Centurion- Dark Genesis Read online

  His once poor stamina had likewise given way to a degree of endurance which made it appear as if his altered physiology produced no fatigue poisons. He ended up running the many miles it took to reach home in under a half hour, and without becoming the least bit winded. All of this was done as more or less a reflex action borne of his haste to escape being identified by the owner of the junkyard; and to avoid having to hurt him as he did the dog.

  I can’t believe I just K.O.’d a Rottweiler. And I reacted so swiftly, it was never able to reach me in the first place. I always had fast reflexes, but this… this is uncanny. And also totally bad-ass.

  A malicious grin of satisfaction now shone across the young man’s face as he pondered what he would do upon arriving at school the following morning.

  Chapter 5: No One Messes with Benny

  Benny wore a strangely calm expression as he exited the West Utica Street subway station on Monday morning. Buffalo Historical School was a mere two block strut from that location. He ignored the quintet of giggling female classmates of his who stepped out of the subway exit at the same time he did. They ignored him in turn, as was usually the case.

  Just you wait, he said to them silently. You don’t know it yet, but as of today, I’m now the ultimate ‘big man on campus.’ Let’s see whose attention you’ll be clamoring for soon.

  Benny clenched his right fist as hard as he could to vent and control his festering anger. The now familiar tingling sensation of the amazing energies that coursed through his cellular matrix gave him a quick boost of confidence. For the first time in his tortured life, he didn’t feel helpless and vulnerable. He didn’t feel as if he had to avoid or fear anyone. Just to grant himself further reassurance that he didn’t wake up from an incredible dream this morning, he ducked behind the subway station and punched the side of its marble wall. His fist sunk halfway into the hard ivory-hued mineral, with the resulting hole surrounded by a web of zig-zagging cracks.

  Benny grinned with great satisfaction as he looked at the impossible damage he did to the side of the station, once more reminded that the fantastic was no longer limited to his imagination or daydreams. This was followed by an approving glance at his still clenched fist. The skin was barely even skinned by the full impact blow he had just delivered to hard marble. He then resumed his walk towards the school, barely able to keep a malignant beam of anticipation from appearing on his face.

  ***

  As Benny entered the front door of the school, Craig Minkel saw his friend step in and ran to catch up with him.

  “Hey, dude, I never saw you clamber into the building like you owned the place like this before,” Craig noted with a sarcastic gleam. “And where the hell were you all weekend? You weren’t answering your texts, so I figured your date with Marissa didn’t go very well. If it did, you would have called and told me. Unless she invited you over her house on Friday night and you ended up staying all through Sunday, in which case…”

  “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Benny replied firmly.

  He still had no idea if it was a good idea to tell Craig everything that happened to him over the weekend. He certainly didn’t believe that the time, if it ever came, was the present. But he did know that he needed Craig out of his way for the duration of the school day. He couldn’t risk his one good friend getting involved in the events Benny was planning to initiate.

  “So, who pissed in your corn flakes this morning? Did you get into another fight with your grandparents or something?”

  “No, I just have a lot on my mind right now. I’ll call you later if I need to talk. As of today, I have things to take care of, so expect me to be scarce, alright?”

  “Fine. I just wanted to know how things went, but I think you just gave me the answer. I’m sorry, I know how much you liked her. I figured it wouldn’t turn out good, but I didn’t want to piss all over your party. See you later, man.”

  With more than a tinge of attitude in his tone of voice, Craig huffed off to let his friend deal with whatever he was dealing with on his own.

  With that taken care of, Benny strolled to the corridor where he knew he was likely to find Marissa Robbins at her locker. The girl’s schedule was well known to him, since he had admired her standing in front of that locker often enough to have it committed to memory.

  Right on schedule, Benny thought to himself upon noticing she was indeed there, as per usual for this time. As he walked over to the attractive young woman, he realized that now the sight of her no longer filled him with awe and desire. Those feelings were now replaced by a loathing that easily matched her own. His previous daydreams of affectionate intimacy with her were replaced by images of using his newfound power to incinerate her face.

  Upon approaching Marissa, the changed young man moved ever so slightly into her personal space and leaned against the locker next to hers. He knew she would quickly notice him that way despite being busy rummaging through the contents of her locker. It took the petite brunette less than three seconds to notice Benny’s always unwelcome presence. She was clearly startled to see him boldly standing so close to her, especially after the events of three days prior.

  “What do you want?” she said, with a bit of nervous tension evident in her tone. “Did you tell? If you did…”

  “No, of course I didn’t,” Benny replied with a sardonic smirk. “I just wanted to thank you for our ‘date’ on Friday.”

  “What the hell? Have you lost it totally, you little fag?”

  “Actually, I’ve never thought more clearly. I wanted to thank you because it made me realize what scum those boys you drool over so much actually are. Now I’m glad that I’m not like them, rather than wishing I was.”

  “They’re better than what you are any day!”

  Benny shrugged that one off, never losing his discomfiting grin. “It also showed me what type of girls you and your friend Leah are for finding boys who do things like that to be cool and attractive. And you especially, for going along with their plans to hurt me like that. The fact that you could actually do what you did to someone who you knew liked you so much, no matter how unattractive you find him…”

  “I strongly suggest you get away from me right now, Benjamin Lonero, or I’ll give you another beating right here.”

  Marissa angrily threw one of her textbooks down on the floor as hard as she could to emphasize that she was more than livid enough to make good on that threat. She was completely unaware, however, that she and her cohorts were no longer capable of carrying it out. For now.

  “I’ll be glad to go, right after I give you a message to deliver to your boyfriends. Tell them the rumors I heard of their mothers having intimate relations with four-legged animals of various species must be true, considering how they turned out. Oh, and please tell Leah I heard that she has a very unhealthy degree of fondness for her own dad, even when he isn’t on one of his drunken binges and two-timing her mom with his own daughter. Think you can see to it that they get those messages?”

  Benny grinned in satisfaction as he saw the startled look on Marissa’s attractive visage. The girl was unable to fully believe that she had just heard what her ear drums had collected. Her own anger simmered to a boiling point, which was evident with the way she clenched both of her fists and gritted her teeth.

  “You little douchebag! When I tell all of them what you said, they’re going to make Friday seem like a pleasant dream.”

  “So, I can count on you to get that message to them, then? Cool! The basketball team always did mention how reliable you are about giving so many things, if you get my meaning.”

  Benny ended the hostile conversation with a sarcastic pursing of his lips, pretending to throw her an imaginary kiss from a distance. After he saw the look of fury and disgust on her face, he smiled and walked away. He knew he could count on her to give his message to her “crew.” He also knew they would be more than pissed off enough to attempt to catch him alone later that same day. The bitter young man plann
ed to make the opportunity come easily for them.

  Right after gym class. Benny’s heart was pounding with anticipation. Last class of the day. How differently today is going to end compared to last Friday. Yup…

  ***

  A swirl of conflicting emotions ran through Benny’s pain-riddled psyche throughout his first six classes. He went out of his way to act as if nothing was unusual, but some of his teachers seemed to realize he was atypically quiet. No sarcastic responses were uttered from his infamous mouth that day, to be followed by a combination of laughs and jeers from his fellow students.

  But his seeming ennui didn’t appear serious enough to merit asking him if he needed to talk, either to them or to the guidance counselor. His instructors well knew it was usual for Benny to be depressed; it just wasn’t usual for him to be so quiet, considering how he most often acted like the annoying clown to vent his frustrations.

  As the soccer game that took up his physical education class near the end of the school day was wrapping up, Benny began preparing for the confrontation that was to come. He knew Jeff Wolfe and Mick Judge were going to wait until he was alone, and he had plans to see to it they would “accidentally” find him that way. As he expected, the two popular athletes pretended not to have received his message from Marissa, even though he knew she would have made a point to tell them as soon as she could after he had his “conversation” with her that morning.

  In short, Benny had much unfortunate experience with how they operated. They would likely believe he was off-guard due to their failure to say anything to him earlier in the day. But he knew better.

  They must think I’m really stupid. Just as I figured they would. How nice to see their overconfidence work to my advantage.

  Benny didn’t participate in the soccer game, so he wouldn’t inadvertently display any of his newfound power. The gym instructor, Mr. Frost, didn’t pay much heed to it, as he knew how useless Benny was to any team he was on, and how badly ridiculed he would be by his peers for each poor performance if he insisted on the boy’s participation. So, the teacher felt that he was giving a break to both his star pupils and Benny by looking the other way.

  As the last few boys cleared out of the locker room to head back to their home rooms for dismissal, Benny feigned his time in there to simulate being off his guard. While he was looking in a mirror and combing his thick brown hair, waiting for the inevitable arrival of his adversaries, he was suddenly surprised to find his conscience gnawing at him. He initially believed that after Friday, he had lost all vestiges of it. He now realized that wasn’t the case, however.

  The tormented young man couldn’t help the pensive musings that began flowing through his mind like rapidly moving water in a creek. Should I really be doing this? I mean, doesn’t this make me as much a bully as they are? I know that a lot of the teen heroes I read about in the comics--like The Fly and Invincible--wouldn’t do something like this.

  But hey, I’m not them. I’m not going to pretend to be a wimp! These asshats deserve what they’re going to get! Did they care about bullying me? Did they even acknowledge me as a fellow human being, with feelings? I’m not going to wuss out…

  “Yo, rainbow-boy!” The sound of Mick’s distinctive voice cut off Benny’s troubled thoughts.

  The young man turned to see both Mick and Jeff enter the locker room. He then saw Mick use what were obviously a set of Mr. Frost’s keys they were given in trust to lock the door behind them. The advantages of being prized athletes gave them privileged access to much more than the hearts and bodies of their female peers, he noted.

  “We got your message, fag,” Mick told him with an extremely incensed tone. “You won’t get out of here this time. Now, how about you give us that message to our faces?” The tall and lanky but well-toned athlete then looked back at his accomplice. “Hell, you stay out of this, Jeff. I want him to say it to my face. I don’t need your help to lay him out.”

  Benny knew he had no reason to be afraid… except, perhaps, for what he now wanted to do so badly to the boys now confronting him; what he now could do to them. He was aware of his own complicity in this latest confrontation due to his morning exchange with Marissa. He put himself—and them—in this position. His inner sense of scruples screamed to him that it wasn’t right. He didn’t want to care. But a strong part of him did nevertheless.

  “Look, Mick,” he said, raising his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I’m sorry I said that stuff, okay? I was just very upset after last Friday. What you guys did was ‘eff’ed up, and you know it, so how did you expect me to feel? But…”

  Mick refused to hear the words. He simply continued to walk slowly towards Benny, his face red with burning ferocity. It was an expression Benny had viewed only too often, but this time it was worse than he’d ever seen it before.

  “I hate you,” Mick told him with a stiffly pointed index finger just a few inches from his target’s face.

  Benny put his hands up again. “Mick, listen, please. Something… happened over this weekend. I’m not like I was. I can hurt you badly. I wanted to hurt you badly, for what you did. But… but I don’t want to now, alright? So, can you please accept my apology, and let this go? For once? I won’t ever say anything to you or about you again, I promise.”

  “I. Hate. You,” Mick said once more, this time with more phonetic emphasis on each word, as he continued to move forward.

  “Just kick his ass, Mick!” Jeff yelled in encouragement. “Do it! Or I will!”

  Mick continued advancing slowly towards Benny, as if salivating with anticipation over what he was about to do.

  The sight of this caused the beleaguered young target to suddenly find himself beset by a kaleidoscope of memories. These were comprised of all the things said and done to him by Mick and his cronies in the past. Now Mick and Jeff wanted to do something like that to him again. And he was still in terrible pain over what Marissa did at their behest on top of everything else. Upon being besieged by these memories, he knew he couldn’t take it anymore.

  “You won’t hurt me again!” Benny shouted in extreme defiance.

  The enraged youth rushed towards Mick and struck him directly in the sternum. Much to the athlete’s shock, the unbelievable force of the blow felt as if it caved his entire rib cage in as it sent him flying back over two dozen feet to impact against the wall on the far side of the locker room. Mick gasped for air and put his hand over his shattered chest as a thick trickle of blood dribbled from his mouth.

  “Oh Jesus…” Jeff stammered. “Mick… how the hell…?”

  Now driven completely over the edge, Benny roared in fury and ran towards Jeff. Too startled to move, and too slow to evade Benny’s incredible burst of speed at any rate, the athlete found his left arm crushed in the smaller boy’s vise-like grip. Benny twisted Jeff’s arm, watching him scream in agony as the bones made a cracking sound not unlike an eggshell being stepped on.

  “I warned you!” Benny bellowed as he continued to twist and fracture the strong athlete’s arm as if the bones were strands of uncooked spaghetti. “But you had to do it anyway, didn’t you? I can’t take this anymore! And now I don’t have to! Do you hear me?”

  Benny then lifted the injured Jeff off the ground as if he weighed less than an ounce and hurled him towards the opposite side of the room. A loud crunching sound was heard as the tall young man’s airborne body struck the surface of the wall ten feet to their left.

  Several feet away, Mick slid down to the floor while coughing out streams of blood, unable to utter a word, and helpless to aid his friend as his ribs poked into his lungs with every slight move he made.

  Still maniacally out of control, Benny rushed over to Jeff, who lay twitching on the ground. The young man again lifted the much taller student into the air as if he were nothing more than a roll of newspaper. He found himself unable to temper his rage as the memories of all he had endured at their hands--and the hands of others--through the years continued to flutter through his m
ind like the rapidly changing scenes of a filmed training montage.

  Yelling in anger and turmoil, Benny slammed Jeff into the wall again. He heard a sick squishing sound upon the impact, accompanied by the clear sensation of more of the boy’s bones cracking.

  “I’ve had it with you! Do you hear me?”

  But the sight of Jeff’s limp form quivering in his hands as blood trickled out of his nostrils suddenly gave Benny pause. The former’s eyes were wide open, as if glaring accusingly at Benny, even though no words left his gaping mouth.

  “Oh man…” was all Benny could choke out as he released the grip he had on his adversary’s shirt. The athlete’s limp body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

  Jeff continued to move in spasms, and his lips shook as if he was trying to say something with great desperation. However, he was unable to muster the energy to release a single sound louder than a series of airy gasps. He was obviously going into shock, and the blood that suddenly spurted from his mouth in fountain-like fashion made the extent of his injuries quite clear.

  “God, what did I do?” Benny yelled as he covered his face.

  The boy turned towards Mick, who lay in a sitting position with both hands covering his broken chest, his mouth and eyes wide open. He also looked as if he was trying to say “look what you did” to Benny, but all that could be heard were a few sickly gurgles that accompanied the blood continuing to stream out of his face’s main orifice.

  “You made me do this!” Benny screeched at him with an extended index finger. “Why did you make me do this?”