*St. Agnes Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not exactly the last place Dusty J expected to be after his brutal War Games encounter, in fact, probably the first place, just not under these circumstances. Who would have thought that Shawn Hunt, THE Shawn Hunt, would be in such miserable conditions partly because of his own agenda to eliminate Devastator, and partly because the usually breakable tables didn't give way as expected; and who in their right minds would have suspected that the one to help him onto a stretcher and come with him to the hospital would be long time rival Dusty? After getting treated and stiched up from his own injuries suffered during the SummerSmash main event, Dusty waits in the cramped waiting room of St. Agnes, anticipating the moment where a doctor or nurse would emerge from their rooms and give him an update on the condition of "The Icon." He has been waiting in the exact same spot for about 2 hours now, listening to the crying of little children who's patience had already worn thin long ago, and listening to same headlines and newsbreaks from CNN blasting on the tv. He can't help but feel surprised about the fact that he has yet to see any of the superstars from EFW come by to check on Hunt, but then again, Hunt had far more enemies than friends. He isn't sure why he was so concerned about the man that took the EFW Worlds Title from him, or why he jumped into the ambulance to accompany him to the hospital. No matter how many conclusions Dusty could draw in his head to answer this question, they all seemed out of place, no real answer in sight. But he did know that it was the right thing to do, no matter how many matches with the other, no matter how much bad blood had existed or harsh words exchanged, he knew that caring for other far exceeded anything about professional wrestling and its ups and downs with co workers. After pondering his own thoughts for a couple of more minutes, Dusty had finally had enough of the stock market updates and marched to the reception desk. At the desk sat a nurse, if you could call her that, she barely looked like she was old enough to enter med school, let alone finish it. Her nametag read "Nurse Johannson," funny because she reminded Dusty a lot of the actress by the same name. Nurse Johannson looked up from her forms at Dusty as she saw him approaching and dismissed everything that she was doing, Dusty cleared his throat to get her attention.*

What can I do for you sir?

I would like permission to visit one of the patients.

Which patient sir?

Should be under the name "Hunt." Shawn Hunt.

I'm sorry sir, but we're not allowing him visitors right now, he's not conscious and is in emergency care.

Oh...well what are they doing to him?

I don't know sir, but if you'll just have a seat I can get back to you as soon as we have more on his condition.

Ok. Thank you for your help.

*Frustrated, Dusty heads back over to the waiting area and the chair he had occupied for so long already. As he sits back down he silently questions to competence of this hospital and its employees, but decides not to verbally mount his frustrations with so many young children in the room. He leans his head back and tries to drown out the sound of Anderson Cooper coming from the television that never seems to go off. Finally he finds a moment of silence in his head, enough to slip into unconciousness and finally find peace.*

*When Dusty awakens he finds himself inside the hospital, at the same old chair, with the same people, and the same confused feeling. However there is one major difference, this hospital is no longer lit by bright lights, it's dark and sort of dreary looking. Some of the lights flicker, brightness trying to escape, but most are dead, leaving the hospital with a gloomy look. He slowly stands up out of his chair and skims around at the people's faces, nothing has changed from when he began his slumber. Dusty makes his way back over to the receptionists desk where he finds Nurse Johannson still sitting there rustling through all sorts of paperwork and medical forms. Dusty looks at her, she looks a bit different than she used to, gone is the worried expression on her face and gone is her hair tied neatly in a bun, it's now dirty, unbrushed, all over the place like she hadn't given it a care in the world. Dusty mumbles a few words to himself before addressing her again.*

Hi, it's me again. I was just wondering if I could see how Shawn Hunt is doing now? I sort of dazed off for a while. The lights are messing up too, is anybody going to fix that?

The lighting is going to be repaired momentarilly sir. However, I regret to inform you that your friend Shawn Hunt died on the operating table. I'm sorry, there was nothing the doctors could do to save him.

What!? He's dead!? Oh god...I can't...I don't...how? How the hell did he die?

Some bone marrow made its way into his bloodstream and killed him. I'm sorry sir. We tried to awaken you before he was to go in and have the procedure done, but you were pretty determined to stay there and rest. Judging from the bandage across your face, it doesn't seem you've had an easy night, so we felt that we needn't bother you.

Oh...well uh...thank you, ma'am.

*Dusty turns away from the desk dejectidly, obviously shaken by the news he just received. Instead of simply calling up Greg Dixson for a ride he just trudges back to the chair he had been sitting in and takes a seat in it, once again going to sleep.*

Dust? Dusty? Dusty J! Wake up dude, it's me, Greg. Come on man, snap out of it, wake up.

*Dusty slowly begins to stir before slowly opening his eyes and surprisingly the lights are fixed. He looks up at his friend Greg Dixson, thankfully fully dressed this time, unlike the last time he saw him. During the War Games main event when Dusty was trapped in a ring with the three members of 8 Ball Inc, Greg had come darting to the ring wearing nothing but a thong, not a pleasant sight considering Greg weighing in the 200 pound area, and we're not talking about 200 pounds of muscle.*

They're letting visitors come see Hunt now, are you going to go in there and talk to him?

Visitors? What? But Hunt's...

What? Hunt's what?

Taking visitors...it must have been a dream...man...what a dream.

Well I surely don't have any clue what you're talking about, but Hunt's in room 111, so go on in and see him, he's going into surgery in about 35 minutes, so you don't have too long.

Right right, alright.

*Dusty gets up from the chair and makes his way past Nurse Johannson's desk and into the corridor. He walks by doors 115, 114, 113, 112, until he finally gets to Hunt's room, 111. He quietly knocks and then notices that the door is already cracked open. Dusty makes his way into the room where he sees Hunt lying on a hospital bed watching ESPN. The room isn't anything spectacularly elaborate, just a bed, a bathroom, some chairs, and the television set hanging from the corner. Dusty walks over to one of the chairs and takes his seat. Hunt scowls when the baseball scores come up showing the Atlanta Braves losing. He then turns his attention to Dusty.*

Well if there was any way I wanted to go out, it was going to be like that. That my friend is something that nobody in that building is ever going to forget, not for their entire lives.

Yeah. Pretty unbelievable. How are you?

Well I was out cold for a little bit there, and I can't really move anything other than my head and my arms, but other than that, i'm doing alright. How long have you been here?

I came with you, been out there waiting in the lobby for a long time now, i'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 hours.

Oh. Well, have they told you anything that they've been keeping from me?

You just told me more about your condition than the nurse at the desk or any of the doctors did. I know as much as you do, probably a little less. I fell asleep out there.

Oh yeah? Well after all the blood you lost in that match i'm surprised you aren't still being treated. You look terrible.

Yeah, some scrapes, bumps, bruises, and a whole lot of stiches, but I have that covered, as you can tell. Damn bandages really itch though.

Well look at it this way, you don't need surgery on your neck.

Yeah, i'm sorry about that.

Well it's not your fault, hell, I just wanted to go out with a bang, and now it looks as if i'm really going to be out for a long long time.

Good thing you retired when you did, although the last dance sort of came back to bite you.

I have tried to never regret anything i've ever done, and at the end of the day i'm not going to regret this. So everything should be fine after this surgery.

I had a dream when I was sleeping...about your surgery...and in it...you die. Some marrow gets into your blood stream and kills you during the operation.

Oh? Well it's just a dream. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. Just worry about healing and your match next week.

Match? I have a match next week?

Yes, your match on next weeks Rage. You'll be going up against Brian "Phatman" Cady. Now I don't know the extent of the injuries he suffered in the War Games match, but I do know he has to be just as beat up as you are.

Yeah, i'll have to get some training in though, he learned from the best.

Ha, don't you worry about it. You're Dusty J, you're the face of EFW, you can handle anything.

Thanks, that really means a lot to me. Seriously.

Don't mention it. But I do have to ask you...why did you help me? Why did you come to the hospital with me and wait for hours upon hours to see me? I don't get it.

I don't know. Maybe it was just because it was the right thing to do. Help a fellow wrestler when he's fallen on hard times, and you fell the hardest of us all. Maybe it's because of the respect I have for you as a competitor, I don't really know. All that time there was animosity between the two of us, and then I think I realized that it was there for no real reason. Perhaps because of all that the 8 Ball Inc did to myself and my friends, but I shouldn't reflect the actions of a group and blame it all on one person, that wouldn't be right. So I just decided to take you for who you were and what kind of competitor you were inside that squared circle. When I saw you land on your head after jumping off what must have been at least a fifteen foot high steel cage, I just suspended the "war" mentality and decided to do what was right, that's what i've tried to base my career and my life on.

Good deal. I respect that, as I respect you. I just want you to know that. You're a hell of a guy.

So are you Hunt, so are you.

*The door once again opens and in walks a couple of doctors. Dusty glances at the clock and sees that it's time for the scheduled surgery on Hunt's neck. He nods to Hunt and gets up then exits the room and heads back into the waiting are where Greg Dixson is sitting. He takes his usual seat beside Greg as he watches the doctors haul Hunt to the operating room.*

You know Greg for some reason I have a really bad feeling about this.

What do you mean?

I had a dream before you woke me up that Hunt died on the operating table, and there's this terrible feeling in my gut that says it was a premonition. I can't get over it.

Well hey, come on, just a dream buddy. Say do you have a match coming up on Rage this week?

Yeah, i'm going to be facing Brian Cady.

Oh yeah? Should be a good match. Do you think you're ready to take him on?

After going through that War Games match Greg I feel that I can take on anybody. I'm obviously not going to be near 100% when I step into the ring at Rage, but I know what i'm capable of, I know my limitations, and I can handle Brian Cady. He was also in that cage as you know Greg, and I got to see what he was made of a couple of times when I was trapped in that ring with the entire 8 Ball Inc squad. It started out pretty badly for me of course, the three of them just wailed on me, beat the ever loving crap out of me for a good minute or two, but then I was able to gauge what they were trying to do and use it against them, and I ended up outpunching them for a bit, that's of course when you ran out in your...well...yeah.

I got a bit hammered backstage, you know how it is with the free liquor.

But I know what Cady likes to do in the ring now. He likes to use some punches, kicks, body shots to wear me down before going for that final cut and the grand finale. He's a bigshot, he likes to look good while doing anything, and I think that's how i'm going to exploit one of his weaknesses. He's too self absorbed, and it's going to wind up distracting him throughout the course of our match because when he's setting me up for that big grand finale, he wants to make sure that his good side can be seen for the EFW Magazine photographers. That kind of egotism should grant me enough time to find a productive counter attack, and you know me Greg, in Hollywood, we're used to the cameras, we're used to going down to the Burger King and getting pictures taken, good and bad sides. That eats Cady up, he wants to look good for the women he'll undoubtedly try to pick up later on that night. He doesn't want to get down and dirty. When someone doesn't want to get down and dirty and scrape and claw to win that night's match, that's an automatic death sentence, especially with me. I've been around long enough to know that in order to succeed, you need to dig down into the trenches of your soul and prove that you want it. I don't know how deep Cady can go, he seems to have a knack for cheating for his buddies like he did the other week during my match with Jimmy Maxwell, and he likes getting assistance in return.

You have to dig deep but maintain a backbone. Cady has to prove to me that he wants it more than anybody wants it. He's beat up and so am I, but the fact of the matter is that i'm in much better condition, i've got more maturity and ring savvy, i've got everything on my side. He needs to prove to me and everybody else in the wrestling world that he can win the big one against the top guys in EFW alone. He's really good at group activity i'll give him that, but now there's no Reno Andretti or Shawn Hunt to lend him a hand. We'll see what he's made of when the odds are stacked against him, when he's left all alone with Hollywood Gold. He knows that all Hollywood Gold comes with a razors edge that's ready to cut him down in his prime. He has to prove himself to me, D-U-S-T-(wh)Y you ask? Because he's shown me nothing yet. He better come with it.

*A voice on the intercom, that of Nurse Johannson to be exact, begins loduly talking, pretty much yelling "Paging Doctor Pendansky, Paging Doctor Pendansky to Surgery Room 2, Hunt! Dusty shoots Dixson a nervous glance and Greg gets up, followed by his friend. They rush over to the reception desk where Nurse Johannson sits.*

Nurse, is there a problem with the Hunt neck surgery?

There are a few complications, that's all they're allowing me to say.

Are you sure there's not anything else you can tell us? My friend here has been sitting around for nearly seven hours now and we'd really appreciate it.

I'm sorry sir, no.

*Dusty and Greg turn back around and take their seats once more. Finally having enough with CNN, Dusty grabs the remote and changes the channel to something more entertaining, Major League on HBO. After about an hour Nurse Johannson leaves her desk and approaches the two.*

I would like you two gentlemen to know that your friend Shawn Hunt is perfectly fine and currently recovering from his surgery. However you won't be able to visit with him until tomorrow so I suggest that you guys get some rest tonight and come back in the morning.

*Dusty and Dixson get up, relieved that Hunt is ok after all. They both shake hands with Nurse Johannson and exit the hospital. They high five one another on the way to Greg's rental car. They both get in and strap up as Greg drives off.*

So Greg...about you wearing that thong...

Oh shut up...

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