The Great Adventures of Zion

By Kerstan Yates

This book is the first of any kind for the young master and was written with the hope that one day people around the world can put down their insulin needles and live a happy, healthy, diabetes-free life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665550239

Kerstan Yates

Kerstan Yates is the son of an Army chef and a no-nonsense schoolteacher. As the youngest of six siblings, he quickly learned the power of doing things right the first time. He has always been a do-it-yourself kind of guy and never felt comfortable in the monotony of a nine to five lifestyle. An avid sports fan, Kerstan spends as much time as he can on the golf course improving his game. His true passion is continuing the line of Tang Soo Do masters under his Kwan Jang Nim Wesley C. Jenkins. He loves bringing awareness to health and fitness through martial arts and lives the dojang motto of ‘learn by faith, not by sight’ every day. He believes greatness is a process that must be worked toward endlessly. Kerstan Yates also believes that in order to reach your destination, you must first leave your current location. His family has a long history of diabetes and he is determined to break that cycle. He became active, not only physically to keep himself healthy but, with a pen to educate the world about this disease and the ways to combat it. He personally has seen the havoc that diabetes can wreak on a family and wants to spare future generations that pain.

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© 2022 Kerstan Yates. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/24/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5018-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5023-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

I

would like to dedicate this book to my late father, John L.

Yates, who died from diabetes. Two of his favorite pastimes

were watching cartoons and reading comic books.

This one’s for you, Fat Daddy!

I have so many beautiful people I would like to thank for helping complete this project. First and foremost, I would like to thank the heavenly Father. With him, all things are possible. I want to thank my big sister Jackie Chesley for helping with some of the financial challenges of this project.

A big shout out to my crew, who helped me with my project’s concepts and ideas. Those people are as follows in no specific order; Anya Bode, Darryl Wilson, Monty Campbell, Fred Curry, Rachel Hill, Doug Morataya, and his daughter Reese Morataya. Reese is the childhood spokesperson for Epilepsy for Children’s Hospital. Without these people, this project would never have happened. I haven’t the words to express my gratitude for every one of you guys.

To all my family and friends at Tiger Do Jang, Grandmaster Wesley C. Jenkins, Master Janice Scroggins, thank you so much for allowing me to become a part of the Tiger family. You saw something in me that I could not. I stand to be a better man because of you all.

Four hundred sixty-three million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, a mind-numbing number. There are three main types: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. There is no known cure yet, but the proper diet and exercise can keep the condition in check.

Diabetes affects the way your body turns food into energy. Your body turns the food you eat into sugar or what is called glucose then it releases it into your bloodstream. The pancreas plays an essential part in being the distributor for insulin. As blood sugar levels rise, the pancreas releases insulin which lets the blood sugar into your body for your cells to use for energy.

When you have diabetes, your body has a problem with insulin. When insulin can’t deliver sugar to the cells, the sugar stays in your bloodstream. In worse-case scenarios, a cell will stop responding to insulin altogether. This can cause many problems with your body, such as kidney disease, vision loss, and heart disease. It can even cause loss of limbs and even death in extreme cases. Currently, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. It’s the number one cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputation, and blindness in adults. The moral of this is that health and fitness go a long way in keeping Diabetes in check. Let a healthy diet and exercise be your sword and shield in the fight. Your life depends on it.

Contents

Introduction

Sibling Rivalry

Hot Pursuit

Conscientious

Passing Still

Reunion

Woodshed

Hypothesis

Tragedy

Twenty/Twenty

Flagrant Foul

Grand Larceny

Ketoacidosis

Round One

Stick and Move

Great Escape

Foul Play

Stolen Property

Regroup

Halftime Adjustments

Sudden Change

Crescendo

Introduction

Screams bellowed out from the cabin as flight 301 began to lose altitude over the nation’s capital.

"Mayday, May Day, this is flight 301 heading to Reagan. We have lost engine one, and we are losing altitude. I repeat, we have lost engine one and are losing altitude." The pilot struggled with all his strength to keep the plane’s nose from diving towards the Potomac River, but some sort of debris falling from space hit the plane’s engine and knocked it out of commission.

The flight attendant scrambled to restore order in the cabin as passengers panicked. The co-pilot tried to calm the situation from the cockpit. He wiped the sweat from his brow and adjusted the mic in front of his mouth, then took a deep breath to clear the panic from his voice. Through the intercom, he said, Everyone. Please remain calm and take your seats. We are experiencing some slight engine trouble and are preparing for an emergency landing. All passengers are to take your seats and brace for impact.

By this time, chaos had overtaken the plane- all except one child who sat in the window seat. The young girl had a sense of calm about her that was very disturbing because by this time, the engine just outside her window had burst into flames and her mother was next to her, frozen with fear. Calm down, mommy. We will be okay. The young girl said while reaching over and grabbing her mother’s hand.

Breathing heavily, her mother responded. What? Oh, my god! What, honey? You need to put on your seatbelt and strap this bag over your mouth!

But mommy, I said we are gonna be fine.

Sweetie, this is serious. You need to listen to me and do what mommy says!

The daughter, patting the mother’s hand with a calm, reassuring presence about her, looked her mother in the eyes and let the mother know why there was no cause for alarm by pointing to the window.

Her daughter had been given the thumbs-up signal from outside the window by the hero and protector of Dodge City--Zion, the teenage superhero. Quickly and clumsily, he sprang into action. Zion was new at the superhero business, and although he’d had powers bestowed to him by his mega- minded little sister, he was still learning how to use said powers, so trying to stop a plane from barreling out of control and heading to inevitable catastrophe was a somewhat of a learning -on-the-fly thing!

"Just relax, Zion, remain calm, and picture the wing of the plane in your mind." Zion’s sister, Alexandria, said to him from a top-secret lab under their home in a quiet suburb just outside the city.

Zion breathed in heavily and closed his eyes, then exhaled slowly, focusing his mind on the wing of the plane. In an instant, millions of the subatomic robots that made up his suit began to shine and detach from the suit to form a wing that connected to the plane, functioning engine and all. With that, the pilot pulled back on the plane’s wheel and was finally able to level out the aircraft. Soon after, the order was restored among the plane’s passengers.

I told you! the little girl whispered sheepishly to her mother.

"This is flight three zero one and ahh… we seem to have regained control of the aircraft. I don’t know how, but all is well, and we request permission to approach."

The plane landed safely at Reagan National Airport. Once safely and securely on the ground, fire engines and airport security sped towards it with lights and sirens blazing. When they arrived, to everyone’s shock and utter amazement, they realized there was once again no wing on the plane. The particles that had come from Zion’s suit had returned to it as if they had never left.

Zion, suspended in midair among the clouds high above the airport, awaited further instructions from his sister.

The plane has landed safely, bighead, and all your vital readings are level. Bring it on in and oh, by the way, stop and pick up the pizza and wings I ordered, and don’t forget the ranch dressing.

Sibling Rivalry

Who is Zion, and where did he come from? How did he get these superpowers, you ask? If you leave it up to him, he is not super at all. As you get to know him, you will realize he is not. You will find out he is just like you or me or any other person, with the same problems any teenage boy would have. Some big, some small, but one above all else is why he has become the super guardian of justice in Dodge City. How do you ask? Let’s go back a bit, a few months, to bring you up to speed.

It all started one day when Zion, a senior in high school, played in his school’s basketball game. His little sister, three years younger but still a senior at the same school, was sitting in the bleachers with her face buried in her laptop. Alexandria was a super genius, maybe the most intelligent person on the planet. She was busy working on a top-secret project, as usual, while the squeak of the sneakers sounded off in the gym.

"Twenty-four, twenty-four, double down, double down!" Zion called out from the three-point line. He began to dribble the ball, and with a flash, he made a pass and jolted off opposite where he had thrown the ball to screen for his teammate. There was a nasty impact at the collision point due to Zion’s teammate Carl running into him. Carl’s elbow caught Zion in the nose, knocking him to the floor.

The referee blew the whistle. "Jones, you’re bleeding all over the floor. Get up and see the nurse. That’s all for you today."

Zion picked himself up; his head was ringing, his nose bloody, a tingling sensation throughout his body, and his vision was slightly blurred. What was this sensation he was feeling? How did this happen? In his thoughts, the collision hadn’t been bad enough for the consequences and amount of pain he was dealing with. Zion Headed to the nurse’s office, where the nurse, Shannon Campbell, had trouble stopping his nosebleed at first, but she was eventually able to stop the bleeding by applying a little pressure to his nostrils.

Alexandria picked up her things to meet Zion at the nurse’s office. On the way out of the gym, she bumped into a lovely young man who gave her a strange vibe. Her backpack fell to the ground, spilling all the contents except the laptop, which the stranger managed to catch mid-air.

"Goodness! How clumsy of me! Let me help you with that." Under the guise of gathering Alex’s belongings, the stranger switched Alex’s canister with a vial of a similar-looking substance. "Are you all right?" the stranger asked as he stood. "That is an adorable key!"

What? Oh! I’m sorry! A startled Alex responded as she reached to embrace the key around her neck. "It was a gift my parents gave me. They say it is from outer space."

Out of space, indeed. The stranger replied. "And do they know where from outer space and what the peculiar symbols are on the key? Do they know what they mean by chance?"

Just then, Alex’s attention was diverted toward the nurse’s office as Zion emerged from the door, not far from the gym.

Seeing his sister in the distance, Zion called out to her. The two acknowledge each other for a brief second.

"My parents say they found it on the moon and… I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?" When Alex turned her attention back to the stranger, she realized he was gone, almost like he had never been there.

"Who are you talking to?" She heard her brother ask as he walked up behind her.

"I’m not quite sure. Did you see which way he went?"

Nope! Wasn’t paying attention, too hungry.

Oh! Well, are you sure you can see straight? I mean, after that pancake pick you just got hit with, are you sure you can see straight? Alex’s words brought a giggle to her brother’s face.

Zion fiddled with the cylinder-shaped tissue that was stuffed in his nostrils. The effects of the hit he suffered still pained him, but he didn’t let that stop him from getting a rib shot back at his kid sister.

"Really funny, bighead!"

Zion grinned behind the wad of tissue. Let’s go. I’m starving…I could eat a horse.

Alex enjoyed the joking, but she had concerns about her brother’s health deep down inside. The information that she inputted into her computer regularly was not for a school project. It was a project with which she had been involved for some time, and her brother was the primary test subject. Over the recent months, she had taken numerous data points on him and had noticed several changes, some of which included increased appetite, unquenchable thirst, vision problems, and his inability to heal properly. For as long as she could remember, she had always been the super-genius kid sister to her big brother, and she felt the rapid changes to her brother’s body mass, and his mood swings were more than just a teenage boy going through puberty. She loved her big brother with all her heart and had taken it upon herself to diagnose what ailments he was suffering from and fix them, whether he liked it or not.

"Zion, Alex." a voice called out to the two siblings through the melee of students and teachers in the hallway. They turned to see a familiar face of Nurse Campbell. Guys, wait a second. Principal Short just gave me notice that your parents have been called away on an emergency with the international space station. As the two of you know, I am responsible for you guys when they are away. You will probably get a message from them when you turn your phones on now that school is ending.

Dammit! Zion blurted out. "Again, with the emergencies! Mom and dad are always leaving us to fend for ourselves!"

You watch your mouth, young man! Campbell scolded Zion.

"Your parents are two of the world’s smartest scientists. Their work with nanotechnology and organic artificial intelligence in robotics is cutting edge. They are also responsible for giving your sister that big brain of hers. So, cut them a little slack, huh? According to the message, they will return in a few days. Until then, you’ve got me."

A disgruntled Zion crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed grunt.

"Please excuse my brother’s rudeness at this time. He needs to eat, and as you are aware, that devastating Alex Ovechkin-type cross-check on the court shortly before has left him more dazed and confused than he normally is!" Alex chuckled.

OH! The jokes you tell, the jokes you tell, sis.

Campbell interjected. Now, kids, I understand it’s rough with the work that your parents do. So, let’s just try and get through it without any casualties and come out of it better people in the end. Okay? I’ll tell you what; I know the two of you are probably famished. Why don’t I take you to get something to eat? Who’s up for pizza?

Zion’s demeanor quickly changed from anger to excitement. Now you are speaking my language!

Great, well, let me gather my things, and we can be off.

With this new, sudden change, it almost slipped Alex’s mind, the questions about the stranger. Who was he, where had he come from, and perhaps most elusive of all, wherein the heck had he gone? Questions that needed answers, but answers would have to wait, for she, her brother,