Hal - The Beginning

All rights reserved © 2010 by Ernest Bywater

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights are reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified there is no association between the author and any trademark holder is expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.

Cover Art

The image used is Lightning Over Edison.jpg by codalo, and was placed in the public domain by the creator in 2008. The trimming, manipulation, and adding of text is by Ernest Bywater. All rights to the cover image are reserved by the copyright owners.

6 November 2018 version

Published by Ernest Bywater

E-book ISBN: 978-1-387-69849-3

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Author's Note: Over ninety percent of this story was written back on 2010, and it was originally planned to cover all of Hal's life. However, due to outside influences I made a recent decision to cut the story into multiple books, and to complete this first story to a suitable break point. While a basic story line concept is in place for the rest of the books there is no actual work done on them yet, and I don't know when I'll be able to do them. Thus the decision to complete what was already done as the first book to put it out now, and to worry about the rest later. Apart from some word and style changes the new work is added into the sub-chapter The Old School, and filling out the text of the story outline following it. Although there are many scenes in those chapters that were part of the older writing.

I should also mention this story was written during a period in my life when I saw things in a lot darker way than I do now. This was due to a number of external pressures and other events in my life in the decade prior to the time I wrote the bulk of this story. The result is the story is a lot darker than is my preference to write now. This difference in my attitudes also makes it harder for me to finish the story in the same way as it was when I first wrote it, although I have tried to do so.

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Images

The School Upper Floor
The School Ground Floor and Grounds
The New Ground Floor and Grounds
The New Upper Floor

All the images are also available in high resolution at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0

The titles in use are a Chapter, a Sub-chapter, and a section.

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Rubbish Disposal

The lights of the fancy four-wheel-drive four door truck flash along the far fence and farm house when the truck turns into the low lying field and heads across it. It stops a hundred metres into the field. The motor is still running when the passenger and driver get out and shut the doors. They splash through the ankle high water while they walk down the sides of the truck to the end. Reaching the back of the vehicle both boys grab hold of the truck's side and the tailgate. The passenger stretches out, and levers up the catch. Both lower the tailgate until it's flat, held up by the side struts. When the gate is lowered the rainwater collected in the back during their drive from the city starts to drain out of the tray. Both boys hold onto the side of the high-sided truck bed with one hand when they reach in with the other hand to grab the sheet in the back. They start to pull the sheet and its burden toward them. Despite the fifty-six kilo load on the sheet it slides down the tray with ease, since the truck is stopped in a dip and is facing up a slight incline. The front is only ten centimetres higher than the back, but it's enough to make it easy for them to slide the load off by pulling on the sheet.

Neither wants to look at the load, so both are looking at the back of the truck cab, and the stainless steel roll bar with driving lights and steel flag pole mounted on it. Both boys open their mouths to scream while the field lights up when they see a large bolt of lightning hit the pole. Neither boy makes a sound while the huge electrical charge goes through the vehicle, their bodies, and into the ground. Every nerve in their bodies is on fire for the short time it takes for them to die.

Storm Troopers

John Harris is having a nice quiet rest. He's sitting in the old arm chair on the front porch of his farm house while he watches the storm as he thinks about the work he can do tomorrow, depending upon how the fields are after this rainstorm. He sits up when he sees the lights of a vehicle turn into the driveway, and stands up when they turn off to head out across the stubble of the field he harvested two days ago.

He calls to his wife, Martha, while he watches the vehicle drive almost to the middle of the field, and stop. In the dim light he can just see the shapes of two people get out and go to the back of the vehicle. The shape of the vehicle's back tells him it's a large four door utility truck. They seem to be getting something out of the back. He's starting to slip his heavy duty raincoat on when a large flash of lightning strikes the vehicle and lights up the field. He sees the two figures in the act of dumping something from the back of the truck, they go stiff as they and the truck are outlined in blue fire. The light ends, and all goes black.

John shouts, “Martha, call the ambulance, and tell them we've got two lightning strike victims out here.” He hears her acknowledgement while he races across to the open garage. Hopping onto his farm quad bike he takes off down the drive, and out into the field.

Nearing the truck he's hit with an acrid smell. Stopping with his headlight shining on the back of the truck he can see the two figures beside the truck are beyond help. They're still smoking, so are the truck tyres. While he walks over to see what they were trying to dump on his land John shakes his head when he wonders how big the charge must have been to half melt the truck tyres like that. A couple more paces, and he can see what's in the tray of the truck. Swearing, he takes a running jump into the back of the truck. He's very careful because he doesn't want to create a bridging link between the truck and the water - in case there's still any electrical charge left in the vehicle.

He kneels in the middle of the tray, and reaches down to check for a pulse on the boy lying in the truck. It's there, but ragged and weak. The boy is cold and wet. He's in a very bad way.

Making a snap decision, John pulls out his mobile phone, and calls a neighbour. When they answer he says, “Fred, get your med kit and get to the field in front of my house now!”

Fred Bell is a medic in the Army Reserve, he's not supposed to treat the general public - except in an extreme emergency, and he knows John knows this, because John is his platoon commander. If John tells him to come and treat someone, he knows it's an emergency, so he simply says, “Yes, Sir, be right there.” In seconds he's racing out his front door with his medical kit in one hand and his heavy duty raincoat in the other while his wife holds the door open for him.

John disconnects from Fred to call Martha. He tells her to bring several blankets and filled hot water bottles to him in the field.

Fred arrives about two minutes after getting the call. When Fred gets out of his car John stands up, and calls out, “Toss me your bag, then take a running jump to get up. Major lightning strike, and the truck may still have a charge.” Fred nods to show he heard, and does it. In a moment he's beside the boy in the back of the truck, and checking him over.

The boy seems to be OK, except for being very cold and the strong smell of alcohol. At one point Fred has him lifted a little while checking his back. The boy opens an eye, and says, “Got to throw up. The bastards forced drugs and booze down.” The two men glance at each other, and the boy passes out again.

John says, “The other two were trying to dump him like garbage when the lightning strike hit the truck. So they may have done that. Give him the ipecac and something to wake him up.”

Fred groans, “Shit. If I give him the wrong stuff he could die.”

“Whatever the hell brew they gave him is, it may kill him if we don't get it out, and very soon.”

Fred nods agreement, prepares a strong stimulant, and injects it. He also readies a large syringe of syrup of ipecac to put into the boy's mouth.

Within a minute the boy is stirring enough Fred feels safe to use the syringe (without a needle) to trickle the ipecac down the boy's throat. A few minutes later they move the boy into the recovery position when he starts to vomit. What comes out is just liquid and tablets, a hell of a lot of tablets of several different types. Both have latex gloves on, as per the treatment safety rules, and they start grabbing the tablets so they can show them to the hospital doctor when they get him there. They have to be fast grabbing the tablets, due to the rain washing everything down the truck and off the end. They don't get them all, but they do get most of them. They're almost finished this when Martha arrives in the tractor. She wants to make sure she can drive out of the boggy field again.

John calls out instructions, and his reasons for them, so she tosses him the hot water bottles, then the blankets. He hands them to Fred, who stuffs the hot water bottles inside the boy's tracksuit, and lays the blankets on him. The last item is a canvas to cover the boy with.

Another examination by Fred, and there isn't much more they can do for him, at this time. Martha heads back to the driveway, and they wait for the ambulance to arrive. They're concerned, since they're only twenty minutes from town and the ambulance should be here by now.

While they're waiting Martha goes back to the farm house, and gets a four metre length of electrical wire they've got left over from rewiring the shed. She strips both ends for about half a metre to expose the wires, and takes it to the truck. She tosses the wire to John. He wraps one end around the steel roll bar. Martha goes back onto the driveway while Fred and he are standing well away from the roll bar when he tosses the loose end of the wire over the side and into the water. They get one bright flash when it first touches the ground, but that's all.

It's about fifty minutes before the ambulance turns up. There's only two of them in the town, and both had already been sent out to the other ends of the district before this call came in. Both crews aren't happy: both calls turned out to be hoax calls, and they got delayed getting to the only real call they have. They're quick to have the boy in the ambulance and off to hospital. Fred goes along to explain what he did, and why. He takes the collected tablets with him in a plastic bag from his kit.

Hospital

In the Emergency Room Fred tells the doctor what the boy said, and what he did. A nurse starts to pump out his stomach contents. A lot more tablets and fluid are pumped out, but no food. One of the nurses is put to work identifying what she can of the tablets, and organising for the other tablets to go to pathology for identification. They also send samples of the fluids, and a series of progressive blood samples. Often a drug can be identified by the way it breaks down in the blood over a period of time.

The doctor is very careful about how she treats the boy, until after she gets the details of the drugs in his system. All three pathology staff are called in out of hours, and are busy working on the drugs. While they wait the doctor treats the boy for exposure and extreme cold. She sends him for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of his insides too.

The nurse strips him, and dries him before taking him to the MRI. When she gets the clothes off the boy she calls the doctor over. the doctor has a close look at the many bruises that'd been hidden under the clothes, and she writes them up while the nurse photographs them. They're of a grave concern because some look like hand prints. They do a much closer physical examination, and find a needle mark where the boy couldn't have given it to himself, so it's clear someone else gave him the injection.

Ninety minutes after his arrival the pathology lab has their initial report. They still have some unfinished tests, but now know enough to allow the doctors to get to work. Most of the drugs in his stomach hadn't entered his blood stream, yet, but some had. The contents are four families of sedatives, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, plus enough Viagra and Cialis to cause a fatal heart attack in a man of any age. His blood stream also has two different anaesthetics, both are only given as an intravenous injection, a muscle relaxant, some opiates (still working on refining the identification and exact levels, but are low), plus a lethal amount of tadalafil (the active ingredient in Cialis) - enough to cause the doctors to have real concerns about side effects; as well as the stimulant Fred used. The treating doctors check out their reference books to work out how all these chemicals are likely to interact. But there's nothing available, because this mix is so crazy it's not there.

With no better guidance than a wild arse guess the doctor starts her treatment based on the best treatments for the individual drugs in his system. She uses the known counter agents to fight the effects of each of the drugs, and hopes for the best. After pumping him full of another lot of drugs she puts him to bed in the intensive care unit.

Other major concerns are his Electroencephalography (EEG, brain activity) and Electrocardiography (ECG, heart activity) readings, they don't match any known profiles - normal or otherwise. His heart rate is very slow; a resting heart rate for someone his age should be around sixty beats per minute, but his is twenty-five beats a minute. Blood pressure is high, but not too high - probably due to the low beat rate. All his EEG readings are much faster in frequency with larger peaks and troughs. There are some odd spikes at times, as well. Copies of all the readings are sent off to the top specialists around the world for comment, and, if possible, an explanation. The boy is left hooked up and monitored all night.

While the nurses keep a close check on his medical condition the night clerk sets about identifying the boy. Since none of the five staff treating him know him, they're pretty sure he isn't from the town itself. His photo will be shown to the reception staff of the town's sole medical centre in the morning, all six of the town's doctors work out of there. His details and photo have already been given to the local police, and also the police in the nearby city - which is where they think he may be from. This is needed, because he has no identification documents on him: nothing in his pockets, no papers, no wallet, no money, no phone - not a thing on him. It's as if they've been removed to stop identification.

About half an hour after the boy is put to bed the second ambulance arrives with the bodies of the two dead at the truck. They had to wait until the doctor who attended as coroner, and the police, released them to be brought in to the morgue. An autopsy on them will be done in the morning.

Police

The duty constable attends the scene at the farm when he gets word a death has occurred. Upon seeing what he has to deal with he calls in his sergeant and the scene of crime people from the nearby city. He takes great care to see the scene is undisturbed, except by medical staff doing what they have to for the living injured.

The rain stops about fifteen minutes after the constable arrives.

For about an hour he sits in his car in the driveway while he waits for his sergeant and the forensic specialists. But things move fast when they do arrive. Everyone soon realises the field is too boggy for their vehicles, so all of their gear is carried from the driveway. Photos are taken of everything in and around the truck. Then the truck cabin is opened and searched. They also run a search on the registration plates. The truck is registered to a trust no one recognises the name of. Its offices are in Sydney, so that'll have to wait for Monday morning. Nothing in the vehicle allows them to identify who owns it, and no one recognises it. While all this is going on the doctor arrives, and certifies the two people as dead during his initial observations at the scene. Then he has the bodies removed to the town morgue.

Two hours after he arrived the duty constable is again sitting alone in his car while he waits for a tow-truck to arrive to take the truck to the police station. It's another thirty minutes before the tow truck is there. The driver takes one look at the situation, then he goes up to speak to the farm owners. Ten minutes later their tractor is dragging the truck across the field to the road. Five minutes after that the truck is sitting on the tow-truck's load bed as the tow-truck drives away with the truck. He's followed out by the constable after he does a quick check of the ground where the truck was to look for any more evidence.

While he follows the truck back to town Senior Constable Bills hopes he can get warm again. He also hopes something will turn up tomorrow to help them identify the three boys they have. What a mess, two dead, one almost dead, and they don't know any of them. Oh well, that's now the sergeant's concern, not his.

Saturday

Late morning at the Sandy Creek Hospital a boy wakes up. He's got a huge headache, and everyone is yelling. He complains, and they tell him the hospital is quiet. The doctors come in and check up on him. They give him pain killers and a light meal. A little later the voices he hears are drowned out by a loud buzzing. When the buzz gets louder his headache grows. When it's almost too much for him the noise and headache start to reduce, and so do the voices he hears.

A little later the boy is lying there with his eyes closed and thinking. A young nurse walks in, and he hears her say, “What a nice looking boy, I wonder who he is, and what happened to him?”

He opens his eyes, and says, “So do I, so do I.”

She looks at him, and replies, “You do what?”

He turns to her, “I was just agreeing with what you were saying as you walked in.”

She gives him an odd look, “But I wasn't talking when I came in.”

He's surprised, but he thinks quick, “Oh, I must've been daydreaming. I could've sworn you said you wished we were on a nice sunny beach.”

She laughs, “You must have been daydreaming. But thanks for taking me with you. I'd enjoy a nice tropical beach right now.”

They both laugh while she checks his vital signs. She enters them in the records, while he thinks hard on what he's sure he heard her say. Then she says, “Your comment so suited what I was thinking when I came in I thought you must've been reading my mind.” He gives her an odd look. “I was wondering about who you are, that's all.”

He nods, “Oh, yes, I can see how my comment fits both. Funny how things like that happen, at times. And my sentiment applies to both.”

After she leaves he wonders about having heard what she was thinking. While she walks away he tries to stay with her to listen in on her mind again. He hears what he thinks are her thoughts for a few paces, but her 'voice' soon fades out. So he tries to listen in on those around him by expanding his range. He can hear a few thoughts from those in the next rooms, but not beyond them.

He lies there, and wonders what is going on. It makes him angry to be able to hear what others near him are thinking while he can't get his own mind to tell him who he is. He's very frustrated when he falls asleep.

Since the boy is now in a natural sleep the staff let him sleep until the end of the normal lunch period before they wake him for a late lunch. After the meal he lies there while he tries to listen to people. He notices he no longer has the headache or the buzzing. With a little practice he can hear some thoughts of the people in the next couple of rooms and in the hall, but not those further away. He lies there thinking on all this while he wonders who he is and how long he's had this ability to read minds. For some reason he doesn't understand the boy knows mind reading isn't supposed to happen to anyone, and it's something new to him.

Grumpy Gymnast

Just after three in the afternoon of the next day, Saturday, Elizabeth Tudor is on the phone to her mother, “Mum, can you pick me up from the gym. The meet's over, and Hal isn't in sight.” Mrs Tudor agrees to pick her daughter up on her way home from shopping. While she's waiting Liz wonders where her brother is, because he's usually very reliable; too reliable, in her mind. About ten minutes later she's in her mother's car and heading home.

It's four o'clock when Liz races in the front door at home while yelling, “Hal, you lazy bastard, why didn't you pick me up?” She knows he has to be home: his car is in the driveway. She races upstairs to burst into Hal's bedroom. She comes to a screeching halt in the doorway. His bed doesn't look like it's been slept in, his unopened school bag is beside the bed, he always opens his bag and does his homework when he gets back from his after school jog, always. She looks around the room. His wallet is by his bed, he only leaves that there when he goes jogging. His school clothes are on the chair beside the bed, just like he places them when he gets changed to go jogging, and his jogging gear isn't in sight. He always puts his jogging gear and school clothes in the wash after he has his post jogging shower. This doesn't look good, not good at all.

She turns, and races downstairs to call Paul, the brother of her best friend, Mary; they live two blocks up the street. Paul is Hal's best friend. Mary answers the phone, and she wants to chat, Liz is very curt with her, “Mary, I don't have time to chat. Put Paul on the line.” In a few more seconds she shouts, “Get me Paul now, you idiot!”

A moment later Paul says, “Liz, what the hell have you done to Mary, she's one pissed off girl?”

“Paul, tell her I'm sorry, but she wanted to chat, and this is urgent. When did you last see Hal?”

“Yesterday at about this time when he jogged by while I was getting the lawn mower out of the garage. I didn't see him pass back by, why?”

“He didn't pick me up from gym today, his bed hasn't been slept in, and his room looks exactly like it does when he goes out jogging.”

“Shit! I'll ring around, hang tight.”

Fifteen minutes later Paul calls back, “Liz, it seems, out of everyone I know I'm the last to have seen him. I know his route, I'll take my bike and go around it to see if I can see anything. Have a chat to Mary while I'm gone.” He hands the phone over, and Liz spends a worried twenty minutes talking to Mary while they both try to apologise for the earlier issue. Paul returns, “No sign of him anywhere, Liz. But I did find the cap he was wearing yesterday. It was near the bushes in the park.” Liz is now very, very worried. Hal is worried about sun cancer, so he always covers up well, and he always wears head gear while out. He never takes his cap off while outside during the day, never.

She thanks Paul, and hangs up the phone. Thinking hard while she takes her time walking to her room she reaches a decision. After getting a couple of recent photos of Hal she goes to their mother. “Mum, we need to go to the police station, Hal has gone missing.”

Her mother replies, “Just because he forgot to pick you up doesn't mean he's gone missing.”

In her frustration she almost shouts. After taking a deep breath she says, “Mum, all the indications are he hasn't been home since yesterday afternoon when he went out jogging. He has gone missing, and we have to let the police know.” After another few minutes talk they leave.

Problem Police

Liz and her mother walk into the Hawk's Nest Police Station, and ask about reporting a missing person. The constable behind the counter asks a few questions, and gets out a form to complete. It takes about ten minutes to complete the form and photocopy the photos to go with it. When they're leaving Liz turns back, and sees the constable just drop the form and photos in a tray on the front desk before walking through the doorway to the back room.

An infuriated Liz turns back, and shouts, “What the hell? Why aren't you putting his description out over the radio?”

The constable walks back in, “Look, Miss, he's seventeen and a big boy now. He can look after himself. He probably stayed the night at his girlfriend's and will be back tomorrow. If he isn't home by lunch tomorrow call us and we'll start a search.” Both Liz and the officer are up against the counter staring at each other. So neither notices the two other policemen who walk in from the side door to the police car-park.

Liz screams, “Look, you dumb bitch, I already told you he hasn't got a girlfriend, his car is still at home, and so is his wallet. He went out jogging yesterday and he hasn't been seen since. If he'd run away he would have taken his wallet, his money bank, and his car, to start with. The only clothes missing are his jogging clothes. We need to start a search right now. He's probably lying hurt somewhere, and another night out in the cold may be one too many.”

The police sergeant who just arrived steps forward while saying, “Now, Miss, please calm down. I'm sure ...”

Liz interrupts, “Look, he's my older brother. He's a bloody nuisance most of the time, often telling me what to do. But he's reliable, he never does anything on the spur of the moment. He went jogging yesterday, and he didn't return. That means something happened to him. Now help us find out what happened, and find him, please.”

Sighing, the sergeant holds out a hand to each party while saying, “Forms, Constable. Please calm down, Miss.”

The constable hands over the filled in forms, “I've already completed the Missing Person Report, Sergeant.” She hands it to him.

He takes it and glances over the form, then he turns it over and looks at the photos. He stares at the photos - hard. Turning, he walks over to a clipboard hanging on the wall, and holds the photo of Hal beside a photo on the clipboard. He gives the details a very close study, and frowns. The photos look very similar, and the descriptions are very close, but a few important points don't match. He turns and looks at the constable. She nods at the clipboard, “I thought of the John Doe, but the skin tones don't match, not even near.”

The sergeant nods, “I notice that, but the rest is too close for comfort - for me.” He goes to the desk, and picks up the phone. He checks a list beside the phone, and punches in a number. A moment later he says, “ICU, please.” A short wait, “Sister-in-charge, please.” Another wait, “Sister Miller, Sergeant Phelps, Hawk's Nest Police. About your John Doe with amnesia, can you test him with a name, please? We've a just reported missing teen called Hal.” He looks up from the phone at Liz, “The Sandy Creek Hospital has a John Doe with amnesia, he fits most of your brother's description. The sister has just gone to see if the name triggers something.” They all wait.

Sandy Creek Hospital

Sister Janice Miller has duty as the sister-in-charge for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Emergency Room (ER), it's a small hospital and the two units are side by side. She's called to the phone by the duty nurse in the ICU, there's only one nurse in each unit; more are called in as needed. Sister Miller goes to the phone, and is told of a possible ID on their amnesia case. After telling the sergeant to wait she puts the phone down, and goes to see if the name triggers anything with the boy. Walking down the hall she slows down in front of the door to the room the boy is in, and she calls out, as if addressing someone further down the hall, “Hey, Hal, got a moment?”

Without any hesitation the boy looks up, and says, “Sure, Sister. What can I do for ...” He stops in mid-sentence when he realises what just happened. She turns, and smiles while she watches his face. He smiles, then he grimaces. Looking up he says, “I remember, now! My name's Henry Tudor, please call me Hal. I was supposed to pick up my sister about an hour ago. Please get a message to my family to have all of the house locks immediately changed.” He gives her the number.

Smiling, she goes back to the phone, “Sergeant, my patient's name is Henry Tudor, call him Hal. He needs to get an urgent message to his family to pick up his sister and to change all of the house locks. Can you do that?”

Hawk's Nest Police

Sergeant Phelps looks up, and smiles, “Thank you, Sister, I'll pass that on.” Hanging up the phone he looks at Liz, “Sandy Creek Hospital no longer has a John Doe amnesia case. He's just identified himself as Henry 'Hal' Tudor. He urgently wants his family told to pick up his sister and to change the locks on the house. I'd guess his keys have been taken and he's worried about thieves.” Liz is happy her brother is OK - even if he's an annoying shit, like all brothers are.

The constable stutters, “But the skin tones ...”

Phelps says, “I don't understand it, either, but we've a positive ID. So amend the message, and send out the update.” He writes on the missing person report, noting the boy as being found and the details.

The Tudors leave the police station happier than when they arrived. It's late Saturday afternoon, and the locksmiths are all shut. So they go home via a late opening hardware store. While they drive Liz calls Paul on her phone, and tells him the news. She also asks him to go down to keep an eye on the house, and why. At the hardware store they select a four pack of keyed alike deadlocks. These are the same style of lock to the locks currently fitted, so they'll just swap in. They need four; front door, back door, side door of the house, and the garage side door. The garage front door can be locked and disabled shut with padlocks on the inside, so their in-door locks can wait until Monday; they buy padlocks as well. If Mr Tudor wasn't away they'd just go and get them from their business.

They get home about five thirty in the afternoon, to find Hal's car gone, the garage door open, a police car there, and things on the drive.

Raider Report

Mrs Tudor pulls up in front of her home, and Liz jumps out. She races over to where Paul is, and asks what's happening. They stand, and watch the police take photos while he tells her about the events.

“I rode up here to find a few people with the garage open and carrying stuff out to Hal's car, the boot and doors were open. I couldn't see anything loaded yet, so I think I arrived just after they did. They had on dark glasses and hats. I didn't recognise them, although two looked sort of familiar. I screamed, and started taking photos with my phone. Mister Jones came over from beside his house. The three people dropped what they were carrying and jumped in the car, driving off at high speed. I called the police while Mister Jones walked around and checked the back of the house. He was laughing hard when he came back. He caught another two in the back yard carrying some gear, they took off when they saw him. He says he got one in the back when they went over the fence. He threw that part brick you use as a door stop. It broke on contact, so it must have hurt. He heard car doors slam, and a car take off. By the time he got to the fence there was nothing in sight.”

A police officer walks over while Paul is talking, and he waits for him to finish before the officer asks, “Home owners?” Liz nods yes, “There's no evidence of a break in, the scene of crime people should be finished soon. You'll need to check things over, but based on what it looks like to us they didn't manage to actually get away with anything.”

Liz slowly nods while her mother looks about them with wide eyes. Liz says, “We're just back from the police station. My brother is in hospital over at Sandy Creek, someone took his house keys last night. So they may have them, and that may be how they got in and stole his car.” The officer nods yes, and starts to walk away.

After a couple of steps he turns back, “The amnesia John Doe?” Liz nods yes. “My brother works that station, after what those bastards did to him I hope we get this lot.” This worries Liz and her mother, since no one has told them about what happened to Hal. They just nod agreement then they wait for the police to finish.

Twenty minutes later the police forensic people are finished, and are packing up. Liz turns to the constable she spoke with, “Can some of you please help us get the gear back inside the garage?” He smiles, and nods yes. He and his partner pick up the heavy expensive power tools while the kids pick up the smaller tool sets dropped by the thieves. With everything back in its place in the garage Liz smiles, and says, “Well, that looks like it's all there. But we won't know for sure until after Hal or Dad get back and check it off.” Paul closes the garage doors while she gets out the two new padlocks for them. In a moment the doors are secured with strong padlocks through the rails and the runner. Since they're going to replace the locks anyway, she also locks the normal locks, goes around to the front, puts the spare keys into the locks, and uses a hammer to snap them off close to the lock. That should stop anyone opening the garage from the outside. Both the police officers smile at her very thorough way of securing of the garage.

Opening the four pack of locks she heads toward the garage side door. The other officer asks, “Ever change one of those before, Miss?” She shakes her head no. He walks over, and takes it off her while he asks for the few tools needed for the job. Five minutes later the garage has it's new door lock, and is secure. She follows him in the side door of the house, and assists when he changes that one. Half an hour later both of the officers are leaving with cold drinks in their hands as a thank you for the help. All of the locks are changed and checked to be working. The stolen keys are now useless to anyone.

While Liz is busy with the locks her mother and Paul are getting the sound and multimedia systems back to where they belong. A check shows nothing appears to be missing from the house. Her jewellery is kept in a concealed safe, the money boxes Hal and Liz use are strong steel and secured to the steel frame of their desks - they're really small old safes with a slit in the top, and you need a combination to open them.

With the house sorted and secured Liz and her mother get into the car and go to have dinner while on their way to visit Hal in hospital.

Legal Lies

Sister Miller hangs up the phone, starts to walk away, turns back, and calls Sergeant Howard to tell him the boy has recovered his memory, the Sergeant promises to come over soon. She hangs up the phone, and goes to speak to Hal. The doctor will be in on regular rounds soon, so no point in calling her with an update.

Janice sits on the bed beside Hal, “OK, Hal, do you remember what happened yesterday?” He nods yes. “Want to talk about?” He shakes his head no. “OK, the police will be here soon to talk about it. Now, a few tests of your memory.” She puts him through a simple verbal check of his personal details, recent local and national events, some maths tests, and a few other things to check his mind is working right. She stands, and checks the EEG and ECG again. No change to the patterns on them, other than a couple showing he's awake. The readings are so strange a section of the readings from last night had been taped to the top of the monitors, so the staff can compare them with the current readings. A temperature check, and it's all noted in his file.

Sergeant Howard walks in, and she starts to leave. Hal asks, “Excuse me, Sister, will you please stay for the interview as my responsible adult. I'm only seventeen.” She nods yes, and sits in the other chair in the room. Hal turns to the sergeant, “Before we start on the official record of yesterday can I ask a few questions for my own peace of mind, please?” The sergeant nods yes. “I'm under eighteen, are you laying any charges concerning alcohol or drugs against me, if so; why, if not, why?”

Sergeant Ben Howard smiles while he introduces himself, and says, “OK, things are a bit complex, but this is why not. The two people who reached you first, last night, both swear you regained consciousness at one point and said something about people forcing drugs and alcohol into you, and you asking for something to make you throw up. They provided that, and you heaved up a lot of alcohol and drugs, mostly tablets. They were able to recover a lot of them. When you got here they pumped out what was left in your stomach, and found a lot more drugs and alcohol; again, mostly tablets.” He stops to look at Hal, who shrugs.

He continues, “The test of your blood showed high levels of several drugs and alcohol. However, they included two drugs that are only given by injection while the only needle marks on your body are where you can't have possibly administered them to yourself, indicating another person. The doctors also found a number of bruises consistent with you being held down. The official medical report is you'd been held down and had a quantity of drugs and alcohol forced into you. So you've no case to answer for about the alcohol or drugs. That only leaves the people who did this to you.”

Hal nods. “I'm glad I don't have to worry about any charges against me. Thank you. Now, as to charges against anyone else you'll need a lot more evidence than just my word, won't you?” Ben nods yes. “So, anything that comes down to my word against the word of a dozen or so others whose parents are rich and powerful is unlikely to go to court, isn't it?” He watches the sergeant like a hawk while Ben sighs, and sags.

“Much as I'd like to disagree, and much as I'd like to be able to take certain local rich brats to court, you're right.” Janice is upset by this, but she isn't surprised about it, either.

Hal sighs too. “OK, then we should get to the official statement about yesterday, shouldn't we?”

Ben nods yes, and gets out a tape recorder. He places it on the table over Hal's bed, and turns it on. Ben says, “Official interview with Henry Tudor, also known as Hal Tudor, in Sandy Creek Hospital Intensive Care Unit. Present are Henry Tudor, Sister Janice Miller, asked to be a responsible adult by Henry Tudor, and myself, Police Sergeant Ben Howard.” He presses a button for a time and date to be automatically placed on the tape by the recorder.

When Ben turns and nods at him Hal says, “I'm Hal Tudor and acknowledge the interview's being recorded. I've asked Sister Miller to be my responsible adult because I'm not yet eighteen years of age.”

Janice follows with, “This is Sister Janice Miller, I'm a witness to this interview at the request of the minor Henry Tudor.”

Ben turns to Hal, “Hal, what can you tell me about what you were doing yesterday afternoon and last night, and what happened to you?”

They both look at Hal, “I'm sorry, Sergeant, I can't tell you much. I got home from school, got changed, and went for my usual afternoon jog. I only took my keys with me because I didn't need anything else until after I got back. It was a nice evening, getting cool with the changing weather. I was about halfway through my usual three kilometre jog when I got to my turn around point of the large bushes in the middle of Anzac Park in West Hawk's Nest. I started around the bushes with the intent of running around them and going home. The next thing I know is waking up in hospital late this morning.”

Ben squints at Hal before he gives a slow nod. He understands why: if nothing will come of it why walk out on a weak limb. He says, “OK, we've no other information about the truck or the two boys with you. Nor is it possible to identify them from their remains, at this time, so I won't bother you about them. If you do remember anything later, please be sure to let me know, even if it's only for the record.”

“Yes, Sergeant, I will.”

“Interview terminated at five fifteen p.m. I'll have this transcribed, and a copy of the tape sent over with the typed copy for signature.” He turns the recorder off. Looking at Hal he says, “I think I've a good idea of what happened, and why you won't talk. I don't blame you, Son. But even a report that isn't actioned right now maybe of use in a later case when they do something to someone else.”

Hal nods to show he understands. He has more reasons than he can say for not speaking up at this time, but he can say one thing. “Sergeant, if I say much more to you in an official capacity you have to take notice of it and investigate it. Then they'll have to react to the investigation. If I say nothing at this time, and have my solicitor talk to certain adults about the behaviour of their children I may be able to get some compensation from them. That won't have any effect if they've already taken action against an official enquiry.” Janice gives a slow smile, there's more than one way to skin a cat, and Hal seems to know that.

Ben grins, “Get what you can, Son, get what you can!”

“Sergeant, you may want to note these names.” Ben writes down the names of a dozen boys while Hal gives them to him. Hal adds, “The truck I was in, it was a big one with a large roll bar and a fancy paint job, wasn't it?” Ben nods yes. “That's the usual transport of James Hanes. The only other people allowed to drive it, apart from the mechanic, are the first three on that list. One of your two corpses has to be amongst those three, if not both. But both have to be in that list. Do a discreet check of the whole list, all of them live in Hawk's Nest, and look for the two you can't find. Take DNA samples of the bodies to put them in the National DNA Database. Alert the police at Hawk's Nest, so when the parents get around to reporting their sons missing they can get a DNA sample from material in their homes to match it with the National Database. Then you'll get your IDs, and a reason to investigate further. But take the line of a complaint by the farmer about the boys dumping things on his land. The owner of the truck will have to account for why they had it. Also, the family of the dead won't be happy about their sons' deaths. Maybe a chink will appear in their armour, and then you can act.”

“I doubt much will come of it. Not after James' father and his uncle, the Senator, have finished sterilising everything. But it will give us a reason to place some things on file. I'll go talk to John Harris about lodging a complaint for dumping on his land.” Ben stands, and leaves.

Sister Miller also leaves. Hal lies there and thinks, because he has a great deal to think about.

Interlude

In the quiet that descends after Sergeant Howard and Sister Miller leave Hal thinks about what's happened, and what he's felt since he woke up this morning. He has trouble believing it, but the last fifteen minutes or so have only proven what he's been having a lot of trouble believing all afternoon. He thinks back to when his memory returned.

He's in the middle of trying to read the minds of others a little bit further away from him by concentrating on listening in on a couple of women down the hall when Sister Miller breaks his concentration with her question. He answers without thinking at all.

When he hears the name Hal his mind focuses in on it, and he can feel his mind clicking into place while his memory comes back. Who he is, his family, school, and yesterday afternoon. That makes him grimace with remembered pain, and he's angry at what they did, and wanted to do. He spends the next half hour thinking about his enemies, how to deal with them, and the realistic chances of what he can do to them through the legal system. He's a great believer in not starting a fight he can't win; and he realises this one is in that category, but only if he takes it through the criminal laws. He can win outside of the system, and his best chances are if he gives them no warning. Soon after he reaches that conclusion Sergeant Howard arrives for his interview.

During his discussions and interview Hal keeps in touch with the minds of both Ben and Janice. He confirms what they say matches what they think. When Ben wants to push him into laying charges he gives Ben's mind a gentle nudge away from doing so, and watches while Ben changes his mind. Hal nearly misses his next word when he realises he can influence the minds of those near him as well as listen to them. Yes, he can win this war. But does he want to actually fight it? This requires a lot more thought and planning.

He now spends a lot of time thinking about the people he has to deal with, and how he can best go about protecting his family while making all of his enemies pay. But, more importantly, how should he make them pay? The two who died haven't suffered as much as they made him suffer, nor have they given him any compensation for the previous many years of pain and trouble they've caused him, and others.

That gang of rich bully boys and their female counterparts have caused much grief for many people over the years. Hmm, now there's a pleasant thought, their female counterparts. His mind wanders off into daydreams of having all those girls rushing about at his beck and call, providing to his every need; especially his sexual needs. These thoughts bring to mind some of the mind control sex stories he's read on-line at Storiesonline. A couple of the stories seem to glow in his mind, and the direction of his thoughts on revenge and compensation take a new direction; a heavy sexual direction. Yes, this has some very interesting possibilities, due to his new skills. He now feels a need to breed all the women he can; not just sex, he has to get them pregnant.

Now where did that come from! He's still following these lines of thought when a nurse walks in with his dinner, another light meal, but enough of it. He listens in on her mind while she sets him up to eat.

Testing

Twenty-five year old Nurse Alice Stevens thinks to herself while she helps Hal sit up, Hal, what a nice name and it suits him. He's a nice boy and he has OK looks. Pity he's so young, a bit too young for me. However, I wouldn't mind playing with him a bit, if he wants to.

Hal likes the trend her thoughts are taking, so he nudges them further along that path. As she leans over to remove the covers from his dishes he reaches out his right hand, and runs it up the inside of her right leg.

Alice half smiles while she lifts the cover, then puts an official look on her face when she turns to him, to say, “I'll have you know the hospital administration does not approve of patients getting familiar with the staff, or staff getting familiar with the patients.”

He grins, “Stuff the hospital administration. I want to know how the staff feel about things at the moment.” She doesn't move her leg away when his hand reaches the top of her thigh. When he finishes speaking he turns his wrist, and gives the front of her panties a gentle rub while he nudges her mind in favour of getting to know him better.

She smiles back, “If you hurry up and eat all your dinner I might give you a nice dessert to eat.” He grins: her mind is picturing her with her pussy in his face. He nods yes, and gives her groin a soft squeeze.

He enjoys his meal while he thinks on how well the test went.

Rewards

After Alice returns the dinner trays for her area to the kitchen she returns to Hal's room to check his vitals. While she walks in she thinks, I know he's so young, but he seems so much older and mature than the records say he is. Should I go ahead with this?

Hal grins, and says, “Alice, I think it's time for my special dessert, in fact, I think we both deserve a nice treat to eat.” She stops just inside the door, and stares at him while she dithers in her mind. He makes his voice a touch firmer, “Alice, come here.”

He's watching her mind, ready to nudge it, but he's surprised when she thinks, Damn, so young, and so commanding; yes, oh, yes. She rushes over to stand beside the bed. He now has the key to her, she wants to be commanded by a man who acts like a man in command.

He grins when he reaches out, lifts her skirt up, and looks at her panties. “Nice, but not skimpy enough for my tastes. Go to the door, close, and lock it.” She does as told. “Face away from me with your legs a little apart. Bend over at the waist, lift your skirt up onto your back. Keep your legs straight while you slip your panties off.” He watches her arousal rise with each order, and again when she carries out each one.

He enjoys the view of her well shaped rear and her genitals peeking at him in the gap between her legs. After taking a moment to appreciate the view he says, “Very nice. Now stand up and tuck the front of your skirt into the belt of your uniform. I want see what the front looks like while you take my vital signs and enter them in the records.” She does as told, and he enjoys the sight while she carries out his orders.

A few minutes later she's finished updating the records, and he has the sheets turned back with his hospital pyjamas open. She smiles when she steals glances at his stiff dick, and licks her lips while thinking, I do hope he's going to order me to suck on that lovely dick. It's the nicest one I've ever seen.

He doesn't know why, but his dick has been stiff all day, and he needs some relief. Now he's about to get some. He smiles when she almost comes as he orders, “Now climb up here and give me that delicious pussy to lick while you try to suck my dick dry.” The bed rocks when she all but jumps on it to straddle his head, placing her vagina right on his mouth while she licks his dick before taking it in her mouth.

Hal has never licked a pussy before, in fact, this is the first time he's gotten within a couple of metres of a real pussy with no clothes in the way. But he's read a lot on-line, and he also keeps a close watch on Alice's mind. When he notices he does something she does, or doesn't like, he amends what he's doing to suit her. Using one hand he holds her labia apart when he licks the length of her slit while enjoying the attentions she's giving his dick.

Over the next several minutes he enjoys the flavour of her fluids when he makes her have an orgasm by licking all his tongue can reach, sucking on her clitoris, and rolling up his tongue when he sticks it in her vagina. He works hard at holding back from coming himself, because he always goes soft when he has an orgasm. He wants the feeling of her cock sucking to really last, but he also recognises she has work to do. So he relents. With his mind he instructs her to clamp tighter on to the head of his dick while she rolls her tongue around it, and he lets himself go. She swallows like crazy while she keeps sucking, and he pumps a huge load of semen into her willing mouth. He sighs with his relief.

When the flow of his semen ends he realises his dick is still stiff. So he has Alice continue to suck and lick it clean while he searches her mind. After a moment her mind points him toward what he's looking for. Using a mental finger he pushes an imaginary button in her mind, it's his turn to swallow while she has a huge orgasm.

After they recover from their orgasms she lifts her leg, and gets off him. She smiles when she bends over to lick his face clean. But not before he sees the face of his doctor in the glass panel of the door. He says, “Alice, get dressed, get a cloth, and clean us both up.” She grins while she hurries to obey his commands.

Hal reaches out with his mind. He hears Alice thinking, I know he's so young. But he's so much more of a man, and in control, than anyone I know. What can I do to have him keep me as his slave?

The next thought he picks up is Doctor Janet Miller, Sister Miller's younger sister, Damn, that's one fine looking dick he has. I wouldn't mind giving it a try. But not while he's a patient, I must watch the rules. Now, if Alice will only hurry up and get them straightened out.

A bit further afield, and he picks up his sister, Did I really see the nurse sucking a huge fuck stick then, and is that really Hal's dick. Damn, I wouldn't mind a ride on that one, but it's off limits. He always knew his sister was good looking, but he never thought about her in a sexual way, until now - triggered by her thoughts. He's always had fantasies about some of her friends, and now he's fantasizing about her with her friends while he fucks the lot of them, kinky - and so very enticing.

The next mind he touches is his mother's, Why have they got the door locked? What's wrong with him? He may not be of my womb, but I couldn't love him any more if he was. If he's badly hurt I don't know how I'll take it. What's this, what's she going on about? He's got a lot to think about while Alice cleans them up, before she unlocks the door.

Revelations

Alice has a pan and sponge in her hand when she opens the door, and says, “Tomorrow, I think you can try having a shower instead of a bed bath.” She smiles at the three walking in while she walks out. Janet grins at the subterfuge, and appreciates the quick thinking. While his mother is relieved to learn the door was shut and locked for privacy, but not the privacy reason she thinks.

Both Liz and Mum stop short in the doorway, gulp, and continue in. Hal doesn't understand it. Doc Miller sees it, and asks, “Why the stop.”

Liz says, “Now I know what the constable meant about the skin tone.” She walks over, and lifts his arm up, putting hers beside it. For the first time since waking Hal has a close look at his arm and hand; and almost stops breathing. His skin tone is almost white, because he avoids the sun and tanning. He got a very bad sunburn when very young, and he avoids the sun. Liz's skin is always darker than his, but not now. His skin is a very heavy suntan bronze, not quite the colour of his friend Mervin who's one eighth Aboriginal, and is a sort of light chocolate cross bronze colour. Hal's skin is now the deep tan bronze you see on the Bondi and Manly Beach regular life guards near the end of the summer season. How the hell did that happen. Liz adds, “Hal's always been almost albino. He avoids the sun, as he gets burnt too easily. Also, now that I've a close look at him, the skin on his face is a bit tighter than usual with less fat, so he looks a bit thinner and less puffy than usual. Shit, the girls will be after him now: he doesn't look so much the nerd, but more the man.”

Janet smiles, “Yes, he does look a lot more mature than his age would indicate. Did the police tell you anything about last night?” All three shake their heads no. “OK. The short version. Some unknown person or persons shot Hal full of anaesthetics. They shoved a tube in his throat to pour drugs and alcohol into him until he was overflowing with them. Two boys drove him to a field about twenty minutes out of town, they had him on a sheet in the back of the truck while they drove through the storm last night. They stopped in a field and dropped the tray. They were pulling on the sheet in the process of dragging him out to dump him when the truck got hit by a major bolt of lightning. It melted the tyres of the truck and welded metal parts together. The two boys were standing in ankle deep water while they held onto the truck and the cotton sheet. They got fried, but good. They're dead. Hal was lying in the back of the truck when the charge went through the truck and him, but it doesn't seem to have done him much harm. Nor has the hell brew of drugs they stuck in him. We did manage to get most of it out of him before they got into his system, but a lot still got in before we got near him. The main drugs they gave him were Cialis and Viagra, with some cocaine, heroin, and sedatives mixed in as well. I think they just shoved in anything they could find. Once we got hold of him we gave him all the relevant counter agents as well. His skin was that colour when he was brought in. It's all over, as if he tans nude. So it wasn't just from the flash of the lightning. I suspect the electricity, mixed with the drugs, has made some chemical changes in him.”

She stops for a drink of water. Hal is following her mind, so he knows she's spoken the truth, and isn't holding anything back, yet. She's now considering if she should tell it all. He looks at her, “Doc, one thing I've learned about doctors is they never tell you everything until after you twist their arms. What haven't you told us?” He also gives her a mental nudge in the right direction.

“OK, since you arrived here we've done a hell of a lot of pathology tests. And I want to do a lot more. But, put simply, we can't work out if anything is wrong with you, simply because we can't work out why you're still alive. Enough drugs did get into your blood stream to kill you several times over, plus the electricity charge should have been fatal.” She stops at the gasps from her listeners.

A moment for them to calm down. “My personal opinion is you survived because the heart attack the drugs gave you wasn't big enough to kill you, due to sheer luck. I could be wrong, but that's my best guess, and the other doctors can't see any other reason for it. You had enough of the sex drugs in your system to give anyone a major heart attack. But the only not normal thing found in your MRI was your heart. It's about ten percent bigger than normal, and more centralised in your chest. Also, your heartbeat is slower than half of normal. Do any of you know what it was at his last check up?”

Hal grins, “Yes, Doc Barnes and I always get a laugh out of it since my rate under stress just reaches the normal rate for a person at rest. Rate at rest is normally twenty-one beats per minutes, and sixty-five beats per minute after a twenty minute exercise stress test. Doc Barnes refers to me as his 'Zombie' patient.”

She grins, “Right, I've heard him talk about you at conferences. But he never mentions any names or descriptions beyond saying he has a fit young patient with such low rates. Well, I think the larger heart and slower rate with the higher blood pressure is what saved you. The drugs kill by giving a heart attack by creating an extremely fast beating heart, much too fast, with a low blood pressure. The pressure drops and the heart speeds up to counter the pressure drop. Normally the pressure drops too much while the rate goes too high. In your case I suspect the pressure dropped to normal, or just below normal while the rate went up to a high normal; in neither case did they go to dangerous levels for you. All this is due to the larger heart, and so the heart attack didn't kill you. Although your current rate is at twenty-five beats a minute at rest. A slight increase in rate is common after a heart attack. The skin tone I can't explain, but you're the first person to survive having such high doses of those drugs in their system, let alone the mix. Your body chemistry is still not normal, but all of the organs function perfectly. In short: you're different and we don't understand why. But there's no real reason to keep you in hospital, except for observation - for the rest of your life. Which I won't do to anyone. Last thing. I don't know if you had it before or not, but you have a priapism. I'm not sure if you class that as a problem, or not.” Hal starts laughing. His mother and sister stare at him, and then at Janet when she joins in the laughter.

Finally, Liz says, “OK, what's the joke? What the hell is it?”

He turns to her, “Priapism is a medical condition that little is really known about, and less is understood. I once read about it in a story, and looked it up. In short, it means I've a stiff dick that doesn't want to go down, no matter what. Some people with the condition hate it, as it causes embarrassment. While others like it, as it gets them lots of sex partners. I'll have to find some people to help me work out the extent of the condition.” His mother blushes while Liz giggles and winks at him.

Janet says, “I know of two guys in the US who have priapism issues, both are very fertile and make good money providing stud services. Women wanting to get pregnant pay them well for their sperm. In their cases it's the high fertility and clean gene count that gets the big bucks, they just refuse to provide the samples in any way other than the one mother nature intended.” Hal laughs while he thinks that's a good idea, and he'll have to get tested.

The doctor spends the next twenty minutes reassuring them Hal is OK and can go home any time he wants to after lunch tomorrow. They want him to stay that long to ensure all the drugs are out of his system, and twenty-four hours observation is usual for people after a coma: Hal was out for around fifteen hours. Then it's Hal's turn to reassure them he feels well.

The discussion on medical concerns is winding down when Doctor Miller asks, “Missus Tudor, is it possible for you to give us an extensive family medical history so we can see if there's anything in the family background that may help us with Hal's treatment?”

She gulps, and blushes before saying, “I'd been waiting for Hal's eighteenth birthday to tell him, but he's adopted. His mother was my best friend at school, and she died in child birth when he was born. Her parents were orphans and died in a car crash when she was twenty. She always refused to say who the father of her child was. So we don't know what his family medical background is. Sorry.” She turns, and looks at Hal. “I had a whole scene set up to give you the information gently. I'm sorry to dump it on you like this, Hal.”

He smiles at her, “Not your fault, Mum. You raised me, so I'm your son. It just means the ties are by love instead of blood. They're voluntary and not forced, so they mean more.” With a huge smile, while crying, she throws herself across his body, and hugs him, hard.

He tries hard not to gasp or grimace too much with the pain that causes. The one medical thing not mentioned is every muscle in his body is very sore and feels very bruised, a result of the electrical charge flowing through him while in the truck, they think.

When his mother lets go Doctor Miller gives him a fast acting pain reliever to take. Saying, “Take this, now!” He does, she turns to the others, “I didn't mention it, since it's only a temporary condition, and I wasn't expecting such a strong action. But every muscle he has is sore from the electricity of the lightning. We think it went through him fairly well, since he was covered in water and the charge was more dispersed when it went through him and over his whole skin surface. Also, much of it was travelling through the truck body, which carried the charge better. When it hit the other two it was concentrated back into the small area of their arms and legs.”

Hal asks, “Doc, would those bastards have known what hit them?”

She smiles, “According to the witness; yes, they did. He said he saw, in the light when the bolt came down, they were looking at it when it hit and their mouths opened. A fraction of a second later they were fried. Personally, I think their brains would have known what was happening to their bodies for a few more seconds, possibly minutes, before they shut down in death. In that short time they'd have felt every nerve on fire in extreme pain. The morgue staff describe them as 'crispy critters,' due to the high carbonisation of their whole skin area.”

“Good, I'm glad they suffered for what they did. I'm sorry their families will also have to suffer because of it.”

The doctor leaves them to go on rounds while the family sits and talks for over an hour. At the end of visiting hours Hal's mother and sister leave to go home. So Hal lies there thinking about many things.

Staffing Issues

Janet catches up with Alice in the nurse's station at the end of her rounds. She smiles, and says, “I hope that fun was worth it. If anyone else catches you at it you'll be sacked.”

Alice blushes, “I know. But it was worth it. He's young by age, but has the command of a real man. He eats pussy better than anyone I know, male or female, and his dick's delicious. If he'll take me with him I wouldn't mind getting fired.”

It's Janet's turn to blush at how much Alice speaks well of him as a bed mate. “Well, he lives in Hawk's Nest. If you want to be near him you best speak to him and see about getting a job over that way. There won't be any troubles with you leaving here if you want to. The senior administrator has a friend she wants to employ here, and is looking to get rid of someone.”

Alice grins, “I'll speak to him when I finish my shift. If you want to upset 'The Bitch' just have her friend introduced to Hal to fuck her, she'll follow him too, no matter how much of a lesbian she is.”

Janet grins at that thought, since it's one way to upset the controlling senior administrator. She thinks on it, a lot, because the girl concerned is a recent graduate from nursing school who's taken a holiday prior to starting work. It would be fun to steal her out from under The Bitch. The thought appeals to her a lot.

Hal has now spent a few more hours practising extending his mind to other people's minds, and he's enjoying this conversation. So he delves into Janet's mind to see if he can learn any more about this new nurse. Hmm, Janet knows she's booked into the local hotel and is expected to arrive on tomorrow morning's early train. He grins when he nudges her to meet the train and bring her for a visit to the hospital. He's never met the senior administrator, but no one likes her. From what he can learn from the minds of the staff The Bitch (as they all call her) is a real hard-core dominating lesbian - an extreme butch in character, but not in how she looks. So this new nurse is probably a young submissive, and may be a lot like Alice. Hmm, two slave nurses; yes, that would be nice. Alice wants to be his slave, so he must check out this new girl.

Playtime

Just after she signs off shift at eleven o'clock Alice walks back into the ICU area. The nurse on duty gives her an odd look. She grins, and says, “It's all right, Denny, I'm just paying an after hours visit to Hal.” The other nurse goes wide-eyed with surprise, she knows some staff do visit patients for fun times, hell, she has herself - in the past; but a seventeen year old boy. She shakes her head while Alice goes by. Then she gets up and follows Alice to see what's so great about this boy. She remembered Alice goes for older men, more commanding men.

Alice walks in the door, and Hal smiles on seeing her. As well as listening to Alice's mind he can read Denise's mind while she waits just outside the door. In a commanding tone he says, “Good, you're just in time. Close and lock the door, then take your clothes off. This time you go for a ride, Slave.” He enjoys watching Alice get more aroused with each word, and she all but comes when he calls her a slave.

While listening Denny is shocked to hear such an authoritative voice from a high-school boy. She knows how Alice is, so she realises how this boy must be just perfect for her. Wishing her friend well she heads back to her station. Hal smiles at Denny's thoughts.

His smile grows when he watches Alice. She licks her lips while she undresses for him: no striptease act, but a slow sensuous removal of her uniform and underwear for his viewing pleasure.

Alice undoes her front button uniform, teasing him with how she undoes each button. She slips it off her shoulders, and drops it on the chair, draping it over the chair's arm and her handbag on the seat. Her shoes are slipped off, and placed under the chair. She undoes her bra, and lets it slip forward. It goes on the pile. The clips on her garter belt are undone, and she lifts her left leg up to the bed while she rolls the stocking down her leg and off. A repeat with the right leg stocking. The garter belt is allowed to fall down, and she bends forward when she slips her panties down. She stands before him, nude and smiling: her groin is moist with her anticipation of what's to come. He looks her over. She seems to stand about as tall as his one point seven metres. Her ash blond hair falls to her shoulders. Average figure with just a little padding, but fit. Breasts look a nice pleasant more than a hand-full each. And her groin is shaved, as he found out earlier. Hal flips the covers back, and opens up his pyjamas while he motions her to him. She rushes across the space to stand beside the bed. He reaches out to caress her breast, she sighs when he rubs her nipple with his thumb. He loves the feel. His hand moves down to slip a finger between her very moist labia, and play with her clit. She moans. “Slave Alice, I like the way you're obedient to my commands. Now mount me and show me how well you can ride. If I like your service I'll keep you.” He's watching her mind, so he sees her arousal spike when he speaks, she has a small orgasm on being promised he'll keep her as a personal slave.

Giving a simple, “Yes, please, Master,” she climbs on the bed, and straddles him. She rubs her groin along his stiff dick a few times to make it wet with her fluids. Lifting herself up she makes a few small adjustments of position, then she rubs the head of his dick along her slit before placing it at the entrance to her vagina. With slow care she lowers herself onto his prick. He's aware, from her mind, she loves the way his dick is stretching her vagina wider than it's been stretched before. He's in heaven when he starts his first sexual intercourse. It's not like anything he ever dreamed, the lovely feel of her cunt lowering on to his dick is sheer bliss. She takes a minute to impale herself on him. He smiles at her while he reaches out to fondle her breasts the way she likes to have them fondled. He slips his hands around her back, he pulls her to him, leans in, and sucks on her breasts, licking the nipples in turns. She moans, and has a small orgasm, which they both enjoy.

Releasing her breasts he pushes her upright, and commands, “Now ride me until you can't ride any more. Show me how good a slutty mare you can be.” Again she comes at his commands. But she's soon rising and falling on his dick, each movement stimulating her more. He senses she's about to have another small orgasm, “Slave, you may not come again until I come in you.” She can feel her need to come, but she dare not disobey her new master lest she lose such a perfect master. She clamps down on her own desire, only to see it rise in intensity when she does. She speeds up her rhythm in the hope he'll have an orgasm soon and let her come. He watches her mind, and is shocked when he sees her own mind turn back on her to torture her by increasing her physical need to orgasm as soon as she's ordered not to come. In seconds she's moving up and down on him like a racing car engine piston at high speed. She's almost screaming in her need to come, but can't, and he's doing all he can to hold out, too. All through this he's playing with her breasts. He slips his hands around her body, and pulls her down to him, clamps his open mouth over her open mouth, sticks his tongue in her mouth - to be rewarded with hers invading his, and releases his control. He starts to come, she starts her orgasm, and her scream is a muffled gurgle in his mouth when she comes. It seems like hours while he pumps more and more semen into her, and she has orgasm after orgasm, coming again when each new load of his semen hits her insides. Finally she goes slack, and collapses onto him; but her body still jerks while he continues to pump semen into her. He stops coming, but his stiff dick is still well embedded in her, and she's all but unconscious.

A noise at the door, and he looks around Alice while he reaches out with his mind. It's Denny. She enters while saying, “Damn it, have you two been fucking the whole hour she's been in here? Well, Matron will be around on night rounds soon, so we have to get her out of sight.”

He grins, “Then you better give me a hand, Denny, since Alice is all fucked out and almost asleep. Her cunt's still well stuffed with my stiff dick and a huge load of semen. I've got a priapism, if you don't know.”

Denny is stunned, and she rushes over. Together they lift Alice off him, and Denny sticks a hand towel in Alice's groin to stop her leaking, then she half carries and half drags Alice to the attached en suite. After sitting Alice down on the toilet she leans her against the wall. A moment later she places Alice's clothes and things on the floor nearby.

When she walks out of the en suite Hal looks at her, points at his dick, and commands, “Lick it up and suck it clean.”

She gulps, and walks over while saying, “No wonder Alice is so taken with you. She can have you. But I may later wish a trial visit.” She leans over, and is quick in licking up the juices and sucking his dick clean while she thinks, Hmm, Alice tastes nice, and so does he. Damn, I can't afford such thoughts at the moment. I've got other priorities. Hal digs for the priorities, and learns she needs to work hard to help put her younger sisters through school and university while looking after their very ill mother. He makes a mental note to help her out, when he can.

Ten minutes later Alice is asleep in the en suite, and all is as it should be when matron passes through on her night rounds. After she's gone Denny returns to clean Alice up, dress her in a tracksuit from her own locker, and puts her to sleep on the bed with Hal while saying, “You made her this way, you look after her until she's able to get about by herself.” Then she pulls up the sides of the bed to keep them both on it.

Smiling at her Hal pulls Alice's head down onto his shoulder, and goes to sleep as well.

About four o'clock in the morning Alice wakes up, and is confused because the bed is unfamiliar. Her stirring wakes Hal. He touches her mind while he gives her arm a gentle caress, and says, “It's all right, my Slave, you're just tired. Go back to sleep.” Recognising her Master's voice and touch Alice smiles while she does as told.

Just before six o'clock Denny comes to warn him about the change of shift. He wakes Alice up, and she smiles to learn he's accepted her as his. He tells her to go home and to start looking for work in Hawk's Nest so she can work nearer to him. She's also to ready her things to move in with him. She leaves a very happy woman for the first time in her life.

Sunday

Mid-morning Doctor Miller brings a young woman into the ICU as she shows her around the hospital. Hal is up and about getting some exercise while trying to work the kinks out of his muscles. She introduces Hal to Betty, and explains to her why he's in the hospital, since he looks so well. Hal makes contact with Betty's mind, and sees she's like Alice. He smiles, because he's got the key to how to make her happy, and his slave.

When they go to move off Hal says, “Excuse me, Doc, Betty, but am I right in understanding Betty doesn't have a job offer yet. She's here on a speculation visit?” They both nod yes. “Well, I'm sure I'll need a nurse to keep an eye on me for the next few weeks, won't I, Doc?”

Janet shrugs, “Not sure you'll need one, but it would be preferred. I'm only willing to let you go today as we've no strong reason to keep you in, but I'm not happy with so many of your vitals being the way they are. Why?” She's pretty sure she knows why, but she wants it said.

He looks at Betty, “Well, Betty needs a job and place to stay, I need a nurse, and she's a good looking young woman. I'd love to have her stay at my place for a while. This seems like a match made in heaven.”

Betty gives him a sideways look, and starts to shake her head no. He smiles, and points to his room while commanding her, “Betty, go to my room, now!” She gasps, and races for his room. He follows after her. “Betty, why don't you wish to work for me?”

She gulps, “I think you want to have sex with me as well, and I'm a lesbian. So I don't want to work for a man or have sex with one.”

He reaches out, and gives her face a gentle stroke, “A pretty girl like you, Betty. Of course I'm going to have sex with you, often. And so are my other slaves. So you'll become a bi-sexual. I like your looks, and I think you'll be a very good slave for me.” Janet followed them in, and is watching them real close; she's amazed at how commanding he is. “Betty, I've decided I want you as my slave, and I will have you.” Hal is aware of Janet watching them, but he's paying more attention to Betty and how she gets more aroused each time he calls her a slave, and each time he gives an order. “Slave Betty, you'll now show acceptance of servitude in my house. Get on your knees and suck on my cock until I come in your mouth. When I do you may have an orgasm of your own, one with each spurt of semen you feel.” She has no hesitation when she drops to her knees and takes his dick out. She looks up at him with pleading eyes, so he tells her how to suck cock. She does as ordered, getting more aroused with each order. Janet closes and locks the door. She watches the action while getting aroused herself. After several minutes Betty is on the verge of an orgasm when he reaches down to take a hold of her head in both of his hands. Taking a strong grip he holds her head still with just the head of his dick in her mouth when he orders her to keep a tight seal around his dick. She does as ordered, and he starts to come. With each spurt of semen she shivers with an orgasm of her own while she swallows his seed. He smiles when he realises Janet is also coming on seeing them come. When he finishes coming he has her swallow, and suck his dick clean before releasing her head and telling her to stand. He says, “You acknowledge you're mine!” It's an order, not a question.

“Yes, Master, I'm yours to command.”

“Good, lie on the bed.” She turns and lies on the bed, she knows what's coming, but accepts it's his right as her Master, despite how much she's tried to avoid this before. He grins when he flips her mid-calf length skirt up onto her waist. He peels her panties aside to look at her trim blond bush, smiling at her while he moves her panties. Seeing him smile at her she returns the smile. He slides the panties down and off before rotating her legs out wide like she's doing the splits.

Dropping to his knees he says, “Now to taste my new fruit. You may come when you feel the need.” She shivers when he spreads her labia apart and licks the length of her slit. Remembering what Alice liked Hal does the same to Betty. She comes as soon as he starts to suck her clit. He takes her through five orgasms before he stands and places his stiff dick at the entrance to her virgin vagina.

He rubs his dick along her slit, and she says, “Please, Master, be the first, and, I hope, only man to know me this way. Take me and make me fully yours.”

He smiles at her while he pushes into her. He knows, from her mind, her hymen is long gone to a dildo, but she's only ever had thin ones, so she's not stretched. He watches her eyes open in surprise when she feels herself stretched by his dick. He takes his time to stretch her wide, and pushes against the end to lengthen her sheath until their groins meet. She's stunned by how much bigger he's made her insides feel, and he fills her up. He reaches down to rub her clit while he uses his mind to find her orgasm trigger, and push it. She has her first orgasm with a dick in her, and follows it with another. He slides in and out, making her come on each entry. He watches while her mind adjusts itself to bind to him and be his on a permanent basis. He's surprised to see she now wants to be with him and have his children, despite spending her life, until now, arguing against such a future. Smiling, he pumps in and out for some more minutes before coming in her, and ordering her to come again. She has a strong orgasm while he's coming in her.

He finishes coming, and pulls out of her, his dick is still stiff. She smiles at seeing it still stiff. Turning around on the bed she licks and sucks his dick clean. Afterwards Betty smiles at him, and says, “Master, please don't be angry. But I think I should have told you that, as a lesbian, I don't practice birth control. I'm unprotected and this is the start of my fertile period. So I may get pregnant.”

He can see she's concerned her possible pregnancy may cause him to be angry with her, it's his anger she's worried about, not the pregnancy. He smiles at her, “Good, that's not a problem.” She grins on learning this pleases him. “Go get your things and be ready to leave with me.”

She's happy when she nods yes. He hands over her panties, and she slips them on while still on the bed. When she slides off the bed she sees Janet, and says, “Thank you, Doctor Miller. I've been looking for a true Mistress, and not found one. But you bring me to a great and true Master. Thank you for doing so.” She leaves to get her bags from the hotel, and to pay the reservation fee she owes them.

Janet looks at Hal, and says, “Shit, Alice was right. One fucking and she's all yours.” She goes very serious. “You treat that child right, you hear me, Mister.”

Hal laughs, “She's eight years older than me, and you're telling me to treat her right.”

“Yes, I am. She's an innocent baby when compared to you. Look after her and treat her right.”

He nods yes, “If I wasn't prepared to do that I wouldn't have told her to be my slave in the first place. Betty and Alice are seeking someone to command them and to look after them, so I will. But there are other girls and women I'll take as slaves, if they want it or not, because they owe me, they owe me big time. And you won't interfere with how I treat them. Do we have an understanding, Doctor?”

She nods, “Yes, yes we do. As long as you listen if I tell you when I think you're going too far with any of them.” He nods agreement, since he likes the idea of having an external review person or two.

He grins, “I wonder how The Bitch will react when she learns a mere boy has taken her latest conquest out of her open palm? On that note, you better go with Betty to make sure The Bitch isn't causing trouble at the hotel.” At first Janet grins, then she loses the smile, and races out the door to catch up with Betty.

Half an hour later they return with Betty's gear. Janet says, “It's a good thing you sent me after her, I got there in time to divert The Bitch and allow Betty to get clean away. Such a confrontation would've been unsettling for Betty right now.” Hal nods his agreement.

Homeward Bound

Mrs Tudor and Liz turn up just as Hal is finishing lunch. Within half an hour all the paperwork is completed, and he's being discharged. Hal tells them, “Mum, Liz, this is Betty, she's a nurse who'll be living with us to keep an eye on me. A sort of compromise with the observation.”

His mother frowns, “I didn't think Medicare paid for that sort of thing, and I'm not sure we can afford it at the moment.”

He smiles, “It's all covered, Mum, as long as we can provide room and board. Another nurse, Alice, will be helping to share the load as well, for room and board.” Liz remembers Alice, and grins, while Mrs Tudor nods her acceptance of the arrangements.

While she drives his mother says, “Your father rang last night so I told him what happened. He was ready to cut the business trip short, but I told him not to as you're coming home today. So he'll be back as planned on Wednesday. He did ask you to pop in to check the office for him tomorrow.” Hal nods yes, it's now standard operating procedure (SOP) for him to check how the business is going while his father is away. “Also, your car was stolen yesterday while we were out finding you.” She's nervous about this, as he bought it from money he earned.

“There's a police report on it?” He asks, and Liz nods yes. “Well, I'll just claim the insurance. If it's taken by the people with my keys they'll torch it. I wonder if they know I'm still alive. By now they must be wondering about what happened to their friends and the truck.”

They stop on the way home for some food at a local fresh food store in an old barn like building they frequently shop at. While they're there a ragged looking man walks in, and pulls out a pistol when he grabs a young girl packing the displays, she's the fourteen year old daughter of the owner. He says, “Empty the till into a paper bag and give it to me, or the girl's dead.” Hal reads his mind while the man thinks, I'll keep this girl for a while, and give her a few good fucks before I kill her.

Hal is concerned for the girl's life, because she's a friend. Since the man plans to kill her, anyway, Hal decides to try an experiment. He reaches out to the man's mind to freeze his muscles so he can't move. The man's body is motionless while his mind is in great turmoil over being unable to move a muscle. He doesn't know what's happened, but it scares him to be like this.

While walking across the shop Hal calls out, “I think the only reason you grabbed Nina is because you plan to kidnap her and kill her later, after raping her. Just waving the gun about would've got you the money. So, since you intend to kill her I may as well see she's revenged by killing you, here and now!” Hal is busy watching the minds of the fourteen people in the store too. He notices how they're all quick to agree with him once he speaks, even Nina's father. When Hal passes a display where some fruit is cut open for people to try he picks up the sharp knife there to cut the fruit up with.

Getting close to the man Hal exercises control, and forces the man to turn the pistol and point it at Hal; scaring the hell out of the robber. Once the gun is pointed away from her Nina takes action. With a big grin she drops down and out from his grip across her upper body. Free of his arm she throws herself forward, kicking backward and up with her right leg. Hal steps to his right while he reaches out with his left hand to push the gun hand up and to the side while holding the knife before him. He releases his control of the man when Nina's heel smashes into his balls. The man groans, and bends forward into Hal's knife while the gun fires into the roof: the police later find the bullet stuck in a rafter. Letting go of the knife in the man's heart Hal uses both of his hands to wrestle the gun from his hand before he can fire again. The would be robber and killer falls to the ground while dying in great pain.

Nina stands up, then she starts crying while she runs to her father for a hug and comforting. Betty rushes over to do her nurse thing, and Hal stops her by saying, “No, leave him, he's dying.” She stops at his command. He turns to look at the shocked stares Liz and his mother are giving him, and he gives them a wry smile.

The police and ambulance turn up a few minutes later, and they all give statements. While that's happening another police car arrives, and Sergeant Phelps gets out. Recognising Liz he walks over, and asks, “How's your brother doing, Miss?”

She's still stunned by the events when she replies, “Well enough to stop and stab a robber when less than an hour out of the hospital.”

Phelps turns, and looks at Hal while thinking, Well then, he's on the way to full recovery from Friday. Phelps walks over, and squats down beside the robber. He has a close look at him before glancing up at the forensic photographer. The photographer holds her hand up in a stop sign, takes a few more photos, then waves for him to go ahead. With her approval he reaches out, and tips the man's head up to get a good look at the face. The photographer takes a few photos of the man's face when he does. Phelps slowly nods, and stands up. Turning to Hal he says, “Well, young man, I'm going to need all of your details, as you just earned a nice tax free one hundred thousand dollars. This is an escaped convict with a reward on his head. You also just made friends with most of the cops in this state - he's a killer of the worst kind. He's raped and killed two shop assistants and a policewoman since he escaped.”

After finishing at the store, where the owner refuses to accept any payment for their food as he's appreciative of Hal saving his daughter, they accompany Phelps back to the station to complete paperwork. Hal provides banking details so the government can make the payment into his bank account. The interruption causes an hour's delay.

Mrs Tudor is waiting to pull out and drive away when Hal spots a car parking, the family of one of the boys he thinks is in the Sandy Creek Morgue. He feels for the parents and sister, but not their son. Borrowing Liz's phone he calls Sergeant Howard, and tells him what he just saw. Howard thanks him, and says he'll calls Hawk's Nest police.

When they get home Mrs Tudor and Liz put the food away while Hal and Betty take her things upstairs to the guest bedroom beside his. He helps her put them away while he says, “As far as anyone else is concerned this is your room and your things will be kept here, for now. But you'll often sleep in my bed with me.” She smiles on learning she'll be sleeping with her master.

The next order of business for Hal is getting his homework done, and everything ready for school the next day before he goes on-line to get up-to-date with all of his on-line friends. He has more friends on-line than he does in real life. A few phone calls to let his local friends know he's well, then it's time for dinner.

Evening

Neither Liz or Mrs Tudor miss the way Betty is very attentive to Hal during the afternoon and evening. Nor do they miss the changes in Hal, they're surprised with how much more assertive he is now, but they accept he's been through some very harrowing times and changed. The questions are: how much has changed, and will they like the new Hal?

After dinner Mrs Tudor gets a pleasant surprise when Betty helps to clean up and do the dishes. However, she's surprised when after they've finished the washing up Hal stands up from the lounge where he's watching the television, and says, “Betty, go start our bath.” Betty smiles, and races off to do as told. Noticing his mother's concern he turns to her, and says, “Mother,” the formal title makes her sit up and pay attention, “as well as being my nurse Betty is my slave and lover, so get used to those facts, please. The events of Friday have caused many changes in my body and my attitudes, due to having survived them. People tried to kill me after telling me what they were going to do. You don't survive such events without having some serious attitude adjustments. At the moment I may be feeling a little bit bullet proof, due to surviving them, so please let me know if you think I'm going too far.” He turns to Liz, “And the same goes for you, Sis. Let me know if I do anything to worry you, OK.” Both nod agreement while they think on what he's said.

He goes upstairs to get his robe, but he doesn't bother with anything else, and heads for the bathroom. The bath is almost half full so he says, “Slave,” he smiles when Betty shivers with pleasure at her title, “go get your robe, and join me in the bath water.” She races off as he undresses and gets in the water. She's back, and shedding clothes before he can get wet all over. When she goes to get in the water he has her straddle him, and lower herself onto his stiff dick. She sighs while she does as told.

That was a preview of Hal - the Beginning. To read the rest purchase the book.

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