Chapter 3

"I'm telling you, this bullet is not in there," the doctor said, as he looked around inside Johnny's chest for the bullet.


"Well, this bleeding has to be coming from somewhere genius," another one said, as the third doctor removed the knife from the teenage gorilla's side; his brown eyes holding the slightest touch of awe in how close the knife came to slicing open the kid's liver. Just by mere millimeters.


"Would you two shut up?" he snapped, setting the knife aside, and looking at the bullet wound; the heart monitor slowing down tremendously, as the cavity started to fill with blood quickly


"He's hemorrhaging," the second doctor said, as she scrambled to grab something to stop the bleeding; the heart monitor giving off one final beeping noise before flat lining.


"He's flat lining," the first one said, pressing down on Johnny's chest to try and get his heart going again.


~~~~~~~~


When Johnny woke up, he was on a grassy hill; the warm sun shining on him, as he peeled his eyes open, and saw a female gorilla sitting above him. One he hadn't seen in years.


"M-Mom?" he asked, seeing the female gorilla smile at him, as he sat up. A smile creeping across his face, because he hadn't seen his mom in so long. "Mom!"


Hugging his mom, he felt her return the hug, and kiss his temple; tears rolling down his face, because for once, he could forget all of his troubles...But then he remembered that his mom died shortly after he was born. That was the reason why he lived with his dad in the first place.


"Everything's going to be okay, Johnny," she whispered to him. Other voices filling his head, as she gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You're home now."


"Come on, kid." a male voice grunted, as a weight kept getting pressed onto Johnny's chest. "Wake up."


"Is something wrong?" his mom asked him, her voice becoming faded and distorted, as the other voices became clearer. "Johnny?"


"Johnny," another female voice called, as everything around him went dark. "Johnny, can you hear me?"


Feeling air rush back into his lungs, Johnny gasped, and his eyes snapped open; quickly getting blinded by the operating lights in the room.


"We got him," another male voice said, more blood filling Johnny's mouth, as they once again put a tube in his mouth to suck out the blood.


"Glad to have you back," the first one said, breathing a sigh of relief.


~Meanwhile~


Why do these things have to take so long? Buster thought, looking at his watch before he looked over at Ash, Mike, and Meena who were all sleeping beside him; Ash having her head resting on Meena's shoulder, while Mike had his head on his girlfriend's lap. It had now been six hours since Johnny got brought in, and they still weren't done. And judging by what the nurse had told him earlier when he asked, it was probably going to take all night.


Looking over at the sleeping animals beside him once more, he got up, and went to get some coffee; still seeing the damn news report on the TV screen.


"Excuse me," he called over to the nurse. "Is there anyway you can change the channel on that thing?"


"I'm sorry," the nurse said, looking away from his computer screen. "I can't."


Sighing in annoyance, Buster went down to the Emergency Room's entrance where there was a small vending machine that served coffee. Albeit, terrible coffee, but it was still something that would keep him awake. And with everyone else asleep, someone needed to be awake in case the doctors came looking for Johnny's family members; especially since Johnny's immediate family was behind bars.


Taking a sip from his coffee, he struggled not to gag at the awful taste, and forced it down his throat. But it still left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, as he pulled his phone out to text Eddie.


Buster: Hey, you get a hold of Johnny's dad yet.


Eddie: No, the guards aren't letting me see him.


Buster: Well, you have to try something. Johnny's still in surgery, and you and I both know that the first person he'll want to see when he wakes up is him.


Eddie: I know. And by the way, don't worry about me, I came prepared.


Buster: What?


Seeing Eddie send him a picture of him in football gear, it took everything in Buster's power not to laugh and spray coffee everywhere; because Eddie looked ridiculous to say the least.


Buster: Well, it's good that you're prepared. Good luck.


Chuckling at the picture again, Buster set his phone aside, and took another sip of his coffee. Only for his phone to buzz again, and see Eddie had sent him another text message


Eddie: Can you do it? I'm too scared.


Sighing in annoyance again, Buster called the prison, and asked to talk to Johnny's dad.


~Meanwhile~


"Hey, Big Daddy," one of the guards called, coming into the gorilla's cell. "You have phone call."


"Who'd be calling us this late at night?" Barry asked, as Big Daddy got up, and followed the guard into the hallway where there was a phone hanging on the wall.


"Hello?" he asked.


"Hi, my name is Buster Moon," a voice said on the other end. "I work with Johnny down at the Moon theatre."


"I know who you are," he said. "What do you want? It's one in the morning."


"Johnny's been shot," Buster said, making Big Daddy's heart drop into his stomach, as his palms started to sweat.


"What?" he asked.


"He got shot," he repeated. "He's at the hospital now, and he's in surgery. I just thought I'd let you know because I don't think they'd tell you unless he died or something."


Feeling bile rise in his throat, Big Daddy swallowed hard to keep his food down, and punched the wall next to the phone hard enough that he left a huge hole in it.


"Tell me you're lying," he said, almost begging him to say it.


"If I did that, I would be lying," Buster said to him, his voice breaking slightly, as tears started to roll down Big Daddy's face. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."


Slamming the phone down onto the receiver, Big Daddy hit his knees, and squeezed his eyes shut to prevent anyone from seeing his tears. Swearing that if he ever saw the animal who did this, he was going to unleash hell on them.


He wasn't sure when the guards had moved him back to his cell, because when he opened his eyes that was wear he was; but the second the door to the cell shut, he did what he had done before, and pulled the window loose.


"Boss, what are you doing?" Bob asked, as the mortar that held the brick around the window in place started to crumble away.


"Johnny's. In. The hospital," he grunted after every pull, the bricks sliding out from the crumbling mortar. "I need to see him."


Hearing the guards come bursting into the cell, he finally got the window out, and threw it at them like he did before; jumping out onto the top of an oncoming bus like he had done before; this time with Barry and Bob at his side.

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