An Excerpt from Jonny's Journal: "Bullet Wounds"
This is an excerpt from Jonny Quest's journal, which can be found on LiveJournal under the username "actionmanquest". It preludes another excerpt entitled "Hadji's Wedding." Both of these entries can be found on LiveJournal under the subjects "What the deal is." and "More on Hadji's Wedding".
This entry is dated 12 June 2004.
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I'm posting during this hour of the night because I'm in too much pain to sleep. Times like this its hard to breathe, and I don't want to take anymore pills than I absolutely have to. Dad always watches how much I take, even though I take less than he would allow me to. All I need right now is an addiction.
Last Summer started out nicely. The first few days were bliss. I played with Bandit, surfed, dominated Jessie in Quest World (not really, but don't tell her I said that), and was just happy.
After a week or so of lounging around the compound Race had to go to Texas. He wouldn't say why, but Dad went with him. I assumed something interesting was going on out there, so I did what I always do: I conned Jessie into following them.
They weren't surprised to see us when we caught up with them, but Race got really stern. I swear you could've used the crease in his brow to, uh... stick something in. My brain isn't functioning right now, but you know what I mean.
Race was there to do a job for his old boss. They called him out specifically because it was someone he had dealt with before, and someone who had it out for him.
Dad convinced him that it was better that 'she' was with 'us' so 'we' would know that 'she' is okay, and I knew who he meant, and a got the gist of what was going on. Race was saying things like "I can't let them know I have a daughter; they can't find out," and "This is why I wasn't supposed to have a family; I knew this when I took this job."
He was afraid that whoever it was, he refused to say anymore about it to Jessie and me, would get to him through his family.
And they did. If I had just thought a little harder on why Race had that look in his eyes when he told us we were staying home, I wouldn't've gone, and it wouldn't've happened. We stuck together, and Dad didn't leave us even when Race had to. We stayed in the same room as Dad and Race, and none of us were out of each others sight.
Race says now that they must've known beforehand that he had a daughter because it was only two days before they found an opportunity to take her. The two of us went down the hall to get some ice; we didn't even leave our floor. I saw the woman walk in our direction down the hall without thinking anything of it, and while I was filling the ice bucket she somehow managed to get ahold of Jessie that obviously caught her off guard because she didn't have time to yell.
I jumped on the woman's back just as Jessie broke free of her, but neither of us noticed the elevator door opening. The woman shoved Jessie towards the elevator and the guys pulled her in. After the doors shut the woman turned and ran down the hall. I prayed that they were going to the lowest level and pulled out my cell phone.
If that elevator were a person I may have killed them. It was going so slow it was torture, but it was the first thing I saw and I didn't know where the stairs were. I was on the phone with Race who was in the car said he would call Dad and the police when he could get off the phone when he knew where we were going.
I got out in the underground parking and I wasn't far behind these guys, though there wasn't much I could do right then and I saw they had some means of persuading Jessie. I couldn't see what it was exactly, but I didn't dare let them know I had followed them.
I slid over to the motorcycle parking and hotwired a bike just as the woman from before ran out of the stairwell and jumped into the car. I tailed them, but I couldn't drive the motorcycle on the phone and Race couldn't hear me on it anyway, so I told Race which direction they had turned out of the parking garage and hung up. I assume he called Dad and the police, but that wasn't on my mind at the time.
They drove outside of the city and into a new-looking suburban housing development. There were kids playing outside as they calmly drove down the street.
We weren't speeding to I called Race and told him the street name and number of where we were, and he said he was on his way.
He told me not to go inside the house, but I did. Not immediately though. I know how it goes. They have to show what they've brought and make crude remarks when they arrive, and then they'd leave her somewhere. I just hoped they left her alone; I didn't know how many people were in there. At least three.
I went around from window to window and peeked in. I saw the woman and the two men in the living room; they were talking, and one was holding a TV remote. I saw one man walk downstairs nursing a bleeding lip, so I climbed onto the fence, pulled myself onto the garage roof, and walked over to the window of a second-story room.
It was empty, so I made my way on in. The kids playing outside pointed and seemed to think it was funny.
She wasn't in the first room, but she was in the second. The place didn't have very high security, for which I was more thankful than you would believe. I didn't see anyone except for the four that were downstairs, and the room she was in wasn't locked.
She was sitting at the foot of the bed, her hands duct taped in front of her but over her head on the bedpost. Her ankles were duct taped too, but she was already pulling at the duct tape with her teeth.
I felt for my pocket knife and cursed myself to remember exactly where it was sitting in our hotel room, so I had to unravel the tape. Neither of us said a word, just moved quickly to get things done.
It was when she was untying her ankles that I became angry. I saw that she had blood on her lip, and it wasn't hers. I thought of the man I saw walking downstairs and noticed the color or her shirt was torn, and that her neck was red from the friction of the collar against it.
We started to go back out the way I came in when one of the men from the elevator turned to walk upstairs and saw us. Jessie continued to run for the window, but I hesitated. I don't think I'll ever admit it to her, but I hesitated to run and jump out that window because I wanted to fight them. I was so angry, and I just wanted to hurt them all.
If I had time to think about it for the other half of that second, I would've continued running, but I didn't.
The man with the bloody lip had his gun already in his hand. He only fired once, but I'm glad because once was more than enough.
I tried to hold myself up against the wall but I think I was already on the floor. I know Jessie screamed because I'll never forget that scream. Everything was fuzzy but I could see her hovering over me and I know she was trying to stop the blood that felt like it was going directly from my heart to the floor.
I know Race kicked the door right in at that point because I tried to get up, but Jessie pushed me back down and then laid over me. And that was it, I was done.
Jessie told me later that Race wasn't alone and things were taken care of pretty quickly. An ambulance showed up with the police, and in it I went.
I woke up twice in the ambulance, but I don't think anyone knew I was awake. I felt like I just wanted to go to sleep, but Jessie wouldn't shut up she just kept… wailing. And then I saw blood all over her and I was out again.
Someone at the hospital told Dad and Race and Jessie I was dead! I couldn't believe it when Jessie told me that. I guess I did die a couple of times, but not long enough to go tell my family.
The entrance wound is just a little bit above my heart, veered left for some reason, struck a rib, and then penetrated my lung and came to a rest in my lung tissue two centimeters from my spine. After they told my family I wasn't dead the doctor gave me a 1% chance of surviving, which I guess was really good news after the last thing the doctors said.
I got my information from Jessie because it was easier to talk to her about it. She told me that the slug was too close to my spine to be removed immediately so its still in there right now, even almost a year later. She was also the only one who would tell me that the doctors said that if I lived I would likely have brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain each time my heart stopped. I… I don't think I've brained my damage. Haha.
I stayed in the hospital way too long. After the first couple of weeks I flew to a hospital closer to home, but I still didn't get to actually leave the damn place for another month. I still go to physical therapy, but I don't have to use a wheelchair as much as I had been. Being dependant was terrible. Having to have help go to the bathroom was the worst. Hadji did it a lot at first, but he had to go back home so other people had to do it. Not that they had to stand over me or anything, but it sucked.
In a few more months I'll get the slug taken out. Sometimes I swear I can feel it eating at my insides, so I hope that getting it out will feel like a big relief. I'm sure I'll get better, but the pain is pretty near constant, and it gets worse than it is now.
I think things are pretty normal right now, but I get tired easily and its hard to breathe pretty often.
I did not miss Hadji's wedding though. I mean, the guy's a sultan, he can't just postpone the thing, and there's no way I'd miss it.
I left the hospital for three days, and the same nurse who did most of my caretaking at the hospital came with me. Dad got nervous about her being all excited about the trip and the wedding, but I thought it was funny.
Jessie got her place of honor I the wedding: She wheeled me on down the isle. She wheeled me around the whole day; it hurt too much to do it myself and the idea of a motorized chair irked me. She volunteered to push me a lot, actually.
It was a beautiful wedding. A real classy event, and everyone was happy. I got to know the bride a little better, and she scored major points by calling me brother. I didn't expect that.
So I've just been busy… trying not to die. I'm trying not to let myself get out of shape, but I spend a lot of time lying down. I went back to taking online classes, and Jessie stayed home to do the same.
I'm going to go to bed before the painkillers start to wear off again.
This is an excerpt from Jonny Quest's journal, which can be found on LiveJournal under the username "actionmanquest". It preludes another excerpt entitled "Hadji's Wedding." Both of these entries can be found on LiveJournal under the subjects "What the deal is." and "More on Hadji's Wedding".
This entry is dated 12 June 2004.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I'm posting during this hour of the night because I'm in too much pain to sleep. Times like this its hard to breathe, and I don't want to take anymore pills than I absolutely have to. Dad always watches how much I take, even though I take less than he would allow me to. All I need right now is an addiction.
Last Summer started out nicely. The first few days were bliss. I played with Bandit, surfed, dominated Jessie in Quest World (not really, but don't tell her I said that), and was just happy.
After a week or so of lounging around the compound Race had to go to Texas. He wouldn't say why, but Dad went with him. I assumed something interesting was going on out there, so I did what I always do: I conned Jessie into following them.
They weren't surprised to see us when we caught up with them, but Race got really stern. I swear you could've used the crease in his brow to, uh... stick something in. My brain isn't functioning right now, but you know what I mean.
Race was there to do a job for his old boss. They called him out specifically because it was someone he had dealt with before, and someone who had it out for him.
Dad convinced him that it was better that 'she' was with 'us' so 'we' would know that 'she' is okay, and I knew who he meant, and a got the gist of what was going on. Race was saying things like "I can't let them know I have a daughter; they can't find out," and "This is why I wasn't supposed to have a family; I knew this when I took this job."
He was afraid that whoever it was, he refused to say anymore about it to Jessie and me, would get to him through his family.
And they did. If I had just thought a little harder on why Race had that look in his eyes when he told us we were staying home, I wouldn't've gone, and it wouldn't've happened. We stuck together, and Dad didn't leave us even when Race had to. We stayed in the same room as Dad and Race, and none of us were out of each others sight.
Race says now that they must've known beforehand that he had a daughter because it was only two days before they found an opportunity to take her. The two of us went down the hall to get some ice; we didn't even leave our floor. I saw the woman walk in our direction down the hall without thinking anything of it, and while I was filling the ice bucket she somehow managed to get ahold of Jessie that obviously caught her off guard because she didn't have time to yell.
I jumped on the woman's back just as Jessie broke free of her, but neither of us noticed the elevator door opening. The woman shoved Jessie towards the elevator and the guys pulled her in. After the doors shut the woman turned and ran down the hall. I prayed that they were going to the lowest level and pulled out my cell phone.
If that elevator were a person I may have killed them. It was going so slow it was torture, but it was the first thing I saw and I didn't know where the stairs were. I was on the phone with Race who was in the car said he would call Dad and the police when he could get off the phone when he knew where we were going.
I got out in the underground parking and I wasn't far behind these guys, though there wasn't much I could do right then and I saw they had some means of persuading Jessie. I couldn't see what it was exactly, but I didn't dare let them know I had followed them.
I slid over to the motorcycle parking and hotwired a bike just as the woman from before ran out of the stairwell and jumped into the car. I tailed them, but I couldn't drive the motorcycle on the phone and Race couldn't hear me on it anyway, so I told Race which direction they had turned out of the parking garage and hung up. I assume he called Dad and the police, but that wasn't on my mind at the time.
They drove outside of the city and into a new-looking suburban housing development. There were kids playing outside as they calmly drove down the street.
We weren't speeding to I called Race and told him the street name and number of where we were, and he said he was on his way.
He told me not to go inside the house, but I did. Not immediately though. I know how it goes. They have to show what they've brought and make crude remarks when they arrive, and then they'd leave her somewhere. I just hoped they left her alone; I didn't know how many people were in there. At least three.
I went around from window to window and peeked in. I saw the woman and the two men in the living room; they were talking, and one was holding a TV remote. I saw one man walk downstairs nursing a bleeding lip, so I climbed onto the fence, pulled myself onto the garage roof, and walked over to the window of a second-story room.
It was empty, so I made my way on in. The kids playing outside pointed and seemed to think it was funny.
She wasn't in the first room, but she was in the second. The place didn't have very high security, for which I was more thankful than you would believe. I didn't see anyone except for the four that were downstairs, and the room she was in wasn't locked.
She was sitting at the foot of the bed, her hands duct taped in front of her but over her head on the bedpost. Her ankles were duct taped too, but she was already pulling at the duct tape with her teeth.
I felt for my pocket knife and cursed myself to remember exactly where it was sitting in our hotel room, so I had to unravel the tape. Neither of us said a word, just moved quickly to get things done.
It was when she was untying her ankles that I became angry. I saw that she had blood on her lip, and it wasn't hers. I thought of the man I saw walking downstairs and noticed the color or her shirt was torn, and that her neck was red from the friction of the collar against it.
We started to go back out the way I came in when one of the men from the elevator turned to walk upstairs and saw us. Jessie continued to run for the window, but I hesitated. I don't think I'll ever admit it to her, but I hesitated to run and jump out that window because I wanted to fight them. I was so angry, and I just wanted to hurt them all.
If I had time to think about it for the other half of that second, I would've continued running, but I didn't.
The man with the bloody lip had his gun already in his hand. He only fired once, but I'm glad because once was more than enough.
I tried to hold myself up against the wall but I think I was already on the floor. I know Jessie screamed because I'll never forget that scream. Everything was fuzzy but I could see her hovering over me and I know she was trying to stop the blood that felt like it was going directly from my heart to the floor.
I know Race kicked the door right in at that point because I tried to get up, but Jessie pushed me back down and then laid over me. And that was it, I was done.
Jessie told me later that Race wasn't alone and things were taken care of pretty quickly. An ambulance showed up with the police, and in it I went.
I woke up twice in the ambulance, but I don't think anyone knew I was awake. I felt like I just wanted to go to sleep, but Jessie wouldn't shut up she just kept… wailing. And then I saw blood all over her and I was out again.
Someone at the hospital told Dad and Race and Jessie I was dead! I couldn't believe it when Jessie told me that. I guess I did die a couple of times, but not long enough to go tell my family.
The entrance wound is just a little bit above my heart, veered left for some reason, struck a rib, and then penetrated my lung and came to a rest in my lung tissue two centimeters from my spine. After they told my family I wasn't dead the doctor gave me a 1% chance of surviving, which I guess was really good news after the last thing the doctors said.
I got my information from Jessie because it was easier to talk to her about it. She told me that the slug was too close to my spine to be removed immediately so its still in there right now, even almost a year later. She was also the only one who would tell me that the doctors said that if I lived I would likely have brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain each time my heart stopped. I… I don't think I've brained my damage. Haha.
I stayed in the hospital way too long. After the first couple of weeks I flew to a hospital closer to home, but I still didn't get to actually leave the damn place for another month. I still go to physical therapy, but I don't have to use a wheelchair as much as I had been. Being dependant was terrible. Having to have help go to the bathroom was the worst. Hadji did it a lot at first, but he had to go back home so other people had to do it. Not that they had to stand over me or anything, but it sucked.
In a few more months I'll get the slug taken out. Sometimes I swear I can feel it eating at my insides, so I hope that getting it out will feel like a big relief. I'm sure I'll get better, but the pain is pretty near constant, and it gets worse than it is now.
I think things are pretty normal right now, but I get tired easily and its hard to breathe pretty often.
I did not miss Hadji's wedding though. I mean, the guy's a sultan, he can't just postpone the thing, and there's no way I'd miss it.
I left the hospital for three days, and the same nurse who did most of my caretaking at the hospital came with me. Dad got nervous about her being all excited about the trip and the wedding, but I thought it was funny.
Jessie got her place of honor I the wedding: She wheeled me on down the isle. She wheeled me around the whole day; it hurt too much to do it myself and the idea of a motorized chair irked me. She volunteered to push me a lot, actually.
It was a beautiful wedding. A real classy event, and everyone was happy. I got to know the bride a little better, and she scored major points by calling me brother. I didn't expect that.
So I've just been busy… trying not to die. I'm trying not to let myself get out of shape, but I spend a lot of time lying down. I went back to taking online classes, and Jessie stayed home to do the same.
I'm going to go to bed before the painkillers start to wear off again.