joe, I might actually win this.”

“You just can’t stop joking, can you, even for a minute?” he was sniffing. He looked like he might start to cry. “But seriously, Bro, I’m worried about you.”

“I know you are, Joe, and I appreciate it.” I ruffled his hair. I hadn’t done that in a while. “But don’t let it get to you. I’m going to be ok.”

“I know you will—eventually.”

Ok, this wasn’t getting me anywhere.

“Alright, Beast,” someone shouted. That was more like it.

“Fuckin’ kill that guy,” someone else said. Why couldn’t I get support like this from my family and friends?

And a third guy called me a freak. Well, at least most of them seemed to be on my side.

As we entered the woods, I couldn’t believe how crowded the place was. The Clearing wasn’t that big. There was no way most of these people were going to be able to see anything, but they still kept coming. And even after it became obvious they wouldn’t see anything, they still stayed.

The crowds were thick, but we had no problem passing through; as soon as they recognized me they spread apart, like the red sea, and let me pass.

In a few moments, I stepped out into The Clearing. Joe, Veronica, Charles and Colin waited for me at the edge. There were people everywhere. The place barely resembled the quiet spot where Geoff and I had had our little tumble barely an hour ago. Although no one was actually The Clearing itself, there was a solid wall of people all around the edge and the even surrounding trees were loaded with onlookers. Some of the smaller trees were bending under the strain. It was impossible to tell how many people were there and they were all talking. What a noise. But as soon as I stepped out into the open, it died.

I felt a little awkward just standing out there with everyone quietly staring at me. I wasn’t sure what I should do, if I should make a speech or something. I really wasn’t in the mood. Where the fuck was Gil?

It wasn’t long before I heard him coming. “Get the fuck out of my way. What is this, a fucking circus?” said Gil as he shoved his way out into the clearing. He took one look at me all in black and sneered, “Look, guys, its Jackie-fucking-Chan.” For a second, I wondered who he was talking to, but then, one by one, they started to emerge from the crowd and step out into the clearing. A couple of them were carrying baseball bats. They were his football buddies, about a dozen of them, just about everyone who wasn’t injured in the fight. Except Farley, Farley wasn’t there.

“What the fuck is this, Gil?” I asked.

“Jesus, are you stupid, too? Work it out.”

I worked it out all right. “I thought this was going to be a fair fight – just you and me.”

He laughed. “How would that be a fair fight? You’re either an alien, a mutant or on steroids, possibly all three. Personally, I vote we find out by autopsy.”

And then they all started coming at me, except Gil; he hung to the rear. I didn’t know what to do. Nothing Geoff had taught me had prepared me for this. Maybe it should have. Maybe when he told me Gil fought to win, I should have expected something like this. But how could I? These guys were all as tall as I was. None of them were quite as bulky, but they more than made up for it with numbers.

I decided the best defense was an offence. I chose Jon Grizwald for my attack, and charged. He brought up his arms in full defensive mode. I faked a right to the gut and when he moved to block it, I came up with my left to his chin. Bam! He never saw it coming. Down he went. I turned just in time to see Doug Mattson swing at my head. I ducked and felt the wind as his fist flew through the air above my head, throwing him slightly off balance. I took advantage and nailed him in the gut. He was pretty solid down there but I managed to force some of the air from his lungs, enough to stun him while I hit him with a right cross. Down he went.

Then I felt a stab of pain. Someone had hit me in the kidney. And as I turned, a fist impacted my jaw. I saw stars. But I still managed to keep my feet, and nailed my attacker with a right to his jaw. My punch must have had more power ’cause down he went. But then, there were two other guys, one on my right and one on my left and they just started wailing on me. I tried blocking their punches at first, but I only had two arms and combined, they had four. It wasn’t working too well. Fortunately most of the punches they landed were body shots and my body was taking them pretty well. In fact it felt like the punches weren’t really reaching me, just striking hard solid pads which encased me. When one guy landed a punch right in my abs. It barely got a gasp out of me. What a change from last night.

I started to feel like I might actually have a chance. But then, instead of two guys there were four or five. And the pounding increased in frequency and ferocity, as though my refusal to go down easily had angered them. Well, I was getting angry, too.

I lashed out with my fist and took another guy down. But before he hit the ground there was another one to take his place. And the guys I had already knocked down were starting to get back up, itching for a second chance to pound on me.

I was starting to feel each hit and the pain was getting worse. My body was starting to weaken under the beating it was getting. But I wasn’t through yet! With a right and a left I took out two guys in about two seconds. But then--

AHHH! Agony! Across my back. It brought me to my knees. Must have been a baseball bat. Looked up and got kicked in the teeth. My head snapped back, and then I was flat on the ground. Everywhere, a forest of kicking legs. I tried to get up but another foot in my face knocked me back down. More kicks. In the chest, in the abs, in the face, all over. Pain now, lots of it. Countless sneakers bashing me. Think I’m bleeding. Fading…

And then relief. The assault stopped. Still a lot of pain. Floating on the edge of blackness. A voice, a familiar voice. Who? Turn my head. Shooting pain. Geoff? Not just Geoff. Others were with him. Who? Greg Petersen? Yes, Greg Petersen and Zach Wakowski and Jim Benson and more guys from weight room fight.

“What the fuck is this?” shouted Geoff. He rushed over and knelt down next to me. He was looking at me with horror. I must look pretty bad. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said. I wanted to answer him but words weren’t forming.

“This doesn’t concern you,” said Gil.

“This is bullshit, Gil,” said Geoff, standing up and approaching him. “I’ve got no problem if you want to take him on one on one, but this is fucked up.”

Gil looked down at me and smirked. He hadn’t lifted a finger the whole fight. He’d just sat back and watched. I was really going to hurt him, now—right after I figured out how to move.

“Ok,” said Gil, “I’ll take him on by myself.”

“That’s really brave of you now that he’s half conscious.”

“Can’t help that,” he said shrugging with a grin. I really wanted to smash that grin off of his face. I stood up, but somehow I was a lot shorter than I should be. Then I realized I was only on my knees. But I could still smash that grin from my knees, right?

Geoff looked over at me. The concern was easy to read on his face. So was the anger.

“You fucker,” he said. “I guess I’ll just have to take you on myself.”

Gil laughed. “You? Are you serious?”

“As a fucking heart attack.”

Gil’s grin faded. Damn. I missed my chance to smash it.

“Ok, fine,” said Gil. “I’m a little tired of your fucking holier-than-thou attitude anyway. It could use a little adjusting.” And with that Gil threw himself at Geoff.

Geoff was quick on his feet, so Gil had a hard time landing a blow. But Geoff didn’t. He got in quite a few good hits. They just didn’t seem to affect Gil much. Every time he landed one, Gil just smiled at him. I began to wonder if it was just an act or if Geoff really wasn’t hurting him.

Then I saw Benjy Pierce sneaking up behind Geoff with a baseball bat. I tried to get to my feet but it wasn’t happening yet. Thank God Greg Petersen saw Benjy, too. He went right after him and grabbed the bat. Doug Mattson went to help Benjy and then Zach Wakowski went to help Greg, and in moments it was the weight room fight all over again, only twice as big, and I was trapped in the center of it, barely able to move.

I watched the fight intently—not that I had much choice. Some of the guys were on their feet; some of them were rolling around on the ground. It was hard to tell who was getting the upper hand, if anybody was. Then I saw a small figure weaving in and around the battling football players. It was Colin. My mind was still cloudy and I couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing. I kept thinking that any second he would get stepped on and that would be that. But he kept dodging and weaving and making his way… toward me. For some reason he was making for me.

I waved my arm and called for him to go back. But he either didn’t see me or he ignored me because he still kept coming. It suddenly struck me that no normal sized guy could have made it through that battle. It really took someone small, quick and wiry to duck around the warring football players. It took him several minutes, but he managed to make it to my resting place which was kind of like the eye at the center of a hurricane.

“What the fuck, Colin?” I said.

“Charles sent me,” he said, as if that would explain everything.

“You should get out of here before you get hurt.”

“Not until I give you this,” he said, pulling something from his pocket.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Charles said to tell you that since you reacted so strongly to second hand cow hormones, you should try something designed for humans.”

“You’re not making any sense, Colin,” I said.

“I know. That’s just what Charles told me. I don’t know what it means either.”

Then I saw what he was holding. It was a syringe. And then I knew what he meant.

“Don’t stick me with that thing,” I said. I don’t care what Charles said, I didn’t trust that stuff. Besides, even if it was perfectly safe for normal people, that didn’t mean it was ok for me. “My physiology is a little different. I don’t know what it will do.”

“He said you might say that. He said to ignore you.” Colin lifted the syringe but I grabbed his wrist. Good thing I didn’t need much strength to hold Colin off. “Don’t do it,” I said. “Besides, if Geoff hands Gil his ass, that’ll be good enough for me, almost better than if I did it myself.” Geoff beating him would seriously damage his reputation with his football buddies.

I looked around and quickly spotted Geoff and Gil. Geoff landed a right to Gil’s jaw that would have knocked out most guys; Gil took it like it was nothing. Gil, on the other hand, had obviously gotten in a few good shots. Geoff’s face was red and swollen in a couple of places and he was favoring his right side. It was beginning to look pretty bad for Geoff.

And the rest of the fight wasn’t looking too good either. Most of the guys Geoff had brought with him had been in the weight room fight, and they were still recovering from their injuries. Gil’s buddies were all fresh and healthy. Needless to say, the bad guys were starting to get the upper hand.

I began to reconsider Colin’s syringe. I didn’t like that stuff but I sure as hell didn’t want Gil and his buddies to win. Of course, there was no guarantee it would do anything at all, or if it did, it might not work until well after the fight was over. I mean, there was no sign of those cheeseburgers kicking in.

And then it happened. Geoff tripped. He reached out and grabbed at Gil, probably instinctively, and wound up with a handful of his shirt. Gil leapt back and as Geoff fell, he tore the front of Gil’s shirt right off. The crowd gasped. Oh my God. I had always assumed Gil’s bulk consisted of a good deal of fat along with his muscle, but I was wrong. There was almost no fat on that guy at all. All of his bulk was solid muscle. I mean the guy was still shaped like he had fat. He had that gut sticking out, but now I could see it was made up of large bricks of solid, ripped muscle. And his pecs, which I had always assumed would have that kind of man-tit shape, didn’t. They were huge and round and solid, with muscle fibers clearly visible beneath his skin.

The guy would have been big, even if he’d had as much fat as it appeared, but now that I could see he was all muscle, he looked huge, grotesquely so, like he had been a fat guy whose fat had suddenly transformed into muscle, but kept its original shape.

I think Geoff was just as shocked as anyone else at Gil’s freaky build. At least that’s what his expression said. Gil looked down at him and laughed.

“Like what you see?” Geoff swallowed.

“You and your fucking pretty boy looks,” continued Gil. “Now you see what real power looks like.” Then he reached down and grabbed Geoff by the collar and lifted him off the ground with one arm. Geoff’s arms and legs were flailing all over the place. He landed a couple of blows to Gil’s head but the freak barely noticed. Then it hit me, Gil had just been playing with Geoff all along. Geoff never had a chance against this behemoth. And I’m not sure I did either. What a fucking blow that was.

“Guys,” shouted Gil, working himself into some kind of frenzy. “Looks like we’re going to need another quarterback. This one’s out for the season.” Then he dropped Geoff and grabbed the quarterback’s right arm with both hands. I heard a crack and then Geoff screamed. Fuck! Gil had broken his arm! With his bare hands, Gil had broken Geoff’s arm! Then Gil delivered a swift kick to Geoff’s ribs and sent him flying through the air until he collided with a tree and slumped to its base. He was out cold.

I looked over at Colin. Fire was in my eyes. “Give it to me.”

“What?” asked Colin.

“Give me the fucking shot!”

“But—“

“I’m not going to say it again.”

And then he did. Colin stuck the needle trough a tear in my pants and into my thigh. I felt the prick of the needle as it entered my skin and then fire, spreading out into my thigh. Then suddenly, intense pain. My body seized up and went rigid. Holy fuck! What the fuck was this stuff doing to me? What if it wound up killing me? But in a moment, the pain faded and morphed into another sensation, a weird kind of tingling. I felt like I had been plugged in, like electricity was running all through me, powering up each and every cell. Suddenly, I felt great. I stood up, no, I leapt up. It was like I never had the crap beaten out of me. I smiled. I could tell things were about to get interesting.

“Get out of here, Colin,” I said. “The eye of the storm is passing.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me explain it. Just go back to Charles. It’s about to not be safe around here.”

Colin nodded and took off, weaving back through the battlefield, which, I might add, was beginning to look a little bleak. Half of Geoff’s guys were beaten. They lay moaning on the ground, barely conscious, clutching wounded limbs. Their opponents stood over them, delivering solid kicks if it looked like their foe might get up.

Fuck this! No way was this fucking right. These assholes couldn’t win. They were the lowest form of scum sucking life on the planet. How could they come out on top? They couldn’t just go around fucking up whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without consequence. I looked over at Geoff lying on the ground unconscious and my anger became a mounting rage. He was just trying to help me and Gil broke his fucking arm.

My fury increased and I began to feel another sensation. Something was building deep with in me, something large and powerful. Whatever it was, it was fed by my anger, and seemed to be using it to build itself. I could feel an actual physical pressure under my skin, building and building, like a volcano ready to blow. And, at that moment, I knew when it did I was going to get huge, not just a little bigger or even a lot bigger I was going to be fucking massive. I could just feel it.

In the space of a couple of seconds, a lifetime of emotions hit me. First, fear and doubt. What did I do? Did I go too far? Will this hurt me? Will I become a freak? What about the long term? Why didn’t I think this out? Is it too late? Fuck! It is too late.

And then I began to feel stronger, not much, just a little, and I liked it. I realized it felt great and I started to get excited. It’s starting. Any second my muscles are going to swell into mountains of hard, solid power. My entire body is going to expand and grow huge, probably massive enough to make my current body look like a child’s, powerful enough to beat the crap out of Gil and not even break a sweat.

Just thinking about that much size and power started to get me hard. All fear evaporated and was replaced by lust, a lust for the strength that I could feel welling up under my skin even as I thought about it. And I wanted it. Fuck everything else. I was ready to get massive.

“Hey, fuckheads, he’s back up!” shouted Gil, pointing at me. There were about six of his fucking apes without an opponent, including Benjy-fucking-Pierce. Yeah, I was going to fuck him up, too. The way I was feeling, I was going to fuck them all up, and then piss on their broken bodies. The change was coming. Any second now. And then they’d see. And then they’d pay.

The electricity within exploded into an insane energy coursing through me, unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Oh, it felt good, better than good, it felt fucking awesome. But it wasn’t just a good fucking feeling; it was starting to affect me. I felt my body start to harden, like every muscle was filling with quick drying concrete. It was bizarre. I wasn’t changing size, but I could feel myself getting fucking heavier.

Benjy came at me and punched me full on in the stomach. I had to smile. I hardly felt it. It was like my whole body was changing, becoming something far more powerful than just flesh. A speeding truck couldn’t knock me over now. Fuck yeah!

“Is that the best you’ve got, Pierce?” I shouted. Benjy came at me again. I could tell from the concentrated look on his face, he was going to give it everything he had.

Thud! It felt like a light tap. My body was just getting harder and harder. It was fucking fantastic! Benjy looked completely clueless. I guess I’d better warn him.

“Better run, Benjy. Better hide.”

Of course I wouldn’t have said anything if I seriously thought he would have listened. And he didn’t. He hit me a third time. But I was even harder now and you couldn’t miss the crack of Benjy’s knuckles as they struck me. He gasped in pain and snatched his hand back, cradling it. My body had already gotten so fucking strong, it felt indestructible. And yet I could tell this was only the beginning. I got a full hard-on.

I looked down at my body. It didn’t look any different but it sure as hell felt different. I literally felt like I was a living mass of stone. A couple of the other guys came up and took swings at me. I didn’t try to stop them. After all, they couldn’t hurt me, not anymore. And, it was way too sweet to stand there and watch those fucking idiots break their fists on me. It didn’t matter where they hit me, but for some reason my stomach was their favorite target. I could almost feel their bones splitting against my steel-like abs. It was fucking awesome.

I was starting to sweat and my breath was coming more rapidly, the usual signs that a spurt was on its way. But Gil’s buddies didn’t know that. Those fucking morons started giving each other stupid grins. I could tell they actually thought they were hurting me.

Now, that was funny.

The familiar heat was building inside me, but now it was mixing with that boiling energy creating waves of synapse frying pleasure. I gasped as the body-wide orgasmic feeling began to build. Too much pleasure, too much ecstasy. My mouth dropped open. My breath was coming in gasps. I began to get lost in the outrageous sensations. I was losing focus, but I couldn’t let myself. There was too much going on. I couldn’t give myself totally over to the experience. But I so wanted to; it was so fucking intense. And it was different this time, too. Instead of building slow and steady, it was hitting me in surges, really powerful surges that nearly fried my senses. But surges or slow building, it didn’t really matter. One way or the other, it was time to fucking grow.

Suddenly I felt a surge in my feet and they instantly expanded. My toes were curling down, bunching up inside my sneakers, pressing up against the canvas tops. Another surge hit, and my sneakers flew apart. I stumbled backwards, barely able to stand, and looked down. My feet were fucking huge. Was there a size twenty? Because those puppies had to be at least a size twenty.

Suddenly, I remembered the crowd. Had anyone seen anything? Benjy and the other five apes were gaping at my feet but no one else seemed to realize what was happening. But from all the signs, they were about to see something they’d never forget.

A rush of energy ran through out my body, engulfing my bones with a charged ecstasy. I began to feel them stretching. I was getting fucking taller! In none of my other spurts had I actually noticed myself getting taller. But this time I did. I couldn’t fucking miss it. I kept stretching up and up, staggering a little, trying to keep my balance as I got bigger and the world shrunk around me. I met Benjy’s eyes and realized I was looking down on him. I watched his neck crane back as he followed my progress upward. His mouth dropped open as he looked up at me, suddenly towering over him. Fuck! I towered over everybody now. How fucking awesome was this? I had to be over six and half feet tall. I was a fucking giant! Everyone seemed so much smaller now, especially Benjy and his little crew. And the look on their faces was everything I could have hoped for, a mixture of shock, confusion and fear. You think you’re scared now, assholes? I thought as I felt the energy surging again. Just wait.

I staggered as the energy shot upward, instantly filling my thoracic cavity. I could feel it flood into my organs, ribs, and spine, infusing them with vitality. I began shaking violently but it felt awesome. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was definitely looking forward to finding out. The feeling continued to build and build until suddenly my neck snapped back and in one quick surge my chest cavity expanded, more than tripling in volume. My shirt just exploded off my body, fluttering to the ground like so much confetti.

Fuck! I had monstrous bones now, bones that looked like they belonged to a steer. I couldn’t help smiling when I thought about why my body would need such a ponderous support structure. I was pretty sure I knew. I’ve got a good sized frame now. I think it’s time to fill it in.

The energy surged again and I felt it in my calves. I could feel my skin stretch around my thickening muscles as they quickly expanded, filling out and stretching the bottom of the baggy cargo pants, which now hung about half way up my lower leg. There was a second of pressure as my bulging calves pushed out against the rough cloth before ripping their way out of my lower pant legs. They were fucking huge, bigger than I’d ever imagined them getting. It was like someone took a small boulder split it in two, smashed the two halves together side by side and grafted them to the back of my leg. Fuck! I could probably lift a car with these alone.

Benjy was already looking worried. He kept looking from my calves to my face as if looking for confirmation that what he was seeing was actually happening. I smiled malevolently and nodded. The color drained from Benjy’s face. This was going to be so sweet.

The energy surged in my thighs and I could just feel them growing stronger. I pointed at them, drawing Benjy’s attention. I was just being thoughtful. I really didn’t want him to miss a thing.

We both watched my baggy black cargo pants expand and stretch out as my upper legs became massive and powerful beneath them. In seconds, large rents had opened up in the rough cloth exposing several inches of my bulging thighs. Oh, my fucking God, look at them. They’re fucking beautiful, a physical manifestation of raw fucking power. My fucking hard-on became too fucking obvious inside my tightening pants. I thought I would blow any second just looking at my fucking legs. I couldn’t believe how fucking huge I was getting. And my dick, hard as it was, was swelling even longer and harder. It had broken free from my underwear and was snaking its way down the inside of my shredded pant leg, rubbing itself against my enormous granite-like quads. It took all my self control to keep from grabbing it and releasing the enormous sexual pressure my growth was causing. But there were several hundred of my peers watching, not to mention Gil, Benjy and the rest of those fucking apes. There was no way I was going to blow a load in front of them. So I clenched my fists and just watched as my expanding thighs finished decimating my new pants. For a second I thought my pants might fly apart completely, but they must have been pretty well because stretched to the limit, miraculously, they maintained my modesty.

I couldn’t fucking believe the size of my lower body. I never even imagined legs like this could exist. From the look on Benjy’s face he’d never imagined them either. I looked down and winked. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Benjy’s answer was startlingly loud and high pitched but completely unintelligible.

However it drew everyone’s attention, even the guys who were still fighting. And when they saw me towering over them all, grinning, with legs like concrete pillars, everything stopped. They just stood and stared slack jawed at me.

That’s right, assholes, check me out. These are the legs that’re going to kick your butts into next week. Payback’s coming. You better run while you can.

But it wouldn’t matter. With these legs no one could out run me. The sensation of strength was indescribable. I guessed I could knock down a building with one kick. And my upper body hadn’t even started bulking yet. But it would, I could feel it coming and I couldn’t wait . I wanted to watch those assholes wet their pants as I just kept getting bigger, watch their faces when they saw how huge I ultimately became. And judging from the size of my legs I was going to be enormous.

A chill shot through me as I felt power run into my midsection. I could feel my stomach muscles swelling, forcing my skin to stretch to out accommodate them. The sensation alone was mind blowing. I didn’t really need to see it, but I looked anyway and watched each of my abdominal muscles grow larger and harder, layering themselves on top of each other, meshing together as space rand out and then they bulged even more. I struggled to control my raging hard on as I watched my stomach became a fucking cinderblock wall. It felt fucking amazing. I would dare anyone to hit me there now. They’d have more luck punching through a tank.

And then it was surging in my chest. I could hear a rapid popping as my muscle fibers expanded. I had a close up view as each fiber grew thicker, weaving together with the other muscle fibers swelling outward, growing broader and broader, creating massive, powerful striated orbs which thrust out a least a foot in front of me. They had a ponderous weight. What fucking incredible power I had stretching out in front of me! I could bench press a semi with these fuckers.

“How do you like that?” I called out to the assholes. One of them let out a yelp, turned and ran. They were beginning to understand.

My back surged with growth. Great slabs of rock hard flesh were burgeoning out from behind my rib cage, forcing my arms to arc out at my sides. But my back wasn’t just growing impossibly wide, it was also getting incredibly thick. I could feel the muscles bulging out behind me, under my skin, growing obscenely dense with powerful bulk. And the feeling of strength… I could rip a fully grown tree out of the ground with a back like this.

My traps thrust upward and merged with my neck, which was thickening, becoming a pillar of solid muscle. This is so sweet. I look down at Benjy and his crew and couldn’t stop myself from grinning. They were so fucking dead. That expression sent another asshole running from The Clearing. That might save him for a while. But I knew who he was. I’d find him.

I felt the energy surge into my arms. My shoulders started to throb with power. I grabbed my right shoulder and felt the stone-like deltoid bulge up and expand under my hand, forcing my fingers wider and wider apart as I tried to wrap my hand around the entire muscle, but it quickly became far too massive so I let go and just savored the feeling of growth as they pulsed and surged until they were size of basketballs, and I felt them throb with the force of twin fucking wrecking balls.

Veins, the thickness of rope, rose out from them and ran down into my biceps which began to convulse as pulses of energy began to saturate them. They would bulge and relax, bulge and relax, swelling bigger with each rhythmic spasm. I kept flexing again and again and each time I did, my arms grew fucking bigger and stronger. I could feel the strength in them increasing, the force behind every moment multiplying. I couldn’t fucking believe it. Just when I would think they were done, they would swell a little more. I watched them become ridiculously wide, outgrowing my shoulders and then dwarfing them. And the peaks… The peeks alone were the size of baseballs. So fucking strong, so fucking powerful.

And the energy ran into my forearms and they began to swell and thicken, rushing to catch up with the wrest of my arm. In seconds they became as big around as a normal man’s leg, pulsing veins wrapped around them like vines.

The change was done.

I stood there for a moment and just felt the power surge within me and watched those fucking assholes shake with fear. Oh yeah. This was the moment.

I was incredibly massive now, and I felt strong beyond belief. I closed my immense fists and watched the muscles respond, rippling up my gigantic arm. I could bring down a mountain with that arm. My punch would break stone.

I looked out at the onlookers half expecting applause. What I got was a petrified silence. A lot of people had already fled and everyone who was still there was scared shitless.

Of me.

Imagine that. Just four days ago I was a little runt that nobody looked at twice. Now, I was a massive muscle giant, far bigger than the biggest guy at school. Change is good.

I looked down at Benjy who still stood there frozen to the spot. I smiled. Payback time. “You know,” I said conversationally, “I think I’ve got more muscle in my arm than you’ve got in your entire body. What do you think?” I bent over and flexed my bicep for Benjy. It was larger than his head. “Want to hit me now?” I shouted. “You want to hit me now? Or why don’t you kick me in the face? Here, I’ll bend down so you can reach it. Go ahead. Come on, take your best shot.”

As if my shouts woke them from a slumber, all the other assholes began backing away. I reached out, and with one hand grabbed Benjy, and lifted him into the air high above my head. It was like picking up a cat. Benjy wriggled and pulled as hard as he could at my gripping hand. I could barely feel it. “You’re pathetic,” I said and with a flick of my wrist, I sent him flying through the air about twenty feet. He landed with a thud and did not get up again, even though I was pretty sure he still could.

I flexed my muscles and glared at the gawking jocks, then smashed my fist into my hand--just to let them know what was coming. They started scrambling over each other to get away. But they weren’t nearly quick enough. I grabbed two of them, one in each hand and lifted them up off the ground. It was funny to think that just minutes ago they had been beating me into unconsciousness. I banged them together, and put them out instead.

As I dropped them to the ground I heard a tremendous crack behind me. I had felt something at the same instant, but I wasn’t sure what. I turned around and saw Doug Matson standing there in total shock. He had a shattered baseball bat in his hands. Shards of wood were all over the ground. He must have tried to hit me with it. No, he didn’t try to hit me with it; he did hit me with it, and now it was toothpicks. I was fucking unstoppable! I looked at him and smiled.

“That didn’t work too well,” I said. “Try this.” I walked over to one of the trees, reached up and grabbed a branch that was about twelve feet long and at least twice the thickness of a baseball bat. I had a sudden surge of doubt wondering if I could actually do this. But when I twisted and pulled, the branch snapped off easily and I threw it at Doug’s feet. Oh my fucking God, the fucking power in my fucking body. My dick, which was still pretty hard, came perilously close to exploding again.

I wondered if Doug was having a similar problem because a wet patch was forming in his crotch. But it was just piss. I could hear dribbling as a puddle formed at his feet. I didn’t feel sorry for him at all. I was pretty sure he had hit me with the bat the first time, back when I couldn’t take it.

“Go on, pick it up!” I yelled. “Pick it up and hit me with it!”

He looked terrified but he tried to pick up the branch, but the thing was way too big and awkward—for him anyway.

“Ok, you had your chance. My turn.” I wound up and decked him, trying out the right cross Geoff and so recently taught me. I didn’t even hit him full force and he still flew back a few feet before he hit the ground. He wasn’t getting up either. But I don’t think he had a choice. And there went the last of Gil’s gang. The rest had fled.

I looked for my friends. Veronica, Charles, Joe and Colin were all staring at me. They looked stunned. I could tell from Charles’ expression that even he hadn’t expected this amount of growth. But, how could he? Besides my friends, there were only a couple of dozen onlookers left; everyone else had vanished into The Woods.

And then there was Gil.

He had watched the whole thing from the edge of the clearing. If my new monstrous size bothered him, he didn’t show it.

“You might actually be worth fighting now,” he said. Who was he kidding? I was five or six inches taller than him now and I had to outweigh him by at least a hundred pounds—all of it muscle. My body was so massive and obscenely powerful, I didn’t care how grotesquely buff he was, he was fucking dead meat.

Gil started walking toward me and I got ready to fucking rip him apart—it wasn’t much of a task.

But I should have known better. By this point I really should have expected what happened next. But my mind just doesn’t work like that—and here’s hoping it never does. Gil reached down and picked up the shattered baseball bat. Suddenly I noticed just how sharp that jagged end was. If Gil were to stick me with it, he could actually kill me. And sure enough, that appeared to be his plan exactly.

He rushed me, but I dodged him. I may have gotten huge, but I could still move pretty fast. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Gil had turned right around and was about to slash my back. I jumped out of the way just in time. I whirled to face him. No way was I going to let him get behind me again.

We faced each other as we slowly circled around, neither one of us taking our eyes of the other. He took a couple of jabs at my stomach but I leapt out of the way. He wasn’t going for my abs. He was going for my side, where my kidneys were. This guy wasn’t fooling around.

He jabbed again and I made a grab for the bat. He yanked it back and flicked his wrist, slashing me across the palm. I started to bleed.

“What good is your fucking size now, mutant boy,” he taunted me. “All I have to do is stick you with this and you’re fucking dead.”

“Hey, Gil!” said a voice. It was Geoff. I was concentrating so hard on Gil, I hadn’t seen Geoff come up behind him. Gil turned and was so surprised, Geoff was able to rip the bat out of his hand.

“Stop fucking cheating,” he said.

That was all I needed. Gil turned back toward me and I let him have it, full on, right in the nose. I felt it crunch under my fist. But when I pulled back, somehow Gil was still standing. His hands went right to his bloody, smashed nose, and I started in on his muscle bloated stomach. Right, left, right, left, I kept pounding him on his grotesque abs. With each blow I knocked him back a little more. I don’t know how much I was hurting him, but laying into him felt so good, I hoped he could take a lot more.

Finally I let up on his abs and delivered a bone crushing right cross to his head. It was meant to finish him off, but somehow he was still standing. I followed it up with a left and still he stood there. But he wasn’t moving, just standing there with his hands on his swelling face. Then I realized. He was out, out on his feet. I wondered for how long. I reached out and shoved him in the chest, and watched as he toppled over backwards and hit the ground with a thud.

What was left of the crowd erupted in applause. I looked around for Geoff. He was standing there still holding the baseball bat in his good hand and staring up at me.

“I’d ask what I missed, but it’s pretty fucking obvious.”

“You like?” I asked flexing for him and causing my gigantic bicep to rise up from my arm like a leviathan from the ocean. He dropped the bat, reached out and grabbed hold of it.

“Fuck! That’s not an arm, that’s a fucking mountain range. Jesus! Could you get any bigger?”

That was a good question. I hadn’t considered the idea of actually getting bigger than I was now. I looked up. Charles and the others were on the way over. Maybe he had another shot with him. I was beginning to wonder how big I could get. With Charles’ magic juice, I could probably find out.

“Everybody stay right were you are,” came a harsh voice over a bull horn. It was the police. A lot of the kids took off running. Charles was one of them. Fuck.

I started to follow when the voice spoke again. “Stop! Stay where you are. This is your final warning.” I looked over and saw several police officers, some of whom had drawn their guns. And you’ll never guess who they were pointed at. I decided to take their advice and stop.

In a moment I was looking down at Officers Quinn and Murkowski.

“Jesus, kid, you should have let us help you. Now you’ll probably be like this for the rest of your life.”

Was that supposed to upset me? I did fleetingly think about trying to fight them, but there were a lot of guns drawn, and I was still pretty sure I wasn’t bullet proof.

“Put your hands behind your back.”

I did and I could feel them struggling to fit the cuffs around my thick wrists. When they finally got them on, they were pretty tight, almost cutting into my skin.

I looked around and it suddenly became obvious, they weren’t arresting anyone else.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We’ll discuss that at the station,” said Officer Quinn.

“I’ll call your parents,” said Geoff. I looked over and I could see that Joe was already on the phone. Of course, knowing Joe, he might just be ordering a pizza.

“Thanks,” I said.

I was happy to notice that there was also a small army of paramedics around the place. They were tending to injured. One of them led Geoff away just as the cops ordered me to start moving.

They lead me through the trees, but it was kind of hard to keep my balance on the uneven ground with my hands behind my back. I was so fucking massive now, I was afraid that if I fell, they might not be able to lift me back to my feet. But the walk was short and soon we were stepping out onto the road behind the school.

That’s when I saw him.

He was an older guy but he looked tougher than shit. He was leaning against a truck watching all the cops slowly emerge from the backside of the woods. When he caught sight of me, he stood up straight and walked over to Officer Quinn.

“Good work, officers,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Excuse me?” said Officer Murkowski.

“Maybe this’ll explain things.” The old guy gave Officer Quinn a folded piece of paper. I couldn’t see what was on it but it obviously impressed the cop.

“I’m sorry,” said Officer Quinn, “but I’m going to need verification of this. We can settle this at the station.”

“I don’t think so,” said the old guy. “You can hand the suspect over to me right here and now. It’s better for me. It’s better for you.”

“How is it better for us?”

“You’re not really prepared for this suspect,” he said.

“I think we can handle him,” said Officer Murkowski.

“Really?” said the old guy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of those fast food packets of pepper, tore it open and then, casual as you please, blew it into my face. Suddenly I sneezed. And as I did my arms jerked spasmodically and suddenly my hands were free and out in front of me. The handcuffs had shattered.

Suddenly all the cops’ hands went to their guns. I put my hands up in the air, the universal signal for I surrender—at least I hoped it was.

“See what I mean?” said the old guy. “Now me,” he said, throwing open the back of his truck, “I come prepared.”

Holy shit! The inside of he truck was all reinforced steel. He had fucking chains hanging from the ceiling, chains big around as my arms, chains with manacles!

“You can’t put him in those,” said Officer Quinn.

“He’s a suspected terrorist. I can do anything I want.”

“This boy is no terrorist,” said Murkowski.

“That’s not for you or me to decide,” said the old guy. “Now do you want to put him in there, or do I have to list you as uncooperative.”

There was a brief debate, but in a moment I found myself being shackled in the back of the old guy’s truck. The door was closed and I was hanging in pitch darkness. I tried to break the chains but they were too strong for me. I heard the engine start and felt the truck begin to move. Was this one of the guys Professor Grant was talking about? Was he going to kill me? Where was he taking me? He couldn’t really think I was a terrorist. I had a million questions and no answers. The only thing I could do was to wait and see happened.

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