by Kevin Rau
I came to, and realized something jolted me. The fire's gone; I only feel a dull ache over most of my body. That was probably the impact from the huge fall. I'm hungry too, famished actually. I'm in the back of a car.
I barely had time to look around when the doors on both sides opened up, and a couple of guys grabbed my arms. They dragged me out, but at this point I didn't like what was happening. Someone grabbed my neck in a sleeper hold. My hands were stuck behind my back for a moment, and I felt a momentary restraint as I pulled my arms apart, then my hands were free. As soon as my feet hit the ground I bunched my legs to push off and try to tumble this group of guys. Someone dressed in white dove at me right when I pushed, and I felt something sharp jab at my left bicep, but it didn't hurt.
Then I was airborne, along with the guy who had his arm around my neck. The other guys on my arms couldn't keep their grip and I slid out of their grasp. It felt like wrestling with oil slathered on me. Wait, that'd be blood. Oh, crud, I'm flying through the air with someone attached to me, he's going to get squished on impact.
The guy on my back screamed, and I think he tightened his elbow grip on my neck. It was hard to tell, because it didn't hurt or cut off air flow.
I twisted my body, hoping to get my body in the way of the ground. I caught a momentary glimpse of something in the air, and then my head impacted with a light pole. My only thought was to grab it and stop us, and I succeeded in hooking my right arm around the pole, causing us to twirl around it multiple times on the way down. I yelled, “Woohoo!” as we spun around. Odd, my head doesn't hurt from banging into the pole.
Dude's got a death grip sleeper hold on my neck. He didn't fly off while we spun around, although he screamed the entire time. There were cars at the bottom of the pole, and we spun around toward a SUV too fast. I extended my legs, hoping to reduce the shock as we hit. One leg smashed into the side of the SUV's door, the other went into the window, but the leg on the door slowed us down.
The window shattered loudly, the door side crumpled inward, and my gut slammed into the top of the vehicle frame, denting it slightly. Apart from the momentum, it felt like a weak punch, nothing severe. The weight of the guy on my back doubled the strength of the impact, and I felt the frame at the top bend in further.
The guy dropped off me, and I tried to extricate myself from the window. Glancing down I saw that the man, who was actually an officer, laid below me, and that stopped me from just flopping out to the ground. I grabbed the SUV's top and felt it dent in where I was gripped. No wonder I hurt Stephanie, I'm bending car parts, though most cars aren't heavy metal these days. Wait, the glass isn't cutting me. It's making a mess out of my jeans though. Hey, I have cuffs on me, or at least I did. When did I break those apart?
I dropped to the ground next to the officer. Oops, I hurt a cop; this isn’t going to be good. I went down on one knee to check on my flight partner. He was stunned, but didn't look obviously injured. Bet he pulled the shoulder of the arm he held me with though. “Don't move, I'll get you some help.” Wait, I'm running from these guys. Darn it.
I heard a bunch of footsteps as people ran over to the area, and as I stood up a group of police aimed their weapons at me. A hospital doctor, nurse or some such was with them.
Quick internal assessment.... I really didn't feel hurt, even the impact with the SUV had not hurt me. I glanced at my left bicep, and saw no fresh blood from being stabbed – but then again, it didn't really feel like being stabbed by a needle or knife. In fact, apart from that general soreness I had felt earlier, I hadn't felt injured since waking up.
I could have run, but that would have left Stephanie here somewhere. I could fight, and rescue her, but I knew for certain that she had a broken shoulder and arm just from me. I sighed. Heroes don't run. Not to mention, I want to get into the government's H.E.R.O. system, and fighting them now would probably prevent that. Mom always taught me to be the good guy, be a hero if I get a chance, there aren't enough of them.
I put my hands up at chest level, palms out in an attempt to look less threatening.
I said, “Sorry guys, I didn't mean to fly like that, and waking up to people manhandling me wasn't conducive to being calm.”
One of the officers in back talked on a cell phone. I got the sense that he was recanting the story of what just occurred to someone. He scowled, snapped the phone shut, and walked forward. “Put your guns down, guys. You, don't move. You aren't under arrest ... yet, but if you take any more actions you'll be charged with everything from resisting arrest, battery, assaulting an officer, and anything else we can pull out of the book. Do you understand that? Are you willing to comply?”
Another officer, who had his revolver aimed at me said, “What are you talking about? This guy almost killed Johnson.” Cell phone man stepped up and whispered something in the guy's ear. I caught the word “armored” when he gestured toward me, and the words “fight” and “brick.” The second officer lowered his weapon, but didn't put it away. He didn't look happy.
I doubted that I could hide the shock on my face. I said, “Yes, sir. I'll comply, though can we get some assistance for the officer here? He might have some internal injuries from the impact.” Never hurts to show concern for a downed officer, and I really was concerned about him.
Cell phone officer said, “My name's Thompson, what's yours?”
I replied, “Lance, Lance Casey.” Thompson was a small guy, perhaps 5'6” tall, and wiry. Glasses and a hawk nose completed the look. He doesn't look hostile at me right now though, that's good.
“Well Lance, come with me. You two and the nurse help Johnson. Tim, you're with me.” Tim turned out to be the last officer.
The nurse looked meaningfully at Thompson, and showed him something in her hand just out of my sight behind her leg. Thompson shook his head, and motioned me to follow him.
Keeping her on the right side, I walked around the far left side of the officers to follow Thompson. She held her right hand behind her leg and watched me as she headed over to Johnson. Yeah, she's got a needle or something in her hand, I'm sure of it.
We walked toward the building, Thompson, Officer Tim and I. Tim was uncomfortable, to say the least, and kept his hand on his pistol. The safety strap was off. As we walked I said, “Wait, I need to find out how Stephanie is doing, she was injured when we were at a house near the mall.”
Thompson said, “First, you aren't in a position to demand anything. Second, we've been out here dealing with you since you've arrived, so we don't know any more than you do. I know that a woman was brought in a second squad car, and that's it right now. This place is a madhouse tonight.”
Chapter 5 – Cars and Bugs
Lance's Viewpoint