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By Root 767 0

at the Kirby market on the corner and got himself a jug of orange juice. He chugged the whole thing right there. Not only was it 100 degrees outside, but he had to get to Vista in the next 15 minutes. He would have to run the whole way to make it on time. He started running. After only five minutes of running, he had made good progress and was almost at the halfway point. Then it happened. As Power was running along the sidewalk and just about to cross an intersection, he passed out. Now, most of the time when you see someone pass out in a movie or on TV, they are either standing or sitting. Not very often do you see someone pass out while running full speed. That was exactly what Power did. Hitting the ground at that speed did a fair bit of damage. If he would have landed on the concrete sidewalk, it would not have been that bad, but the normally grassy area next to the sidewalk was gravel. Hemet is big on its gravel and small pebble sized rock lawns. These rocks were not friendly to his face as he came crashing down. Power laid there unconscious and bleeding for a few minutes, before an elderly couple on their morning walk spotted him. They called 911 and an ambulance was dispatched to pick him up.

Once he was loaded into the ambulance, they were able to bring him around. He appeared to be delirious, but otherwise not seriously injured. He was on his way to the hospital.

Meanwhile, at the Vista Apartments, 10:00 a.m. had come and gone. Elsa waited for Power until 11:00 a.m., and then left to get ready and catch the 11:45 a.m. bus to the Base.

As Power was rolled into the Emergency Room, the nurses had already found his wallet in his pants pocket. He had no identification and no money. The only thing in his wallet was a Blockbuster Video card. It was not even Power’s card. He had borrowed it from another staff member weeks before. Even though renting videos was not a regular occurrence, some staff managed to sneak off during the night and get a video here and there. Power was one of these people. But as he did not have any ID or a bank account or credit card, he had borrowed someone else’s Blockbuster card. The card belonged to a Peter Cook and there was a phone number listed. Although probably a common name, Peter Cook was a guy that worked in marketing.

“Okay, Peter, what seems to be the problem today?” The nurse asked Power as they took vital signs and got him cleaned up.

“My name is not Peter. It’s Power,” Power told the nurse.

“Okay, honey. So what happened to you?” the nurse repeated.

“I don’t know. I was running and the next thing I know I was in the ambulance,” Power told her, truly not knowing that he had face planted while running full speed down the street.

“Well, honey, you got pretty banged up, but we are going to get you some help and the doctor will be here in just a few minutes,” the nurse gave him a smile and walked off.

Power laid there in the gurney and wondered what had happened and how he ended up in this mess.

Back at the base, the buses were pulling up and dropping people off near the dining hall. Elsa got off the Vista bus and spotted one of Power’s roommates.

“Hey, did Power come home?”

“Yeah, he left to meet up with you this morning! We haven’t seen him since and he was not on our bus.”

“When did you last see him?” Elsa asked, worried.

“He left around 9:30 a.m.,” Power’s roommate said as he walked off toward the dining hall.

Elsa knew what had happened. He had blown. He never showed up at her place and he was not on the bus. It was not like him not to show up and he would have had no means of transportation to the base if he missed the bus. Elsa had to let someone in HCO know right away. She found Gerald Duncan, the Director of Inspections & Reports. She told him about the whole break up talk and Power not showing up for their meeting. Gerald could not take any chances. A text message was sent out on the pagers and phones to initiate the Blow Drill.

It was about 12:15 p.m. by this time and most people were inside the dining hall getting some lunch. Then, as sure as the sweat dripping