1. Przedmioty:
   • Karabin naprawiający
   • Krzak maskujący
   • Ulepszony plecak odrzutowy
   • Tarcza
   • Rozkładana wieżyczka:5
   • Skoczna bomba
2. Akcesoria:
   • Strzykawka zdrowia
   • Granat (10)
   • Mina:20 (5 na jeden raz)
   • Flara (5)
3. Broń:
   • Pistolet(standardowa broń) - 00 (nieskończoność)
   • Karabin maszynowy - 2500
   • RPG - 35
   • Wyrzutnia pocisków - 12
   • Snajperka - 12
   • Moździerz Millenium - 10
   • Wyrzutnia Pocisków Zbliżeniowych - 25
   • Wyrzutnia Pocisków Samonaprowadzających - 10

Artykuł w przygotowaniu

Part 4:

Meeting Ken Sanderson

- - -

My interview had gone so well that the manager had instantly accepted me. I was surprised that I was able to get a meeting with the man that very minute I walked in the store. Mr. Robert Douglass had heard me ask a cashier about the sign in the window, and the man had grabbed me and pulled me into his office. From there, he asked me a few simple questions, ignoring my repeatedly-asked question about filling out a résumé.

‘A résumé, boy?’ the man had asked, barking. ‘You don’t need no damn résumé. You’re hired.’

Now, I was restocking the peanut butter jars when I saw a man come up beside me.

“Mr. Douglass wants to talk to you,” the man said.

“All right, thank you…” I trailed off, looking for a nametag.

“Oh, sorry,” the man said, giving an uneasy laugh as he turned. “My name’s Ken, by the way; Ken Sanderson.”

I smiled and shook the man’s hand before walking up the aisle, back to the front of the store. I caught eye of Mr. Douglass speaking to another cashier at the front of the store.

“Sir?” I asked, standing in front of the counter. “You wanted to see me?”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Dean,” the man said, giving me a wide grin. “How you likin’ it here?”

“It’s great, sir,” I said, returning the smile. “I’m still getting to know the place.”

“Ah, it takes a while the first time,” the man said, sending the cashier off before he leaned on the counter. “If you have any questions, just ask Ken.”

“About Ken, sir,” I looked back down the aisle and saw that the man wasn’t there, so I turned back to my boss. “He seemed a bit…”

“Depressed?” the man asked, interrupting me. “Yeah, I know. I feel bad for the poor guy. He just found out that he’s going to have to go through a lot of shit before he can have his surgery.”

“Surgery, sir?” I asked, sighing as I noticed my childish curiosity. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so considered with his life…”

“He’s transsexual, Dean.”

My mouth formed an O shape before I realized that I looked childish. I sighed and looked back down the aisle I had met the man in.

“I’m sorry for being so snoopy, sir,” I said.

“You have a right to be curious about your coworkers, Dean.”

“Still, I shouldn’t be asking questions like I just asked. It makes me feel like an idiot.”

“Don’t feel like that, Dean,” my boss said, leaning across the counter and patting my shoulder. “You’ll go through life knowing that feeling like an idiot or something else like that doesn’t get you anywhere.”

I stayed after the dollar store closed to sweep up the floor. I didn’t think I would be wiping the floors the first day of work, but I hadn’t thought about liking work so much. I worked four hours a day due to the damn child labor law, was paid seven dollars an hour, and was treated good by my boss.

The real reason that I had offered to stay and sweep up the front area of the store was because I wanted to talk to Ken. I wasn’t sure how many people knew that he was a transsexual, but if I could at least talk and maybe get to know him, I might be able to make him feel better. I was more than sure that he didn’t have too many good friends.

It’s a sad thing that people are so fucking afraid of people who are ‘sick’ in their eyes, I thought, looking back up, trying to see if Ken was anywhere nearby.

Somehow, after hearing Mr. Douglass’ words about Ken, I felt responsible. I felt like I needed to reach out and help him in some way.

The brief shock of his blonde hair appearing from the aisle made me look up.

“Hey,” Ken said. “What’re you still doing here?”

“Sweeping,” I said, giving him a small smile.

“On your first day? The boss is harder on the new kids than I thought he was.”

“No,” I said, sighing. “Mr. Douglass didn’t ask me to stay and sweep, Ken.”

The man gave me a concerned look for a moment before he sighed, turning his head away.

“He told you, didn’t he?”

The tone in which he said that made me feel bad. It made me feel guilty, like I was the bully listening to a rumor, a bully that would spread that rumor around with no feeling or remorse.

“Ken, I…”

“Please, just go home.”

Ken started to walk down the aisle, and as I reached out for him, he slapped my hand away.

“Ken, I didn’t mean…”

“Just leave me alone!” he cried. “Please, just leave me alone, I…”

“I’m gay,” I said, looking at him. “I’m gay, Ken. I’m not judging you in any way.”

Ken’s eyes changed from their distressed state back to their normal, calm and yet a little troubled self.

“You’re in the closet?”

“Yeah,” I said, sighing, leaning the broom against the counter. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Ken. I’m not the kind of guy to judge you.”

“You won’t?” Ken asked, leaning against the wall.

I shook my head, sighing, hopping up on the counter and taking my seat there.

“No, Ken. I’m not that kind of person. I lived with those people for the first fifteen years of my life.”

“You don’t live here?” Ken asked.

“No, I moved out here with my aunt because I couldn’t take the bullshit anymore,” I said, sighing. “I know where you’re coming from.”

Ken gave a small nod, walking over beside me and jumping up on the counter.

“Thanks,” Ken said after that moment of silence.

“For what?” I asked.

“For, you know, not acting all freaked out.”

“Why would I act freaked out just because you’re transsexual?” I asked, frowning. “You’ve had bad experiences with people, haven’t you?”

“Yeah,” Ken said with a small smile. “I have.”

I looked up at the clock, saw it was only six, and walked to the payphones, digging through my pockets to find a few quarters.

“What are you doing?” Ken asked, walking up beside me.

“Calling my aunt,” I said. “You want to go eat?”

Me and Ken went to a small burger joint down the street. It wasn’t anything fancy, and I couldn’t buy food for the both of us, so we ordered our own meals and sat at out own table. Our table was in the back, away from everyone else. I had asked Ken if there was anywhere in particular he wanted to sit, and though he didn’t actually say anything, I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to be at the back.

Ken was like me in a lot of ways. We were outcasts in the eyes of those so-called ‘normal’ people. The ‘normal’ people were the people that thought that every single little thing that was ‘different’ or ‘bad’ in their eyes. It was people like me and Ken who they didn’t like, the gays and the transsexuals. These ‘normal’ people saw us ‘different’ people with different eyes, as people who had choices in being gay or transsexual.

The normal people were the biggest fakes on earth.

“You ok?” Ken asked.

I looked up at him, smiling, biting the end of a fry off.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry, I was thinking about how the world is fifty-percent fake.”

Ken laughed and bit into his hamburger, setting it on the table.

“You care if I ask when you knew?” Ken asked, his face not showing his usual smile or happy expression.

Ken didn’t have to elaborate on ‘when I knew’ for me to know what I was talking about.

“When I was thirteen,” I said. “That was my inner demon.”

“Inner demon?” he asked, frowning.

“Oh, those are things that trouble me,” I said with a small laugh. “They’re not really bad things. Well, not most of the time, anyway.”

Ken gave a small nod and took a drink of his soda.

“You ever been with a guy?”

“No,” I sighed. “That’s part of the reason I moved out here. I lived in a Mormon town, so… Well, there weren’t any gay people there. Other than these lesbians, and even then I didn’t know them.”

Ken gave another small nod.

“You think you’ll find someone here?”

“I hope so,” I said. “I’d like someone to lean on, you know? I was really depressed before I left Idaho.”

“This isn’t really about you being with someone, but did you ever… Well… You know?”

“Know what?” I asked. “What do you…”

It hit me so fast that I didn’t even expect the blush.

Ken wanted to know if I had had sex with a guy.

“No,” I said. “And I don’t want to be with someone just for that either.”

Ken gave a small nod, and after that, we stopped talking about our sexualities. We ate our meal, and after we were finished, we stood and shook each other’s hand.

“I have to get a cab,” I said, patting my pocket, making sure my wallet was there. “I need to be getting home.”

“I’ll give you a ride,” Ken said, smiling. “If that’s all right with you, anyway.”

I gave a small nod and smiled, following him out of the restaurant and down to his car. I got in the passenger seat and buckled myself in, smiling.

“I appreciate you taking me home,” I said as Ken backed out of the parking lot. “Really, I do.”

“It’s no problem,” Ken said with a smile. “I’ll do anything for a friend.”

The word friend made me so warm inside, especially coming from him.

“How did your day go, Dean?”

I looked up at my uncle Walter and gave a small smile.

“Fine,” I said. “I made a new friend.”

“That’s good,” my aunt Patricia said as she walked over with the sandwich tray. “Who is it?”

Be careful, my inner voice said. Don’t tell them about the transsexual part.

“Her name’s Kendra,” I said. “Kendra Sanderson. I work with her.”

“A girl?” my uncle asked, looking up at me.

“She’s thirty,” I said, which softened my uncle’s mood.

“Come on, Walter; you think he’s going to get a girlfriend as soon as he gets here?”

“If I had been living in that shitty little town and was out here, I’d be starving for a relationship.”

You don’t know the half of it, I thought, shoving my sandwich in the Italian sauce before taking a bite out of it. I’m just not starving for that kind of relationship.

I took another bite of my sandwich to hide the stupid smirk that came across my face.

Don’t worry, Ken said in my mind. I have a feeling you’re going to find somebody soon, Dean.

I took another bite out of my sandwich to hide the smile that passed over my face.

I hoped I would have somebody soon.

Part 3:

Big Cities and New Opportunities

- - -

When the plane landed, I felt like I had stepped off some grand, angelical plane and was now entering the Garden of Eden. Of course, my idea of paradise wasn’t running around naked where the leaves seemed to be in every location to hide your privates; my idea of paradise was a big city where I could meet new people, gain a new life, and maybe even fall in love.

Love… I thought, my heart soaring, seeming to want to fly out of my chest and get shot by a heart-tipped arrow. It’s so… So… So…

“Dean?”

I jumped as I heard Adam’s voice, then calmed down as I felt the man’s hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning, tightening the grip on the laptop bag.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I’m just happy to be here.”

Adam smiled, and for the next few minutes, he stood next to me, waiting for the crowd of people to get off the plane before we took our places at the end of the line.

“Well, I guess this is where we part,” Adam said with a small smile. “It was nice meeting you, Dean.”

“Same here,” I said with a smile, shaking his hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“And thank you.”

We parted, going our own separate ways. Although I had just met a man I had considered to be a friend, I was leaving him to go his own way.

“Adam?” I asked, turning.

He was gone.

Sighing, I walked out of the airport and begin placing Adam at the back of my mind. People I had just met or cared little about could be placed in the back of my mind easily, just like certain events in my life. Putting things in the back of my mind was the way I coped. I set them in the back of my mind, waiting for them to dissolve. In due time, they would dissolve, which made me happy.

I stepped out of the shade and into the light. The sounds of cars and people greeted my eager ears. I smiled, ignoring the fact that I had no clue how to get a taxi. I didn’t really care at that moment; I was in a new place, in a new world, in a new galaxy. Why the hell did I need to care about getting a taxi?

I smiled and took in the city for another moment before I saw a taxi pull up. I smiled and walked over to it, opening the backseat door and crawling inside.

“Where to?” the taxi driver said, giving me a small smile.

I buckled myself in and began reciting the exact address.

It took the taxi driver a half hour to get to my aunt’s house, but I didn’t care. As he drove, I looked at the buildings and took in every single little thing I could about it. I took in the amount of people, the amount of cars, the way some of the roads soared into the sky and curled in ways that would have seemed unimaginable to a small-town guy like me.

“Sir?” the man asked.

I was drawn out of my thoughts as the man spoke.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Are we here?”

“Yeah,” the taxi driver said. “You have thirty bucks?”

“My aunt’s paying for it,” I said. “I came here without any money. You care if I go get her?”

The man shook his head and gestured for me to get out of the taxi. I lugged my laptop case out of the taxi and walked up to the house, knocking on the door a few short times before the sound of the door being unlocked came to my ears.

“Dean!” my aunt Patricia Castor screeched. “You’re here!”

“The man needs thirty bucks,” I said, smiling. “Sorry, not much of a friendly greeting.”

“No, no!” she said with a grin. “I’ll go pay him right now.”

My aunt walked past me and to the taxi. I took my chance to sneak into the air-conditioned house and did just that, closing the door behind me so the birds wouldn’t get out. I sighed and smiled as I looked around the place, thankful that I was here.

You can start over now, I thought. You can get a job, you can make a few friends, you can get a guy for yourself.

I was unsure about the last part, but I would work that out. It’s not like I needed to be in a relationship immediately. I could wait for a little while, get to know my surroundings, establish myself as a hard worker wherever I decided to work, make a friend or two. A boyfriend would come with time and patience.

“Dean,” Patricia said as she walked through the door. “Is that all you brought?”

“Yeah,” I said with a small smile. “It’s all I need.”

That night, I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom. Shirtless, wearing only the white underwear I had, I walked to my bed and sat down, sighing, thankful that I didn’t have to worry about my aunt walking in on me.

I’m getting up early to go shopping with the money she gave me, I thought, nodding. That’s what I’m doing. After that, I’ll go see if any of the local stores need a new employee.

I ran a finger down the treasure trail of hair I had on my chest, feeling the muscle I had there. I had been heavier half a year ago, but I had lost a ton of weight since then, at least forty or fifty pounds. I smiled at that thought and crawled under the covers, put my hands behind my head, and thought of all the things I could do here.

You’ve escaped! my inner voice screamed. The caged bird flew! You saw the clouds above Colorado! You’re in the big city; you’ve got new opportunities waiting for you!

Right then and there, I actually liked how my inner voice sounded. Before, it had sounded depressed and moody, but now it was excited. I was happy, actually happy for once. I had been a sad person hiding behind a mask of fake emotions and bad jokes before this, but now I was actually happy. I was so happy that I wanted to scream until my head hurt.

I smiled, closed my eyes, and let my thoughts take me away. The caged bird spread its wings, pushed itself off the ground, and took flight.

That morning, I woke up at six o’clock and decided I would go then. I showered, dressed in a black shirt and jeans that ended at the knees, combed my long, shoulder-length black hair and walked out into the kitchen, scribbling a note before I walked out the door and outside.

Town’s not that far, I thought, smiling, shoving my hands into my pockets. Besides, the sun’s starting to come up.

Although I couldn’t really see the sun--due to buildings--it still felt good. It wasn’t completely hot, but it wasn’t cold either. It was the kind of temperature that a guy like me could enjoy.

Shorts might not have been the best choice, I thought, stopping and rubbing my calf, feeling the tickle of hair on my hand. It’s still not warm enough.

It would be warmer by the time I got into town. It was April, almost May; it always got warmer after that.

I let my thoughts take me away, ignoring my surroundings and other distractions as I made my way toward the store.

I had hated clothes shopping when I had been going with my mother back in Idaho, and it was mostly because I couldn’t get the clothes I wanted. My aunt had given me a good sum of money; one-hundred-and-fifty dollars, and I intended on using it to the best that I could.

I didn’t have much in my cart yet. I had some black undershirts that I hadn’t worn, mostly because I didn’t like wearing undershirts back in Idaho; I also had black underwear, which I hadn’t bought because I had always gone shopping with my mother. Black was my color, and I figure why not have black underwear as well?

I smirked at the thought as I tossed the package into the cart. On the front was a shirtless man with a nice, smooth and muscled chest. His body was devoid of hair, and for a brief moment I placed a hand on my abs, almost feeling the hair through the fabric.

Is that what my boyfriend will want? I thought as I looked at the package, the man’s haunting, attractive smile pulling my mind in another direction. Will he want me to be smooth like the man on the cover of the underwear plastic?

I shook my head and continued on through the men’s department. At this hour, there were hardly any people to disturb me. I thought I saw a guy tear a thing of men’s thongs open and shove them into his pocket, but I shook my head, keeping my eyes to my own business. Turning your eyes to a man and trying to make his business yours was not a good thing to do, especially in a city like Denver, where you could get stabbed in a blink of an eye.

I’m not like that, I thought with a small laugh. I’m not the kind of person to go sneaking into another man’s business. Fuck, I’ll probably get picked up by a guy at a party because he notices me.

The mentality of teenagers and the influences of high school had really turned me off to being social. I had been home schooled through the internet until I emailed my aunt after my sixteenth birthday, saying that I wanted the hell out of Idaho. I had only gone one year of high school before deciding that I didn’t want to go anymore. I had been abused badly by my peers, when I had been a little heavier, when I had girlfriends, when people started betraying me just because of the small talent I had with writing.

No! that little bird that had been let out of the cage screamed. You are not any less than any of them.

Of course, I knew that they weren’t any better than me. Stupid teenagers that said ‘like’ after every other word showed their stupidity that way. I knew I was smarter than them, better than them in every way I could be. A person who thought they were better than everyone else was just another ass-wipe that deserved to be shoved into a hole and shot dead, in my opinion. I wasn’t the person to judge, I never had been.

The man who I had caught shoving the thongs in his pants walked over beside me, picking up a T-shirt and looking at it for a short moment. I remained where I was, combing through the shirts with my fingers. I glanced at the man from the side of my vision.

“Something wrong?” the man asked.

“No sir,” I said, pulling a shirt out. “Nothing’s wrong.”

The man didn’t say anything after I spoke, but I was still a little nervous. I looked at a shirt for a moment before setting it back on the shirt rack. I grabbed the cart and turned it, about to walk out before I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt.

“You saw me?” the man breathed. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes sir,” I said. “I did.”

“How do I know that you’re not going to snitch on me?” the man asked.

“I’m no snitch, sir,” I said. “Please, let me go. I’m not going to rat on you.”

The man released my collar. I turned to the man and gave him a short but small smile.

“Thanks, kid,” the man said with a small sigh. “I’ve got a bit of a money situation and can’t afford underwear.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Have a good day, sir.”

After that, I got out of the men’s clothing department as fast as I could.

Although I had thought about getting a taxi and going home, I still had a job to find. I had paid the hundred bucks I had bought in clothes and had walked out, struggling with the large bag for a short moment before I got it in a good, non-painful position. I hated carrying anything that had a plastic, paper or string handhold, mostly because it dug into my hands.

Fuck, I thought, frowning, stopping to look around at the area. So, where am I know?

That didn’t really bother me; I didn’t have to know where I was. I was looking for a job. I could always get a cab later, after I had found a job. I sighed and began to walk down the sidewalk before I stopped, looking across the street.

In the window of a dollar store, a ‘Help Wanted’ sign gleamed in all its glory.

I smiled and made my way across the street.

I am very excited to announce that my romantic suspense novel His Touch is of Ice will in fact be out on the market this year. With plan to run the second and third through the Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine (Spring and Fall issue for '08,) His Touch is of Ice should be hitting online markets like Amazon and Barnes and Noble before the release of the fall issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected. 

Oh, and before someone starts up by asking, 'Did it get picked up by a publisher?' No, it didn't. It will be published via Lulu.com. Despite my previous failed attempt(s) with self-publishing, I'm taking it slower now. I myself have just finished my runthrough with HTIOI and it is now with a proofreader. It'll probably go through another reader before the interior design process begins, but--as far as I can see right now--it looks as though it's going to turn out good. I recently contacted a font designer for permission to use one of his fonts, so I'm hoping he'll get back to me soon. I've got the design process down, but since I have Vista and can no longer use word, I'll be having help with the designing process.

 Oh, I forgot to mention something. Due to stock imagery being expensive and hard to find, my cover artist and good friend Cinsearae Santiago are running a contest. If you are a photographer or a model and would like you have yourself or model featured on the cover, click on the in-progress cover to be taken to the HTIOI website, where you can find all the rules.

Thanks for checking out the blog, and hope you're having a good day.

~ Kody Boye

Dark Fiction Author

Dr connected with KT's all star number one a plus student kody on a long td pass during recess
breaux

i wasn't feeling the same type of sunshiney anticipation.

it's not that i don't think the nephew is cute and all, he is. he really is, but i knew that there would be lots of drama in my household between the nephew and dutch. lots. for starters, dutch is so bossy and since kody is so much smaller than him, he makes good material for dutch. and my son is relentless. whenever those two are in a room together it never fails, dutch is fussing and fussing at him and poor kody is just trying to get in where he can fit in. dutch yells for him to go to time out and poor kody just keeps coming back for more. and dutch has been known to swing on kody a time or two too. i know, i know, but what can i say? dutch is working out some kind of toddler aggression on poor kody. with all this in mind, i braced myself for a wild weekend and expected the worse.

friday my husband reminded dutch that kody would be over that evening and dutch was way excited about kody's impending visit. all he talked about on the way to daycare was kody, kody, kody... i started to feel like i was the sour puss of the bunch and raining on the "we're having kody over for the weekend" parade, but by this point dutch was already hacking like an 84-year-old guy because of his cold and i just knew the mix of kody, dutch's cold and having my stepson over for the weekend would make for a very interesting mix. for one, we're not working with much space here, but that's another story.

see, kody's only a few months old. don't ask how many months old 'cause i'm not sure, but he's definitely not a year yet. and anyway, you know how the youngin's get. they have all kinds of energy, they just go and go and go, and they rarely wanna stick to any kind of real schedule. and just like i thought that daggone kody drove me nuts as soon as he got to our place. he was just so freakin' needy!! i mean, really, who knew he could be soooooo needy?! and every time i turned around he was right under my feet. i didn't step on him (thank goodness!), but geez louise, he almost caused me trip over him more than once. and not only that, dutch would not leave him alone. he was in kody's face the whole time (just like i knew he'd be), filling kody's space with germy essences, and then to make matters worse kody would not go to sleep. at all.

i got up several times during the night to get medicine and juice for dutch and could not help but notice that kody was like some kind of energizer bunny on crack. it was like, c'mon!! give me a break!! go to sleep!! around 3 a.m. he was still hyper and acting like it was noon! it was then that edellizille said, "if i would've known it would be like this, i would've left his little butt at home and just came by to check on him."

my thoughts exactly.

the next morning kody was still up, wanting to play. i thought, are you kidding me?? i don't think he slept a wink at all and i just knew he had to be dead tired by now, but he sure wasn't acting like it. my mother told me to just leave him alone in a quiet room and maybe then he'd just drift off to sleep. she said, "you've gotta make sure he gets some sleep because if not he'll have a heart attack just from being so hyper."

amazingly by sunday we had all fallen into a routine with kody. he was finally getting proper rest and dutch wasn't fussing at him as much. what can i say? the kid was growing on me. i even had the wonderful idea of getting some pictures of him before my husband left to take him home. we tried several times to get him to sit in dutch's small leather chair for a picture, but kody just wasn't having that. then just when we had stopped paying attention, i noticed that he had gone over to the chair and got up in the seat all by himself.

ain't he just the cutest little thing ever??

you just gotta love him!

i can't wait till it's my sis-in-law's turn to babysit 'cause you know what they say...pay back's a mutha!! haha!