ADAM

 

Thursday January 9 - 0201 MST

Six days until Turbocharger activates

 

 

"You'll never have to fuss with caked on grime again. Throw out that useless, old fashioned frying pan."

The TV screen showed an old frying pan with baked on gunk being thrown in the trash. It always amused me when the infomercials showed people spilling things or getting frustrated with old cookware in black-and-white. Like if switching to color would suddenly make me happy and want to buy their product. Or if all I needed for life long happiness was a self coiling water hose or a non-stick pan.

And if I ordered in the next five minutes I could get a completely unrelated product for free.

I sighed. Infomercials were the only thing on at this time of the morning. Sleeping wasn't an option either. I was still simmering from being left behind on the flightline. They just took off without me and I couldn't understand why. Wasn't I part of the team? One of the "Primes".

I was an outsider again.

The treadmill beeped at me again. There was a safety feature built in that nagged at me to take a break before I overexerted myself. Apparently it didn't think running twenty miles in one session was something normal people were supposed to do. I had hoped that some physical exertion would take my mind off of being excluded. It hadn't. I still didn't feel like sleeping even though I now knew I had to.

So I worked out and watched infomercials in the CTTC's expensive new gym.

Since running didn't seem to be doing much I got off the treadmill so it could stop worrying about me. The nagging beep immediately stopped. With it being oh-dark-thirty there was not a single soul in the gym with me, so I was able to hoard all the weight plates without getting any angry stares from the muscleheads that frequented the gym. There was enough room on the barbell to put ten plates on each end, or nine-hundred forty five pounds of weight. Believe it or not, regular people without superpowers have lifted more, but I still wanted to see if I could bench that much. Sadly, they didn't have bigger plates for me to go higher.

I set all the wall mounted plasma screens to the same channel. I'd found one that had just started airing an A-Team rerun. It was one of my favorite shows as a kid and since I was the only one there I didn't see a problem with hogging all the TVs. Then I laid back on the bench and got set up to press the massive load I'd prepared.

Exhaling on the press and inhaling on the drop I grunted out five reps. The barbell actually bowed under the stress of all that weight, but I managed to complete the set and returned it all to the bar catchers with a heavy clang. It was a good workout of my upper body, but I knew I could do more. I'd have to find more weight. But when I sat up and looked around for heavier plates I found my attention drawn to the lone figure that had entered the gym.

She was looking right at me. And like me she wore a look that said "I wasn't expecting to find anyone else crazy enough to be working out at this odd hour."

I have to admit I was a little stunned by her. She was breathtakingly gorgeous. Her figure was absolutely amazing and she didn't try to hide it all. The new trend was for ladies to wear spandex to the gym and she was fully on that bandwagon. She also had the most gorgeous red hair. It was done up into a braid that ran down over one shoulder looking like the bundles of wire I use to connect my stereo components.

My mouth and brain had a moment of confusion where they couldn't quite agree on what to do, but somehow I managed to get out a couple words. "Ahhhh…hi?"

Then I did something that surprised even me. I noticed her nose. Now it wasn't that my animal brain wasn't screaming out for me to stare at her dazzling figure, just somehow…her nose caught my attention for a moment. You see, there was a little crook in the bridge of it. Nothing big or ungainly, just a slight imperfection instead of the perfectness that seemed to pervade the rest of her form. Yet somehow this one little flaw highlighted how beautiful everything else really was.

One corner of her mouth crept up in an impish smirk like she was enjoying some private joke within her thoughts. Then she walked towards me.

I froze.

Now you have to understand something about me. I can face down stone golems animated with demonic energy or otherworldly crustaceans the size of a horse. But nothing terrifies a nerdy guy like me more than the thought of having to carry on a conversation with an attractive woman. The pounding of my heart was like a drum beating in my chest.

She sat down on the bench beside me and extended a slim hand. "Hi there. My name is Carlie. Carlie Chase. You must be Adam."

She had the most melodic southern belle accent that did nothing at all to keep my heart from melting into a puddle of soft goo. I made an incoherent sound while my mouth hung open. Carlie just kept smiling that impish smile at me. Then she reached over with her free hand and dragged my own hand over to hers and forced us to shake hands. "Adam. Ah…yeah. That's me." Again, my mind and my mouth decided not to work together.

On every screen around me a car sailed through the air before landing on its roof. Both occupants were shown hastily exiting the high speed wreck. It was an apt metaphor for how my conversation with Carlie was going.

She suppressed a grin. "You don't need to be afraid of me. It's actually nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

Oh God. Not this again. I wasn't in the mood to go over this again. Especially because I didn't want to disappoint Carlie the goddess of all people. "I'm sure its all exaggerated. Hey, do you mind if we talk about something else? Like, why are you here so late? Only weirdos like me workout at two in the morning."

"I'm a little weird actually." I was certain she was just being modest though, or at least that's what the warm feeling in my belly was telling me. "I like to come here to unwind after work. And…it's just that I like it when no one else is around. I'm not sure I can explain it, but it can be a bit tough when this place is full."

I bet it was. She'd have a hard time not tripping over all the lolling tongues when this place was wall-to-wall military guys.

"No, it's not like that at all. I don't mind the attention but…" She suddenly looked away like she was ashamed. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to do that but I can't help it sometimes. It's still new to me."

That's when it hit me. She wasn't reading my expression, she'd actually heard that thought. "You're like me aren't you? That's…awesome."

She nodded quickly. All the anxiety suddenly washed away. I'd found another soul that had been through the Change. It was like finding a long lost relative. Not only had I found another member of this strange new family of mine but I witnessed yet another new power. She could read minds.

"Don't worry. I can't hear everything, just thoughts on the surface. What's in your head is safe. I like to tell people that. Once they find out about my power I mean. You know? So they won't worry I'm rooting around in their secrets."

That got me curious. It was like my electricity, there were limits to it. But maybe there were interesting side abilities too, like my lightning. "Is there anything else you can do?"

"Well, sorta. If I spend enough time with someone and concentrate, I can place thoughts into their mind. That one I'm not sure I like so much. You know? It seems kinda wrong. But General Basser keeps pushing me to get better with it."

That figured. I knew Basser was kind of a douchebag, but pressuring a girl into doing something she didn't want to do was going into straight asshole territory. "Oh crap. You didn't hear that just now did you?"

She shook her head and I was glad. I got the feeling she wouldn't have liked the feelings behind those nasty words.

"Don't worry, Adam. I try not to read people without their permission. But the little bit I saw of you well…let me just say you have the heart of a good man."

My tongue caught in my throat then. I felt at home with Carlie, but those words had a warmth to them that really charged up my spirits. I searched for words that would adequately relay how her kind words had brightened my day, but my thoughts were interrupted by a man clearing his throat to get our attention.

Jake Priestley, the Air Force officer I'd met earlier on the flight back to Dugway, was standing in the gym's entrance in black fatigues, like what the Praetorian guys wore. He had the look of mild irritation mixed in with the fatigue of a long day. "Miss Chase, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Carlie released my hand before standing up. I didn't even notice we'd been holding hands the entire time. She'd never let go after we shook hands. The scene must have been really awkward looking from Priestley's vantage point.

After the two of them went into the corridor outside the gym I was left alone with the A-Team and a racing heart. Never before had a girl just sat down and talked to me like that. Especially not one that was a twelve on a one-to-ten scale. I wanted to see her again.

I waited a few minutes to give her time to finish with whatever Priestley wanted to talk about. Then I decided I would go out there and ask her out for coffee or something. And why shouldn't I? The guys with broad shoulders and six-pack abs always got the girls. Now I was one of them. And we had one very big thing in common. We were both affected by the Change. With more courage than I'd ever had before I went out the door to ask Carlie out.

And right into the two of them making out.

Carlie had her back to one wall and Priestley was kissing her neck while she giggled in his ear. She stopped just long enough to make eye contact with me. Priestley must have felt the change in her mood, he looked up at me too. I stared back slack jawed with burning cheeks.

Having my assumptions turned upside down like that really messed with my head. My mouth spoke again before letting my mind engage. "I-ah-was…sorry."

Then I turned and walked out of the mess I'd bumbled into. One of these days I would have to learn how to be better with this whole social interaction thing.