This world was strange. If Fijbold had the benefit of having lived the human experience he would have found some humor in that apparent fact.
Fijbold wasn't human by any stretch of the imagination. For that matter he knew that he was not even a he no matter what his (mind) kept telling him that was supposed to be.
Fijbold tried for probably the hundredth time to remember what he/she/it had been like before. Fijbold decided he wanted to think of himself as it.
It stopped and looked around. The landscape was the same ugly green thing that Kymat had called grass. Fijbold wanted the air to be....wetter? Yes, wetter was what it wanted. Everything need to be wetter. Fijbold continued to stand in the dry space wanting the wetness that filled his memories to become a reality.
The wetness came. Slowly his skin felt slick and he opened his eyes (a very strange and foreign concept) and looked up into the (sky). The wetness was falling down to the dry place.
Fijbold smiled and spread his appendages wide welcoming the first familiar thing.
Something begin to hurt and it knew that a wave of euphoria was less ecstatic as it was picked up from the ground and flung backwards down into the green things that were all around him.
The wetness was on him, then a ugly human thing blocked his vision and it gave over to the darkness.
"What is that?" Dr. Phil Stone said as the EMT's wheeled in the thing on the gurney.
"Not sure Doc." The EMT spoke as he handed his clipboard over to Stone as his partner paired up the gurney with one from the ER. Several ER personnel rushed over to help with the transfer.
"Dispatch said the 911 operator got a call from a "concerned citizen" who said two guys in a rusty pickup dumped it on the side of Hickleberry Lane."
"Hickleberry?' Stone asked looking at the scribbled notes on the form that was attached to the clipboard.
"Private road near the I-40 exit to Crossville."
"Oh. Hell." Stone looked at the "man" on the gurney. "I can see your point."
"Yeah. Okay, here we go." The EMT straightened and Stone finally took note of his name. Parker.
"One gunshot wound to the chest area. Lucky for him it had to be at least 20 yards away." Parker pointed the the multiple red stains across the ruin of the man's chest. "Definite penetration but apparently not enough to kill him."
"Shotgun?" Stone said looking back at the form. "Obviously. Hmmm."
"Yes, I see you have noticed that too." Parker said.
Stone squinted at the form. There was a lot of erasing and cross out marks on the form.
"What is all this?" he asked after a moment as he followed the ER staff as they wheeled into OR2.
"This is where it gets bizarre." Parker said but then waited until the ER staff with them moved off to start up equipment. "I am not sure how to put this-"
"Put what exactly?" Stone asked glancing from the chart back to the man on the gurney.
Parker leaned in close.
"That guy lying there is not like any guy I have ever worked on." Parker said, sucked on his lip and then said.
"He ain't human Doc."
"What do you mean not human?"
"I can't explain it. But when I got his shirt open his chest was moving around in a very un-human was and by the time we were halfway here- his skin opened up and kind of spat out the pellets that had been inside him."
Parker signaled to his partner who held up a ziplock bag with several dozen bloody objects that Stone accepted to be shotgun pellets.
Parker looked a bit sick.
"What?" Stone asked dreading what was coming next.
Parker pressed his hands against his forehead then stopped and stripped off his bloodied latex gloves.
"There's something that looks a lot like salt water in each of the wounds."
"No shit?"
"No shit."
Fijbold wasn't human by any stretch of the imagination. For that matter he knew that he was not even a he no matter what his (mind) kept telling him that was supposed to be.
Fijbold tried for probably the hundredth time to remember what he/she/it had been like before. Fijbold decided he wanted to think of himself as it.
It stopped and looked around. The landscape was the same ugly green thing that Kymat had called grass. Fijbold wanted the air to be....wetter? Yes, wetter was what it wanted. Everything need to be wetter. Fijbold continued to stand in the dry space wanting the wetness that filled his memories to become a reality.
The wetness came. Slowly his skin felt slick and he opened his eyes (a very strange and foreign concept) and looked up into the (sky). The wetness was falling down to the dry place.
Fijbold smiled and spread his appendages wide welcoming the first familiar thing.
Something begin to hurt and it knew that a wave of euphoria was less ecstatic as it was picked up from the ground and flung backwards down into the green things that were all around him.
The wetness was on him, then a ugly human thing blocked his vision and it gave over to the darkness.
"What is that?" Dr. Phil Stone said as the EMT's wheeled in the thing on the gurney.
"Not sure Doc." The EMT spoke as he handed his clipboard over to Stone as his partner paired up the gurney with one from the ER. Several ER personnel rushed over to help with the transfer.
"Dispatch said the 911 operator got a call from a "concerned citizen" who said two guys in a rusty pickup dumped it on the side of Hickleberry Lane."
"Hickleberry?' Stone asked looking at the scribbled notes on the form that was attached to the clipboard.
"Private road near the I-40 exit to Crossville."
"Oh. Hell." Stone looked at the "man" on the gurney. "I can see your point."
"Yeah. Okay, here we go." The EMT straightened and Stone finally took note of his name. Parker.
"One gunshot wound to the chest area. Lucky for him it had to be at least 20 yards away." Parker pointed the the multiple red stains across the ruin of the man's chest. "Definite penetration but apparently not enough to kill him."
"Shotgun?" Stone said looking back at the form. "Obviously. Hmmm."
"Yes, I see you have noticed that too." Parker said.
Stone squinted at the form. There was a lot of erasing and cross out marks on the form.
"What is all this?" he asked after a moment as he followed the ER staff as they wheeled into OR2.
"This is where it gets bizarre." Parker said but then waited until the ER staff with them moved off to start up equipment. "I am not sure how to put this-"
"Put what exactly?" Stone asked glancing from the chart back to the man on the gurney.
Parker leaned in close.
"That guy lying there is not like any guy I have ever worked on." Parker said, sucked on his lip and then said.
"He ain't human Doc."
"What do you mean not human?"
"I can't explain it. But when I got his shirt open his chest was moving around in a very un-human was and by the time we were halfway here- his skin opened up and kind of spat out the pellets that had been inside him."
Parker signaled to his partner who held up a ziplock bag with several dozen bloody objects that Stone accepted to be shotgun pellets.
Parker looked a bit sick.
"What?" Stone asked dreading what was coming next.
Parker pressed his hands against his forehead then stopped and stripped off his bloodied latex gloves.
"There's something that looks a lot like salt water in each of the wounds."
"No shit?"
"No shit."
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