Clayton looked over at Qi Lian as he drove at rapid speed down the narrow bumpy dirt road. He could see that she was bleeding badly. Then he heard groans of pain that sounded like they were coming from the back seat. Clayton turned his head briefly and could see Martin. In all of the commotion Clayton had not realized that Martin was in the SUV along with them.

"Two badly injured people, I need to get you folks to the hospital." Clayton said trying to formulate his thoughts.

"No hospital." Qi Lian said weakly.

"We must go to a different medical facility. The hospital is the first place Han will look." Lian explained.

"Jesus, where the hell am I supposed to take you?" Clayton asked.

"List all medical facilities nearby." Clayton spoke to the car navigation system.

"Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, Plattsburgh Family Health..." The system called out.

"Take us to Plattsburgh Family Health." Clayton said, relinquishing control of the car. He felt that they were far enough away at this point to not have to worry about the Red Tide soldiers. At least for the moment.

Now Clayton got a better look at Qi Lian's injury. He noticed that the gash was quite deep on her side, running from her hip to her stomach area. Her breathing was labored.

"I thought you people were superhuman!" Clayton exclaimed.

"We can still die, just like anyone else Clayton. However if we do live, our injuries heal significantly faster than a normal human. By tomorrow I will only have slight pain. Two days from now I won't even remember the gash."

"How do you know this?" Clayton asked.

"Because that was part of the Red Tide program. They had to know how we would respond to injury. I have been cut like this before, and then placed under the best medical attention in China to ensure I didn't die. Others in the program were experimented on in a similar manner." Lian explained.

"I don't.... um ...., that is .... horrible." Was all that Clayton could manage.

"You do not need to feel bad Clayton. It was not something that you did to us. And we understood that we were brought into being for this purpose."

"That is not how things should be. No human, or superhuman for that matter, should ever be subjected to those kinds of things in the name of science or military affairs. It is just wrong." Clayton said.

Qi Lian started to respond, but then stopped herself. It was clear that she was in a lot of pain. Then Clayton heard the groaning from the back seat again.

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"Martin are you able to sit up?" Clayton asked.

Martin shook his head no. Clayton reached back and gently helped him sit up, and then helped him get his seat belt on for stability.

"Who were those people? They didn't seem... human." Martin asked.

"That was what we tried to explain to you Martin. These people were created by the government, just not the American government." Clayton explained.

"Whar they from? Some Asian country?" Martin asked.

"Yes China." Clayton responded. "We didn't want you to get involved, because we knew it meant certain death.

"Well I'm still alive ain't I?" Martin asked.

"Barely." Clayton remarked.

The car veered toward the Plattsburgh exit off of I87. Clayton turned his attention back to Qi Lian. She was still breathing, but she had passed out. Clayton remembered her words about healing. So he knew if he could just get her some care now, everything would be fine later.

Martin was hurt pretty badly too. He had been battered by one of the soldiers before one of his fellow militia members had managed to shoot his attacker. Fortunately he didn't have any cut wounds like Lian. Clayton figured Martin would survive too.

The car began navigating the streets of Plattsburgh. It was clear that this had once been a fairly booming town, but the trends of the times had won out. Many buildings sat empty now, since all the young workers had left for higher paying jobs elsewhere. The town was mostly surviving on the influx of college students every year, and that was not enough for many of the businesses. Fast food remained abundant though.

The car pulled into the parking lot of Plattsburgh Family Health. Clayton caught view of the sign, it said they opened at 8 am. Perfect, at least that meant they were open. Clayton got out of the car, but he was afraid to move either of the passengers. He didn't want to injure them more.

Clayton ran into the building and ran right past the front desk leaving the receptionist yelling.

"Sir, sir you can't go..." was all that Clayton heard.

He walked rapidly down the hallway until he saw a man dressed like a medical professional. He grabbed ahold of this man before getting a good look at him. The man was tall, standing about 6 foot 5 inches and had light skin. His muscular build was similar to Clayton's.

"Doctor I need..." Clayton started.

"Nurse, sir I am a nurse." The man explained.

Clayton paused briefly as this had caught him off guard. After a moment he continued.

"Nurse I need your help! I have two friends that are badly injured in the car but I am afraid to move them. Can you help them?" Clayton asked.

"Why didn't you take them to the hospital? We are not equipped..." The nurse said.

"It was too far, I need your help now, please!" Clayton exclaimed.

"OK, OK, what kind of injuries are we talking about?" The nurse asked.

"One has a stab wound and the other has suffered severe blunt force trauma." Clayton answered.

The nurse grabbed Clayton by the arm and pulled him.

"Come with me, I need your help to grab the supplies."

Together Clayton and the nurse grabbed supplies and threw them onto a cart. They began to run out with Clayton leading the way when they were stopped by a man.

"Security." The man stated.

The nurse looked at the man and waved him aside.

"This is an emergency situation Bob." The nurse said.

Bob sauntered out of the way, allowing the nurse and Clayton to pass. Clayton took the nurse to the SUV, which was housing his friends. It was at that moment that Clayton realized that he now thought of these people as friends. It had been a while since anyone had earned his respect and trust enough for him to consider them a friend. Yet these two people had done just that.

"Jesus, her cut is really really bad. I will do my best, but I may have to grab a doctor for this." The nurse said.

"Do whatever you need to do, I just want my friends to be OK." Clayton said.

Clayton watched as the nurse went to work. In that moment he began to pray that all would turn out alright.