Of Flesh and Metal

Of Flesh and Metal

As John Parker ran down the grimy alleyway, he clutched the black faded duffel bag firmly with both hands. He had just robbed a gas station and the cops were already on his tail. John knew it was wrong to steal, but he desperately needed the money. Just as he reached the end of the alley, John abruptly stopped. He quickly looked down the busy street and turned around. He briskly walked down the alley and stopped at a large cardboard box. He knelt down and looked into the cardboard box. In the box was a frail girl.

She looked no older than ten. She was dressed in an extra-large dirty t-shirt and a pair of ripped blue jeans. The part of her that caused John to go to her was her arm. Her left arm was cut off from the point of the shoulder down. Her left sleeve contained large specks of dried blood.

As soon as he saw her, John had sympathy for her. As he slowly got up, he heard several gunshots. Turning around John saw Commissioner Adam Williams, an old high school friend of his. He was standing at the end of the alley and aiming a black Walther P99. He cocked it back and was about to fire when a random Chevy Silverado across the street drove into a fire hydrant. Commissioner Williams turned to look at the Chevy and John made his move.

While Commissioner Williams was distracted by the accident, John quickly strapped the duffel bag to his back and carefully scooped up the girl in the cardboard box. As Commissioner Williams turned back to face John, he was already turning the corner of the building. Commissioner Williams swore silently under his breath and holstered his gun. The chief was not going to be happy about this.

As John rounded the corner, he saw Commissioner Williams holster his gun. Even though it appeared John had currently evaded arrest, he was not going to stop running until he made it to his destination. While he continued to run, the small girl in his arms started to stir.

“Uh, where am I? Who are you? Where are you taking me?” asked the girl franticly.

“My name is Doctor Parker. I am taking you to my clinic where I am going to fix that arm of yours,” explained John.

“There is nothing you can do. I don't have an arm for you to fit,” said the girl.

“Well then, there is no reason for me not to look at it back at my clinic. By the way, what is your name?” asked John.

“My name is Ashley Cunningham,” replied Ashley timidly.

“It is a pleasure to…” started John as a police cruiser with its lights flashing and siren blaring loudly pulled out in front of them.

“Hold onto me tightly,” commanded John as he quickly jumped over the police cruiser and started to sprint.

“What do the police want you for?” asked a frightened Ashley.

“I will explain everything when we get back to my clinic,” replied John in between breaths. Just as he rounded the corner, a police cruiser pulled in front of the alley. John turned around, but another cruiser had blocked off the other end.

“What are we going to do?” asked Ashley.

“Run,” replied John as he quickly charged the cruiser. Right before he was going to collide with the cruiser, John jumped onto the wall and continued to run. As he ran, two officers started to shoot at him. John then jumped off the wall and tossed a screaming Ashley into the air.

With Ashley in the air, John round house kicked the first officer and grabbed his gun. In the same movement, he threw the gun at the other officer’s hand, disarming him and catching Ashley in his arms once more.

“That was awesome!” squealed Ashley.

“Was it, I was too focused on catching you again,” said John as he continued to walk. Halfway down the street, John turned down another alley. At an old, graffiti covered door, John stopped and pulled out a large rusty key. He put it in the key hole but the door simply creaked open on rusty hinges.

“Was that supposed to happen?” asked Ashley.

“No it was not. Here take this,” said John as he handed her a gun.

“How long have you had this?” asked Ashley as she held it like it was on fire.

"I never leave my house without it,” replied John as he slowly entered the building.The front door resembled the inside; very messy and quite ancient. There were piles of black trash bags lying everywhere. Every now and then a rat would silently scurry across the floor like a ninja.

Ashley was disgusted when she saw the inside of Mr. Parker's ‘clinic’.

“This is your clinic?” asked Ashley.

“This is only part of it Miss Cunningham. You must never judge a book by its cover. This is my reception area. Now please look for the intruder,”

“I think I found him,” replied Ashley. She was pointing to a body slumped over in the corner. There was a pool of blood slowly seeping from the large knife in his chest. In his hand was a shot gun. From the barely visible powder burn on his hand suggested he was shooting at someone before he was brutally killed.

“I guess sometimes the person who brings a knife to a gun fight wins,” muttered John as he walked over to Ashley. Surprisingly, she seemed unaffected by the fact that there was a dead body leaking bodily fluids in the corner of Mr. Parker’s ‘clinic’.

“You were saying that this was only your reception area. If so, where is the receptionist?”

asked Ashley as she forcibly handed Mr. Parker back the gun.

“Oh, I had to let her go. She did not like the working conditions,” as John holstered the gun and walked towards a book shelf against the farthest wall. He picked up a large green paperback book from the top shelf. Suddenly, a portion of the floor slid back revealing a stair case.

“You see, I never let her downstairs,” said John as he started down the staircase,“Well then, come on. I’m going to give you a new arm.”

“You must be joking! How can you give me a new arm? I lost it in a car crash, the same

one that ...” started Ashley but she caught herself before she could finish.

“The same car crash that claimed the lives of your parents.”

“How did you know?” questioned Ashley.

“Well, I found you in a cardboard box living on the street, and just now you did not react to the dead man upstairs. It was a lucky guess,” replied John sarcastically.

“That sentence was just dripping with sarcasm.”

“How could tell?”

“Let’s just say it was a luck guess,” said Ashley as the two of them reached a pair of double doors. John pushed a large red button on the wall and the doors slowly opened. Suddenly a rush of voices reached Ashley’s ears. A large crowd of people on the other side of the doors started calling out Doctor Parker.

John Parker, or rather Doctor Parker then went into the crowd of people and started to help them in any way he could. After an hour of helping the crowd, Doctor Parker then walked towards a door with his name above it. Beckoning towards Ashley, the two of them entered his office.

John Parker’s office was the most organized doctor’s office she had ever seen. There were rows of book shelves with an assortment of medical books. Across from the book shelves was John’s x ray machine In the middle of the room was an operating table.

“Would you please have a seat on the table while I get some instruments,” said John as he went over to a shelving unit with a few dozen medical instruments.

“First, I need to measure your right arm to get the measurements I need for your prosthetic arm,” said John as he took a plastic tape measure to Ashley’s right arm. After taking a couple measurements, John went to a dresser and rummaged through a drawer. After a couple of seconds he returned to Ashley caring a prosthetic arm.

“Okay, this next part will hurt a little. I am going to connect the electrical system in the arm with your nervous system. It will hurt a little, but it only lasts for a second.”

“Okay, let’s just get this over with,” replied Ashley as she rolled up her sleeve. Dr. Parker applied a sterile wipe to Ashley’s left arm stub and then set the stub in the prosthetic arm. The arm hummed and Ashley flinched and winced in pain.

“Now, can you move your fingers?” questioned Dr. Parker as Ashley rolled her shoulder. She looked at her hand and her fingers moved.

“Wow! I can move them! I have an arm again! Thank you Doctor. How can I ever repay you?” squealed Ashley as she gave Dr. Parkers a hug.

“You’ll get the bill later,” replied Dr. Park as he return the gesture. When they released, there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” asked John.

“It’s me,” stated voice from the other side of the door.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” retorted John. There was no reply from the other side of the door. John ordered Ashley to get behind him and they slowly backed away from the door. Suddenly, there were gun shots fired into the room. The books on the bookshelf burst at their seams, the x-ray machine exploded, and the picture frames shattered as John pulled Ashley to the ground. When the shots stopped, John heard footsteps running down the hall.

“Ashley, are you all right?” asked John.

“Um, my leg hurts,” replied Ashley.

“Did you get hit?” questioned John.

“No, you’re sitting on my leg,” stated Ashley.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” replied John as helped Ashley up.

“Here, take this and don’t let anyone else in the room” ordered John as he handed Ashley a gun.

“Where are you going?” questioned Ashley.

“After our trigger happy gunman,” replied John as he left the room.

“Wait! You’re not going anywhere without me,” insisted Ashley as she followed him out of the room. John was already half-way down the hall when Ashley caught up with him. She was about to grab his arm when she saw his face. It was a face of steely determination.

“I take it that you will not let me talk you out of this…” suggested Ashley.

“You would be correct in saying that,” replied John.

“Will you at least allow me to come with you?” asked Ashley.

“Since you are already here… Sure, what the hell,” said John as they ran up the stairs to the waiting room. Once there, Ashley noticed that the dead guy’s body was gone. She inclined her head and John nodded. From outside they heard a car start. They ran outside as a black SUV drove off. The window of the SUV open slightly as something was poked out. Two shots were fired as John pulled Ashley back inside.

“Are you okay?” asked John.

“Again, I am fine. They didn't hit me,” replied Ashley.

“Okay, then follow me,” ordered John as he went out the door. Together, they went around the building to the adjoining building. This time, John whipped out a key and unlocked the door. Inside was an assortment of junk and tarp covered items. Pulling off one of the tarps revealed a motorcycle.

“Really! Both of us are going to ride on that?” inquired Ashley

“Unless you want to stay here. If you are lucky, they might not come back,” replied John as he started the motorcycle.

“Move over then,” ordered Ashley as she got on behind John. John pressed a button and the garage door slid up and away they went. They followed the SUV for a couple blocks, and then the SUV stopped at a gas station.

“I should have expected them to come back…” said John.

“What are you talking about? Do you know the people who shot at us?” accused Ashley.

“Well, I sort of stole some money from the owner of that gas station. He is a well-known gang member in the area. He makes his living extorting money from the shop owners in the area,”

“Okay, you stole from black mailers. That doesn’t explain why we followed them. Do you plan on getting shot at again?” asked a sarcastic Ashley.

“No, but I want to leave them a thank you gift for redecorating my office,” replied John. John and Ashley watched the driver and the passenger of the SUV get out of the car and enter the gas station. When they closed the door, John crossed the street and ran to the SUV. Ashley followed at his heels.

“What are we doing?” questioned Ashley.

“Well, I am going to drive off with their SUV. You are going to go and wait by my motorcycle until I get back.”

“No I am not…” said Ashley as she used her new arm to grab John. Just as he got back down, the door to the gas station opened and three men stepped out.

v“Alright ‘Doctor Parker’ we know you are behind the car. Stand up and turn around with your hands above your head, or we will shoot you where you stand,” said one of the men with a heavy accent.

“Great, now what?” asked Ashley.

“Punch the car,” said John.

“Doctor Parker, we are waiting,” said the man.

“What do you mean?” questioned Ashley.

“Punch the car with your new arm as hard as you can. Your arm will do the rest,” ordered John.

“Fine…” replied Ashley as she turned to the SUV and punched. The car was pushed backwards and flew into the men and then the gas station. John walked over to the men. They were bruised and unconscious. John picked up their guns and threw them down a man hole cover.

“What the heck did I just do?” yelled a startled Ashley.

“Well, you could say that you saved our lives, but I am the one who gave you your arm,”

“How did I do that?” interrogated Ashley.

“Your arm is built of a highly durable and strong metal. You can now lift three times your weight and punch through concrete,” explained John. Ashley just stood there with her mouth open. Just before she could say anything, John grabbed her arm and ran back to the motorcycle and took off.