Michaelle looked up from the service desk to see a young man being wheeled in, surrounded by emergency staff.
“What’s this?” She asked one of them (Man #1)
“Kid got hit by a car.” He told her. “Pretty amazing he wasn’t killed from what I hear. Apparantly he ran straight out in front of the car and stopped. ‘Like a deer caught in headlights’. Ha! Give me a break. Stupid kid.”
“What about the driver?” (Man #1) turned and pointed at a middle aged man sitting in the waiting room being councilled. Michaelle knodded and followed (man#1) over to the cubical holding the kid. The medical staff had their hands full trying to keep him still and on the streatcher. They were now rezorting to tying his arms and legs down with (ticker tape), so they could sedated him. Still he thrashed about, yelling like his life depended on it.
“No broken bones,” (Nurse #1) stated to Michaelle. “Just cuts and bruises. Doesnt seem to have any internal haemeraging. Looks like a concussion. I reccomend a CT scan, just to make sure that’s all it is.” She turned to leave the cubical.
“You’re lucky, kid.” Michaelle said. “Not all people who are hit by cars walk away so easily.”
“Let me go!” He screamed, pure terror in his eyes. “She’s coming! You gotta let me go! She’s coming for me!”
Michaelle’s brow furrowed. She’d seen this kid somewhere before, she knew it. But where? She leaned over to (nurse #1). “Any ID?”
(Nurse#1) shook her head. “Nah... But he’s got some nasty looking slashes across his shoulder. The kind an animal would make. If it’s claws were make of kitchen knives, that is. They’re almost completely healed, but that kind of thing wouldn’t go un noticed. I’ll go check the records.”
“Ta.” She refocussed on the kid again. He was still screaming about a “she” comeing for him. “I’ll take care of him.” She told the others and they left.
Michaelle examined the nasty looking cut on his head. Now his eyes were not quite as allert as before, and he was not making half the racket. She smiled. Sedatives were very useful things.
“You’ve got to let me go.” He said. “When she finds me she’ll-”
“Tell me who ‘She’ is.” Michaelle cut him off.
He tried to open his eyes wider and acually looked at her. “You... are familliar. Somehow.” Hmmm... So it wasn’t just her.
“Don’t change the subjet.” She said with a smile. “who is this ‘she’? Your mother?”
“NO! She’s a monster! She likes to kill. I don’t know what she is exactly, just that she’s a MONSTER!” He closed his eyes, tears starting to pore. “So much BLOOD! Blood every where! She likes the taste. Ahhh, I’m gonna be sick!” Michaelle held a kidney dish for him while he leaned to the side and vomited blood. Her eyes darkened. So much for no internal injuries.“Not mine.” He gasped after he had finnished. “Do you understand?! I don’t want to do it! She makes me do it! I have to watch her do... You’ve got to let me go or she’ll come here to find me!” He pulled at his bonds. “All the people here will be in DANGER!”
Michaelle calmly put the kidney dish on a trolly, and wiped the blood from his mouth. Her expression seriouse as she considered her options.
“You don’t believe me, do you.” He sighed sadly. “No one ever does.”
“Tell me your name.” She ordered.
The kid blinked, confusion on his face. “Sam.” He said cautiously. “Atkins.” She scribbled something down on a clip board. “Why is that important?”
Michaelle flashed him a brilliant smile. “Because we can’t be going around calling you ‘mister X’ can we?”
He stared at her.
-*-
At that moment the voices of three people could be heared outside the cubical.
(secretary-type-person): “Ambulance needed out at Mettafella fields! ...Again.”
(Man #1): “What is it this time?”
(Secretary-type-person): “A farmer found some shredded bodies down by the train tracks. The police are already there.”
(officer#2): “Isn’t that near where we just picked up-” (inlined to the cubiacal that ‘sam’ was in. Man #1 knodded).
They left.
-*-
“It was her!” Sam wailed, then went quiet, moaning. “Ohhh... She’s coming. Why can’t she just leave me alone?!”
“Who is she?” Michaelle asked firmly. “I know you said she was a blood thirsty monster of some kind, but come on, I need a name here if I am to help you. And don’t think of trying to get out of here either. We have to give you a CT scan first, so you’ll be staying at least the night. Especially if you know something about what happened near where you were hit. The cops should come in to talk to you soon.”
The boy groaned. “I’m running out of time! If I keep moving there is a chance she wont find me again. At least for a little while. And if I can get away from other people, then no one will get...” He closed his eyes, shuddering violently. “So much blood...” He whispered. “and my head really hurts.”
“Just one of those days, eh?” MIchaelle increased the doseage of painkillers he had been given, and he sighed, visibly relaxing. “What does she call her self when she is, ah... with you?” She pressed.
“Weapon.” He breathed. “And she’s close. Real close.”
Michaelle sat back in a chair thinking. “Hmmm... that would explain a few things.” She laughed to her self then
reached for some scissors. VICTORY! Sam watched her, his eyes even more cloudy than before. “There’s no reason for
you to be worried, Sam.” She cut the (ticker-tape). “If I’m not with you, some one else will be. Little wanna-be-miss
Weapon wont be able to harm you or any one else. I prommise.” She stroked his head. “Now, you get some rest. I’ll be
back in an hour to check on you. One of my friends should be here before that. “ She traced her thumb over his forhead
in what he made out to be a cross, and he shivered as he felt it tingle. Then warmth spread throughout his body and
he fell asleep.
-*-
Sam opened his eyes as he heard some one humming a tune. A little girl? Smiling at him? This seemed just as odd as the fact that he couldn’t remember being moved into this ward. Now he had a tube stuck in his arm as well as a headache. Oh joy. What a marvelous day this was. A quick look with his eyes showed him that there was only one other bed in this ward, and it was empty. The little girl just sat beside him and smiled that huge sunbeam at him.
“Hi!” She chirped.
“Hi.” He grunted, as he moved to look at her better. “Who are you?”
“I’m one of Michaelle’s friends, Miryam. And you’re Sam. Pleased to meet you!”
Slowly he smiled back at her. There was something not quite... normal... about this girl, but for some reason he couldn’t get his mind around it. But he felt perfectly safe around her, which was not a thing he felt often, so he liked her company. Actually, it was almost like he had known her for a long time. They started chatting about all sorts of things. Tv shows, movies, sports, clothes, computer games... She was really up with the times for someone so young. He decided. But... she was holding something back. Some inner secret that she was just dying to tell him. Not something horrible, like his- he could basicly see the light and joy radiating from her because of it. It was the most beautiful thing he had seen.
“So, when do you get out of here?” She asked.
Here it comes, he thought. “As soon as possible.”
“Not as soon as humanly possible?” She giggled.
“What do you mean?”
“You feel that running away will keep you safe? Nu-uh. Doesn’t work that way.”
“Wha?”
“Michaelle told me about what’s bothering you. I hope you don’t mind, but you see, it’s easier if you know who they are if you’re going to fight them.”
“Fight?”
“Yeah, ‘weapon’. And simmilar.”
That was when he figured out what was ‘not quite normal’ about her. “Miryam?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you wearing armor?”
She laughed, pure joy. “Oh! I knew it! I knew it! You’re one of us! Not yet of course, but you could be...”
He reached out to touch her shoulder, and his hand passed through the armor plate. His eyes widened, and he sprang back away from her with a shriek of terror. “You’re like HER! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!”
Miryam looked confused and tried to sooth him. Then she looked hurt. “If you are sugesting I am anything like that evil Weapon, you are WRONG!!! I am HUMAN! I am PHYSICAL!”
“But your armor?!”
“My armor,” She brightened, realising what he was actually talking about. She giggled. “My armor is spiritural. Given by the great God Almighty.”
Sam gasped. “Forbiden power.” He looked about to see if any one was listening. “I shouldn’t be talking to you!”
Miryam chuckled. “Only forbidden by worldly standards. In truth it is the most powerful of powers, and the only one which will save you from your little problem with those blood thirsty monsters. That’s if you want it to.”
“Monsters? As in PLURAL?!”
“Yep!” She beamed.
Oh boy...
-*-
Sam: “So what happens if she comes while you’re here? Won’t you be afraid?
Miryam: “They’re more scared of us. Remember, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’”
Sam: “You seem to know a whole lot about this.”
Miryam : *winking* “Practice!”
Sam: “But what can I do when I’m alone? She’s so strong. And, I’m embarassed to say this, but she... hurts me if I don’t do what she says.”
Miryam: “you’re never on your own.” She winked again. “God is always with you, and His Spirit protects and guides.”
Sam: “So what do you do when you’re faced with one of these... things.”
Miryam: “I say... “ *loud voice* “in the name of Yeshua ha Mashiach, the son of the great Adoni on High, I command you to go back to the pits of hell where you belong!!!”
Somewhere in the distance, Sam thought he heard the sound of the rumbling of thunder and a woman shrieking in pain.