James Knight: Teenage Superhuman - Book Three

One

My mother led a police chase with six other squad cars halting in the middle of the road. The driver of the car she was chasing also came to a halt. She clutched the intercom tightly in one of her frail hands and aimed her handgun at the man. My father was picking up Derek and me that evening, and we were stuck in the chaos.

"Get out of the truck and lie down," my mom ordered. Traffic was gridlocked, holding up as the chase halted in a busy bridge intersection. The other cops stood off with the man. His tires blew out, and the automobile hood smashed. My mom repeated, "Get down on the floor right now!" The man raised his hands and dropped to his knees as if he were complying.

Then, without thinking it through, the man reached for his waist and pulled a pistol from his jeans. Bullets flew from both sides of the street, and Golden Goliath, the greatest superhero of that time, came to the rescue, but it was too late. My mother collapsed to the ground.

My father opened the car door and immediately rushed to my mother's aid. Bullet wounds punctured her chest, the weapon jammed, the bullet exchanges halted, and blood spilled from the man's shoulder and stomach wounds.

"SASHA!" my father screamed. "Sasha, stay with me, babe. I don't want to lose you." In his arms, my father caressed my mother. His ocean eyes landed on the gunman with one look, intimidating him.

My dad gently pulled my mother to his chest, sobbing as Derek and I watched from the car. Golden Goliath dashed towards the man, ripping him off the ground by his shirt as flames erupted from his scorching fingertips.

With superhuman strength, he flung the gunman off the ground. His flaming melted the leather on the man's jacket, and the handgun slipped from the lousy man's grip, terrified. The superhero smashed him into a nearby cop car, smearing blood over the hood. My grandfather looked at my dad, then the superhero, with troubled eyes.

"Goliath, STOP! She's gone." He ordered. My father stared at the chief, our grandfather, and Golden Goliath let his grip slip away from the man's jacket. My dad lifted my lifeless mother into his arms, gazing into her eyes before closing them with his fingertips while cops slapped metal bracelets on the gunman's wrists.

The super and my father exchanged pained glances before Goliath disappeared, rarely to be seen again until years later when he emerged from the shadows again. I learned Golden Goliath, the sheepish hero who stopped the gunman, was my uncle, Sam. It seemed like my grandfather knew who was under the mask, too. Sam was just as human as I was with my powers, even though he had the strength of an army of grown men.

Derek held me tightly as I struggled to sustain my composure. I took deep breaths with the urge to scream, run, and murder the man who selflessly took my mother's life, but I held back. We all still grieved the loss of my mother. She was a piece of myself—the human part.

It had been eight months since the incident with Maximus. It has been eight months since I lost most of my powers again to my ruthless uncle. Eight months since Henry was kidnapped. It has been eight months since we discovered Claire was pregnant with my children.

My father wasn't thrilled at first that I was going to be a father, but after a couple of months passed and the excitement of everything died down, he sobered up against the idea.

With barely much power left, I felt like a sitting duck—practically useless to the superhero community. While our secret spread worldwide, and we couldn't go anywhere without bumping into a single fan, I feared for Claire and the safety of my children.

Sam finally put back on his super suit and came out of retirement after Henry went missing, as more superhuman people emerged from what seemed out of nowhere.