Steve Roberts and Paddy Berger are finishing up their morning workout at Apollo Gym. It is clear that Paddy has had a much harder workout than Steve as he slows the treadmill he walks on. “I’m ready for a hot shower,” Paddy says pitching his sweaty t-shirt and pulling its wetness from his chest.
“Sounds like someone might be eager to get an early start on this long work weekend,” Steve replies slowing down the treadmill he runs on. “Looking forward to Sunday night dinner with Paula?”
“You could invite that Tina girl to dinner if you want,” Paddy suggests about the counter girl that watches Steve’s every movement while he is in the gym. Steve does not reply as his partner steps off his treadmill. “You going for that massage, I suggested?” Paddy asks Steve.
“No, I think I will pass on that both counts,” Steve replies looking around the gym. “I think I’m going to do some benching first.” With that Paddy head for the gym locker room.
Steve dismounts the treadmill to walk over to the bench press area. He reads the 500 lb weight limit on the empty bar laying across the bench rack. He loads up the bar to the limit with the largest round discs. Steve lays down on the bench and grips the bar tightly. Lifting the heavy weight set he does several reps not feeling any strain. Then he lets one arm go slack while still holding the bar, using only the other to balance and lift the weight. It is a more strenuous lift as he closes his eyes for a moment, pressing it several more times.
When Steve opens his eyes again, one of the high school jock kids that he has seen around the gym before stands over him. “Dude, your pressing 500 lbs, you a mutant or something?” the kid asks.
“No, I..” Steve’s sentence is cut short.
As the kid yells, “Hey, look everybody this guy is benching 500 lbs like its nothing!”
In shock Steve sits straight up still holding the barbell with one hand. It looks like everyone in the gym has instantly gathered around the Juice Girl Tina front and center.
The apartment of Steve Roberts and Paddy Berger
The Fishtown section
Philadelphia Pa
The thought of being outed in the middle of the gym was enough to shock me awake as I sat straight up in my bed. Oddly, Paddy and I were working for the weekend so we decided last night to hit the gym before going it to the precinct. I figure that dream wasn’t to far from happening as I pulled on a pair of shorts and then a sweatshirt and pants. When I came out of my room Paddy was already up and cooking breakfast. So we ate and headed over to the gym on the bus. The gym we had joined was only a few blocks from the precinct so we would take the bus there and then walk to work after.
Apollo Gym
Philadelphia, PA
The moment we hit the gym, I scanned the room to find that muscle head from my dream. It was no big surprise he was there, he was wearing an eagle’s shirt that made him easy to pick out of the crowd. He and a couple of his buddies from the football team at a local High School often came in before going to school. He was running on a treadmill so I figured I should get this fix over with first. I looked over to the front desk to see Tina, who Paddy and I jokingly call the Juice Girl smiled and waved to me.
“Paddy can you spot me on the bench,” I asked trying to take my mind off the people in the gym.
“Sure,” Paddy replied as we walked to the weight area. Paddy sat down on a bench and started working his biceps and triceps with some dumb bells as I loaded the bar. By now it had been my experience that avoiding these premonitions completely could lead to something much worse happening. So it was best to play through them and make better choices. I still loaded the five hundred pounds onto the bar but I made sure I wasn’t alone when I did it. Moreover, I kept my eye on that kid at all times.
Paddy put down his dumbbells and stood over me behind the bar as I laid down on the bench. I was bench pressed the five hundred pounds as I did in the dream with one are slack. Paddy was spotting for me, not paying attention at first until he noticed the amount of weight I had put on the bar. Then he reached out to grip the bar over me. He instantly realized his math was right, he said, “I don’t even know why I’m standing here?” Paddy glared down at me taking his hands off the bar. “If you drop this bar, there is no way I could budge it off of you!”
“But you can keep anyone else from noticing how heavy it is,” I smiled up at him.
“What like Tina the Juice Girl who hasn’t taken her eyes off of you since you walked in,” Paddy cracked at me. “In her mind I’m sure you are nude.”
“In that case it really doesn’t matter because I’m not even breaking a sweat,” I said picking up speed for a few final reps. “I could do this all day.” I told him disappointed as I slid the barbell back onto the rack.
“Then why do you bother coming to the gym Mister Wonderful?” Paddy asks snidely as he went back to the weights he had been using.
“It gives you a better workout when I’m here,” I chuckles wiping the back of my neck trying to look normal. “But my shoulder is still bothering me from that truck thing last week.”
“That truck thing, is that what we are calling it?” Paddy grinned as he puts the weights he was using back on the rack. “You stopped a runaway tractor trailer.”
“Hey, I don’t think the Juice Girl heard you,” I told him with a frown.
“Nevertheless, you should get a massage from the new masseur, Anton Simon, I hear he does wonders,” Paddy suggests. I sat on the bench thinking over the suggestion. I looked up to see the muscle head from my dream heading our way so quickly unloaded the bar and we headed for the treadmills.
In the dream I had last night Paddy made the same suggestion. I also decided against the massage in the dream. We started walking on the treadmills. The thing with the jock kid was still a close call maybe I should consider having the massage this time. Usually I take the treadmill against the wall so I run full out or at least as fast as it will take, but I there was a guy next to me on that one. I looked over at him, he was an older guy, probably around fifty. “Hey don’t I know you?” I said. “Yeah, you work at the morgue right?”
“That’s right,” The guy replied winded from his morning run. “Walter Dillon.”
“Steve Roberts, I work with the Elite squad, this is my partner Paddy Berger,” I told him gesturing to Paddy on the next treadmill.
“How you doing?” Walter called over to Paddy.
“Good,” Paddy replied not breaking his stride. I think Paddy was really becoming obsessed with cardio, that is how he lost most of his weight.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here in the morning before,” I said to Walter making small talk to distract him from my speed.
“Ex-wife wants me to spend more “quality time” with the son,” Walter replied.
“Oh really, where’s you son?” I asked almost knowing what the answer would be.
“Over there in the bench-press, the one in the Eagles shirt,” Walter answered confirming my suspicion that the muscle head was his son.
My dreams always seem to be a very simplistic version of the truth that it is up to me to figure out how it fits into reality. Not letting the kid expose me has led me to meeting up with his father who works at the morgue. It was right about then that Tina came over and offered us all juice from a tray. “Here you go hot and sweaty men, how about some morning refreshment?” She gave me a wink and a smile and to my surprise she gave the same look to Walter. Maybe she wasn’t just flirting with me, just being friendly. I turned to Paddy as Tina offered him a drink and she didn’t have the same wink for him. So I guess Walter and I were just the lucky ones.
“Maybe you’re right, I should give the massage a try,” I said to Paddy who was covered in sweat. “We’ve still got an hour and a half before we have to be at the precinct.” Paddy just nodded at my answer not breaking his stride. I brought my treadmill to a stop and turned to Walker to say, “Good seeing you Walker, I see you around the morgue sometime I’m sure.”
He smiled and waved, “Sure thing!”
I headed for the front desk where Tina had returned to refill her tray of drinks. From the time we joined this gym I thought this young girl was flirting with me and it always made me uncomfortable around her. Now it seemed I wasn’t so special after all. She had been coming on to a lot of guys at the gym. “Good Morning, Stevie what can I do for you,” she said smiling broadly.
“I was hoping I could get in to have a massage with Anton,” I told her.
“Let me have a look at his schedule,” Tina says looking over the computer monitor behind the counter. She smiles at me again before picking up the phone. She turns away to speak into the phone at what should have been out of my hearing range. She had no idea she could have walked across the room and I could have heard her if I wanted to. “Mr. Gilbert, hello, it’s Tina over at the gym,” she said into the phone at a low tone as I tried not to eavesdrop. “I’m afraid Anton is going to have to reschedule.” “He isn’t feeling well today, can we get you in for next week.” “Oh I’m sorry to hear that, perhaps the week after.” “Good, good to see you then.” She walked back over to where I was waiting patiently at the counter. “Lucky you, Anton has an opening in ten minutes,” Tina smiled.
“Tina did you just do something bad?” I asks.
“Stevie if I can’t make you happy I wouldn’t be doing my job right,” Tina replied. “Afterwards, I can book your follow up for next week.”
“I don’t think I’ll need a follow up,” I told her. “You can just let Mr. Gilbert keep his appointment.”
“We’ll see what you think afterward,” Tina told me. “Why don’t you go get a shower and Anton will be ready for you soon.”
“So, you got those cameras installed in the men’s shower then?” I teased.
“I wish, now get going Anton has a full calendar today,” Tina replied. I smiled and headed to the locker room. I wished Tina hadn’t done that to poor Mr. Gilbert, but I have met Gilbert and he is a real dick so I couldn’t feel too guilty that I got his appointment. I strips down and hopped in the shower to rinse off for my massage. Funny thing was that I have never had a professional massage before so I really didn’t know what to expect. I toweled off and wrapped the towel around my waist to head for the massage suite.
“Oh hello,” Anton said with a deep European accent as I entered the suite. “You are not who I was expecting.”
“No, I’m not, I’m Steve,” I told Anton who is finishing wiping down his table. “Tina did some creative scheduling to get me in, I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, that’s fine,” Anton said. “Since this is your first time let me give you some ground rules.” “I start with the majority of the massage on your back.” “Then I’ll do a few things on your front, face, chest, arms and legs.” “If you become aroused that is fine, but there will be no happy ending.”
“Well that seems to have covered everything,” I replied relieved that I didn’t have to worry about the happy ending. “What about, towel?” “On or off?”
“That is completely up to you,” Anton told me, “Hop up on the table, belly down and we’ll get started.”
“What the hell,” I announced taking off my towel and laying it at the end of the massage table.
“You’re a brave one for a first timer,” Anton comments. “Most guys wait until the third or fourth massage.”
“I’ve never been very shy,” I joked. Anton began to rub warm oil onto my neck and shoulders. It was warm and instantly soothing. “That’s an interesting accent you have, where are you from originally?” I asked.
“Fonja, Belarus, I’m sure you never heard of it.” Anton responded as he worked my shoulders harder. “How’s the pressure, let me know if it is too much,” Anton said to me. “Are there any places you would like me to focus on?”
“Pressure’s good,” I replies almost moaning. “My left shoulder has been bothering me the past few days.” Anton move’s to work on my shoulder adding some more oil to my skin. It was now that I did moan hoping he hadn’t heard ‘;it. “What brought you to America?”
“Opportunity mostly,” Anton replied. “Now, enough talk, just relax.”
I was surprised that the massage really was working on me. I could feel the pain soothe in my shoulder as he rubbed me. Anton moved to down my left arm and then right before moving my back working each muscle group down to my waist.
The masseur spent most of his time working my back muscles and only a few minutes on my glutes barely enough time to oil them. Anton then focused on the muscles of my legs and ankles. The time seems to fly by as I thoroughly enjoys my first massage. “Okay flip,” Anton says rousing me from the brink of sleep. I rolled over on the table revealing I was at full mast.
“I’m so sorry,” I said laying back down grabbing for my towel to cover my boner. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“That’s fine, just means I’m doing my job relaxing you,” Anton says. “You’re not the first guy to get one of those on my table.” “That is why I make it clear no happy ending up front.” Anton moved to massage my jaw and face. Anton worked on my shoulders from the front, then my pecs and arms before skipping down to my legs again avoiding the tent under the towel completely. “Well, I’m all done, so I’ll give you a couple of minutes to rest before you get a shower.” “Don’t forget to make your follow up appointment on your way out.”
I was left alone in the room and could still feel my hard dick twitching under the towel. I wanted to touch it, to finish the job that Anton wouldn’t. But I knew that would just be foolish. I didn’t think about jerking off for long as I soon fell asleep on the massage table.
Steve staggers through a crowded room. He can hear the voices all around him but can not make out the faces of the people. Someone calls him by name but all he can think is he has to get out of this place. He ignores the voices and pushes on toward a door he can see up ahead. Someone grabs at his arm and he shoves the man away as he lunges at the door breaking it open. He staggers out into the open space and he is bathed in sunlight. His mind finally clears at the sound of the machines working around him. His confusion clears and he can see where he is standing. Looking all around he sees people using treadmills, stair climbers and free weights. Everyone stops what they are doing to look at him. It is then that Steve Roberts realizes that he is completely nude with a roaring erection in the center of his gym floor as patrons hoot and holler. He looks to the counter girl Tina, her arm around Walter Dillon, who points and laughs at him. His gaze turns to the bright sun shining in the front window where people stand on the street outside gawking at him. The sun becomes too bright to see anything.
When the light dims again, Steve and Paddy ride in their car talking as they drive. Steve is behind the wheel his eyes on the road watching every movement of the traffic in front of him as it all suddenly changes. “What the hell is that?” Paddy exclaims pointing out the windshield. Directly in front of them vehicles leaped up from the road, rolling end over end over top of each other.
“I don’t know but we better get out of its way,” Steve yells as he jerks the wheel to swerve the car. The car crosses into the oncoming lane that is empty. The flatbed truck in front of them was not so lucky. It jack knifes going into a spin that launched several ten foot rebar airborne. Steve swerves to miss a concrete barricade and the car comes to a stop in the center of the road. He turns to his passenger. Steve is in shock as he sees Paddy is impaled with the rebar. Three of the bars pierced the windshield, one out the back window, one logged in the Paddy’s chest and the third through his head. He didn’t see it coming or feel a thing.
Steve reaches over to check Paddy’s neck for a pulse hoping to find one, but he does not. Then he hears it. The growl is low a primal. Steve looks out what is left of the windshield to see it. A hulking creature stands at the front of the car, its long blonde hair billowing in the breeze. It stares at Steve as if it recognizes him before it raises its fists and brings them down on the hood causing a loud crash.
“Steve time to go,” Anton’s voice said as he shook my shoulder. I couldn’t believe I fell asleep or how sleepy I still was. “Let me give you a hand,” Anton says taking my arm to lift me from the table.
I staggered to my feet and out of the massage room. Being woken from such a deep sleep it was hard to focus on reality. My mind raced with images from the dream as I walked aimlessly toward a door. Then I felt another hand on my arm. “Buddy, you okay?” Paddy asked helping me make my way to the showers. In the communal shower the warm water revived me, bringing me back to my senses. “Steve are you okay?” Paddy asked again from the shower spray next to me.
“Ya, yeah, just a little sleepy is all,” I told him putting my face under the water and shaking my head. Shit, whatever I did changed everything, I thought. Somehow I made things worse, I went from exposing myself to killing my best friend.
Market Street
Philadelphia, Pa
“You still don’t look good, Buddy are you sure you are alright?” Paddy asks as we walked the few blocks to the precinct.
“I’ll be fine, like I said I’m just tired, that massage really relaxed me,” I replied knowing I couldn’t tell him about my dream but I had to play it cool now.
“I told you Anton works miracles,” Paddy repeats. “How’s your shoulder?”
I reached out my right arm over my left shoulder, “Good actually, I doesn’t hurt at all.” “I feel like I could lift another semi.” “Did you know Anton is from Belarus?”
“Where’s that?” Paddy chimed.
“Somewhere in Europe I guess, from the sound of his accent,” I told him.
Philadelphia Elite Squad office
1st precinct
Philadelphia, Pa
Officers Bower and Zadlo are off for the weekend leaving Paddy and me to deal with whatever might come up. “Hey Steve, what was the story with that kid last month?” Paddy calls across the room to me as I got a cup of strong black coffee.
“More specific, what kid?” I asked returning to my desk. I really wasn’t feeling like myself but I didn’t want to say anything to Paddy, at least not yet.
“The one with the bad skin, Tyler Bruce,” Paddy explains. “Remember everyone thought he was making his classmates sick.”
“What about him?” I asked feeling as if he was somehow important to me changing that dream I had last night.
“Got a follow up report that he is in Abington hospital,” Paddy told me. “Do you think we need to go check it out?”
“Got anything better to do?” I suggested hoping that getting out of this office would bring me back to life.
“Not right now, it is still ten hours before the Friday night shit hits the fan,” Paddy comments standing up to take his jacket off the back of his chair.
“You drive,” I said getting up gulping down my coffee. “I’ll let Olpere know where we’re going while you bring up the car.” As I walked to Commander Olpere’s office I thought about my dream again. I didn’t want Paddy to know that if we went anywhere in a car together today there was a good chance he could die if I was driving.
It’s a little over an hour ride up Rt. 611 to Abington Hospital. “So how did you do it?” Paddy asked out of the blue.
“Do what?” I asked looking over at my partner.
“How did you keep your secret as a kid?” Paddy asked. We had talked about a lot of stuff over the past year, but not so much about my powers. I kind of got the feeling talking about it made Paddy uncomfortable.
“I guess it was my parents who get credit for that,” I told him. “They trained me to understand and control my powers.” “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Tyler.” “Gaining abilities and no one knowing how it works, it must have been impossible.”
“Is that why you wanted to let the kid go?” Paddy asked.
“Well that and the fact that he really didn’t do anything wrong,” I told him. “I only wish I could have done more to help the kid.”
As we drove I got a tickle in my throat, then suddenly I coughed and then again. “Wow, I don’t think I ever heard you cough before,” Paddy said looking over at me.
“I don’t think I have ever coughed in my whole life,” I said as I coughed again. “This is impossible, I don’t get sick!” I exclaimed.
Not far from Abington Hospital
Old York Road
Willow Grove, Pa
“What the hell is that?” Paddy exclaims. Directly in front of us vehicles leaped up from the road, rolling end over end over top of each other. It was just like in my dream.
“I don’t know but you better get out of its way,” I yelled grabbing the wheel to swerve the car. Our car crossed into the oncoming lane that was empty. The flatbed truck in front of us was not so lucky. It jackknifed going into a spin that launched several ten foot rebar airborne, just like I remembered. In my dream I was driving and it was the passenger, Paddy who was impaled with them. This time Paddy was safe because of my fast action. I was a different story. Three of the bars pierced the windshield, one out the back window, one into the back seat and the third through my shoulder pinning me to the seat as the car jumped the curb.
“Shit!” Shit” Paddy shouted when the car came to a stop and he looked over at me. He is usually good under stress like this but I guess the sight of me impaled on the seat was a lot to handle.
I reached for the bar and tried to pull it out. It wouldn’t budge, I felt so helpless just like in the dream. There was definitely something wrong with me. “You need to help me pull this thing out, I can’t get enough leverage,” I told Paddy.
“Are you insane, you’ll bleed out!” he shouted at me. “I’m calling for an ambulance he said reaching for the radio.
“We don’t have time for that!” I told him through clenched teeth my hand still on the rod. “I know what happens next and it is coming for me!”
“You know what happens next?” he repeated. “What the hell does that mean?” He moved around fumbling under the seat. I assumed for the first aid kit.
“Later, right now we have to get out of here before it arrives!” I pleaded. “Get over here and help me pull this thing out of me!” Paddy climbed on top of me, his butt on the dashboard, he was having a hard time finding a placement for his right foot. “Shit, just put your foot between my legs, I’ll hold it with my thighs so you don’t kick me in the nuts!” I shouted at him. “Now get a hold of this thing and pull on three!” “One, two, three!” Paddy pulled and I pulled and I screamed, “Ffuuuucccckkk!”
“I don’t think I’ve heard you swear like that,” Paddy said shoving a roll of gauze from the first aid kit in the hole in my shoulder. “There is a lot of blood, we have to slow it before you can move.”
“No time we have to go, I can’t fight this thing like this!” I told him grabbing the wad of gauze holding it on my shoulder. Paddy climbed off of me so I could spin around to kick off the door. Paddy got out the driver side and ran around the car to help me out.
“It’s okay I’ve got you,” he said as he took my arm again like back in the gym. I think he was actually enjoying seeing me in this rough shape. Then we heard the roar from my dream. We turned to see it charging down the road towards us.
“Run!” I shouted. “We have to run now!” Paddy had a hold of me under my right armpit and he started pulling me along.
I could hear that thing behind us and I knew how strong it was. I was slowing Paddy down. It took all that I had but I lifted Paddy’s feet from the ground and ran. “What the hell?” Paddy exclaimed.
“Just put pressure on my shoulder,” I told him through clenched teeth, the pain was excruciating. I still had the feeling something was wrong with me. The blood just kept coming, the pain was more than I thought it should be with the rod removed, and I was getting winded fast. We had made our way through several blocks of store front toward the Willow Grove Park Mall. My thought was that the openness of the empty parking lot would be the best place to deal with this creature without too much property damage. But I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. When I got to the bottom of the hill there was a creek that my only option was to make the leap and hope no one noticed. I could feel myself passing out as I came down on the blacktop of the parking lot. I let go of Paddy but all the training we had done taught him how to tuck and roll.
“Shit!” he shouted. “It’s right on our ass!” I was on my knees not even sure if I could stand up as I looked to see Paddy draw his gun. I had to smile, I was just glad he was still alive. The alarming thing was the amount of my blood on his hands and shirt. I felt dizzy as I turned to face the creature as it bounded into the parking lot. It was massive, about seven feet tall with scraggly blonde hair and arms like oak trees. Its eyes were red with blood and it growled at us. I was so weak I could barely get back to my feet as Paddy began to fire at it.
I watched as the bullets struck the hulking creature as it kept pressing on toward Paddy. He had drawn its full attention away from me. Seeing the bullets hit it I noticed there was no blood, I realized that the thing was more bloated that muscular. The bullets were not piercing its skin but being taken in and pushed out again, My observation of the scene gave the thing too much time to close in on Paddy who was still shooting at it.
I couldn’t let it hurt my partner, I had to do something. With my last bit of strength I rushed the hulking thing. I tackled the bloated creature pushing it to the blacktop. I couldn’t even get my arms around it as we rolled across the parking lot. I was thrown off by its sheer mass and lay on the blacktop in too much pain to move. I rolled onto my side as I began coughing again. My head spinning I tried to crawl away to catch my breath, but the hulk got a hold on my leg. The blonde headed beast held me down and crawled on top of me. It’s weight was nothing like I imagined it would be, it felt light compared to its size. Then as its puffy face stared down at me through swollen eyes a thick yellow pus dripped from its left side where it was scraped open on the pavement. It oozed with the thick goop as it reached out its fat finger. I tried to squirm free but couldn’t as it shoved the digit into the bloody hole in my shoulder made by the rebar.
“Ffuuuucccckkk!” I screamed out again before losing consciousness.
Walter Dillon signs the paperwork to receive a new body into the morgue. The two orderlies bring the body bag in on a gurney. It is clear that special precautions have been taken with this body to keep the contaminants contained. Walter follows the men down the corridor to the prepared room. Once alone inside the sealed room, Walter’s gloved hands unzip the bag to exposes a face. It is the body of Jeremy Gilbert in the bag. Walter zips the bag and leaves the room.
Exiting the exam room Walter learns he is not alone. “What are you doing here?” he asks the woman standing in the shadows of the basement morgue corridor. “It’s not that I’m not glad to see you, but you shouldn’t be here.”
The woman speaks to him in a European accent, “I just wanted to come by to spend some time with you.” “Learn about your work.”
Abington Hospital
Old York Road
Abington, PA
Springing up in the bed, I awoke in a hospital room. How did I get here? I looked down at my left arm where a tube ran from a needle in my forearm. My first instinct was to pull it out, but then I thought it was too late, they already had my blood. With all I had done, I was still going to be outed as a Zeni-human.
I looked to the window to see the sunrise at a distance. It was then that I noticed I was not alone, I had a roommate. He was asleep but I recognized him at once, Tyler Bruce the kid we were coming to see. He looked banged up, like he was in some kind of fight. Speaking of fight, my shoulder was itching. I pulled down the neck of the hospital gown I was wearing to see a bloodied bandage. I peeled back the bandage on my shoulder to see that I had stitches on my wound. I had never had stitches before or been in a hospital. The wound from the rebar was all but healed, it was only the stitches that were keeping the wound from healing completely. Then I felt something else strange, lower down. I lifted the blankets and my gown to see another tube coming out of my dick.
“Look who’s awake,” Paddy said coming in the room drinking a cup of coffee, “How’s that working out for you?”
“What the hell is this?” I said looking over at him still holding up the blankets.
“It’s called a catheter,” Paddy grinned, “So you don’t piss the bed.” “Not that I think the nurses would mind cleaning you up every couple of hours.”
“Not that, what happened, how did I get here?” I questioned as I lowered the blanket. “Why am I in the room with Tyler?”
“Basically you did what you do Mr. Hero,” Paddy said sitting down in a chair with his coffee. “You saved my life by tackling that big guy.” “Then it stuck its finger in your wound.” “It let out and unearthly howl and then fell over next to you on the pavement unconscious.”
“So what happened next?” I asked hating to hear the answer.
“I called an ambulance,” Paddy told me.
“What the hell were you thinking,” I demanded.
“Not for you, for him,” Paddy said pointing to kid in the next bed. “Minutes after that thing attacked you it began to shrink.” “Wither away until all that was left was the kid.”
I looked over at Tyler, it was him all along. “How, why?” I questioned.
“It would appear that the kid actual absorbs the sickness of others,” Paddy explained. “He overloaded somehow.” “Went berserk and busted out of the hospital.”
“What reversed it then?” I quizzed.
“Ahhh, the twist,” Paddy grinned. “Remember that coughing you were doing in the car?” I nodded my head. “Seemed you picked some kind of Zeni-virus or something.” “When he stuck his finger in your shoulder he absorbed the sickness,” Paddy says looking over at the kid again. “That is why he was attracted to you and somehow the virus that made you sick cured him.”
“How do you know that?” I asked fearing the answer.
“The blood on your shirt was full of the virus but the blood in your body has only antibodies,” Paddy explained.
“The blood in my body?” I said shocked at the thought of my blood being tested. My worst fear had been realized. “How could you let that happen?”
“Believe me I tried to stop it, but there was nothing I could do,” Paddy said standing up to crush his paper coffee cup and toss it in the trash can. “There was just so much blood and you wouldn’t wake up, I was really worried.”
I sat there in the bed for a moment think over how it must have been for Paddy. “Does Olpere know?” I asked softly.
Paddy got the biggest smile on his face, “Olpere got here about an hour after we did.” “She spent most of the night here waiting for your blood work results.”
“Fuck!” I muttered.
“Really getting hooked on that word aren’t you,” Paddy smiled again. “It is unnecessary though, you know that DNA marker that Zeni-humans have?” “You don’t have it.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “How is that possible?”
“I wondered that myself after Olpere stormed out of here last night.” Paddy told me. “It couldn’t have been a lab mix-up, there was just too much blood tested.” “Is it possible that because you were born with your powers and not acquired them later so you don’t have that marker?”
“I don’t know,” I said laying back in the bed relieved. The virus though how could I have gotten such a thing I wondered. I was fine when I got up this morning. “It’s Saturday isn’t it?” I asked looking back to the low hanging sun.
“Yep,” Paddy answered, “You’ve been asleep since yesterday afternoon.” “Doctors are amazed at how quick you are healing.” “I suggested that it must be because of the kid.” “They are buying it too.”
“Thanks for that,” I told him looking back to Tyler. “How is he doing?” “Where are his parents?”
“The doctors think he will come out of it,” Paddy told me, “But it is hard to tell with such an unknown element as a Zeni-virus.” “No one has ever seen such a thing before.” “As for his parents we are still looking for them.” “It appears that Tyler ran away from home and his parents did the same after reporting him missing.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “That is horrible!”
“Like you said you were lucky to have your parents growing up,” Paddy told me walking around the bed to get a closer look at the teen. “Can you really be that surprised?” “You remember what they were like when we met them.” “If they could have put a sixteen year old up for adoption they would have done it.”
“So the virus is working in reverse on him?” I quizzed.
“Something like that, the Doctor said,” Paddy told me. “It is expelling all of the other sickness that he took into his body.”
I thought back to the previous day again and realized something. “I first started feeling sick after that massage at the gym, is it possible I picked it up there?” I suggested.
“I thought the same thing and I had all night to work on the case,” Paddy grinned again. “Went through a list of everyone else that was having massages that day.”
“So Detective what did you find out?” I questioned.
“Got nothing from that angle so I turned to Anton Simon himself.” “Well, I remembered what you said about him being from Belarus, so I put out a search on him,” Paddy explained. “There was no record of an Anton Simon in Belarus for the past three decades.” “Then I remembered Tina calling him Anton Boris one day when I was at the gym with Paula.” “So I put out a search that, found a Anton Boris Slawomir born in Fonja, Belarus sixty years ago.”
“That couldn’t be him there is no way he is sixty,” I insisted.
“Hello, we are dealing with a Zeni-human here,” Paddy affirmed to me. “If he is transmitting a Zeni-human virus it isn’t too big of a stretch to think he is older than he looks.” “Plus around twenty years after his birth, Anton Slawomir vanished from Fonja, Belarus after there were several unusual Flu deaths.”
“So where did he go detective?” Paddy was so much better at this than he would ever admit. He was right there was no reason for me to believe that the Amazons were the only people in the world who didn’t age normally.
“I searched strange flu deaths in that year in Europe,” Paddy continued. “Poznan, Poland was the next occurrence ten years later.” “Then Mannheim, Germany after fifteen years and Tours, France fifteen years later.”
“Now here, right?” I guessed.
“Now here!” Paddy asserted.
“So did you go get him?” I asked.
“Problem is if he is spreading a virus no one can get close to him,” Paddy explained. “Except someone with antibodies that make him immune, I only know one guy like that.”
“You mean me, so what are we waiting for?” I said pulling the needle out of my arm. “I hope you brought me some clean clothes!” I threw back the blanket and jumped up out of the bed to find a bag of piss hanging between my legs from my dick. “Shit, what am I going to do with this thing?”
Paddy was laughing at the pendulum swinging at my knees when he said, “You could tuck it in your pant leg.”
“Thanks big help!” I grumbled reeling the bag in by the tube. I gave it a tug but it wouldn’t move, it held tight inside me.
“Here sit down on the bed,” Paddy told me. He walked over to stand in front of me. “My wife, Michelle was a nurse you know.”
“No, I didn’t,” I said as Paddy lifted my gown. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“Just relax, there is a balloon in your bladder that has to be deflated,” he told me twisting a value on the tube under my gown. I felt the pressure inside me lessen, then Paddy put his hand on my junk over the gown and pulled the tube out with one jerk.
“Shit, what the fuck man!” I exclaimed. I took one look at the thing on the end of the tube Paddy was holding. “Shit man!” I repeated pulling up my gown to look at my dick. It was fine, not even a sign of blood or damage. If I had to pick my one vulnerable area on my body, that was it!
“Relax Buddy, dicks are more resilient than you think,” Paddy said throwing the catheter into a medical waste can. “Now get dressed, we have a scumbag to bust!”
Apollo Gym
Philadelphia, PA
With the help of a team of police officers we cleared out the gym without alerting Anton. Or so we believed. I handed Paddy my gun to go into the locker room alone. “Wait you might need that,” Paddy called to me.
“We don’t know how this virus spreads, if he gets shot it might cause an epidemic,” I told him before opening the door. Inside the locker room a few guys were left in there getting dressed. I quietly got them out. Then I headed toward the massage room. I stepped inside relieved to see that Anton had no client.
“Anton Simon you are under arrest for the murder of Jeremy Gilbert,” I announced upon entering the massage suite holding up my badge.
“Guess again!” the masseur shouted at me as he lunged forward shoving me back out of the suite into the lockers. We crashed back into a row of lockers knocking them over causing a domino effect to the wall. Instinctively, I flipped Anton up over my head and into the communal shower room. He was much stronger than I expected but most of my strength had returned. It was clear to me now that the virus had made the injury worse than it should have been. My shoulder was still stiff from my injury, but it was surprising how quickly it was healing. Whatever Tyler’s powers were he must have done more than just take the virus from me.
I climbed up over the lockers. “Things will go much better for you if you just stop and come along quietly,” I said jumping down off of the toppled lockers into the showers. I was relieved to see that my rash action hadn’t left him bleeding. I figured that I should play along to find out what this guy was really up to. Beside it would give my shoulder a rest. When he lunged at me, I let him shove me back, pinning me to the wall with his left forearm across my throat. I have to admit he was fast too. He ripped open the front of my shirt before I knew it was happening. The only way I can describe what he did next was to say he gave me a tittie twister. He seemed disappointed with the result as he backed away releasing me.
“I don’t understand, what is going on?” Anton mumbled looking to his hand. “I should have been able to draw out your strength!” he shouted, making it clear to me at this point how the virus was used.
“If you are finished feeling me up, I’ll say it again, You are under arrest!” I told him. That only seemed to piss him off more as he threw himself across the tiled room like an attacking bear. I let him knock me down again pinning me to the floor this time. His hands went for my throat to choke me, I put on a good show. I guess I was a good actor because this guy was buying it. I just remembered back to when my Mom was training me and had me in a choke hold. I took what it felt like and just went with it to an extreme.
The dope leaned over me grinning down at me as he spilled it all. “I have been doing this for decades, never before has anyone lost the virus!” “I need to get it back if I am to steal your strength.”
“Is that what you have been doing, stealing men’s strength with the virus?” I asked forgetting my choking act. “Then why did you kill Jeremy Gilbert?”
“I had nothing to do with that, that was your fault for stealing his follow up appointment.” “I have the strength of ten men and there is nothing you can do to stop me!” “Except die!” “You must still have the virus buried deep in you!” he yelled then he pressed his mouth to mine.
Okay this had gone far enough. When he pulled back I ended my choking act, saying, “Well I guess that covers it all.” Taking hold of his wrists, I took his hands easily from my throat. “You have no idea who you are dealing with and your strength is more like five men.” “Plus you’re a bad kisser.” I had him face down on the tile floor and handcuffed with in minutes.
Philadelphia Elite Squad office
1st precinct
Philadelphia, Pa
Anton Simon in custody, Commander Olpere interviewed him as usual, while Paddy and I watched from behind the one-way mirror glass. This was the first time I watched one of Olpere’s interviews with no fear of what the suspect would say to give me away. I knew that what happened with Tyler would explain most of it a way. Not to mention my negative Zeni-human test that I could tell was still bugging Olpere. There was something bugging me too. Anton continued denying that he had anything to do with Gilbert’s death. Everything he said about the virus lined up with what we knew already. He even denied the other deaths in Europe but not his age or how long he had been stealing the strength of others.
It was getting late when I returned to my desk, I was relieved that Olpere had left after finishing with Simon. I couldn’t take it any more as I began to rummage through my desk drawers. Paddy came in behind me saying, “What are you looking for?” As usual my scissors were missing. If there was a theft ring in the Philly PD it was running on scissors.
“Ahhh, this will work!” I announced pulling a pair of nail clippers from my top desk drawer. Paddy sat down at his desk across from me to watch as I unbuttoned my shirt and lower if to my waist. I pulled off the bandage covering the wound from the rebar. I used the nail clippers to snip the threads of the stitches in my shoulder then pulled them out.
“You know you were supposed to leave them in for another two weeks right,” Paddy told me.
“Does it look like I need them for another two weeks?” I asked as the needle holes in my skin closed.
“Could you just do me a favor and get the ones on my back the itching are driving me crazy,” Paddy got up and reluctantly did as I asked. I think he was trying to make it hurt as he ripped off the bandage tape.
He clipped and pulled out the stitches to say, “That is fucking amazing!” as my skin closed up perfectly leaving as little scar as it did on my chest. Paddy handed me back the clippers and threw the bandage and threads in the trash can before returning to his chair. I rotated my arm to stretch out my shoulder. The real problem was going to be the stitches on the inside that would still take weeks to dissolve, even though I was completely healed.
I put my shirt back on before reading through all of the research Paddy had done last night while I was in the hospital. As usual Paddy’s research was very detailed, he was a good detective if he would admit it or not. Oddly it looked like it was the disappearance of Anton’s mother, Katina Slawomir, that made him leave Fonja, Belarus not the death of several of his victims. What I read didn’t calm my suspicions. Why would Anton kill any of the people he infected if he needed to reclaim the virus to use it for himself. If it wasn’t Anton killing his victims who was?
“So yesterday,” Paddy began from across the desks. “You said you knew what came next,” “That it was coming for you.” “What do you mean by that?”
I put the files down on the desk and thought about what Paddy was asking. It was one of the few secrets I still had from my partner and I wasn’t sure how he would handle this one. Everything I have seen in my dreams recently made it clear that Paddy had become an important part of my life and it wasn’t right not to trust him completely. “Are you sure you want to know?” I asked not expecting him to do anything other than he did. He gave me a glare that said, yes. “I told you I have a kind of danger sense, that warns me of impending danger.” Paddy nodded, my danger sense was one of my powers that he never really fully understood. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about my precognitions. “Sometimes it is more than that.” “I have dreams that show me how events can go wrong.”
“You have dreams of the future?” Paddy questioned.
“I like to think of them as warnings,” I told him again. “The dream are usually incomplete and vague.” “I never know when what I dream will happen or how to change it for the better.” “I have to figure it out as I go.” “If I try to avoid the events altogether things usually get worse.”
“So what did you dream about this case?” Paddy asked a lot more accepting than I thought he would be.
“Nothing to begin with, but what I did caused all of this to take place,” I told him.
“Just tell me where this all started,” Paddy insisted.
“Thursday night I had a dream that when we went to the gym you suggested that I get a massage and I said no,” I explained. “Instead I went to the bench press and got caught by Dillon’s kid lifting 500 lbs.” “He announced it to the whole gym, outing me.”
“So why did you it on Friday anyway, you idiot?” Paddy charged.
“Like I said if I had avoided the gym all together something worse could have happened,” I told him. “Small changes work the best.” Instead of doing the bench press last and alone I did it first and with you spotting me.” “That way I completely avoided being outed.” “But by having the massage it began the events that led to this case.”
“So you should have quit while you were ahead?” Paddy suggested.
“But then we would have never learned what Anton was up to,” I justified. “Or that Tyler could cure me of his virus.”
“Kind of like karma?” Paddy said. “But how did you know about Tyler?”
“I didn’t really,” I told him. “When Anton was giving me the massage I fell asleep and had a dream where we were attacked by the creature.”
Paddy got a confused look on his face. “So you knew you were going to get hit with that rebar?” he quizzed. “Why didn’t you do something to change that?”
I was afraid of telling him, would come to this moment. Paddy had been taking this story much better than I thought he would. “That was the result of the change I made,” I told him. I could tell Paddy was think through what I had said. I hoped he would ask but he did.
“What happened in your dream that made taking a metal rod in the shoulder better?” he asked.
“Let me just say in my dream I was driving.” I could tell Paddy had worked out in his head what I was saying. He got up from his desk rubbing his head and pacing the floor. I could tell he didn’t want to know anymore about my dreams. He went to get himself a cup of coffee as I sat thinking about the smaller details of my dreams and what I had learned by changing them. Firstly I met Walter Dillon, then we learned that Anton Simon was giving people a Zeni-human virus. Wait there was something else, something about Tina. She was in every one of my dreams in the gym. She has always been such a piece of the woodwork that I never even thought about her. “Hey I forgot something, it was Tina that gave Gilbert’s appointment to me,” I reminded Paddy. “What if she knew about what Anton was up to?”
Paddy came back over to the desk drinking his coffee, “You mean she had a reason to choose Gilbert to miss his appointment so she could kill him?” “How could she have possibly known about Anton if no one else did for sixty years?” The thought was off the cuff but it would explain why she was always in the background of my dreams. In the one she was very chummy with Walter. Wait, in the last dream I had at the hospital Walter was surprised to see someone when he was checking in Gilbert’s body.
“We need to get to the morgue, right now,” I exclaimed, jumping up from the desk.
“Something from another dream?” Paddy asked putting down his coffee and grabbing his jacket to follow me.
“Something I read in your research actually,” I called to him as I pressed the elevator button.
The traffic through the city was heavy like it was on most Sundays when the Eagles play, giving Paddy plenty of time to question me about my dreams. “So do you have these dreams every time you go to sleep?” he asked, I had a feeling still not trusting me as he drove.
“No, the dreams are completely unpredictable.” I told him. “At one point I thought the dreams came with the phases of the moon.” “That proved to be wrong.” “I still have no idea what causes them, but most of the time the dreams show me traumatic events.” “Hell, when I was in Boston, I had a dream that made no sense at all, I have no idea when it will happen.” I had no desire to tell him that dream was manipulated by magic.
“What was the first thing you saw in a dream when you started working with me?” Paddy asked.
“It after when Nicholas DeScalo offered me that job working for him,” I explained.
“Is that how you knew all that stuff about the money laundering business?” Paddy interjected.
I smiled at him, “That has been eating at you for a year now hasn’t it?” “Sometimes I have dreams about making the wrong decision.” “I learned what it would be like to work for DeScalo and a lot of his secrets.”
Medical Examiner’s Office
321 S University Ave,
Philadelphia, PA 19104
It took nearly an hour to get to the morgue. It was late and for the most part everyone had gone home, just like in my dream. I drew my gun as we entered the building deciding to play it normal cop this time. Paddy did the same asking, “Who are we looking for anyway?”
“A woman, possibly Tina,” told him.
“Tina, what does she have to do with all of this?” Paddy asked.
We made our way to the elevator as I tried to explain. “To question of how could anyone else know what Anton was doing?” “The only answer is that he has been caught before we caught him.” “Then why would that person not turn him in?”
“Because he killed them!” Paddy replied as we got in the elevator and pushed the button to the basement morgue.
“If we go on the premise that he isn’t lying when he says he didn’t kill anyone because he needed them,” I suggested. “Then someone else must have a reason for killing those people.” The elevator doors opened and the corridor was empty. We stepped out guns drawn at the ready as we walked. I lead the way down the hall toward the room where I saw Walter surprised by the intruder.
Turning the corner we saw Walter on the floor. Hurrying to his aid we found that he was only unconscious. We turned to the morgue lab door, the inside was dimly lit. “Cover me,” I said opening the lab door and stepping inside. Gilbert was laid out on the table the body bag wide open. We scanned the dimly lit room finding someone moving in the darkest of corners.
“We can see you there,” Paddy said. “Step forward!” he instructed aiming his gun. The woman in the shadow stepped forward into the light. It was Tina but I don’t think Paddy recognized her at first because she was about a decade older than the Juice Girl we knew from the gym. In her hand she held something that dripped onto the floor. “Who are you?” Paddy demanded. “What are you doing here.”
“It’s Tina,” I said. “But that isn’t your real name anymore than Anton Simon is his name.” The woman remained quiet. “You’ve known him for a very long time.” “Does he even know you are still alive?”
“No,” she said softly.
“It has been so long he didn’t even recognize you at the gym did he?” I quizzed. She didn’t respond to my question but I knew I was right. “You have been following him for a very long time.” I backed up still holding my gun on her along with Paddy. I looked at Gilbert’s body there was an incision in his gut and something was removed. “The virus works on the endocrine system, doesn’t it?” She remained silent. I remembered what I learned from that alien scan about my endocrine system. That is why it made me sick, my organs are bigger. “What organ is it you have there?” “An adrenal gland?” “You found a way to use the virus to your advantage, to keep you young.”
“What the hell are you on about?” Paddy asked.
“I have the feeling that if we were to research those deaths before Anton moved on we would find that the bodies were vandalized,” I suggested. “You have been harvesting organs to keep you young at the cost of lives.” She knew that I was right and before Paddy or I knew it she had shoved the bloody organ in her hand into her mouth and ate it.
“Wow, that was disgusting!” Paddy exclaimed. But what we witnessed next was nothing less than incredible. The middle-aged woman crumbled to the floor in pain, where she was quickly transformed into the young girl we knew from the gym. When she stood up and stepped closer into the light we could see that her facial features had changed slightly and her hair was lighter like that of Jeremy Gilbert.
“That explains how Anton doesn’t recognize you,” I said. “With each rejuvenation you take on some of the DNA of the victim.” “If my guess is right we are looking at the latest version of Katina Slawomir.”
“Anton’s mother?” Paddy announced in disbelief.
“Very clever Stevie,” she said blood still running down the corner of her mouth, that she wiped with the back of her hand. “So you are more than just a pretty face and killer bod.” “I suppose you want to know how this all started too.”
“The origin story isn’t necessary, a confession will do fine,” I told her.
“A confession, you want a confession from me?” she smirked. “Fine, it is all that selfish toad’s fault.” “I was fifteen when he was born.” “I did everything for him, even after his father was killed in the war!” “What did he do for me?” “He let me get old while he stayed young!!!” “Then one day after I found out his secret I met one of his victims.” “I could smell that virus of Anton’s surging through the girl’s body.” “I hated her for what she would give to him!” “So I killed her!” “That was sixty long years ago in Fonja!” “Can you arrest me for that?” “Who will believe you?”
“Times are changing, Tina,” I told her as she continues her rant.
“As the girl lay on the ground bleeding I suddenly knew what I must do, I don’t know how I knew, I just did!” “I took my knife and I cut her open,” Tina told us. “I could smell the virus, it was concentrated in one of her organs so I cut it out.” “I devoured it right there in that dark field.” “It gave me vigor as it did him and it changed me, made me just a bit younger.” “I wasn’t young enough!” “I continued hunting his prey one by one to take what I needed.” “The fool actually thought he was killing them.” “He had no idea that his virus was completely harmless to normal humans.” “That is why he ran, why he continued to run.” Her words made me think, if the virus is harmless to non-Zeni-humans than why did it make me so sick?
“Then what about Walter Dillon?” Paddy shouted.
“Like most of you he was just a pawn, I used him to get access to the morgue,” Tina replied. “It is so much easier to walk in than break in.” She said pulling her hand from behind her back in with she held the knife that she used to open up Gilbert. “It’s easier to walk out too,” she said backing toward the door. She backed out the door as we moved forward with her in our sights.
Once outside in the hall we could hear some kind of struggle. Paddy and I looked at each other silently agreeing to follow. We stepped out into the hall to get a big surprise. Tina held the knife to the throat of Commander Olpere. What was she doing here? Her nose was bleeding and her gun was lying on the floor.
“Looks like you two didn’t come alone,” Tina said an angry look on her face. “She was listening at the door but I forgot to mention the vigor I get from the virus some might call strength.” “Take one more step and I will cut her head clean off!”
“Just calm down, Tina there is no reason for that,” Paddy said. He was always good in these situations. “It’s like you said, we have nothing to charge you with, unless you hurt someone else.” Tina began to drag Olpere down the hallway backward.
Paddy and I were so focused on Tina’s movements that it was too late by the time we saw what Olpere had been doing. Olpere always carried more than one gun. She had a small pistol concealed in her jacket pocket that she pulled out and put up to the side of her head, under Tina’s chin.
“NO!” I shouted but it was too late. Commander Olpere fired the small caliber bullet under Tina’s chin and into her head. The Juice Girl went limp as her arm fell from Olpere’s throat and she collapsed backwards to the floor. Freed from her attacker’s grip Olpere stumbled forward dropping the gun and grabbing for her ear as Paddy caught her. I sprang to aid Tina, but it was too late, she was dead before she hit the floor. “Why the hell did you do that!” I turned back shouting at my boss.
“She was a dangerous threat, a murderer, you heard what she said,” Commander Olpere responded holding her right ear. “There was no way we could prosecute her for Gilbert’s murder or any of the others.” “Besides, we already have our killer.”
“But Anton Simon is innocent of murder,” I reminded.
“But he is a dangerous Zeni-human just the same!” Commander Olpere insisted.
I was furious at Olpere. She was wrong to shoot Tina but there was nothing I could do now. Except maybe get Anton not charged for his mother’s murders. “I’m going to call for backup and an ambulance!” I told my Boss and partner as I headed for the elevator.
Commander Olpere came away from the incident with a broken nose so she took off the rest of the weekend, I wouldn’t see her again until after the holiday. Alone in the office all of Sunday filling out paperwork Paddy and I had plenty of time to talk about what had happened. He agreed that I was right that Olpere should not have killed Tina, but he also knew how to play “the game” of being a cop. Over the last year I had come to hate “the game”. I had made my decision and I told Paddy what I intended to do come Wednesday morning. He was not happy with it but he understood how I felt.
I spent most of the Christmas holiday helping my parents and sister pack up to move to Florida. There was talk for awhile that I might want to buy their house and move back in with Paddy, but it would have just been weird seeing as I was about to quit my job. It was a bittersweet holiday last Christmas in the house I grew up in. Somehow I knew my life would never be the same afterward.
I managed to get a hold of Gary’s cousin David Rogers to accept his job offer at his detective agency. I would begin in February giving Commander Olpere plenty of time to find a replacement for me on the Elite Squad. I almost hoped that my leaving would be the end of the squad but I knew that would not be good for Paddy who had really come to love his job again.
First thing Monday morning December 29, 1986 I marched my butt into Commander Olpere’s office to give my two weeks notice. Her reaction was not at all what I expected. She almost seemed to be glad I was leaving.
Paddy told me later at home he thought she didn’t care if I left because she found out that I didn’t have the Zeni-human marker. That was just fine with me. If she had suspected me of being a Zeni-human and that suspicion was gone now that was to my benefit.