By this time he had stepped all the way inside and saw the carnage. Suddenly the patient grabbed him by the
neck from behind.
"You, on the other hand, my laddie," the inmate said as the attendant
struggled, "I will take the time to entertain before I depart, in
exchange for the little visits you've made to my cell on quiet nights.
Now, get out your little old keys and lead me outside. One wrong door,
and I'll break your useless neck! Hurry up, I don't want to waste much
time!"
The attendant obeyed. A few minutes later, wearing the attendant's
jacket and trousers, the inmate walked briskly back towards the city,
humming happily as he went.
A short time after his departure, his pursuer reached the hospital. It
did not take him long to understand what had happened. He took the
attendant down off the fence where the one before him had left him,
repaired the damage that had been done, then hurried off. The attendant
groggily struggled back toward the hospital, somehow realizing he was
extremely lucky to be alive, not exactly sure of what had happened.
A few miles down the road the second creature found an elderly woman
lying in the brush. She was relatively unhurt, only frightened, but the
trail of the one he had been pursuing disappeared. He had stolen the
woman's primitive vehicle, and the scent of its wheels was like the
scent of hundreds of other vehicles going up and down the road.
The shimmering creature sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. He
hurried off. A few miles away he came to a military base; Dercomen Air
Force Base. The sign over the gate read; United States Air Force.
The creature leapt the fence, made his way through the maze of
buildings to the hospital, and carefully snuck inside through the
ventilating system, coming to one room in which a nurse sat beside a
bed on which lay a man wrapped in bandages. A doctor walked in,
examined some gouges and shook his head.
"Sorry, Captain Oliver," he said, "we did our best. You can go now,
nurse, there's nothing we can do, anymore. He was without oxygen just
too long. It's a miracle he survived THIS long!"
The two left the room and the shimmering golden glow left the
ventilator. It crossed the room, removed the needles and respirator
from the body, then disappeared through its nose, mouth and ears. When
the last of it disappeared, the body sat up and hurriedly began
unwrapping bandages. It held out perfectly normal hands...TOO perfect!
There were no signs of the scars and abrasions of a man of this age.
When the bandages were gone the hospital pajamas were removed, and
thrown aside. The man rose, entered the hall, made his way to the
elevator, descended to the ground floor, emerged, entering a door
marked 'locker room.' He walked by several lockers until he came to one
that interested him. Within moments he had opened the combination lock,
entered the locker, and donned the clothes inside.
"Hey!" someone shouted, "What are you doing in Lt. Green's locker?"
The man at the locker turned around to see a large, burly Sergeant
approach him. "You're mistaken, Sergeant!" the man insisted, "I'm Lt.
Green!"
"In a pig's eye!" the Sergeant answered. "You're blond and blue eyed. Green is dark headed and has brown eyes!"
"You're mistaken, Sergeant!" the man repeated, "Have you had a few too many? Look again. I AM Lt. Green!"
The Sergeant shook his head. The man before him seemed to change. He
WAS Lt. Green! "I'm sorry, sir," the Sergeant stammered, "Don't know
what came over me! Could've sworn you was somebody else! Trick of the
light, or something!"
"Don't worry about it, Sergeant!" the other said, shutting the locker.
"I've been called off base in an emergency. I must go now!"
"Yes, sir!" the Sergeant said. "Sorry, sir!"
The Sergeant went to his own locker and began to change as the
blond-headed, blue-eyed officer wearing the uniform of a United States
Air Force doctor strode from the hospital, commandeered a staff car
left unattended outside an office, and drove through the gate. He
stopped by Oliver's apartment, changed uniforms, packed Oliver's
things, took his checkbook and credit cards, and hurried off. Leaving
the staff car and the doctor's uniform some distance away, he walked
back to Oliver's car and sped away towards London. He had received
enough information about his quarry's host to know that this was where
he would go. There was someone in this area he particularly wanted to
destroy...someone that had recently done him harm...someone having
something to do with an organization called U.N.I.T.; someone called
the Doctor. He had to get there first, be ready and waiting, when his
adversary made his move.
* * *
The next morning an officer watched personnel
entering a military establishment belonging to The United Nations just
outside London. Each person coming to the gate took from their pocket a
card, opened it, and showed it to the guard. The officer waited until
the usual morning rush had passed. Picking up a discarded milk carton
he held it between the palms of his hands. It quickly collapsed, and
when he separated his hands it was a folded card exactly the same size
as the one everybody was showing the guard, which looked like it had a
crushed milk carton printed on it. The officer put this in his pocket
and approached the gate.
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