"How are you, mate? Recovering well?" asked Marcus as he made himself comfortable on a chair and poured himself a drink of water.
"Fine thanks, my doctor Mike Johnson says I'm doing extremely well despite the ordeal I've been through." replied Lucas and he sat up in bed and also poured himself a drink of water.
"Good glad to here it, so that's all the operations done?" asked Marcus.
"No, no the doctor wants to give me a brain scan the Krazier gas made my brain enlarge which caused the blackouts, fits and seizures. He wants to make sure that I'm OK before he discharges me." replied Lucas as he sipped a little of his water.
"Glad to hear it, I suppose its better to be safe than sorry. At least if they do find any brain damage they can give you some drugs or therapy for it eh?" answered Marcus.
"Yeah, I don't wanna go out of here ill and come back even worse." laughed Lucas as he finished the glass of water and place it on the bedside table.
Marcus had been a good friend to Lucas since he was the only person, which knew about this incident even Aunt Paula hadn't known about this and his parents were too distant to know if he was alive or not. Lucas really wanted to leave the ward but he knew that he will have to wait for Faye to come back who would lead him too the gym where she will carry out tests and muscle exercises, which develop the growth of the new muscles onto Lucas's frame.
"After you have been discharged we will really need to get your trial sorted out since Aloyseus Black has been mithering me to begin the case. I told him that you are still in hospital, he is a real shady character has no feelings whatsoever, as if you could face a trial your not even walking yet!!" explained Marcus.
"Yeah, be careful around him. We'll sort out the trial after I'm discharged. Don't let him dictate I'm not ready yet." replied Lucas.
"OK, well I'll be off now, I'm going to the bank to check my accounts etc since I've been discharged now, I'll come and see you later. Bye" said Marcus as he put down his glass and walked out of the ward.
A few minutes later Faye came into the ward; it was time for Lucas' muscle test. Faye slowly walked towards the bed clanking her heels on the tile floor and bouncing her breasts as she moved. Lucas was in ore.
"Afternoon Lucas" said Faye as she began putting together a walking aid.
"Afternoon Faye." replied Lucas.
"Now we are going to go to the gym room now to carry out some tests. It just involves running on a treadmill and me taking readings to be honest." said Faye as she fixed the last piece of the walking aid into place.
"OK, I'm ready for it" replied Lucas
Lucas began to get out of bed moving the covers and putting his legs over the side of the bed.
"No, no, be careful you shouldn't do that I'll help you" said Faye as she went over and held Lucas.
Faye began to lift Lucas off the bed and guiding him towards the walking aid.
"Now put you arms here and hold firmly." ordered Faye and she let go of Lucas' torso.
Lucas began to walk across the ward with his walking aid, his joints and muscles did hurt but he didn't let this show to Faye, neither did it show in his walk. Lucas looked as though he had never had the accident but deep inside the pain was unbearable.
"Steady now Lucas, you don't want to pull a muscle" said Faye as she put her arm around Lucas' shoulders and guided him to a door, which was just outside the ward where Lucas had been staying.
"Now here we are the gym" said Faye as she let go of Lucas and began entering her PIN into the door locking system.
The door opened and Lucas and Faye proceeded into the gym lab. The place was full of state of the art equipment. Faye guided Lucas towards a machine where there were lots of wires and probes which Lucas knew here would have to wear whilst Faye carried out the tests.
"No slowly walk here Lucas." asked Faye as she set up the treadmill machine entering Lucas' personal information including weight and height.
Lucas slowly walked as if he was 50 years old, towards the treadmill.
"Now slowly sit down here." said Faye.
Lucas slowly walked and sat down in the seat, the pain suddenly went as all his muscles relaxed.
"I need to put these probes onto you chest and wrists these measure heartbeat. Faye slowly lifted Lucas' shirt up and placed the probes around his chest looking at his new muscles.
"The doctor sure has done a good job your muscles are well defined and symmetrical, your much better built" laughed Faye.
"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself, your eyes, lips..." Lucas and Faye began to get closer and closer "your so beautiful and" Faye slowly kissed Lucas on the lips, Lucas then began kissing her as she slowly sat down on Lucas' lap them both kissing in ecstasy.
Faye slowly stopped kissing...
"What's a matter" asked Lucas who now had ruby red lips due to the lipstick.
"Nothing...erm..we need to get back to carrying out the test." said Faye as she picked up her clipboard and composed herself putting her hair back into place.
"OK," replied Lucas.
Lucas got out of the seat and walked onto the treadmill, Faye started the machine up on a low speed. Lucas began jogging slowly and Faye took readings from the digital display writing them down on the clipboard she had.
"OK then that's all for the treadmill. You are more than OK to be discharged as soon as possible you muscles seem to have adapted to your body very quickly, your coping with the treatment brilliantly." explained Faye.
"Now all I need to do now is take a blood test to read your white blood cells readings and your vitamin counts etc" described Faye.
"OK that's fine." replied Lucas.
Faye got a needle from a drawer and removed the protective seal which encased it, Lucas was really nervous as he hated needles however didn't let this show. Faye sucked a few cubic centimetres of blood and withdrew the needle giving Lucas a piece of cotton wool and telling him to apply pressure to the area for 5 minutes while Faye carried out the tests. Faye put the sample into a machine which centrifuged the blood sample and finally gave a readings sheet which it printed out 6 minutes later.
"Brilliant you lymphocyte levels are above average this shows your body is repairing, your red blood cell counts are above average so everything is brilliant." said Faye smiling as she finished off the test by collating all of the sheets and readings into Lucas' patient folder.
Faye and Lucas then made their way back towards the door.
As Faye was about to push open the door Lucas said...
"Faye....I really, really like you."
"I really like you too" replied Faye as she pushed the door open holding it open for Lucas to hobble through the doorway.
Faye put her arm around Lucas' shoulders and guided Lucas towards his bed. The old lady smiled at them both as they past. They both reached the bed. Faye began to tidy up the bed sheets and sprayed some weak disinfectant onto the bed sheets to freshen them up. She then guided Lucas over to the bed and lowered him onto the mattress.
"I'll turn your mattress heater on now so you'll be nice and cosy, now take this multivitamin." said Faye.
Faye handed Lucas a glass of water and one multivitamin tablet which Lucas' swallowed. Lucas then slowly rested his head on his pillow and began to fall asleep.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning. Nightie night" said Faye as she tucked Lucas into bed and switched on the mattress heater.
Faye was just about to go when...
"Thanks for earlier!!" winked Lucas as Faye walked away out of the ward laughing as her heels clanked on the tile ward floors.
As Lucas began to fall asleep and dreamed about his whole ordeal, retracing every movement he had made during that fateful day. The ward began the blur away as Lucas went into trance state remembering the ordeal.
Lucas went into a shock state when the trance began to darken; a black cloud began to fill the nightmare visionary cockpit which Lucas was imagining. Lucas turned around on his seat during the dream and saw a black figure laughing, laughing all he could see were these red eyes glaring at him. The devilish figure kept on laughing and laughing, glaring at Lucas. Lucas was petrified he tried to call for help on the intercom however the black figure with red eyes said
"Nobody can hear you...your all alonenobody can hear you, hear you, hear...your all alone...alone... nobody can hear you....your alone, alone..."
As the devilish figure said this chant it began to move slowly towards Lucas.
The black mist glided towards Lucas, however Lucas could not move off the cockpit chair. The mist's body turned into arms which reached forward towards Lucas' neck. The figure then sped up and made a swoop for Lucas' neck. Lucas' froze as the black mist engulfed him. A menacing laugh echoed as Lucas saw only the red eyes and heard the laughing. Lucas woke in a hot sweat only to be faced by Aloyseus Black glaring at him.
"Everything OK Lucas?" said Aloyseus as he grinned.
Lucas somewhat dazed..."erm..yeah...I mean yes."
"Glad to hear it Lucas, I hope you'll be well for the trial soon as time is getting on now isn't it?" said Aloyseus as he grinned at Lucas.
"Yeah, should be out soon." replied Lucas as he reached for some tissue to wipe his face.
"Glad to hear is well I'll be off now I really need to get some work done." said Aloyseus.
"OK" said Lucas as Aloyseus Black slowly left his beside and walked along the ward and out of the door trailing his black coat on the tiled floor which was around the same colour as his white hair which reached halfway down his back.
Lucas then rested his head on his pillow and began to go back to sleep, hoping that another nightmare like this wouldn't occur.
The chime beeped and signalled the start of Lucass next 400 metre stage on the treadmill. He paced himself, jogging lightly with the machine and slowly compensating as the belt began to pick up speed. It had now been five days since the operation and Lucas was really getting into his muscle reconstruction program. Faye had him jogging at least fifteen kilometres a day and his muscles were improving fast. Occasionally he experienced aches and pains in his joins, especially his wrists for some reason, but most of it was bearable. From time to time however he would get serious muscle cramps and collapse in a state of total incapacity.
He jogged lightly, breathing as he had been taught in time with his long strides. Faye stood a little way off, monitoring his vitals on her Palm Computer. He had severely regretted blurting out his feelings to her the other day and had felt a fool when the response I really like you too had come through.
She probably thought it was the morphine he cursed as he jogged. Still, she was being really nice and friendly towards him. No! Just my luck, dont kid yourself Lucas.
He shut his eyes and concentrated on the jogging, trying to push the thoughts from his mind. The LSF Agent, Black, had been visiting from time to time to check up on Lucas status since the nightmare. Marcus had been making an appearance occasionally as well. With an attractive young Kusari woman who claimed to be his girlfriend. Tomoko, that was her name. He remembered her face; startlingly beautiful bit with those sharp, intelligent ice blue eyes. She had been kind to him, another friendly image in this insane world.
He opened his eyes and dared another glance at Faye. He started as she averted her eyes back to her Palm Computer and began to study it intensely, if not a little fake Lucas thought. Had she been gazing at me? No, dont be stupid!
Lucas moved his leg muscle up into gear and sprinted the last one hundred metres, the treadmill compensating for his sudden burst of speed. He completed the stage successfully and noted with pleasure that he had beaten his personal record. He disconnected the neural sensors from his temples and chest and stepped down from the treadmill. He grabbed his shirt from the handle of the treadmill and pulled it on over his head.
Faye walked across to him, twiddling a stylus in one hand and flicking the Palm Computer open and closed with the other.
Well, howd I do? Lucas asked as he popped open his water bottle and placed the rim to his lips.
Excellent, your leg muscles are in perfect shape. How are the cramps coming along?
Lucas took a long swig and then sighed.
Sure, they are getting a lot better. The cramp fits are still pretty bad though, had one last night. Lucas paused as a slight twinge caught in his nostrils.
Oh really? Faye looked concerned. Lucas ignored the smell and relished in the attention.
Yeah, my lower body seized up for about five minutes.
Did you call a Doctor?
Doctor Johnson fixed me up with some Morphine. I slept like a rock.
Faye smiled slightly and looked into his eyes for a fraction of a second. She looked away and dropped the stylus into her pocket.
Listen, your program is over for the day now and Im off to the canteen. I wondered if youd like to join me.
Taken aback, Lucas paused for a moment before taking another swig from the water bottle and nodding vigorously. Sure!
Faye smiled and looked at him again. Good, just let me go clean up and record this data. Ill see you there in five minutes.
Faye turned and headed for the door. Lucas gazed after her for a long moment before he realised that the unpleasant smell was coming from his armpits. Slightly embarrassed and hoping Faye hadnt noticed, he turned to gather his things and headed for the mens changing room.
Ten minutes later Lucas entered the canteen wearing a comfortable pair of beige slacks and a clean white shirt. He saw Faye in a stained denim short skirt, tights and a plain white cotton shirt. In one hand she held a steaming paper cup and in the other she held her Palm Computer.
Hardly hospital standard, He teased as he sat down. She gave him a sidelong look and took a sip of her coffee. Lucas sat down opposite her and tucked his long legs under the table. She giggled as he banged his knee and cursed. Oh yeah, hilarious.
She stopped giggling and smiled at him. Wont you have something to drink?
Oh, no Im okay, its teatime for the patients soon anyway and I get a hot steaming brew with that for free.
Cheapskate she chuckled and took another sip.
So what are your plans for the evening? Lucas asked mildly, watching the steam rise from her cup.
Oh, not very exciting, Im just going to get to bed and have a good read.
I see, Lucas nodded What are you reading?
The Great Gatsby, its a twentieth century classic.
Sorry, Im unfamiliar with historical literature.
What do you read then? Faye deposited the Palm Computer on the table and rested her chin on her hand.
Lucas shook his head, trying to think. He realised that he didnt read that much. Quite embarrassed, he looked at her and shrugged. I dunno, I guess Im not much of the reading type.
Oh! How could you not read? Faye said with mock horror.
Lucas smiled. Well being an enigmatic freelancer, I have little time for such pleasures.
Oh I understand, it must be hard up there sometimes. I mean with all the long hours of autopilot Faye sniggered.
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit! Lucas retaliated. He trailed off however as he gazed deeply into her eyes. She seemed to lose her humour also and to Lucas surprise he realised she was leaning towards him. Before he could register what he was doing he found himself subconsciously leaning in to meet her.
From across the narrow canteen table, Lucas kissed Faye gently, her lips slightly brushing his before he reached up and ran his hand through her hair and pressed delicately on the back of her head to bring her closer to him.
Across the room, the entrance partition slid open and Marcus Scarman walked in. He was about to stop a passing Doctor and ask him if he had seen a certain patient but then his eyes met the couple in the corner. A smiled played across his features as he looked at his new friend.
Ill come back later then. He said to himself. He turned around and exited the room, leaving Faye and Lucas behind.