'Godzilla and The Smog Monster"
Chapter Twenty-Seven
John's cry also woke his roommate.
Roy was off his cot and at his partner's side in seconds. This time, he was able to get his buddy back into a horizontal position—before his BP could drop completely off the charts and cause him to lose consciousness. He released his traumatized friend's trembling right shoulder just long enough to tug one of the room's back wall lights on. When he looked back down, he saw that Gage's terror-filled eyes were, indeed, still open and focused up at the ceiling.
"That…son-of-a-bitch…shot me," Johnny muttered rather dazedly, once his respirations had returned a little nearer to normal. His hurting head slowly turned in his rescuer's direction and the two of them locked gazes. "Didn't he."
DeSoto's vision blurred and he gave each of his buddy's still slightly trembling shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah," he shakily replied, in a voice barely above a whisper. "That son-of-a-bitch shot you."
Confusion—mixed with pain—promptly replaced the anger in the gunshot victim's own blurry eyes. "Why-y?"
"To keep you from identifying him. Yah see, up until just now, the authorities thought the guy that shot you was dead. He obviously wanted them to keep thinking that. So he had to get you 'out of the way'."
"Yeah…well…He wouldn't a' had to shoot me. Because I didn't really get a good enough look at his face, to be able to identify him. When I entered the office, the guy had his back to me. When he finally turned around, the first thing he did was pull this big gun out of his pocket. Believe me, from that moment on, all of my attention was fully focused on his gun—not his face." The paramedic stopped speaking and gritted his teeth. The pain he was now experiencing was quickly becoming unbearable.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor.
John's sad, pain-filled eyes drifted toward the room's open doorway.
A nurse hurried into the room and up to his hospital bed. The woman administered his pain med' and then took a quick set of vitals. Following a brief, but thorough, patient evaluation, she replaced his chart and then turned to leave.
The patient's eyes followed his pretty caregiver, as she stepped past the armed police officer that was still posted beside his door—and then disappeared.
"The cops must think he's gonna try to kill me again, huh…" Gage glumly realized, as the pain gradually began to recede.
"That's because he did try to kill you again," Roy reluctantly informed him. "In fact, he did more than 'try'."
His buddy's bandaged head swung back in his direction and the two of them locked gazes again.
DeSoto gave his shocked amigo an exceedingly grim nod. "The second day you were here. He snuck into the hospital, knocked out the nurses on this floor and…suffocated you. Bryce was able to chase the guy off and start CPR. By the time I arrived, he and Dr. Tyler had your heart going again."
John considered all that over for a few moments. Then his sad face suddenly filled with concern. "The nurses! They okay?"
Roy couldn't help but smile. "They're all fine. In fact, they're already back on duty."
His partner looked tremendously relieved, and then curious. "Did Brice call you?"
DeSoto shook his head.
"Dr. Tyler?"
Roy gave his blond head another shake. "You're prob'ly not gonna believe this," he predicted, "but it was you. I'd fallen asleep on the couch. I heard you calling my name, and woke up, fully expecting to find you standing in my living room. When I didn't see you there, I figured I must a' been dreamin'. So I tried to go back to sleep. But then I heard you calling me again—just as clearly as could be. Pretty crazy, huh?"
"Wanna hear somethin' even crazier?" Johnny quickly countered. "Remember last year, when you fell through the floor in that lady's kitchen? Everybody was looking for you at the front of the house, because the guy's from Truck 12 said they'd seen you go in that way. But I knew that you were in the basement. I kept…seein' 'things'. I could actually see that pool table, and that water heater…and that furnace. I actually felt the heat on my chest, from those burning boards that were layin' across you. And I was wide awake, at the time."
"I always wondered how you guys were able to find me so fast. When I asked Cap' about it, he said that you had heard me calling for help. Couldn't quite figure out how I'd managed to do that, though. Since I was unconscious."
"Well, I had to come up with something. I mean, I couldn't very well tell him that I was seein' 'things'."
The two 'telepathic' friends traded grins.
Seeing that his partner was no longer pained—or petrified, Roy tugged the wall light off. He returned to his comfortable cot and quickly climbed back beneath his covers. "Goodnight, Johnny."
"Cool!" Johnny exclaimed. "This is just like bein' back at the Station. Goodnight, Roy." He allowed his increasingly heavy eyelids to drop.
Several silent seconds passed.
"Ro-oy?"
"Yeah, Johnny?"
"Who won the Rose Bowl? Do you know?"
Once again, Roy couldn't help but smile. "Washington beat Michigan 27 to 20."
"Damn. How 'bout the Sugar Bowl?"
"The Crimson Tide swamped the Buckeyes 35 to 6."
"Woo hoo! That means that Chet and Marco owe me ten bucks. Hey, Roy?"
DeSoto exhaled a weary sigh. "Yeah?"
"Thanks…for everything."
"You're welcome. Now, go to sleep."
Nothing more was said after that.
There was nothing more that needed to be said.
TBC