by Jeff Uribe
[Castle Rock Memorial Hospital]
> Leo started to chuckle, but it turned into a frown and groan instead. "No > hurry," he said with a forced smile.
Unfortunately for Leo, a nurse came in at that moment and smiled. "So, we're awake finally, Mr. Jones. We'll need to run some tests on you now."
Zenya couldn't help but smile at the look that crossed Leo's face as he heard this. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Leo. I'll be here when you get back." she said, barely suppressing a laugh when the nurse wheeled Leo out of the room, a look of worry overriding the stoic face he was trying to put on. If there was anything that Leo hated more than anything, it was needles. It was a carryover from his youth when he needed to get booster shots, and Leo always equated tests with needles.
After 45 minutes of poking and prodding, blood tests (with those huge needles) and x-rays, Leo was wheeled back into his room, feeling like those stories he had read of alien abductees. As he settled back into his bed, Martin and Zenya walked into the room to check up on him.
When he saw Martin, all he could remember was the flash of Martin's gun and the flash of his own as he squeezed off his two shots. Then the tearing pain in his back and the cow. Then he remembered the images that made him sick to his stomach, the same ones that he had been fighting when he squared off against Martin. Seeing those images again, started to make Leo a little nauseous once again.
"Leo?" Zenya's face was crossed with her concern once again.
Martin sat down near the doorway and looked at Leo. "You're still seeing the images also, aren't you?"
Leo nodded as Zenya looked from Leo to Martin. "What images?"
Leo took a deep breath and said, "The images that we picked up from that kid's computer. It still makes me nauseous trying to fight it off. Let me catch my breath, you tell her your images first, Martin."
Martin nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm not sure how everything got started but, when Jim, Leo and I were driving on the road, all of a sudden, my mind started to see images of Zulu collaborating with the people who had kidnapped Emily. I later saw that Zulu were laid out in a row, bullet wounds in their chests. When Leo tried to fight the effects of his images, a new set of images flashed within my mind. All of a sudden, Leo was talking to Docker and giving him the whereabouts of Emily. Leo was hurting Emily, and so my focus shifted on killing Leo."
"But you know that none of that could've happened since we were all together when Emily was kidnapped." Zenya said, listening with interest at Martin's story.
"I know, I know." Martin said, "or at least, I should've known. He was right there when I got the call, but something in me said that it must've happened if I was seeing it in my head. So, that's why I shot him. I'm sorry, Leo."
Zenya then turned from Martin to Leo with a questioning look on her face, "Leo? what did you see?"
After taking a deep breath, Leo started, "At first, I saw Jim killing both Jenn and Andrea, instead of Docker. Then I saw the everyone coming after me, trying to kill me also. The next thing I knew, all of you were lying side by side, dead with a bullet wound in your chests. That's when I started to fight the images. Then the nausea started and everything went to hell. I couldn't bear the thought of killing you.... even in my mind."
Martin said nothing and looked from Zenya to Leo and back. "Who would've thought that love would really save the day?"
Leo and Zenya both looked at Martin with a deadpan expression on their face, before they both broke out into grins. "Don't make me laugh, Martin. My back still hurts." Leo said with a chuckle. After a moment, his face became dead serious once again. "If this failed, whoever sent the signal sent another final image of everything going black. They're going to shut down shop here. Their job is finished."
Martin nodded, "We'd better gather as much evidence as we possibly can. THere won't be anything left. I have a feeling, there's going to be a lot of reformatted computers out in Castle Rock tonight."
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NRPG :
Sydnie : "No Hurry." ;)