He awoke in the hospital. He had no idea how he had gotten here, or how he had survived. But he was sure of one thing. No matter how he had survived, it was a miracle. He couldn’t recall any of his surgery, the stitching up, the skin grafting they had done, none of it. He remembered the impact and then staring at a white tiled floor. He also discovered he could barely move. A nurse arrived shortly after he awoke. When he asked what happened and where he was, she politely informed him he was at the hospital and readmitted after an exhaustive three-hour surgery repairing his back. She also informed him he would probably be in here for weeks recovering. She asked if there was anyone he wanted to call, she would dial the phone for him. He told her no. The truth was he didn’t have anyone to call. He lived alone and had no friends. He was a file clerk by trade and that didn’t involve a whole lot of socializing, being in a room filled with filing cabinets and a desk. His parents… well his parents had lost interest in him.
He had moved out when he was nineteen under not very nice terms. There was a heated argument; there was a smashed window and a broken clock given to his mom by her great grandmother before she died.
He had tried to reconcile a few years ago, but there had been too much time, too little effort, and the whole thing had been a waste of both of their times. He vowed the only way he would talk to them again was if they called him. He wasn’t about to make a wasted effort again, not even now when he almost died. He figured if they cared, they would find out on their own. Which was silly because there was nobody they knew who knew him, or would know of something happening to him. The coppers told him they would inform his work he had been injured and that he was in no condition to work or to contact them. That took the responsibility off his mind. They probably wouldn’t even know he hadn’t come into work, until the work backed up too much. Nope. There was no one and there was nothing he could do, just lie here and look at the tiles on the floor. Christ, what a fucked-up life.
Taylor dozed a bit and awoke several times to intense pain, forcing him to push the little button for more drugs before he could fall back asleep. It was during one of these times he was attempting to doze off when he heard the long beeping noise. It was a moment before he realized it was his heart monitor flat lining. He panicked. He tried to reach the button to call the nurse but his arms would not respond. He watched the cord with the button attached swing mere inches from his fingers. Nothing he could do would make his hand reach out and grab it. What was worse, his vision narrowed to two tiny tunnels. He could no longer see the tiles on the floor; both his eyes focused with a single purpose on that button, not allowing him to see anything else. He was dying. He knew it. He barely noticed the door to his room slamming open. He heard people talking, but was unable to figure out what they were saying. He knew there was urgency to what they were saying by the loudness and rapidity of it, but it was as if they were in another room and he could only hear them through the door. He felt their hands grip him on either side. They flipped him on his back. The moment his back touched the bed, his mouth opened in a silent shriek. The pain seared as his shredded back landed on the bed. Then darkness.
Time passed. He was aware of it, yet could do nothing for it. Slowly sounds came to him, the steady beep…beep…. beep of his heart monitor, the quiet drip of his meds, the quiet inhalation and exhalation of his autonomic breathing reflex, sounds drifted from outside in the hallway, voices indistinct and mutable. Hesitantly, Taylor opened his eyes. Again, the same white tiles. This definitely wasn’t heaven. Somehow, he had survived, yet again. It was becoming a bad habit. He tried to turn his head so he could see around the room, and miraculously he could lift his head. It didn’t hurt. He must be really drugged up, yet he didn’t feel like it. He seemed very cognizant. Taylor attempted a little bit more by bringing his hands forward under his chest and lifted. What should have caused immense amount of pain didn’t hurt at all. He lifted his body up and looked around. His room was a typical hospital room, white tile floor and white walls. Some poorly painted Impressionism separated the white. A lone desk with a couple of drawers held an orange vase and a couple of plastic flowers. A large TV perched on an adjustable arm up in the corner.
Taylor looked at the bank of machines helping maintain him during his stay here. They sat like a judgmental audience, beeping and clunking in noisy disapproval of the fact he was moving around. Strangely, he felt renewed, refreshed. He was just about to prop himself up and sit when the door opened. Immediately, he dropped down on the bed.
“Are we attempting to get up?” A soft female voice asked from above him. He turned his head to have a look and saw it was a middle-aged nurse.
“Well, can you blame me? This face down all the time is really boring.”
“Wow, you can move your head! That is quite a feat sir, considering you almost died a few hours ago.”
“I know. I was surprised myself.”
“It’s odd, both you and the other guy they brought in at the same time flat-lined within an hour of each other.” The nurse was looking over his sheet on the clipboard at the base of his bed.
Taylor almost sat up at that.
“What other guy? No one mentioned another guy. And we both flat-lined? Were his injuries as severe as mine? Is he okay?” Questions jumped into his head and out his mouth. He wondered if the guy saw what he saw.
The nurse smiled down at him.
“Now calm down. If you get your heart rate going again, I will get in trouble for exciting you.”
Taylor took a deep breath and slowly asked.
“Can you please give me some answers?”
The nurse, satisfied he had indeed calmed down, proceeded to tell him what he wanted to know.
“Another gentleman named Joseph was also brought in at the same time as you. I believe he was injured where you were as well. He flat-lined, but was revived, same as you. His injuries were not as severe, which was why it was odd. Well, actually, neither of your injuries warranted either of you to flat-line.” She frowned. “You both should have been recovering nicely, really.”
“Can I see him?” Taylor asked.
“I’m afraid not.”
“Why?”
“Cause he is no longer at the hospital.” The nurse turned to leave.
“What? Where did he go?”
“That is not any of your business. Good day.” With that she left. Something about the way she avoided answering him led Taylor to believe something was amiss. He just didn’t know what. Nor did he think he was in any position to find out. He decided to forget about it for now. There was nothing he could do anyways, in his current situation. Best just let things unfold as they would. He tried to fall asleep, but instead, just laid there, wondering if the other guy saw the monster, too.
Joseph awoke with a start. He was sitting in one of the waiting room chairs and had dozed off. He stood and went to the window. It was dark out, so he must have slept for a few hours. Chances are they already believed he fled the building. The third shift probably started as well, so the nurses would not recognize him. He didn’t have much to go on, but he was determined to locate the other man. He went to the elevator and took it up to his old floor. The other guy was probably on his old floor.
He made sure his coat was buttoned up before he stepped out of the elevator and walked to the hall he had been staying in and headed to the nurses’ station. He stood in front of the station for a moment, as the nurse, her head bent down over Sudoku, didn’t notice him right away. He waited, and then cleared his throat.
She jumped slightly.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, I’m Officer Dunbar. I don’t know if the earlier shift nurse told you, but I was sent down here to make sure the remaining guy from the motel incident didn’t get lost like the other one.” Joseph smirked at her. He found the best way to get what you wanted quickly was to piss the person off so they just wanted you to get out of their sight. In this case, implying the other nurse left without telling her very important inf
ormation, and blaming them for losing a patient. Both of these were sure to piss the nurse off, and he wasn’t disappointed.
“So why are you standing here?” she snapped back.
“The Captain forgot to inform me the room number the bloke was in.”
She looked at her chart momentarily and after locating the proper information looked back at him.
“Room 623, down that hall and on your right.” With that she went back to her Sudoku.
He thought to say something more, but didn’t want to press the issue; otherwise she might think to ask for his badge. He moved down the hall to room 623, paused before it, and then entered. The room was dark, yet his eyes adjusted quickly. The man was lying face down on a weird looking hospital bed. It took him a moment to piece together the purpose of the bed. It was for someone who couldn’t lie on their back. Joseph stood there in the dark and watched the guy lie there, face down.
“You’re the other guy, right?”
Joseph nearly jumped out of his skin when the other man spoke.
“The guy who survived the other night?”
Joseph took a moment to slow down his heart.
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Not sure, just did. I could sense you coming and then you entered the room.”
That freaked Joseph out a little bit. What the hell did he mean, “Sensed him”
The other man did something with his left hand and the lights came on. He sat and looked at Joseph. The first thing Joseph noticed was the man was a tall man, tall and skinny. Joseph tried to dismiss the immediate disdain he felt for anyone tall and thin and moved over to the bed.
“How are you feeling?” Joseph asked.
“Fine. In fact, never felt better. Which I would say is surprising for someone who had their back shredded and had his heart stop. But you wouldn’t find that surprising at all, would you?”
Joseph stared at him. This guy obviously knew more about him than he did about this guy. He was right, he wasn’t surprised to find the guy had been seriously hurt, and then almost died, but now was feeling perfectly fine.
“I’m Taylor,” the man on the bed said and extended his hand.
“Joseph.” They shook hands and then there was a moment of awkward silence as they both looked at each other, searching for something to say. Taylor was the first to break the silence.
“What do you think that thing was?” Taylor asked hesitantly. Talking about the creature made him uneasy.
“I have no idea. Whatever it was, it was very strong and very fast. What I want to know is” Joseph paused, as if not sure he wanted to ask this question, but he needed to know.
“What did it do to us? How did both of us, after being seriously hurt and almost dying end up unhurt? I don’t know about you, but I had a cut from just below my right ear all the way down my jaw. It required almost over 100 stitches. Now look at it.” Joseph ran his finger along his jaw-line where his wound should have been, where now only unblemished skin was.
Taylor nodded.
“My back was shredded from the base of my neck to my lower back. They were surprised I made it, considering how much blood I had lost. Apparently, the cuts went through the muscle and even my ribs were scored by that thing.” He paused to let that sink in to Joseph. “I haven’t been able to check my back, but since I seem to be able to flex and twist my back, I conclude I am no longer cut. Seeing your face confirms it.”
Taylor sat back, resting his back against the bed as if to prove a point.
“You need to do what I did, buddy. You need to get the hell out of here,” Joseph told him.
“Why?”
“Think about it.” Joseph was amazed this guy hadn’t figured this out yet. “You have just been miraculously healed. Do you think they are going to let you go without running every test known to man on you? Maybe a few not known to man?”
Joseph watched as the realization dawned on Taylor.
“You’re right.” Taylor nodded his head in the realization. “I wasn’t thinking about that. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what the hell was going on.” He looked up at Joseph.
“Why the hell would they know? This isn’t something that happens every day. They aren’t going to give you any answers. No, they are just going to prod you in hopes of discovering an answer.” Joseph stared at Taylor. “So, we need to get you out of here.”
“Yeah. And how exactly are we going to do that?” Taylor asked.
“Not sure, yet. You got any clothes?” Joseph went to the closet and opened it.
“Got pants. They brought them back from laundry this morning. The shirt was ripped to shreds, so I don’t think I will be getting that back.” Taylor stood and joined Joseph at his closet.
Joseph handed Taylor his pants and he pulled them on.
“So, what’s the plan?” Taylor asked as Joseph paced the room.
“The third shift nurse, she seen you yet?”
“Nope.”
“Good. Okay, here’s the plan.” Joseph walked to the door and peered out. “Good, still doing Sudoku. All you need to do is get to the elevator. Now the nurse has got her nose buried in that Sudoku puzzle so she probably won’t even notice you walk by.”
“What if she does?”
Joseph raised his hands to stop any argument.
“If she does happen to see you, I will be following a little bit back. If she says something, I will yell at you. You start running and I will put up a chase. We can both get into the elevator and get the hell out of here.”
The plan went without a hitch. Taylor walked past without slowing and the nurse never so much as glanced up.
Joseph caught up with Taylor in the elevator and they went down to the first floor.
Surprisingly, no one stopped them as they left the hospital either. One of the nurses looked like he might, but Joseph raised a hand in an abbreviated wave and it somehow convinced the nurse they were supposed to be leaving. Outside, they hailed a cab.
"I think we can safely make a quick stop at our houses to get what we need, but after that, I think we need to find a place to lay low for a while. What’cha think?" Joseph asked as they got comfortable in the back seat of the cab. The cabbie was a black man with greasy black hair slicked back. Joseph tried to keep his disgust out of his features waiting for Taylor to answer.
"Probably a good idea, chances are as soon as the cops find out we are missing they are gonna check our residences. I don't live too far from that motel. What about you?"
"1220 Elm Street, okay?" Joseph snapped at the cabbie who kept glancing in his rearview mirror at them, waiting impatiently for one of them to give him a destination. The cabbie sneered at Joseph in the mirror and pulled out onto the street.
"We'll hit mine first,” Joseph said. “It’s closer and probably the place they would go first. You got any idea where to hold up at?"
"Not really. I don't get out that much. I work a lot and stick to myself mostly. What about you?"
"Nope."
"Well,” Taylor said. “I guess there is always a motel, though I don't know if I want to stay in one after the last time."
"Yeah, me neither, but I don't see where we have much of a choice."
Taylor just nodded and watched the buildings pass as the cab raced around the streets of London. He wondered if his life would ever be the same. He never thought he would ever be hiding from the law. Not that he had done anything wrong, but none the less, they would be looking for him, and he sure didn't want to be found.
They arrived at 1220 Elm Street and Joseph got out, telling Taylor he would be just a moment. Fifteen minutes later they were headed towards Taylor’s loft, Joseph holding a suitcase. It occurred to Joseph a lot can be said if you can gather up everything you care about in fifteen minutes and put it all in one suitcase.
Another twenty minutes passed and they arrived at Taylor’s loft. Taylor rushed in and quickly gathered a few clothes, money and some food. He stuffed them in duffel. He was back
down the stairs in no time and the cab pulled away when the flashing lights of a cop car barreled down the street and pulled in the apartment complex. Neither man had any doubt the cop was there for Taylor. Luckily, the cab turned the corner and that was that.
They checked in a nice hotel and paid in cash for the week. Taylor was going to pay with a credit card when Joseph stopped him.
"Are you crazy man?" Joseph whispered urgently to Taylor. "Haven't you ever watched any crime shows? They can trace your credit card use."
Taylor remembered seeing something like that before. They pooled their money together to get the room under a false name.
The room was nice, two twin beds, a fridge and a nice bathroom. They took some time to unpack their things and make the room more like home, since they had no idea how long they were going to have to stay, which was something they both wondered.
"How long do you think they will be looking for us?" Taylor asked.
"No clue. I would give it a week or two... maybe more. I just don't know. Maybe in that time we can find some answers. After all, nothing big, like that monster can hide. Even in London. We should hear something."
Taylor nodded. He had a feeling something would come up. Something neither one was expecting, or would like.
Weeks later, Taylor walked the streets of London and marveled how quickly the city had returned to almost normalcy. The signs of devastation, so prevalent after the earthquake, were gone. Admittedly, London had not suffered the worst, since the epicenter was to the south; still the damage was extensive. He was glad to see everyone still went on with their lives. He wondered when he would be able to go on with his.
The situation with Joseph was deteriorating. It didn't take long for each of them to get on the other's nerves. The only thing they shared was the horrible experience that night, and you can only discuss it so often. After a couple days, they both spent most of their time outside the hotel. The time spent together usually ended up in an argument. They did both agree to take turns watching the news at five and ten so they could listen for any news about the thing that had attacked them, or any news about the search they knew was being carried out for them. For weeks, nothing was mentioned, and the close quarters and the boredom began to take their toll on both men. Taylor was on his way back to the hotel to tell Joseph he had had enough. That he was going home and if they wanted to take him and run experiments on him, then so be it. It was better than being stuck in the hotel one more day. He had been walking most of the night, trying to get his head clear and make a decision.
THE AWAKENING [Part One] Page 13