Chapter 58: the little fan boy

Leo and Benny woke up the next day to find Clark still asleep. Leo ordered food from a nearby restaurant for Clark and the both of them. After eating they sat on the chair provided as they talked on a low tone about their yesterday encounters.

Around 10:00am in the morning Clark finally woke up as he felt bandages all over his abdomen and other parts of his body. He also felt the drip syringe attached to his wrist as he slowly stood up. Leo and Benny not realizing that the person they were watching was already awake they continued their lengthy conversation.

Clark realized that his pains were already gone as he called out to his 2 blabbering companions.

“Oh, Clark you’re already awake,” Leo blurted out as he rushed to forward to give him a light hug.

“How are you feeling, do you still feel pains, is there any discomfort?”

“No Leo, I’m already fine,” Clark answered in resignation as he slightly rolled his eyes at his friend’s shameful gesture. “Hugging me, do you think we are still cadets? Shit, at this rate you’ll never man up to become a real soldier,” he thought with a stop being a kid expression on his face.

Clark after their brief emotional re-union finally removed the bandages to see all his injuries already healed. Only the deep cut on his abdomen still had a scar but he was not feeling any pains.

The doctor was quickly called for, he arrived very fast with an excited expression planted on his face. They were confused by his expression but they still asked him for a diagnosis. After the diagnosis the doctor confirmed that Clark was good to go, he praised him lavishly for having such a great body as others would have spent 2 or more days in the hospital for such injuries.

Clark secretly heaved a sigh of relief on hearing this as he didn’t want to default on his first day reporting for duty as a soldier of the republic. He asked the doctor directly for the amount he needed to pay.

This is when the weirdness of the doctor started being clearer, he fidgeted here and there like a little fan boy meeting his idol for the first time. “Are you really the Clark who graduated this year as the best soldier,” he finally asked?

“Oh, so it’s because he found my identity”. Clark suddenly felt weird, “is that how famous I’ve become?” He soliloquized in a surprised tone.

“Yes, I am,” he answered after being silent for some seconds.

“Great,” the doctor jumped in joy which scared the hell out of them.

“Pipe down mate,” Leo blurted out in shock. “Don’t you see how fragile you are, you are an old man for God’s sake”.

On hearing this, the doctor finally calmed down, he coughed awkwardly to dispel the weird atmosphere. “I’m sorry for that, sorry for scaring you. Personally, I admire you a lot Clark,” he emphasized by patting his chest as he turned to face Clark.

“My youngest son also takes you as his idol. He would like it a lot if I can get your signature for him,” the doctor finally requested.

This…, Clark felt weird, Leo and Benny felt even weirder as they all looked at the middle-aged doctor.

Clark finally snapped out from his daze after a minute of silence, “oh a signature I can do that”.

It seems the doctor came prepared as he brought a small polo shirt and a blue pen which probably belonged to his son. Clark simply wrote [Clark .P.] at the back of the shirt before returning it. He asked again for the amount he needed to pay but this fanboy rejected him with a tone that screamed no negotiation, the doctor fiercely insisted on him not paying.

“Well, it’s not my money,” Clark thought as he was quickly discharged.

Leo and Benny followed behind Clark as they went to his car without any further waste of time. Clark finally recalled something as he asked the both of them if they picked the shooter’s armor, his bullets and sniper rifle.

“You guys didn’t pick a single thing?” Clark was extremely disappointed in them. “Shit man, you guys actually left that kind of free money behind, the stash of bullets required for the battle art used alone is worth over 200,000 credits,” he muttered in a pained tone.

On hearing Clark, Benny felt worse as he was also learning the dead’s echo, he would have probably received the bullets or if it was to even take them on loan from them [i.e Leo and Clark] was better than leaving them behind.

A depressed Benny entered the car last as Clark instructed the car’s A.I to take them back to the military base. The car bolted off as they began their hours long journey back to base.

The terrorist commander, well Clark already forgave the man as he also probably suffered in pain psychologically when he killed his 2 executioners. But he would make sure to be better prepared for any ambush of that type in the future. After over 8 hours of driving, they finally arrived at the Spartan military division base.

Their arrival didn’t create any waves in the military base as they went directly to their room. The room still felt oversized to Clark despite seeing it for some time already. After eating they arranged the new clothes they bought before retiring to bed. Tomorrow they’ll officially resume work as soldiers.

…

The captain of the python military division sat in his office as he read the report he received. Clark and his 2 companions were ambushed by high-grade soldiers, probably those from the terrorist base they sabotaged, the captain casually commented. “This Clark is really something, he withstood the full attack of a 2nd rank high-grade soldier paired with a 1st rank high-grade soldier for about 10 minutes. Well, prove yourself first in the army before you receive a promotion,” he muttered with a chuckle.

…

After the unexpected interference of Clark’s car, the commander escaped but his escape was mainly due to his experience and will to survive.

Luckily his armor was of a higher grade than those of his subordinates but despite that he tried as the force alone from the bullet was enough to make others on the same armor foolish or crazy by disorienting their brain. If you doubt, you can try it by allowing someone to only slap both your ears with force, then you’ll know the difference between 6 and half a dozen.

It was mostly due to his physique as a 2nd rank high-grade soldier that helped him pull through. His new subordinate that was killed, well what could he say he was the unluckiest of them all.

What made him breathe a sigh of relief was that Clark and his friends forgot to loot the fallen soldier. He spent 80% of his savings over the years to purchase the stash of bullets for the soldier’s battle art alone, soldiers hardly keep savings because of their need to get new and better equipment. He would have felt the urge to commit suicide if the bullets were looted, fortunately they forgot.

Perhaps if he knew it was because Clark fainted, he would have been thanking his god by now.

Having revenge, in his opinion that is already a past tense in his dictionary, he didn’t have the guts to confront that insane car again.

[Thank you for reading this chapter I really appreciate. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it, if it reaches a certain milestone I'll publish mass releases on intervals.]