“Will you need pilots for that?” Walter asked.
“I have plenty of pilots, but most of them came in fighters. The transports are few, and I think you guys took the shields for your jets.”
“That shouldn’t be much trouble to put them back. You left pretty detailed directions on their installation. Which reminds me, how much of that did you plan in advance?”
“You know, we can discuss that later. How is young Franklin doing?”
“It doesn’t look good,” Kendra said, “He took a shot right in the chest.”
Christy walked over and put her arm around Kendra’s shoulder.
“I’m so sorry. You were close?”
“I...I...I think so.”
“I’d say so. That shot was meant for you and he took it. I’d say you were more than close,” Moses said.
“Is that right?” Christy said.
“Yeah, that Mike guy tried to shoot her, and he jumped in front,” Walter said.
Christy wiped a tear from her eye. “Girl, you don’t find men like that too often.”
“Yeah...but...he...might not live,” Kendra said before breaking down in tears again.
Walter pulled the cylinder from his pocket and approached the hospital bed, looking down at Franklin’s face. He pulled a sheet of paper from his other pocket and handed it to Kendra.
“Give this to him after, will you?”
“After what?”
“Wait, is that what I think it is?” Christy asked.
“Yes, it is,” Walter said.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes, I do,” Walter said, pulling back the blanket from Franklin. He pulled Franklin’s limp hand out from under the blanket and laid the cylinder down, wrapping the boy’s fingers around it.
“Kendra, can you hold his hand in place?”
Kendra took her hand and wrapped it around Franklin’s, holding his fingers around the cylinder. Walter reached down, taking the other end of the cylinder in his hand.
“See you around, kid,” he said, before collapsing to the floor.
Franklin’s body convulsed violently and a few seconds later he sat up with a start, staring around the room in surprise. He then saw the cylinder in his hand and saw Walter lying on the floor.
“What just happened?”
“How do you feel?” Kendra asked.
“I...I feel fine. The pain’s gone. Is this what I think it is, the thing Mike gave him?”
“Yes, and he just used it.”
“Well, get this stuff off me,” he said, “and get the nurse in here to tend to him.”
The nurse ran in the room, took one look at Franklin sitting up, no trace of the wound on his chest, and looking as healthy as a horse, and saw Walter lying on the floor.
“Can someone tell me what happened here?”
“There’s no time to explain it,” Christy said, “but he’s going to need your attention. They traded places.”
Another nurse came in the room and the two of them lifted Walter into the bed while everyone else left the room to let them work. Five minutes later, a doctor walked out to the lobby and simply shook his head. Franklin and Kendra ran back in the room and the nurses were standing there and unhooking the monitors.
“I’m sorry, there was nothing we could do. The injuries were too much.”
“But I lasted all that time. How...” Franklin’s voice trailed off into tears.
“He was much older, and you were near the end when he did the swap,” Christy said.
Franklin bent over the bed, kissed Walter on the forehead, and choked back the tears.
“See you around, Pops. I love you.”
Franklin went back to the waiting area and sat down heavily. Kendra sat next to him and he buried his head in her shoulder. She stroked the top of his head and listened to his sobs until he raised his head to speak.
“He...he...knew what he was doing, didn’t he?”
“Yes, I think he did,” Kendra said.
“He gave his life for me, just like that.”
“As you did for my daughter,” Moses said.
“Well, I...I didn’t think much about it...just happened.”
“Well, Son...I appreciate it. You’re a fine young man.”
“Oh, I forgot. He gave me this,” Kendra said, handing the piece of paper to Franklin. He unfolded it and read Walter’s hastily scrawled note.
Kid. I wish there was another way, but I don’t see it. You have a whole life ahead of you, so I trust you to put it to good use. You have been the best friend an old man could ever hope for. I trust I will see you again, but I hope it will be awhile. Take care of Otis for me and take care of that girl. You won’t find one better.
2 Timothy 4:7
John 15:13
Love, Walter
He read the note again and finally looked around the room.
“Does anyone have a Bible?”
“I may be able to help you with that,” a man said, sitting down next to Franklin, “here you go.”
Franklin took the Bible from the man and looked at him for a second.
“I’m the chaplain here,” the man said.
Franklin looked up the first passage and read out loud in a trembling voice, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith,” and a minute later when he looked up the second passage he read, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
He handed the Bible back to the chaplain, buried his head in his hands, and cried more, big sobs that shook his shoulders.
Catherine Mixon sat across the room observing everything, not even sure anyone knew she was there. She wasn’t certain what to think. She was having feelings she wasn’t sure she was capable of having. They had won, and she was glad, while a couple days earlier she couldn’t have cared. She was on top of the world and more powerful than she had ever dreamed. Now she felt like
