The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer Page 4

  He paused a second himself right by the entrance, and then he kept on, and I heard his footsteps moving off down the hallway until he was gone.

  “Great…” I sighed, rubbing my face in my hands. I took a deep breath, and then, really quickly– like, way quicker than I thought I could even move– I punched the wall next to the mirror, and totally ruined the wall.

  I made a wicked huge crack running up to the ceiling, and chunks of it fell to the ground.

  I stepped back, blown away at my own strength, when not a moment later, a huge crash erupted from outside. The whole school felt like it shook, and I had this weird, sneaking suspicion that whatever it was, it was for me.

  I ran out of the bathroom, and made my way to the stairs just a ways to my right, down the hall. I looked out toward the front parking lot, and sure enough, waltzing out of the brush just a ways behind the cars, a 10 foot tall, blue, scaly, angry looking beefy thing.

  It had little black pointy things on the top of its head– I guess like horns? Maybe ears? Who knew. Regardless, it was throwing and thrashing cars around like a madman, and I could only assume it was looking for me.

  “Students, we are now going into lockdown mode; this is not a drill. Please, lock all doors, shut all shades, and await further instruction,” the principal said over the loudspeaker.

  “Okay, well, time to… get to work, I guess,” I said to myself, hustling down the stairs. I remembered just as I got to the bottom steps that having my suit on was probably a solid idea, and I tapped the center of the chestplate again.

  I really didn’t want it to rip my friend’s clothes apart, and I guess it picked up on that, because the suit came on around the clothes. It just sort of came on past the sleeves, and then curled over onto my body.

  Once I was all suited up, I stepped out the front door, and watched from the corner wall at the challenger, as it absolutely wrecked shop in the parking lot. I mean student and faculty vehicles were being torn to shreds out there.

  I really didn’t want to do this, but if I didn’t, I had a feeling nobody else would be up to the task. I didn’t really know that I was, but still, people could get hurt if this thing came any closer to the building, and while a lot of those inside weren’t exactly my biggest fans– nor me theirs– I didn’t want to see anyone die when I could have done something.

  “Alright… you got this, you got this, you got this!” I said, doing everything I could to pump myself up. I sprinted out toward the parking lot, and much quicker than I would have liked, the thing saw me. “Oh no…”

  Getting a better look at it– as it roared monstrously, by the way, at the sight of me– it was a “Baflatar,” or, literally, a “Battle Ball.”

  Look, I know, believe me; the name is ridiculous, but it was a scary looking dude. Besides, that was just what the universal base language, or “Code” (which is apparently a thing, by the way) translates it to by English standards.

  Now you may be wondering: Jason, how do you know all of this so suddenly? 1,641 lifetimes of knowledge, all trapped in my head, remember? I sure do.

  They were called Battle Balls because they were so bulky, and more or less round, and… well, loved to fight. For future reference, I’ll just call it a BB, because that just rolls off the tongue a lot easier.

  “Hey, asshole!” I shouted, flipping it off. “You looking for me?” It roared a hearty yes, and started charging at me.

  BB’s weren’t especially fast, but they packed a hearty punch, so I ran at it hoping to just bob and weave out of the way, and land some real hard hitters.

  I leapt up, and got just above it, where I reared back my fist, and landed a punch right in the back of its head. It soared a short distance into someone else’s car, making a pretty sizeable dent, and turned around, seeming oddly more pissed than before.

  I landed, and had to balance myself as I did. In that process, the BB charged me, and tossed the car it hand landed into right back at me.

  My reflexes were a lot faster, but I was also very nervous, so I didn’t catch it in time. Instead, I raised my arms up, and took the hit full force, slamming the top of my back onto the hood of yet another car, and having to shove the first car off of me.

  The BB rushed me, and I flew up into the air, avoiding its flurry of punches by like an inch.

  “That the best you got?” I asked. “I thought your people were supposed to be warriors or something?”

  The Battle Ball was not a fan of that one, I’ll be honest. It leapt for me, but it couldn’t get very high off the ground. So, like an idiot, I floated closer, goading it on.

  “Oh, what? Can’t reach me? Ten feet tall, can’t grab a little flying superman,” I taunted. “Challengers are supposed to be tough, aren’t they? Isn’t that kind of the whole point of the name?”

  So, you know, then it grabbed me by the leg, and slammed me into the parking lot, and about three or four cars, all in the span of about 30 seconds. It hurt like all hell, and I couldn’t really make anything out other than windows, tires, metal, and asphalt.

  Then it chucked me into a lamp post, and started charging at me. I was hurt as hell at that point, though, and that really pissed me off. Like, I felt like I was about to set on fire again kinds of pissed off.

  I blasted toward it, and lifted the BB right off the ground, probably a couple hundred feet into the air. I punched it in the face over and over again, and then turned, heaving it back toward the ground in one massive throw. It slammed into the parking lot, making a hefty impact in the ground, and I slammed my feet down into its head. Before it could get up, I grabbed one of the wrecked cars, and held it over my head, bashing it in the head over and over again.

  Once the car had kind of fallen apart, I tossed it off to the side, and beat the hell out of the BB with my hands again. I just held its head by the horns, and hit in the face relentlessly.

  It felt… good. It felt like power. Like real power. Like for once, I was on top. Like there was something inside me that, for whatever the reason may have been, made me damn-near invincible.

  I stopped, and stepped off the BB. I looked down at it in its bloodied, broken crevice, and watched as it lay still– dead.

  I turned around, and glanced back at the school. Alannah and my physics class was like, smack-dab in the center of the front-facing side of the school. So in the big, wide windows on the second floor, I saw a bunch of head peering out, watching us. Most specifically, a cute little dirty blonde head poked out from the corner, staring right at me in awe.

  “Oh boy…” I muttered, coming back to reality, and realizing what I’d just done. I looked around at all the damage, and instinctively, I took off into the skies, and flew off.

  I know I was feeling all anxious and confused, but I couldn’t help but also feel a little badass. Flying was like nothing else, even when it was in the stall of a public bathroom.

  3

  Breakouts & Ins

  “Where the hell were you, Rhodes!” Alannah shouted, shoving me on the shoulder. I fell with it, since I didn’t see it coming, but I swear, I would’ve been stone-solid if I did.

  We were in the middle of the cafeteria, the next day. This was the one day in our seven day rotation system where all six of us had lunch together, and typically, it was a great time. Of course, recently, this had not been as much the case.

  Alannah sat next to me, Julia next to her. Will sat next to Julia, Sam next to him, and Alex sat on the other side of me. I’d literally just sat down, and the girl went and shoved me nearly out of my seat.

  “I was… scared,” I said. “When that thing crashed into the parking lot, I just kinda… ran.”

  “You were scared?” Alex questioned.

  “Yeah!” I insisted. “Like, shaking-scared. I just kinda booked it. I mean school was let out early after that anyway, right? I didn’t miss out on much.”

  “You never shake…” Alannah muttered. “And besides, that’s not the point. You told me you’d be there! I want to know about t
hat camping trip!”

  “Camping trip?” Julia asked. Sam looked up from his food suspiciously.

  “Oh, is that where you hurt your back or whatever?” Will asked. “Picked up that nasty looking brace-thingy?”

  “You have a back brace?” Alex asked, blown away. He tried to pull the neck of my shirt down almost immediately after. “Let me see it!”

  “No!” I swatted him off. “I mean– yes, I did get it there. I…I fell off a cliff.” What?

  “What?” Julia said. “A cliff? Jason are you sure you’re alright?”

  “Well, no. That’s what the back brace is for,” I said.

  “Well why didn’t you say anything about it over the weekend!” Alannah huffed. “You were radio silent for like, two and a half days!”

  “I just didn’t want you guys to worry, that’s all,” I insisted. “It’s nothing, really. It wasn’t even that high of a cliff.”

  “And you only hurt your back?” Alex asked. “Nothing else?”

  I wasn’t a big fan of all the questions, I’ll be honest. I guess there was no inherent reason not to tell them about this, but with all the knowledge I had about the Wanderer, and all the millions of threats that it– that I– had to face, I didn’t want them being put into any danger. I hated lying to them, but what other choice did I have?

  “You could have let me know,” Sam said. Everyone glanced over to him, and then back to me. I just stared at him, baffled.

  “I could… what?” I asked.

  “A text, a note, something,” he insisted. “I– my mom was freaking out about you. A meteorite slams into the neighborhood the night I see you walking around, and then you’re gone for a whole weekend?”

  I probably shouldn’t have done it– I definitely shouldn’t have– but I couldn’t help but scoff. What Sam just said was on a base level very sweet, but he said it so deadpan, so monotone; his mom probably told him to say it.

  We’d hit in a rough patch, and a damn rough one at that, and neither of us really wanted to be in it, but now of all times he decides to start making a half-assed effort for me? I loved Sam to death, but that was not what I’d been hoping for on the road to our recovery.

  “Okay, sorry man,” I said, shaking my head. He stared me down. Alex rolled his eyes, and the others all tensed up.

  “Don’t act like an asshole just because you’re still pissed at me over… our thing,” Sam said.

  “I’m pissed? Oh, sorry Sam, you’re right; hey, thanks for all the heartfelt texts asking where I was, by the way. You’re a great friend, man.”

  “You just said you were fine– camping. Why should I have been worried? Unless, you’re lying to all of us, Jason?”

  “I’m not lying,” Well… “but you’ve clearly decided not to care about me anymore, so why bother to pretend in front of the others.”

  “Jason,” Julia cautioned.

  “I never said that,” Sam argued. “And it’s not like I’m the one robbing minimarts to ‘clear his head’ or whatever kind of excuse you have for it.”

  “Well maybe I don’t solve my problems by turning away from them,” I said, raising my voice.

  “What are you guys even talking about?” Alannah tried to intervene. “What was the problem?”

  “No, you just use violence,” Sam said. “Violence and vandalism and impulsive acts of emotion. You’re gonna get yourself killed doing that, you know.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I shouted. “I don’t need you trying to step in all of a sudden.” I rose up a little from my seat, as did he.

  “Guys, come on, stop it!” Will said. He looked around– there were a lot of other tables looking at us now. “You’re…You’re kind of causing a scene, here!”

  “I thought you were the one who wanted to talk this through!?” Sam yelled. “Now what? Forget about it? You just decided we’re done, like that?”

  “I’m done with you acting like you’re so much better than me!” I said. “You’re not!”

  “Oh, I think we all know that’s not true,” Sam growled. Alex stood up in between us and held his hands out. It was too late though.

  I brushed past him with ease, and Sam grabbed me by the collar before I could get him. He tried to shove me, but I didn’t move. See? I just needed to see it coming.

  I shoved him back a little, the very tiny voice in my head keeping in mind that I needed to hold back from really hurting him.

  Sam stumbled back against his seat, grimaced.

  “Guys, enough–” Alex warned.

  Sam swung at my face, and I fell with the punch. I didn’t want things to look to obvious, but all the same, he did move pretty quick there. It didn’t feel like much– if you were to lightly press your fist against your cheek right now, that’s about how much it hurt– but still, it did manage to piss me off more than I already was.

  I stood straight, and shoved him to the ground. He flew back some ten feet, and landed pretty hard on his ass, if his wince of pain was anything to go by. Not to mention, I could feel my hands getting all… hot. Like, literally, they were burning up.

  I glanced down at them, and could see this really faint white hue around my palm. It felt like… I don’t know how else to describe it other than that it felt like power. Raw, cosmic, power.

  “Jason!” Alannah screamed.

  I turned back to face her, and seeing the look of anguish stuck on her face… I don’t know, it just sort of turned all the anger off. I just instantly felt like an idiot, and my hands… shut off, or cooled down. They stopped doing whatever it was they were doing.

  I slowly looked back to Sam, taking note myself of all the people watching us now, and as I finally faced him again, one of the teachers watching over the cafeteria was in my face, pointing one finger at me, and another at Sam.

  “Enough!” he yelled. “Both of you, with me, now! You’re headed to the principal's office.”

  So, there we were, Sam and I, in the principal’s office. It was this little, round room in the corner of the school’s front entrance.

  We were both sat in two old chairs, in front of a very displeased looking Principal Perri, or Principal P for short.

  “Well, Jason, while it’s not incredibly uncommon to have you in here,” he said, “I must say it is surprising to have you with us, Mr. Finn.”

  “He’s the one who started it,” Sam muttered. I just shook my head, sighing.

  “Nonetheless,” Principal P continued, “it is an overall disappointment. I know you two are both good friends– good neighbors. Most of the time it’s your mother, Sam, who calls to let us know when Jason is going to be out.”

  “Well… things change,” I said. I hated to say it, because I really didn’t want things to have changed between Sam and I, but you know…

  “Look I’m sure whatever you two are going through is none of my business, and I can only implore you to work it out amongst yourselves in a civil, an respectful manner,” the principal said. “What I cannot allow, however, is for you two to brawl in my cafeteria in front of all four grades and faculty.”

  “I apologize, Mr. P,” Sam said. “Things got too heated, and I do take my share of the blame for that. I promise, we didn’t mean anything by it; we didn’t mean to cause a fuss.”

  “Y-Yeah, he’s right,” I agreed.

  “I’m sure he is,” Principal P agreed. He leant back in his seat, and took a deep breath. “Look boys, after the craziness of yesterday, I can understand that everyone might be a little shaken up, a little tense; if I’m honest, the school board is already on my back over insisting we continue to hold classes the next day. My point is: things happen, and you two have a long history together, so I recognize that this isn’t the actions of two hooligans who wanted to start trouble. So long as you can both give me your word this won’t happen again on campus, then I’ll let you both off with a warning, sound good?”

  I glanced at Sam, and he just stared straight ahead at the principal. He nodded, and I swallowed hard, turning back an
d doing the same.

  I hated that he was so stoic with me. That, or he lost his mind like twenty minutes ago. I get that it was also kind of me, but at least I don’t swap over to ‘I’m going to pretend you don’t exist’ mode, too.

  “Yeah, uh… sure,” I said. “Can we– can I go now?” The principal smiled a little, and nodded.

  “Go ahead. Enjoy the rest of your day, you two. I do hope you can figure this out, peacefully.”

  I nodded, and scampered out of the room before Sam could even follow me. I felt bad, and honestly I hoped I didn’t actually hurt him– I know he didn’t hurt me– but I was feeling all anxious.

  So anxious, in fact, that I made a questionable decision.

  Like I’d said, the principal’s office was right next to the main entrance, so as I left I caught a glimpse of the outside world, and after the awful experience I’d just had with my oldest and best friend, I felt like I really needed to vent it out.

  I looked around really quick, and bolted through the front doors. No one noticed, though I think I did see Sam peeking out after I’d sprinted a ways off into the parking lot.

  Once I got to the little patch of woods, I clicked my suit on, and took off into the air, flying into the center of town. It only took me something like 10.45 seconds– which, more than anything, I was amazed I knew that so specifically.

  I just had to get the bad feelings out. Flying was fun, but when I was coming down with a panic attack, it really lost its luster on me. I knew that Officer Clements had told me to stop, and I wanted to, genuinely, but I just… I couldn’t. I wasn’t good enough; I knew it, Sam knew it– hell, the whole school knew it.

  I floated a ways above Mr. Giardino’s shop, and watched from the clouds as I pondered my latest return to the little shop of horrible decisions. There was a big, open vent on the roof that I could probably sneak through if I landed down there.

  I couldn’t use the suit, that would be too risky. I still didn’t know quite what it could do, and honestly it should only be used for fighting off alien bad guys, not robbing mini-marts. Plus, I didn’t want to give that side of my life a bad rap.