Kard leaves the hospital

Kard walked the first floor of the building. He'd known very little about the first floor, either floor, for that matter. His life for the past few years had been a blur, a dream production with a continuing cast of players in his head. He knew some of those people laying on the floor. They might have been good friends in other circumstances.

He turned face down bodies over. To anyone he recognized, he said his greetings. He wished them well, good health, and other common curtsies. He got to the one he knew as Timmy. “Oh, Timmy. To see you like this. I say, thank you. You always did good by me.” He was truly sincere. Kard's heart felt ready to burst with sorrow at what happened to Timmy. “You never gave me any medicines. You never made me sick.”

He stiffened at the thought of crying. He had done enough crying in this place. There wasn't going to be any more of that. He felt strong now, and tears would only bring him down.

At the back of his mind, a warning was chiming. He cocked his head to listen. Sirens again? No. They have no intention of using their sirens, but they were coming his way. They pulled up and have noticed something amiss.

They were coming in cautious, and silent. Only two officers were dispatched to investigate. They were outside waiting. Waiting for him, and waiting for what? They found the few used up bodies he had left. That's it then. They called for backup.

“That was awfully messy of me. Leaving all these bodies lying about. My mother taught me better than that,” he spoke to Timmy's corpse. His mother used nag him until he would pick up his room before he was allowed to go out and play. He really liked his mother. She had been his best friend for a long time, but not any longer. She was gone.

“I have to go Timmy,” he said. “I have to make a family of my own. Sorry, you can't be Uncle Timmy, because you're dead. I hope you don't mind.” He checked Timmy's pockets and found a wallet. Money lay inside, folded in fours along with a plastic key. Embossed on the key were letters that read a single word belonging to a planet, “Saturn.”

Kard chuckled and thought, “Saturn, Timmy? You want to be an astronaut? And they thought I was space cadet.” It dawned on him that there was a car maker by that name. How stupid it was for him to forget such a thing.

A set of photos packed into a sleeve fell onto Timmy where he lay. Kard picked them up and examined them. “What a beautiful family you have. I see you have boy and a girl. Is this your house? I'd very much like to see your house. Where do you live Timmy.” Kard stuffed the photos into his shirt pocket. He bent pouch and shook out the drivers license. The address was unfamiliar. “I don't know where this is Timmy. A new community perhaps? Never mind, I'll find it. Don't you worry one bit.”

The two officers waited outside. Their car doors were open. One of them, the female, she was the driver. She would do. Kard sifted through her mind, looking recent memories of the parking lot. He commanded her to turn her head, and she did as he bade. “Look for a Saturn,” he forced the thought into the officer with an urgency equal to her need to save someone's life.

Her name was Donna Rone. She dedicated her life to being the best officer she could. Though, upset with her recently denied promotion, her hopes were high. She was the right woman, no, the right person for the job of Lieutenant.

Kard was impressed with her. He had not expected to get so much information in so little time. “Open mind, open heart,” his mother used to say.

She found a Saturn parked in the employee section. She could see it clearly. Thus, he could see it, too. “Well, Timmy. It was nice knowing you, but I have a family to start.”

“Donna,” Kard sent his thoughts to her. “You see someone hiding around the corner of the building.”

“Did you see that?” Donna asked. “I just saw someone poke their head out from behind the building.”

The officers took off in pursuit. “Donna, go slower. Don't let your partner get behind you.”

She let her partner round the corner, then she followed. “Now Donna, it seems your partner is the perpetrator of this crime. You'd better stop him.”

“No,” her thoughts resisted him. “Billy's a good guy.”

“Can't you see, Donna? The perpetrator is wearing your partner's clothes. It's a wig and a mask that he is wearing. He is trying to trick you.”

She raised her gun, “sir, stop. I'm only going to say this once. Please, drop the gun. Get down on the ground. Sir, do it now.”

The sound of a gunshot echoed to where Kard stood. “That's good, Donna. Keep him from getting away. Subdue him.” Kard sent out a tendril. When it reached Billy, his wounded hand disappointed Kard. He hoped it would have been closer to the heart. But, then again, the stronger the heart, the longer he would last.

Kard drained life away from the wounded man, but only a little. He saved some for when the others arrived. Billy would die from a gunshot in the hand. Soon, the ambulance would arrive.

She waited by Billy. She could do no more. Her wet face, drenched in tears, could only partially reveal her grief. “You shot him, and now he might die. How can you save lives now?” was Kard's last telepathic message to her.

He moved to the building entrance, feeling a little dizzy. He leaned up against a wall, leaned forward clasped his thighs. Must be the drugs, he thought.

He needed to get somewhere. The best place he could go is to Timmy's. He had children , and they would need a father. Having two increases the odds of passing down all the important facts of life. Now, just how to get there?

Aloud he asked, “how did those guys upstairs just vanish like they did?”

Tendrils reached out from his body, on their way to the sight of the vanishing. They did this on their own, powered by Kard's simple desire to know more. They found a lingering sense of something turbulent, but it was unclear. A lingering of that creature, too. That beautiful creature made him feel so good. He compared it to all the flavors of an ice cream stand and more. It was better than that. He could not deny that it was the best he had ever felt. He wanted more of that. Billy wasn't very tasty.

The tendrils might do things he did not want, get out of hand. He reeled them in. He wanted to keep control of his desires. He must keep control.

Making himself move from the wall took a little effort. His legs and arms ached. His hand ached the worst. He pushed open the door to the outside, and headed to Timmy's Saturn.

The alarm went off after opening the door. Kard ignored the alarm and got in. He stuck the key in the ignition and turned the car over. The car jolted forward in a great lurch, but did not start. The car was a standard stick shift, not an automatic. Kard tried to remember how to drive one, and it came back to him. He had never been good at it, but he had done it before.

He tried again, this time with his foot on the clutch. He didn't have to put the car in reverse. So, he found first gear, and ground it in until it stayed. Releasing the clutch, the car again sent him forward in a jolt. The car turned off. He tried again, but with a little more success at getting the gear in place. However, the car stalled once he attempted to move. His head smashed into the windshield. He gave up.

Papers and food wrappers laid on the passenger seat and floorboard. On closer examination, he found a map that gave direction to a restaurant from an address Kard thought was very familiar. He folded it an put it in his shirt with the rest of the documents he had collected.

“I'm going to need some shoes,” he reminded himself.

There was click outside. He turned to look. It was Officer Donna holding a gun. She was a good ten yards away. “Step out of the car, Sir,” she demanded.

Kard had little time for this and sent his tendrils to her. He fed from her until she was at the brink of death. He wanted a witness. He wanted that creature to find him again. He wanted that creature.

Kard took the map back out to have another look. The license came with it. “What has happened to my memory. I can't remember anything these days.” The address matched Timmy's home address. He pushed the junk off the passenger's seat onto the floorboard, and laid his items in its place.

With the junk removed, it revealed the emergency had been pulled. He released it, and finally got the car to act like a decent car.