G-Force (Book 1): G-Force

by Nye, Laine

  “No. I don't think so. But maybe. She spun and slapped me so hard I saw stars. That was when she hurt her ankle and began to holler at me that I had injured her.”

  “Your dad took on Rowley’s father and beat him?” Allen wanted to know. “The guy is a giant!”

  “He never laid one hand on my dad, no matter how hard he tried.”

  “I hope you'll still let us fly around with you again tonight Brad,” Rudy said. “That was the biggest thrill I have ever had.”

  “I don't know guys.” Brad said, unsure of himself. “I don't want anyone to get hurt.”

  “Why?” Brent said. “Are you planning to smooch one of us too?”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Come on Brad, I'm serious,” Brent said. “If I tried to kiss Sherry while holding her in my arms, I'd probably end up dropping her. You were using this weird ability of yours. I can see that happening. But that isn't going to happen to one of us.”

  They all began to pester a very reluctant Brad into taking them to the college like they had planned, so they could do more aerial acrobatics. Brad was less confident than he had been just two days ago. But his friends would not give up. So, he finally agreed to keep to their plans. They were going to the college after dark to have more fun with the g-force.

  Jeff was still fuming after the entire night last night when his sister and then his father had been hurt because of Brad. Notwithstanding their long friendship Jeff wanted to knock Brad out cold on the pavement. It would just not leave his mind so he went home before his school day was finished and talked to his older brother about it.

  Jeff went straight to Dan when he got home. As soon as he walked into the room Dan, who was laying on the couch watching television asked him, “What happened to Sherry?”

  “That's what I want to talk with you about,” Jeff told him. “Dan, I know you are not going to want to believe me but what I am going to tell you is the truth. Brad Shaw can control gravity. He took me and Rudy and Allen and Brent behind Rainbow Gardens and had all of us floating in the air. We were way up there. That was the night before he did the same think with Sherry.”

  Dan looked at his younger brother with a cold, disdainful and dubious look. “Get real little brother. Tell me what he did to our sister.” He demanded.

  “If you don't want to believe me, I can't convince you. I wouldn't have believed what Brad can do before he took me up into the air like that. If you think I'm lying, then you need to see for yourself.”

  “How would I do that munch mouth?” Dan asked him using the name he had given Jeff when Jeff was little and crammed cereal in his mouth until he couldn't close it all the way.

  “I know where Brad plans to be tonight. You can find out for yourself. He plans to take the guys up in the air with him again.”

  “Jeff you just can't be serious about this gravity thing.”

  “Then don't believe me. Ask Sherry when she gets home. I had a cop interview me at school today. He wanted to know about this thing Brad can do too.”

  Dan glared at his little brother but saw in Jeff's face a look that told him that Jeff was not lying or kidding or whatever else. He began to wonder if there was some kind of truth to what he had just heard. He absolutely could not accept that Brad controlled gravity, but there must be something that Jeff was telling him that was true. He could see it in his eyes.

  “Okay Jeff. I still don't know if I believe you but if you know where Brad is going to be tonight, then I would like to have a little talk with him. Just me, my fists and some serious warnings. Maybe I will take my buds with me just to make it more entertaining. If he can do this crap you are telling me, then I guess we will have to ground him.”

  Dan was in the same kind of vengeful mood that Jeff was in. Dan came up with a way to get back at Brad Shaw. They would come up with a way to get back at his father later on.

  That night, Brad and company pulled into the parking lot in front of the admissions building at Weber State University. It was just like Rudy had predicted. There were only six cars on the outskirts of the parking lot. Each of the cars were backed into their parking spaces on each side of the lot. The middle section was all clear and there was no one in sight. They looked around for a minute to make sure then turned to Brad. “Okay, Brad, we're ready for takeoff,” Allen said.

  Brad smiled and said, “Right! Mission control, do we have an all clear for liftoff?”

  Rudy answered him. “All systems are go! You may commence liftoff. Only do it right now would you?”

  From the bushes that were against the admissions building, four people who were crouched down pushed their keyless entry buttons. The headlights of four of the cars that were facing the middle of the lot all turned on nearly at once as car doors were automatically unlocked. Two other guys hiding in their cars sat up and turned their headlights on as well. Brad and his friends were bathed in a bright light from every direction.

  Dan Rowley walked out of the bushes with three of his friends following him as the two guys in the car got out and approached also. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Dan said as he walked toward the group. “It looks like Jeff had your location right. And here you are!”

  Dan and his friends were now in the circle of light too. Brad could see a revolver in Dan's hand. “What do you want with us?” Brad asked in a shaken voice. These guys were all 21 or older and they were big, dangerous troublemakers.

  “Not much, magic boy.” Dan answered in a pseudo friendly voice. “We just want to extract payment from you for what you did to my sister and my father.”

  “I didn't touch your father, Dan. He got himself into that.” Brad replied. His spine was tingling, but he was holding back anything happening because he had not yet figured out a way to protect his friends. The self-preservation instinct could instantly protect him, but he had to take care of those who came with him. The lights of the cars began to turn off.

  “If you hadn't hurt my sister, my dad would not have been hurt either. It all kind of runs together. By the way, Jeff wants to say hi.” Dan turned, looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Come out munch mouth. You'll want to see this.”

  Jeff reluctantly came out of the bushes. “Hello Bradster,” he said in a subdued voice. “Dan you weren't supposed to let them know I was here.”

  “Too bad little bro. Besides, you might want to get a few punches in as well.”

  “Come on guys, let's leave,” Brad said and started to turn toward Rudy's car. He heard the double click of the revolver being cocked and looked back at Dan.

  “Are you going to shoot me Dan?” Brad asked in a tremulous voice. The spinal tingling was getting unbearable. It was time to do something before someone got hurt.

  “I'll shoot you if you try to leave. How about you Scott? Does he know about your gun?”

  The guy named Scott suddenly produced a semi-automatic pistol from his belt. “He does now.”

  “We are going to beat the crap out of the four of you. Especially you. You are messing with the wrong family Bradley boy.”

  “My friends haven't done anything wrong.”

  “They are dumb enough to hang around with a known trouble maker, which is you, therefore they get the same treatment as you.”

  Brad said quietly to his friends, “On three, jump into the air hard!”

  “What did you say magic boy?” Dan asked. “Why are you counting to three?”

  “Be careful Dan,” Jeff warned. “He can do what I told you.”

  “One.” said Brad.

  “I will shoot you Shaw, if anyone here gets caught floating away. I know what you can do.”

  “Two.”

  Dan pointed his gun at Brad. “You're dead if you do boy!”

  Suddenly Jeff, Dan and Scott and the others were repelled violently from the ground into the air about fifteen feet. Dan actually pulled the trigger and the .38 caliber pistol fired. Yellow flame, Loud noise, gun smoke and the bullet belched forth from the barrel. But Dan was off balance
, and his aim was wrong due to the sudden lift off. The bullet imbedded itself into the pavement at Brad's feet.

  “Three!” Brad yelled. His friends all jumped into the air, and went shooting up passed the gang who were now being slammed back to the ground. They landed hard on their feet but fell to the ground, grunting as they hit.

  Brad and his friends were already up to the height of the admissions building, and Brad threw some gravity into the side and top of the building so that they were all quickly pulled towards it. Dan and Scott were shook up by their fall and stood up a little slower than they would have liked and were aiming at the flying group just as Brad got them up to the building and over the top onto the roof. Another shot rang out. Cursing from below was heard clearly. Dan's group were amazed at what had just happened. They had lost their violent initiative. Dan galvanized them back into action.

  “Anybody hit?” Yelled Brent.

  “No, we're all good.” Brad said.

  “What are we going to do Brad?” Allen asked.

  “Run to the other side!” Brad answered, and they ran jumping over obstacles on the roof. Getting to the other side, Brad told them all to jump away from the building. They did, trusting Brad. When they cleared the edge of the building, Brad carried them to the next building.

  By then, the six people who had threatened them came around the side of the admissions building just in time to see them landing on the next building. They were losing ground and didn't know how they were going to catch up with Brad and his friends.

  Brad ran with everyone to the front edge of the second building and said, “Jump again!” They flew over to the student union building, landed and kept running. When they got to the front side of that building, they jumped to the student activities building. In this manner, they cleared three more buildings before they decided to go back to the ground.

  Brad had them all come down off the roof with him, and they began to run towards the left side of the building because they knew that Dan and his friends were running down the right side. But Dan had expected that and the armed group ran that way to trap them.

  Before Brad's group reached the end of the third building they could hear the heavy running footsteps of their pursuers coming towards them. Brad knew that his decision had been guessed and they were about to run into a trap.

  They all stopped and reversed direction. Running with all their might, they ran south and towards the library. Dan, Scott and Jeff rounded the corner of the student center first and saw their prey about one hundred feet in front to them. Scott pointed his gun at them and pulled the trigger. It was a wild shot done while they were running. There was little danger as the bullet missed the group by a wide margin.

  Brad was wishing that they had just stayed up on the admissions building instead of leaving it. They could have stayed up there to call the police on Dan's group while staying low on the roof. He berated himself for his bad choice even as they ran.

  When the very first bullets had been fired, someone was close enough to hear the gunshots and recognize that there were two separate guns being fired. They immediately called the campus police station, and the patrolman who was on duty drove quickly over to where the shots were heard. He was in the area looking around when he heard the next gunshot echoing off the buildings. He jumped in his patrol car and took off south across the lawn and sidewalks. As he came to the hilly areas where there were steps, He literally drove up the steps in his car and continued forward.

  Brad, Rudy, Brent, and Allen had reached the back of the library.

  “We should have stayed up on that first roof Brad,” Rudy said.

  “I know. I know. I screwed up,” Brad whispered loudly to them as they continued running. “Let’s all jump on three once more. We've got to get above them again.”

  On the count of three while still running, they all jumped into the air again. Brad lifted them up to the top of the library. Just as they cleared the edge, Rudy saw the police car turned toward them. His spotlight caught their movement on the roof line. “Duck down everybody!” Rudy said as quietly as he could and still be heard.

  Meanwhile, the policeman missed the fact that the real offenders were behind his car and had stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the cop. They lay down on the grass in the dark and waited, watching carefully.

  The campus police officer drove his car several yards from the library then turned back towards it shining his spotlight on the roof line. He waited and watched but saw nothing. Since the moment he had heard the third gunshot, he called for back-up. Others from Ogden City Police or from the sheriff's department would join him soon. He decided to drive around the front of the building to look around. By so doing, he inadvertently freed up the very ones he was looking for.

  Laying there in the grass with his older brother, Jeff was beginning to regret coming with the group tonight. Guns? This was not what he wanted. Getting physical would have been fine but not this shooting. He had always been protective of his sister and that was why he was here now. But that didn't mean he wanted anyone to get shot. He definitely didn't want his brother and himself to end up in jail for this. He hoped the police headlights would not spot them.

  Jeff suddenly realized that everyone was up and moving toward the library again. He jumped up and ran to catch them. He did not want to be out here alone. They ran behind the library as Brad's group had done.

  “Get into the bushes, guys,” Dan told them as they arrived. “I am not letting these guys go. We'll hide out here from the cop and wait for them to come off that roof.”

  On the roof top, they had all crept forward until they could peer down on the police car to see what he was doing “I think we should go down there, Brad. We need that cop's help,” Allen whispered.

  “Yeah. But we can't just float down off the roof in front of him. You know that,” Brad responded.

  “True, but Brad, Dan and those guys are trying to shoot us. I would rather be in trouble with the cops and all that, than get shot,” Allen said.

  Brad was thinking about what his parents had said about not letting anyone else know what he could do. There had been far too much trouble in the past 24 hours just from the few who were aware of Brad's ability. It could only go downhill from here.

  In the distance, they could hear sirens on the way towards the college. Rudy spoke up. “We can't stay up here all-night Brad. If those cops don't find Dan and Jeff, and if Dan stays here to wait for us, all they would have to do is watch our car and we couldn't get back to it. If they see us come down off this building, they might catch us and shoot us, then beat us, or whatever.”

  “Well, then it wouldn't have helped us to stay on that first roof either.” Brad retorted.

  “We are in over our heads Brad,” Brent said. “We need those cops to help us get out of here alive.”

  Brad finally agreed. “All right, but let's go to the side of the roof to get down, and then we'll run around to the front. I don't want him to see us floating down.”

  They ran over to the side of the building, and Brad lowered them down to the ground carefully where the officer could not see them. As they were landing on the ground, the police car started to move away from the building. They ran to try to get his attention but he pulled away too fast. Brad's group didn't know that Dan and his bunch had started coming to the same side of the building they floated down from. By the time they touched the ground, Dan's group was coming right at them.

  “There they are!” exclaimed Scott in a whisper. He pointed his gun at them, but Dan grabbed his hand.

  “Wait,” Dan whispered to him, if you shoot now, that cop will hear the gun go off and will figure out where we are. He's not that far away. Let's just follow these guys until we can grab them.”

  But Allen heard their whispering and looked back. He saw their pursuers and panicked. “There they are!” He yelled, “Behind us! Run!”

  They broke into a run. Brad fell behind the group as they ran out from the side of the building an
d to the front. He was no longer slower than his friends because he was now as tall or taller than they. But his energy output had depleted him some. He was worried about being discovered by the cop even while fearing the guys from behind.

  “The cop is gone!” Rudy yelled out. “Where did he go?”

  Upon hearing Rudy's exclamation, Dan's group started running faster. “Don't let them get away! I want them all. Now!” Dan told his group.

  The sirens were getting much closer to the campus now. However, when Brad looked behind him at Jeff and the others, he saw they were gaining on him rapidly. He ran across the lawn diagonally in front of the library, following, and trying to keep up with his friends as they ran back in the direction of their car. They were in the open now with no more structures to use for protection. They should have stayed on the roof. Again. He looked back at Jeff and Dan. They were now in the front of the building as well, with a clear shot at their prey.

  Then Brad's spine started tingling like he had never felt it before. His instinct took over and suddenly he was throwing immense amounts of gravity into the front of the library and pulling the gravity out from under his enemies. They were all suddenly “falling” towards the building front which had a lot of plate glass at the entry. Brad increased the strength of the gravity even more. The group was hurled at the library at an increased speed and then there were objects inside the building such as chairs, tables, and book racks with books that were tumbling violently towards the windows where all the gravity was concentrated. Dan, Jeff and the others crashed into the front of the building. Some went right through the glass and collided with the objects on the inside that were coming at them. A couple of them slammed into the front doors where they collapsed, unconscious.

  Dan and Jeff lay on the floor inside the library. Jeff was unconscious from a table he had collided with that was flying end over end. Dan was bleeding from multiple cuts and glass shards were embedded in his skin. He was trying to rise and find his gun so that he could go after Brad. But he was too weak; he then saw blood all over himself.