He sees Gary and says in a gruffly voice " Spread out face down on the floor, And don`t make a sound." Gary obeys as a .45 Magnum is pointed in his direction. The woman gasps. The abductor slaps her face, and says to Gary "I`m going to have this gun pointed straight at you. Don`t move a muscle and don`t try any funny business or you`ll be spitting gum out through your forehead. As soon as I`m finished with this bitch I`ll be to work on you." As he starts to bound and gag the woman one-handedly and with the aid of his teeth so that he can have Gary at gun-point simultaneously he begins to think to himself "It`ll be great to read in the paper how I killed two birds with one stone." He finishes with the woman. And commands Gary (still at gun-point) to rise from the floor, Gary obeys. He commands Gary to start undressing himself ,Gary reluctantly begins. "Just throw them over with the girl`s and then sit down next to her." Says the voice. The abductor pours a little more gasoline onto the pile of clothing, he wants to make sure Gary`s things are fully soaked with gasoline also. He now begins to gag then bound Gary to the woman. The woman who has by now realized her thought about gary were only suspicons manages to relax about being bound with him. The abductor leaves them alone, they now experience a feeling of calmness although they both are extremely horrified.
11:45 am
The abductor has been gone for nearly an hour now. "Where could he have went?", they are both think in their sub-concious. Another half-hour has gone by when Gary and the woman start hearing a rumbling sound from afar. " What on earth could that be?" thinks Gary. The noise is moving ccloser and suddenly they start hearing crashing sounds. It strangely grows closer Gary and the woman move closer together and bury their heads in each others shoulders to protect their ears from the deafening noise.
Seconds later the bomb sets off. Fourty pounds of dynamite, turns the former Schulster & Son`s warehouse & store to rubble. There is no sign of movement from underneath the rubble.
6:30 am
The Next Day
Workers in the police and fire department`s search groups were told to wait until the day after the explosion to start searching through the rubble for evidence of what might have happened. So that they could get more hours of daylight to work in. In the beginning it seemed they would find nothing. Near 11:30 a member of the search party poked his rod in and found something rather cushiony, fortunatly It was Gary`s shoulder. The man alerted other members of the search. The police Chief commanded the men to start removing debris from that section of the area.
1:45 pm
It took two hours to umcover the bodies of a man and a woman lying naked under the rubble.
The man unconcious.
The woman alert and in a state of shock.
The police Chief radioed the fire department to send two ambulances` to the site. They arrived in five minutes. A few of the firemen who were also EMT`s went along to the hospital with the victims. They were unable to wake the man on the way to the hospital. They repeatedly tried to ask the woman who he was. She told them she had no idea who he was. The doctor in charge of the mans` care explained that they cold photograph his face and print it in the newspaper asking for any information about is identity. It was agreed upon,(however morbid it may be) it is quite morbid to photograph a person in a coma-like time-out.
7:00 am
Two days after the explosion
Chuck(Gary`s best friend) arrived at McGinty`s carrying the issue of the days` Chicago Sun-Times. Nobody had seen Gary in fourty-eight hours. But they would soon find out exactly where he was. Going into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee Chuck hears Marissa talking to a few of the chefs getting ready for the day, it is only about the explosion of Schulster & Son`s warehouse. It means nothing to him after he gets his coffee he`ll find out about it for himself from the paper. He sits down at a table with the paper and coffee. Marissa comes into the room and joins him. She asks if he thinks anything of the explosion and if he`s heard from Gary yet? "Only what I`ve heard" he says of the explosion as he starts to riffle through the paper " And no I haven`t heard from Gary,sorry" he stops riffling the paper and says "Oh, my God!" " What is it?" she asks. Surprised at Chuck`s outburst. "This article, about the explosion. It says man and woman found in rubble at site of local explosion. And that`s not all, it also says the woman was released from the hospital a few hours later into her husband`s care. And the man they could not identify but they have a picture here asking for information about him. And it is the spitting image of Gary. Which makes me believe it is him after what the woman told the hospital about him." "What did she say?" asks Marissa. "She says that when she first saw him she was suspicous of him,she was abducted and that was how she got there,after the abductor bound,gagged,and left them alone he apologized for not being able to help her, and that is exactly the sort of thing Gary would do! That is why I`m definitly sure it is him!!!" " Well, why don`t we check into it and go to the hospital and tell them we may know him and ask to see him, to see if it really is Gary?" says Marissa. " Let`s get going right now!!" says Chuck.
9:30 am
At The Hospital
It is the third day of Gary`s coma-like time-out the first spent in a pile of rubble with a complete stranger, the second day going through that ER crap and having his condition diagnosed, and today hi third day he would finally have people who cared about him near. His best friends Chuck & Marissa. Chuck & Marissa arrived at the hospital a quarter after ten. A nursed walked up to them as they entered. "How may I help you?" she asked politely. Pulling out the paper, Chuck pointed out the article and said,"This man is the spitting image of our best friend who has been missing for three days. It may be him we would like to try and identify him." "Please sign in with the receptionist and someone will take you to his room." A doctor comes walking up to Chuck & Marissa. "Hi! I`m Dr. David Smith, we hear you may be able to identify our mystery patient, come with me." They follow the doctor in to the ICU. And find Gary lying in one of the beds. "It`s him! It is definitly him" says Chuck to Dr. Smith "His name is Gary Hobson." The doctor lets them visit for awhile then tells Chuck & Marissa the hospital needs their help with Gary`s paperwork.
Day 4
Chuck & marissa arrive at the hospital. Chuck plans on calling Gary`s parents to tell them what has happened later that afternoon. Carl the cat is missing from the loft and is found at Gary`s parent`s front door they call Chuck instead to ask of Gary`s whereabouts. He breaks the news to them.
Day 5
The Hobson`s visit their son in the hospital. Chuck & Marissa are there. And Mr. Hobson helps finish Gary`s paperwork. As Chuck & Marissa comfort Mrs. Hobson. Who grieves over the still bobdy of her helpless son.
Days 6-9
Still no change in Gary`s condition. Chuck,Marissa,&The Hobson`s visit each day. Carl the cat has been being cared for by the staff at McGinty`s.
Day 10
Things are still the same as the past few days. Carl was looking for Gary today.
Day 11
Gary responds by moving his toes during reflex testing.
Days 12 & 13
The Hobson`s Chuck, & Marissa question Gary about the explosion. He`s still in his time-out ao he moves his toe once for yes,twice for no.
Day 14
Gary finally wakes out of his coma-like time-out. He doesn`t conciously remember the explosion or the questioning from the previous days.
3 Days later
Gary returns home after a few days of observation. Carl returns to him, he is not allowed to return to heroisn for a few weeks.
THE END