Chapter Two- Bits N Pieces

(Sunday 1pm) Everything seemed to move in slow motion--a tall muscular man held a gun to the boys head. A women's muffled scream in the background. He approached the twosome slowly from behind. If he could just get to the man before things got nasty. He crept up slowly, but the old floor of the warehouse they were in creaked just before he got there. The gun swung around from the boy's head to be leveled at his own head. 'Well' he thought 'not exactly what I had planned.'

"You shouldn't have got involved in this." The giant blond guy said.

"I kind of didn't have a choice."

"Well, its too late now. I'll have to kill you and the boy."

"Why don't you leave the boy out of it? He doesnt know anything." Chance pleaded

A gruff laugh. "Wouldn't be much good at my job now would I if I just let everyone go."

"I didn't say everyone, just the boy."

"You don't exactly have anything to bargain with--I have the boy, and his family. I get rid of you and everything is nice and tidy." he said with a gleam in his eye.

The boy started squirming and Chance took the opportunity to jump forward, kicking at the gun. The force of his kick was not enough to knock the gun from his hand, but it did deflect the shot as the trigger was pulled. He followed the kick with a punch to the face, while using his other arm to fend off the hand holding the gun. The blond let go of the boy, who dashed away, while Chance slammed the gun hand down on his knee in an attempt to knock it free. Too late he realized it was his bad knee. The gun was knocked loose, but while he was grabbing for his knee the giant punched him right in the face. The force of the hit drove him backwards onto the floor, while the big guy dove for the gun which had skittered about six feet away during the scuffle. Chance grabbed at one of his legs and the two became entangled as one on the floor. The blond had a definite weight advantage and after a few rolls managed to end up on top of Chance. He pinned him to the floor with one hand and was starting to reach for the gun which was now a mere foot away. An evil grin came over his face as he reached for it, there was a flash of movement behind the big guy, and then his eyes rolled and he toppled straight into Chance's face. With a little effort Chance rolled the now senseless giant off of him and looked into the face of the boy's mother who was holding a crowbar, with a green tint to her face. The boy's father was offering him a hand up, which he accepted gratefully.

"Thanks" Chance said as he stood, testing is weight carefully on his now very sore knee.

"Anytime."

"Now lets get out of here before his friends show up." As all three, with the boy holding his mothers hand now, cautiously headed out the door.

(Present)............Chance jolted out of his sleep to see sunlight shining into the room. Everything was blurry but a few blinks brought everything back into focus, along with the wall clock which now read 11:23 am. His stomach growled with hunger, but his "dream" was all too real. Bits and pieces of a boy with his mother and father kept flashing through his head. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and a smell of soup (which he really hoped wasnt chicken noodle). He also heard, as usual, his two friends bickering.

"Look, I'm not a medical doctor, .....but shouldn't we be waking him up every so often if he has a concussion." went Winston.

"Isn't that what you're about to do?.........And I dont think chicken noodle is going to go over so well."

"Do YOU have a BETTER idea, DOCTOR Guerrro?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you dude." As he went back to work on his computer.

Winston's head came into view as he proceeded up the stairs.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Feeling any better?" As he headed over to Chance.

"Some." answered Chance. "Please don't tell me thats chicken noodle?" Wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"And just what is wrong with that?" huffed Winston.

"Thats what moms feed their sick kids. Your not my mom, and I'm not sick." and with that he threw back the blanket covering him, swung his legs to the floor and made an attempt to stand up. Forgetting two important things. One--he only had one good leg, and two--changing elevation too quickly with a concussion was NOT a good idea. He yelped, turned white as a sheet, and started to topple sideways. Winston threw the soup tray down onto the coffee table, splashing soup everywhere, and grabbed his arm just in time to keep him from ending up face down on the floor for the second time today.

"Oh yeah." said Winston sarcastically. "You're definitely NOT sick." As he slowly lowered Chance back onto the couch.

"I think I am now." said Chance as he panted, trying not to throw up.

"You going to be ok?" asked Winston with a worried look. Chance had laid back down, and covered his eyes with one hand. "Maybe we need to call a doctor, you...."

But he was interupted. "No!, No doctor. Besides. I think I'm starting to remember something." Chance cautiously raised his hand and opened his eyes and was gratified to see the room had stopped spinning.

"Anything that will help?" Asked Winston as he covered Chance back up with the blanket.

"Yeah--there was this Asian couple, and ........a boy.......maybe 7 or 8 years old.......I think they came to me for help."

"Do you remember a name?"

"No, not yet--maybe in a few minutes.......I think.........I need to be somewhere, or.........do......something....I just....." Chance's words started to fade out as he relaxed back into the pillow.

"Just rest, and I'll bring you some more aspirin for that headache. You want any soup?"

Chance opened his eyes and gave him a withering look before closing them once again.

"Right, no soup." He gathered up the tray, and prepared to descend the stairs to the 'I told you so' that was coming. He looked back once more at Chance who appeared to have dozed off already. 'Why couldn't they have just ONE normal day around here' he thought. 'Just ONE'......

TBC

Thank you for the reviews. I took them to heart and hopefully this chapter will be easier to read than the last. I will try and repair the dialogue in the first chapter once I have time. Since it seems I dont stink too bad at this I will try and update with a chapter every couple of days. I have 5 chapters planned now, but it could morph into 6. Thanks for the help K.B. :) Any comments about what may help improve this story are greatly appreciated. I can see the story in my head but putting it to paper is very challenging. :) Thanks again.