[Chapter 8: Saving a Life]
Maybe every novel's main character always runs into a lot of unexpected events, and St. John Leighton was no exception. Just as he was quietly focusing on training, something unexpected happened unexpectedly.
February 14th -- unfortunately, Zach and John were both single guys, so they decided to go catch a movie that night.
They went to the theater and saw some weird romantic movie. They'd both forgotten what it was called by the time they left.
Zach drove his beat-up pickup truck, making a "clunk-clank" noise like it was about to fall apart, slowly heading toward their apartment complex.
"Screech..."
"Bang!"
"Oh my god, Zach, you hit someone?"
"Shit, damn it."
With urgent brakes and the sound of a collision, John and Zach jumped out of the truck without saying much. About a meter in front of the vehicle, they saw a figure lying on the ground.
Fortunately, the truck wasn't going fast and Zach had braked early; otherwise, they might have witnessed something truly gruesome.
They quickly walked to the figure's side. To their surprise, the person was still conscious. When John and Zach crouched down, the man grabbed them and said, "Please don't take me to a hospital, don't call the cops." Then he fainted for real. At first, John thought they had gotten caught up with some scam artist trying to milk the situation.
"Damn, Zach, what should we do now?" John muttered in frustration, seeing the situation.
The man lying there was unconscious, with a blood-stained white bandage wrapped around his waist and sporting tight braids -- clearly of Mexican descent. They glanced at each other, both realizing that the area had been rife with gunfire lately. Most likely, this was a gang member.
"Shit, damn it. What do I know? Whatever, let's take him back first," Zach said.
"Are you sure? He's clearly a gang member. If we bring him home, that could get real messy."
"Then what? Leave him here?" Zach snapped, a little annoyed.
Luckily, both of them were big guys, strong enough to easily carry this "dangerous element" into the truck. They eventually made it safely back to their apartment garage.
They tidied up his clothes and each took one side to help him into the apartment. When the front desk lady -- a chubby woman -- asked, they just said a friend got drunk and managed to bluff their way past her.
...
They set him up in Zach's room and collected any dangerous items from the room, moving them into John's space. After all, the guy they saved definitely looked like trouble, so a little caution was in order.
While Zach was tidying his room, John decided to use some water-based healing magic on the injured man. Although he wasn't a full-fledged mage and the effect wasn't immediate, it was better than nothing.
John was an elemental mage specializing in the five elements, knowledge gained through the memories of a powerful magic god named Einstein from the fantasy continent of Alistair. When it came to healing, light magic was best, but sadly, although John understood magic, he couldn't cast light spells yet.
As a trainee magician, just being able to throw out basic magic was already impressive, and accelerating wound healing several times faster was well within his ability.
Of course, John didn't do it purely out of goodwill. First, he wanted the guy to recover faster so he'd be out of their hair sooner. Second, he wanted to test the magic, since he'd never really used it before. And third, he certainly didn't want to deal with a dead body in a few days.
Sure enough, after casting the water healing spell, John broke a sweat -- the effort was intense. The Mexican man on the bed looked a lot better. He should pull through.
...
Seeing the guy still unconscious, John and Zach were a bit dispirited. They left a note by the bedside explaining the situation and then returned to John's apartment.
"Well, tonight was definitely eventful, Zach. Good night," John shrugged and went into his room.
Zach watched the door close, speechless. His room was taken, so he resigned himself to sleeping on the living room couch for the next few days.
...
"Hi, Zach, good morning!"
Early the next day after freshening up, John came out of his room to find Zach almost done making breakfast.
"Honestly, I didn't sleep well last night. John, do you think I have dark circles under my eyes?"
"Come on, Zach, your skin's dark enough that no one would even notice dark circles," John said with an annoyed smirk.
"What? You're saying I'm too dark? Boy, this is healthy bronzed chocolate skin, didn't you notice?"
Whenever they talked about skin color, Zach insisted he had a bronzed, chocolate complexion -- even though, compared to pure African Americans, his skin was less dark but it was nowhere close to chocolate tone.
"Alright, let's stop the skin color debate. Has the guy in your room woken up yet?"
"Who knows, boy? That's a gang member. I'm worried to go in and get whacked myself," Zach said, making John almost spit out his breakfast juice.
"Alright, John, I admit it -- I'm scared to go in alone," Zach said, seeing John's mocking expression. Then he dove into his breakfast annoyed.
"Okay, once we finish, let's check on him together. We can't just wait here. Besides, what if he leaves while we're gone?" John said, smiling.
"Let's hope not!" Zach made a praying gesture, making John laugh.
Honestly, John wasn't too worried about the gangster they'd picked up last night. The man was badly injured, Zach was armed, and John was a mage with enhanced physical strength that outclassed special forces.
Having strong physical attributes didn't necessarily mean great fighting skills, but John also had memories of the magic god Einstein's numerous combat techniques and battle experience. Anyone on Earth who knew would be amazed at his combat expertise.
Though John couldn't claim to have fully inherited Einstein's battle experience, he was confident at least 30-50% of it was there. So he wasn't worried.
...
After finishing breakfast, Zach grabbed his rifle and loaded bullets. Seeing Zach take the job seriously, insisting on walking ahead to protect him, John felt both amused and touched.
As they stepped out into the hallway, John was already using his mental powers to sense the injured man's status inside the room.
It's worth mentioning that mages train their mental strength, so their mental power usually far exceeds that of ordinary people. Using mental energy to sense the surroundings is a basic mage skill.
To normal people, anyone within sensing range was practically exposed. John felt a steady breath about 10 meters away -- actually deeper and longer than typical breathing -- meaning the injured man was probably still unconscious.
John knocked lightly and briefly greeted. Zach just pushed open the door and walked in.
As expected, the man they brought back last night was still lying on the bed, his chest rising and falling. He clearly hadn't woken up yet.
John could already feel his breathing change -- he was either about to wake or already had.
...
"Alright, Zach, looks like he's still out. You go get some food. Then we'll wake him up and figure out what to do next," John said to the nervous Zach.
After Zach left the room leaving his rifle behind, John spoke to the man on the bed, "Sir, I think you're awake now. Look, we saved you last night. It's time for a chat. Are you planning to keep lying there or get up? You should know, because of you, Zach hasn't slept all night."
Just then, the man stirred, sitting up and clutching the blood-streaked bandage around his waist.
*****
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