The Hunter, The Dragon And The Smokey Mountain Angel

A lone cloud slowly passed over Julia’s head as she drew upon her energy reserves. Since the accident, everything had gone wrong. She thought it was funny how her present misery had found every little pain in her body, and she had a lot of bodily pain, and right now it had her full attention. She wanted the doctor to see the kind of pain she was in though she doubted he would question the level of pain medicine she was going to request once he saw the scar on her back.

She couldn’t stop her mind from going on and on, over and over every crisis she faced. In a way, it was exactly what she needed. She had to face these problems. Her son, the light of her life, the one she thought about when nothing made since, was missing. That alone was enough to drive her mad. The next step was to call the police. She had no safe place to live. Her plan to buy the home she was now living in with all the money she had saved, and let her ex–husband and son live in it had evaporated with her bank account. There wasn’t even power on the house.

Andrew came to mind and she smiled. At least she had made a friend. And as she looked up, she saw the same SUV she had seen at Walmart yesterday drive into the parking lot across the street. A man and a woman got out of the vehicle and began unloading a tent. It was a design she knew well from the Air Force. The two had the tent assembled within minutes. The sound of gunfire echoed as they used a nail gun to drive concrete nails in to the asphalt. Then they secured the tent to the nails and started unloading chairs and other equipment. The young lady posted a sign facing the highway saying, “Medical Clinic, Corporate Mining Ink.”

Julia took a breath and started across the street.

At least I might get a check–up and some pain meds.

The loud BANGs from the nail–gun had attracted the attention of many spectators who were now busy typing into their phones. Julia moved very slowly, as usual, and by the time she made it to the tent a small line had formed on the side of the tent marked, “Entrance.”

As soon as she took her place in the back of the line, the tent opened and the line of people before her began filing in. She moved so slowly that a few people became impatient with her and simply cut in line.

When she entered the clinic, it looked like one of the instant military field bases she had assembled many times before. It was a large hoop–house filled with people sitting in rows of chairs. Several of the people smiled and made a place for her to sit down.

When she was seated the doctor came out and said, “Thanks everyone for enduring the mining and trembling over the past year. I assure you that soon the rumbling will stop.” The doctor had glanced over at Julia several times as he spoke but when he had finished his last sentence his gaze had settled on her for a long, uncomfortable moment.

The young nurse moved oddly as she passed out patient intake forms. Her movements seemed robotic. It looked like a child with a faulty remote was controlling her. The Nurse spoke in a monotone, “This medical clinic is here to treat only one type of injury. All other injuries are referred to the local hospital or you can return in a few weeks for the General Health Examinations Clinic.”

Julia waited for the nurse to finish passing out the papers. She watched the faces of people around her as they read the intake from and she understood their disappointed looks; she needed medical attention too.

Julia couldn’t believe how long it was taking the nurse to pass out the forms. The first group of people she had given the letter to started to leave. She was about to leave when the doctor approached her and handed her an electronic tablet. The same comforting feeling she had felt yesterday in the parking lot, when she received the flyer came over her. However, this was a different man. The vibrating within her had come again too as he had approached but it lessoned as the doctor took a few steps back.

Then the nurse handed out another E–tablet to one other man with an injured arm. Julia looked back down at her tablet. It showed text detailing the company’s international presence and it explained the new technologies, which “Only the military has access to,” and that they were to “Introduce their newest innovation right here and now.” However, they only had enough of the “Re–mobilizing Foam,” for two people. One test case would be for someone with limited mobility in one limb and the other one for a person with server injuries. At the end of the text was a tab that said, “Video.”

Julia pressed the tab on the tablet and the face of the young nurse filled the screen. The sound and light quality in the video was very poor and she strained to hear what the nurse was saying. It looked like the girl had just recorded it while sitting in the SUV’s passenger seat on the way to the event...

Julia was starting to feel like this was some kind of reality show prank. The audio of the nurse speaking in the video increased. She said, “Please do not be alarmed when the medicine is applied. This –Lifting–foam– makes the wearer lighter than air. In order to activate the lifting affect orient your limbs and torso just slightly towards your core and three feet forward. To reduce the lifting effect, return your body to its natural resting state and you will feel as if a weight is being pressed against that particular part of your body. It is important to both move your body and visualize the direction you wish it to move using the energy ball technique.”

Julia’s eyes lit up. She pressed the video tab again. Then she re–wound the speech to the part about the foam lifting parts of her body. She paid close attention to the part about orienting her limbs to create the greater or lesser lifting affect.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had seen some of the most advanced technologies during her time with the Air force. Jet packs, advanced suits that were bullet proof yet extremely light, which allowed her to swim faster, dive deeper and walk up mountains for hours without being tired but nothing was as simple and elegant as how this was being presented.

She raised her eyes. Half the room was empty. Some had stayed to chat with people they hadn’t seen in a while but a few others had just waited. They looked curious, and they were all staring at her.

The nurse approached Julia slowly. She held out her hand to take the tablet from Julia and she saw that the nurse had a slightly glazed look in her eyes. Then she suddenly seemed alert as her eyes looked around the room but when she glanced back down at Julia, she swayed as if something was resonating within her body. Julia felt it too. There was a humming coming from inside both of them. It felt like the presence of something or someone very large. The sensation was something she could feel but not hear...

The nurse turned when a man stood up a few rows down from her and motioned for the nurse to come there. The humming feeling Julia felt lessoned but only a little. The nurse walked to the standing man and examined his injured arm and she nodded. He said, “I hurt it in a car accident but that asshole wasn’t insured. The motorist couldn’t pay for Physical Therapy, so I’m stuck with a bum arm.”

The nurse wobbled as she nodded. Then she directed him toward the doctor. She followed and then helped him onto the table. When he was ready, she pulled a paper wall–divider to obscure him from sight.

Through the divider, Julia saw the silhouette of the nurse as she pulled out a small vile, rolled back his sleeve and sprayed a thin line of yellow glowing foam from his whist to his elbow. Then she traced his muscular pattern and added other lines to his bicep, triceps, shoulder and scapula.

Then the nurse stepped back and waited as the yellow glow faded. She nodded and he twisted his wrist supine. The left arm began to rise up. The man inhaled sharply and began moving his arm up and down, left and right as he turned his wrist and arm.

Julia heard him whisper, “It worked. The pain is gone too.”

He stepped from behind the divider and every one clapped. He motioned around the room wildly at first but he quickly gained control of his arm and started pointing at imaginary things on the roof and under the chairs. Julia noticed how the upper part of his arm seemed to rise slightly out of sync with his forearm and hand. He looked a little like a break–dancer doing the wave. She watched him watching his arm. He made small corrections in the tilt of his wrist and elbow and then he pretended to draw back a bow. A broad smile spread across his face and he looked away from his arm and started shooting the audience with pretend arrows.

A few people had their camera phones out recording. She was sure this would be on the internet any minute now.

The nurse spoke again in her monotone voice, “This application may only last for a few months. I’m not sure how long this will work on humans from this world with only one application.”

The man turned his head away from his moving arm and said, “What do you mean–humans from this world?”

Julia heard teeth snap together as the nurse shut her mouth. A long silent moment passed as everyone waited, and then she started laughing. The sound felt husky but genuinely amused and seconds later everyone was laughing with her.”

The man looked back at his arm and started moving it around again. “You sure are a funny nurse. I was already feeling weird at being some kind of government guinea pig but when you said that my mind went bonkers.”

He laughed again and others joined him with nervous chuckles but the nurse remained silent.

The nurse looked at Julia through the paper divider and she felt the vibrating deep within herself increase. There was no doubt that the woman was staring at her.

Then the nurse asked, “Is there another volunteer?”

Julia sat there thinking about being able to move again without the mind numbing effects of the meds she was taking. When she walked, the pain in her back sapped all of her strength. If she didn’t get a prescription for something strong now, she was ready to smoke a fat–one with Andrew.

Then an old man behind Julia raised his hand and everyone turned to him. He said,” I think that this young lady needs that treatment the most. I saw her get off the Greyhound bus yesterday. She is a hero and her service and sacrifice must never be forgotten.”

Julia smiled. They didn’t even know her name but they all wanted to help her. A lady stood up, took Julia’s hand and lifted her to her feet and then the others came and gently tried to help her around the paper divider.

Julia said, “Okay, alright! Thank you, yes I’d like to volunteer.”

She hobbled to the table. When the doctor and nurse approached, she felt a connection between the three of them. It felt like a great current of water flowing around them drawing them closer together. The feeling was pleasant, soothing and reassuring. It was as if the three of them held a shared secret but only she had the key to unlock it.

Where is the key? Julia thought.

The people who had helped Julia to the table returned to their seats, no doubt watching to see what will happen next.

The nurse and doctor waited as Julia looked at them. Julia knew all their questions. They looked at her, as two old grandparents might do; waiting for a stubborn child to give them the answer they wanted.

Then she snapped out of her trance and said, “I’m in a lot of pain. My injuries start at my neck and go all the way down to my left heal. As you can see, I can’t walk very well. My right arm is useless and my left leg and foot feels like a ton of bricks. Almost all of my vertebras are fused with titanium rods and braces so; well it’s hard to move. And did I say that I’m in a lot of pain?”

The nurse said, “The foam is a natural pain killer. It will relieve any pain when activated. Did you watch the video on how to activate the foam?”

“Yes.”

As Julia listened, she saw in her mind what the nurse described. The nurse said, “Good, so, imagine a ball of energy floating about waste high and about three feet in front of you. Adjust or twist –orient– your body, ever so slightly toward the place where you imagine that ball. Then will yourself to move this or that way and you will feel your body lift in that direction. When you are in the air, imagine that same ball directly behind or below you and you will rise and fall.”

“In the air?” Julia said.

The nurse nodded. She repeated, “In the air.”

Julia didn’t understand the statement. “What did you spray on that other man?” She asked.

The doctor suddenly gave the nurse a strange look. The humming Julia felt inside her changed pitch. The doctor and nurse seemed to awake from a dream. The sense of calm Julia felt began to dissipate as the connection faded. Then, through her mind’s eye, she saw a vision of them mopping liquid off the floor next to something enormous. The thing she saw sparkled like orange and green gems and then the image faded but she knew they were directing the glowing fluid into the canisters they had brought to the clinic. For a moment, the nurse was unsure of what she was remembering. She blinked and looked around the room as if trying to get her bearings.

Then the Earth started trembling.

Julia held onto the table. A few people gave a silent cry as the shaking lasted longer than it ever had before and then it stopped.

The man they just gave the first foam treatment to said, “WOW, that gets funner every time; and may I answer her question doctor?”

Julia had forgotten that everyone could see her shadow on the paper divider and hear her speaking. She was almost offended then– she didn’t care. If this treatment could help her, she’d strip naked, walk across the street and then sing in the town parade.

Like a silent wind approaching, the connection returned between her, the doctor and the nurse. The feeling wasn’t a surprise this time but she wondered why she felt so calm. She should be freaking out right about now but she was sure this was the right thing to do. As the vibrating settled, it seemed to define itself as a real presence. She felt comforted by it, her vision wavered and she lowered her guard.

The doctor said, “Go on,” and motioned for the man to come around the divider.

The man approached, smiled and said, “My name is Blake.” He lifted his arm and continued, “It’s like helium, but it’s smart helium. Turn your wrist this way a little and it rises. I can’t do all the imagining like they told you but then again this is just my arm I’m moving,” he glanced at her whole body, “you’re situation is a little more complicated.” He let his arm –twist–rise– and then he turned his wrist the other direction and it lowered. “It doesn’t even hurt and that takes some getting used to.”

Julia noticed how he acted, as if he had been doing this for weeks and had discovered all its secrets.

“Perhaps you’re just a good learner,” Julia said.

“I... just think it’s easy to learn how to do this.”

Julia could see in his face that he was genuinely pleased with the results.

The doctor nodded. Julia smiled and adjusted herself in her seat, felt a sharp pain in her neck and winced.

Blake smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll just take my seat now. And don’t worry miss; I’m sure you are going to do great!”

As Blake left, another spasm of pain shot through the collection of nerves in her butt, which were going to sleep. Every little movement began to tingle.

The humming from inside her changed again and the doctor’s voice took on a professional tone. He said, “I see you’re in a lot of pain. What caused these injuries?”

The clinic suddenly became quiet as Julia looked up into the doctor’s brown eyes. She wanted to know herself but she also knew that he knew something more about her. She couldn’t tell if he was messing with her mind or if this was some kind of trick question. This injury didn’t happen on the battlefield but the top–secret designation made it impossible for her even to say that it was electrical in nature. At least that was what she had heard the doctors say when they talked to one another about her. Then she closed her eyes as she realized she had let some of what happened to her slip to Andrew...

She held the silence for a moment longer and the doctor looked at the paper wall and nodded. He said, “This isn’t the place to discuss such things, I understand your feelings.” Then he paused as he looked at the scar on her neck. He leaned closer and the connection between him and her felt hot. The presence she sensed before was now emanating from him like fire. Her mind relaxed and she realized that she wanted to know more from him but deep inside she wondered why she felt so strange.

His breath caressed her neck and she felt numb as he whispered, “I know who you are. I have watched you from afar and I can make you move again. Your time has come. You will have freedom, as you have never experienced Julia. But I need your bravery.”

Julia leaned away from him. His voice sounded husky and distant, as if being channeled by some far away creature who knew her intimately; as if the presence she felt was speaking directly to her through him.

The doctor stepped back and looked at the nurse. The nurse said, “Take off your clothes?” Then she turned and opened a black suitcase and lifted two canisters, both larger than the one she had used on Blake.

Julia nodded, her mind was throbbing and she felt compelled to obey. She wasn’t able to say yes but she was sure she couldn’t say no to the idea of being able to move again and with less pain. The nurse set one canister down on the table and withdrew the lid on the other one.

Excitement started to build in Julia. Without a car, money or job, this treatment, if it worked, would at least help her walk around town until she could find a job. Maybe she could even walk to the mining office up on the mountain and apply for that office job today.

But who would hire someone that didn’t even have a car or a license to drive...

She also wondered,

My child support papers say I might even go to jail if I can’t get them money soon.

Then she shook her head at her own thoughts.

This is a miracle.

She pinched herself and felt it join the rest of the pain she was feeling in her body.

Yep still awake.

The nurse helped her remove her blouse because she couldn’t lift her right arm high enough. It normally took her an hour just to put on her clothes by herself. Then the nurse unfastened the back of her bra and set it on the chair with her top.

The doctor and nurse paused and she knew what they were looking at. It was a white scar that zigged–zagged from her upper right shoulder, just below her neck, and shot down her back and then vanished into her panties.

“You need to remove those jeans and panties too,” the nurse said, “If you will lie back on the table I will help you take them off.”

Julia lay back on the table and unfastened her pants. She was glad she took the time to bathe this morning. The nurse carefully removed her shoes, then pulled the jeans and panties under her butt, and then slid them off her legs.

The nurse said, “Now turn over, face down and I will apply the foam along the muscle fibers. It will feel warm and then it will be wet for a few seconds but then it will turn clear and dry. You won’t notice anything until it starts working.”

Julia turned over and there was another pause. She imagined the nurse and doctor following the scar continuing down her back, across her butt cutting a jagged line down to her left heel. Another moment passed then she heard a hiss and a warm wet spray circle her back, draw down each side of her spine and then down her right leg. Then a second line came down her left leg. She took her time as she applied fine lines along her buttocks and fanned out around her lower spine. The nurse returned to add lines that traced her ribs, hips, and the back of her thighs, shoulders and the back of her arms.

Instantly Julia felt lighter.

She could feel her body lifting off the table. The doctor let her body rise above the table a few inches and then they slowly flipped her over. The nurse emptied the can on her hands and her feet, set the empty can down and opened the other bottle. She applied it on her neck, chest, under and on top of her breast and down her right and left sides and then legs; just as she had done on her back. She took a few minutes to add fine lines along her ribs, thighs, the front of her arms and each finger and then each toe, the back of her head and face.

Then the nurse stepped back and the people in the clinic gasp as Julia rose up turned and twisted her body. She sprawled out, twisted, spun slowly and then floated off the table.

The nurse gently took her by her wrist and pulled her down to the table. Julia was crying. This was impossible. She felt free. It was as if her spirit had risen out of her body but it was actually her body that was floating. She couldn’t hold back the tears this time. She already knew that it was a miracle that she was even alive but this... this was angelic.

It would only take time for her to master this.

As she cried, she was remotely aware of the nurse and doctor putting her clothes back on. The feeling inside her, the connection between the three of them had gone silent but it was also cleaner, as if the static in the line of communication among them had cleared. She looked at the doctor and nurse to see if they were feeling what she was feeling but they just continued putting her clothes on. When her last shoe was on the nurse and the doctor let go of her body, she began floating up above the partition! Her back was to the crowd. She heard phones clicking as they took pictures of her. Then she floated back down not wanting them to take photos of her face.

The doctor spoke and that strange feeling and voice came again. He said, “Remember the visions. Move your body the way you were shown.”

Julia tested what she knew. She rotated her right arm inward and it began to lift. Reversing the motion lowered it. Then she practiced imagining the balls of energy above and behind her. Her body began orienting her movements toward each direction she thought of. Each of her movements combined and her whole body moved. Her legs, arms and bottom lifted and fell. She thought that all her jerky motions made her look possessed but she didn’t care. She could move!

More tears started flowing when she realized that she no longer had any pain. She was moving unlike ever before and she didn’t feel any pain! She lowered herself to the floor. The room was in an uproar as everyone was on their feet clapping and cheering.

Julia knew that everything was going to change now. She was going to find Noah, get that job at the mining company and she was going to rebuild her life.