Chapter 4: Awake
When I come to, I don't even open my eyes. I'm 80% sure I'm dead. Dead and buried hopefully. You know, sleeping in eternal darkness doesn't seem like a bad idea. Then the beeping of a vital monitor pierces the foggy in my mind. I'm not dead. Damn.
I slowly open my eyes. It's dark, but I can tell that I'm in a hospital room. The dim glow of the Azure-powered overhead light illuminates the room just enough for me to make out a couch to the right of my bed and a table in the back of the room. I exhale as I slowly recall the events that landed me in this bed. I recall the last words that Archie said to me.
"…will make sure you'll come crawling back to me. I'll be waiting for you Evan Foster."
What did he inject me with? Come crawling back? I put my hands over my face. My head is absolutely pounding from the punch he gave me. My blood begins to boil.
"Archie… when I find you, I'm gonna…" my thoughts are interrupted by a knock at the door.
Two doctors walk in. A nurse followed by…
"Mom…" I say hoarsely.
My mom rushes over to the side of my bed and feels my forehead.
"Evan… oh my goodness are you okay? What happened? I saw you get wheeled in and then…"
"Mom calm down I'm fine. I promise." I take her hands to calm her down. "But how'd I get here?"
My mom smiles. "Your friend Archie called the ER for you. He said you passed out on the way to the bus stop. He was in here with you for most of the time you were unconscious."
My blood runs cold and I go silent.
"Evan?" my mom asks, concerned. "Evan what is it?"
"Nothing…" I whisper.
She sits down on the couch next to me as the nurse pours some sort of medicine into a cup.
"You can tell me anything, Evan," my mom says, staring me in the eyes.
I muster up a small smile. "I know, mom."
The doctor hands me a small plastic cup with some sort of foggy blue liquid.
She walks over to the door and turns to look at my mom.
My mom sighs and stands up. "I'm still on the clock so I have get going. Make sure you drink that. And don't be afraid to call if you need anything."
"I'll be fine mom, I promise."
She smiles at me and walks out of the room. The nurse closes the door behind her.
I'm left in the room once more, alone with my thoughts.
"Archie was in here with me, huh?" I mutter, staring into my medicine cup.
This whole ordeal is so strange to me. Why was Archie so bent on getting me those pills? And why me specifically? I put the medicine cup to my lips and down it in one shot. It doesn't taste like much of anything. But there is a faint aftertaste. Something I can't place.
I lounge back and close my eyes. This city is so messed up. Of all the place to live, this has to be the worst. Maybe I could talk my mom into moving… Suddenly there is a loud crash down the hall, followed by a scream. I jolt upright, causing my head to spin. The screams continue, followed by more crashing, glass shattering.
"What the…" I whisper. My heart rate accelerates and so does the beeping from the heart rate monitor.
The crashing gets closer, and the yelling intensifies.
"Someone grab him!"
"Call the police!"
"Get down!"
My heart rate quickens even further, and the room begins to spin. I feel like I'm about to float out of my skin.
"Oh, no…" I suddenly recognize the strange taste of the medicine from earlier. It tasted like Rush pills… Dipotyemene.
No. It couldn't be… I can't get a Rush like this off of just dipotymene. The hospital would never allow that. What was in that cup?
I try to get out of the hospital bed. I pull the IV tube out of my arm and stand up, steadying myself on the bed. My body feels so light, but all of my motor control is gone. I stumble towards the door and reach for the handle, but something stops me just in front of it.
"What the…" I try to grab the handle, but my body won't go.
Then I hear it, footsteps. It sounds like bare feet pounding the floor… leading right to my door.
I jump away from the door just a man in a hospital gown busts through the door. His gown is speckled with blood. I land on my hospital bed and scramble to the floor on the other side.
"What the hell?!"
The man stops in the middle of the room, and I get a good look at him. He's average height, like maybe 5'6"? He has brown, unkempt hair. Then his face… whoa. His face is dark purple with bright blue, glowing veins. He's obviously on Rush… but this is insane. This is new… new and evil. What's going on?
The man lets out a guttural cry. And I could… see it? No way, I could see the sound he made. The cry came out in blue waves. The waves filled the room and rushed over me. Suddenly I could see blue spots everywhere. Not in my vision, but almost like in the space around me itself. I look around at the blue spots… faint but they stand out to me. My medicine cup, now on the floor, is full of the blue streaks. Are these Rush particles? Like residue or something? Why can I see it then? Was it the monster? The medicine? Or maybe…
Suddenly I snap back to reality, just in time to see a door come flying at my head. I dive out of the way, and the door smashes into the wall behind me. I take another look at the man, and I'm stunned. I could see his veins, his heart, even his brain. They are all bright blue. He has THAT much dipotyemene in his system?
"Sick…" I mutter to myself.
Suddenly two policemen show up in the doorway of my hospital room.
They spot the monster in my room first, then they see me.
"Are you okay, kid?" They call out to me.
I nod.
"Are you sure?" they call again.
This confuses me. Am I sure? But I didn't have time to think about this because a chair flies at me next. I dive into a corner and the chair smashes a mirror on the wall. Glass shards rain down everywhere and I cover my head from the pieces. In doing so I catch I glimpse of my reflection in the shards on the floor. I do a double take. My eyes are blue… and glowing. I scramble back away from the mess.
The police pull out guns, but not ones with bullets. These are government issued, Azure Guns, or A-Guns for short. Probably the only thing that came from the invention of Azure energy that I care about. The weapons. They open fire on the beast, but the beams do little to stop him and only anger him. He turns to face the officers and roars angrily. The police flee but the monster gives chase. I run out to see what's going on, as well.
I peek out of my hospital room, now wide open. The lobby is in complete chaos. The bodies of patients and faculty are strewn about, and there are gurneys and hospital beds everywhere. This dude did some damage for sure. More officers have shown up and they've circled the man, guns drawn. I catch a glimpse of my mom down the hall, helping patients out of the building.
"Mom!" I call out, but my voice is lost in the panic. Only one person hears me. The monster whips around to look at me… and then my mother. He roars once again and rushes at her, knocking the police aside in the process.
"No!" I scream, I sprint after the monster, making my legs move as fast as I can, but even with the Rush I'm on, it's not enough.
"Go go go go go…" I mutter, willing my legs to somehow move faster; praying that I'll miraculously become fast enough to save my mother. I wasn't about to let this thing hurt my mom. Suddenly, I feel a cold rush through my veins; and once the cold fills my body, the cold turns to a burn. My legs pick up speed and I'm quickly gaining on the monster.
"I'll reach…"
I'm almost there. C'mon…
"I'll reach!"
I dive for the man's legs and grab them, locking them together. The man loses his balance, and he hits the ground hard. His head smashes into the floor, cracking the floor and knocking him out cold. Purple blood pools around his head.
I shakily stand up, and all I hear is ringing in my ears. I can't keep my own footing, I stumble from side to side, unable to find my equilibrium. What's wrong with me? The hospital seems too bright… the ringing is too loud. I cup my hands over my ears, my head feels like it's splitting. I need to get out of here, now! I run, my newfound speed carrying me down the stairs and out the front door without any trouble.
I stand outside of the hospital building, breathing heavily, but not from fatigue. It's still dark out, so maybe super early in the morning? I feel… amazing. The dizziness is fading, and I stand up straight. My head, however, still feels like crap. I have a splitting headache, and the ringing is killing me. I walk over to the bus stop to wait. Then I remember I don't have my bus pass. I sigh. Looks like I have to run some more. I have to figure this shit out, but first I need to sleep. I take the back alley and race home.