Andy started touching his legs up and down to feel them out, to check if this familiar feeling was a dream or reality. He was wiggling his toes and smiling like a kid. Jake unlocked the wheelchair and pushed it away from him. He held his hand out to help him stand up. Andy smiled as he took his hand and tried to stand up.
Andy tried to stand up and failed the first time because as if it had become a muscle memory he used his hands and pulled on Jake's hand to stand up instead of his legs. Then he realized his mistake and this time used his legs to stand up. He felt his legs all the way the sensation starting from the knee and all the way to his toes.
The movement of each muscle works harmoniously to help him stand. He stood up in one push this time shouldered by Jake. He stood in one place for a second and then tried to take a few steps. He stumbled a few times but then took it slowly and started walking around the living room. At first, assisted by Jake and Alice and then by himself.
"How is it? Feel comfortable? Any pain?" Jake inquired as he helped him walk.
"They do feel a little weird, to be honest, maybe because I have been living without them for so long. Feels a little alien yet familiar." Andy gave feedback on his new legs as he walked by himself.
"Don't worry about it. It's been five years since you last felt your legs let alone use them. It might take a while before the memory comes back. Just give it some time." Jake was happy to have helped his friend even just a little bit.
"I guess Sylvia was right when she said you had awakened. She kept saying it was the reason she believed you might be alive. Guess I should have believed her. Are you gonna be a hunter now? Wait you are a healer, they get paid a shit ton of money, don't they? Well, I ain't paying you a pretty penny for this if that is what you are waiting for you know."
"Don't worry about it. The first time is on the house, If I have to heal these legs a second time then I am afraid it will cost you your arms hehe." Jake gave him a nasty smile like the boss of a crooked company hungry for money.
"Go to hell you son of a bitch. What about a family and friends discount?"
"Oh, that is the discounted price. If not that then It would cost you a whole lot more. Maybe one leg for the price of the other."
They both laughed about the price of his new legs as Andy was getting used to his new legs. He was now walking just fine without holding on to Jake or Alice. They sat down again as Andy continued to smile as if he had just been on a ride on a rollercoaster.
"It's about eight right now and it is a Saturday so they must be asleep right now. If we go over right now and wake Sylvia and Ellen up and tell them 'Hey! remember that husband of yours. Well, he is still alive here you go' will be a hell of a shock. Let's just get ready first and have a light breakfast and then we will leave how about that?"
Jake wanted to meet them as soon as possible and was about say lets go now but he panicked over a thought and agreed to go over a little later. He needed time to think something over. Something that he had not thought about before.
'What would I say to them?'
What would he tell them when he meets them? Why was he gone for the last five years? Even if he does tell them the truth will they believe him? They must be angry with him after all this time. Would they forgive him? In the first place should they?
Andy saw the grim expression on Jake's face and guessed what he was thinking about.
"Don't worry about it, Jake. Just tell them what you can, and be honest, Just like me, they have moved beyond blame. I know that they would be happy to find out you are alive. Trust them and trust yourself. it might take some time but it will be ok."
Jake listens to his friend and smiles at him as his worries lessen a little. "Thanks, Andy."
"Alright let's get ready and then we will go"
Andy stands up to go to his room and Alice moves towards the wheelchair for a second when she remembers that it is no longer needed. She takes the wheelchair to the storage and leaves it there hoping they would never need it again. Andy walks back to his room and a few minutes later comes back out with some of his clothes for Jake and a shaver. He hands him the stuff and points toward both of their beards with a smile. Jake takes the stuff and Alice leads him to the bathroom on the second floor.
When Jake first enters the bathroom he gets a little overwhelmed when he sees the bathroom. He never thought that he would miss something like this in the other world. The world that he had been in was a little bit primitive and did not have these types of luxuries. He walks to the mirror ready to shave and shave he does. He runs his fingers through his beard one last time bidding it farewell, this is a new world for him, technically, and he is a new man.
After shaving he looks in the mirror to see if he did a good job after so long and a thought occurs to him.
"I have not really aged as much have I?"
When he went to the other world he was about 35, he spent close to 25 years in the other world. Physically he did not age accordingly. He should look like a silver-haired 65-year-old man but instead, he looks close to 40. There are a few more white hair on his head and some white streaks on his sideburns.
Hunters live longer than normal humans but how long was a point of debate. Some lived for more than hundred and fifty years and some lived normal lives comprising sixty-five to eighty. At this point, Jake felt he was the one who would live a little longer. He takes a shower and gets dressed up.
He comes down and moments later Andy comes out shaved as well. They both look at each other and laugh. Jake says they both look like boiled potatoes after shaving. Alice makes some breakfast and they eat and talk. Around about 10 they leave the house to go see Sylvia and Ellen.
.....
A few hours earlier a road that was empty and abandoned was bustling as people were running around on it. There were several military personnel, Police, Government officials, and Hunters running around setting up things. The road had been blocked and Both the military and the police had the place guarded and a perimeter had been set. A group of workers was setting up specialized machinery for some reason and a very angry man in charge was wandering around overseeing the whole operation.
The workers were setting up machines in the same place where Jake had appeared a few minutes ago. The man in charge was waiting patiently for the machine to work and for the report to come out and he did not have to wait long as the report came.
"Sir the perimeter has been set and the area has been quarantined. The machine is working but so far there are no signs of a gate appearing here or in the vicinity." A soldier salted the man and gave his report to him.
"What do you mean there is nothing here? We picked up energy signals that a gate had appeared here and a pretty strong one at that. Now you are telling me there is nothing. The signal that came before indicated that this was a big gate, maybe an A rank but now there is nothing."
"Yes sir there is nothing for the time being. We did pick up an energy signal for a gate here before but it has since disappeared. The machines are picking up nothing either it was a malfunction or like the others before it was a premonition and the gate will appear here in this location in the next 24 hours."
"All right expand the perimeter and keep the hunters ready just in case. Although rare it does happen from time to time where the energy signals are picked up first and the gate appears in the same location later. All the ones that appeared like this have been A rank or Higher. Keep the hunters ready and request backup just in case."
There have been cases before where at first only the energy of a gate is detected and the gate appears later on. They believe this happens because the gate that is to appear is very powerful and somehow leaks enough energy to give a type of warning if you may want to call it that. And so they wait for a gate to appear.