by LARDLAD (ANTHONY E. TAYLOR)
Lardlad stood at the door to the Vagabond for what seemed an eternity. He pondered the thought that just wouldn't go away: was Hummer Lass in love with him? If so, how did he feel about that?
His zombie-like state was rudely interrupted as someone stumbled out the door, ran straight into him and plunged the two of them down the stairs leading up to the door. Luckily, the staircase only rose a few feet above the ground. Still, Lardlad took the brunt of the fall and yelped in a burst of pain. The person who had inadvertantly caused all this slowly rolled off the bystander and offered a mumbled apology.
"You stupid--!" was Lardlad's response to the apology. He failed to finish the insult when he suddenly recognized the person who'd run into him. She was a still-beautiful female despite a pallor to her skin and a hollowness in her eyes. "Pru?" Lardlad finally said.
"H-how you know my name?" Hummer Lass mumbled almost unintelligibly. Then a spark of recognition came to those lifeless eyes. "L-lardy?" she said.
"Yes, it's me, Pru. I've come to see you."
"Y-you wan' a pick-me-up?" she responded, trying to put on the old seductive voice she used to excel at.
"No, Pru," Lardlad's voice hardened as did his resolve, "I'm here to help you."
"H-help me?" Pru could barely comprehend. Then the question turned into a weak plea as she passed out after whispering "help me..."
Lardlad checked Pru's vitals and picked her up. He carried her into the Vagabond and took her to her room. Unlocking the door to her room with a keycard he found in her purse, he gently lay her down on her bed. Then he lay one of his hands on her forehead and the other on her chest and methodically infused Pru with a controlled burst of Lardforce which acted similarly to how a shot of adrenaline would in a hospital. He'd used this application of his power on many occasions and had become quite adept at it.
Pru awoke with a start. "Where am I?" she gasped, chest heaving.
"It's me...Lardy. Remember?"
The disorientation was starting to pass as she looked around and realised she was in her own apartment. "I feel strange...more... clear-headed than usual..." she said.
"I used the Lardforce to revive you," he said gently as he used a wet cloth to wipe her brow. "The effect will wear off soon. And you'll hunger for your drugs again."
Those words shot through her like a bullet. "What are you talking about, Lardy? You have NO right to make those accusations!"
Still speaking calmly and methodically, he responded, "I only said that because i know it's true. If I had any doubts, I knew after I saw you tonight. Besides, the taint I felt within you as I touched you with the Lardforce was unmistakable."
"You and your damn Lardforce! Always so high and mighty about ALL the things you can do with it! About all your teachings as a Lard Knight! You make me want to--" The sentence was completed by the actual act she was about to describe. A stream of bile came out of her mouth 'til there was no more. She continued dry-heaving as Lardlad took her hand and then embraced her.
"L-leave me alone, Lardy," she cried. "I d-don't n-need your help!" But all along she grabbed him tighter, as if to let go would cost her her life. Then the tears came. "I need a f-fix Lardy," she said trembling. "I was on my way out to get some more w-when I ran into you. I feel l-like my guts are tearing up ins-side!"
"I know, Pru," he said, still holding her tightly. "I'm going to help you."
"Y-you'll get me some m-more?"
Firmly, he responded, "no. I won't. That wouldn't help you at all. I'm going to get that junk out of you right now!"
"W-what do you mean?"
His silent response was to tighten his grasp of her. Then, he reached out with the Lardforce and did something he never did before. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he reached out with his power to sense the foreign substances polluting Pru's system. The two of them glowed as the power worked. Pru screamed and writhed as she felt something being ripped from her that clearly did not want to loosen its grip one her. She tried to get away, but Lardlad's grip only tightened as his resolve grew. The glow became even brighter around the two as every trace of the drugs was located. Once it was all located, the Lardforce began to absorb every bit of the substance it found. Then the glow left Pru and intensified around Lardlad. As all the poison that had resided within Hummer lass began to flow into him, Lardlad let out a loud pain-filled scream. the scream seemed to go on forever until finally Lardlad collapsed. Pru, feeling a sudden shift in her eqilibrium, collapsed as well.
Pru was the first to wake up. She found herself in a hospital bed. She was startled to realise that her head felt clearer than it had in longer than she could remember. Lardy had extracted every bit of the substances she'd slowly been killing herself with from her body. "Lardy!" she gasped. Then, instinctively she whirled her head to her right and saw that Lardlad lay on a bed in the same room. Only, he was surrounded by many medical devices, including one that was doing his breathing for him.
"Oh, my God!" she cried, "he absorbed all of that poison I had in me directly into himself! He did that for me! Lord, he can't die for me! He can't!" Tears streamed down her face. Softly, she whispered, "he means more to me than anyone..."
Nurses soon came in and calmed her down. A doctor later visited in and told her she would be fine but would be here for a few days until she got her strength back up. He said that tomorrow she would be moved to another room. When she inquired about her savior, the doctor was very evasive in his answers. He said he could only talk to family members about his patient's condition and that his wife and children were on their way from their distant home. Pru took that information as confirmation of the severity of Lardlad's condition.
Later that night, as Pru tossed and turned in her bed, something felt wrong in the dark room. She instinctively looked over at Lardlad's bed and saw that he was surrounded by several of the globlike members of the same race as Lardlad's old sidekick, Pro-D.
She focussed on one who seemed to be centered among them. A little scared, she finally managed to say, "Pro-D?"
The central glob entity turned toward her and looked at her with little indentions on its featureless face and said, "No. Not Pro-D." Then it pointed to Lardlad and said firmly, "That Pro-D!"
Pru gasped at the implication.
End Part Four