I wake up to what sounds like some sort of industrial whirring, and I have a huge headache.
"Mutant is awake."
I flip open my eyes and am greeted by a bright white room. There are a lot of scary machines and I see something red in the corner of my eye that makes me feel sick. There's this thing on my face that makes breathing weird, and my eyesight is blurred. Sharp pains are everywhere and I just want to go to sleep.
The doctors say some gibberish thing and everything goes black.
The next time I wake up there's the same whirring and headache, but the pains are gone and I can see better. The second I realize I'm in a hospital, millions of questions go through my mind.
How much time has passed?
Is Clark alive?
Are the mines destroyed?
Is Jesse alive?
I sit up and look around. There are a lot of people everywhere; people in uniforms, people in regular clothes, and even some patients. The only thing that separated me from the rest of the building was a thin blue sheet that was partially see-through. There are beds with patients all around me, but there's nothing separating us.
"You've been asleep for a while."
I flip my head around to find a blue haired guy. It surprises me because you don't normally see blue-haired people in Jamaa. It was more of a Toontown thing.
"I have?" The guy nods, and for the first time I see his nametag. Doctor Peepers. Is that even a real name?
"I'm Dr. Peepers. I volunteered to be your doctor… We're kind of running low on doctors and," Dr. Peepers bends closer towards me and whispers this, "to be honest, Toons aren't treated well here." I stare at him. How could he tell I was from Toontown? Was it the hair? My name? Did Baron tell him?
Doctor Peepers clears his throat.
"Anyway, I should probably tell you about your injuries. After the mining accident you were put into the trauma center. I was actually there when they took you in, and to be honest, I'm surprised you made it. Thanks to our advanced technology here in Jamaa you're almost fully recovered."
Almost?
"There's a lot of damage in your left leg. I'm afraid you're going to have to walk with a cane for a while. Not forever, but for a long time." Doctor Peepers points to a cane at the head of my bed. "If I were you I'd try walking a little."
I scoot up the bed and to the side to take the cane. It's this cheap plastic material, so I make a note to myself to get a better cane later. I pick it up and set it down to where my left leg would be. Then I step onto my right leg and then use the cane to support my left.
Jamaa hospital clothes aren't that bad. It's not a cheap blue gown, but instead two pieces of clothing. Even so, I really want to change into my own clothes.
"Feel free to explore the place a little bit," Doctor Peepers says, and hands me a map of the hospital. "There are usually patients wandering around. If you get lost you can probably just ask one of them."
I take my first step. It's hard to really only use one leg, but I make it work. There are people all around me that have it worse; some in crutches, some in wheelchairs… I'm the lucky one.
Doctor Peepers opens up the curtain and I suddenly remember one of my questions.
"Is Clark alive?" I ask him. He looks at me for a second, and I get a sinking feeling in my chest.
Clark was dead and it was all my fault. I could've done something. I could've saved him.
"He's actually better than you. I'm pretty sure he's walking around right now," Doctor Peepers tells me, then disappears to the other side of the curtain.
Clark was alive? And… Better than me? Did that mean he didn't have any injuries? No, that would be impossible. A mining accident and he doesn't have any injuries?
I limp up to the curtain and open it. I could see through the curtain before, but with it open it is much easier to tell what is going on. There are a lot of people.
To my left I see a long hallway. There are less people and the lightning isn't as good, so I don't really want to go that way. Luckily for me the right leads to the main desks and there a lot of people.
I hobble down the hallway. I'm slower than most of the people walking around, so in order to see everyone I have to think really fast.
There is one voice in particular that stands out to me, though. It's a deeper and scratchy voice that sounds vaguely familiar, though I can't put my finger on it.
"I told you I don't want to wear the hospital clothes. They look terrible on me," the voice says, and I almost figure out who it is but in the same instant I forget.
"And enough with these stupid bandages. I don't care if people see them," the voice continues, and now I can finally locate where they are.
A few feet ahead of me is this tall guy that has dark brown hair and is wearing a long-sleeved grey shirt with black pants and brown shoes. When he finally turns around and I see his eye patch, I realize who it is.
"Sir Astro!" I exclaim, and he shifts his eyes into my direction.
"Mutant?" He makes his way over to me, and I can finally see the destruction that was done to his face.
The left side of his face, which is the side that doesn't have an eye patch, is covered by reddish brown burn scars. It swirls over his eye, but it still sort of got it, so his eye is kind of squinted and he looks terrible. The scars continue down his neck and disappear behind his shirt.
"All of that is from the fire?" I ask him while I examine the wounds.
"Yep. Take a look at this too," he says, and lifts up the sleeves of his shirt. His arms are covered in gashes and cuts, from what I assume is the cause of people from Jamaa.
"How are you walking around?" I ask him, just because it looks like torture. He shrugs.
"It's been a few months. How are you walking around? When I heard a blue-haired guy named Mutant was admitted because of a mining accident I knew it had to be you. Figures Jamaa douche bags would name you Mutant." I shrug as well.
"To be honest I don't really know. I remember waking up once, though, and seeing a bunch of scary equipment and blood. I guess they're pretty advanced here, huh?" Sir Astro scoffs.
"I guess. Anyway, how are you doing? I haven't seen you in a while. I bet mining was pretty fun," he says sarcastically. I laugh, and that kind of freaks me out. I haven't laughed in a while.
"Yeah. It was kind of terrible. I was working with Clark, though, so it wasn't that bad."
"Clark? Clerk Clark? Tall red-haired guy?" Sir Astro asks, and he appears to be in complete shock.
"Mhm. I guess he has a lot of secret abilities. What about you? How are you doing?"
"Not as good as how I was a few months ago in Toontown, that's for sure. You know, I don't even get Jamaa. First they throw me into a huge fire and cut me up, then they send me to the hospital?"
"Maybe they realized you would be a good weapon," I suggest.
"If that's the case then they have extremely delayed reactions. What are you doing when you get out of here anyway? Are you still going to mine?"
That was a good point. What was I going to do? I don't think I'm going to be able to mine for a while because of my leg, and I have no idea what Clark's injuries are.
"I don't know. You're the only person I've talked to besides Dr. Peepers since I woke up. I wonder who I should talk to?" Sir Astro shrugs, and we both start walking back to where my bed was.
"Maybe Brave will come. I don't think neither of us have very much more time in here. They're going to use me for the government once I get out of here. I'm not looking forward to that." The mention of a government makes me remember my ultimate goal.
"Do you have any idea what Jesse is doing?" I ask him, hoping that he would give me an answer.
"Crystal Bay, probably. I know we have to free him. But that's going to take a while." Sir Astro looks down, lost in thought. "We need a boat and someone on the inside. And weapons just in case."
"Brave and I talked about this a while ago," I say to Sir Astro.
"Speak of the devil," he says, and I look up to find Brave talking to Dr. Peepers.
"Brave? Why are you here?" I ask him, and he flips his head to look at me.
"Mutant! Thank Mira you're awake. We need to talk. Sir Astro, get Clark. Mutant, follow me and Doctor Peepers." Sir Astro is confused for a moment, then shrugs and heads down the hallway to the left.
"What's going on?" I ask Brave as Dr. Peepers leads us somewhere.
"I'm afraid it's nothing good. Just… Wait until Clark is here. I'll explain it to the both of you then."
Dr. Peepers finally stops in front of a door. He takes out a single key from his back pocket and unlocks the door, revealing a small dark room with a table and a few chairs. I take a seat and examine Brave's behavior. He's not pacing around or anything, but he still looks pretty worried and is just sitting down.
The door opens and Sir Astro comes in with Clark following close behind.
Clark looks different. With all of the dirt out of his hair it reminds me how red it really is. He has a cast on his right arm and his hair is all sloppily pushed up to be out of his eyes. He looks like a mess.
"Mutant, Clark, there isn't much time for me to explain what's going to happen to you," Brave says, and Sir Astro and I exchange confused looks.
"Baron and I have been talking. He doesn't think you two should return to Mt. Shiveer."
"What?! Where are we going to go?!" Clark exclaims.
"Baron is on our side," Brave starts, completely ignoring Clark's question, "so we decided that you two are going to become slaves."
Slaves?
How was that good?
"What would they benefit from that?" Sir Astro asks almost angrily.
"Your new owner is coming to pick you up today," Brave says. He shoots a look at Sir Astro. "Astro, we have to talk."
I can't do anything except stare at the ground. Clark and I were being sold into slavery. That was it. We would die there. Why did Brave and Baron want us to become slaves?
Clark gets up and I have to follow him. Why did Brave do that? Has he been against us the whole time? And he claims that Baron was on our side?
"Mutant, wait!" I turn my head to look at Brave, but I don't say anything. "I can guarantee you that everything will work. You won't die. Clark won't die. We're keeping you safe."

Sir Astro is back! But it looks like Mutant is faced with yet another terrible situation. Darn. This story is a little over halfway through now!