Blood Brothers (Part II thru IV)

[florida20]

[COLOR=deepskyblue]Part I[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]PART II[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Dude,? I said breathlessly. ?I have to sit down.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]We were about a five minute walk from my house, Casey?s suggestion. He wanted to get a feel for the old neighborhood. My old friend acquiesced and sat with me on the concrete drainage ledge on the side of the typical suburban street. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?That workout really tapped you, didn?t it,? he said to me as I sat down next to him.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I barked a grumpy laugh as I got comfortable. ?It was the worst workout of my life,? I said in spite of my intension to merely think it.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey shifted. ?Looked like you started off really into it.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I thought for a moment and realized he was right. I was doing great initially; every rep felt like it was making my muscles larger. But within minutes, the inspiration wore off and a few minutes after that every lift was a chore. He didn?t feel sick, he didn?t even feel weak. It was like his body was depressed in spite of his mind. ?My burps taste like a dog?s ass,? I said as a particularly raunchy one erupted up my throat.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]My friend chuckled. ?If I didn?t know what you were talking about, I?d ask how you could be so sure.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Those pills suck,? I said mirthlessly.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey blushed. ?What did you expect?? he asked, slightly offended. ?To blow up like a beast??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Well,? I began, ?yeah.? Then I laughed. We both did.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Sorry to disappoint,? Casey said with a chuckle. ?Guess these have a different effect on you.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I was disappointed, but I thought of the personal instruction Coach Rod was going to give me after school next semester and I brightened up. Besides, I was in a better situation than Casey. ?You ever think about doubling your dose? You know, to see what happens??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey chuckled under his breath. ?Yeah, made me feel like shit.? His face grew serious. ?Dude, I feel like I?ve been a shadow walking through life these last few years. I don?t even remember what it?s like to lead a normal life. I?m ready to start over.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?What do you mean?? I asked.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey looked over at me. ?Everything I read about leukemia says that I had something different all those years ago. Nothing adds up and for years I?ve felt the pawn in a scientific game. I can?t even trust my parents anymore.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?You can trust them,? I said confidently. ?They did everything they could to make you better. Even moved to another state.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey nodded as if he knew that very well. ?Well, now that I?m out from under that doctor?s and everyone else?s microscope, I can start being a kid again. Apparently the more experimental a procedure is, the more they own you afterwards.? He took the baggie of pills from his pocket. Tears were streaming down his face. ?Fuck that doctor and fuck these pills.? He threw the baggie into my lap. ?They are yours for all I care.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Ten minutes later, when Casey?s sobs had softened into short breaths, we got up and started walking to his old house where his parents were still moving in. He actually spit out a sad laugh as he wiped his eyes. ?You would have probably had a less emotional day if your mom had forced you to take the ugly girl to the prom.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I laughed as well. ?Yeah, well I got you to take your shirt off well before she would have.? I pasued. ?It?s good to have you back.? And it was.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]We made it back to Casey?s house. I still felt out of breath and lethargic, as if I?d spent a week straight sitting on a couch. Casey went up to the back of the moving truck and went to pick up a box.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?What are you thinking?? a shrill voice moaned from the house. I turned and saw Casey?s mom rush from the house. ?You know you?re not able to do that.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey let out an exasperated sigh and he put the box back on the truck bed. ?Just thought I?d give you a taste of my life?s been like,? he whispered to me under his breath. He walked back into the house.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I turned to follow after him, but I didn?t miss the sad and desperate look on Jeanette?s face. ?I?m sorry,? I said and ran into the house.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Don?t be,? he heard her say quietly at his back.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Three days later, winter break began and it was a countdown to spring and my new workout regimen. I got supplements for Christmas, and lots of it. ?That?s all you?ve been talking about for four months,? my mom said. ?We didn?t know what else to get you.? She looked nervously at my hoard. ?That stuff is safe, right??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey and I continued to grow closer and before long we felt like the friends we used to be. On the Saturday before school started, on one particularly chilly day, the two of us were racing our bikes through the paths we did as young children. Casey?s mom didn?t approve but her son was breaking her down little-by-little. Besides, he felt great he said, and he wasn?t even taking the pills anymore. Not that his mother knew that last part, and she thought we were just casually riding through the paved streets of the neighborhood and not these arduous semi-trails in the rolling woods which lay at its border.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Deep in the woods behind Casey?s house, we were pushing our bikes to the limit jumping over fallen trees and powering our way up hills. After a particularly arduous hill, he pulled to a stop. We were both out of breath but relishing the exhaustion the way only the young are able. ?What?s wrong?? I asked, suddenly worried about Casey?s supposedly frail health. I turned towards him. His face was flushed and healthy, and that made me relax a bit.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Nothing,? he said as he stepped off his bike. He looked down at his legs and kicked them around at the knee, testing them. ?Nothing,? he said again. Then he looked at me, his eyes sparkling. ?You know, I?ve felt better and better ever since I stopped taking those pills.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I?d heard this before from him over the last couple weeks but was still confused by it. I hadn?t taken one after that first day so had nothing to compare it against. ?Why do you think that is?? I asked, unzipping my jacket to let some cold air in.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey seemed more interested in his legs than answering my question but eventually spoke. ?You know my clothes aren?t fitting like they used to.? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Well, stop eating so much food,? I said sarcastically. The guy seemed to be eating whenever we weren?t stealing away from the steady gaze of his mother do to something she didn?t approve of. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey?s eyebrows shot up and he smiled a knowing smile. ?Let me show you something,? he said and started taking off his jacket.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?What are you doing,? I asked him but barely finished the sentence before he pulled off his sweater and undershirt. I couldn?t believe it. My friend was a stud. The overhead sun cast shadows under his pecs and detailed every soft line of his abdominal muscles all the way to the hem of his pants. Although not as striated as they were a few weeks ago, his pecs were easily denser and he bounced them a few times for good measure. Then he flexed his arms and a small bulge bloomed from each. A shadow was easily noticeable between his flexed biceps and relaxed triceps. He was easily as big as me now, and taller. ?Holy shit,? I whispered.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?That?s nothing,? he said and his smile grew wider as he bent over and unzipped his jeans. Dropping his pants revealed a set of quads that belonged on a track star. They swelled from his knee caps and were covered in deep set lines which only grew deeper when he flexed them. Turning revealed a ripped set of hamstrings and a set of striated glutes that bulged through his boxers. Compared to these oaks, his upper body looked like a sapling.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?What the fuck?? I blurted out, unable to comprehend what my friend had become.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Sick, right?? Casey said. ?Every day we ride our bikes through here, they start swelling like this. They tingle all day, like a mini-orgasm that lasts for hours. I wake up the next morning and they?re bigger than the day before.? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I was at a loss. ?How?what?dude!?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey laughed as he pulled up his jeans, which for some reason disappointed me a bit. How have I missed it? It wasn?t hard to notice the size of his lower half even through the denim. The pieces were starting to come together in my head. I suddenly asked the right question. ?What did they do to you in Jacksonville??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey?s smile dropped and his eyes lost their mirth. ?I don?t know,? he said seriously, still shirtless in the cold. ?But I?m not going to be their guinea pig anymore.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?What do you mean?? I asked, a little fearful of his tone.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]He smiled again and his eyes flashed with excitement. ?I have a favor to ask,? he said.[/COLOR]


[COLOR=silver]PART III[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Coach Rodriguez, or Coach Roid as his players called him when he wasn?t looking, looked at the two of us with a stern look. His heavily veined arms were crossed in front of his steel gut, making his forearms look like the size of pig shanks. ?Now I know you,? he said to me. ?And I know your dedication. I see something in you. But who?s this other kid you think I ought to waste my time to train??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey didn?t flinch but he let me answer. ?I think you?ll like his work ethic every bit as much as mine.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]It was the afternoon of the first day of spring semester. The day I?d been waiting for. And I was here with my best friend.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Coach scanned Casey with his eyes. ?You bring gym clothes?? he asked casually. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Without hesitation, Casey took off his shirt and jeans. While he was wearing a pair of gym shorts beneath the jeans, apparently ?gym clothes? meant bare above the waste.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]At 6?3? and an easy 250, Coach Rod made the two of us look like bean poles but he was surprised to see the definition on Casey. ?Where you been all season?? he asked my friend.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I was about to answer but Casey appropriately cut me off. ?I?m new here, sir,? was all he said.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?You play football?? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Used to,? he replied.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Even though ?used to? meant five years ago, Coach Rod apparently thought that was enough to assume Casey would be in pads next season. ?I?ll tell you what, squirt; you give me one hundred pushups right here, right now, I?ll train your ass.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey immediately got on the floor and started doing pushups at a quick pace. ?Real pushups, squirt,? he screamed loud enough to get a blood filled cable to rise from his neck. ?Not those girly shits, elbows at ninety. There you go. That?s one.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]About five real pushups later, Casey began to slow. Muscled or not, I wasn?t sure he?d done a push up since PE in third grade. I was suddenly hoping Casey could do twenty, let alone a hundred. Casey got to ten before his arms started to shake.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Coach rolled his head and stared dramatically at the ceiling. ?Oh, Jesus Christ, what the hell is it with these pussies? All this aesthetics bullshit and they can?t even throw their own weight around.? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Fifteen,? Casey said through gritted teeth. Coach looked back down at my still shaking friend. Only now each pushup seemed to be getting easier. By twenty he was only struggling and by thirty he was performing each rep in a clean, fluid motion. Fifty, sixty. The muscle on his back began to flush red and roll beneath the skin.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Well I?ll be damned,? Coach said under his breath. I could only smile.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Seventy, eighty. Casey?s breath was now steady and strong. The horseshoes of his triceps, once only vaguely visible, now flared angrily from beneath his skin. Ninety. Then Casey did something I still can?t get over: he took one hand off the ground and started doing one armed pushups.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]One hundred? one-oh-one, one-oh-two. I started laughing. Coach got serious behind his own sardonic grin. ?Get up, you arrogant ass,? he said. ?I get it. You?re in.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey stood up his face red with the effort and his pecs bulging like a pair of watermelons. Coach gasped and had his hand on my friend?s pec before he even knew what he was doing. Casey smiled and flexed them, making each into a striated ball that pushed against Coach?s hand. They were now so out of proportion with Casey?s body, the almost looked like breasts.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Um, ok,? Coach said as he dropped his hand and wiped it on his hip as if cleaning what he?d just done out of history. ?This could be interesting.? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey didn?t seem to notice. His eyes were semi-closed as if stoned. He flexed his pecs a few more times, squeezing them together as if noticing them for the first time. It wasn?t until coach screamed an inch from his ear, ?Wake up Goldilocks!?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]That did the trick. Five minutes later, the two of us were marching to Coach?s relentless drum. He pushed me a dozen reps past what I used to consider my max effort. He had me falling on the ground before he let up. I puked twice but he was quick to throw me a pre-made protein smoothie or something similar each time. ?Nothing worse than working out on an empty stomach,? Coach said with a wry grin. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]It was the hardest day of my life, without question, but I could say that knowing that well over half the coach?s attention was on Corey. Coach seemed to understand that Corey somehow gained strength on each set, so he would start Corey off with light weight and incrementally increase it after five or so reps until he reached some sort of max.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?You?re making me break every rule in the book, son,? the man told my friend after a particularly intense set under the bench press. Corey had just finished forty reps, the final ones being at 245 pounds. His entire body now matched the size of his swollen pectorals. It was like he was gaining mass out of nowhere, although coach was handing him every food item he had at hand throughout the workout. Although I knew he was 155 when we started this workout, he now looked over 180 and cut like a mountain. By the end of the hour, Casey had the sum of Coach?s attention. And I was ok with that. Casey lifted like an insane superhero and his body bulged more with every rep. Finally, Coach called it quits.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]As the energy in the room died down, Coach Rod?s game-time fury dissolved into something akin to confusion. ?Young man, I don?t know what is going on with you, but I?ll be goddamned if I?ve ever seen anything like it.? He looked at Corey?s naked torso, now looking like an avid teen bodybuilder?s. ?What are you taking, boy??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Corey smiled up at the behemoth man. ?Nothing, I swear.? And it was the truth. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Coach didn?t seem convinced but let it go. ?I?ll see the two of you here at 4 pm on Wednesday. Eat at least four thousand calories a day from here on out.? He looked at Corey?s gorged body again and reached out to squeeze his arm, as it proving he was seeing reality. Corey lifted his arm and flexed what must have been a 16? arm. Not huge, but definitely bigger than the 13? one he walked in here with. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Coach mumbled under his breath and continued doing so after he turned to leave. I only caught a few, ?freak? was one of them.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]PART IV[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?One hundred eighty three pounds!? Corey exclaimed through a mouthful of food as he stepped off the scale. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]That was a gain of over thirty pounds?in three hours. It shouldn?t be possible. It wasn?t possible. I mimicked Coach Rod and put my hand on my friend?s body, if only to make sure it was real.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]His skin was burning hot and there was a vibration coming from the muscle underneath, so faint that it may have been my imagination. And his body was hard. Too hard. It was like touching a brick wall covered in skin. He was in only his boxers, which now looked more like briefs on his gorged body. He had the vascularrity of a bodybuilder; there was muscle everywhere. I kept expecting the insane pump he attained during the workout to go away but if anything he was bigger than before, and more defined. A pump usually makes you look bigger but not more defined. That ballooned look was now gone, replaced by striated and cut muscle that was every bit as big.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?How big do you think I am?? Corey asked while he entertained me checking out his deep cut abs. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I pulled my hand away. ?Guess we can find out,? I said simply. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Five minutes later, I had found a tape measure and had measured every part of him that wasn?t covered in fabric. Neck 15.2?, Arms 16.1?, Forearms 12.6?, Waist 31?, Hips 34.7?, thighs 26?, calves 16?, chest 46.8.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?How is this possible?? I asked, meaning for it to be rhetorical.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey?s eyes flashed and his mouth narrowed. ?Isn?t it obvious? They?ve spent the last three years doing everything they could to keep this from happening. Well, I?m not under their vulturous stare anymore. I own my body,? he said as he threw up a double bicep flex that would be the envy of anyone at the school. ?And I?ll fucking do what I want with it.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]My brain had enough; it was exhausted. I looked at my watch. ?Dude, it?s eleven at night. You staying here tonight or you want my mom to take you home??[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Casey was snapped out of his cloud and looked up. ?Staying here. If my mom sees this, I don?t know what she?d do. She?s obviously tried to keep it from happening.?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I couldn?t exactly disagree with him so I threw him a pillow and blanket and told him to sleep on the floor. Two hours later I was still awake, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. Casey, as energetic and excited as he was, had surprised me by falling asleep immediately. The causes of my insomnia were a mix of a racing mind and the frequent moans of my friend as he perpetually shifted under his blanket. I was more than a little jealous of my buddy?s sudden?superpower, but I was happy for him. A week earlier I thought my life was perfect. I figured by sophomore year I?d be 180 or more; after that, who knows? If anything, having my friend back should make my life better, right? I smiled at the ceiling as Casey shifted again under his sheets. As a sense of peace settled over my mind, I finally closed my eyes and fell asleep.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]Strange sounds fluttered into my dreams throughout the night. However, as often happens when one falls asleep to unwanted background noise, my sleep remained firm if light. I don?t know how long the sounds continued but it wasn?t until the grey light of predawn filtered through my window that I finally opened my eyes. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]The first thing I saw was the black silhouette rummaging through my closet. The second thing was the mess on my floor. Empty bottles were everywhere and after a few seconds I recognized them to be most of the supplements I got for Christmas?empty. I could feel anger bubbling through the sleepy fog blanketing my mind, but it was soon cooled by a sense of curiosity tinged with fear.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]?Casey?? I asked the lumbering shape in my room. He didn?t respond and the fear pushed up a couple notches. Although the logical part of my brain said of course its Casey, the rest of it knew that couldn?t be true. The shape was too?different.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=silver]I got out of bed, quickly losing any groggy remnants of sleep, and made my way to the door. Although I tripped over a few empty jugs of protein on my way to the light switch, the shape didn?t seem to register it. It seemed completely absorbed in eating my damn supplements. I flipped on the switch, causing my eyes to squint at the harsh new light. They adjusted painfully but quickly registered the vision before me none-the-less, and I almost passed out at the sight of it.[/COLOR]

[TemptationIV]

omg you can't stop there!!!

[vga518]

Looks like the Muscle Monster they were trying to contain has been unleashed. Also hoping that the title is alluding to something in the future. Great job, don't stop posting. And why must everyone have cliffhangers!

[Stoneman]

You're so fucking subversive. It's awesome.

[philat99]

I like this story greatly, especially the way you introduced the probable misdiagnosis. May he continue to grow insanely, but bring his friend along with him somehow!

[skumbum]

Loving it so far!