A Hard Rain: Book Two Of The Shift Trilogy

Chapter 15

"Mr. Jung, Mr. Jung, can you hear me?"

Chris felt someone tapping his cheek. He could hear a voice calling his name, incorrectly pronouncing his last name with a "J" sound instead of a "Y" as it was intended in German.

"Mr. Jung, don't move. You're safe. We're taking you to Howard County General." Chris now heard the loud wail of...a siren?

Chris stirred and felt someone pressing down on his arms; his neck was likewise restrained. He was unable to move. He struggled to open his eyes and with a dizzying spin, he saw the face of a woman holding his arms down.

"It's gonna be alright, Mr. Jung. Just stay still. We'll be at the hospital in five minutes. Can you hear me, Mr. Jung?" she asked again.

Chris tried to nod, but couldn't. He struggled again, but the woman holding her down was strong. He managed to say, "It's Jung with a 'Y,'" before he fell unconscious again.

"Hon! Please wake up. Please."

Chris heard the sweet familiar voice of his love. "Meredith?" he whispered.

"Yes, Love! Oh, thank God!"

Chris blinked his eyes trying to adjust to the brilliant light. The last thing he remembered was cycling away from the mortars and the surrounding internecine battle as fast as he could. There was that El Camino technical that peeled away...the one with the busty Betty Boop in a bikini and the gothic writing. He remembered now. It said, "Can't touch this." He was pedaling over the icy road, he saw the deer, he tried to swerve and flipped through the air. That was out in Maryland, but now he heard his wife's voice speaking to him. She was in Virginia. Could he have somehow returned to Virginia, or was it...

"Am I...am I dead? Is this heaven?"

Straining from the bright light, he saw Meredith giggle through tears streaming down her face. "No, love. It's Maryland."

Chris lifted his head and placed a hand on his forehead which was bandaged. Someone helped him sit up. All he could do was focus on Meredith. She looked so beautiful, so perfect. Almost too perfect.

"You cut your hair," he said. She touched her bobbed hair that was perfectly shaped. It also had a reddish tint. His focus was beginning to come back; the world was no longer spinning. It hurt to look directly into the brightness. But as his eyes adjusted he could see he was inside a room, a clean sterile room with Meredith standing beside him. He heard voices, disembodied voices summoning people.

"What, where..." Chris tried to begin.

"Mr. Jung, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Chris saw a young man wearing scrubs holding two fingers in front of him. Chris answered him. "Two."

"Good. What's the date?"

"It's, uh, January...something, I forget, 2013; Thursday."

"That very good, Mr. Jung. And who's the President? Outgoing or incoming. Either one will do."

Chris squinted with confusion. "The President? Why are you asking history questions?" He scanned around the room and saw a monitor, a computer monitor making readings. He stared at the illuminated screen reporting his vitals. The screen looked so futuristic. Then it hit him. It's a computer screen! Sure enough it was a true-to-life computer monitor operating like in the old days. And he was inside a hospital room, at least as far as it looked, it was a hospital. The disembodied voices now made sense. It was an intercom. The lights in the room didn't flicker. It was a clean, steady light. Meredith was dressed in one of her business outfits the way she did back in the real world. Her hair, her face, they were done up.