WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
by ardavenport
- - - Part 1
Ooooooeeeeeeeeee-Blaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!
Roy sprinted out of the living room for the squad. He kicked a bright red plastic bucket on the way. The kids were supposed to put their toys away. The other guys at the station ran in as well, but it was Chris's turn to drive the engine, so Mike Stoker had to sit in the back.
The bay door opened.
It was sunny outside, but the street was flooded.
"Oh, man." His partner, Johnny Gage, squinted out at the running water and then glared at him. "We're not going to get through this."
"Well, I didn't do it!"
Johnny kept scowling at him.
"I didn't do it!" But privately Roy wondered if he left the shower running when he cleaned the latrines that morning. Would anyone notice if he snuck out to turn it off?
The engine wasn't going anywhere either. Even with Captain Stanley and Mike Stokers' help, Chris's legs were still too short to reach the pedals of the engine. Lopez and Kelly complained loudly about the delay.
"I don't think it's going to work out." Lopez shook his head, disapproving.
"Cap, that little kid can't do it. Besides, it's my turn to drive the engine. Come on."
"Hey, Kelly, don't talk to my son that way!" Roy ducked his head down to see up into the engine cab.
Johnny joined him. "Yeah, don't talk him like that! He can't help it if he's little!"
Roy looked outside again. He thought maybe the flood was going down.
It was sunny outside - - -
- - - Roy stared out the window, his head resting on the white pillow. The sky was blue and cloudless, tinged with brown LA smog over the expanse of the Rampart General Hospital parking lot outside.
It was morning.
Roy lifted his head and turned over on his back.
That was weird.
Roy DeSoto was not inclined toward dreaming one way or another, but that one had been weird. And technicolor vivid. And the other ones that had woken him up in the night had been even weirder. A basement full of play-dough, trees with lawn tools instead of branches, his wife in a grass skirt and nothing else, his mother-in-law in a bikini . . . . he shuddered. Was this a side effect? Neither Dr. Brackett nor Dr. Early had said anything about having weird dreams.
He turned his head toward the other bed in the hospital room. Johnny lay on his side, eyes closed, tousled black hair sunk into the white pillow, the sheet and blue blanket tucked up around his face. Roy did not want to wake him.
He pushed the sheet and blanket back. The linoleum floor was cold on his bare feet. He did not quite feel well, but well enough to go to the bathroom on his own. He absolutely did not want any help with that. Not this time.
He clutched the open back of the hospital gown behind him. There was no one else there, but a breeze coming in on his back side just wasn't natural. He was halfway to the room's small bathroom before he realized that he could see clearly again.
He looked around the room, at Johnny, out the window. Everything was clear and normal. Roy sighed with huge relief. Yes, Early had said that the blurriness would go away on its own. But that just wasn't the same as seeing it for real.
Going into the tiny bathroom, he closed the door and did his business and flushed. Then he washed his hands and splashed cold water on his face, into his dry mouth. Other than needing a shave, he didn't think he looked too bad. He looked carefully at his eyes. His pupils looked normal.
Exiting the bathroom, he couldn't hear too much going out in the hall beyond the door. How early was it?
He went back to the bed and looked in the drawer of the night stand next to it. His badge, belt, name tag, pin, watch, scissors, pen light. There wasn't much left. The rest of his and Johnnys' clothes had been burned. He had other uniforms, but Roy had really liked those shoes. Now he would have to go out and get another pair and break them in.
He picked out the watch and put it on the stand next to the mostly empty glass with the straw in it. It was six thirty-five. Climbing back into bed, he pulled up the covers. The floor was cold.
The blankets rustled in the other bed, but when he looked it didn't look like his partner had moved much.
"Johnny? Are you awake?"
"No." His eyes stayed closed.
"Hey, I can see clearly now. How about you?"
"Haven't looked." Johnny hugged the pillow tighter. Roy got out of bed, grasping the edges of the gown behind him.
"Johnny." He bent over his partner and pulled the covers back. Johnny squinted and scowled up at him. "Well?"
Johnny's eyes looked to the right, the left, up at him, out the window.
"Yeah. Looks okay." He sounded like he was tasting a flavor he wasn't sure he liked. "Now, give me the covers." He grabbed them back and turned over on his side, away from him.
"Well, all right." He got back into bed and pulled his own covers up. Then he looked for the control to raise the head of the bed. He was wide awake now. "I had some really weird dreams last night."
Johnny stirred and peered over his shoulder. "You, too?"
"Yeah. I thought my son was driving the engine and a lot of stuff weirder than that. But it felt so real. Really intense. Really weird."
Turning over on his back, Johnny put his hands behind his head. "Yeah, mine were really weird, too."
"What did you dream about?"
"Girls."
Girls. Johnny. Weird, intense dreams.
"I don't want to hear about it."
Johnny seemed to think this over. "I don't want to talk about it. But man. . . . it was weird." He closed his eyes again.
Roy looked out the window. The parking lot wasn't too full. "They're gonna bring breakfast around pretty soon."
"What time is it?"
"After six-thirty."
"They don't start bringing breakfast around until seven." Johnny sighed and pulled the covers up again.
"Oh." Roy looked out the window.
The door opened. Doctors Brackett and Early came in wearing white coats, stethoscopes around their necks. Early greeted them.
"Hi Roy, Johnny. How're you feeling?"
Roy answered first. "A lot better than yesterday." Early came to his bedside and took out a pen light while Johnny felt around for the control for the bed. Brackett got to it first, raising the upper half.
"Has your vision cleared up?" Roy blinked from the light that Early shined in his eyes.
"Yep. Looks great now." He grinned in relief. "But I don't mind saying I was pretty worried there for awhile."
At the other bed, Johnny grimaced as Brackett took his chin to tilt his head back and shine his light at him. "How about you? Everything look all right?"
"Yeah, everything looks fine now, Doc."
The door to the room opened. Two men in gray suits and plain ties came in.
"Just what are you doing here, Corrigan?"
Johnny jumped and flinched back even though Brackett's anger and near-shouting were not directed at him. The doctor advanced on the two unwelcome visitors.
"I told you last night that you can see my patients when I say they're ready."
Corrigan, a tall broad-shouldered man with slightly graying brown hair, seemed immune to Brackett's authority and outrage.
"These men look well enough to me. And your hospital administrator agrees that you've stalled our investigation long enough."
Early moved to stand with Brackett, who had enough outrage to fill the room.
"Investigation? What investigation? I haven't seen you doing anything to find out what happened. Seems to me that what you're doing is making sure that no one ever finds out what happened."
Behind Brackett, Johnny looked at Roy. Roy looked at Johnny and shrugged. They had never seen these two new characters before.
The other man, square-jawed with sandy blond hair swept back off his forehead was as unimpressed with Brackett as Corrigan. "Doctor, nothing is to be gained by starting a panic."
"And what about the panic that would be caused if something like this happens again?" Early gestured toward the two beds and patients. "It's just pure luck that these men normally carry the antidote with them. If an innocent person had walked in there they would have been dead in minutes."
Corrigan's expression darkened. "The problem, Doctors, has been contained."
"Really? How has it been contained? And how many lives are you willing to bet on that, Corrigan?" Brackett advanced on the first man in the gray suit, but he did not flinch.
"We've already explained that we're not at liberty to discuss the details, Doctor Brackett."
"Then why do you need to talk to us? Sounds like you've already decided what the details are."
Roy and everyone else looked toward his partner who sat up, arms folded before him, his expression obstinate. The other man replied.
"We're not clear on all the details, Mr. Gage. We'd certainly appreciate your help in sorting out what really happened."
Johnny pressed his lips together, but Brackett put himself between him and the man in the suit.
"We haven't finished our examination."
Corrigan remained calm.
"I'm sure you can finish that a little later." He took out a pen and a small pad of paper from an inside pocket of his jacket. "Agent Marsh and I only have few questions."
- - - End Part 1