CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Archie, Tony, and Tahlako were exposed to another day of screaming and yelling. They were called every name in the book, only to be pushed beyond what should have been their limits had they been living, breathing young men.
Instead, each time they lifted more weights, pushed the boundaries and shocked Butch.
“You guys are full of surprises,” he said to the trio. Tony smiled, nodding at him. “That doesn’t mean you’re worth shit. You’re just not the weaklings I thought you were.”
Tony wanted desperately to punch him in the face but held back as Bull and Rory watched from the other side of the gym.
“Butch? Your two o’clock appointments are here,” said the receptionist.
“Be right there. Okay, you three do a two-mile treadmill run and you’re done for today.” He walked away and Tahlako stared at his friends.
“No ‘good job’? I’m crushed,” he frowned. “I don’t like this man.”
“Get used to it. He doesn’t compliment anyone and he won’t let up on you,” said a young man beside them. “I’m glad to be given this chance but my mother is working her fingers to the bone to pay for all this and I’m just praying it will get me a Division I offer.”
“Are you new here?” asked Tony.
“Just a few weeks since I joined,” he said starting the treadmill. “I’m just now heading into my junior year of high school. Butch doesn’t like it if the athletes talk to one another, so just look straight ahead as we run.”
The three men nodded, Tahlako taking the treadmill on one side of him, Archie on the other with Tony beside him.
“Are you seeing improvements in your abilities?” asked Tahlako. The young man smiled at him.
“You don’t have to be so formal,” he laughed. “Yeah. It’s definitely showing signs of improvement. I start the shots tomorrow.”
“We haven’t done those yet,” said Archie.
“You will. He likes to know he’s not wasting anything on you, so it might be a while before you get one.
I’m a little worried about the effects. Some of these guys go into serious rage with the shots.
Others seemed to be highly emotional, breaking down and crying for no reason.
” He nodded toward a man on the bench press and frowned.
“That guy was arrested the other night for beating the crap out of his girlfriend. She said he’d never been violent before but has been acting weird lately. I just don’t want to hurt my mom.”
“You don’t have to take the shots,” said Tahlako.
“If I want to stay in the program, I do. This is everything to me. My mom is working her ass off. In fact, Coach offered her a job in his manufacturing site. She works twelve-hour shifts, six days a week.”
“I didn’t realize his facility was local,” said Archie calmly.
“Yeah. I’m not sure where it is either but I know it’s not too far outside the city. I leave for school really early and mom is already gone. When I get back from training she’s either sleeping or still at work.”
“Carter!” yelled Butch. “Let’s go. We’re going to start a day early.”
“Nice meeting you guys. Wish me luck,” he smiled.
“Carter, you don’t have to do this,” said Tony wanting to reach for the young man. Hell, to anyone else Tony was a young man. What they didn’t know was that he was in his fifties, stuck forever in the body of a young man.
“Actually, I do. For my mom,” he said smiling as he walked toward the office door where Butch was standing.
“He’s praying off possible hopes and dreams,” said Archie. “These kids don’t understand what’s being done to their bodies and their parents are just willing to sacrifice everything for one chance. I hate this man.”
“He’s easy to hate,” said Tahlako. “I don’t know a great deal about all this science, but didn’t it seem strange that some men are experiencing rage and others emotional breakdowns?”
“It is strange,” said Bull walking behind the three ghosts. “Finish your run and meet as at the car.”
While the younger men finished their run, although technically Tahlako and Archie were older than Bull and Rory, the two men sat at a coffee shop waiting for them to arrive.
“That whole place is fucked up,” said Rory. “I can’t believe the parents who are okay with all of this. Sooner or later someone will figure out how to detect the drugs he’s using.”
“Did you see the blonde woman doing squats?” asked Bull. “Dude, she was doing more weight than I did in my prime. There was something really odd about her. Her hairline was receding like a man’s. Her voice was deep but cracking like someone in puberty.”
“Maybe she was a man?” said Rory.
“No. There wasn’t an Adam’s apple. I don’t know. There’s more to this than just pumping athletes full of steroids. I can feel it in my bones.”
As if by magic, Tahlako, Archie and Tony appeared before the men, causing Rory to spill his coffee.
“For fuck’s sake! Don’t scare me like that,” he muttered.
“Sorry,” laughed Tony. “We thought we were being followed so we ducked into an alleyway and disappeared.”
“Like disappeared, woo-woo ghosty-like?” asked Bull. Archie smiled at him.
“Yes, like that. Really all we had to do was make ourselves not visible. I think we need to try and befriend Carter and see if we can find out where his mother works. If she’s working in the manufacturing plant, it might be our way in.”
“Let’s get home,” said Bull. “The tech boys are on tonight and we have to get a better view of what’s going on inside that place. I have a feeling there’s something else happening that we don’t understand.”
“I feel the same way,” said Tahlako. “I’m not an expert in this area, nor am I an expert with the female population but there was something very odd about some of the women, as much as the men.”
“We said the same thing,” nodded Bull pulling away from the curb. “Let’s see what magic the tech boys can find. If that doesn’t work, you guys will be on invisible night duty.”