BEAUTIFUL DAYS CHAPTER FOUR
You look towards heaven for the meaning of life. But the meaning of life is here for all of us. Not in books
of God and scripture, but on the faces of us all. Call me crazy for saying so, but man is god. To look
in the face of God is to look into my eyes. And the eyes of those around us. Any man, woman, or child
is a fool to think otherwise. With these hands I can create a universe. And with these same hands, I can
destroy it. Truly the powers of a God. Who would argue such a thing. From the eyes of God...I give you
VISION. With that vision you see...that these are truly beautiful days we are living in.
-The Engineer.
BEAUTIFUL DAYS
CHAPTER FOUR
THE GIRL, THE D.A., AND THE ENGINEER...?
ST. JOAN'S HOSPITAL.
Tonight, it houses a rather unruly patient...
"Somebody take off these fuckin' cuffs!!!!
It's our old buddy, Patch. And tonight, Patch isn't too thrilled with having his wrists handcuffed to a hospital bed. As well as having his room
gaurded by armed officers 24/7. I'll have my meeting with Patch momentarily, as for now...there's a psycho of another kind following me down
the street...
I'm not crazy, Detective!
Why is she still here? Chick is gorgeous...but fuckin' crazy!
"You're not crazy? You just tried to convince
me that the world is overpopulated with
fuckin' robots. And you're not crazy?
I'm a little drunk lady but not that
fuckin' drunk!, I tell her.
"Why do you think my father is dead, Detective?", she says.
"A 9 inch bowie knife to the chest has a tendency to
do that to a man!" I said.
She drops her head down as if i just stabbed her with that same knife. Great! Now I feel like shit.
Listen I'm sorry for sayin that, but the robot
story...sell it to Speilberg. Ain't buyin it.
"I wouldn't have come all this way, risk my life
and my father's if it weren't true.
We are the few humans left and
if we don't act now...we will all
die at the hands of
The Engineer!", she said.
Engineer? Who the hell is that?, I ask.
He's the one responsible for the robots.
Androids, I should say.
And now that my father and I
know the truth, they want us
all dead. Even you., she said.
Look lady, I don't like listening to fairy tales.
Sci fi ain't my thing. So what im gonna do
is what im paid to do.
And that is protect you,
but...
the robot shit...
GOTTA STOP!
Now it's a matter of finding a safe place for her to crash at least for the night. I figure the best place is my place. Mainly because I figure that the last
place she would want to see is the Apex. Or any motel for that matter. But then again, the chick is fuckin' whacked out talkin about robots and shit
and I'm not sure I want her knowing where I stay. So I go see Sarge. I had an idea...
"What the hell you mean can she stay here tonight?, Sarge yells.
Just for tonight, or at least until i go to question, Patch., I said.
Hell no, Reed. You wake me up outta my bed
this late for this shit? Are you fuckin' crazy?,He asked.
No but I think she is. That's why I don't want her at my place., I said.
So you bring the bitch here? You bring a crazy chick here and
expect me to babysit?
No I am bringing the girl you told me to make it a point
to find and question here for safe keeping.
Now since all I got outta her is a crazy ass
robot story, my only hope is that bastard
laid up in the hospital.,I said.
"You got one hour!", Said Sarge.
I make my way back out into Sarge's living room where I had asked her to sit while I talked to him in his bedroom. I approach the couch she's sitting
on. She'd been weeping again. Poor girl. Not only has she lost her father, she's fucked up in the head on top of all that. Her pops was probably the
only fuckin brains she had. Now he's gone. God damn she's fuckin gorgeous. I would never admit, but my heart was breakin for her...
"Look Sarge is gonna keep ya company
until I come back for you ok? You'll be safe here.", I said.
Are you sure?, she asked.
Yea. You got a weapon?. I asked.
Yes. , she responded.
Good. Hang on to it. And do
me a favor...
What's that?, she asked.
As I headed out the door, I stated my request...
Don't kill Sarge with it!
I close the door, and head to the hospital.
As I approach the hospital...I begin thinking about what exactly happened with that Indian back at the 1800 building. Why do i feel so open...and I see
Sophie's eyes in my mind more often. I drift off into the thought of her eyes again...mesmorized. Intoxicated. Not off the 12 Jack and Cokes, but the
thought of her. But my daydream is quickly interrupted...
I hear a crash...it's the window on the 8th floor of the hospital...Patch's room. It's Officer Brown. One of the officers picked for guard duty tonight on
Patch's room. Well he's kinda off duty now...due to the fact that he's hurddling to his death. He smashes into an ambulance after that 8 story drop.
I draw my twin girls and I haul ass into the lobby...but...it's strange...the doctors...the nurses...the receptionist. Calm as hindu cows. No patients at
all in the ER.
They all look up at the same time...they notice me. As if all on que...they draw guns. I dive for safety behind the couches the patients would have
been sitting had there been patients. I crawl over behind the vending machines. The two doctors walk over to the machines and begin to open fire
at them. They stop. It's quiet...
Am I dead?
That's what they are wondering.
They walk over to inspect...
To thier suprise I had shimmied my way into the ventilation shaft behind the machines. I drop down out of the shaft opening in the ceiling firing as I drop
down. I plug both doctors and they drop. I land on the receptionist. She droped her gun and she goes for it but I plug her before she gets to it. Now there's the matter of the Three armed nurses on the other side of this desk. I hear them running towards it. They are going to jump over it and fire on me as soon as they hit the ground. I put my feet on the back of the receptionist's desk. I hear the nurses' feet hit the top of the desk. I push off with my feet and as I slide
from underneath I open fire. Hitting the nurses before they even hit the ground. They drop to the ground. Lifeless. As I get up and head towards the stairs,
an ambulance crashes through the lobby. Headed straight for me. I dive outta the way. I don't get a look at the driver. But the asshole in the back looking
out at me waving goodbye...was that son of a bitch Patch...
He got away.
I high tail it back to Sarge's. I get to the end of his hall in his apartment building. I notice his door is ajar. I draw. I ease my way to the door. I enter. There's no sign of a struggle. Nor is there any sign of Sophie...or Sarge. I check the entire apartment. No luck. As I realize I'm alone in the apartment...my cell
rings. On the other end...District Attorney Steve Kelley. I had befriended the DA about two years ago when I was recognized by the city for saving his daughter from a hostage situation in a local grocery store. I answered the call. His voice on the other end...
"Jake. Sorry to call so late. Just got back from vacation.
was wondering if you wanted to catch lunch tommorrow
around 1!",he said.
"I'll take your delayed reaction as a yes!", he said.
"Bailey's. 1o'clock tomorrow. Be there on time.See you there."
He hangs up. I never even said a word. It's probably best, seeing as to the only word I could really muster up at that point was...
SHIT!
END CHAPTER FOUR
