Chapter 15
"Alex? Alex wake up!" I heard the voice but didn't acknowledge it. "Alex, quit being an idiot. Half the world needs to talk to you and you can't be sleeping." I still didn't move. "Cat, get up else I can't help you."
In annoyance I realized who was talking. "Shut up Zechs, I'm tired, don't call me that." The words were blurred to me, even though I said it.
"Good you're awake," he said, satisfied. "If this hurts feel free to tell me."
I opened my eyes, squinting because of the light, just to see what he was doing.
Zechs's hands rested on my forehead. I barely felt anything. I was either numb from being hit so hard or someone had put a drug into me to help me relax. Either way I wasn't happy.
"What are you doing Zechs?" I mumbled.
He slowly moved his hands while murmuring, "Nothing."
Then I felt it. Zechs power dragged my mind with it as he descended into himself. One of the things I learned about Zechs, he wasn't a strong psychic without help, and I was considered help. He had the power to heal people, but could only help close friends or relatives. I was kind of both, giving him the power to help me, and to use a small supply of my power.
Groaning I closed my eyes in the real world. I just wanted to go back to sleep, but I could feel Zechs's power slipping inside my skin to fix the bruises and cuts. No one would see a difference for a while, but I'd feel it. The bruises would be healed almost completely, the cuts just skin-thin. I sat still as Zechs worked his way along my face, taking care of the head wounds. Soon he moved on to my arms, taking care of a few cuts, and by the time he was done the pounding headache that had started when I had first opened my eyes was gone.
Zechs pulled back, out of our minds, with a deep sigh of exhaustion.
I blinked. For the first time sense I woke up I looked around the room.
"What happened?" I questioned.
Zechs shrugged. "A couple of policemen brought you in here, followed by an ambulance. In the ambulance was some short dwarfish guy who they said couldn't come near you. There were reports of two other dead. One killed by you."
It was my turn to shrug. I said, "Yeah, but I wasn't killing much."
"Meaning?" he asked.
I just shook my head. "I'll tell you later," I said. "What's so urgent that you had to help?"
Zechs frowned. "Matt is asking to talk you. Duo's worried. Gabriel's up to something and everyone's worried, plus you'll be in the newspaper tomorrow, along with your mom. She's doing better by the way. Stable in a coma." He was trying to be cheerful, which bugged me. I had half a mind to tell him to stop trying but decided against it. I wasn't quite sure how a coma was good, but at least I didn't have to worry about her dieing.
"Okay, let me talk to Matt, I'll go from there," I suggested.
"So you can talk to him?" Zechs said. I understood the question. I wasn't worried about getting shot and or killed.
Quickly I looked around the room for all of my stuff. My shoes, coat and guns were neatly set out on a chair. I put them all into place, checking the bullets first to see how much I had left. Everything had been replaced with fresh clips. Silently I thanked Zechs before following him out of the room.
He led me back to the cafeteria where it seemed everyone was camped out. The word was out, there was a great story at this hospital and every news station I knew of was here wanting a piece of it. I took a minute to scan the room for my dad. I was sure he was here somewhere, and it wasn't surprising to find him with the rest of my friends packed together in a corner. Dad, Poe, Ethan, and even Jack, were waiting for us.
I made my way towards them, smiling hello. I was in an exceptionally good mood for having just being beat up. When we were done exchanging greetings the questions came. I carefully explained to everyone exactly what had happened. I didn't mind any of them knowing, even if I was silently wishing for the crowd to be a little more. normal. Poe and Ethan were okay, but normally I'd be talking with Julia and Nicolie, too, and only a few years ago Zero and Tarmine would have been in the group.
When everything was finished Jack spoke up. "You have to return a call, by the way," he said. Ethan and Poe looked a little confused, but the rest of us knew what was going on. Jack pulled out a cell phone and handed it to me. "Just hit redial."
I glanced up at him before hitting the button. Putting the phone to my ear I listened to three and a half rings before Matt answered.
"Hello, Alex," Matt said.
"Hiya," I replied.
There was a brief pause. "I need to see you as soon as possible," he stated.
"Which would be a time range of?" I asked.
"By two o'clock," Matt answered.
I glanced at my watch. It was quarter till one. "Any chance of you throwing on an extra hour?"
Another pause. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason, I've just been out all night getting beat up and stuff and a change of clothes would be really nice," I said dryly.
"Okay," he said, with what could have been laughter in his voice. "Another hour, but only if you explain things when you get here."
"Great, where am I going?" I asked. Matt quickly gave me directions and I just as quickly scribbled them down on a nearby napkin. When I finished I looked up to five curious faces. None of them asked anything, they knew I wouldn't tell them where I was going or who I was meeting. It was nice having friends who understood that.
"So you leaving?" Ethan asked.
I nodded. "Yep, but I need to borrow someone's car. Unless by some twist of fate one of the cops drove mine back for me."
"I can give you a life," said Poe, "I need to talk to you, anyway."
"Okay, where's your car parked?" I asked.
Our conversation was interrupted before Poe could answer. "Alex Yuy?" I turned to see a doctor staring at me through rather thick glasses. He was studying a clip board as he thumbed through the paperwork on it.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
He nodded, straitening his glasses after doing so. "Yes, please. I need you to fill out some paperwork now that you're awake and all. It's only a few signatures and such so it won't take that long."
I shrugged, "Sure."
The doctor frowned for a moment. "It seems I left the papers in my office, if you follow me, it's not too far away."
I sighed, glancing at my watch. I had about two hours. It should be enough time for paperwork and a quick stop at my apartment. I turned to Poe before following the doctor. I asked him to go grab his car, I'd meet him up front.
The doctor walked quickly, and I followed easily behind him. Slowly the crowded hallways thinned out to where only a doctor or nurse passed by occasionally. I wasn't paying much attention, my mind on Gabriel and the Missing Persons. Why exactly had Jack been here anyway? He didn't know any of my friends, except for Zechs, but I doubted that Zechs would have invited him.
It didn't take long to reach the doctor's office. It was very plain, undecorated. There was only a desk, one shelf, and a couple of lamps. Instinctively I checked for exits: there was a side door and a window, but that was it.
The doctor went immediately to his desk and began to rummage through draws and piles of papers. After a minute he looked up to me apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I've got to look for something in the supply room. I'll only be a minute," he said. I sighed, but that was about all I could do. He left in a rush.
Five minutes later I had waited long enough.
I turned and walked back to the door I had come in through. It didn't open. I blinked and twisted the handle again, but the door still didn't budge. Frowning I moved to the side door. It too was locked. This one, however, had an inside lock that I would be quite capable of picking. I just didn't have anything to use on me.
Maybe there'd be something in the desk. it was worth checking.
Instantly I moved to it, throwing open draws as I searched for anything, but there was nothing but loose papers, most of which were blank. My frown deepened as I continued to find nothing. The doctor had to have locked me in here, but why? Why would he have bothered?
I got to the lowest door and it wouldn't open. Usually when things were locked it was something you wanted to see. Or a diversion. I didn't have anything else to check so I was guessing the first, but I couldn't be certain.
I tugged at the draw to see how likely it was that I might get it open. The draw actually budged a bit. It wasn't the strongest lock made, and there was a good chance I could just break it.
I pulled harder, the draw came out further. With one last tug it was completely open, and I froze.
In front of me was just enough dynamite to blow up several rooms attached to a timer. It wasn't what I was hoping to find. Especially not when the bomb started counting down from ten.
It was at eight before I realized that it was going to explode.
I hopped to my feet, glancing around the room as I remembered the window. I made a dash for it. It wasn't locked and I opened it easily. Climbing onto the windowsill I looked down. Weigh too far for comfort. Three stories too far. I was going to jump anyway, and I really didn't want to.
Then there was the explosion. Heat swept over me, the force of the air pushing me out. I didn't even need to jump. It took me awhile to realize I was flying through the air. I closed my eyes for a moment, not wanting to think about hitting the ground, but instead enjoying the whole falling part. Believe it or not, falling is fun. It's a bit more fun in a parachute and out of a plane, but out of a building works, too.
Then I landed.
The rush of falling disappeared into leaves and branches that did wonders for my skin. I couldn't tell what I had landed on, but I knew that there were a lot of sticks. After a moment's thought I realized I had fallen on top of a group of bushes. It hurt, but it probably saved my life.
"Owe," I muttered as I climbed out of the dent I had made. Looking around at all the people who were now looking at me the numbness that had been holding back all my fear slowly began to fade. I turned slowly to see what had happened to the building.
I wasn't sure how big the dent was, but it was big. Several rooms worth of hospital were burning, walls and bricks had been blown away. Debris was everywhere, and I knew that a lot of people had gotten hurt. I gulped. This wasn't good.
Screams came from behind me.
I turned quickly. Just in time to see the guy who'd locked me in the room holding a gun pointed right at me. I ducked as he fired. I was hiding behind the bushes, not good cover, but better than nothing. Looking around I searched for something better. The rode was right behind me, and parked on the far side was a small old fashion car. It was the closest thing to hide behind.
Glancing through the bushes I watched the doctor stop firing his gun, reaching in a bag he had with him for another clip. It was my chance to run. I hopped to my feet, running at a dead sprint across the street. I didn't look back to the doctor but I knew he was almost done loading his gun. The shower of bullets started up again just before I reached the car. I jumped and dived, rolling out of the fall as I landed, but not soon enough to collect a few more cuts and bruises.
I took a moment to catch by breath before peeking up to look at the doctor. He already had another gun at and was firing away at this car. Whoever the owner was wouldn't be happy, and if I survived through this I'd have to get them a new car. I don't care if they have insurance. It was my fault this one was getting pelted with bullets.
Then I got lucky. I saw Poe's black truck diving towards us. We weren't exactly at the main entrance but the explosion would have caught Poe's attention. His truck stopped about twenty feet out of the way, giving him plenty of room to move around. One of the car windows above me shattered and I had to duck to avoid being cut. By the time I was sure it was safe to peek up again Poe was out of his truck and facing the doctor.
"Excuse me," Poe said, "but would you mind not firing long enough for me to get through. I think there are people in the building in need of my assistance." He remained perfectly calm as he held his arms up and looked almost harmless.
The man stopped shooting at me long enough to answer. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped.
"Trying to drive past here, but I'm afraid I can't do that while you're shooting," Poe explained. Neither the doctor or I knew what Poe was doing, but it was confusing the doctor quite a bit. Poe glanced towards me. He saw me peeking up and gave me a 'do something' look. I ducked back down before the doctor could notice what was going on.
What could I do? If I tried standing up to shot him he'd get me first. He had an machine gun pointed in my direction and was just waiting to kill me. I didn't need to kill him, though. I could just distract him. Standing up wouldn't work. If I left the cover of the car I was screwed. Maybe I could shoot under it.
I pressed myself against the ground, noticing that there was plenty of room for me to craw under the car. The doctor was on the road and I just had to shoot him in the foot. It wouldn't be that hard. I pulled out my browning and aimed very carefully. The doctor started walking towards Poe, his voice growing load and angry as he said something. My aim followed him and when he finally stopped I fired.
Howling the doctor jumped, grabbing his foot. I fired a second time, hitting his other foot and the man collapsed. I blocked out his screams as I climbed out from under the car.
I slowly stood up, making sure the doctor wasn't going to shoot at me. Then I quickly jogged to Poe. He was slowly approaching the doctor. Poe motioned me to stay back as he got close to the doctor.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you," Poe said. The doctor barked a laugh. "Please, just don't move." Poe wasn't able to say anymore. The doctor was reaching for the gun and Poe grab it first. Unfortunately he didn't know that the doctor had extras in his bag. Poe was pulling away with the doctor's gun as the doctor was getting something else to shoot us with.
I drew the browning and aimed. "Don't move. Unlike my friend I really do want to hurt you," I said coldly. The doctor wasn't listening. "I said don't move!" He almost had his gun out. "Don't. oh screw it." I fired once, hitting the doctor in his shoulder. He groaned but still didn't stop.
Poe tackled him, grabbing the bag and throwing it. He pried the gun from the man's fingers and the man stopped fighting.
"Alex, get out of here. Take my truck," Poe said. "Keep in mind though, when I see you again you're going to tell me exactly why you're getting shot at."
I nodded. "Will do, but I'm not sure when that will be. Hopefully it won't be in the emergency room." Poe wasn't in the mood to laugh and I was heading for his truck anyway. I needed to get out of here before the police budded in. Poe would take care of them and they'd just slow me down. I still had to get to the meeting with Matt.
"Alex? Alex wake up!" I heard the voice but didn't acknowledge it. "Alex, quit being an idiot. Half the world needs to talk to you and you can't be sleeping." I still didn't move. "Cat, get up else I can't help you."
In annoyance I realized who was talking. "Shut up Zechs, I'm tired, don't call me that." The words were blurred to me, even though I said it.
"Good you're awake," he said, satisfied. "If this hurts feel free to tell me."
I opened my eyes, squinting because of the light, just to see what he was doing.
Zechs's hands rested on my forehead. I barely felt anything. I was either numb from being hit so hard or someone had put a drug into me to help me relax. Either way I wasn't happy.
"What are you doing Zechs?" I mumbled.
He slowly moved his hands while murmuring, "Nothing."
Then I felt it. Zechs power dragged my mind with it as he descended into himself. One of the things I learned about Zechs, he wasn't a strong psychic without help, and I was considered help. He had the power to heal people, but could only help close friends or relatives. I was kind of both, giving him the power to help me, and to use a small supply of my power.
Groaning I closed my eyes in the real world. I just wanted to go back to sleep, but I could feel Zechs's power slipping inside my skin to fix the bruises and cuts. No one would see a difference for a while, but I'd feel it. The bruises would be healed almost completely, the cuts just skin-thin. I sat still as Zechs worked his way along my face, taking care of the head wounds. Soon he moved on to my arms, taking care of a few cuts, and by the time he was done the pounding headache that had started when I had first opened my eyes was gone.
Zechs pulled back, out of our minds, with a deep sigh of exhaustion.
I blinked. For the first time sense I woke up I looked around the room.
"What happened?" I questioned.
Zechs shrugged. "A couple of policemen brought you in here, followed by an ambulance. In the ambulance was some short dwarfish guy who they said couldn't come near you. There were reports of two other dead. One killed by you."
It was my turn to shrug. I said, "Yeah, but I wasn't killing much."
"Meaning?" he asked.
I just shook my head. "I'll tell you later," I said. "What's so urgent that you had to help?"
Zechs frowned. "Matt is asking to talk you. Duo's worried. Gabriel's up to something and everyone's worried, plus you'll be in the newspaper tomorrow, along with your mom. She's doing better by the way. Stable in a coma." He was trying to be cheerful, which bugged me. I had half a mind to tell him to stop trying but decided against it. I wasn't quite sure how a coma was good, but at least I didn't have to worry about her dieing.
"Okay, let me talk to Matt, I'll go from there," I suggested.
"So you can talk to him?" Zechs said. I understood the question. I wasn't worried about getting shot and or killed.
Quickly I looked around the room for all of my stuff. My shoes, coat and guns were neatly set out on a chair. I put them all into place, checking the bullets first to see how much I had left. Everything had been replaced with fresh clips. Silently I thanked Zechs before following him out of the room.
He led me back to the cafeteria where it seemed everyone was camped out. The word was out, there was a great story at this hospital and every news station I knew of was here wanting a piece of it. I took a minute to scan the room for my dad. I was sure he was here somewhere, and it wasn't surprising to find him with the rest of my friends packed together in a corner. Dad, Poe, Ethan, and even Jack, were waiting for us.
I made my way towards them, smiling hello. I was in an exceptionally good mood for having just being beat up. When we were done exchanging greetings the questions came. I carefully explained to everyone exactly what had happened. I didn't mind any of them knowing, even if I was silently wishing for the crowd to be a little more. normal. Poe and Ethan were okay, but normally I'd be talking with Julia and Nicolie, too, and only a few years ago Zero and Tarmine would have been in the group.
When everything was finished Jack spoke up. "You have to return a call, by the way," he said. Ethan and Poe looked a little confused, but the rest of us knew what was going on. Jack pulled out a cell phone and handed it to me. "Just hit redial."
I glanced up at him before hitting the button. Putting the phone to my ear I listened to three and a half rings before Matt answered.
"Hello, Alex," Matt said.
"Hiya," I replied.
There was a brief pause. "I need to see you as soon as possible," he stated.
"Which would be a time range of?" I asked.
"By two o'clock," Matt answered.
I glanced at my watch. It was quarter till one. "Any chance of you throwing on an extra hour?"
Another pause. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason, I've just been out all night getting beat up and stuff and a change of clothes would be really nice," I said dryly.
"Okay," he said, with what could have been laughter in his voice. "Another hour, but only if you explain things when you get here."
"Great, where am I going?" I asked. Matt quickly gave me directions and I just as quickly scribbled them down on a nearby napkin. When I finished I looked up to five curious faces. None of them asked anything, they knew I wouldn't tell them where I was going or who I was meeting. It was nice having friends who understood that.
"So you leaving?" Ethan asked.
I nodded. "Yep, but I need to borrow someone's car. Unless by some twist of fate one of the cops drove mine back for me."
"I can give you a life," said Poe, "I need to talk to you, anyway."
"Okay, where's your car parked?" I asked.
Our conversation was interrupted before Poe could answer. "Alex Yuy?" I turned to see a doctor staring at me through rather thick glasses. He was studying a clip board as he thumbed through the paperwork on it.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
He nodded, straitening his glasses after doing so. "Yes, please. I need you to fill out some paperwork now that you're awake and all. It's only a few signatures and such so it won't take that long."
I shrugged, "Sure."
The doctor frowned for a moment. "It seems I left the papers in my office, if you follow me, it's not too far away."
I sighed, glancing at my watch. I had about two hours. It should be enough time for paperwork and a quick stop at my apartment. I turned to Poe before following the doctor. I asked him to go grab his car, I'd meet him up front.
The doctor walked quickly, and I followed easily behind him. Slowly the crowded hallways thinned out to where only a doctor or nurse passed by occasionally. I wasn't paying much attention, my mind on Gabriel and the Missing Persons. Why exactly had Jack been here anyway? He didn't know any of my friends, except for Zechs, but I doubted that Zechs would have invited him.
It didn't take long to reach the doctor's office. It was very plain, undecorated. There was only a desk, one shelf, and a couple of lamps. Instinctively I checked for exits: there was a side door and a window, but that was it.
The doctor went immediately to his desk and began to rummage through draws and piles of papers. After a minute he looked up to me apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I've got to look for something in the supply room. I'll only be a minute," he said. I sighed, but that was about all I could do. He left in a rush.
Five minutes later I had waited long enough.
I turned and walked back to the door I had come in through. It didn't open. I blinked and twisted the handle again, but the door still didn't budge. Frowning I moved to the side door. It too was locked. This one, however, had an inside lock that I would be quite capable of picking. I just didn't have anything to use on me.
Maybe there'd be something in the desk. it was worth checking.
Instantly I moved to it, throwing open draws as I searched for anything, but there was nothing but loose papers, most of which were blank. My frown deepened as I continued to find nothing. The doctor had to have locked me in here, but why? Why would he have bothered?
I got to the lowest door and it wouldn't open. Usually when things were locked it was something you wanted to see. Or a diversion. I didn't have anything else to check so I was guessing the first, but I couldn't be certain.
I tugged at the draw to see how likely it was that I might get it open. The draw actually budged a bit. It wasn't the strongest lock made, and there was a good chance I could just break it.
I pulled harder, the draw came out further. With one last tug it was completely open, and I froze.
In front of me was just enough dynamite to blow up several rooms attached to a timer. It wasn't what I was hoping to find. Especially not when the bomb started counting down from ten.
It was at eight before I realized that it was going to explode.
I hopped to my feet, glancing around the room as I remembered the window. I made a dash for it. It wasn't locked and I opened it easily. Climbing onto the windowsill I looked down. Weigh too far for comfort. Three stories too far. I was going to jump anyway, and I really didn't want to.
Then there was the explosion. Heat swept over me, the force of the air pushing me out. I didn't even need to jump. It took me awhile to realize I was flying through the air. I closed my eyes for a moment, not wanting to think about hitting the ground, but instead enjoying the whole falling part. Believe it or not, falling is fun. It's a bit more fun in a parachute and out of a plane, but out of a building works, too.
Then I landed.
The rush of falling disappeared into leaves and branches that did wonders for my skin. I couldn't tell what I had landed on, but I knew that there were a lot of sticks. After a moment's thought I realized I had fallen on top of a group of bushes. It hurt, but it probably saved my life.
"Owe," I muttered as I climbed out of the dent I had made. Looking around at all the people who were now looking at me the numbness that had been holding back all my fear slowly began to fade. I turned slowly to see what had happened to the building.
I wasn't sure how big the dent was, but it was big. Several rooms worth of hospital were burning, walls and bricks had been blown away. Debris was everywhere, and I knew that a lot of people had gotten hurt. I gulped. This wasn't good.
Screams came from behind me.
I turned quickly. Just in time to see the guy who'd locked me in the room holding a gun pointed right at me. I ducked as he fired. I was hiding behind the bushes, not good cover, but better than nothing. Looking around I searched for something better. The rode was right behind me, and parked on the far side was a small old fashion car. It was the closest thing to hide behind.
Glancing through the bushes I watched the doctor stop firing his gun, reaching in a bag he had with him for another clip. It was my chance to run. I hopped to my feet, running at a dead sprint across the street. I didn't look back to the doctor but I knew he was almost done loading his gun. The shower of bullets started up again just before I reached the car. I jumped and dived, rolling out of the fall as I landed, but not soon enough to collect a few more cuts and bruises.
I took a moment to catch by breath before peeking up to look at the doctor. He already had another gun at and was firing away at this car. Whoever the owner was wouldn't be happy, and if I survived through this I'd have to get them a new car. I don't care if they have insurance. It was my fault this one was getting pelted with bullets.
Then I got lucky. I saw Poe's black truck diving towards us. We weren't exactly at the main entrance but the explosion would have caught Poe's attention. His truck stopped about twenty feet out of the way, giving him plenty of room to move around. One of the car windows above me shattered and I had to duck to avoid being cut. By the time I was sure it was safe to peek up again Poe was out of his truck and facing the doctor.
"Excuse me," Poe said, "but would you mind not firing long enough for me to get through. I think there are people in the building in need of my assistance." He remained perfectly calm as he held his arms up and looked almost harmless.
The man stopped shooting at me long enough to answer. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped.
"Trying to drive past here, but I'm afraid I can't do that while you're shooting," Poe explained. Neither the doctor or I knew what Poe was doing, but it was confusing the doctor quite a bit. Poe glanced towards me. He saw me peeking up and gave me a 'do something' look. I ducked back down before the doctor could notice what was going on.
What could I do? If I tried standing up to shot him he'd get me first. He had an machine gun pointed in my direction and was just waiting to kill me. I didn't need to kill him, though. I could just distract him. Standing up wouldn't work. If I left the cover of the car I was screwed. Maybe I could shoot under it.
I pressed myself against the ground, noticing that there was plenty of room for me to craw under the car. The doctor was on the road and I just had to shoot him in the foot. It wouldn't be that hard. I pulled out my browning and aimed very carefully. The doctor started walking towards Poe, his voice growing load and angry as he said something. My aim followed him and when he finally stopped I fired.
Howling the doctor jumped, grabbing his foot. I fired a second time, hitting his other foot and the man collapsed. I blocked out his screams as I climbed out from under the car.
I slowly stood up, making sure the doctor wasn't going to shoot at me. Then I quickly jogged to Poe. He was slowly approaching the doctor. Poe motioned me to stay back as he got close to the doctor.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you," Poe said. The doctor barked a laugh. "Please, just don't move." Poe wasn't able to say anymore. The doctor was reaching for the gun and Poe grab it first. Unfortunately he didn't know that the doctor had extras in his bag. Poe was pulling away with the doctor's gun as the doctor was getting something else to shoot us with.
I drew the browning and aimed. "Don't move. Unlike my friend I really do want to hurt you," I said coldly. The doctor wasn't listening. "I said don't move!" He almost had his gun out. "Don't. oh screw it." I fired once, hitting the doctor in his shoulder. He groaned but still didn't stop.
Poe tackled him, grabbing the bag and throwing it. He pried the gun from the man's fingers and the man stopped fighting.
"Alex, get out of here. Take my truck," Poe said. "Keep in mind though, when I see you again you're going to tell me exactly why you're getting shot at."
I nodded. "Will do, but I'm not sure when that will be. Hopefully it won't be in the emergency room." Poe wasn't in the mood to laugh and I was heading for his truck anyway. I needed to get out of here before the police budded in. Poe would take care of them and they'd just slow me down. I still had to get to the meeting with Matt.