The pounding of his feet was the only sound he could hear this morning beating in rhythm with his heart rate as he pushed his limits and continued to run. It was a cool morning, they didn't get many of those in LA county and he was grateful for it as he stopped to lean over and catch his breath, letting the sweat drip into a pool beneath his face onto the pavement.
Johnny always enjoyed his morning runs before shift. It got his adrenaline flowing and ready for a rescue… this morning he would be using that energy well before his shift, however.
He could hear the screams growing louder as he rounded the corner of the path that led back into the woods. His eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear, anger, and heroism as he saw before him two men attacking a woman who had been thrown to the path, he ran forward towards them yelling…
"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!..." Johnny was in a full run toward the men as they began to scatter and run off down the trail.
As Johnny approached the woman, who was waving her hands and screaming at him, he finally figured out what she was saying.
"I'm okay! I'm okay…. Help me up, please! He can't get away" the woman frantically tried to get herself up and start down the trail "He can't get away!"
"Who can't?" Johnny asked finally out of breath as he reached the womans side
"Please, I-I can't go after him… can you at least run up the trail there and see if you can tell which way they went?" the woman pleaded with him
"ugh….. yea….. sure" Johnny didn't know what else to say, and after all, how could he turn down a pretty face.
He turned and jolted up the trail where the men had run off to, he could see one of them in the distance and gave all of his effort to run faster and close the gap between them. His eyes were so focused on the trail ahead of him, he never saw the second man come up behind him.
He tackled Johnny to the ground with incredible force, planting Johnny's face into the sticks and leaves along the side of the trail, the man quickly flipped Johnny over and landed two perfect punches to his face. Johnny was so stunned by it all he barely gave any reaction or defense before passing out after the second blow to his face.
The man, satisfied Johnny would no longer be following him, got up and ran away.
E
Three black cars pulled over to a curb near the running trails in north LA county. Armed men quickly exited the vehicles and began to scour the trails.
Melissa Wellington had managed to limp gingerly down the trail to where she could see the motionless body of her "savior" laying off the side of the path. She lowered herself down beside him.
She whispered to herself through clenched teeth "please be okay…please be okay"
She gently touched Johnny's head and he stirred in response to her touch. The world was a blur as he tried to open his eyes and focus.
"I must be dreaming…" He slurred out and gave his Gage grin "You're beautiful…" he smiled again and closed his eyes in effort to lessen the spinning world around him.
Melissa smiled "It's not a dream. And you saved me… can you hear me?" she touched him again, unsure of whether or not he was still conscious
"y-yea … I'm here…. Just a little sleepy, and a little loopy" Johnny managed to flash his eyes open at her to give her a glimpse of reassurance. "we probably need to figure out how to get some help" He said reaching his hand up to rub his temples.
"no…. they'll be here any minute" Melissa heaved a heavy sigh
"Who…." Before Johnny could finish his sentence he saw a hoard of armed men running frantically towards them down the trail…
"MELISSA" the group was shouting to her as she put up a hand
The group stopped when they reached her and quickly cocked and aimed their weapons at Johnny.
"HEY! … now wait a minute!" Johnny instantly forgot about how much the sunlight hurt his head and pushed himself up to a sitting position in protest of the guns aimed at him "Just what's going on here?"
"Its okay guys…. he helped me … he didn't hurt me ….. we could both use a doctor I think though.." She looked up to one of the military looking men.
The men lowered their weapons and one of them pulled out a hand radio…
"Base this is lead 1… we've found her… she and another man here on scene will need some medical assistance…. Request transport for them with full security precautions and also full security measure in place for the nearest hospital"
"Lead 1, this is base… copy on that… we'll have ya'll outta there in a few minutes"
Johnny just laid back and rubbed his head. This was all just too confusing, and too early in the morning for all of this.
- To Be continued …