Chapter 2

Valerie jumped out of her car in shock. A man had just stepped into the street in front of her. Pulling out her phone she quickly called 911. Rushing to where the man’s body laid she hesitated. It was obvious that the man was homeless.

Her hesitation only lasted a moment though. She was going to school in order to become a doctor. Once she graduated it would be her job to treat patients no matter what condition they were in. She felt her heart drop as she quickly examined him. It seemed unlikely he would survive until an ambulance arrived. Pulling out her phone she called 911.

Within ten minutes an ambulance and the police had shown up. Valerie hadn’t specifically asked for police but she wasn’t surprised. After all, she had just run over a pedestrian.

“Valerie?” The female police officer that got out of the car said in surprise.

Looking back at her Valerie was just as surprised. “Nicole? What are you doing here?”

Valerie and Nicole had met in foster care. Personality wise they were complete opposites. Valerie was passionate and caring. Although the few times she got angry she had a terrible temper. Nicole’s personality could only be described as cold. Despite that they had become best friends. Once they grew up they had stayed close.

“I got the call but they didn’t say who was involved. What happened?” Nicole asked.

“I’m not sure. He just stepped out of the bushes over there and walked right in front of my car.” Valerie said pointing towards the side of the road. She was hoping she wasn’t in any trouble. It wasn’t like there was a crosswalk or anything.

Nicole sighed. “I’m going to have to recuse myself as the main investigator but let’s check it out.” A few minutes later they pushed their way through some plants and stood next to what looked like a miniature landfill. The only thing that even slightly resembled shelter was a tarp draped between a couple trees.

“I guess he was living here.” Valerie said slightly shocked. She couldn’t understand why someone would live in a situation like this. She knew there were homeless shelters in the city. She promised herself that she would check them out and see if there was something she could do. Nobody should have to live like this.

Nicole on the other hand wasn’t as surprised. As a police officer she had seen a number of people that refused to live at the shelters. There were a variety of reasons. Some were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Many had mental health issues. Others just didn’t want someone telling them what they could and couldn’t do.

She gingerly looked around the camp. The paramedics hadn’t found any identification on the man. It was doubtful, but there was a possibility he had left some form of ID at the camp. Pulling back part of the tarp she froze when she saw a knife.

The knife itself wasn’t that surprising. It was the dried red on the blade. It looked like blood to her. Looking closer she saw a few rags that she thought had blood on them.

Taking Valerie back to the road Nicole waited for some detectives to arrive. She was still a fairly new police officer and knew when an investigation was over her head. Blood on a knife was definitely over her head.

Eric woke up in the hospital. He knew it was a hospital because of the memories of his stint in a hospital when he lost his hand. He almost breathed a sigh of relief. The hospital administrators wouldn’t like it, but they were legally required to feed and care for him until he was well enough to leave.

He tried to think about what had happened when he realized his mistake. His memories of this life and his past life were still merging together. Technology based modes of transportation were almost unheard of on cultivation worlds. He had thought that the car was a figment of his mind like one of the other monsters.

For now though Eric was in pain. Getting hit by a car had resulted in numerous broken bones and other injuries. If it wasn’t for his immortality he would be dead. He suspected that he had been unconscious for more than just a few hours. Likely he had been in multiple surgeries. Which was a weird concept for him but kind of made sense. In a null world healers didn’t have the ability to use energy to heal their patients.

The experience of his past life meant that Eric knew exactly how to push the limits of what was possible. Closing his eyes he focused on cultivating and then instantly using the energy for healing. It was horribly inefficient but far better than healing without any energy. Broken bones would still take at least a week to heal. It would be possible for him to heal his internal bleeding within a few hours and his damaged organs in a day or two.

After nearly an hour a nurse came into the room. Opening his eyes Eric saw her staring at him in shock. Then she turned and bolted out of the room. A few minutes later a doctor rushed into the room. He looked at a screen that displayed Eric’s vitals and then stared at Eric with the same shocked look. “How are you awake?” The doctor asked. His broken bones made it difficult but Eric just shrugged in reply.

“When they took you off that ambulance I thought for sure you were going to die within a few minutes. We spent nearly a day in the operating room. The surgeons nearly gave up multiple times but your heart just kept on beating. We thought for sure that you wouldn’t wake up and an EKG would show that you were brain dead. How do you feel?” The doctor said sounding stunned.

Eric thought about how to answer that question. Finally he decided that being blunt was best. “Physically I feel like I just got hit by a car. Mentally I have a number of issues that require medication.”

The doctor stared at him in confusion for a moment. “What mental issues?” He finally asked.

With a grin Eric opened up his status screen and started reading off the list. As the list went on the doctor’s seemed more and more shocked.

“I think we should get a psychiatrist in here.” The doctor finally said looking a bit pale.

Eric frowned. “What type of doctor doesn’t have the ability to pull up someone’s status?”

The doctor gave Eric a confused look. Then looked a bit chagrined. “Of course, what’s your name? I’ll go pull up your medical record right away.”

It didn’t sound like the doctor knew what Eric was talking about. Which was insane. Without being able to pull up the status screen of other individuals doctor’s would find it nearly impossible to confirm the diagnosis of their patients. They would have to rely on the patient to accurately tell them what was wrong. An impossibility if the patient was unconscious. Even if they were conscious it was unlikely an untrained patient could accurately describe their symptoms.

Taking a moment to think over his new memories Eric came to a disturbing realization. Nothing in his memories indicated that people on this world had access to their status screens. He had never used it prior to today and none of the doctor’s had used it either. Eric couldn’t even imagine what the implications of not having access to the status screen were.

It took Eric a few moments longer before he remembered the name that the doctors had used for him when he lost his hand. “My name is John Ralston.” He finally told the doctor.

Before the doctor could leave Eric spoke up again. “I also happen to be suffering from a number of diseases.” He said and then started reading through all of his diseases before the doctor could run away.

By the end the doctor was actually looking angry. “We will have to confirm before giving you any medicine to treat those diseases.” He said before storming out of the room.

Eric felt a bit confused as to why the doctor was angry. The only thing he could think of was that the doctor thought he was making up some of the diseases. It was a pretty long list. If he didn’t have the status screen he may not have believed the list himself. It really made Eric wonder how long it had taken the goddess that had cursed him to find this body.

Closing his eyes Eric went back to meditating. He wanted to heal himself enough that he wasn’t helpless. Although he’d be careful not to overdue it. The last thing he wanted was for the doctors to toss him out before giving him his medicine.

Nicole was manning the front desk of the police station when one of the detectives walked up to her. “How is it going Nicole?” The detective asked her.

Luckily it had always been easy for Nicole to control what emotions she revealed. Otherwise the detective would have known just how much she disliked him. He was one of the laziest detectives on the force and seemed to spend half his day hitting on the female officers in the department. He always went right up to the line that would get him fired but never crossed it.

Sadly that meant it would be rude to ignore him. “Everything is going fine. What did you want detetive Hill?”

“Just wanted to see your beautiful face.” He said with a slightly creepy smile.

Nicole just stared at him for a moment. “If that’s all I’d appreciate it if you left me alone.”

Detective Hill frowned a bit. “Well there was one other thing. You were the first on the scene when that homeless man was hit a couple days ago right? Your roommate was the driver?”

“Yes.” Nicole said after a bit of hesitation. She wasn’t quite sure where this was going.

“Well when I talked to the doctor’s a couple days ago they seemed to think there was no way he’d live. I just got a call that the homeless man is going to make it. In fact he’s already awake.” He said with the same creepy grin.

“What does this have to do with me?” Nicole asked.

“It’s standard procedure that all pedestrian related accidents are investigated. The case landed on my desk and Bob is out on vacation. As I’m sure you know policy is that detectives can’t do interviews alone. So I was wondering if you want to join me for the interview?” He said.

Nicole was tempted to say no. She wanted as little to do with the detective as possible. Yet she also wanted to be in on the investigation. It was an opportunity for her to get experience. It would also keep her informed about where the investigation was going. Valerie rarely got angry but when she did it was epic. The last thing Nicole wanted was for Valerie to get in trouble with the police due to her temper.

“Okay. When do we leave for the hospital?” She said reluctantly. Especially as she watched the detectives grin get wider.

“I have to grab the file and get someone to cover the desk for you. Let’s say thirty minutes.” Detective Hill replied.

Valerie found herself standing in front of the reception desk at the hospital. Nicole had told her what hospital the man she had hit was taken to a couple days before. This was her first day off from classes though. She had agonized over whether knowing or not knowing what had happened to him would be better. Finally she decided she would rather know. Even if it turned out that he had died.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist finally asked.

“A couple of days ago I was involved in an accident. I was hoping I could get some information on how the other person involved is doing.” Valerie said.

“What’s their name? I can see if they are okay with seeing you.” The receptionist said.

Valerie stared at her for a few seconds. She hadn’t even thought about the fact that she didn’t know the man’s name. “I never got their name.”

The receptionist frowned. “Do you have a copy of the police report?” she asked.

Valerie pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. “I do but it doesn’t have any name on it. I don’t think the police knew his name either.”

The receptionist was still frowning as she read the police report. Then she gave Valerie a look of surprise. “I think I know who this is. All the doctor’s have been talking about him.”

“Why? Did something bad happen to him?” Valerie said dreading the answer.

“The opposite. Everyone thought he was going to die. The paramedics were shocked that he was still alive by the time they got to the hospital. They got him into the operating room. They operated for over twenty hours before the surgeons decided they had done as much as possible. Nobody expected it but he woke up the next day and his vitals were stable. All the doctors are shocked that anyone with so many broken bones and such extensive internal bleeding survived.” The receptionist explained.

“Can I see him?” Valerie asked feeling relieved that the man had survived.

“If you will take a seat I’ll call up to the nurse's station and see if it’s possible.” Valerie patiently waited nearly fifteen minutes before the receptionist finally signaled that she had received a response.

“He’s in room seven fifteen. I do have to warn you that he is still severely injured. The nurse said that if he is sleeping please don’t wake him.” The receptionist said. A few minutes later Valerie was standing outside of a door labeled seven fifteen.

Eric opened his eyes and looked over as the door opened. It was probably just another nurse. But Eric had grown extremely cautious during his life as a cultivator. Those habits were so deeply ingrained he doubted he could ever break them. Not that he wanted to.

He couldn’t help but frown as a young woman walked into the room. He knew she wasn’t a nurse since she wasn’t wearing scrubs. He had to admit that she was attractive. Above average height, red hair, and tanned skin. For some reason as he looked at her he felt like he was missing something important. He couldn’t think of what it was though.

“Hi. I’m Valerie. I’m the one that was driving the car that ran into you. I just wanted to check and make sure that you were okay.” She said in a tone of voice that told him that she was obviously nervous.

“I wouldn’t say I’m okay.” Eric said and grinned a bit as she squirmed in discomfort. “But I’ll heal.” Eric finished and watched her visibly relax a bit.

“Are you sure? They said that you were in surgery for nearly a day and have dozens of broken bones.” Valerie said obviously concerned.

Eric felt a bit surprised at her concern. He knew for a fact what this body looked like. In his late fifties and it was obvious that he had lived a tough life. Many of the nurses had shown outright disgust when they saw him.

With a bit of difficulty Eric raised his right arm. “I’ve had worse happen to me. At least this time I just have broken bones.” He said with a grin.

Valerie stared at the stub for a second. “What happened?” She finally asked.

“I’m actually not sure. I have some mental problems that require medication. At the time I wasn’t on my meds. So I can’t remember what happened.” Eric answered.

Valerie looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of medication. “You know I really should be going. I don’t want to disturb you anymore.”

Eric frowned. He was still trying to figure out why he felt like he was missing something important. “No need to leave. I promise I’m not that scary. Besides I’ve been bored the last couple days. Sit down and stay awhile.” He said gesturing to one of the chairs in the room.

Valerie hesitated for a moment and then sat down. Once she sat down it was easy for Eric to get her talking. Everyone liked to talk about themselves. Although Eric could tell that she was avoiding telling him any personal information.

Nicole felt a bit nervous when Detective Hill parked his vehicle but didn’t open the door. Instead he just sat there and then turned to her. “I’ve read your file you know.” He said.

For some reason the idea that the detective had read her file disturbed her. Then again it wasn’t exactly unexpected. If Nicole was a detective she would read the file of any police officer she was asking to assist her on a case. Then again her impression of Detective Hill was that he was lazy. She wasn’t sure why he would have read her file.

“Valerie and you grew up together right? Just how important is she to you?” He asked.

“She’s the closest thing I have to family.” Nicole admitted after a few seconds.

“Just how much would you do to protect your family?” The detective asked.

Nicole looked at him with wide eyes. “Just what are you suggesting?” She asked coldly.

“I’m suggesting that as the lead detective on this case I get to decide which direction it takes. It’s pretty rare for a vehicle to hit a pedestrian. I’ve done a bit of preliminary investigating.” The detective said with an evil grin.

“And you’re suggesting that I could do something to affect the course of the investigation?” Nicole asked.

“I’d imagine a beautiful woman like you can think of a number of ways to persuade me to overlook certain aspects of this investigation. We could discuss it over dinner tonight.” The detective said grinning even wider.

“You’re lucky that this conversation isn’t being recorded or I’d report you to HR. Whatever you are planning won’t work. Valerie can take care of herself.” Nicole said glaring at the detective.

The detective’s grin disappeared and was replaced with a frown. “We’ll see about that. You know my number if you want to reconsider my offer.” He said getting out of the car.

Nicole shrugged and followed suit. A few minutes later they were standing in front of room seven fifteen. Opening the door Nicole was shocked to see that Valerie was in the room talking to the homeless man.