Date: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 14:40:57 EDT Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Aubrey Summerlin Subject: The Unruly Child Part 2 THE UNRULY CHILD Part 2 Everything was black. Johnny Rodriguez opened his eyes and couldn't see a thing. He lifted his hands and felt thin plastic restrict his movement. "Is this hell?" he thought, "darkness and a sandwich bag?" Then he remembered his ears and he listened. He heard the dull roar of road noise from beneath him. "Wait a minute..." Johnny felt the plastic again and came across a long metal seam. He pulled the zipper and light poured through the opening. Blinking, Johnny lifted his head through the hole. He saw two EMT's talking in the cab of the ambulance. "Ambulance?" Johnny unzipped the body bag the rest of the way and got out. He went up to the window between the cab and the back of the ambulance and knocked on the glass, noticing his blood-stained hand as he did so. Naturally, the two technicians looked around at Johnny. Then, terrified at the sight of the recent corpse moving around, the driver lost control of the ambulance. The passenger tried to help regain control but only succeeded in jumping the curb and upending fire hydrants and snapping telephone poles. Drawers opened in the back of the ambulance spilling their contents onto the floor. A drawer of scalpels and other instruments fell under Johnny as he hit the floor hard from the collisions. When the ambulance finally stopped, Johnny opened the back doors and limped off, pulling the protruding instruments from his back as he went. Connor drove his rental car through Los Angeles. He knew where he was going, he just didn't know exactly how to get there. The buzz didn't allow for detours or one-way streets. After an hour and a half of frustrating commuting through LA, Connor arrived at where he wanted to be. It looked like an abandoned antique shop. "What a shame..." thought Connor. As Connor opened the door and went in, he was greeted by a barrage of bricks, thrown from the other side of the room. He quickly closed the door to avoid the pelting. Connor called out, "I know about your problem! Let me come in and we can talk about it!" >From inside Connor heard, "Go away! Wait! Who are you?" "I'm like you!" There was a long pause. "I'm coming in!" Connor opened the door a second time and instinctivly ducked the nonexistent bricks this time. He looked over the room. It was bare except for a chair in one corner, with an overturned crate next to it. On the crate was a McDonalds bag, and several bloody surgeon's tools. In another corner was a stack of crates. From behind the stack, Connor saw a leg sticking out. It was here that Connor went. He found Johnny crouching with a pile of bricks, holding his head in his hands. "I'm Connor MacLeod of the clan MacLeod. I am immortal. So are you." "What?" "You cannot die. You should be dead now, but you aren't." "Yeah, right. Then why am I in so much pain?" Connor thought, "Pain? That much? I'm only experiencing a little discomfort." Connor finally contributed the difference to his years of experience and said, "That's because we are so close. You are able to sense when other immortals are near you. Right now, it is intense because we are the only two. I expect it will subside with time, as more immortals appear. Concentrate and it should lessen the pain." Johnny concentrated, like when he knew he was in trouble and he could tell where it was coming from. "OK, he said, it's working." "Good. Now who are you?" "I'm Johnny Ro..are you a cop?" "No." "Johnny Rodriguez." "Nice to meet you, Johnny Rodriguez," Connor looked at the blood-stained clothes Johnny was wearing, "want to talk?" Johnny thought about all that had happened to him over the past two days. He should be dead, but he wasn't. He somehow survived the fall. He was stabbed 15 times in the back, and it was healed now, without even a scar. What if this guy was right? What if he couldn't die? This had possibilities for Johnny. "So I can't die, right?" "Only if your head is cut off from the rest of your body." "Oh...what about getting shot in the heart?" "No problem. It just hurts and you do die, just not for very long. You have a lot to learn, Johnny. We are two of a kind right now. And in the end, there can be only one." "One what?" "One immortal. But that is not for a while, not until the game starts back and the Gathering commences. Then all the immortals fight until only one remains. The winner recieves the prize." "Wait a minute, man. How do you know all this?" "I won the last prize." "And you'll teach me, so I can win next time?" "I'll teach you so you can teach others, and then, when the game begins in earnest, all will know the rules." Johnny thought on this, and knew he wanted this prize, whatever it was. But he was no match for the last winner, not yet. But over time, after he was trained by the best, he would take the prize from this Connor MacLeod. Apparently he had all the time in the world. Aubrey Summerlin ****************************************************** * It's a trick....get an axe. * * -Ash, _Army of Darkness_ * * * ****************************************************** * Go easy on me... I've been mostly dead all day. * ****************************************************** =========================================================================