Jeremiah Stone - Fighting Chance

The excerpt you’re about to read from ‘Jeremiah Stone’ is still under draft, but you can get a sense of action the novel entails. In the story, Jeremiah has just saved and taken into protection (from angels, demons, and police alike) a crime syndicate up-and-comer named Zygi Wolf.  They’re currently holed-up in a New York City hotel (which Zygi considers a dump) with Jeremiah questioning him about his importance.

“How should I know?” Zygi replied with innocence. “I’m one of the proverbial ‘bad guys’, so I guess it could be anything.”

Jeremiah stared at the man for a few seconds not satisfied with the answer while hoping his stoic stance would intimidate the man a little. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’re not the typical drug lord or mafia type, but you run in both circles. So what are you not telling me?” Even as he asked, however, Jeremiah made a connection of his own, one he didn’t want to contemplate, but he felt was the truth. Then, just as Zygi opened his mouth to answer, Jeremiah heard a whisper. An instant later he launched himself across the room at Zygi, grabbed a fist full of the man’s shirt, altered his weight, and flung Zygi through the doorway into the single bedroom with a crash just as the door to the apartment burst open. Luckily Jeremiah’s momentum was already moving towards the door, so he let it carry himself into the midst of policemen even as they brought their weapons to bear. 

Training helps a person prepare for real life situations, but when the opposite occurs during those times than everything is thrown off balance. So it is with the police, as they expect people to either freeze or run away giving them a second to analyze the situation and react accordingly. They never suspect an unarmed man to dive into their midst faster than humanly possible. To say they lost the upper hand in that first second would be an understatement as Jeremiah’s fist impacted the fourth man’s flak jacket with enough force to put knuckle imprints in its quarter-inch thick steel plate. Then Jeremiah turned his attention to targets one, two, and three. Spinning, he kicked the legs out from number three while backhanding number two shattering the man’s visor, then slammed his fist down into number three smashing him into the floor. By now, number one was spinning around bringing his weapon about. Jeremiah was just a bit slow in turning as two shots thudded into his chest and shoulder, but knowing his timing was off by just that much he altered his weight and skin density allowing the force of the bullets to twist his upper body to the right as his left fist shattered both the door frame and the man’s right bicep. As the gun dropped, Jeremiah shifted all his weight to the left stopping his momentum abruptly as number one’s momentum continued into him allowing Jeremiah to grab the man’s vest. Yanking it downward, the man caught Jeremiah’s rising knee. With a heavy grunt the man stilled before Jeremiah let him fall to the floor in a heap.

Jeremiah stopped, surveying the scene in satisfaction. Four down in four second and all of them would live, which was a good thing since none of them were either angels or demons.

With a turn, he took a step back into the room and saw Zygi lying limply against the dresser, though still breathing. Damn, he thought. He wasn’t about to carry the man away, so he’d just have to leave him for now, though he wasn’t that useful anymore, he told himself as he reflected on his last thought before the policemen’s interruption.

Jeremiah’s ability to alter his weight became a study (after his second death) into whether it was truly his weight or his density he was altering. Believing it had to be the latter; he’s since tuned his power and thoughts into increasing his skin’s density into something more like hardened leather while making his innards lighter. This means he’s able to maintain his weight while turning his skin into something akin to a bullet-proof jacket. Granted he still has to dig the bullets out of his skin and receives some really bad bruising, but he survives and is unhindered by the bulkiness of a true Kevlar jacket.