apologies for any typos. i'll make edits later probably. here's an action chapter. leave reviews with your thoughts. thanks for reading.

Chapter 11

TJ

I walked into the locker room and the smell of sweat and something musty filled the air. The room was partially full of other students who were talking amongst themselves and changing into grey t-shirts and dark blue gym shorts. One heavy set boy with curly brown hair was sitting down a long wooden bench in front of a row of lockers. He looked pale and his lips were chapped on the corners. He looked down at his hands and his left leg was twitching.

I walked past him as he muttered "Why is gym all four years? I hate gym."

"Wait, we have to take this class all four years?" I say rounding on him as I place my hand on the locker I was assigned.

He jumped and looked at me with wide and dull grey eyes. The boy nodded slowly and eyed me carefully. I'm not sure why he seemed so intimated by me. He kept staring at me, but then finally rose off the bench and walked out of the locker room.

"Okay, then." I say calling after him.

As I turn back to open my locker, I slip off my jeans and pull the mesh gym shorts out of my bag. Before I can pull them up my waist completely something large and heavy connects with the side of my head. I felt myself fly backward down the row of lockers and crash hard into the floor.

My vision is popping with small lights and black spots. I feel something sticky run down my cheek and into my mouth. I struggle to catch my breath and stand up. I touch the top of my face and feel a small gash near my eyebrow. As I look up I see the dark-haired boy earlier from lunch with his two friends. He's glaring and smirking at me, his large fist balled up and stained with a smear of my blood.

"Thought you and that bitch of a sister of yours would get away with throwing shit in my face did you? Nobody messes with Randy Bowman and thinks they get a clean pass."

I chuckle nervously and see that the entire locker room has now crowded behind Randy. Some of the shorter boys are struggling to get a better look. I peer around at all of them, some laughing, others look terrified for me.

Randy cracks his knuckles and says "So, it's me and you. I know who you are too. Don't think your Daddy can bail you out of this."

I wipe the blood from the side of my face, but it still drips thick and dark down my face.

"You must be really strong. You need a whole crew behind you. How brave." I say my voice still shaky. I try to make it clear and stern, but I feel my legs tremble and almost buckle under me. I don't notice I'm backing up until I hit the white stone wall behind me. I'm trapped.

Randy comes close to me, his fists still clenched tightly.

"No. It's just you and me, Johnson. I'll tell you want, you have your sister make up for her mistake by coming to my car after school. Tell her she can earn my forgiveness by being 'sweet'."

Randy and his lackeys look at each other and laugh darkly. I feel myself chest fill with disgust and white-hot anger, but my legs are still shaking and stuck.

"You on the other hand." Randy says stepping closer to me. His fists can reach me now. "You'll pay in blood."

I raise my hands in front of my face as he swings. The impact hits my forearms hard and my skin stings madly from the blow. Randy swings again, this time finding my ribcage and abdomen. I shrink against the wall and clench my teeth as the hits take my breath away. He sends a knee into my lower stomach and I double over, then he smashes the back of my neck with his heavy elbow. I crash to the floor and my nose hits cold gray concrete. A foot hits me in my side and I fly against the lockers, yells now escaping my lips. I hate myself for the way my voice squeals in pain. It is high and I hear the other boys laughing and yelling.

Randy stomps on my shoulder and I try to block his foot with my left hand, but my fingers get caught under the pressure and my knuckles scrape under the sole of his sneaker.

Something in me bubbles over my fear of his relentless, sloppy, and heavy blows. Something that decides getting hit by him isn't the worst thing that can happen to me. Something that decides me hitting him, harder than anything in this world, is the most important thing.

Then I turn my head to see Randy's large body and anger contorted face seems to have slowed down. His fist is coming down to meet my face, but it moves almost glacially. I feel my lungs fill with air and my blood boil under my skin. His fist comes now inches above the bridge of my nose and what happens next surprise me.

I grab Randy's wrist and stop it completely. There's an audible gasp that resounds around the room.

Randy tries to struggle free, but my hand is completely clasped around his wrist. I squeeze and feel the stiff bones under my palm crack and pop. He releases a curdling yelp from the pit of his throat and I release him. As he grips his limp wrist gingerly he cuts his eyes through me. There are angry tears streaming out his bloodshot eyes and he grits his jagged teeth that are slightly yellow in pain.

"I'll kill you!"

Randy is faster than he looks, but he's still moving in slow motion to me. He rushes toward me and I don't think. I spin on my feet and dodge his elbow that slams into the lockers behind me. I duck as he swings with his left fist and he tries to knee me in my chin. But my body flips backward and I fly in the air, landing on the wooden bench. I feel my classmates cry out and they shift backward. I'm sure they are terrified. I am too. But there's also something else that pumps through me. Something that scares me more than what is happening with my body. Euphoria.

Randy lunges again toward me on the bench, but I twist in the air over his body and land behind him. He turns on his heel, eyes wide with rage, fear, and disbelief. Before he can try to strike again I rush in front of him and connect my left fist into his chest. Then my right. Then my left.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

The sound of the blows are shaking the locker doors and walls around me. Randy gasps and doubles over. My body raises my right leg and I push Randy with the heel of my foot making him fly backward. His body slides down the wooden bench and falls out near the end.

I feel my body still tense with the extreme adrenaline and I watch Randy's friends crouch down near him. I peer closer and see Randy's unconscious body lying in a large mass. There's a stream of blood pouring out of his mouth and he doesn't look like he's breathing.

What did I do?

The doors of the locker room burst open and Mr. Ward, the gym teacher makes his way through the small crowd of students. He freezes and gasps hard when he sees Randy's body on the floor. Then he looks directly at me. I see his face drain of color and he shakes his head very slowly.

"Office. Now." He says quietly to me before crouching down to Randy. Mr. Ward places two fingers to his neck and pauses for several seconds.

"He's alive. Just knocked out." He says to no one in particular. But there's a slight wave of relief that pours over me that mixes with whatever crazed feeling that just hit me.

As he stands up, he looks at Randy's two friends and say "Watch him while I go get the nurse. You!" He says turning to me pointing an angry finger. "I thought I told you to go to the office. There's no need to say you're in trouble, but I suggest you start looking for another school."

I feel my knuckles burn with the recoil of hitting Randy's large hard body. I can say nothing, but if I could, what could I say? He started it?

It may be the truth, but I finished it. I don't even know how I did it.

My classmates stare at me with horror, revulsion, and wonder. As I move toward them to leave, they quickly disperse from me. They press against the walls as if I was covered in flames or a disease that could kill them if they even brushed against my skin.

I grab my bag, jeans, and slip my feet in my sneakers and leave the room. As I walk up the dark stairwell I hear voices above me before I reach the main hallway.

"If they're here, we'll find them. I assure you." A cold, wily voice came. It sounded stern and deep. But I could tell it belonged to a woman.

"We shouldn't wait too long. They could slip right through our fingers." came another voice. It sounded familiar.

"Don't worry. Everything is going along with Master's plan. Trust him."

The voices disappear and I wait until they are completely gone before I walk out. I don't feel myself enter the main office, but I'm at the door faster than I realize. Everything seemed to be moving quicker now. Or was it going slower? I am not sure anymore.

I turn the knob in the office and swallow hard, finding my throat arid and stiff.

First day of high school and I'm already expelled. I can feel it.

When I leave the office, to my relief I don't get expelled. Principal Byrd was lenient with me because apparently Randy had a record of fights and behavior issues that date back to his freshman year. He's a known bully even in the office, but because his parents are on the school council, he doesn't get kicked out. It frustrates me. I also find out his injuries aren't as severe as I thought, but he's got a bruised ribcage, a broken wrist and a fractured jaw. He won't die, but he's not in good condition either.

I receive detention for a week and I'm unable to join any extracurricular clubs for the remainder of the semester. There goes Art Club.

After I left the hallway I sneak out the side doors into one of the courtyards for some air. I am trying to comprehend the last fifteen minutes of the day. I dig through my thoughts for anything, anything that could give me a logical explanation of what happened. How did I move like that? Where did the strength come from?

Nothing comes. Nothing but the whistle from the light summer breeze that brushes my face. The sun is high and bright above me and I stare into it, shading my face with my right hand.

I look down at my knuckles and see they are purpled and bruised. They are extremely sore and slightly split.

I remember Principal Byrd also telling me my parents would be notified of what happened today. Then I remember Natalie got in trouble today too.

Great. Just great.

I see a tree with golden green leaves rustle and shake in the wind. It's branches are growing over the tall iron-wrought gate that encloses the courtyard. It shakes again and this time small leaves float slowly to the ground.

I hear another rustle behind and turn slightly until a cold, steel gun barrel presses into the back of my neck. I feel my heart pound my ears and my body freezes like stone.

"Don't move." A light and stern voices breathes into the air. It's inflection is sweet like poisoned honey and I soon recognize it as the curly haired girl from the lunchroom earlier.

Her breaths are even and steady. I can hear them as she exhales through her nostrils. She is serious and dangerous.

The gun presses a little deeper into my skin and I feel my knuckles curls and the white-hot rage that flowed through me in the locker room moments ago seeps through my pores.

"What are you?" I ask coldly.

"That's your first question?" She giggles. "Not, what do you want?"

I don't respond and I mash my teeth together behind my tight lips.

"You're smarter than you look, Tobias." I hear her mutter, the barrel steady in her extended arm.

"Clearly, you're something. You're not from around here." I spit quickly.

"You would be correct."

"Then what are you?" I ask peering at the locked gate in front of me. It is too tall to leap over and I'm sure if I made a run for it, I would dead before I reached it. But if I can summon whatever strength that flowed through me, I might could be fast enough. Maybe.

"I'm just like you. We're the same." She says calmly.

"You kids think you know me. Why is that? Because of my parents? Well I'm not them and you don't shit about us. So if you're going to kill me, then do it. Cause if there is something you do want, you won't be getting it. Believe that."

I feel the gun shift down slightly and the girl laughs.

"Please. We already have you. Where we want you. We'll get exactly what we need."

Suddenly I hear a static beep in the air. She keeps the gun pressed into my neck but I feel her shift her weight and press a button I cannot see.

"Yes. Well what was the point of this then? I thought we—-fine. I will report back. I said fine. R5, out."

She takes the gun from the back of my neck, but I still don't face her. I hear her shuffle and pocket the pistol and then she sighs deeply.

"I reckon I'll be seeing you again real soon, Tobias. The Department of Genetic Defense is very interested in you and your…makeup. Your sister too. If I were you I wouldn't get too comfortable with being here or at home."

Then I turn to her prepared to strike her as hard as I can. But she's gone. I'm left outside in the courtyard alone. I spin around wildly toward the gate, back to the street. There's nothing but pavement and the glistening buildings in the distance. As I shake my head of the scene I turn to head back in the school when Natalie comes bursting out through the doors.

Her hair flies in the wind and her eyes are bright and wide. She's grinning hard at me, all of her straight, white teeth are bared in my sight.

"You look like shit!" She exclaims. "Your eye is bruised and all purple."

I touch it gingerly and wince. I didn't notice the pain until just now. I touch the side of my head and feel the congealed, dried blood that cakes against my cheek. It is crusty and crumbles as I rub it off with my fingertips.

"Heard you kicked Randy's ass. Everyone's talking about it."

The way Natalie says it is as if it's something I should rejoice in. That my fists can damage someone and break their body if they oppose me. I shake my head.

"I don't…I feel so horrible." I say softly.

She rolls her eyes and laugh. "Everyone says he started it. I believe it. You just finished it. Never knew you had it in you bro."

I glare at her happy and proud face. Her smile falters and she looks confused.

"What is it? Look, you stood up to that asshole. I bet you he won't try you again. I told you everyone's looking at us. Now they know we're not to be messed with."

I can't believe her.

"Is that how we make friends? With our fists, Natalie? That's not what I want. I don't want people to be afraid of me and now they are. They saw…they saw me…almost destroy him. I don't even know how I did it. It's so strange. Natalie, something's wrong with me. I can move faster, I can hit harder, I see things—-

But I stop when I see her face distorted in disbelief and her lips are parted, curling into a smile.

"What in the world are you talking about, TJ?" She chortles holding her hand to her forehead.

I grimace and shake my head. "Nothing."

She eyes me curiously and says "Anyway, it's time to go. The bell's gonna ring and Andrew said meet him by the truck."

I nod and follow my sister. Thankfully the hallways were empty enough to let us pass through and a few people stared sideways at us, well me. I quickly gathered my homework from my locker before leaving through the double doors behind Natalie who didn't even bother grabbing her notebooks.

"It's just reading tonight. We're reading 'Beyond The Fence' in History. Good thing Aunt Christina wrote the book, huh?" She says winking at me.

I nod again, still saying nothing.

We reach Andrew's gray truck and someone has made an obscene drawing in the thick layer of dust and dirt on the front hood. Natalie sighs and mutters "Jackasses."

The I hear the dismissal bell ring in the distance and the muffled voices that soon burst out of the doors. I remember my blue hoodie I packed in my backpack in case the school was cold and I pull it out to put on. I cover my face with the hood and keep my gaze down. It's silly of me to do since it was warmer outside now and I already felt the warm discomfort of the knit jersey fabric over my body.

Natalie looks at me and shakes her head. She leans against the truck with her arms folded and legs crossed at the ankles as she hums to herself. I peer up at the front lawn and see kids leaving, boarding long red school buses or getting into their parents' cars. Andrew eventually comes out with Frankie, they're talking and laughing about something. Frankie splits to the right behind Andrew and walks toward a goldenrod truck that a woman with his same skin and short curly hair is sitting in. Andrew waves to her and she returns it with a bright smile and flap of her hand.

Andrew walks toward us and his face turns into a wide smirk. He looks us up and down jokes "Rough day, huh?"

Natalie gives him the finger and smiles. Andrew just laughs as he walks to the driver's side of his car. He scans the crude image made in the dirt on his hood and then up at me.

"What's with the hood, cousin?" He asks through a snicker.

I grimace at him and walk around the back of his truck. I get inside the back and stretch my legs across the seat.

We pull off from the parking lot and down the long black road away from school. I turn to look out the back window to see the long red buses travel in a diverging paths and one of them follows us, then turns down the third block behind us.

"You two are already getting talked about." Andrew says gripping the steering wheel. He makes a sharp left and we all bounce as the truck rolls over the ragged road.

"It's not good what they're saying I'm sure." I mutter under my breath.

"How much trouble you both get in? Principal Byrd is a stickler for discipline I hear. Thank God I've never had to face him."

Natalie sighs as she looks out the window. "I got detention for two days. TJ got it for a week. He can't join any clubs for the semester."

Andrew sucks air between his teeth and I see him frown in the rearview mirror.

"That sucks, TJ. That means you can't probably go to any dances either. Homecoming is in like two months."

I shrug hard, my face still covered with the hood. I don't care about a stupid dance.

We're almost to my house when I peer out the window and see a steel gray van parked between two unmarked black trucks on nameless street with identical square houses. It's like the one from on the way to school this morning. Before we zoom pass it, I see the yellow letters 'D.G.D.' on the side paneling.

I shift back against the door and look at my sneakers that are now scuffed near the toes. Suddenly a voice comes into my head that makes me sit up quickly.

"The Department of Genetic Defense is very interested in you…"

D.G.D.

see you next chapter! be brave.