Chapter 11
JJ passed out under the electrical box in the closet of Peppermint's apartment, and when he awoke, he still had hold of the handle. Something singed the wall next to the power box, and he knew her parents would be mad at the mess. He stood in the middle of the room bare and cold, and when he looked down at the floor, his shorts were nothing more than a pile of ashes. He walked out the closet in a daze, and his girlfriend was nowhere to be found. When he ran into the living room, she lay lifeless on the ground in a pile of vomit, and she wasn't moving at all. He shook her wildly, but her lifeless body lay underneath his hands.
"Get up, Peppermint!" He screamed so loud, so forceful that it shook the building. Her warm body gave him hope, but he couldn't detect her breath. He looked to see if he could see her stomach rise and fall, and when he didn't see anything, a rage came over his entire body, and a white glow encompassed him. He touched his beloved, and shocked her awake. Peppermint leaped off the ground into a fighting stance.
"Holy sweet tarts, JJ!" She exclaimed. "How long was I out?"
"A few hours," he said with a grimace. "It's a little after two o'clock in the morning. I woke up in the utility closet." JJ grabbed her by the hand, ran them a bath, and they both go into the tub. He washed her back, and then she washed his. It was like clockwork with them. It wasn't any surprises between them at all.
Quickly, JJ and Peppermint put on their clothes, and he kissed her for a long time, and then said, "I thought you had died. I was so scared. You don't even know what I went through."
"Oh! I know," she said. "The same thing I'd go through if I thought I lost you."
When the couple stepped outside of the apartment complex, Little Africa was completely silent, and nothing seemed to move in the entire section of town. The sky—blackened and quiet—didn't have one machine flying overhead, and the smell of sewage permeated through the air. An old, nineteen seventy-eight Buick crashed into the building across the street, and the occupants lay dead on the side of the road. A pimp called Sweet Sugar and his worker, April May, lay in front of the couple's feet, and Peppermint cried for them. They looked peaceful, and JJ didn't find one blemish on them as he checked them for life. The streetlights flickered, most buildings had lights, and the stars shined high in the sky, but nothing moved. Cautious, the couple walked quietly into the back alley across from their apartment, and half expected to see Officer Gee with some poor black girl draped over a trashcan. And when they arrived on the scene, Officer Gee lay on the ground with his pants around his ankles and a young, black teenager next to him.
"Maybe we're in hell," Jimmy lamented.
"I don't think so," Peppermint said.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"My hell is without you," she said, "Since you're here, this can't be hell."
JJ pulled out his cellphone, and he received over fifty messages from his Momma who worked the overnight shift at National City Regional Hospital or NCRH, and she wrote about the National Guard blocking all entries and exits to Little Africa until the radiation dissipated. She wrote that the National Guard appeared to be keeping people in, and nobody came out once the radiation started. He could feel his Momma's pain through the text messages, and he immediately wrote her a short missive.
JJ's Message:
Peppermint and I are okay. There are dead people everywhere, and we're heading over to Tommy Tater's house. I know Reverend Tater doesn't like Peppermint and I at all, but Tommy is my friend, and I have to see if he's okay. We love you Momma, and we're okay.
End of Message:
His mother messaged him immediately:
You and Peppermint go into the sewers. The government is saying you're infected with a disease that has to be eradicated. You must hide.
End of message
JJ paced back and forth in the alleyway, and his fear became palpable. He looked at Peppermint, and she returned the gaze, and then she said, "What?" He gave her his cellphone, and then gasped. "Can they do that?"
"I don't know," he said with a grimace. "I have to get my father's gun."
"JJ! They will kill you," she said.
"I'd rather go out with guns ablazing than on my back like a coward," he said with a grimace. "If the order has been given, then we don't have a country. My only mission in life is to protect you."
She looked down at the ground with tears rolling down her face. "Then we'll fight until our last breath, JJ. That's what we'll do."
Trinity Baptist Church…
Bodies sprawled out in front of the old, black church, and it appeared the Friday night prayer session had just concluded when the radiation hit. He didn't see any life in the people, and it caused a great fear in his heart. He walked inside the chapel, and Tommy lay on the floor, and his girlfriend Becky was right beside him. JJ sobbed for a moment, and then he felt a tingle in his head, but thought it was just a thing, and tried to ignore it.
"JJ, my name is Rachel Ballard," the voice whispered in his head. "I feel your pain, but the people aren't dead. They're asleep. We only have a few hours before the military enters into the city, and tries to kill us."
"Did you cause this?" He asked out loud.
"Who are you talking to?" Peppermint asked. "God?"
"Tell her no," Rachel said.
"No, baby," he said, "I'm talking to Rachel Ballard."
"I'm the girl on the warehouse," she said.
"It's the girl on the warehouse," he said.
"Where's she at?" Peppermint asked.
"In my head," he said.
"Did you wake up first or was it your girlfriend?" She asked telepathically.
"It was me," he said.
"Then you're the Vulcan," she said.
"What's going on?" Peppermint asked. "I think we should leave."
Suddenly, he buckled over in pain, and she tried to grab him, but he shook her off, and then said, "Stand back, baby. Something is happening to me."
"I'm not going to leave you," she said.
"Run, Peppermint," he said, "I'm begging you."
Suddenly, Rachel swooped into the chapel, grabbed his girlfriend, and flew off with her. "Let the energy flow out of you, JJ," Rachel said telepathically.
A blast of electrical energy came out of his hands, and hit every soul throughout the city, and caused them to awaken. The air smelled like burning wood, and he didn't know what happen, but the people in the chapel awoke, and he heard cries and praying-and anger. He stumbled out of the chapel, and another burst of energy released from his body, and went all over Little Africa. He then looked up, and saw Rachel with Peppermint, and it upset JJ so badly that he leaped into the air, flew up to her, and said, "Put my girl friend down."
"JJ, I'm not holding her," she said, "Oh. And you're flying."
He looked down, and said, "Holy…"
"Watch your mouth, young man," she said.
"Peppermint, fly over to me," he said.
Rachel stepped away from her, and then Peppermint flew over to Jimmy, and kissed him. "How is this possible?" Peppermint asked.
"It's like you were chosen," Rachel said, "You two probably received the brunt of the mutagenic energy, but you have the powers of a god flowing through you now."
"You did this?" He looked down at his hands for a moment, and then said, "You've hurt people."
"Times demanded change," she said, "If we don't make tomorrow better, then forces outside of our control will wipe us out. You're the Vulcan."
"Told you, Peppermint," he said.
"You understand you carry the lightening bolts of the gods because you are a god," she said, "The fire. Your ancient bolts flew out of the sky, struck the land, and burned it all. After everything burned, new life began. Just as you imbued all of Little Africa with your revitalizing energy, you now must show the world your inner beauty, and inspire them to be great." She turned to Peppermint, and smiled. "You're Vulcan's Venus. His faithful wife who stands equal to him, and will help him in his quest to save mankind from itself."
"We're only sophomores in highschool," he said.
She smiled, "Vulcan, there are plenty of good people who have powers now," she said. She paused for a moment, and then said, "You will run into a crop of evil people, and their new powers will drive them insane. There will be more than a few, and you have to take them off the street. I won't be able to help you in your mission because I have to find the Destroyer's grandmother. She will give birth to her daughter in twenty-twenty-six, and then I calculate she will give birth to the Destroyer at the age of fourteen."
"Are you going to kill her?" Peppermint asked.
"No," she said, "The Destroyer's birth mother is nothing more than a vessel, and won't survive to see her child."
"That's horrible," JJ said.
"It's the way of things," she said, "Nobody in the delivery room will survive his birth."
"What of the National Guard?" Peppermint asked.
"When they enter in the city, they'll never exit alive," she said. "There are men and women imbued with great powers now. When attacked, they'll respond with extreme force. JJ, you and Peppermint are leaders, but if you're attacked, you must respond in kind." She looked at Peppermint, and then said, "Show me what you got!"
Suddenly, a glow encompassed Peppermint, and she shot a laser across the sky with one hand, and a sticky sludge with the other one. As it flew across the sky, it turned hard as a rock. "I'm bad ass," she said.
"You've always been badass to me," JJ said.
Thirty Minutes Later…
The lust, the roar of passion without love, and two bodies entwined in a dog-like embrace, James Olsen pounded a young woman from behind while grabbing her hair. It was raw and aggressive—and brutal. The smell of the moment permeated throughout the entire apartment, and Rachel stood on the balcony in disgust. She walked into James' apartment as he pounded the woman into the mattress, and she screamed for him to grab her hair and slap her bottom.
"How you like that, Maggie?" He asked abrasively.
"Give it to me," she screamed.
Suddenly, her entire body went limp underneath James' push, and Rachel caused her to pass out completely. Immediately, James screamed, "Oh, god! I killed her." He tried to shake her, but it didn't do anything. When he grabbed his phone, Rachel waved her right hand, and it flew to her.
"She's not dead," she said softly. "You're not big enough to kill with your penis." She laughed.
"You could've warn somebody," James said. "I think you're trying to kill me."
James walked across the floor, and sat his bare butt on the couch. Rachel sat on the loveseat, and said, "The world has changed. Nigga Night commenced, and the party has only begun."
"Okay," he said.
"Amanda had me build a machine to enhance the residents of Little Africa," she said, "But of course, she likes excitement. She likes to cause conflict, so she can analyze the outcome. The military has been made aware of what has happened overnight, and they will move into the area in the hopes of eradicating the people."
"There's tens of thousands of people in that area," he said.
"Yes. They're very powerful, dangerous, and most of them are good people," she said, "But like I told the Vulcan, some of them aren't so good. Unfortunately, your little suit won't be a match." Rachel pulled a syringe out the pocket of her dress, and it had a clear liquid in it.
"What's that?" James asked.
"The world can no longer accommodate a man with such a good heart to be a mere human," she said with a grimace. "I've worked on this formula since I was thirteen for a hero, for a Guardian with skillful hands and feet," she said, "You can continue to wear your suit, but this formula will give you unbreakable skin, the ability to fly, and enhanced senses."
"Are there any side effects?" He asked.
"Aggression," she said, "But you can control it through meditation."
"I don't know about this," he said.
"James, I designed this formula for you," she said, "You need to quit being everybody's errand boy, and start being the man your father wanted you to be. Now, the Vulcan needs a father figure, and you're the best example in National City."
"I can't do it," James said as he stood to his feet. Suddenly, the syringe flew out Rachel's right hand, and into James' neck, and she injected him with the formula. "Dammit!"
"You really thought you had a choice?" She asked with a grimace. "There're no choices here. You're the only hero outside of the Vulcan and Peppermint who care. And they're kids." She paused for a moment. "Nobody cares about Little Africa except for us, James."
"I feel warm all over," he said. He turned to her completely bare, "Is this normal?"
"Your DNA is changing. You're becoming beyond human," she said. Curious, she looked over at Maggie's limp body, and asked, "What do you see in her?"
"What do you mean?" He asked squinting.
"She's broken. Her soul is black like the night, and she cares for nothing." She bent down, and looked her directly in the face. "I sense no empathy in her. She doesn't feel the way you feel." She turned to James, and asked, "Who's Alex?"
"Her girlfriend," he said.
"Alex is one of many," she said with a grimace. "She's concerned because of your proximity to Alex." She turned to James, and said, "Why did you sleep with Alex's girlfriend?" She asked.
"It was the alcohol," he said.
"No. No," she said, "You need to work on your moral compass, and point it due north." She grimaced. "You betrayed your friend with this act, and every time you see her, you'll feel a certain way about it. She will pick up on your feelings, and will find out what you've done."
"How do you know?" He asked.
"Its human nature," she said, "It's the way of things."
All of a sudden, James fell to the ground, and cried in pain. His muscles tightened up, and he screamed to die. Rachel flew away, and left him to his misery.