A race against time

Next, Mark opened the door of the storehouse, and he could hear some sirens getting closer. They were an ambulance and the police cars he had called by sending anonymous emails using his <Beginner Hacker> Skill. He had done so before starting the fights, and it surprised him how fast they got here.

'It seems like Sarah may make it in the end. '

Mark would be lying if he hadn't thought about what Truck-kun told him to do, to save Sarah by trucking her, but he still believed that it wouldn't be something he should do. Maybe because she was Rubes' friend, or it could be another reason. To tell the truth, Mark himself wasn't sure.

He had checked her body and tried his best to help with the bleeding, but he didn't have that much practice in that subject. He had used his <Beginner Hacker> Skill though to access some online tips which appeared right into his mind, but it wasn't the same as learning a Skill that involved that knowledge.

When he learned a Skill other than the knowledge, the body itself was a bit familiar with the movements that needed to do, either physically or not, but he had to keep training and perfecting them. But now, what he got through his Skill's search over the Net was the same as just reading a book and keeping the general structure of the knowledge contained in it.

In the end, though, it seemed to slow down the bleeding.

Next, Mark quickly left that place, which was relatively easy as, with his skills, he could easily find a course free of people to get away from this place unnoticed.

However, he kept checking through the security cameras Sarah's situation. Finally, he saw the medical people reach the place and carry her to the ambulance to the nearest hospital.

Even if it was the first time Mark had monitored an injured person, he could tell that by the rate Sarah's aura was depleting, they should have more than enough time to rescue her. He had sent another anonymous email to Rubes, too, to let him know about Sarah, but it didn't have many details in it.

And so Mark headed toward the hospital himself, worried about Sarah. Even if he didn't know her, he owed her to do that much. After all, he was to blame a bit since he was the one that gave her the lead in this place.

He reached a bus station that was just outside the main entrance of the area where the storehouses were. He could quickly get Sarah's car, but it could cause some questioning over how he came to drive it to people who knew her. Still, just to be safe, he left a 'command' on it for the engine and the doors not to work unless he gave the ok to do so, as well as for an email to be sent to him if it moved from where it currently was. After all, this neighborhood wasn't the best place to leave your car for long.

Those commands used much of his SP as he wanted it to last for the entire day at least. But fortunately, his last battle wasn't too SP costly as it was finished quickly. Even if he used multiple of his Skills, he had got the handle on how to lessen their energy consumption to the minimum, but he still needed some practice to reach perfection.

Some other people that waited for the bus also looked in the direction where Mark came from. It wasn't because they saw him coming from there, as he was confident that they didn't, but because of the ambulance and police cars that headed towards that way.

It didn't take long for the ambulance to exit and head in the expected direction of the nearest hospital. Mark just got a glimpse of Sarah's aura when the ambulance departed the storehouses' area and was glad to see that it was in significant volume yet.

It didn't take long for the bus to arrive, and Mark reached the hospital within the hour. As he entered the building, he moved toward the reception to ask what he did not get the chance to do so. A hand tapped his shoulder, and as he turned, he saw Rubes, who seemed to be out of breath.

'Did he actually run his way over here? 'was Mark's first thought.

"Wha…what happened? I … I got a message that… "Rubes tried to speak, but he was still breathless from running over here.

"Just take a deep breath. I just got here. You got the same email about Sarah, then? "Mark exclaimed, trying to the best of his ability to not show that he knew everything about the current situation.

Rubes nodded, and he didn't seem to be suspicious of Mark.

"Let's head to the reception and ask first. If she is really here, they should know about her. "

Mark helped Rubes move, as he was sure he was ready to fall at any moment. That made him wonder how close he and Sarah were.

"Excuse me. My friend and I got a message that one of our friends got into an accident and was sent here. Can we know her situation? Her name is Sarah Emberly," Mark said to the male receptionist as they reached his station.

"Give me a moment to check…. yes we had a person admitted to our hospital just half an hour ago. She is still under surgery yet. You can head over that way and should quickly find the waiting rooms. Head for Waiting Room #2, and there you may get more details from the assigned nurses. Please try not to cause any trouble, though. Is there anything else I can help you with? "

Mark looked towards Rubes to see if there was anything he wanted to say, but the latter was just looking in the direction they were pointed to go.

"Thank you for your help. We will be on our way, "Mark exclaimed as he and Rubes started heading toward where the receptionist pointed them at.

"Have a great day, then. And have your friend sit to rest in the waiting room," Mark heard the receptionist telling them as they were leaving.

Mark wasn't used to having such good treatment, so his only answer was an awkward nod as he turned toward the receptionist. As for Rubes, even if he was still somewhat tired, it wasn't at the point he couldn't walk by himself; still, he seemed to act like he was. Typically, Mark wouldn't notice, but with his ability to detect the energy of others, he could estimate how much percent of their SP they had left at least, and Rubes had more than half by his calculations.

Still, Mark said nothing as he still felt bad about what happened to Sarah, and since she was Rubes' friend, helping him like that was the least he could do. At least Rubes tried nothing while Mark was helping him move.

It didn't take long for them to reach the place pointed at them, and Mark had Rubes take a seat. Then he looked around for any nurse to ask about Sarah. It didn't take long to find one who, fortunately, was aware of Sarah's current situation. She was out of surgery just a few minutes ago and is currently in stable condition. The bullet had pierced a place near her heart but didn't cause any severe trauma to it, fortunately, but given enough time with no treatment, who knew what would have happened,

She was unconscious, as the anesthetic was still affecting her, and unfortunately, no visits were allowed for now. But she pointed them at her room, which had a glass window from outside that they could see her through it, just they couldn't enter the room.

Mark thanked the nurse for her help and told her everything to Rubes as they headed toward Sarah's room. This time Rubes moved by himself without asking Mark for help, as he clearly had dropped the act.

It didn't take them long to find the room; they looked through the glass window and saw Sarah on the bed sleeping. They connected her to a few monitors to check her heartbeat, etc. Even if Mark wasn't an expert at reading them, he was confident that they were at a reasonable status since they weren't a flat line.

A doctor seemed to be in the middle of taking some notes as he checked the different monitors. He wrote a few things on her chart, put it back at the bedside, and then started moving outside the room.

"Are you Ms. Emberly's friend? "the doctor asked as he noticed Mark and Rubes.

"Yes, we are. What is the situation, doctor? "Mark asked, even if he was confident that she was in good condition, as he detected her aura to be restored somewhat and kept growing back to full power slowly.

"She is currently stable, but it was a close call. If they brought her a bit later, she could not be with us anymore. It seems like she has a guardian angel looking after her in the end, "the doctor exclaimed.

"Well, that guardian angel could have done a better job then and prevented her from even reaching this state, "Rubes was heard with a tone that surprised Mark.

Clearly, he was angry about the situation and possibly over the person behind the emails. Mark couldn't stop himself from thinking about what would happen if Rubes knew about how everything went. Would he be angry towards him, or would he forgive him?

But for now, he said nothing as he and Rubes stayed outside Sarah's room in silence while staring at their unconscious friend.