Nightmare Warriors

Mighty Max #1

10-year-old Max Madison sat in his treehouse, trying not to cry as his father climbed the rope ladder to talk to his son. The boy had shaggy blonde hair that was in desperate need of a trim as he kept having to push it out of his eyes.

"Max?" Michael Madison asked as he came up and sat down next to the boy. "Please don't be upset, Max. We go through this every time."

"I don't want you to leave!" Max said as he hugged his father. "You said the last time would be it, that you'd never have to go again!"

"I don't want to leave, son, but as an archaeologist I have to go help unearth the ancient ruins they found in Europe," the man said as he rested his head against his son's hair. "I'll only be gone for three months. In the meantime you get to stay with Grady's family until I come home. You love staying with Grady, he's like a brother to you."

"What if something happens, like a mummy gets you?" Max asked.

"Oh, Max, we've been over this a million times. Monsters aren't real," Micheal said as he pulled an old worn and faded red baseball cap out, placing it backwards on top of his son's head. The strap needed to be adjusted as the hat was far too large for the boy's head. "My father gave me this hat, and his father gave it to him. It's been in our family since your great-great-grandfather went to his first baseball game back in 1931. I believe it's time that I passed this on to you."

"Aw, Dad, I don't even like baseball." Max told him.

"I know, son, neither do I, but that hat is a family heirloom," Micheal told him. "And it might just bring you luck. The men in our family believed that this hat has a special power that differs from generation to generation. Your great-great-grandfather thought it was lucky, your great-grandpa thought it made him psychic, and my Dad thought it was the reason behind his building a fortune."

"And what about you, Dad?"

"It brought me the greatest gift of all," Micheal told him. "You. Now you have to find out what special gift this hat is going to bring to you."

"Maybe my gift will be you coming back early," Max told him. "So that we never have to be apart again."

Micheal just kissed Max's forehead as he stood up. "You never know, son. That hat might just surprise you. Now come on, I'll drop off at Grady's house before I head to the airport. And in three months, if all goes well, I'll never have to leave you again."

*

Seven Years Later

The shelf of Max's basement bedroom had several trophies and medals on display, all for swimming. Max had grown to have a swimmer's body that he carefully took care of despite having quit the sport three years earlier, although his hair was still in desperate need of a trim. On his head sat the old faded red ballcap his father had given him. Unless Max was bathing or sleeping, the hat never left his head. As Max did shirtless pull-ups in the doorway to his personal bathroom, a young man with shortcut black hair and high school football player's physique knocked on the door.

"Shouldn't you be in bed? We're leaving at 5 in the morning," Max's adoptive brother Grady told him. "I want to make it to the cabin early so we can enjoy the first day. We'll start out early, pick up the others and make it to the cabin by 10. Just think of it, bro. No school, no parents, no teachers, just parties, swimming and beautiful wom-- Oh, right, sorry. I'm sure we can find you a--."

Max dropped to the floor and grabbed a white t -shirt to put on after briefly removing the old red ballcap. "I don't know if I should go. I feel like a fifth wheel."

"Hey, I'm not going on Spring Break without my brother," Grady told him. "You and me are a team, okay? This is our first Spring Break away from home and we're going to have fun, alright? Get ready, 'cause we leave first thing in the morning."