The Shocking Truth Book 1
Copyright© 2025 by somethin fishy
Chapter 12
23 September
It took nearly an hour to clear the building of gang members, and Alex was exhausted. He had used massive amounts of power, and all the stored power had been exhausted. Additionally, he was dehydrated, and since his power came from water, Alex had to find water to drink. It was an oversight Alex swore he wouldn’t make again.
Finding a bottle of water, Alex chugged it down. It took a minute, but Alex could feel his energy returning. Once he had his energy back, Alex re-entered the hotel and went to the basement, where the armory and safe room were located. Thanks to the leader’s memories, Alex opened both rooms.
The number of arms in the armory was staggering, making Alex’s earlier discovery look like peanuts. He shook his head and wondered how he would get everything home. That thought was hammered home when Alex looked through the safe room. There were piles of loot, including several skids of cash.
Alex looked around and again swore to work on teleportation. This would have been so much easier if he could have teleported everything to his hideout. Alex also knew he would have to expand his hideout because it would be packed to the brim in a week at the rate he was going.
There was another concern for Alex: the couple of hundred former slaves in the banquet room. Alex decided to bring down people in small groups to give them a handgun, some ammunition, and a small pile of cash.
Alex decided to bring down the families first. There weren’t many families among the slaves, but Alex was happy to find three complete families. The families were given a rifle in addition to a handgun and more cash. The total cash each family got added up to about two million dollars. Giving the former slaves firearms was a risk because, after years of activist judges’ rulings, most people could no longer own firearms. While they technically still had the right, there were so many regulations standing in the way that almost nobody “qualified” to own a firearm anymore.
Once the families were paid, Alex sent them on their way. If their identification was in the safe room, they got it back. Alex hoped they would use their brains to get back on their feet, but he doubted they would. While some would, the rest would blow their money and end up worse than they were. It would be best to settle in the same community and use their firearms to form an armed community watch. This would keep them from becoming slaves again. He made sure to suggest that solution to them.
After the families left, Alex had the remaining people line up according to how long they had been slaves. If multiple people were enslaved for the same length of time, they should be listed in alphabetical order.
Under Alex’s harsh directions, it only took ten minutes for everyone to line up. Once they were lined up, Alex had them walk down to the safe room. Each person was given ten grand per month, they had been a slave and a handgun. Alex would take everything left and warned the former slaves that if they tried to stop him, he would consider them enemy combatants and react accordingly.
Alex’s announcement took any arguments out of the slaves. A few looked at Alex with calculating eyes. However, no matter what they thought of Alex’s age, everyone knew what he had done to the gang and knew that if they attacked him, he would kill them.
It took an hour, but all the slaves were paid off. Alex was still stuck with piles of loot, but by this time, he knew what to do with it all. He got one of the gang’s delivery trucks and backed it to the loading dock doors. Thanks to his power, loading the rest of the loot in the truck only took fifteen minutes. After the loot was loaded, Alex put a large piece of plastic wrap in the back of the van and loaded the heads of the dead gang members.
With everything loaded, Alex drove a block before stopping. He concentrated his power on the hotel, turning it into a roaring inferno. The dead slaves had been left behind since Alex didn’t have time to deal with them. With the hotel taken care of, Alex returned to the first gang safehouse, collected the loot and heads, then set it on fire. The local leader, who had been left alive, was burned alive in the flames.
After Alex had collected all the heads and loot, he set about completing the second part of his plan. Mr. Burnside’s head and the heads of all the students killed were put on stakes Alex planted in front of the school. To eliminate any possibility of people misinterpreting what he had done, Alex left a message listing the criminals’ names and the crimes they were guilty of. Thirty heads were planted outside the school by the time he was done.
Alex’s next stop was outside the civil rights group’s local office. The civil rights group was so worried about the rights of the criminals that they ignored the victims, therefore making it virtually impossible for the police to do their jobs. Before stopping, though, Alex stopped by the home of the leading lawyers in the office. While going through the minds of various gang members, Alex discovered that these lawyers would represent them pro bono and, once the gang member was off the hook, use them to do their dirty work.
When Alex killed the lawyers, he did it in their offices. It was easy for Alex to enter their houses, use their minds to prevent them from fighting back, and use telekinesis to carry them out without anyone knowing what was happening. Thankfully, Alex had only a dozen lawyers to dispose of. He also copied their memories to find any offshore accounts, which Alex would raid later.
The lawyers were killed while sitting in their office chairs after Alex had woken them enough so he knew they knew what was going to happen to them and why. It wasn’t a surprise when ten lawyers tried to cuss him out and order their release. Only two lawyers showed remorse, and those two got a more merciful death. The other ten suffered terribly as they died.
Once the lawyers were dead, their heads were stacked with the rest. Instead of putting their heads on stakes, Alex formed a pyramid of heads with the highest-ranking lawyer on top. Again, Alex left a list of who was in the pile and what they had done. By the time Alex was done, his clothes were covered with blood.
Alex looked at his clothing and shook his head. He could only imagine what his mother would say if she saw his present condition. Driving back toward his house, Alex giggled, thinking about the stolen truck he was driving. Driving at thirteen.
Stopping several blocks from his house, Alex scanned his home. Upstairs, he saw his mother restless in her sleep, while Gretchen slept soundly in her room. With the coast clear, Alex used his speed and telekinesis to transport the loot to his hiding place. Once he had everything in place, Alex stripped and put his clothes in a plastic bag for disposal later. It took Alex almost an hour in the shower to get all the blood off him.
Finally clean, Alex collapsed into his bed. He was passed out almost before his head hit his pillow and could only hope he wouldn’t have any nightmares, but would have to wait several days to see if that would happen.
It felt as if Alex had just fallen asleep when Gretchen woke him in a panic.
“Alex! Get up! They found your principal’s head on a stake outside your school.”
“Oh yeah?” Alex responded, groggy. “Serves the bastard right for all the shit he pulled with me.” Gretchen looked at Alex as if he had grown a third eye. “What? You expect me to have any sympathy for the man? After everything he did to me, I’m more likely to send a gift basket to whoever put him on the stake.”
“Well then.” Gretchen had to pause to gather her thoughts. “They canceled school for you for the rest of the week. Seems a bunch of students also ended up on stakes.”
“Do they have any idea who did it?”
“The news says the current theory is a rival gang since all the students were known gang members.” Alex snorted.
“I could have told them that. The gangs in school were not shy about dealing drugs and whores.” Alex pulled the blanket higher on his shoulder, and Gretchen shook her head.
Several hours later, Alex rolled out of bed; his stomach was threatening to divorce him unless he found some food. Stumbling into the kitchen, Alex found his mother in her robe, sitting at the table. Alex looked at the clock, then at his mother. He couldn’t figure out why she was still home. However, Alex didn’t care enough to look into her mind.
“I see your school is closed for the rest of the week.”
“Gretchen told me.”
“And?”
“And I couldn’t care less. I’m not learning anything in that hellhole anyway. Damn teacher’s union has it where incompetent teachers can’t be fired.”
“You watch your mouth,” Erin growled, her aggravation over her husband’s arrest temporarily forgotten. “Unions are the nation’s backbone and are essential for protecting workers.”
“And who protects everyone else from the union? Unions are a relic of a bygone era when companies only had to compete with the company down the street. Notice I said ‘company,’ not ‘government workers.’ Now, they have to compete with companies on the other side of the world. Additionally, factories, commercial buildings, and innovations are so expensive that they require large companies, since only they have the money to build and comply with all the idiotic government regulations. Most are only in place to justify some bureaucrat’s job.” Erin’s face was apple red, but Alex wasn’t done. “Public sector unions should be banned since they are monopolies. Monopolies are banned for companies; they should be banned for unions. Public sector unions negotiate with government officials whom the union supports during elections. I don’t know about you, Mom, but that sounds fishy. I think kickback is the proper term here. It’s not much of a stretch. Additionally, public officials do not manage their own finances, so they have no incentive to control spending. If they need more money, they raise taxes. Of course, the wealthy have countless tax breaks to avoid paying, so guess who pays ... the middle class. They’re wealthy enough to tax but not wealthy enough to get out of them.”
Erin’s jaw was on the floor. It sounded as if Alex had forgotten everything she had taught him. Worse, he sounded conservative. Now Erin was glad the head lawyer in her office had died of a heart attack, and the office was closed. She had to quickly deal with Alex’s betrayal before those ideas took hold.
“Alex, we need to talk. I don’t know where you are getting these ideas, but...” Alex held up his hand, and Erin stopped talking.
“I want to eat without you spouting any more of your nonsense. Society is in the trouble it’s in now because of your ideas. Not mine. Your ideas have repeatedly proven ineffective, while promoting small government and encouraging private-sector growth have proven effective. After all, business creates wealth. Not consumers, or unions, and certainly not governments. Businesses create wealth because wealth is not finite, unlike the “economists” you listen to, who like to preach otherwise. Even in the time of empires, which had the gold standard, by the way, wealth was recognized as infinite and created by businesses. Just look at the empires of France and Britain. France believed wealth was finite and that you had to conquer others to get it. Britain realized wealth could be created with business. Guess which empire became the most powerful empire in history.”
Erin could only stare at the person who looked like her son because he didn’t sound like him. The person by the stove had a backbone of steel, and although young, his principles were beginning to show through. Principles that went against everything Erin stood for. Alex sat at the table with his brunch, and Erin could only gawk at it. She didn’t know they had any animal products in the house.
“Where did you get that?” she demanded.
“The stove.” Alex deadpanned. Erin’s face reddened.
“You know what I mean, smartass.”
“Better than being a dumbass.” Alex smiled. “I made this, and it only cost about eight dollars for the ingredients, so chill.”
“It’s the ingredients that bother me.”
“Doesn’t bother me a bit, although I should have added bacon. Oh well.” Alex shrugged. “Live and learn.”
“But those are animal byproducts!”
“I sure hope so, since I got this food from a farmer just outside the city.”
“But how?”
“Internet delivery is such a wonderful thing. The farmers I order from love me because I buy their seconds at full price. They taste the same but have some visual defects. I don’t care what the vegetables, steaks, or eggs look like as long as they taste yummy.”
Alex focused on his plate, which was piled high with food. Erin could only watch as the food disappeared into Alex’s mouth until no crumb was left. Alex sat back and stretched, then stood to clean up. Erin watched in awe as Alex used a step stool to reach the sink to wash the dishes by hand. Once he was done, he checked the time and began making lunch.
Erin was about to ask what he was doing when he put everything on a plate and handed it to Gretchen, who had just appeared.
“Thank you, Alex.” Looking at Erin, Gretchen continued. “This boy is a gem.” She kissed Alex’s head before ruffling his hair. Since Alex’s hair was now short, most of it had been burned off by the lightning, it was still in the same place when she finished. That didn’t stop Alex from giving Gretchen a dirty look, which made her laugh.
Once Alex cleaned up from lunch, he retreated to his room. He didn’t enter his hiding place because he felt his mother following him.
“We are not done talking, Alex.”
“What do you want to talk about. The fact that I’m right and you’re wrong. I know that. How about you being a hypocrite? I know that, too. Or how about your husband being arrested on a list of charges, including but not limited to money laundering, sex slavery, human trafficking, drug trafficking, kickbacks, extortion, and possible funding of terrorist organizations. Of course, we could talk about your daughter in rehab at just sixteen or the fact that she has been using drugs and alcohol for years. How about the fact that she has already had three abortions in the past four years? Of course, I think one of those resulted from her Daddy issues.”
Erin didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what Alex was implying. It was too much for Erin, so she ran to her bedroom and shut the door. Alex watched her go before closing and sealing his door. Alex would have loved to experiment with a forget spell, but he wasn’t sure of the possible effects. The last thing he wanted to do was to completely wipe the memory of anyone who touched his doorknob.
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