Chương 12: That's What Heroes Do
As expected, Amber was overexcited about what happened and had a million questions once Nathan was lying down back in his old room. "You got hurt saving someone, didn't you? What happened? Does it hurt really bad? Are you going to be okay? Are you going to die?!"
He sighed. Her pitch was making his head hurt worse. "Amber, I love you, but my head hurts so tone it down a little, will you?"
She was immediately penitent. "Sorry. What happened though?"
"I got hit by a bus while pushing someone else out of the way. If I'm going to do stuff like this again, I need to work out more. You know, once my shoulder heals. Which is going to take a while."
"You got hit by a bus?!"
"Yeah. Not my finest moment. I'd like to avoid doing that again. If I ever see anybody else get hit by a bus, I'm not so sure I'll be able to jump in a second time."
Amber rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You're a superhero—you jump in no matter what. That's what heroes do."
Nathan sighed. "I'm not a superhero, Amber. I'm a normal person who happens to see short visions of the future when people near me are in danger. That's it. Getting hit by a bus totally sucked. A real superhero wouldn't have had that happen because they would have been strong enough or fast enough to prevent it. All I did was get myself hurt."
She sat cross-legged on the end of his bed and faced him with a curious expression on her face. "What if there was some way for you to get stronger or faster? Then this sort of thing wouldn't happen again."
"What am I supposed to do, go looking for radioactive insects or vats of toxic waste? More likely than not, I'd end up dying."
"Well, no…but aren't some superpowers genetic? Think about the Y-Men. Maybe you have further untapped potential somewhere inside of you waiting to come out. If you have one power, you might have more."
Nathan didn't buy that for a second. It was unbelievable enough that he got visions of the future. He wasn't suddenly about to develop super speed or super strength out of the blue. Using comic books as a reference wasn't terribly helpful.
Besides, he knew some stuff about the Y-Men. They might have splinter powers related to their main power but didn't develop completely different powersets out of the blue.
He couldn't even remember if any of the Y-Men were able to see into the future. He couldn't believe he was even considering doing comic book research. He was twenty-seven years old; that was so childish!
"I don't think that's how it works. I don't even know how I got this power or why. It isn't like Mom or Dad had powers and you don't either so I doubt it's genetic. It's just the way things are for me," Nathan said tiredly.
Amber frowned. "I wish I had powers. I'll never be as cool as you."
He laughed and then winced because that really, really hurt. "Who's the one with a million and one friends? You're way cooler than me without even trying."
"That isn't how I measure coolness. You're a good person, Nate. You help other people when you don't have to no matter who they are. That's what makes you so cool. It doesn't hurt that you know how to survive in literally any condition imaginable. I definitely want you on my zombie apocalypse team."
Nathan had to stop himself from laughing again but he couldn't deny he was touched by the fact that she thought he was a good person. He certainly didn't think of himself that way. He only did what he did to outrun his own sense of guilt.
His sister didn't need to know that though. She didn't remember anything about their parents because she had been a baby or not even born yet when they died. She didn't know the truth about what happened at all.
On the rare occasions he talked about them, it was only because she asked. He focused on the good times before it all fell apart. Unfortunately, there was very little he could tell her about how they interacted with her. She still liked hearing about them though even though she loved her adoptive parents dearly. They were the only parents she ever knew.
Nathan decided to keep things light. "Don't worry, I wouldn't let any zombies get you."
"I know," Amber said with perfect confidence. "Zombies…robots…whatever the apocalypse ends up being. You'd protect me because you're smart. Your power isn't the only factor, you know."
She had a point. Seeing it happen once was one thing but managing to figure out how to stop it was another. Part of it was practice but in the beginning he was winging it constantly and had to think on his feet. Most of the time he had less than five minutes to figure out what to do if the situation was more serious than someone simply tripping.
He felt warm and fuzzy all over because of the compliment. She was really laying it on thick with making him feel loved today, wasn't she? That was almost a painkiller in and of itself.
"Thanks, Amber."
"No need to thank me for telling the truth," his sister said with a shrug. "Do you need anything? I can get you an ice pack or some water or food. Have you eaten anything?"
"No," Nathan confessed. Hospital food was disgusting so he tried two bites before giving up.
"What do you want? I don't know how to cook anything but I can get you any sort of snack or a sandwich. I do know how to make those."
"A sandwich sounds good."
Amber perked up and hopped off the bed. "Alright! Be right back. Take it easy and don't look at any screens 'cause the doctor said not to. I'm going to make you the best sandwich ever, just you wait!"
Nathan sat up with a bunch of pillows propped behind him because his sling was less effective and his shoulder killed him if he tried lying down. He had nothing to do for the sixish minutes she was gone but wonder what kind of terrible sandwich combination a ten-year-old could come up with.
As it turned out, her idea consisted of a peanut butter sandwich with celery and raisins. That wasn't too weird… Spreading the insides of celery with peanut butter and covering them with raisins was a regular childhood snack of his. He never had it in between bread before though.
Amber looked at him expectantly as he took his first bite. It was a bit odd but still edible.
"This is surprisingly good," he informed her.
She beamed at him. "I knew you'd like it! I call it the Ants-On-A-Logwich. Do you want another one?"
"I'm good. I could go for a glass of water though."
"You got it!"
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