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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} John Carter I 22 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi)
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This is the last chapter of Part 1. Part 2 will be
posted soon. I hope you enjoy it.

Lazlo Zalezac

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
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<1st attachment, "JC22.txt" begin>

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezac 
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003


Part 1: Shield, Staff, and Compass
Chapter 22

Kelly dreamt that she was riding in a small fishing boat in the 
middle of a massive storm. The boat was purple. The waves were 
pink and they seemed to reach the sky. Her stomach tightened as 
seasickness threatened to overtake her. She was trying to find a life 
preserver that fit her, but her breasts were so huge that all of them 
were too small. Throughout, the boat seemed to rock in every 
direction.

She was shaken awake by Ed. He was shouting, "Get up Kelly."

She sat up thinking she must still be dreaming. The floor was 
moving and then it hit her. She screamed, "Earthquake!"

Beth and John were seated on the floor getting calmly dressed. 
They seemed to be in no hurry. Ed saw that Kelly was awake and 
handed her some clothes. She accepted them and started dressing. 
She was rushing and tripping over herself as she struggled to stand 
on the moving floor and pull on her jeans. 

Ed looked around at the room and laughed, "John, you're right. 
This is the safest place to be. I bet this place has survived a 
hundred earthquakes."

John shot a serious look at Ed, "Exactly."

"What now?"

"There are people that need our help."

It didn't take long for them to get ready. The floor finally stopped 
moving. John went to the front door and opened it. The four of 
them walked out. They were greeted by the sounds of sirens and 
the screams of panicked people. John looked down the walkway 
and saw addicts streaming out of the rooms. Another couple that 
had rented a room for a morning tryst had run out naked and 
screaming.

John motioned to the man he had talked to yesterday. The guy 
came running over with a freaked out look on his face. John turned 
to him, "I can use your services now. Collect all of the pain killers, 
amphetamines, and sedatives that you can find."

He turned to Beth and Kelly. "We need the first aid supplies."

He turned to Ed and pointed to the street. "Can you look up and 
down the street to identify where the problems are the worst?"

As everyone went to perform his or her individual tasks, John 
stood there and watched. He knew that this was going to be big, 
but as he looked around, he realized that he hadn't known how big. 
Bridges had collapsed, buildings had fallen, and fires were burning 
some of the smaller structures. People wandered around in states of 
shock. A large number of them had minor injuries. He quickly 
loaded their stuff into the back of his jeep.

The first one to return was the Hispanic. John turned to him, "I'm 
John Carter."

The guy looked at him in surprise, "I'm Juan."

 John laughed, "John and Juan! What are the odds?"

Juan nodded. "So what do you want all of this stuff for?"

John stated, "You see those two women there?"

"Yes."

"They are the most important people in the world to me. One is a 
doctor and the other is a nurse. They are coming with Ed and me, 
but they will stay in the street treating people that we pull out of 
the buildings. I want you to stay with them and protect them. When 
they need medicine, provide what you can."

Juan looked around for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, man. 
Sounds good to me."

John nodded, "Good. They're back. Let's go."

Ed pointed down the street, "There are a bunch of apartments 
down that way. I suggest that we go that way."

As they passed each building, John and Ed checked them out for 
possible victims. At the door of a lawnmower repair shop, they 
heard a moan from inside. The door was locked, but John broke it 
down. Inside, an overweight man was trapped under a shelf that 
had fallen. Ed and John knelt down and removed the engines from 
the shelf until it was light enough to lift off the man.  They lifted 
the shelf off him and he slowly stood up. He couldn't stand without 
support. Ed helped the guy out the door and set him down on the 
ground away from the shop. Beth came over and performed a 
quick inspection. She turned to Juan, "I need a pain killer."

Juan handed over a pill to Kelly. Kelly looked at the pill and 
exclaimed, "Damn, we don't have any water."

The man on the ground stated, "I have a large thermos in the shop 
and bottled water. Take it."

John had just come out of the building. He went back inside. After 
searching for a few minutes, he found the thermos. It contained 
black coffee. He poured a cup and drank it down quickly. He then 
poured the rest out. He filled the thermos with water from the 
water cooler. He was about to leave when he noticed a stack of 
paper cups. He grabbed those as well. Exiting the building, he 
handed the stuff to Kelly. Juan took it out of her hands and stated, 
"Kelly, I will carry this for you."

Kelly smiled at him, "Thank you, Juan."

In a short time, the man had been medicated. Beth wrote out a note 
that stated his vital signs, her diagnosis, the medication that had 
been given him, and the time at which she had been there. She 
signed the note with the phrase, 'John Carter Rescue Squad.' Then 
she gave the note to the man and told him to give it to the EMS 
personnel when they arrived.

While the women were busy with the guy from the lawn mower 
repair shop, Ed and John went to the next building. There was no 
one there. They went to the next building. There were several 
people inside. They had been outside, but had returned into the 
building to check out the damage. John and Ed went inside and 
told everyone to get out of the building because they could expect 
aftershocks. The women caught up with them and checked out the 
people. She sent them down to the other guy to keep him company 
until an ambulance showed.

Ed and John went to the next house just as another tremor hit. They 
could hear screams from inside the house. The movements were 
too violent to move, so they just lay down until they stopped. Once 
the tremors stopped, John looked up at the house and saw smoke. 
He shouted, "Ed, stay out here. When I find someone, I'll come to a 
window, and call out for you. I'll lower them to you and you set 
them on the ground out of harms way."

Ed replied, "Anything you say boss."

John ran in the building. It was already filling with smoke, but he 
was well away from the flames. They were localized to the kitchen 
so far. He came across a middle-aged woman unconscious in the 
living room. He pulled her to the front door. He yelled to Ed, 
"Come get her."

Ed came in and pulled her out of the house. John went deeper into 
the building. There was a bedroom along the hall and two kids 
were inside. He broke out the window and yelled out, "Ed!"

Ed came charging around the corner. John lowered the first kid to 
Ed and turned around to get the other. He then lowered the next kid 
to Ed. He shouted, "There's still screams coming from the second 
floor."

John disappeared into the bowels of the house. It took him a 
minute to find the stairs. The smoke was getting thick. It was 
beginning to obscure his vision. He turned on the light of his 
walking stick. Climbing upstairs, the smoke got even thicker. He 
heard cries in one of the rooms. He entered it and closed the door 
behind him. There were three kids in this room. He went to the 
window and looked out. The window opened onto the roof of the 
attached garage. He broke out the window and helped the kids onto 
the roof. He shouted, "Ed, over here!"

Ed came around the corner and looked up. He shouted, "Lower 
them as much as you can and then let go. I'll catch them."

The three kids were quickly lowered to the ground. John shouted, 
"Are there more people in here?"

Ed asked one of the kids how many kids were in the house. He was 
told there were seven. He shouted up to John, "I think there are two 
more."

John ran to the window he had knocked out and climbed back into 
the house. He checked under the bed in the room and the closets. 
He went out the door and dashed across the hall to the next room. 
It was empty. There was one more room on this level. He dashed 
into it finding one little girl scared to death. He asked if there was 
anyone else in the room. She pointed under the bed. He looked 
under the bed and spotted the other child. He pulled him out from 
under the bed. He ran to the window and looked out. It was a full 
two-story drop. He picked up the kids and headed to the first 
bedroom. Flames were licking their way up the stairs. They went 
through the broken window. He shouted, "Ed."

Ed was where he had been standing. He shouted, "I'm here. Have 
you got them?"

"Yeah," replied John. He lowered the kids to Ed. Once Ed had put 
the last kid on the ground, John handed his walking stick to Ed. He 
swung off the roof and dropped to the ground. Taking his walking 
stick back, they led the kids around to the front of the building. 

Beth looked up from her patient. "She's concussed. There's nothing 
I can really do here. I've wrapped the head wound and written a 
note explaining her condition. I also wrote a second note for her in 
case she wakes."

"Ok." John headed to the next building while Juan explained to the 
kids that they needed to stay with their mother. 

They had finally reached the apartments. It was a two-story 
building. Half of the rooms on the top floor had collapsed into the 
first floor. John looked at Ed and stated, "This is going to get 
messy."

"No doubt about that in my mind."

While John and Ed broke into apartments and pulled injured 
people out of the building, Beth and Kelly were busy taking care of 
the injured. Juan dispensed the medicine as requested and made 
sure that no one threatened the two women. He had watched John 
race into the burning building and it had amazed him. He watched 
now as both men darted in to and out of buildings. In some cases, 
the buildings collapsed as soon as they left them.

They ran out of water very quickly. He handed the pills to the 
Kelly and told her that he would return. Kelly looked at the bag of 
pills and couldn't make out which was which. It was about ten 
minutes later that he returned with a wagon loaded with several 
cases of bottled water. Kelly looked up at him, "Where did you get 
that?"

Juan shook his head, "Can you believe the 7-11 is still open? I told 
him that it was an emergency, but the bastard took every dollar I 
had."

Kelly answered, "Don't worry. We'll make it up."

Juan, "Hey, no need to do that. I'm not doing much to help. You 
gals are doing all the work."

Beth listened while she patched up another victim. She stated, 
"The drugs are helping tremendously. These people are in pain. I 
don't know what we would do without you."

Juan watched John and Ed dash into another room. He stated, "Can 
you believe how brave those two are?"

"If we didn't need you here so much, you'd be right there with 
them."

"No way. I'd be back at the hotel getting high right now."

Kelly smiled, "But you aren't, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

The conversation was interrupted by a shout from John, "We've got 
a bleeder!"

Beth jumped up and ran over to them. They were staggering as 
they tried to carry the woman and keep pressure on the wound. 
Running, she shouted, "Bring the supplies."

Juan had already grabbed the supplies and was right behind her. 
Kelly grabbed a couple of bottles of water. As soon as Beth 
reached John, they set the person down. An artery was squirting 
blood despite the pressure that John was applying to it. Beth took 
charge, "Juan, put your hand here and press as hard as you can."

Juan did what he was asked. She ripped clothes off around the cut 
and frowned. She stated to Kelly, "I need a needle with suture. 
There's some in the bag."

Kelly quickly satisfied her request and handed the needle to Beth. 
Beth started patching up the arm the best that she could. The three 
of them bent over the patient working feverishly. Beth would give 
instructions to Juan and he would do his best to follow them. 

John ran back to the building and joined Ed in extricating another 
person from under some debris. It took them some time, but they 
finally got the person out. Both were sweating. They were 
exhausted from the heavy lifting. Weakly, they carried him to the 
sidewalk and told him that a doctor and nurse would be there soon.

Summoning what little energy they had left, they broke into the 
next apartment. Part of the ceiling had crashed down in front of a 
bathroom door. The door was open and a very overweight woman 
was shouting to them to get her out of there. She was holding a 
towel in front of her, but it barely covered her. Ed went into the 
bedroom and found some clothes. He returned and threw the 
clothes to the woman. Dressing seemed to calm her down 
tremendously. The two men studied the ceiling as it covered the 
door. They couldn't see a way of removing it without causing the 
whole ceiling to collapse. 

John asked the woman to describe the bathroom to him. She 
described the layout. The wall that was accessible from the 
apartment was blocked by a sink and toilet. Even if they broke 
through the wall, the woman wouldn't be able to get out. The other 
side of the room was shared with the apartment on the other side of 
the building. John told Ed to stay there and talk to the lady. 

He went to the other side of the apartment complex and broke into 
the apartment behind the one with the trapped woman. As soon as 
the door flew open, he realized the hopelessness of his task. The 
ceiling had collapsed in this apartment. He looked, but the only 
person he could find in the apartment was dead. He ran around the 
building and rejoined Ed. John stated, "We are going to have to get 
some lumber and push the ceiling up and out of the way."

They went out and searched through the rubble to find some 
appropriate boards. It took them some time, but they finally 
managed to find four 2 by 4's of the same length. They went back 
to the apartment and braced the ceiling with two of the pieces of 
wood. Then they applied the other two to push up the ceiling about 
an inch. They removed the first two leaving the others as the 
support. Inch by inch they raised the ceiling to where it was finally 
thirty inches off the floor. Bracing it with all four boards, they 
stepped back. John told the lady to lie down under the ceiling. He 
and Ed grabbed an arm each and pulled her out.  

She followed John and Ed out to the street. The men collapsed. 
Juan came up to them with a pair of cokes. He was covered in 
dried blood and looked almost as bad as some of the victims that 
they had pulled out of the building. He stated, "Here, drink these. 
The doctor said that you needed water and sugar. This has both. I 
offered to get you some stimulants, but she said that might 
interfere with you later on today."

The men drank the cokes and took the time to recover their energy. 
They had visited almost three-quarters of the apartments on one 
side of the building. Juan stood next to them, "You guys are 
working hard."

"Thanks Juan. How are things going over there?"

Juan looked at the ladies, "An ambulance has come by several 
times and taken away some of the worse cases. That doctor is 
amazing. The nurse seems to be able to read her mind and hands 
her stuff before she even asks for it."

Ed nodded, "Looks like you've been busy."

Juan looked down at himself. The blood was dried, but he expected 
to be covered again shortly. For the first time in a long time, he felt 
proud of something that he had done. He looked up, "The ladies 
are doing most of the work. I'm just helping out where I can."

John laughed, "That's what we're all doing."

John and Ed stood up and headed into the next apartment. Juan 
went back to join the ladies. They were busy checking out the 
overweight lady that had just been rescued. She was in fine shape 
and suggested that they make some sandwiches in her kitchen. 
Juan volunteered to make the sandwiches and allow the two 
women a chance to rest. They had been working non-stop since the 
earthquake hit. The overweight woman decided to help Juan. The 
woman and Juan went into the apartment. It didn't take them long 
to assemble a half dozen sandwiches. She found a bag of potato 
chips and a six pack of cold cokes. 

 Ed and John had entered the rest of the apartments along that side 
of the building; this included the upstairs. Most of the apartments 
were empty. In a few, they found people that were uninjured.  
They found two people that had been hit by flying debris and had 
minor cuts and abrasions. They told people to wait away from the 
buildings since there was still a chance for aftershocks.

John and Ed went over to where Beth was working. They took one 
bottle of water and washed their hands. Without anything clean to 
dry them on, they just shook their hands until they were almost 
dry. It reminded John of the hot air dryers in some bathrooms. He 
remembered the instructions: Wring hands vigorously in hot air 
and then dry hands on pants. The problem was that his pants were 
filthy. When Beth finished washing her hands, they all sat down 
and ate. John stated, "I don't think I've ever tasted a sandwich this 
good."

Ed concurred, "This really hits the spot."

Beth and Kelly murmured their agreement around their 
sandwiches. They were starving. Juan watched them eating and 
started on his sandwich. There was no conversation while eating. 
When they finished, Juan stated, "You guys know that you've 
saved about fifty people already?"

John stated, "We have the other side of the apartment complex to 
get through yet. Then there are the buildings on down the way. 
We'll probably get another hundred or so by the time it gets dark."

"You guys are amazing. Dr. Hayes, I've never seen anything as 
incredible as what you've done here."

Beth smiled, "You really know your drugs."

"Hey, it's my business."

Kelly stated, "You might find some other way to use that 
knowledge."

Juan bristled, "Don't go getting all moral on me."

Kelly shook her head. "I'm not getting all moral on you. You 
jumped right in and helped save a couple of lives. You have a rare 
gift. Not many folks can take dealing with blood and stuff. Most of 
them end up puking their guts out or they end up on the floor in a 
dead faint. Not you."

John interrupted, "You might think we are hero's because we go 
running into a mess like this. We're not. We will do this for a day. 
Those two ladies are the real things. They save lives every day."

Ed nodded, "We won't say that you will be a better person if you 
learn how to do the things they do. I will say that the world will be 
a better place."

Beth added, "A lot of doctors are complete assholes. However, day 
in and day out they save lives."

Juan grimaced, "Hey, you're talking like I can be a doctor or 
something. I'm a high school drop out."

Ed stood up and stated, "I'm just an old cowboy who's spent most 
of his life on a horse chasing the dumbest animals in the world 
around. Four months ago, I started college. Just think about it, 
okay?"

Juan stared at Ed. He couldn't decide if he should be angry or not. 
He shrugged, "I'll see."

John and Ed headed around to the other side of the building. The 
damage on that side was much worse than had been the case for 
the street side of the buildings. The other three followed behind 
them; Juan pulling the wagon with their supplies loaded in it. 

 John and Ed went through six apartments and couldn't find 
anyone. The ceiling had completely collapsed. They hoped the 
people who lived there had been elsewhere when it fell.  It wasn't 
until they went into the seventh apartment that they found someone 
alive, but in serious shape. John came out and waved Beth over. 
Beth walked over to find out what he wanted. John was silent for a 
minute and then stated, "We found one alive but in very bad 
condition. As far as I can tell, the only way for us to get him out is 
to amputate his legs."

Beth swore, "Damn. That's beyond what we can do here. We don't 
have a saw and I wouldn't want to do it with a knife."

John shrugged, "You want to come in and check on him?"

Beth nodded, "Might as well."

They went into the room. Beth examined the man and talked to 
him. After several minutes, she turned to John. "Get Juan."

John went out and called for Juan. Juan came running and went 
into the room at a gesture from John. He was in there for a few 
minutes. John waited outside as he considered what would be 
involved in a field amputation. Beth and Juan came out together. 
Beth stated, "Do you want my opinion?"

"Yes."

"Leave him there. Get someone to flag down an EMS vehicle. 
They can take a saw to the building and extract his legs. They 
might be able to save them."

John nodded, "How about the bleeding?"

"I put a tourniquet on it. Juan gave him some pain pills and water. 
His condition is not life threatening yet."

John nodded, "Good. I wasn't looking forward to an amputation. 
Can Juan or Kelly make the arrangements for someone to flag 
down an EMS vehicle?"

"Sure. Now you two need to get back to work." She also 
considered getting another person to sit here with the man and 
monitor his condition.

John and Ed entered more apartments. They encountered more 
dead people and a few living. The destruction on this side of the 
building had been nearly total. In one apartment, the damage was 
relatively minor. However, there was a pile of debris on the lone 
occupant, a young woman in her mid-twenties. With considerable 
effort, they cleared the debris off her. She was unconscious for no 
apparent reason. Ed stuck his head out of the door, "Beth! We need 
you here."

Beth came into the room and checked out the young woman. She 
noticed the telltale signs of repeated injections. She smelled the 
breath of the young woman and knew the problem. She looked up, 
"Go into the kitchen and see if there is any insulin in the 
refrigerator."

John dashed into the kitchen. He came back waving a vial, "Found 
it."

"Did you find a syringe?"

John dashed back into the kitchen and looked around. He came 
back shaking his head. He handed her the vial and then headed 
towards the bathroom. He searched and still couldn't find one. He 
heard Beth call out, "I found one."

John returned to her side. He waited for her to perform the 
injection. When she had completed it, he picked the woman up and 
carried her out of the apartment. He set her on the ground. The 
ground chose that moment to tremble. It was a very minor 
aftershock, but one that caused precarious balanced debris to fall 
within the building. Beth came over and stated, "I'm going to have 
to watch over her for a while. She's in a coma."

"Okay."

John headed down the walkway along the apartments. He passed 
all of the doors that were open. Ed had continued searching 
apartments while he had been left behind. When he hit the door 
that was closed, he went back to the apartment right before it. 
Inside he found Ed, kneeling on the floor and with a hand over his 
eyes. John could see the tension in his body. "Hey, are you okay?"

There was an old man lying on the floor. Since the apartment was 
undamaged, it was likely that he had a heart attack. Ed shook his 
head, "I've never seen so many dead people in my whole life."

John put a hand on Ed's shoulder. He stated, "What you are feeling 
is perfectly natural. I'm feeling pretty awful myself."

Ed shrugged his shoulders, "It isn't stopping you."

John looked away, "My greatest fear is that it will stop me one 
day."

Ed turned around in surprise, "Really?"

"Yes, really. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that 
there are living people that need me."

Ed took a breath. He thought about the fact there were living 
people that needed him. As much as he hated seeing another dead 
person, he would hate for a person to die because he couldn't take 
it. He stood up. "Let's get back to work. There's living people out 
there that need us."

John smiled, "You're a strong man, Ed. I'm proud to call you 
friend."

The two men went from apartment to apartment until there were no 
apartments left. They went on down the street. They searched 
buildings as they encountered them. They went through every 
room in each building. As they went, they pulled people out of the 
buildings in all states of health. Some were critically injured. 
Others were completely healthy. Most were in between.

By the time the sun set, they had covered nine streets. They found 
themselves at a bridge that had collapsed. John noticed a crawl 
space and climbed into the rubble. The light on his walking stick 
led the way. He met a man who was working his way out. The man 
played his flashlight over John for a second and then aimed it 
away. "There's a little girl back there."

John replied, "Do you want me to keep her company until you 
return?"

"I'm not coming back."

"Why?"

"She's dying and there's nothing we can do to help her."

John's first reaction was to berate the man for not staying with the 
little girl and comforting her. Then he looked at the man more 
closely and saw that haunted look on his face. He had been pushed 
too far already. He nodded, "I understand. I'll go to her and talk 
with her until she dies."

The man had tears in his eyes. "I've seen too much of that today."

John put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Friend, go and help more 
people. Many confused people need help too. You needn't deal 
with the dead or dying anymore. Let me shoulder this burden for 
you."

The man hung his head and cried, "Thank you."

John went the way from which the man had come. After twenty 
feet, he came to a crushed car. In the car was a frightened little girl 
that looked at him. She seemed relieved for the darkness to have 
been banished for the time being. He inched his way over and saw 
her situation. He knew it was hopeless. The bridge had collapsed 
the car on the lower half of her body. There was nothing left below 
the waist. The only reason she wasn't bleeding to death quicker 
was that everything was crushed flat. He looked at the little girl, 
"Hello. I'm John Carter. Who are you?"

"I'm Cindy."

"How do you feel Cindy?"

"I don't hurt. Everything is numb."

John smiled, "I didn't mean it that way. I meant how are you 
feeling?"

"I'm scared."

John nodded. He asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"Dying."

John took her hand in his and held it. "That's nothing to be afraid 
of. I died once for almost four minutes."

"Really?" she asked. Her eyes were as big as saucers.

"Yes, really."

"What was it like?"

John's voice was gentle, "Cindy, close your eyes and I'll tell you all 
about it."

Cindy closed her eyes and John started describing his experience. 
He talked for a long time about what he felt and how it seemed to 
him. When he finished, Cindy was smiling at him. He stated, "Are 
you still afraid?"

"No."

In a very calm voice, John told her, "You can slip away now."

Cindy looked up at him, "Thank you."

John nodded, "Thank you, Cindy."

She passed away even as John thanked her. John closed her eyes. 
He sat there for a moment, then smiled upwards and waved. He 
knew that she could see him. He waited a little while longer before 
he crept out of the collapsed bridge returning the way that he came. 

When he came out, he was shocked at the throng of people around 
the bridge. There were bright lights shining on him and people 
moving towards him with microphones. Amongst the cacophony 
of sound, he was able to make out one question, "Are you John 
Carter?"

He answered, "Yes, I'm John Carter."

The press descended upon him. He handled the questions the best 
that he could. He had not realized that Beth had included a note 
identifying their group as the rescuers with people she had treated. 
He attempted to make sure that they understood that he was only 
the figurehead of a very brave group of people. However, they had 
already talked to Beth, Kelly, Ed, and Juan. They had also talked to 
a dozen people who had joined them as they had worked. Some 
people had run errands to get supplies as needed. Others had 
walked up and down the line checking on injured people. Still 
others had flagged down ambulances and made sure they had 
picked up the most critical people first. 

A police officer, just as tired as them, finally gathered the rescuers 
and helped them get away from the press. Tired and hungry, they 
were deposited at a shelter where they could get a hot meal. Finally 
able to sit quietly and not feel rushed, they ate their meal in 
silence. It had been a long hard day. John looked around the table. 
Beth was nearly asleep. Her clothes were covered with blood and 
torn in places. Kelly was looking numbly off into the distance. 
Juan sat there shaking his head. His clothes were covered in blood. 
He had a few cuts on his hands. He had a black eye that he had 
received while holding a patient down. Ed looked the worst. He 
had cuts, scrapes, and bruises on his arms and face. His clothes 
were ripped. 

As each finished their meal, they stood up and walked over to the 
beds. John was left alone at the table. He decided to go to the 
restroom before getting in bed. As he walked over there, he 
encountered the man that had been in the bridge. The man put his 
hand on John's shoulder, "I saw what you did for the girl. It was 
the most moving thing I've ever seen."

John stated, "Thank you for letting me be the one to do it."

The man reached down and grabbed the chain on the medallion. As 
he pulled the medallion out, the chain snapped. John stared in 
horror at the medallion. He looked up at the man, "That can't be 
fixed."

The man smiled, "Yes it can. Just go to the place where you got it."

"That's not possible. You don't know where I got it."

"If I remember correctly, it was in a park on Midsummer's Day 
around noon. She gave it to you."

John stared at the man in shock, "What?"

The man set the medallion in John's open hand. Closing John's 
hand around the medallion, he stated, "Be there at noon on 
Midsummer's day."

John looked down at the fist that now held the medallion and then 
looked up. The man was no longer there. Numbly, he went into the 
bathroom and then back to the bed. It took him a long time to fall 
asleep. The medallion was warm in his pants pocket.
<1st attachment end>


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