Chapter 9

Nancy

I swallowed a cold breath through my throat and watched as blood split into pieces across my face. That was life hitting me in just two bullets.

The glass shattered cut clean and pain overwhelmed my heart. I couldn’t do anything but hide under the seats. I don’t know how I reacted fast enough to avoid the rest of the bullets but I was pretty sure my parents didn’t.

I was only so childish. So naïve. So weak. So defenseless. I had no ounce of pain till that moment. I didn’t know what else was going to strike at me that day.

I was learning the true despair of the world. I dug myself so deep in my own misery, I couldn’t see the surface of the Earth anymore. I couldn’t even see the light from the hole at the top.

The police failed the moment they died. Even after they saw my trembling face, they failed to protect my dying heart. Soon, I’d get sent into a dungeon with bars unlocked. Even though the police were trying to keep me safe, I still felt uncomfortable.

I waited for hours. Auntie Ana battled to see me beyond the cell. She just lost her sister. I already imagined her melting down before I saw the tears on her face.

She came to hug and I crippled down to a bent stick and shed tears on her back, then soon all I did was bawl my eyes out in bed for weeks without thinking about school.

Auntie Ana peeked through the door. “Nancy, I have something for you to eat.”

I continued to lay in despair, awaiting my next tear down. “I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are,” Auntie heightened her tone. “All you’ve been eating these past few weeks were potato chips and a cheese dip. Your stomach isn’t going to handle that any longer.”

Something about hearing from my own eating habit made my stomach feel sharp with hunger. A nice steak would help me think about jumping off my bed for once.

“Give me a steak with mashed potatoes,” I demanded.

“Okay,” Auntie Ana agreed without hesitation. I didn’t know she could easily listen to me.

I sat off my bed and stared at a massacre of broken potato chips next to my closet. There was going to be a point where I cleaned up a week’s worth of trash away from my bedroom.

I got so excited to hear the sizzling of the meat burning on the stove. My tongue flashed out of my mouth like I was some thirsty dog. I didn’t know what was wrong with me but a well seasoned steak sounded so good to chew on.

I stepped closer to my closet and in one stare, my hunger dissipated. I saw a blue crochet sweater slapped on the ground. That was the sweater my mom made for my sixteenth birthday. I felt my eyes shrink and jumped flat on my despair again.

That time, I didn’t know how to come back. It struck my heart harder than before and I fell asleep before Auntie gave me the steak.

I woke up the next morning, with a struggle even worse than before to stand up. That time I built up so much anger. My body was fueling with rage and I was going to blow up.

I avoided looking at the sweater and I attempted to look away from the door and before I knew it, Auntie stepped inside.

“Nancy, I have some news for you.”

I sat up to face her sitting next to me. She showed me a fleet ticket to Orson.

“What’s with the ticket?” I asked. “How did you get it? Those tickets cost thousands.”

“It was mailed to me.” Auntie shoved the ticket in my palms. “It’s for you.”

“Who sent it?”

“It came from the Rhino’s Delta division. They want you there,” Auntie Ana said and I felt my throat clog up from disbelief.

“Why?! Why do they want me there?”

“I’m not sure but apparently they do a lot research around here in Detroit. Some of them work with the government.”

“But why do they want me?!” I asked again but Auntie Ana only shook her head.

In all honesty, there was no reason I should reject the offer. They paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and I could help Auntie Ana get out of Detroit while I was out there. I might have even found the killer of my parents.”

“I could go, but I won’t be back for a while.”

“That’s okay.” She touched my cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

I showed up to the training base and I was greeted with a slap on face in literal meaning. Romeo, he was a man, a human being so scary he’d make demons cry.

“You’re here now, young lady. That’s one of your strongest regrets now.”

My heart stopped twice in one second. I was about to get destroyed by my own decisions.

“Get in the ring! Show us your fighting skill.”

Romeo shoved me into a circle and I faced who I know as Tony now. He trembled in sweat and fear. I didn’t think he wanted to fight me either, yet he was prepared in a well positioned fighting stance.

Bang!

A gun fired in the air and Tony tripped me to the ground then restrained me on my back.

“Nice job! Let her go,” Romeo said.

I took a deep breath and was relieved at least until Romeo shoved another man into my face. Maurice.

“Fight!”

The gun fire immediately and Maurice chucked and broke my knee. I collapsed in pain and Romeo then punched Maurice into the ground.

“Maurice! Twenty-mile run right now while you’re getting shot at!”

Then Ryan came by and told Tony to take me to a paramedic. He picked me up without a struggle and I got aroused by his strength.

He laid me down on a bed and wiped his sweat away from me.

“Get out of here,” Tony said. “You’re not going to enjoy it here. Leave while you have the chance.”

I hesitated to respond. I was beat up by several men and I couldn’t understand why I wanted to stay.

“Please,” Tony muttered. “I’ll get you out of here right this second. I promise it.”

“What about you?”

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“I’ll get my ass kicked,” he laughed. “But I get beat up so many times, I won’t care. I just don’t want to watch another child suffer in here with me.”

My heart beat twice in one second and I shared a smile I didn’t know I could achieve. I wasn’t going to go back. I had a goal and because of Tony that goal wasn’t as hard to chew my soul with.

At the same time, it wasn’t the life I deserved.

Chapter 10

Maurice

“You’re not human, Maurice,” my father told me before he would send me into a world of destructive training.

“We are the Thompsons,’ dad said and raised up a cold beer. “From several hundred years, we made an alliance with another species, the Vectorians who originally created the Rhinos.”

Then he popped open a can for me. I hesitated in sipping but I wanted to be cool for my dad.

“The other Rhinos you see out there today, are nothing like the Thompsons. Even the Rhinos in Delta can’t outmatch us. We are the best Rhinos there are. You should be proud of being a Thompson.”

“Why are we so strong, dad?” I asked.

“I wish I could answer but I can tell you a story,” he said then popped open another can. “The first Rhino there was in history was born back during the time, the Yellowstone super volcano erupted.”

“Yellowstone?”

“Yeah, Yellowstone was a super volcano in North America that erupted in the 2100’s. It set off like a bomb and blew a smoke across the Earth that killed millions. It actually nearly destroyed the Earth.”

“Wow, tell me more!”

“It sounds exciting doesn’t it?” Dad took a large sip down his throat. “Because of the volcano the richest countries became the poorest and the poorest became the wealthiest. It was actually a really tough time for humanity. We wouldn’t have survived without the help of the Vectorians.”

“How do you know this dad? This was 600 years ago!”

“My dad told me the same story and his dad told him the same thing. It was shared between our family as a secret that nobody else should know. Actually, the Vectorians know about it too.”

Then dad chugged in the entire can. “It’s really disturbing honestly. What they did to me. What they did to my father and their fathers before him but because of the terrifying training, the first Rhino, Pontiac was so strong, he could kill people with his bare fist. As a matter of fact, he never used guns.”

“How?” I asked.

“The Vectorians say humans have a race that are exponentially strong and Pontiac was the strongest among us. So am I, and so are you.” Dad pointed at me. “But honestly, I don’t know how far we can go anymore. I’m going to train you my way. I don’t want you to get hurt by Delta. They're going to treat you like shit.”

Then he stood up and lifted me up in the air. “I’m the strongest Rhino there is currently.” He said and smiled. “I’ll show you and your friend Jacob how to be excellent and determined to kill Rhinos without the brutal training. I’ll do it all as your father.”

“I want you to be prepared, Maurice or else they’ll come after you,” dad said.

“Who?” I broke my voice. “Who is going after me?”

“Omega. They’re a division who are controlled by anarchist. The Thompsons and Omega have been eternal enemies since the volcano. I want you to be the one to destroy them!” He said in a strong hateful tone and I was easily scared off.

“People are evil, Maurice.” He started gripping my arms tight. “They’re everywhere. You can’t let them hurt you and your family. They all need to die before they have the chance to hurt you!”

I was only five years old when he told me all that. Even though he said he wasn’t going to hurt me like Delta. Some of the training scarred me mentally and physically. His ideals were embedded in my head and it all became clear once he died.

“Maurice, your dad’s been gone for two months now,” Jacob said. “He should have gotten back a week ago.”

Words before tragedy summoned in our home like a demon spawn.

“There’s the kids! Take em!”

Without a warning, Cobras stacked up outside our house and shot through the windows.

Glass shattered across the entire house my father worked so hard to get. I saw memories and places break in half. It all ripped my heart and made me shed several explosive tears. I even heard cries from Jacob’s mother.

“My baby! My baby’s been shot!”

Then I heard his father screaming, “Gabriella! Stay down!”

Along with the cries for help, I saw blood dripping from the ceiling. I thought Jacob had died.

It was either we break down and die or what my father said, “Kill at all cost.”

I had a destructive instinct inside me snap. Anger, rage, energy and aggression all fueled up into a ball of fire inside my body as a reaction, then what my father taught when I was younger came back to me.

In a minute of gunfire, all that fuel inside me turned into a freezing cold ball of ice. I had fallen to my knees and I heard my father’s voice, “Each Thomspon has their own power, but ever since Pontiac died, we all failed to find our hidden power. Maybe one day, you can find your own, Maurice.”

Suddenly I felt a bullet skin my leg and in one heart, the ground, then the house and eventually even the men outside were falling to their knees.

An Earthquake, no a shockwave emitted, sort of like the aftermath of a nuke, hit the house and tore everything apart to nothing but the grass outside.

I looked over my chest and saw everybody dead. Everybody dead except for Jacob who lied there unconscious. What happened?

“Jacob!” I shook his body. “Wake up! Wake up!!”

Then I ran to his parents who’s skin was shaved down to the flesh. I questioned again, what happened? Did I do this?

“Maurice,” Jacob called out with a faint voice. “What happened?”

I ran back to his body and picked him off the ground. “We need to get out of here. I don’t want to be here.”

“Where?” Jacob said.

“There’s only one place we can go.” I looked to the sky. “We have no home because of me and there’s only a few people who can tell me what’s wrong with me.”

“Was that you, Maurice?”

“I don’t know, Jacob.” I shed a tear. “I just want answers.”

For a long hard fought journey that felt like years, we came across Delta. The same people my father told me to stay away but I had to seek answers.

The men at the gate checked us. We had nothing to offer and only scary looks were shared between us. I told them, “I’m a Thomspon. My family before me all became Rhinos in Delta. You need to let me in.”

“You’re going to need a lot more than words to get in here, kid. I need identification.”

“I don’t have any!” I cried out-loud. I need to be here!”

I could only cry to my knees. Jacob’s already tired enough, there’s no reason to go back or they’ll hunt us down again.

“Hey, what are these kids doing at the gate?” A six foot seven man with pale skin appeared at the gate. He had high ranking medals and a badge that said second in command. He was Romeo Harris, he could get me in.

“Hey, hold on!” Romeo pointed at me. “Your Robert’s kid! What is a punk ass bitch like you doing here?”

“Do I know you?” I asked.

“Yeah, you do.” He approached me. “Your father kicked my ass right in front of you as a baby. He was the strongest Rhino I knew.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I wanted to take you in, that’s why.” He tapped my forehead back. “Looks like you came here for a reason, right?”

Suddenly Romeo lowered his tone. “Let’s get you in.” And he pulled my hand with Jacob.

We walked along the base and eyed down multiple built Rhinos, all looking like they’re in their twenties but one of them looked thirteen with dark skin, and ripping muscles along his arms.

“I want to see what your father taught you,” then he shoved me into a circle. “If you want to show you’re the strongest family of Rhinos, fight him. Tony.”

Tony stared back with red veins on his eyes. Almost bloodshot. This kid looked terrified yet fearless at the same time.

He stopped what he was doing and stepped in the ring without question. “If I fight him, will my dad be over?”

“It’s considered,” Romeo said.

Multiple Rhinos rounded up around us and one of them held a gun up the air. “When the gun fires, begin.”

Almost immediately he shot and before I could get a straight look at Tony, all I saw was a foot raised up to my chin and then I was blacked out.

I woke up in bed the next day only to realize I lost miserably. I just lost to a nobody.

“Maurice,” Jacob came by.

“I just lost, didn’t I?”

“Yep,” he sighed.

I began tearing up but I held enough to not shed more than three drops. “I’m supposed to be a Thomspon. I had a hidden power. I should have won but I lost in less than a second. I’m a failure.”

“It’s okay, Maurice,” Jacob said. “You’ll find your hidden power someday. I know that was you that caused the shockwave in the house. I don’t know how I survived. I should have died.”

“I’m sorry, Jacob. I killed our family.”

“Don’t worry about it. You can make up for it later but right now, that’s the least of our worries.”

I destined to get my power again but nonetheless I had no idea how to achieve it again. Everybody in base I asked, had no clue what I was talking about.

Instead, I spent over eight years, training in Delta only to never figure out how to unlock that power again. Maybe someday it could come at an unexpected like it did when I was fifteen. At least I hope it does.