"…vis…" "Travis….." "Travis. Travis." a very familiar voice called out my name.
I woke up to what seemed to be a hospital bed, with several parts of my torso, especially the lower parts fully covered in bandages. I could not see my body part just past my groin area as it was covered with a thick bed blanket. Aside from that, I could tell that the electricity in my room seemed to be functioning, as the light on the ceilings were turned on, and I also came to realize very shortly that it was Ryan's voice all along. I could not clearly see the rest of my surroundings perfectly since I had to wear my glasses due to my nearsighted eyes of -1.
"Oh that is right, here." Ryan said as he handed me my glasses.
As I put on my glasses, I could then instantly see my whole new surroundings clearly. Apparently, I was confined to a personal first class hospital room if I was to assume based on the furniture inside. It was quite large in size, possibly around 300 feet square in area. There was a rather large restroom to my left side, roughly around one fifth of the area of the room.
I noticed that there was also a cupboard right beside the restroom, which was entirely made out of wood. The last thing inside the room that I noticed was the air conditioner which was also turned on, further suggesting that the electricity had functioned again.
Back to my body, I had my left wrist connected to an infusion, but no heart rate monitor kit whatsoever besides me, making me assumed that it had been some while for me to go through a coma when I seemed to be unconscious earlier. I still could not feel my legs, or at least perhaps only barely for a split moment, but somehow I was rather afraid to look upon my legs by opening the blanket that seemed to be covering it.
"Travis, can you talk?" Ryan asked me, still sitting right on my left side with a very concerned look in his eyes.
I glanced at him for a moment, and just then the first thing that I remembered right away was the rest of the other four – Jonathan, Captain Quentin, Kyle, and Della. I felt like my stomach had just grown a lump as soon as I thought about them, and almost at the same time, I also felt a brief sharp pain on my lower back. I closed my eyes while also holding the pain, and took a rather deep breath before responding to Ryan's words as the sharp pain somehow slowly subsided.
"How long have I been here?" I asked him, with barely any voices left inside me.
"Thank goodness." Ryan said, as he chuckled with a hearty relieved voice and look. "It has been five weeks, you know."
I could only bug my eyes out a little as I was very shocked to realize how long I had been unconscious for. I continued by asking where were the others, to which Ryan said he had both good news and bad news about them, especially about Jonathan and Captain Quentin.
The first thing that he revealed was that all of them managed to survive despite that they were both technically already had their lives hanging by a thread by the time the military backup found them and me. From what he had known and heard by his own ears about them, Captain Quentin suffered several broken ribcages as well as a blunt trauma at his lower right lung. He started by explaining the current condition of Captain Quentin to me first.
I recalled that he did receive a huge blow to his torso when he was hit by the behemoth's shield. Ryan also mentioned that while Captain Quentin's condition had started to stabilize and should be awake by few days in front of us, it might actually take some rather long time for him to full recover, perhaps close to six months, and there was still a probability if one or two of his ribcages might not heal perfectly.
By the time he finished about Captain Quentin, I asked if he was also confined to the same hospital, to which he confirmed it and said that he was two floors above us, inside a personal VIP room. Jonathan was also on the same floor as Captain Quentin, but in a different VIP room.
Jonathan's condition however, was a whole different case. Among the severity in injuries of the three of us who had went into a state of coma, he was the one who had sustained the worst injuries, even far worse than what Captain Quentin had suffered from.
Jonathan received several broken bones on his left shoulder, a second degree burn and bleeding on his upper left chest muscles, a pierced through wound on his upper left chest where the human heart was supposedly located, and five broken ribcages. Ryan stopped for a moment before went on, probably it was very hard for him to also imagine it.
It turned out that the broken bones on his left shoulder was caused by some sort of a blunt and hard object hitting it hard. Since the two of us knew for sure that he had not experienced any sort of large object falling down to him inside the mothership, it must be caused by the falling church ruins back when he was protecting the children inside it just as it had begun to crumble down. Jonathan's broken ribcages were undoubtedly caused by the hard kick from the behemoth, and it must be really hard as he was flown back quite some distance away when he received the hit.
The second degree burn on his upper left chest muscles and bleeding, as well as his pierced through wound was of due to one same cause – the beam spear. Apparently, the beam which was the spearhead was created due to some sort of a compressed solar energy, or rather sunray stored inside the spear pole, and could only come out in the hands of the behemoth.
The compressed sunray, whenever erected out as the spearhead would not only have a cutting and piercing ability similar to that of lasers', but would also burn its target. Thus, when it pierced Jonathan's helpless body it gave him three injuries in one strike. Ryan admitted though, that he was very shocked to realize that Jonathan had a medical disorder from his birth, an isolated dextrocardia. To put it simply, he had a medical abnormality in which his heart is located on the further side of right, instead of the usual left in his body. Had it not been for his medical condition, he would have lost his life right away.
With both Jonathan's and Captain Quentin's condition had been explained to me, Ryan went further on how he, together with Kyle and Della held on inside the mothership until somehow a military backup arrived through amphibious Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). He began by saying that the three of them had in fact, not going to the first floor as Jonathan had told them to. Instead, they went further down to the first basement floor, to determine the only area there that had not yet been checked.
As it turned out, they did actually found out a couple of aliens there who were armed by their rifles but seemingly scared of them when they found them, giving out a strong indication that the two of them were hiding from us back then. Nevertheless, since the aliens also fired out their rifles toward them, they had to take them down by using the usual method.
Once they had taken the aliens down, they backtracked all the way through the first basement floor, and then the second, to which they could not find any other remaining aliens there. Thus, they decided to go back to the third floor and provide support for the three of us, who they believed were still fighting at that time. However, just when they had arrived at the first floor by rushing through the staircase, they noticed something very strange.
It was a noise of a large vehicle which seemed to be approaching in the distance. Then, there were another and kept on increasing as they were getting louder. Confused, they decided to find out where the noises originated from by looking outside through the opened access that we used to enter the mothership. As they were getting close to the opened access, they saw a bright light shining upon them up until they went out from it.
Just when they came out, they realized that it was already sunrise. What surprised them however, was that the fog had been cleared out completely, and they could see multiple amphibious APCs were close approaching the mothership very quickly. It did not take them long before the APCs arrived at where they were standing, and they immediately informed the soldiers that a deadly combat had taken place at the peak of the mothership, to which the soldiers rushed upwards as soon as they knew about it.
The last thing that they did, before ascending to the peak was to get inside the weapons storage area again, which was then already nothing but countless burnt remains of broken pieces of tubes and unidentifiable objects. Della then informed Ryan and Kyle, that it was Captain Quentin's idea to destroy all of the alien's weaponries by using his improvised incendiary explosive devices.
Della did not know what his reason was and she did not ask either, but she only thought that Captain Quentin was only making sure that no other alien would be able to pick up their weapons from the storage anymore if we had already destroyed all of them. Ryan however, had his own different opinion.
He said that Captain Quentin might be attempting to erase any possibilities that the weapon would be used against other countries by any other military superior commanding officers, should they get their hands on either of them. He picked up about his assumption because of the sudden heat and tension that emerged between Jonathan and Captain Quentin right before we split up again.
Jonathan might be thinking that Captain Quentin was attempting to do the very same, while in fact Captain Quentin was actually trying to do the exact opposite. They just did not say it straight out as there were technically two persons that could be considered as outsiders among us back then – Kyle and Della. Thinking about it, I immediately realized the tension that nearly turned into a fistfight back then, had it not for the lake tide turbulence to suddenly emerge, completely made sense then.
As for Kyle and Della, Ryan also mentioned that they were all currently in Jonathan's and Captain Quentin's room respectively. He revealed that the three of them had promised each other to constantly look at the condition of those who were in coma. He also mentioned that, during both of their critical surgery procedures, both Kyle and Della sobbed hard as they were very scared of hearing the bad news that some of the soldiers and nurses had to lead them out of the entire floor.
"Really? Is it that bad? I asked him out of my curiosity, as I was trying to smile a little to him.
"Well, you should have seen the looks on their faces both right before and after the surgery procedures, you know…" Ryan said, as he lifted both of his shoulders.
Just when he had finished speaking, two people in white jacket who seemed to be doctors came inside my hospital room. As I glanced for a little moment through the door before it was closed again, I could see at least four armed navy soldiers lined up outside, indicating that my room was indeed seriously protected. When the doctors were close enough to the two of us, the doctors asked if Ryan could wait outside for a moment.
"Lieutenant Ming, if I may… you will have to wait outside for a moment…" one of the doctor said to Ryan.
"Okay, sure…" Ryan responded to him, as he stood up and was about to leave.
"Wait, lieutenant?" I asked, curious on the spoken rank.
"Oh, right… I have not told you yet, have I?" Ryan answered as he chuckled, "The four of us received a promotion in rank, Travis. By two step-ups! That, and with a medal waiting for us!" he finished with face full of delight.
"Well, I cannot wait until you will get back on your two feet, Lieutenant." He continued, ending it with a wide smile as he exited my hospital room.
For a brief moment, I felt like I had just received a huge achievement in my life. I never thought before that I would be able to receive such an honor. I began to imagine how it would be from then on, especially with completely new and different duties to carry with me.
"Lieutenant Burners. It is time for your daily check-ups." The same doctor said to me.
"Right. Of course." I said, as I sit straight.
"First of all, Lieutenant. Please take of the blanket covering both of your legs." The other doctor told me.
In an instant, that same feeling of afraid to find out the truth of what might have happened to me filled my thoughts again. I even started to drench out some sweat when I finally held the blanket with both of my hands. The two doctors kept on staring at me, and it was at that moment that I realized I had to open and see the condition of my legs with my own eyes. I even had both of my hands shaking just when I was about to open the blanket. I opened it up swiftly, and closed my eyes during the process before opening it up shortly after.
"Take it easy, Lieutenant. No need to rush for anything…" said the first doctor to me as he began to approach me to take a picture with his portable x-ray camera.
I felt like I was already half way to cry just as I looked upon the sights that were presented right in front of my eyes. It turned out that my legs were still there, and not amputated due to inoperable severe injuries. Fortunately, I managed to hold back my expression of relieve as I took a couple of deep breath.
"Hehehe, you thought that you had your legs amputated, Lieutenant?" the second doctor said, perhaps realizing my reactions, "Do not worry. We are not that bad that we cannot fix a couple of horrible legs back to its perfect shape, you know…"
Finally, I could let out a bigger smile across my face. Although, I had to admit that I felt like every single time I tried to move a little literally any parts of my body, my lower back pain would show up and kicked again, except for when I moved my fingers. Shortly after the first doctor had taken about six pictures, he began to tell me about my current conditions, both good and bad news, since I had regained my consciousness.
The first thing that the doctor told me was the overall good news. He revealed that even though both of my legs sustained very serious injuries that could be categorized as a severe condition, they could give me a guarantee that my legs could still be saved nonetheless. However, right after that he also revealed the bad news about the severe condition.
He told me that I had five cases of cracked bones on both of my legs just at the parts below the knees, and there were six points of broken bones on each on both of my legs above the knees. Even though the news was indeed disheartening, I was not that surprised since I remembered full well on where on my body parts the behemoth had hit me hard on.
The next bad news that he revealed was that I had to expect to not being able to walk, at least by myself for a total of three months at the very minimum. If any further, even in the slightest injuries were to be sustained by my legs, I would most likely expect an addition of another month before I could start to walk again. To put it simply, I would be confined to a wheelchair for around three months if I were to go somewhere.
Then, the third bad news, also revealed by the first doctor was that I should expect some mild pain on my lower back during the whole time of my treatment, both intensive and standard until my full recovery. I immediately admitted to both of them that I had been feeling the sharp pain on my lower back a few times already, to which they confirmed that it was the very same pain they were talking about.
The second doctor explained that my injuries were not only limited to the area below my groin, but it also extended to some small regions of my lower backbone. He told me that a couple of small bones there had been shifted by force, but not to the point that I would need a surgery to fix it back to normal. Several intensive treatments would already suffice, although I also had to withstand the mentioned consequence. And besides, the treatment would also accelerate the healing of my legs injuries in the area above the knees.
"Well, I think that is all for the daily check-ups. Since we will be on our way, I thank you for your cooperation with us, Lieutenant. Unless, you have any questions for us, that is��" the first doctor said, as he put inside the portable x-ray camera inside his jacket pocket again.
"There is. Two, actually." I responded to him right away.
First of all, I asked further about what exactly they did to my legs, especially to the broken bones above the area of my knees. The second doctor was the one to answer my question, saying that they had installed a couple of biodegradable materials inside each of the points of the broken bone, which would mean that I had a total of twenty four biodegradable material pieces inside my legs. Specifically, the name of the material is Poly lactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable polymer widely used in bone fixation applications.
Secondly, I asked more about further details on Jonathan to them. At first, the first doctor seemed to be reluctant to share the current information with me. However, the second doctor convinced him that I had the right to know, even though I did not have the full clearance to the complete information for both Jonathan and Captain Quentin.
He said that while Jonathan already had his conditions stabilized and was safe from any critical situation for the time being, it would perhaps take some long time before he would regain his consciousness, could even be months. He mentioned that the whole surgeon team had nearly given up on resuscitating him back when he had arrived on the emergency room. Had it not for Ryan who suddenly barged inside the emergency room back then, even though he was already held by several air force soldiers, and insisted so hard on trying one more time, Jonathan would have definitely been presumed deceased.
The doctor did not say how the emergency surgery had gone, probably for my own best sake in the first place. However he did tell me that to picture it easily, Jonathan's body condition was about three times or even four times worse than me. That would mean his body was completely full of bandages, stitches, lacerations, and might perhaps even extended to the area of his legs as well.
I gulped hard as soon as I understood the overall picture of Jonathan's condition. He also told me that Captain Quentin's condition was technically the same as Jonathan, but without any burns injuries, less lacerations and stitches.
Before they left my room, the second doctor mentioned that while the fog in Chicago had been completely gone, some parts of the world outside were currently still at war with the aliens, but with almost a guarantee that we would win it, thanks to a certain few individuals who had thought the rest of the world on how to retaliate against those creatures. He laughed hard at me when I plainly asked him who those individuals were, before he revealed that they were no other than the seven of the initial survivors – me, Jonathan, Ryan, Captain Quentin, Kyle, Della, and Virgil.
Based on how the doctor told me, apparently not the whole world was engulfed in fog, but only in certain areas or towns instead. Communications were completely cut-off whenever anyone attempted to send any signals through the fog barrier, and any vehicles either land, sea, or air that attempted to enter or pass through it would instantly explode, thus literally isolating the foggy area.
That was, until Chicago suddenly had its fog lifted and all military personnel immediately learnt on various necessary things to counter the invaders. So far as he had known, Chicago was the only place that had been isolated in the entire America continent.
"Well, it seems that you seven heroes will have an unforgettable titles etched into your name until the day you die." The second doctor said, "That is a one in a billion chance probability if you ask me." as he left the room together with the first doctor.
When I was left alone in my room again, I began to wonder on how would the other fog – isolated regions on many other sides of the world would be able to communicate to the outside world. Just then, I recalled that the Morse code technique seemed to be able to convey a message right in the middle of the foggy town without any of the aliens noticing back then, strongly indicating that it was Virgil all along who told the military personnel about the technique in order to communicate with the isolated areas, and informed the survivors inside it on how to counter the aliens.
Once I figured out on how the rest of the world had been doing, I let out a loud sigh as I slowly leaned back to my pillow again, and closed my eyes. I recalled on several crucial moments when we were on the edges of our lives back inside the foggy town, as I realized that those moments would indeed not be forgotten for the rest of my life.
Another thing that I realize was that once the rest of the world won the war against the guests from out there, we would enter a whole new different era where each nation's differences in ideologies would no longer be much of a concern, since the whole world then already knew full well that there were still so many bigger and more dangerous threats from the other worlds that we did not know at all, and that would mean all of us would have to be ready for literally anything…