The Max Effect.2

What are you?

Inside the old Ranger station, Max thought until she knew what was going on—best be safe. She moved the heavy dresser over like it was on wheels.

"That took me hours to move!" said the man.

"What's your name?" Max started to take control.

"I'm Eric," he replied.

"Well, Eric, go and check every window and the rear door; see what else is left in this place," instructed Max.

Eric went off as instructed, checking all the windows. Max moved the heavy oak table over as well, just for good measure. She now had a limited time to breathe and process what had just happened; events were moving fast. From her knowledge of the area, she knew that what she saw was not local to the area, nor was it anything she recognised. Could it be the Sasquatch? Max was intelligent; she didn't believe in conspiracy theories and fantasy, but she was also intelligent and kept the theory on the back burner, just in case.

"Look what I've found!" shouted Eric from one of the back rooms.

Max walked down the hallway to where Eric was with an old rifle.

"Does that thing even work?" I think it's safer if we put the gun down and don't use it. That thing's probably been here for years, and we don't know when it was last used."

Eric followed Max's instructions.

"Okay, the plan is, let's escape via the back door and run to the bike. Then we'll ride out of here. We can use the back door but set up a distraction at the front. Are you okay with that, Eric?"

"Sounds like a plan. I love it when a plan comes together!" Said, Eric

Max just looked at him blank-faced.

"I loved the A-team..."

Still Nothing!

"George Peppard, Mr. T."

Max had no idea what he was talking about.

"When we are out, you'll have to Google it," said Eric, a little frustrated that he couldn't share his dad's one-liners and was slowly waking up to the fact that he was now middle-aged. He was saved by a younger, more intelligent, stronger, and muscular woman.

"I like ICE", he stated.

Max looked at him blankly again.

"Eric, now is not the time for small talk!" said Max

"I loved ICE in American Gladiators. I think muscle women are okay. I want to say that I appreciate your physique, Max. You are amazing and have a very muscular physique," he rambled on.

"Eric, I need you to focus. I don't know if it's nerves or you are scared, but I need to switch on" Max's pep talk seemed to do the job.
Eric got back to finding helpful something and carried on searching the rooms. He found some rope, but nothing else was much use. It sounded like the unknown creature was at the front of the old ranger station. Max had an idea: they would create a distraction using the rope, pull the front door slightly and escape from the back door.

"Get me the rope, please, Eric; I need to cut some of that off," asked Max

"You'll need a knife to cut it because it's quite thick," said Eric.

"It's okay, I've got a knife in my..." Max paused

"In your what?" Asked Eric

"In my rucksack, which is currently outside," Max was frustrated.

"Pass me the rope, please," she asked Eric.

Max wrapped part of the rope around her boot and stood on the rope; she then grabbed part of the rope. She pulled the rope tight, her strong leg making sure that the rope was anchored to the floor. She began to pull the other part of the rope upwards, her forearms exploding with power and her biceps filling out her sleeves as she continued to pull upwards. Her calf muscles rock solid, pressing down with help from her powerful quads. She pulled harder and harder; her shoulders expanded, and her fantastic muscular back was like a sculpture of a Greek muscle god; only Max was more impressive and more muscular. The rope began to creak as it came under tension from her strength. Strands of the rope began to break, and the rope could take no more. Max didn't need scissors.

Eric was frozen to the spot. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. That was some pretty strong rope she had just ripped apart—she made it look like string. Max tied the rope to the front door, unravelling it to where she and Eric would make their way out after the diversion. Before that, though, she would have to move the heavy furniture away from the door. What previously took Eric hours to move, she did in under four minutes.  The strange creature came back to the door. Max pulled the rope, and the front door to the old ranger station opened slightly. The door opening distracted the beast, so Max and Eric ran back towards the bike. But the diversion didn't work for long, and the beast came striding towards them. Unbeknownst to Max, Eric had the rifle concealed behind his back. He swung the weapon around and pointed at the beast.

Max caught this out of the corner of her eye, her right hand quickly grabbing the barrel of the rifle. Max gripped hard with her small but strong hand; her granite forearm powered her hand downwards as she bent the end of the gun. Her grip was so firm that she started to crush the tubular barrel so it was almost flat. She yanked the rifle out of Eric's hands and then put the useless weapon aside.

Max started to notice something as the unknown creature got closer. It looked fake to her. By this time, the strides had turned into a run. This time, a skilled kick to the creature's midsection saw the 6-foot-7 creature fly backwards from the power of her kick. It rolled around on the floor and started to get up, looking directly at Max, but not for long. Max ran towards the creature and drew her fist back. She hit the creature so hard that it fell into its back. One kick and a punch? Is that all a sasquatch could take?

But it wasn't.

As Max approached, she saw it was a very well-made costume, like movie quality. She couldn't see a zip, so she grabbed the front and ripped it open.

It was human. It was like a football-sized guy, big but not defined like Max. She took the mask off.

Max heard a vehicle trying to start just to the right of her. She sprinted over. There was a beaten-up old Toyota truck full of rust, and it only just started. There were three male-looking students in the vehicle.

Max sprinted over and placed herself in front of the vehicle, putting her hands on the bonnet.

"Go, man, go," said one of the students.

"I don't want to run her over!"

"She'll move."

The Toyota revved and started to move forward. Max wasn't too worried about the Nano's kicking in and people witnessing her immense strength. She needed answers. Max began to push back against the Toyota. Her feet were anchored to the ground. The Toyota struggled to move forward, and the engine sounded like it was going to stall.

"More revs, floor it."

Every muscle in Max's powerful physique pushed against this old pickup; she managed to hold it back. One of the guys started filming Max.

"Rev it!"

The engine on the Toyota tried harder—more revs, more torque. But Max was too strong for the Toyota engine; she was pushing so hard that the bonnet began to crumple and crush where her hands were, and even more amazing was about to come. The driver increased the revs; they were pretty much at max now. The wheels were spinning on the forest floor; it was like the Toyota was up against a mighty redwood. The truck couldn't budge Max.

Max kept pushing, her strong legs anchored. Her arms were currently angled, close to her body, and began to straighten as she was pushing the truck back with just her upper body strength. Then she started to push with her legs. The truck's wheels were spinning forward as Max was moving the truck backwards. Smoke was coming from the old engine and tyres as it furiously tried to grip. It couldn't take it any more; a woman won against a machine, and the engine spluttered to a stop.

"Open the door," commanded Max.

The young men were now quite scared. And Max was quite angry. She grabbed the door handle and pulled hard, her muscular arm easily pulling the chrome handle off the door. That wasn't going to help, so Max launched a powerful kick at the door. The door buckled and dented inwards.

"Okay, okay," said one of the students, and he unlocked the only working door of the truck.