Catharsis [Novel]

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

            I don't make a specific plan; I just want to see what happens and make it up as I go.

            My run becomes a sprint within seconds, and I can feel the ground tear by beneath me.  I have no idea how fast I'm running, but I know it's faster than I've ever run before.  My legs feel strong, and I decide to test them.  Looking ahead, I see a partially broken second floor window about twenty-five feet up the side of the building.  Without hesitation, I decide to leap and smash through it.

            Trying to calculate the power needed for the jump while I’m running is futile, so I give it up, hop a small distance into the air so I can land on both feet and load my muscles for a quick release.  The hop lands perfectly, and I push off the ground using the momentum created by the jump. 

            No human has ever jumped this high or this far before, I think as I gain height through the air.  It's unbelievable!

            But the jump isn't enough.  I'm nowhere near high enough to hit the window I realize as my body careens straight for the side of the warehouse.  Pulling my body into a ball, I release as much air from my lungs as possible before I smash into the hard concrete and brick. 

            I feel the WHUMP of the impact as a dull pain throughout my right side, and then I'm freefalling again as the bricks release their temporary hold on me.  Aware of the short distance to the ground, I turn my body and land on my hands and feet before rolling a short distance away.

            "Ouch," I say out loud before realizing it didn't actually hurt.  It should have hurt, but after quickly shaking myself off I realize I feel fine.

            Nice, I think.  I could get used to this.

            I'm strong and I'm tough and I'm fast, but that jump proved I still have some limitations.  Let's see how far those limitations go.

            After a quick jog to the back door (No more jumping through windows for me just yet, thank you!), I look around the empty building for ways to test myself.

            The emptiness limits me at first, and then I decide to use it to my advantage.  Backing up until I'm against the closest wall, I mentally map out a straight course from one side of the warehouse to the other.   I click my watch (Classic Timex.  Anything nicer and I’m sure the street hoodlum from the other night would have tried to take it, too.) to put it into timer mode and hit the button to start it.  My opening pace is just a jog, but I dial it up to a run and then a sprint by the time I hit the far wall.

            Noting the time, I reset the watch, start it and take off sprinting this time.  I beat the previous run's time by several seconds which strikes me as good.  And then I realize I'm not even winded after sprinting the length of the building.  Heck, I'm not even breathing hard. 

            That's interesting, I think to myself.  What will it take to wear me out?

            Resetting the watch a third time, I go into a sprinter's starting stance against the wall and clear my breath for a moment (Even not being winded, some habits are hard to break.).  Pushing myself backwards against the wall for a brief second, I load my weight into my feet before springing away from it and clicking the watch timer.  As I move, every part of me wants to run faster and be faster and pull every bit of strength I have from my body and feed it into my legs.