Chapter 20 part 2

Samuel

It was no surprise being woken up to bright lights and the annoying beeping of machines. He had gotten used to that.

It was a surprise, however, to find five different doctors and nurses surrounding him as he awoke.

He blinked a few times, assuring he was seeing everything correctly, before looking around the room.

Everything looked mostly the same, the only difference being all the people. That and the machines had moved ever so slightly from the doctors who must've been working on them while he slept.

Once he was adjusted to being awake, one of the doctors spoke up.

"How are you feeling?" A feminine voice asked.

He was sure he had seen her multiple times before, but still didn't know her name. He didn't know any of their names.

"Better" he replied dryly.

It was true, he was feeling better. He was feeling amazing, actually. Compared to how he was feeling before at least.

"Well, that's good because.." she glanced around at the other doctors.

Samuel felt himself tense, waiting for her to continue.

Finally a different doctor, a male one with a noticeably deep voice, spoke up.

"You have been getting much better, and you should be able to leave within the next week"

Samuel's heart sped up immensely and he started to fidget with his hand. He had been in the hospital for so long now, at least two months, he knew, and he had never been more ready to leave.

The hospital was cold and bright and it was hard to get good sleep. Not to mention it was ungodly boring.

That wasn't why he was so excited to get out though. He was excited to see Ellie. Surely Amanda has been taking good care of her— Samuel didn't want to think about Amanda though, considering she must know Samuels the hero now— but he was still worried.

"How many days?" Samuel finally asked.

The doctors looked at him curiously.

"How many days until I can leave" he repeated, being more clear.

A few of the doctors looked at one another, clearly not knowing the answer, until another doctor spoke up.

"Maybe around four days, though it could be a bit longer or shorter" he looked at Samuel for approval "it's hard to be sure"

Samuel nodded, though he couldn't help but be annoyed. It wasn't the doctors fault, he knew, but it was still infuriating. He was desperate to get out of the hospital.

"However you'll only be able to leave if you have some kind of checkup almost every day" another doctor spoke up.

Samuel nodded once again, even more annoyed.

He tried his best not to show it on his face, but was sure the doctors could see his shift in mood.

"If you have to do daily checkups, can't I just leave today?" He questioned, desperate.

The doctors looked at each other once again.

"We'll see what we can do" the same deep voiced man spoke up, "but there is no guarantee"

Samuel nodded, again, and looked down at his lap. He was covered in a thin white blanket and had on an even thinner hospital gown. Neither helped with the cold, and the cold didn't help with his sour mood.

"Even if you do leave a bit early" a woman, who seemed to be a nurse, spoke up, "it will be an annoying process for you"

She glanced around, but everyone in the room avoided meeting her eyes.

"Someone will have to assure you get to your home safely. That or you will need somebody to pick you up" she finished explaining.

Samuel, once again, had to hold himself back from scoffing. He didn't have anybody to pick him up, and there was no way in hell he'd let some random doctor see where he lives.

He considered asking Amanda, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Not only did he refuse to let himself rely on her like that, but he also didn't have any way of contacting her. He had no phone, and he didn't know her number.

And so he waited. He laid in his cold bed, with bright lights, bored out of his mind, for multiple days. His guess would've been that it had been six days, but he couldn't be sure. He was awake more than before, but telling the time that was passing was still a challenge.

Eventually though, a doctor came to talk to him. Not only a doctor though, the bald officer was with him. Officer Hinton was his name, he had learned after their first few meetings. After he wasn't too preoccupied stressing about everything else in his life.

"Everything's set, if all goes well you'll be out of here today" the doctor spoke up before even saying hi.

Samuel felt his heart jump.

Finally

He felt as if he had been in the hospital for years, and was already antsy thinking about lying in his own bed, and eating his own food, and seeing his daughter, and taking a shower.

"We also figured that, if you don't have someone to pick you up from here, Officer Hinton could assure you get home safely"

Samuel looked at the doctor, a little dumbfounded. There was no fucking way that was happening.

"I can go on my own" he protested.

The doctor opened their mouth to speak, but the officer held up a dismissive hand.

"It's not safe for you to be walking the streets alone. You don't have a ride and you don't have anyone to accompany you. It's just not safe for the hero to be out like that" Officer Hinton explained.

Samuel still wasn't convinced though. Something about knowing an officer knowing where he lived made him anxious. He couldn't let that happen.

"Nobody will know I'm the hero. There hasn't been any attacks yet, and we both know how small the chances of another one on my way home are." Samuel continued to argue, becoming more defensive by the second.

"The chance is still there, you never know what people are up to" Officer Hinton went on.

"And how big is that chance, 1 percent? 0.1 percent?"

The officer furrowed his brows at Samuel, but was clearly trying to keep his cool.

Finally, after a long bit of aggravated eye contact, Officer Hinton scowled.

"How about this" he began, his voice becoming softer and less defensive, "I can drive you just close to your house, and you can walk the rest of the way"

The doctor made a face, but Samuel and Officer Hinton both chose to ignore it.

"You'll just follow me the rest of the way to my home" Samuel defended.

Just saying the word made him excited to be there. Home.

"I won't. You'd see me anyways, wouldn't you?"

Samuel looked at him with disbelief in his eyes, but was only met with a honest, sincere look.

"Fine" he nodded.

Officer Hinton smiled back, pleased.

A few hours passed and Samuel was brought clothes to change into— clothes he had never seen before— and ended up having multiple discussions with doctors and Officer Hinton about everything that had been and needed to be done.

He needed to avoid driving. He needed to eat plenty of vegetables and protein. He needed to avoid heavy lifting. He needed to get lots of sleep.

Officers were already patrolling the city. Buildings were already being repaired. People were already being interviewed about the attack.

The list went on and on, Samuel honestly stopped listening,

And eventually, after a torturous amount of time, they said he was free to go.

Officer Hinton helped him out of the hospital, though he swore he didn't need it, and into the car. He was driven to a mostly unused road not too far from Greenlake— but far enough as to avoid seeing all the mess that had been made.

When the car slowed to a stop Officer Hinton wasted no time begging Samuel to stay.

"It's illegal for me to share any of your home information anyways. I'd loose my job" he pleaded.

Samuel paid it no mind though. He was going to keep his home hidden from police, even after his identity was revealed.

The officer seemed to catch on to Samuels determination and left it alone. He helped Samuel out of the car— while Samuel continued to protest that he didn't need the help— and pulled away.

Samuel watched the car the whole way out of the street, assuring that it was gone.

That wasn't enough though. He was still too worried about someone following him.

And so he went into the nearest alley. He knew it wasn't a good idea, and he knew the odds of him finding himself trouble were high, but all those thought were pushed to the back of his mind.

He was too busy thinking about Ellie, and Matias, and Amanda, and all the things he was excited to see and do again.

He worked his way through the dirty alley, his only sense of direction being that he knew his house was north.

He was getting ready to exit the alley, knowing that he was nearing the road where his house was, when he heard something from just around the corner.

It was a small sound, like a twig snapping, but it put Samuel on guard. His body froze and he held his breath, waiting for another sound. But there was nothing.

Samuel let go of his breath in a sigh and continued to walk, rounding the corner carelessly.

That carelessness, however, punched him in the face when he met the eyes of another person, no more than three feet away.

"You're.." Samuel stuttered, trying to collect both his words and his thoughts.

He knew he was in no position to fight, but it wouldn't do him any better to run.

"Why hello" the familiar voice replied.

The sight of the new villains mask frustrated him enough, but now there was a clear crack right in the middle, clearly having been stuck back together.

Samuel glanced away from her ever so slightly, looking for any possible escape, but was met with nothing.

The new villain must've saw his distress, as she was simply watching, clearly amused.

"Looking for something?" She finally announced, sounding proud.

Samuel couldn't respond. He only swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to keep his composure.

He didn't know what to do or say. He couldn't run, his injuries wouldn't let him move fast enough. And he couldn't fight, he was still weak from the previous battle and didn't even know if his powers worked. He knew it'd be impossible to call for help too, he didn't have his phone and surely there was nobody around.

Suddenly, a wave of red clouded his vision. It was dark and blood-like, reminding him of the destroyed street from just a few months ago.

He felt pressure where his more severe wounds were, especially his stomach.

He tested his powers in his left hand, his right brought up to his face in a poor attempt to shield himself.

The yellow bits of his powers sparked and fizzed in his hand, not wanting to work.

He began to panic, still not able to see anything other than the red of the new villains powers.

Just when he thought things had reached their worst, the red vanished and he was met with a swift, but strong, punch in the face.

The new villains fist landed right on his lip and he could taste the blood as it spilled into his mouth, his lip bleeding both inside his mouth and out.

Before he could even react to the first blow, another one was landed on his arm. The punches were surprisingly strong and caused Samuel to feel each wound pulse.

In some kind of miracle Samuel gathered his thoughts just enough to move out of the way of her next punch, which was aimed right at his chest.

She recovered quickly, but Samuel did what he could with the time he had.

He threw a ball of his powers right at her, forcing it out of himself. He could feel himself get lightheaded and nauseous, but kept himself on his feet.

The new villain was now bleeding out of her cheek, having a worse injury than Samuel had intended to cause.

Her blood dripped down onto her shoulder and down her neck, some landing on the ground below her.

If it were anyone else, Samuel probably would've felt bad.

"You asshole" she grunted, throwing another fist at him, landing it in his side.

Samuel felt everything get fuzzy, and he lost track of his own thoughts. He couldn't think straight and his eyes welled with tears.

In the next few seconds he was met with one punch after another. He wasn't sure why she was using her hands rather than her powers, but he couldn't bring himself to look for a reason.

Eventually a strong blow met him in the center of his head, knocking any remaining thoughts out of his head.

He just stood still, swaying back and forth, feeling the unease grow inside him.

Everything seemed to pause for a second, a short second, and peaceful second, before everything erupted into pain and chaos again.

A final blow hit him hard in his stomach, making him cough more aggressively than he ever had before.

Before he knew it, everything was black.

He wasn't seeing anything, he wasn't hearing anything, feeling, smelling, anything.

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Todays my birthday! 🥳🥳