Whoops

Johnny's boots crunched along in the brusque air as he trudged along the streets of the city. His heart labored to keep his body warm in the air, which while not necessarily cold was plenty enough to make fingertips that didn't move go numb. He hated walking. He hated running. He therefore puttered. It had been an hour since he had left the gas station, and he had another thirty minutes to go according to his physical therapist. “Y-you need to keep your body m-moving around Johnny, or-or else your muscles’ll start to atrophy, you gotta k-keep it goin’ y-y’know?” Marten White had proclaimed such over his ever present stutter. He was a brilliant medical doctor, but a bit of a wuss. Johnny still remembered how when they had first met Marten had nearly passed out on seeing his body’s musculature, still somehow being present on the rusted husk of his body. The fact that he could probably bench Marten twice always brought a smile to Johnny’s mind when he thought about it. That had been over two years ago. Marten, despite his intelligence, had been relegated to a crap hospital with an even worse set of assignments, dealing with the people who probably should be dead but were too stubborn to let the Reaper take them without a fight. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was a doormat Johnny mused as he thumped towards the coffee shop. He also hated coffee. The black sludge reminded him of…something. He couldn’t remember right now but that didn’t matter. It was too early in the day for him to not get something to keep him awake. He strained his neck as he stepped up into the line for the coffee shop, feeling the vertebrae in his spine dully pop. The smell of spice and mocha clouded his nostrils as he sneezed. Suddenly his callused feet started to throb. He sighed, as whenever that happened something bad happened soon after. Visibly a bus stalled near the coffee shop almost immediately.

Johnny’s eyes widened as someone he knew stepped off the bus and lit a cigarette. He then looked around him and noticed that he had apparently dropped off the side of the earth as it seemed like a significant amount of time had passed as the line had slowly shifted him out of it. Johnny smiled and left his now nonexistent spot to go say hello, at the same time it turned out, as another woman who seemed exceedingly angry about something. Time then slowed down as he noticed several things. One, she was on the ground, two, the driver had been knocked onto his butt by a considerably powerful punch, three she was injured by the dent in the passenger door of the bus, and four, the driver had called her something quite unladylike by the flare in her eyes, nose and skin. A quiet settled over Johnny as it always did when violence was present. His faulty eyes cleared up, his ears became sensitive and his body tightened. As the police came over so did he. “Excuse me but did you hurt this young lady sir?” Already he could tell this was not who he thought it was. The cruelty in the present within his eyes was evidence enough. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, it was the bitch’s fault she got hurt,” said the man as he coughed and tried to get up. Johnny’s eyes narrowed. “Here, let me help you.” He offered his left hand while his right tightened into a fist, then opened again as his eyes and ears scanned they’re surroundings. As no one was looking during the man’s way up he suddenly yanked him forwards into the still open passenger door of the bus, slamming the man’s head into the frame knocking him into unconsciousness. “Whoops.” Johnny turned around only to see the woman in a cop car driving away. He sighed, and then looked back at the driver. He walked away, making sure to put an extra weakness into his step as the cops came to take a look and moved right past him. “Holy crap, did she hit him this hard?” One asked the other, who shook her head. “No way, see the way the doors dented right here, he must have banged his head.” “Hey wait I know this guy! He was arrested for disorderly conduct and a DUI a while ago.” “I guess he fell back into it,” Said the female cop with a grim smile. Johnny trudged away, already his senses returning to normal. He thumped back towards the gas station, but this time, with a smirk to his lips.