I take a deep breath in as I hold steady my Spring Field Armory AR-10. I quickly line up my sights with a decent sized hog and slowly let out the breath I was holding as I let my scope gently fall a little above the hogs head and pull the trigger, the suppressor at the of the barrel dampening the sound of the shot.
The bullet misses the pig a few inches above its head and hits its ear. It jumps in fright and scurries away, squealing in pain.
"Fuck me," I said in a hushed fustrated tone as I face plant into the grass where I was currently laying on. I let a muffled scream into the floor, letting all the anger out I had built up from that being the fourth pig I've missed a shot on. The shots only being hundred to hundred fifty yards away, simple shots to hit but today was not my day.
I hear the crunch of grass being stepped on, already knowing who it is. I let out a sigh as the person behind cackled at my misfortune. "What's the matter Cali boy? You done missed your fifth hog?" A man behind me says with a thick Texan accent.
I flip over and sit up straight, shooting a glare at the old man. "It was my fourth, Mr. Howard, and it's not my day it looks like."
The old Texan man scoffs, "Me and your Ma told you to stop calling us by our names," he said in an irritable manner. He walks up beside me and takes a hold my rifle. He looks it over and shoulders the rifle, looking down the sights. He lets out a shot and a squeal of pig rings out in pain a few yards out. He takes another shot and the sound of the pig ends. I look out with a deadpanned face at how easily the old man can make it look so easy.
The old man smacks me behind the head playfully as he hands me back my rifle. "Fucking dumbass, you didn't sight in your scope. How many times have I told you to do that?"
I let out a groan as the Texan man laughs. "Dear god boy, didn't yer daddy teach you how to—…" he stops himself before he could finish that sentence. He clears his throat and stutters with his words trying to apologize.
I let out a small chuckle as I wave at the old man. "It's cool, pops. I know you don't mean nothing by that. Don't stress about it."
He gives a small smile as he holds out at hand to me. I take it and he pulls me up to my feet. He puts a hand on my shoulder and pats me. "Yer momma and daddy would have been proud of you Johnathan. I know the past seven years haven't been the greatest with me and Wendy and—…"
"Pa," I call out to him, his eyes widening a little as a smile forms on face. "I don't know how many times you're gonna keep brining that up, but I already told you and Ma that I love ever minute and second with you guys." I said whole heartily. This got the old man to smile brightly, but noticed me smirking at him.
"The hell you smirking at me for, boy," he narrows his eyes at me.
"I think my emotional side of me is rubbing off on you pops. You seem to be smiling a lot when I say things like this." I chuckle as the old man sputters out nonsense.
"Pffft, like hell I am smiling," he says as he pulls down his Stetson hat down a little to hide is face. He then kicks me as I started to laugh.
"C'mon, let's get ready for supper. You know how Ma don't like us being late for that."
This got me and him to shiver a bit, chills running up our skin from the memory of last time we were late.
"Agreed." I said, quickly getting up and catching up to old man that got a head start on me back to the house.
———————————————————
I lean back in my chair, letting a sigh of content from the good eating I had. "Wow, you never seem to fail at making a good dinner, Ma. Muchas gracias para la cena." (Thank you very for the dinner." I thanked the elderly woman named Wendy. I hear a groan come Pa, getting a snicker from me in response to it.
"You know, I some times forget your parents were Mexican, kid. It threw me off even seeing your parents! I thought they were white just from the way they looked!" He exclaims.
Ma slaps the old mans arm as she glares at him. "Christ all mighty, Howard! You do know they just don't all come tanned or dark skinned."
"Yes I know that honey, but," he points at me "since when did they make them with gingered hair!"
I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. I always liked when people like Pa got thrown off about my appreance. Especially when they find out I'm Hispanic and that I speak Spanish, but was born in the United States. Ever since I was adopted by Howard and Wendy after the passing of my parents, the seven years of my life was a little difficult to adjust to.
My parents were originally from Michoacana Mexico, a beautiful place from the stories I've heard from my parents when I was younger. My father joined the military in the United States after he and my mother found out that my mother was pregnant with me. He wanted my mother and I to live a comfortable life in the state of Califnoria instead of worrying and looking for work back in Mexico. At the time it wasn't looking so good, so they had to make some rash decisions.
My father got us over after meeting all the requirements to join the military. From what I rememebr as a kid and the stories Howard has told me, my father and Howard were close. They met in the military and my adoptive father was my biological fathers Captain in the Marine Corps. It took some time for Howard to respect my father cause of where he came from. Howard being from Texas and being a little prejudice towards my father, my father didn't let it get to him and kept on working through it. Eventually, they got along and became good friends, but here and there the both of them would send insults to one another and laugh about it.
I have vague memories of when I first met Howard and Wendy. From when I was five and now, I remember everything clearly. At the age of thirdteen I lost my parents. We were on our way to visit Howard and Wendy here in Texas for Christmas by car when a drunk driver struck our vehicle from the front. The driver was driving so fast that when they collided the drunk driver and my parents died on impact, instantly killing them. I miraculously survived the crash, but I was heavily injured.
I knew my parents didn't make it because I was still conscious after the crash. I called out to them to what felt like hours and they would never respond. I wasn't a dumb kid, I knew what was going on, but sure as hell pained me knowing my parents were killed.
From then on, my adoptive parents were there for me. It took me a year or two to come to terms about losing my parents. More from Wendy since she was there more for emotional support for me, but Howard was there too he just sucked at it and didn't know how to show it properly. Either way, I still love them both for being there for me.
My laughing simmer down a little as I wiped a tear from eye. "Still throws you off, uh Pop?" He can only grumbles under his breath as Wendy shakes her head.
"I'm not going lie dear, but it sure threw me for a spin too seeing your parents." She giggled into her hand. "I wasn't surprised when you were born. I had feeling you'd have your mothers hair color. Just not as bright as her's." She looked into my eyes as smile spread across her face. "And your eyes just like your father's. A mix of green and brown, such a unique color."
Me and Pa look at each other and roll our eyes playfully. "Better not let Taylor and Tyler hear you droning about Cali boy here. You remember what happened last time they caught wind of that?"
I smirked a little as I rubbed my nose. "Hm hm hm, not my fault I was born special." I heard Howard snort a little as he brought down his hat a little.
"Yeah you special alright—ow!" Wendy pinched his arm and glared at him. "I was only kidding, geez."
I shook my head and chuckled at their antics. "Well I think it's time for me to— eh, what the hell?" I look around as a low hum starts to reverberate around the kitchen. Me and my Howards both jump to our feet as we simultaneously pull out our handguns.
"Wendy, go the room, get the shotgun, and lock yourself in. Make sure you call the law and get them over here." Howard says in firm tone. Wendy does as instructed and rushes to the room.
The odd humming starts to get louder, my staring to be a little hot for some reason. I look over to my adoptive father as looks out a window to see anyone was outside.
"Pops, what the hell is going on?" I ask, a little fear starting to creep up on me.
"M'not sure buddy, but we better hope the law comes before any— god all mighty! Jonathan, you're glowing!" He yells in surprise.
"I'm what?" I ask, and look down at my body. To my surprise as well, he wasn't joking. Panic started to fill my body as the heat started to get worse and glow on me brightened, almost blinding.
"Oh my god! Pop, what's going on with me?" Howard pulls me towards him as looks me over with paniced eyes. I can tell just from looking in his eyes he was just as afraid as I was.
The heat soon started to get unbearable. I stublmed back a bit as everything started to fade slowly. I was losing consciousness. Howard quickly catches, but hisses in pain.
"Jesus Christ, you're burning. Jonathan, buddy! Hey!" He gently lays me down, slapping my face a little to wake me up. I can see tears start to swell at the corner of the old man's eyes. He turns his head away and starts screaming out to Wendy. "Wendy! Wendyyyyyy! CALL EMS, NOW!"
I brought up a hand to him and gripped his shirt. His head spins back to me, tears streaming down his eyes. "It's ok buddy, help is on the way. You just gotta stay awake for me." In all the fear that I was seeing he was able give me smile of reassurance.
I sure as hell didn't feel reassured with what I was feeling. I gripped his shirt tighter as I started to pass out. "P-Pop, I'm— I'm scared…"
Instead of things going dark, everything brightened for a few minutes and then slowly started to fade into darkness. Before I can fully fade away a few voices I didn't recognize called out to me.
"Jonathan… Jonathan, everything is going to be okay." The gentle voice said before everything went blank.