Chapter 59

Friday, September 26, 2059

20 days to Armageddon

The Burning S***pile

Leo dragged himself out of bed. A faint meowing led him to Lydia's room where Sparkles the cat had made itself at home curled up on Lydia's bed.

“I thought you hated cats,” Leo said, amused. “I thought cats were like poor people.”

“Shut up. Just ignore my mean, creepy brother,” she said to the cat. “Sparkles is a nice kitty.”

“Put that thing outside, Lydia,” Mom said. “We are not getting a cat.”

“But Mom! poor Sparkles was starving. She's an indoor cat. She can't survive in the wild."

“How would you know that?” Leo asked.

“I can tell.”

Sparkles let out a pitiable meow and walked over to Mom, rubbing against her legs.

“Still not getting a cat,” Mom said.

“But Mom!”

Leo ate quickly. At this point, it was best to act as normal as possible, which meant going to school. He half expected police to show up at the door and take him in for questioning about the being he'd killed the day before. But nothing happened, and he managed to make it to school without incident.

Charlotte smiled conspiratorially at him when he passed her in the hall He laughed, remembering Brick and the Ex-lax cupcakes.

School was uneventful. Even Brick and his cronies left him alone.

He wasn't looking forward to going home, remembering the previous future, Dad screaming and throwing things, Mom trying to console Dad, and failing. Dad destroying the flat screen, then proceeding to go through the house smashing things. No, Friday was not a good day. No choice but to go home and try to keep poor Lydia out of the line of fire.

He let himself in as quietly as possible. The flat screen was on. The first thing he noticed was Mom, Dad, and Lydia watching the news. And the second was they were surprisingly calm.

A note was found on the Body Booster CEO's desk this morning. The note consisted of an apology and an explanation. It turns out that during the past year, the lab tests for Body Booster have been faked and the secret ingredient in his Bio-Blessed imitator was, in fact, Bio-Blessed. The note was found the day after the entire board of directors of Body Booster Inc. and ninety-one members of Congress sold their Body Booster stock, for what they assure us are unrelated reasons. They had no idea the stock was going to crash. Senator Bumblin was saying...

Dad clicked the remote.

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The Body Booster CEO spent billions of dollars stolen from prospective investors, on Bio-Blessed. Is there any way we can get that money back? The news spokesperson said.

That question has come up before, the expert replied. Bio-Blessed Inc. has assured us that it's not part of their business model to refuse, or return, money gained by customers through illegal or immoral means, as this would adversely affect their stock price. And due to their wealth and connections, Bio-Blessed Inc. is legally untouchable. So the short answer is no.

Dad hit the remote again.

We have a satellite photo of Body Booster CEO Peter Gabson fleeing the country. Look at that guy's wings! He's keeping low to avoid radar. We believe he's heading for a country with no extradition treaties with the US. He's flying well over 100 miles an hour. I bet he wishes he could fly a lot faster, considering how many people want to kill him right now.

The detailed satellite photo showed the CEO's elongated arms and large, bat-like, membrane wings.

“Leo said you'd be freaking out right now, Dad,” Lydia said. “Leo said you're too dumb to buy decent stocks.”

“Shut up, Lydia. I said you were dumb,” Leo said. “And Dad, you seem awfully calm for having just lost over 100,000 dollars.”

“Get over here,” Dad responded.

Nervously, Leo approached him, not sure what to expect. Dad reached out an arm and lightly smacked the back of Leo's head. “That's for having so little faith in your dad. You didn't think I was holding onto that stock, did you? First, you tell me the stock's garbage. Then your teacher, Mr. Osmond, calls it a burning shitpile. 'It's a burning shitpile.' he said. 'Get rid of that stock. Or you will spend the rest of your life regretting it.'” Dad smacked Leo's head a second time. “I respect Mr. Osmond now. Three days after I sold it, the stock died. Think I'll send him a gift basket.”

I changed the future for the better, Leo thought, if only he could stop his parents from becoming monsters.

“You'll let me keep the cat, right?” Lydia said. “Because I had faith in you. I'm not like my stupid brother.”

“You're my favorite daughter, Lydia, but don't press your luck.”

“I'm your only daughter.”

“We're not keeping that cat,” Mom said.

“I was going to take us to our usual place, but tonight we're going to Dave's Steakhouse. We've got things to celebrate.”

A few hours later, they were sitting at a table in one of the nicest restaurants Leo had ever been to. The friendly, well-dressed wait staff brought them to a table and gave them fancy menus filled with high-priced food. Chandeliers, peaceful music, and a tasteful decor all added to the pleasant atmosphere. Leo was glad he wasn't expected to pay.

Leo had no idea what he wanted to eat. Hell, he wasn't sure what half the items on the menu were.

An older couple talked quietly at the neighboring table. The man looked skinny, not quite Afflicted, but moving in that direction. A waitress brought the old couple two of the biggest steaks Leo had ever seen. He watched them nervously, thankful Imp hadn't given him any more monster-killing quests.

“Leo? Earth to Leo,” Dad was looking at him. “You ready to order?”

“Yeah. Sorry,” Both Dad and a formally dressed waiter were staring at him, waiting for him to order. He looked at the menu again quickly. “Uh. I'll take the clam chowder and salad special.” He was hungry, but he knew the serving sizes were large enough for him not to worry.

“And he'll have a T-Bone steak to go with that,” Lydia said quickly.

With a shrug, Leo nodded.

“Very good,” the waiter said. “I'll be back with your order.”

Within a short time, they had way more food on their table than they could eat and they all proceeded to stuff themselves. Mom and Dad drank a bottle of Bio-Blessed infused wine and grew rambunctious, laughing loudly at their stupid jokes.

Lost in thought. Leo didn't say much. He and Mr. Osmond had convinced his dad to sell the bad stock instead of holding onto it and losing a fortune. This proved without a doubt that he could change the future for the better. The question was, could he change the end of the world? And if so, how?