Brock by Kathi S. Barton

could hear it blasting in the kid’s head. He watched as the kid scrubbed at the blood on the wall.
    What was written there now was new. The statement that had been put there before was on the wall closest to him and that wall was cleaned of the blood. He tried to read what it might have said and all he could see was a few words, but he got the meaning. More crap about the underdog and persecution. When the kid—Donny he realized his name was—bent to dip his rag in the bucket, he must have seen Brock because he jumped back and fell against the wall. He pulled the headphones out immediately.
    “I was working on getting it cleaned up like you said.” Brock nodded but didn’t put this gun away just yet. “They said they were going to keep it up until…I don’t want to go back there.”
    “Back where?” Brock moved into the room. In addition to the cleaning supplies he’d brought the first day they were to start the job, there was a sleeping bag and some clothes. He looked at the boy.
    “They kicked me out. My dad said that if I wanted to be a goody-two-shoes, I had to do it without living under his roof. They must have come here today while I was at school and put more blood on the walls.” Brock put his gun away but didn’t put the safety over the handle.
    “How long have you been staying here?” He told him four days. “And they know you’re here?”
    “Yes, sir. My dad said that no son of his was…I was going to leave when you okayed what I’d done. I don’t know where yet, but I was going to go.” He looked at his things, then at him again. “You think it would be okay if I stayed another night? I swear to you I won’t do anything to harm your building.”
    Brock looked at the wall that had been painted with blood before. It was about as pristine as he’d ever seen it. Even the rug surrounding the area had been cleaned pretty well , and there were three large trash bags sitting next to the door. He looked back at Donny.
    “Did your brother help you at all? I mean other than repainting the walls with pig’s blood?” Donny shook his head. “I want to help you kid, I really do. I know your dad is having some problems, but kicking out his own son goes over the line. Especially when you were ordered to do something by law that…you had nothing to do with the wall in the first place, did you?”
    “I was here , but no, sir, I didn’t do anything.” He started picking up his things. “I’ll come by after school tomorrow and finish up. You might want to put someone here to watch it. I don’t think they’re finished—”
    The noise in the lot alerted them. Brock put his finger to his lips and waved Donny into the corner where it was darkest. Brock went to the other side of the door and waited for the Owens to come up the stairs. He had no doubt who it was. While they were seemingly staggering up the stairs, he reached for Ryland to tell him what was going on and that he had someone there with him.
    “You need to call the police and send them to the building on Decker. The vandals are at it again. And tell them I’m on site.” He asked if he needed him to come there, he and Bronwyn were close. “If you wouldn’t mind coming in behind them, I’d like that. The more the merrier I think. But tell Bronwyn that we do this my way and not hers.”
    She touched his mind then, and he felt her laughter. “You think I would do anything less? Shame on you, Brock. I thought you knew that I have your best interest at heart.”
    “I do. But there’s a good kid with me, and I’m afraid for him. Can you, I don’t know, use your powers for good and protect him? He’s human.” She told him she would and also told him that she was going to kick his ass.
    Harvey came through the door first. He was drunk. And when his son walked in…fell in actually…Brock knew that he was drunk as well, and both men were carrying bottles of beer. Junior called for his brother and snickered when he found the cleaning