Goon - 7. Chapter 7

“Ugh.” Micah grunted as he woke up. There was a sour taste in his mouth, and not from the load he’d swallowed at the end of last night. Safe sex be damned, he knew for a fact that Casey always used rubbers and he sure as hell was a virgin. His head pounded and he regretted the two glasses of whiskey last night, but even more he hated the fading memories of the dream.

In the dream he was surrounded by that white light again, and he could hear Corey yelling for him not to go, but he kept running into the light hoping it would take him back to Corey again so they could make things right. The whole thing was confusing, and as the memory of the specific dream faded, he couldn’t understand how Corey would have been in both places at once. At least here in the real world, Corey’s fifteen year old body was sitting next to him.

“Shit.” Micah grunted as he sat up, a look of concern on his face. Corey was sitting, wearing only a pair of green-colored boxer-briefs, his legs folded underneath him as he watched Micah.

“You know where the bathroom is.” Corey’s voice was full of humor.

“My head hurts.” Micah grumbled, pulling the sheet so it at least covered his groin while he sat up against the headboard.

“That’s what you get for getting drunk with my dad.” Corey teased him and Micah frowned.

“We fell asleep together.” Micah added and Corey nodded.

“Yes, after the most amazing blow job.” Corey said with an affected air, acting like one of the most effeminate cadets at the Academy. “Wherever did you learn that, Mr. Jericho-Howard?”

“That’s not my name yet.” Micah growled and saw Corey grin.

“I think ‘yet’ is the most important part of that sentence.” Corey said, stretching out until he was lying on the bed, his head in Micah’s lap. Micah couldn’t help reaching down and running his hand through Corey’s red hair. It was silky smooth, and starting to grow out. Sure, he wouldn’t like it really long, but maybe another half-inch would be nice after they graduated.

“You still have to propose to me and you can’t do that until we’re ready to graduate.” Micah said firmly.

“Only if you promise to say ‘yes’.” Corey teased him. “I’m not risking hitching myself up to some ‘queen’ just to get you to run back to me.”

“Fine, I promise.” Micah sighed, trying to pretend like he cared, but he was actually feeling warm inside. This was so much better than just pretending he could never have what he wanted. Sometimes it paid to give in to the flow and let things happen. “First though, we’ll probably have to deal with angry parents yelling at me for corrupting their youngest baby boy.”

“Nah, nothing to worry about there.” Corey promised him. “I went to my bed after you fell asleep and just came in here about five minutes before you woke up.”

“You tricked me!” Micah pulled hard on Corey’s hair and ended up with Corey trying to get him into a headlock. By the time they were both breathing hard, the bed was an absolute mess and they had ended up rolling around on the floor. He might not have been as broad-shouldered or as muscled as Micah, but Corey was wiry and quite capable at wrestling. Twice he had almost pinned Micah. The sound of a throat clearing itself at the doorway caught their attention, and they tried to hide not only their blushes but their hard cocks. It was a little easier for Corey, who was actually wearing shorts whereas Micah was totally nude. At least Corey shifted so his crotch covered Micah’s as he faced the door.

“Hi Dad!” Corey’s words brought even fiercer blushes to Micah’s cheeks.

“If you boys are done destroying the room, I would like to see Micah downstairs.” Mr. Howard said in a tightly controlled voice. Micah wasn’t sure if the man was pissed, or was about to laugh. “While he’s getting showered and dressed, you can pick up this room, young man.”

“Yes, sir.” Corey said in a slightly subdued tone.

“Micah, wear sweats or something like that.” Mr. Howard said next.

“Yes, sir.” Micah promised as Mr. Howard turned to leave.

“Oh, and Corey, you might as well air this room out while you’re cleaning.” Mr. Howard said as a laugh finally escaped him. “I don’t think your mother will appreciate one of her rooms smelling like teen boy sex.”

“That’s gross, Dad!” Corey groaned as his father burst out into laughter while walking away. Micah just groaned into the carpet and imagined the lecture the next time he got called into the man’s study.

“I swear your old man has to be one of the nicest fathers in the country.” Micah said with a heavy sigh. “He knows we’re doing it, we’re here in my room messing around in his house with almost nothing on and he doesn’t yell.”

“You can thank me now for making him glad I’m just sticking to one guy now.” Corey said smugly.

“Get out.” Micah growled as he got to his feet. At least he was no longer hard and could push Corey towards the door as he also got to his feet. It was also a good thing that Corey took his being pushed out of the room in a good way. Micah could hear him laughing as Micah shut the door to his room.

It was in the shower that he noticed the light fuzz of hair on his chest. That brought a smile to his face as he thought about the light coating of fine blond hairs that covered his chest as an adult. He never had a desire to shave it or wax it off. His hair grew in fine and barely noticeable unless someone was up close, and he wondered how Corey would like it, or if he’d hate it once it grew in.

His head swam for a moment as he lost his grip on the here and now. It felt like two worlds were colliding in his head, and he saw that flash of light again. For a moment he thought he could hear Corey’s voice talking to him in a low, hushed voice. It wasn’t the Corey of the here and now, but older Corey, whose voice was lower in pitch.

“No!” Micah growled as he shook his head and came back to the here and now, pushing that white light away from his mind. He finished washing up in the shower, dried off and dressed in a pair of sweat pants that Mrs. Howard had bought last week at the Sports Chalet, and one of the short-sleeved blue Under Armor shirts. The manager of that store was now on a first-name basis with Mrs. Howard and Micah tried not to laugh to himself at how she’d ended up having one of the sales clerks ‘model’ for her in deciding what to purchase for her sons.

Of course the tips she left all of them had soothed any offended egos, and the manager was more than happy to accommodate her when she spent several thousand dollars on every visit.

Dr. Zebel proved to be a short, fat man in his mid-fifties and huffed about not having all the proper equipment as he began his ‘exam’ of Micah. In the front drive was one of those large recreational vehicles that had been equipped as a mobile laboratory. How it had been made available, Micah had no idea but he took it in stride. When he was with the Howards he moved in a different world than his old home in Laramie.

“What was the last thing you remember before coming back in time?” The Doctor asked in a voice that was slightly accented. Micah couldn’t quite place it. Apparently he wasn’t a medical doctor though, because there was a middle-aged woman there who was the one actually conducting all the tests. Doctor Zebel’s actual examination was to look at the results of the medical tests and to ask Micah questions.

“A bright light.” Micah answered.

“Hmmm.” The man said. “There was no light on the video. It showed you sticking something into a panel.”

“My knife.” Micah said. “I hoped it would short-circuit whatever Trasker was doing.”

“Hmmm.” The man said again with a nod. “Now, did you know me in this future time?”

“No.” Micah said honestly. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

“Now that is odd.” The man made another ‘hmmm’ sound and frowned over the rims of his glasses. “Have you heard my name?”

“No.” Micah answered with a frown. Where was this line of questioning going?

“We will have to have deep MRI and CAT scans of you done at the local medical facility.” The man said as he shook his head. “The Senator has declined to have you brought back to our facility for examination. We must discover how you managed to achieve this time travel.”

“It wasn’t time travel.” Micah protested. “I mean, I’m in my fifteen year old body, not the body I had at the time.”

“Yes, well time travel after a fashion.” The man made that ‘hmmm’ sounds again and frowned again. “You remember future events. It must have something to do with what we have worked on all these years. Our machine is meant to send information back in time to prevent large disasters or prepare for large natural disasters so that fewer people will be harmed. It is very useful, and does not allow for human time travel. It is impossible to predict how a person going back in time will change things but providing limited information is much more predictable.”

“If you say so.” Micah said, not really understanding or caring. Their discussion ended as Micah was told by the female doctor who never gave her name to move under a portable x-ray machine that took pictures of his insides, and then waited as the doctor reviewed the results of some of his blood tests. There were a lot more of those ‘hmmm’ sounds as she and Dr. Zebel talked about the results and Micah put his body into that special place he went when he was on long, boring sentry duties. When Doctor Zebel came to stand in front of him he blinked once before the man began speaking again.

“Nothing out of the ordinary so far.” The man told Micah in a mystified tone. “There should be some indicator of what has happened, but we find nothing. Until the other lab reports come back we cannot be sure. Tell me, what do you know of this strange current in the ocean that is affecting this hurricane Sheila?”

“Huh?” Micah asked and the man stepped away to grab a laptop that he brought back to show Micah. There was a strange current of water stretching from the Caribbean, up into the Atlantic, ending close to South Carolina. It tickled Micah’s memory again and he frowned.

“Does this mean anything to you?” The man asked. “Why would this current appear when it was never there before, and why is it ten degrees off from the surrounding water temperature? The Navy has sent submersibles and found no underwater activity to determine why this is happening.”

“This point here, this island is where the Trasker Laboratory is located.” Micah said with a frown as he pointed to an island near the starting point of the new current. Hurricane Sheila was now up to a Category Two, stronger than he remembered and would hit the coastline in the next few days, again a longer wait period than he remembered. “The storm, Sheila, it is moving slower than I remembered.”

“We have no data on this storm.” The man said with a frown. “No information was sent with the data stream.”

“I remember it mostly because it was the storm that hit before the big one, Robert.” Micah said and the man frowned again.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Sheila hit at a Level 1 further up the coast, but the next storm, Robert, hit Georgia directly as a Level 5.” Micah explained, pointing out the tracks of the two storms as closely as he could remember. He only had really followed them because Robert had hit Georgia and affected his friend. “Corey complained about how much it stank after his mom sent him and his brother to the coast to help with the recovery efforts.”

“I see.” The man said before making another one of those sounds. “Trasker does not have a laboratory on this island.”

“Not yet.” Micah said with a sigh. “They started building it in 2013 and it was completed in 2015. It became operational in 2016 and I was assigned there in 2017. I remember during my second week there was a Navy ship parked just off of the island. One of the lab assistants at the barbecue said it was laying cable to another lab back in the States. I don’t know where that lab was located, though.”

“Our laboratory is currently here, in South Carolina.” The scientist said with a frown as he ran his finger in a line from the island to a point in South Carolina. The line he drew with his finger was very close to the line of the current.

“Um, don’t you have the information on all this?” Micah asked. “It was part of the information that was sent back, right?”

“No, it wasn’t.” The man said with a frown. “The transmission does not appear to have been complete. Our current theory is that the data stream was interrupted to transmit you back in time. The first thing to be transmitted was the video, followed by the information files for Senator Howard, followed by the beginnings of the technical data on how to construct the final product. Our biggest clue is the discussion between you and future Dr. Trasker. I will tell you the man is quite taken aback at the evidence of his having murdered assistants. Luckily the two shown in that video do not currently work for us.”

“He’s still working on this?” Micah asked with surprise, even after the previous conversation with the Senator.

“Of course he is.” The man huffed. “He is one of the most brilliant minds of our world. You do not ignore him just because of what he might have done. Do not worry, we have men making sure he does not get too enthusiastic for his work as he did in this video.”

“Too enthusiastic.” Micah said with a shake of his head. He did not understand these people at times, but then he tried to live in a simpler world without so many gray areas.

“He speaks of ‘resistance’ in this video and that has given us some ideas.” Doctor Zebel said. “We were working with fiber optics because they transmit data so much faster, but now we are experimenting with regular copper wire. Certainly the rate of transmission we received would be in line with transmission over copper instead of fiber. The knife you stuck into that panel; was it insulated?”

“The handle, but the blade and hilt were regular steel, and I think I had a finger on the hilt.” Micah admitted with a frown. His stomach chose that moment to rumble and Micah frowned. He’d love some coffee and at least cereal.

“You need to eat.” Dr. Zebel said. “The medical exam is over until we can arrange scans of you at the local hospital. I will talk with you after you have eaten.”

“Thanks, doc.” Micah said, quite aware the man was a scientist and not a medical doctor. He nodded at the woman doctor as he passed her on the way out and gave a visual appraisal of the other man standing there in hospital scrubs. Whatever he was supposed to look like, it was obvious he was security. Judging by his age, probably former military and employed by one of the dozens of private security companies like the one Micah had worked for, maybe even the same company. The man’s eyes appraised him calmly as Micah passed near him on the way out. Micah didn’t relax until he was out of the vehicle.

Maybe at twenty-one he could have taken the man down, but not yet. His body was fifteen and he still had some growing to do, and some muscle building. Sure he was fairly well built now, but he’d been slacking off in that department since he got here and he decided it was time to start back up again. Maybe he could even get Corey to work out with him. He seemed to remember using long workouts as a way to get rid of Corey when they were in school together. It was one of the reasons why he was so well built, even at fifteen.

“You look famished.” Melissa’s warm voice greeted him as he walked into the kitchen. She was a kind woman that he adored, and not the least because she was an excellent cook.

“I am.” Micah admitted and was happy when she got out a coffee cup. The first time he’d asked for it, she’d given him a dirty look but poured him some. He took it black, and loved the rich flavor of whatever brand of coffee she used.

“I’ve got ham or sausage to go with eggs and the biscuit.” She told him and he let out a small groan. Melissa made it so hard at times.

“How about a little of both?” He asked as she opened up one of the warming trays she kept around the kitchen. Her chuckle told him she had expected the question, and soon enough he had a plate of ham, sausage patty, eggs and a biscuit sitting on the counter in the middle of the kitchen. He hooked a stool with his foot, dragged it to sit in front of the plate and sat down with the coffee cup still in his hand. “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.” She told him with fondness. “Unlike the boys, you remember your manners enough to thank me.”

“They thank you.” Micah murmured after swallowing. Even though it had been in the warmer for a while, everything still tasted good.

“Yes, but you sound like you mean it.” She said with a laugh, patting him on the back before leaving the kitchen. He was familiar enough with the house to put the plate and coffee cup in the sink, rinsing them briefly. Melissa didn’t like other people loading her dishwasher, so he didn’t go near the machine.

“There you are.” Mrs. Howard said in a pleased voice as he exited the kitchen. She was dressed in a lightweight summer dress that showed off her figure without being too revealing. When she saw his attire, she frowned. “Oh, that is right. Those people you are supposed to see were here this morning. Are they done looking you over?”

“Yes ma’am.” Micah said nervously.

“Good, we have our appointment at the spa to get to today and I would prefer not to be late.” She said and he frowned.

“Our what?” His voice cracked and he almost cursed it aloud. There were things he’d like to forget about being fifteen again and his voice cracking so easily was the least of them.

“Oh dear, I didn’t warn you, did I?” She said. “Well, you did say your mother worked at one in your home city, so you must know the basics. I made an appointment for the two of us to be spoiled today. Your nails were looking a little long.”

“My nails.” Micah said in a stunned voice. He looked at his fingernails with a frown. They were getting a little long. “I can trim them. There’s no need for a manicure.”

“Silly boy, this is our fun time.” She told him with a pat on his cheek and he frowned before he could stop the expression. When she saw that she paused. “Don’t tell me that with as much care as you give of your skin, you have anything against a full treatment at a Spa.”

“I’ve never done that before.” Micah admitted.

“As long as it doesn’t bother your manly image of yourself, there’s no reason to deny yourself one of the greater pleasures of life.” She said with passion. “I made Billy and Corey both try it, and while Corey wasn’t as adverse to it as his brother, he chooses not to go regularly. It will be just the two of us this time.”

“I’ll change into something a little nicer.” Micah said, thinking of the wardrobe back in his room. The smile on her face reminded him of how much she had done for him so far this summer, and how little she demanded in return. If going with her to be pampered at a Spa made her happy, he’d endure it even if he hated the experience.

Three hours later they had a late lunch in one of Atlanta’s more expensive bistros, and he admitted to her that he’d actually enjoyed the experience.

“My husband and I have had few secrets over the years.” She said after they’d finished their meals, a Cobb salad for her and a steak sandwich for him. The waitress had brought them key lime pie and coffee for desert and they were relatively secluded in their outside corner of the bistro. “There are things we do not talk about, by mutual consent, but important things affecting our family are discussed. Imagine my surprise over the secrets you have kept from me.”

“Would you have believed me if I had shared them?” Micah asked after struggling to come up with some response. Her silence implied she was waiting for one and she chuckled when he did speak.

“I would have sent you to the closest mental hospital the moment I was out of the room.” She admitted. “It is good to know that you have the intelligence to understand when to talk and when to keep your mouth closed.”

“I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, ma’am, but I’m not the bluntest either.” Micah said with a hint of pride and she frowned.

“Micah, I have gotten to know you far better in the last few weeks and if I ever hear you disparage yourself that way again I will slap you into next week.” She said in a very stern voice with a frown very clear on her face. Micah frowned at the vehemence she showed, but he nodded. “Now, tell me what miscreant ever used that phrase to describe you.”

“My grandfather.” Micah admitted. “When I was younger he took me fishing. It was the first time I’d ever gone and done something like that, and when we got back he told me to go in the back and clean the fish. I went and filled a bucket with soapy water and started scrubbing the fish.”

“Oh my!” She was laughing in a full-throated way that sounded like heaven and made her look ten years younger, and when she started wiping the corners of her eyes with her napkin, Micah felt his cheeks blushing. “You dear boy, you.”

“He wasn’t too impressed.” Micah muttered before taking a bite of the pie. Its flavor had soured a little, but he waited for her to get her laughter under control.

“The man was a fool.” She said with such force that Micah nearly dropped his fork and he did blink a few times. With her looks spearing him in place she reached across the table and patted Micah’s hand. “If he had spent any amount of time studying his grandson, he would have realized that you are a very literal-minded person. You knew that when something was ‘cleaned’ it was usually scrubbed with soapy water, so that is what you did. Had you ever even seen fish before?”

“No.” Micah admitted in a voice just above a whisper. She leaned back in her chair with a satisfied nod.

“Then I think it was your grandfather who wasn’t being the sharpest tool in the shed on that day.” She said with conviction and Micah blinked again.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Micah asked her and she smiled.

“Last summer my youngest son came home, excited like he had never been before.” She said with a smile. “Always before school was an experience he hated, but all he talked about was his roommate and new best friend, Micah Jericho. Naturally I hired a private investigator to find out more about your family because I immediately saw you were going to be an important part of my son’s life. My husband called the Cadet Master at Huntsville and made sure the two of you would be roommates again this last year.”

“You checked out my family?” Micah asked with a shake of his head. It didn’t really surprise him. The Howards left little to chance. He sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee as his mind worked over that last bit of thought. If they left little to chance it would reason that Mr. Howard would be involved in a program meant to send information about the future back in time.

“I had to be sure that this wonderful big brute my son was so obviously taken with was not a hanger-on more interested in my son’s wealth and influence.” She said primly, taking a bite before continuing. “This pie is a little off today.”

“It is.” Micah agreed, glad he could put his fork down.

“It was obvious you were neither so destitute that you would be a leech on my son’s allowance, nor a fame-seeker like so many at that school.” She said with a hint of distaste for the Academy. He had to admit that most of the cadets fell into one category or the other, although she had not yet mentioned the category he fit into. “No, you were supposedly one of the troublemakers, but during your first year you had an exemplary record.”

“I remember my first day there, ma’am.” Micah said with a fond smile on his face as he took another sip of coffee. “Sergeant Major Smith handed me the Code of Conduct and Student Handbook, telling me that as long as I followed what was written in those books I would not have a problem at the Academy.”

“Surely you had similar material at your previous schools.” She said with a frown.

“Yes, but not like these.” Micah said with a smile. “They covered everything from what to do when you are approached by a person of a superior rank to how to treat those of a lower rank, and they told me the same rules could be applied to almost any social situation. I didn’t have to worry anymore about what to do in life, just about everything was covered in those books.”

“Surely these books did not cover every conceivable situation.” She said with a shake of her head. “You would never be able to finish reading them if they did!”

“No, but they offer general rules to follow.” Micah said. “A Cadet and Gentleman is never mean in or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say aloud. He conducts himself to his enemy as if he were one day to be his friend. Although it later makes clear the last part was more about social enemies than real enemies. Real enemies are to be eliminated so they can no longer pose a threat to that which we are defending.”

“Of course.” She said with slightly wide eyes. “Could you repeat word for word the entire set of books?”

“No ma’am.” Micah said with another slight blush and he ducked his head to take a sip of the coffee. “I just thought that was probably the most important part of what they said. It gave me a good idea of how to handle myself most of the time.”

“Most of the time.” She agreed with a shake of her head and small little smile.

“Eventually we all have to think for ourselves.” Micah said with a sigh, setting the nearly empty cup of coffee down on the table. “I learned that in Afghanistan, ma’am, when my platoon leader broke the law and committed murder. Without justice being served, those people’s story would become one more nail in the coffin of our mission over there. We lost it the first time because we let a corrupt government leech off of the regular people and they welcomed back the old regime that had repressed them before. Then that time we were going to lose them again because too many times we let our anger get away from us and treated them like they were our real enemies instead of social enemies.”

“I think that’s the longest statement I have heard out of you yet.” She said with a smile over her coffee cup. “You appear to have very strong opinions about that country.”

“I do.” Micah admitted with a frown, staring at his coffee and unable to look up. Putting his experiences into words was hard, and the white light flooded him again as he remembered those horrible weeks in the isolation cell before Corey had appeared to rescue him. Why hadn’t he told Corey then, told him that he loved him and wanted him to marry him?

“Micah!” Her voice was a distant one to him as the light flashed again and he felt tears come to his eyes while he lost contact with the world around him yet again.