Read Online The New Kid by Temple Mathews - Free Book Online

the gas tank and KABLAM! The Taurus went up in a ball of flames, all four doors blown cleanly off their moorings. The punks turned and mouthed the obligatory F-words and then charged out the front door. That’s when Will stood up and clocked them both at once with dual upper-cuts that rattled their pea brains and dropped them in the doorway like two sacks of yesterday’s rotten apples. He felt a thrill course through his body, a feeling so seductive and pleasurable that it scared him. He shook his head, ashamed, willing the feeling to go away. It shouldn’t feel this good to hurt people , he thought.

    Will picked up the gym bag they’d used to grab the loot and returned the cash to the open-mouthed clerk, who was still in shock but not so numb he couldn’t mutter a croaking, “Thank you.” And then, as Will started to cruise away into the night on his turbo scooter, the clerk came out from behind the counter, dialing the cops, and called after Will. “Hey, who ARE you anyway?”
    Will just muttered to himself, “The New Kid.”
     
    Fifteen minutes later Will was back in his basement refuge, powering up all his monitors. He studied the one linked to the geothermal sensors and the spectral scalar and vector magnetometers he’d just planted. The magnetometers had the capability to measure the component of the magnetic field in a particular direction, which meant that in combination with his ground-penetrating radar he could detect movement underground.
    The cemetery looked dormant, no corpses rising, no catacombs active. The rest of the town was quiet, too. He moved to his main computer and hit some keys that began the recording process, then pushed his chair back and rubbed his eyes. Even Will Hunter needed sleep, and right now he needed it badly. He dimmed the lights, exited his lair, and climbed upstairs. Moments after he did, the monitor showed movement, a tiny red light flickering in one of the sectors. And then the light grew brighter. And began moving.
    Upstairs, Gerald was multitasking, brushing his teeth and scratching his ass. He grunted as Will passed by him, then blurted out something nearly unintelligible. Will ignored him.
    “May, I’m dalking do doo!”
    Yeah, you’re talking doo-doo alright , thought Will. He sometimes wondered if Gerald wasn’t a human but a monster of some sort, but knew that was just his bitterness talking. The guy wasn’t anything so spectacular as a monster; he was just another middle-aged washout, and Will was duty-bound to make nice for his mother’s sake. So he smiled his good teenage boy smile.

    “What’s up, Gerald?”
    “How’d it go at school today? You didn’t cause any trouble, did you?”
    “No more than usual.”
    “That’s not funny. Be straight with me.”
    Gerald grabbed Will by the arm, and Will stiffened. The red curtain formed in his brain and could have closed easily, in which case Gerald would have sustained grave bodily injury. Will was shaking, his anger coming to life swiftly and powerfully. But he knew better. He was tempted to give Gerald a good panda kick that would send him through the wall and probably crack his skull. Instead he thought of how much he loved his mother, remembered the smile on her face when he’d surprised her with daffodils on her birthday, and the scarlet curtain faded away. Will forced himself to stay in this quiet place while he relaxed his muscles and actually managed to produce another saccharin smile for Gerald.
    “It was just another day, Gerald. I hope you enjoy your delicious cleansing beer while you watch Leno tonight. Goodnight.”
    Gerald let go and muttered something foolish and vaguely threatening while Will quietly retreated to his room and collapsed onto his bed. Another violent storm averted. Will remembered how his father told him to choose his battles and make them few. Gerald wasn’t worth a battle.
     
    There was but one vehicle parked on Netter’s Ridge, Duncan’s black-on-black Scion xB, and it