Chapter 89 – A Restart

The sky was cloudy as a police officer looked at the dark sky

"Going to be a storm. What a day to have such a ridiculous event" he said

"Its politics. Nothing surprises me anymore" his partner said as they guarded the entrance to the hospital.

A limo arrived and the Governor was ushered in, surrounded by his security and aides

But the dark clouds couldn't damper the Governor's mood. He felt like this was going to be his moment. 

The whole hospital had became a circus as the media swamped the entrance of the hospital. 

A beautiful brunette was brought into the entrance by a prison warden, wearing prison uniform which didn't hide her gorgeous figure. 

She was silent and her eyes were dead as she trudged in, ignoring the flash of the many cameras snapping pictures of her. 

Inside was like a zoo as makeup artists touched up the faces of the many nurses who took care of Sam in the hospital, while the main doctor who was in charge of his overall care was grumpily answering vapid questions from the selected journalist. 

The Governor led the frenzied press into the Intensive Care Unit and gave a long speech before bringing in the handcuffed Sharon Carpenter in. 

She looked lifeless as her dead eyes stared at the ground, shutting out everything that was happening around them. 

It was then that the Governor finished another long winded introduction as Sam's body was wheeled in on the hospital bed he was in, hooked up on tubes and wires keeping him alive. 

The press suddenly went silent as they gasped in unison seeing how badly his condition was. 

Even the Governor suddenly clammed up as he saw the human mummy, fully wrapped up in bandages, missing all his limbs, with tubes to breathe, feed and remove his waste plugged in various parts of his body. 

The grumpy head doctor sighed and proceeded to read out all Sam Serra's injuries, as his hospital directors ordered him to. 

As every injury was read out, the press got more and more silent, even the camera's stopped snapping pictures as they realized the severity of the things done to Sam. 

The doctor stopped reading the list of injuries half way as he noticed Sharon moving towards Sam. 

"Hey! What are you doing? Haven't you done enough?" he yelled 

Sharon stumbled over to Sam's severely handicapped body, her face covered in tears as she approached him.

The doctor was about to stop her when he saw her face as she slowly reached out to Sam's face and gently touched his bandaged face. 

Only one of his eyes could be seen under the bandages, as his other eye was blinded and his face had been blown apart by the gun shot wound. 

If it were not for the bandages covering his facial injuries, his face would be too gruesome to photograph and would have caused nightmares for all their viewers. 

But Sharon did not flinch touching him as she mumbled incoherently as tears flowed down her face freely and snot ran down her nose. 

She rubbed her face on his face, like they were intimate lovers as she cradled his face and those that could read lips could make out her saying "Sorry" over and over again. 

"Er... I think we should leave them alone for a while" the doctor said

"But she's the perpetrator" the Governor objected

"I think they both need closure. It seems like they knew each other" the doctor said

"Fine. But I am not pardoning her!" the Governor answered

"So be it. It's not like she could escape from here anyway. The hospital is surrounded by press" the doctor said. 

The two were left alone as the Governor and his assistants ushered out the press to leave Sharon and Sam alone. 

"You've got 5 minutes. Then we'll come and get you" the prison warden said as he left with the rest of the press. 

Sam stared at Sharon, unable to say anything. Many thoughts entered his head

Was his experiences in Merlin's world and beyond a dream?

Didn't Sharon join him in the other world as well? Even though he had commandeered her body and made it his male form, didn't she experience a few times regaining control? 

"I dreamed of being you many times in prison. It was my only escape from reality of prison as we waged war against fantastical beings with your actress warriors.." Sharon suddenly mumbled

"Huh? Actress warriors? My familiars?" Sam thought as he tried to understand the implication of her words

"I would give everything for those dreams to come true, even if it means giving you my body. Its what I deserve anyway, after what I did to you" she continued in tears

"Me too" Sam said in his head as his mouth barely made a recognizable sound

Suddenly a loud thunderbolt crashed and the hospital went dark as there was a power blackout.

Within 5 seconds, the backup generator turned on, returning the lights to the hospital.

The governor continued taking questions at the press conference when the prison warden and a nurse ran out.

"What?" the Governor yelled suddenly as and aide whispered in his ear.

The police officers ran to the ICU ward together with the press, the Governor and the doctor

But both Sam and Sharon were missing, with Sharon's prison clothes and handcuffs on the floor, and Sam's empty bandages and all his tubes and wires keeping him alive dangling emptily all around his empty bed!

Police officers, nurses and doctors scrambled urgently searching the hospital, covering every room, corridor and hall, desperate to find the escaped convict and rescue the poor victim. 

"Hey! Doctor, have you seen the escaped convict?" the police officer asked a handsome man dressed in the typical hospital scrubs and gown. 

The young male doctor walked away without answering, as if he didn't hear the question. 

"Arrogant bastard" the police officer said

"Who are you talking about?" a nurse nearby asked as she walked in on the police officer.

"That male doctor. He might be a doctor, but he didn't have to be so arrogant. I have to admit though, such a handsome man is quite rare. No wonder he was so arrogant" the police officer answered.  

"Which handsome young doctor? I'm sure I would have known if such a good looking doctor joined the hospital" a nurse said.. 

"That handsome.. hmmm where did he go?" the police officer said. 

Several minutes later, in a residential backyard, a naked man started donning jeans and a t-shirt from a clothing line after dumping the hospital clothes. 

He didn't steal any underwear as he found it unthinkable and disgusting, but he found stuffing his newly recreated penis in the jeans quite uncomfortable. 

Luckily he made his large breasts disappear otherwise wearing the tight t-shirt would be impossible. 

"Glad my [Heal] powers still work to transmute flesh any way I want" Sam said to himself. Inside his head, Sharon agreed with him wholeheartedly.