“Look who decided to finally come to school.” Danny said as I walked up to him by his locker.
“Figured you guys missed me enough by now.” I said.
“Did you see the news on Saturday?” Danny asked me.
“The news you woke me from my sleep to watch? Yeah. So what?” I asked.
“Dude, supervillain.” Danny said in a serious voice.
“Pfft. You’ve been watching too many movies.” I said mockingly.
“That cement monster thing survived a five story fall and disappeared into a crowd. It was definitely a supervillain.” He said.
“Cement?” I asked. His use of the word had caught me off guard.
“That powder coming off of it. Have you never seen cement dust?” He looked at me like I was an idiot.
“Cement… That’s like the rock they make blocks out of? I thought smoke was coming off of him.” I asked, confused.
“No, smoke is black or dark grey. The dust coming off of him was a kinda bluish grey. cement’s a powder they mix with water to make concrete. I thought you were a genius.” Danny explained to me.
“I never claimed to be a genius.” I replied. As soon as the words left my mouth I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders. My mind immediately went to Mr. Golem Man, and I jumped in fear of him. Once I turned around I saw that it was just Mar laughing at me for jumping.
“Did I scare you?” She asked between giggles while holding her hand over her mouth. She was wearing suspenders, and a white Front Bottoms t-shirt.
“You’re a jerk.” I griped.
“Uh huh. Whatcha talking about?” She looked at Danny.
“The hospital attack last Saturday.” Danny said quietly.
“With Monkey Man?” Mar asked.
“Is that what they’re calling him?” Danny replied.
They named me and it was something as lame as ‘Monkey Man?’
“Yeah. Heard it on the news this morning. Apparently they did a poll. The other option was Friendly McFriendface.” Mar explained.
“Ha.” Danny said, dryly. Emily walked in the front door.
“Hey Em.” Danny said as he waved.
“Hey Danny. Hey Jacob.” Emily said. She had her blonde hair in a ponytail. The freckles on both of her cheeks were completely visible. She was wearing her usual glasses, a white blouse, and a black skirt.
“Love the new look.” Mar said cheerily.
“Yeah.” Emily responded with very little confidence.
“We were talking about the cement guy that attacked the hospital. How is no one freaking out about supervi-” Danny was interrupted by the ringing of the bell.
“So, we on for lunch today?” Mar asked as we all started walking off.
“Yep.” Danny affirmed as he wandered off.
“Jacob, you better show up or I’m gonna skin you alive.” Mar joked.
“Maybe.” I said as I walked off next to Emily. Once everyone was out of earshot I looked over at her.
“I’m so, so sorry about what happened.” She apologized quickly. She clutched her binder tight to her chest as she did.
“Calm down.” I tried to reassure her. We both stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at each other. “I’m not mad or upset or anything. Okay?” I explained.
“I- I know. I know about your rule and everything and all of that it’s just that you told me about the nine months and I was just I didn’t know what to do an-” She stopped for a deep breath.
“It’s okay. Okay?” I said with a smile. She nodded her head, and we just kept walking.
…
I was in the computer lab when the lunch bell rang. My seat was in the far corner of the room, to the left of it was Danny’s seat, and he was droning on about a story we were both reading in our free time. We made our way down to the student center to meet the girls by Danny’s locker. I shoved my junk into Danny’s locker above his because I can’t be bothered to find mine. I turned around to see Mar looking at me, disappointed. I just flashed her a big toothy smile.
“You guys wanna come to church this Wednesday? Mar’s gonna be singing.” Danny asked me and Emily as we walked out the doors as a group.
“I’ve had bad experiences with old church ladies.” I replied.
“There will be no old church ladies there.’” Danny replied
“I’d be down. I’ve got nothing to do on Wednesday anyway.” Emily said, quietly.
“Looks like you’ll be the only one not coming.” Mar said.
“More free time for me, I guess.” I replied.
“I’m surprised you’d skip out on this opportunity to make fun of Mar’s singing.” Danny chimed in while looking straight ahead.
“Ugh. Fine.” I sighed. Mar looked at me with a goofy smile on her face. She stuck her tongue out at me. I stuck mine out at her.
“Okay so can we please talk about the actual supervillain that showed up on the news?” Danny said, putting emphasis on the word supervillain.
“What supervillain?” Emily asked, sounding puzzled.
“I forgot, you don’t watch the news. There was a big smoky guy that attacked a hospital last Saturday. Monkey Man shoved him through a window, but he ran off.” Mar explained.
“It wasn’t smoke.” Danny began.
“Here we go again.” I said.
“Whose Monkey Man?” Emily whispered to me, and I shrugged in response.
“It wasn’t smoke. It was cement dust.” Danny explained.
“How do you know for sure?” Mar asked.
“My uncle works for a cement plant.” Danny replied.
“Woah. So there’s someone in your family that’s not a preacher?” Mar mocked him.
“My mom’s a nurse.” Danny said.
“Back to the supervillain.” Mar said.
“He’s clearly another mutant like that ice guy, and Monkey Man.” She added.
“I’m not sure. It seems a little weird that he showed up a week after Monkey Man.” Danny retorted.
“Maybe they’re part of some government experiment.” Emily spoke up.
“Whatever that guy was, I hope he won’t be showing back up again.” I mumbled.
…
Jones’s back ached from the battle at the hospital. It was dark outside the motel except for one street lamp in the parking lot. He laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling fan. He could feel the dust in his body. He could feel it healing him.
Whatever the stuff was, it was going to give him the strength to be unstoppable. He let it flow out from his spine. The sidewalk outside the hotel room was almost stripped completely of concrete where his dust had been feeding.
He had enough dust to cover the floor of the hotel room up to his ankles. Too much to keep in his spine all the time. Jones hadn’t slept since the injection.
He worried that he’d never sleep again. The door busted open as men in camo uniforms stormed through. He could feel three pairs of feet moving through his dust.
Jones clenched his fist and the dust covered the men. It solidified after a second of contact and turned them into statues. Jones’s back popped as he moved his feet over the side of the bed.
He stood up and dusted himself off. He held his hands out away from him, palms facing down, and the dust began covering the room like a fog. He solidified the dust around his left arm, forming a jagged spiky shield. He solidified the dust around the other arm into a spear.
Jones smashed the window of his room with his spear and the dust flooded out into the open parking lot. He could feel each individual soldier. He felt their guns aiming at him. Jones could stop each of them. Fill the barrel with cement.
They couldn’t hurt him anyway. To prove it he lets one fire off their gun. Jones fell to his knee as the shot hit his chest. He looked down and saw shattered concrete and blood.
Armor piercing rounds. The dust immediately got to work in his body healing the wound. The bullet was pushed out of his chest. It clattered to the ground at Jones’s feet as he pulled himself up. In a fit of rage he screamed at the sky.
He ran towards the nearest soldier and shoved his spear through their chest.
…
We picked a nice booth at the back of McDonald’s. Usually Emily and I would get our orders to go and make our way out, but this was a special occasion. Danny sat against the wall, and I sat to the right of him. Emily sat across from me and Mar sat across from Danny.
“So your mom’s a nurse?” Mar asked Danny.
“Yep. She’s going to college to be a PA, though.” Danny replied, while leaning his head against the wall.
“Neat. My mom’s unemployed.” Mar said. I’d known about Danny’s parents, and what Mar’s dad did. But it struck me at that moment that I had no idea what Mar’s mom, or what either of Emily’s parents did.
“My mom works for a legal office.” I said. We all looked at Emily at once. She was lost in thought for a moment, then noticed us staring at her and her eyes went wide.
“Oh. Uh. My mom’s a cop.” Emily said.
“This is nice. We never talk about personal stuff, you know.” Mar said casually.
“What about your dad, Jacob?” Mar asked.
“He’s an accountant. In the city.” I replied.
“Hm. Mine’s a mechanic. We all know that pretty boy’s dad is a preacher.” Mar said mockingly, pointing over at Danny.
“My dad works at a bank.” Emily said quietly. Another thing struck me, a resemblance that I couldn’t believe I’d never seen before.
Emily had talked about her mom a lot. The silver necklace she kept around her neck was a gift from her mom. She’d described her as a serious, calm woman.
“Hey Emily.” I said.
“Yeah?” She suddenly looked over at me.
“What’s your mom’s name?” I asked.
“Carol.” She answered. “Why?” She asked.
“Just wondering.” I said, going silent.
Everybody continued their chit chat while I looked out the window every few minutes, thinking maybe a giant cement creature might attack any second.
