Chapter 1 "Everything has a beginning" (Part 2)

15 minutes later…

The motorcycle engine was shut off and the silence of the night resumed. Francis parked the bike at a spot just far enough from the electronics store for an easy escape, if he needed one. He stepped of the bike which gave off a little squeak and started making his way to the shop. The area looked deserted, no sign of any cops nearby. The street was dimly lit with only a few street lights along the road. Perfect. Francis had been to shop the day before to do a reckie on all the shop's exits and camera locations. He remembered there was an unlocked window on the roof.

Francis climbed up the dumpsters and onto the roof ledge. He crept silently to the unprotected window and smashed it with his elbow. The noise from the glass shattering would have attracted a few angry residents trying to get a goodnight sleep, who might have seen him. Francis knew he had to work fast. He jumped through the window and into darkness, landing directly on the cashier counter which soon gave off the alarm.

"Gahh!" Francis groaned.

His heart beating fast, Francis navigated in the darkness to the flat-screen television section, he had to rely on his memory of the place. He took a right turn pass the remote controller aisle and then a left. Francis then grabbed the television that could best fit the length of his arms. There was no time to climb up the roof now, so Francis charged straight through the glass windows, holding the television in front of him.

*plush* *plang* *tssh*

Sweat was beginning to roll down Francis' cheeks. The alarm was still sounding. He felt tired and relieved. He had what he came for, but just when he was about to walk away, a beam of light flashed at him. Francis was stunted by the light for a moment; it took his eyes a while to adjust to the brightness again. Francis could make out the figure standing in front of him, it was a cop and he was aiming a pistol at him.

Francis quickly thought of a plan, he smirked and said calmly, "It's okay…I'm a cop." Francis didn't really know what to expect, he was just saying what first came to his mind.

"Okay officer. And why are you stealing a flatscreen TV?" The officer sarcastically replied.

"Um it's…evidence for a crime."

"Uh huh. And which crime would it be?"

"Uh. This one?" Francis began to sneer. "Alright, don't shoot. Cause I'm gonna run now."

In a blink of an eye, Francis sprinted towards the bike, still holding the television in his hands. The cop instinctively opened fire at Francis, aiming for his legs in an attempt to stop him. Francis ran in a zig-zag manner, avoiding the gun shots

*Click* *Click* *Click*

"Didn't thought you could shoot me with those few bullets of yours eh?" Francis shouted arrogantly and smiled to himself, he had successfully avoided 15 bullet rounds. He quickly hopped onto the bike, holding the television under his arms he drove off. Panting heavily and steering the bike with only one hand, Francis made his way back to the pub.

Not long after Francis had just began riding off, when he heard sirens nearby. The cops were giving chase.

Francis increased his speed and saw on his wing mirror that the cops were catching up. He suddenly turned sharply to the left, into a back alley, in an effort to shake the cops off his back. Fortunately the alley way was too narrow for the cop's cars to drive through and they drove straight.

Duke's motorcycle began to vibrate wildly as if about to fall apart; it was too old and un-oiled for a long time to run at such high speed.

Phew. Francis heaved a sigh of relief. He was just about reaching the exit of the alley, when a cop car appeared and blocked it. Francis jammed the breaks with a loud screeching sound before coming to a halt. There was no way he could escape now, there was hardly enough room for him to turn the bike and head the other direction.

Two cops came out of the car, a plum elderly cop and a scrawny looking cop. Both were holding torchlights and pistols. Francis could hear them laughing. He was angry as to how they could beat him.

"Listen up, I give you this television and we can all go home as if nothing happened ok?" Francis said attempting to bribe the cops.

"And if you do give it to us, what we gonna do with it? Cut your talk and come out here slowly. And hands up!" The elderly cop said with sarcasm.

Francis got off the bike with ease and raised his hands, dropping the television.

"No one asked you to drop the television!" The scrawny cop shouted.

"How am I suppose to put my hands up while carrying the television eh?" Francis answered back.

The cops froze awhile, realizing their stupidity.

Francis was soon taken into custody and sat in the back of the car.

"So where we going now?" Francis asked dumbly.

"Your new home, I bet." The elderly cop laughed as he sat in the driver's seat. The whole car jerked for a moment due to his weight.

The other officer sat in the backseat next to Francis and they drove off.

Francis could only help but wonder what jail would be like, cops..cops…and more cops… "I hate cops." Francis uttered.

The officer beside Francis turned and looks at him with suspicion in his eyes.

"So I guess you're a rookie cop huh? You can stop pointing the damn gun at me. What do I look like a mad serial killer who just murdered your whole family?"

The scrawny cop immediately kept his gun; he had unknowingly been pointing the gun at Francis the whole time.

Francis hands were getting tired being hand-cuffed together, he felt exhausted. There's no way I'm going to jail.

-The next morning-

"William Overbeck, please proceed to counter 3 for check-in."

Immediately an old man stood up from his seat and marched straight towards the counter. He had a beard which covered about half his face and a cigarette butt in his mouth. He looked serious.

"I'm here." William answered as he reached for the seat in front of the counter.

"Mr Overbeck you are expecting to have a leg surgery tonight am I correct?" The nurse at the counter asked.

"hell yea."

"Please proceed to ward B in the right wing, room 14D. Here's your medical slip."

William nodded, took the slip from the table and left for his room. He looked at the white piece of paper, everything about him was on that paper, he browsed through just to see what "they" said.

Veterans Hospital, Philadelphia

Name: William Overbeck

Unit served: US Army 1st Special Forces Troop

Area of service(outside the US): Vietnam

Length of service: Served 2 tours of duty during the Vietnam War

Area of residence: Fairfield, Philadelphia (state of Pennsylvania)

Remarks: Sustained injury due to shrapnel bore into knee, resulting in permanent knee damage. Medical operation to remove shrapnel have to done. Have a bad behavior of heavy smoking.

Medical allergies: -NA-

Family relations: -NA-

Job after term of service: -NA-

"huh." William muttered. "smoking."

William navigated his way through the hospital's isolated maze like corridors to his room. Along the way he had seen many other soldiers who were given treatment in various rooms for different reasons. Some were waiting to die, others just sat on their ward beds praying something good would come out. He heard small and soft moaning as he passed the holding wards. They remembered him of his days in the service, when he was in Vietnam, the screams and horror of dying soldiers, not knowing when it would be their turn to go. He could still recall those images very vividly.

William couldn't stand dying alone in a hospital, people just waiting to die without any loved ones beside them was something no human being should suffer. I wish I had…I still had.

William eventually reached the door of his ward, it was in the middle of a long corridor, the door knob was slightly rusted and as he was about to reach out for it, it turned. The door opened and a male nurse was standing at the door.

"Oh, you must be William Overbeck. I was just preparing the room for you."

William examined the room, there was a bed and a drawer for a wardrobe with a lamp on top. The room was relatively clean apart from a few cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling. There was a window by his bed which sunlight shone in. A toilet was located just opposite his bed.

"Thanks." William replied and walked towards his bed.

"I'm sorry sir but would you mind changing into these clothes? All patients in the hospitals are suppose to wear them." The nurse said and handed the clothes to William. They were hospital robes.

William let out a tired sigh and went to the toilet to change.

This is gonna be a long day.