The Hike (part 5)

[Jaypat]

Chapter Links

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - Epilog



I watched the twins go and when I turned again, Becker was at my side. He nodded over at Moorcroft who was still twitching on the ground.

“Is he dead?” asked Becker.

“No, but he’s seriously fucked up.”

“Good,” he said and I couldn’t disagree. “We’re all that’s left.”

I nodded.

“What do we do?”

“We get the hell out of this forest.”

“Will we make it?

“I don’t know,” I said. “But it’s not far.” I took a compass reading we started out on the last leg of the journey.

About an hour later we emerged into the parking lot. But it was not the triumphant moment I had been hoping for. For one thing: the tingling in my hands and feet was now creeping its way up my forearms and legs, and I knew my time was running out.

The second thing: the two SUVs we had come in had been smashed, crushed and wadded up like giant balls of aluminum foil. Someone had beaten us out. I wondered who and why they would try and stop us. Ultimately, I guess it didn’t matter. There wasn’t much we could do about it now.

Becker took one look at our former transportation and his face fell. He plopped himself down one of the log benches, and after a moment, pulled out his guitar and started playing a tune. I’d heard him play before but he was really going to town now. I had no idea he was so good. Then in the middle of the song, he suddenly broke down and started crying.

“It’s okay, Becker,” I said. “I know it’s the middle of nowhere, but we could still probably hitch a ride. It’s not over yet.”

“Yes, it is,” he said as he put the guitar aside and opened up his shirt. Sure enough, his chest and abs were bulging out under his skin. He looked rock solid.

“Crap.”

“I don’t want this to happen,” he said. “My hands will get too big to play the guitar. How can I live if I can’t play the guitar?”

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get to the road.”

“You go. I’m finished. Any second now, I’m going to bust out of my clothes and go tromping off on a nonstop mystery tour of the forest.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I pretty much do. And the same thing is going to happen to you. You heard Josh. It’s in us all.”

“Josh may not know everything.”

“He knew enough to juice his brother up. What was that, some kind of twin thing?”

“I guess. I don’t know. Look, let’s just get up to the road. We’ve got to try.”

“Why bother? They’re not going to let us go.” He pointed at the destroyed SUVs.

“They’re probably not anywhere near here.”

“Yes they are. They’re watching us. All of them, watching us. And waiting, waiting for us to change, too. Can’t you feel them?”

I looked over into the woods, seeing if I could find any sign of five or six behemoths. I couldn’t. But I did get the odd feeling that they were there.

“Okay, Becker, now you’re seriously starting to creep me out. Let’s just get to the road. If they want to stop us, let them try and stop us.”

“You do what you want. I’m staying here. I‘ve got just a little time left and I’m going to spend it with my guitar.” Becker picked up his guitar and started playing like a man possessed.

“Okay,” I said, “But if I flag down a car, I’m coming back for you.”

“Yeah. Right. Whatever.”

I started up the incline toward the line of trees that separated the road from the parking lot. It was just steep enough that I was a little winded when I reached the top. Just before I passed out of sight, I turned and looked back at Becker who had stopped playing. He was flexing his right bicep and feeling it with his left hand. Even from where I was I could tell it had grown large. And Becker looked like he was enjoying the feel of it. Suddenly, a look of shock and horror flashed across his face, as if he had only just realized what he was doing. He jerked his hand back, quickly picked up his guitar and once again started wailing away. I turned and headed for the road. The line of trees not only blocked my view of Becker, it also blocked the sound. I could no longer hear him playing.

I looked up and down the desolate two lane road. There was no sign of any cars. We were pretty far from the highway and the only people who usually came through here were the serious hikers and campers. Some of the larger trucks used it as an alternate route since a few of the highway overpasses were a little low.

A shiver ran through me. It was still only seven o’clock in the morning and the night chill still lingered in the air. But that wasn’t the only reason I had shivered. The tingling had now engulfed all of my arms and legs and was now seeping into my torso. I hoped a car came by soon.

I stood by the road for about an hour. Only three cars passed and none of them stopped, no matter how frantically I waved. What was the world coming to when no one would stop to help a stranded Boy Scout?

Suddenly I heard a sound that almost made my heart stop. It was deep, barely human bellow full of rage and despair. It seemed to be coming from the parking lot. I decided to go back and check on Becker, but when I stepped through the trees he was gone. All I found was a shredded uniform and a smashed guitar.

I was alone now. One by one all the kids had mutated and I knew it was only a matter of time before the tingling--

Suddenly, I realized the tingling now ran all through my body. I began to feel a strange sensation in my stomach, like something was moving around under my skin. Instinctively my hand sought it out. I couldn’t feel it but I still seemed to sense it under my skin. I was moving my hand over my midsection trying to track it down, when the realization hit. I froze. I was rubbing my stomach! I was rubbing my stomach just like Johnson had done, and Eric before him.

“Crap.”

Panic set in and I began to shuffle and stumble back toward the road. Someone would stop. Someone had to stop! As I scrambled up the incline, somehow, beyond all reason, my pants slipped from my waste and fell down around my ankles tangling up my feet. I tripped and tumbled back to the bottom of the slope. I got to my feet as quickly as possible and pulled my pants back up. But they wouldn’t stay up. I had to tighten my belt two notches.

Truth be told, I had recently discovered a liquor store that would sell me beer, and I had taken more than a little advantage of it. The side effect being, I had developed a small beer gut at eighteen. But now it was gone. My stomach was flat and smooth, the way it had been before Budweiser had become my beverage of choice.

I started up the slope again and this time I just seemed to fly up the incline. It was no effort at all. I began to feel a sensation of power running through me. I’m not going to lie. It felt pretty good. But I wasn’t ready to give into the change, not just yet.

In the distance, a car was approaching. I jumped up and down, waved and shouted for all I was worth. But the car sped by without stopping. As it passed I caught a glimpse of the driver. He was looking at me strangely. Was that fear in his face? Suddenly I realized I was jumping pretty high, unnaturally high, almost five feet into the air. I landed solidly on the ground. No wonder the guy had freaked.

I padded my legs. They didn’t seem any larger than they should have been. A shudder ran through my entire body and every sinew I had began to get hard. I could feel my muscles condensing into something solid. They felt like lumps of hard rubber nested between my skin and my bones. They almost didn’t feel like they belonged to me. They felt more like foreign objects that had been surgically implanted.

I couldn’t stand it anymore; I had to see. I pulled off my shirt and looked down at my arms and chest. I was ripped. My forearms had grown thicker. Veins popped out and ran up them, looking like a dimensional road map, until they went up and over my baseball sized biceps, and disappeared into the large striated orbs that my shoulders had become. My chest had swollen outward causing me to slightly crane my neck in order to see my stomach. It was no longer flat. My abs had grown prominent and were now protruding up under my skin giving me the much ballyhooed six pack. I curled my fist and hit myself in the stomach, it was like a rock.

My own body had become a source of fascination and terror for me. I knew that by all natural laws I shouldn’t have this build and that if I didn’t find a way to stop the change it would probably mean the end of my humanity. But at the same time, flexing my arm and seeing the large bicep bulge up and form a peek was awesome. And the feeling of power in my arms was intoxicating. I wanted it. In fact, I wanted more.

I heard the sound of a truck engine approaching and the inner debate raged. Should I try and stop it on the off chance that it could get me into town before I changed completely? Would they be able to help me? Did I want to be helped?

The decision was taken out of my hands as the truck slowed down and pulled to the side anyway. An overweight, middle aged guy with a big bushy beard and a baseball cap stuck his head out the window. “Need a ride, son?”

It was kind of funny. When I had been desperate, I had jumped and yelled and done everything I could think of to try and get a car to stop. None of them had. And now that I was no longer sure I wanted one, I had a ride with out doing a thing. I decided to take it as a sign and go with him. After all, I was only making the decision to go into town; I could decide what to do—if anything—after I arrived.

“Thanks,” I said, and with my bunched up shirt in my hand, I ran around to the other side of the cab and hopped in, literally. I didn’t use the step. Without thinking I had jumped impossibly high right into the cab. I hoped he hadn’t noticed. I didn’t think he did.

Suddenly I was concerned about what might happen if I were to start growing again while I was in the cab. I hadn’t really grown anymore since I had taken off my shirt, but I wasn’t sure what would happen next. I might grow again in a second or it might not happen for an hour.

“Got lost?” asked the driver.

“No, my car-- broke down.”

“I’m going as far as River Falls; you can probably get a tow truck there.”

“Great. Do you know if they have a hospital?”

“Why? Are you sick? ’Cause you sure as hell don’t look it.”

“No, I’m not sick… It would be closer to say I have a condition.”

“A condition?” he laughed. “Can’t be too serious.”

“It’s pretty serious.” All at once, I realized that the driver, although friendly, was not looking me in the face whenever he glanced over and spoke. He was staring at my body. Now it all made sense. That’s why he had stopped. I hadn’t been a jumping, waving, slightly pudgy Eagle Scout dork. I had been a shirtless stud boy standing by the side of the road. Now I knew what it took to stop traffic. This ride wasn’t providence; it was a horny, gay truck driver looking for some eye candy to help him pass the time.

I found my self thinking I was probably strong enough to reach over and rip the truck driver’s head off. But instead I unbunched my shirt and began to put it on. It was a mass of wrinkles but I was beyond caring.

“I wouldn’t do that, son,” the driver said. “Air conditioners broke. You’re better off without it.”

“Actually, I’m a little cold.” An obvious lie, and he had to have known it.

“You can’t blame a feller for wanting a little show, now can you?”

I had just finished buttoning my shirt when a spasm ran through my entire body. There was only one thing that could mean. “Stop the truck,” I said.

“No need to be like that. I didn’t mean nothing.”

I leaned forward and grabbed the dash. My body went rigid and I knew it was too late. “Buddy, you’re about to get a show like you wouldn’t believe,” I gasped.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, “Is it your condition?”

“Yeah,” I grunted, “my condition.”

Energy began to build throughout my body like the pressure before an orgasm. It grew, stronger, more intense and was soon all consuming. It needed release. I squeezed the dash and it shattered in my hands, my hands that were stretching, swelling, thickening.

I think the driver said something but I was incoherent now. All that mattered was the power surging within me, flooding my body with feverish sensations. Those strange hard lumps that my muscles had become were beginning to expand. I could feel them engulfing my bones and stretching out beneath my skin. Almost immediately, they began pressing up against the confines of my shirt, filling out the cloth and then stretching it tighter and tighter, until the deep wrinkles in my shirt were gone and it was as tight as a drum. I was growing stronger, stronger than I ever imagined I could be and the feeling was unreal.

But still there was no relief from the pressure. I flexed both my arms and the biceps bulged up and split the fabric apart, forcing their way out of my shirt. They were large, undulating pinnacles of rock hard flesh, saturated with raw power. And as they expanded further, the rest of my sleeves peeled away around them. New tears formed and seams ripped as my forearms expanded and my shoulders broadened out. My sleeves were now useless shreds of cloth hanging by my sides and the arms they once contained were massive juggernauts with huge, bulbous muscles erupting out all over them. They looked and felt powerful and I liked it.

But the intense pressure I felt was still building. Seeking some relief, any relief, my right arm shot out and connected with the passenger side door. It flew off its hinges and bounced out onto the highway kicking up sparks as it hit the pavement. I think the driver yelled something and I was dimly aware of tires squealing and the cab lurching unnaturally. But all this seemed petty and insignificant next to the sensations of tremendous strength and power I was experiencing. My shirt front was splitting. I pulled at it, tearing it away releasing my now massive, heaving pectorals. My head rose closer to the roof as I grew taller and my entire body seemed to be growing wider as my back expanded. I was beginning to fill the cab. The driver was being squashed between my massive, boulder-like triceps and the driver’s side door. He was pounding on my arm with all his might. It was almost funny how little impression he made; like a puppy licking me.

My mind began to focus again as the cab lurched savagely and then toppled on its side, sliding a good distance before it stopped. I hadn’t been knocked around much because I was now so big I was wedged into the small cab and it had acted like the perfect restraint. But it quickly became too restraining. It began squeezing in on me, so I squeezed back. The windshield shattered and the metal walls began to buckle as I pushed out against the chamber that was now too small to hold me. I reached up and grabbed a handful of the roof, crinkling and tearing it like paper. I quickly pulled it apart but I was still stuck. I began pounding on the walls, on the broken dash, on anything I could reach. Chunks of metal and plastic flew off in all directions as my fists connected with the wrecked cab. What I couldn’t knock away, I would grab and rip out. It wasn’t long before I had knocked out a large enough hole to make my escape.

As I emerged from the wreck and stood up, the full measure of my change was brought home to me. I was huge, at least ten feet tall and there wasn’t an inch of me that wasn’t covered with massively developed muscles. Those hard lumps had grown and expanded until they were more a part of my body than anything else. All traces of doubt about the change were gone. It had been awesome. I was now awesome. But I still felt the pressure and I was dying to know what my muscles could do.

I saw the driver. He was slumped unconscious in the cab. It was a miracle he had survived my onslaught. I pulled the wreck apart around him, and then laid him by the side of the road. Then I could stand it no more; I had to see what I could do. I began tearing into the truck, grabbing handfuls of metal, pulling them apart and throwing them to the side. When I’d had enough of that, I reached under the broken cab and lifted it up over my head. My body screamed with pleasure. It loved using its strength. I had been right before. This was exactly like sex. With a mighty heave I threw the cab towards the woods. I watched it fly up over the tree tops and out of sight before I heard it come crashing down. The power I now had in my massive body was unreal.

The pressure was gone. I was ready to go now. Taking one last look at the road, I turned and entered the forest, crushing and smashing anything I wanted to. Somewhere in the woods was a place I needed to go. I needed to go there almost as much as I needed to use my new muscles. I wasn’t sure exactly what this place was or even where it was but I knew the others would be there and I knew in what direction it lay. I knew as surely as if I had been looking at my compass.

[Jaypat]

I had originally decided to end it here but I think there are a couple of readers who would be very angry if I did. So, I promise to write an epilog that will anwser the queston of where these guys went when the took off into the woods. But I won't have time to write it until the weekend so please be patient.

[Speaker]

Take your time... if the epilogue is half as good as the rest of this story has been itll be well worth the wait. Another great installment!

[chocomus]

YES! FINALLY! We're gonna know!
Good work!

[gogothen]

dude i just read ur story and WOW
was that the end?

[Jaypat]

I was going to write a epilog that explained where they were going but then I got caught up with Second Puberty.

I suppose I could put Second Puberty on the back burner and finish this up...

On second thought, maybe I better just finish Second Puberty and then come back to this. After all, I don't have much more to go.

[TheMM]

Originally Posted by Jaypat

On second thought, maybe I better just finish Second Puberty and then come back to this. After all, I don't have much more to go.

Awww poo. I can't believe you're almost finished with 2nd Pub. It almost seems to soon to end it.

[Jaypat]

Originally Posted by TheMM

Awww poo. I can't believe you're almost finished with 2nd Pub. It almost seems to soon to end it.

It already qualifies as a novel. How much longer did you want it to go?

[TheMM]

Originally Posted by Jaypat

It already qualifies as a novel. How much longer did you want it to go?

Oh I don't deny that, but as a writer here, you should have learned by now....We're GREEDY!!!!

Now....WRITE!!! *cracks whip*

[redroger11]

Oh wow. Tell me the guys aren't the alien's version of the rocks. They mess with a piece of each planet they get a probe to and leave a mark like the guys that opened the pyramids or climbed into the cliff dwellers homes in New Mexico? They aren't really interested in taking over, just making a mark so they can show they were there.

Still a pretty hot way to leave a mark. Talk about expanding another race's horizon's.

redroger11

[chocomus]

I wouldn't mind to know how they will "interact" between each other all of them now that they are all finished growing...or maybe they are not finished
Anyway, write more when you have the time, please!!!!

[redroger11]

I was just wondering if you still want to post that epilog

redroger11

[Jaypat]

I just went hunting on my hard drive and found it. I didn't realize how close to being finished it was. I should be able to finish it up this weekend.

[portamivia]

Originally Posted by Jaypat

I just went hunting on my hard drive and found it. I didn't realize how close to being finished it was. I should be able to finish it up this weekend.

Ooooh yeah! Glad to hear that!