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+--- Thread: A Legend in Hiding (/showthread.php?tid=171768)
A Legend in Hiding - Hemlocke - 07-04-2019
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Hemlocke had been trudging through the vast and thick forest of Erie for almost a full day now, the sun was setting and he would surely freeze to death should the sun set on him now. His knuckles clenched white upon a crate he had been carrying with him for about 7 miles now. Watching the forest's every move, every sway of a branch, his right hand lay on the gatling laser that hung from his right hip. Another mile more and he stumbled across a woodland cabin, night had fallen and the only reason he could see was because of the crimson robotic eye, that wouldn't look good should Holiday see a red light in the dark, matching what could be a tactical laser of some sort. Hemlocke didn't much care. He drug the crate up the steps onto the deck of the house and placed it against the door, dropping to his knees and laying his arms on the crate, resting a bit before uttering the words. "F*ck me... Finally." Hemlocke pulled himself up off the crate, knowing full well if he opened that door he might set off a trap that could end him entirely. Deciding instead to move to the window and peer inside to see if there was any light or see any figures inside. His right hand still lay on the gatling laser of his right hip, ready to kill some body guards if he had too. "Damnit, Holiday. Where the hell are you?"
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Doc Holliday - 07-04-2019
Having barely laid down after a long day, he heard a thump on the deck outside. This meant only one of two known things. Either one of the horses got out of the stable and came to the deck or he had an unexpected visitor. Quietly rising to his bare feet, he slipped his robe loosely around him. Hopefully he wouldn't have to venture to far in a robe and a pair of sweats. He tucked a pistol in his robe pocket and quietly grabbed his shotgun heading towards the steps to the first floor. Each step was soft and quiet. The roof of the porch didn't allow him to see anyone.
Once downstairs, he avoided the window to the porch. He was a wanted man in Bretonia so he didn't present a target. Doc knew his cabin well so he could navigate the dark quite well. He looked out the peephole of his door and saw a man looking in the main window. It was a good thing he avoided it as he only saw a silhouette of the man outside. At the door was a crate. Quietly, Doc took a back door out and used the stones of his chimney as cover as he pointed his shotgun at the man and pulled back the hammers of both barrels.
"Off of my porch, Boy, with both hands up," was all he said.
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Hemlocke - 07-04-2019
Hemlocke turned his gaze toward Holiday, recognizing the voice he took his hand off the gatling laser that he was too weak to lift at this point, his robotic eye casting a crimson light over the porch. "So I did manage to find you then, I honestly expected it to be harder... I killed anyone who tried following me, if you're concerned this place is compromised." Hemlocke didn't put his hands up, not like Holiday could see that in the dark anyway. Holiday could hear twigs snap under Hemlocke's weight as he stepped off the porch. Standing silently as he wondered if Holiday would shoot him anyway. "Please, by all means, blow my brains out. It would be a far quicker death than what's killing me now." Hemlocke sat down in the dirt and stared up at Holiday, too weak to fight even if he wanted to tear the man's throat out in a mindless rampage, which he didn't.
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Doc Holliday - 07-05-2019
With the shotgun still trained on the man, Doc looked around. "Compromised" he thought to himself. He gave a quick head shake at the thought. He then slowly released the triggers. "It does not appear to me that you could fight your way out of a wet paper bag with a hole in it right now," he replied as he lowered the weapon. "I will do you a favor but it will not be killing you."
He leaned the shotgun against the wall and took a knee next to the man.
"I know when a man not only needs help but wants it," he stated as he began looking the man over. He then reached under his armpit to help him to his feet. "Come. I cannot help you out here."
He then began to escort him to his living room. "You have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am and what I do. To whom am I speaking with?"
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Hemlocke - 07-08-2019
Hemlocke walked quietly into the living room with Doc's assistance, Holiday could feel how thin he actually was, how he was still standing was unknown. His robotic eye began to spark, Hemlocke let out a low growl "Now of all times, really?" he then ripped the eye from his socket, too weak to pull the face plate up over his eye this time, the eye falling from his weak grip and rolling across the floor. "We've met before, Holiday... Your visit to Padua, Figured you'd recognize the eye immediately, guess not." Hemlocke moved wherever Holiday would pull him, not being able to do much at this moment. "I'll go ahead and tell you what's killing me so we don't waste time, it's lung cancer. And i'm afraid I don't have much time left." He weakly raised his hand and pointed to the crate outside the door before his hand would drop once more. "There's some lungs in that crate, frozen for the most part, they shouldn't be damaged."
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Doc Holliday - 07-10-2019
Doc gave a light snicker at the rolling eye. He couldn't help it but his deep sigh and long look of concern overtook it when he heard "lung cancer." At the mention of the crate, he just gave it a passing look.
"I will not ask how you got those," he said of them. "The cancer explains your condition. The problem with lung cancer is that it often spreads all over with all of the blood going through them."
He grabbed his doctor's bag and took out his stethoscope and his scanner. Placing the ear pieces in his ears, he just told Hemlocke to relax for a minute as he began listening at various points over his back and chest. He could hear the wheezing and the gurgling from within. He said nothing but it was bad. He then ran a scan over his body. As suspected, cancer was showing in other parts of his body. Medically, he had no clue how this man was still alive let alone getting to him. Standing up, he took his weapon and put it in a locked cabinet. Then he retrieved the eye and put it in a small box. "I will help you with this as well but later. No way can I help you out here."
Using a small low band com, he made a call to his good friend. "Grady, I need you and a shuttle here at my place like yesterday. I need transport to the medical center and yes, it is an emergency."
"I'll be there in a few minutes," was the answer as the com quit.
He then called the medical center and told them to have an emergency transplant team ready.
"Low band radio," he commented to Hemlocke, "unless someone is monitoring for it and is lucky to find my private channel, they will never find it." He then sat beside him.
"I will not lie," he explained, "you may not make it out of here let alone surgery but I will do my best." He sighed. "Ever since the market was flooded with Gallic tobacco I have seen the rise of lung cancer. Between the chemicals they treat it with, the quality of it and demand for it, I am not surprised."
True to form, the shuttle arrived as did Doc's pal, Grady.
"If you could get the box, I will get my patient aboard."
Once loaded, they all headed for the medical center.
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Hemlocke - 07-10-2019
Hemlocke's strength seemed to dip in and out, he had managed to sit up while Holiday was calling the shuttle, coughing up blood onto the jacket he pulled quickly to his mouth, wiping it away before it got on any of Doc's furniture. His cold, dead gaze had returned to him and he slowly stood up, looking over at Doc, his eye glancing to the box as Holiday helped him to the shuttle. "Well I've never smoked a day in my life, but it's probably a bad thing I got those from Gallia then." Hemlocke's voice had begun to show how much pain he was actually in, horse and rough like sandpaper. After they had managed to load him onto the shuttle he would pass out for the trip, the best explanation for Hemlocke's fluctuating strength was that the sheer amount of pain was causing adrenaline to surge through his veins in random, short bursts.
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Doc Holliday - 07-11-2019
The shuttle lifted off. Doc did what he could to keep Hemlocke both comfortable and alive. There was little he could say.
"Well, YOU may not have smoked but I know those Rogue bars. They are full of smokers, heavy drinkers and cardamine addicts. In fact, they are not so unlike any lawless bar out there. That second hand smoke is often worse."
Doc thought for a moment back to his own lung transplant. It was for different reasons but still, it might be a ray of hope over Hemlocke's otherwise dark cloud. Doc opened his shirt enough to show the very faint scar on his chest. It had to be looked for to be found.
"Not so long ago, I was in your spot," he explained. "My DNA may have been re-constituted but so was my tuberculosis. I was as close to death as you are now but a transplant saved my life."
He then closed his shirt, "I intend to save yours. Hopefully you will see life differently as I did. Very few get such a second chance. I do not smoke anymore and I have chosen to do my best to save lives rather than take them. I challenge you to do the same."
"Two minutes to the hospital, Doc," said Grady over his shoulder from his chair.
When they finally landed, Grady, who had overheard everything during the flight, made a comment to Hemlocke.
"If John Holliday can change as he did, so can you. Remember that."
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Hemlocke - 07-11-2019
Hemlocke opened his eyes and stared up at Holiday, glancing at Grady as he spoke to him, then back to Holiday as they arrived on the station. "You know you're attempting to save someone, who's killed thousands upon thousands of people over these long years right? The blood on my hands will never be washed away, and I feel no remorse for the things i've done. I never have, I never will. You saving my miserable life isn't going to change that." Hemlocke coughed and chuckled in between every few words, giving a grin to Holiday. "I enjoy hurting people, do you really want someone like me wandering these cold dead voids? If you save my life, you're just as much to blame as I am for moredeaths." Even on the very brink of death, staring down the gates of hell, Hemlocke remained as defiant as ever, taunting Holiday. The man who would be attempting to save his life, though Holiday would most likely try anyway in the vain hope that this murderer would change his ways.
RE: A Legend in Hiding - Doc Holliday - 07-11-2019
Doc just smiled. "I will tell you what I tell everyone else and many dislike me for it. I do not care what side of the law you walk on, who your enemies or or what your past is. You politics do not matter to me and your beliefs are not mine. You are still a human being with feelings and every human being saved is on more life that I have saved."
Getting to the hospital, the surgery team was ready and the room was ready. Hemlocke was laid upon the surgery table, the I.V. placed in his arm and the sensors for the EKG placed.
"Put him under" Doc told the anesthesiologist. Doc then leaned over to Hemlocke as the gas started to flow and spoke once more before. "And it is not blood on my hands when I do not pull the trigger or wield the blade. That, Sir, is your conscience."
With that, Hemlocke slipped into sleep. Somehow, he was alive.