chapter 2

It was a bright day, the sun smiled down on anything visible. "Where am I?" Ken struggled in thought.

He felt himself falling deep down in his mind, it was getting hotter, darker. He kept on sweating as multiple voices clouded his mind. Trying to escape this scenario, he cried out in frustration.

"He spoke... And he blinked!" Came a familiar voice. "Yo Man, God Dammit! You had me worried, I thought we'd lost you man, welcome back bro." It was Benny, his most trusted gang member dressed in a green vintage shirt with the gang Bandana across his forehead, he had a funny accent.

"Hey nurses, my man is back!" Benny stood perplexed, wearing a mighty grin as he beckoned joyfully to the nurses, as they came running with trays containing injections, and some syrups.

"Calm down mister, can you see me?" Asked the chief nurse in charge, as they tried holding a confused Ken trying to flee their touch.

"Where am I?" He asked, frowning at all of them in sight. It felt like a nightmare he struggled to wake from. "How did I get here?"

"Yo, cool man, you just recovered from a three month old coma." Benny defended, waving three fingers at Ken's face to stress his point.

"Twelve good weeks man!" Benny, gestured a carry on to the nurses.

"You're gonna have to remain still mister Ken." The nurse demanded, getting fed up with his intensified struggles.

"What the fuck are you saying, who are you?" Ken gave a detesting look, trying to sit up.

"Here have some water," Benny offered a bottled water he had gotten from the road side only moments ago.

Ken accepted it, trying to gain his ground on where and how he had managed to get there. He took a sip of water, attempting to make sure it was what he wanted. Without a second thought after confirmation in approval, he sent the whole content down his throat. His body warmed up as he began to understand things.

"Damn!" He cried, trying to lift his left arm which was thoroughly wrapped in bandages.

Ken scanned his body, his mouth opened and unable to return to it's fixed position as he noticed his legs hanging, also fully wrapped from groin to toes.

"What happened?" He questioned, amused by his environment. "How did I get here?" He continued giving a suspicious look at the nurse who kept checking his vitals.

"Here," she gave a paper to Ben who signed gracefully and without hesitation.

"Yo, more bills are rolling man, increasing daily. Man, happy you regained consciousness. It saved the cash, our cash." He stated.

"Ugh!" He sighed, revealing his share of the golden tooth.

"Ben?" Ken finally recognized the man figure that had constantly been ramming his words through Ken's ears.

"What happened to me? How did you get here? And how did this happen!" Ken raised his voice trying to assume his role as Baron. He had a lot he needed to know, yet, very few people gave him a willing answer.

"Remember the Den?" Ben added rhetorically. "After that night, I was driving over to your place, and some set of fresh-meat (people) blocked my path waving towards me from a distance. I sure honked the hell out of my horn at them but on getting close man, it caught me real deep man, as I saw my brotherhood and a lady all covered in blood and injuries." Ben concluded offering a sympathetic look in remembrance of the incident.

"Girl?" Ken called, worried, "what girl?" Ken kept on scrunching his face at Ben, who simply pointed towards a transparent glass demarcating the two different wards.

"Is that the girl?" Ken enquired, giving a determined look at the other ward. "How did we...?" Ken ruminated, feeling worried.

Ben gave a funny look wondering if Ken's memory was gone indeed.

Ben stood up showing readiness, "I be off now man. Have to check on the business, I stood in your place since your illness man, get well soon bro!" He gave a faint smile and bowed a little, lifting his right fist and touching the left side of his chest. That was the gang way of showing loyalty.

"Thanks man." Ken bowed his head in approval.

He watched Ben walk out the room, a satisfactory look took over his expression. Ken felt honoured he still had a loyal gang member after being in a coma for so long.

His eyes kept scanning his body and then over to the transparent glass. "I've got to remember

What happened, who's that lady? Think man, think!" He kept on persuading his mind.

A man dressed in a ward coat kept pointing to his direction whilst giving details to the nurse, who was noting it down enthusiastically. He started towards Ken wearing a smile which gave a clear view of his gap teeth, a rough face accompanied by an elderly grin.

"Hi Ken." The doctor announced, searching through some contents on a stainless tray, he picked one gave a focused view at Ken.

"You were brought in here badly injured, you lost so much blood. We also recorded multiple bone fractures in your waist, legs and arms but miraculously it seems you heal fast, you also sustained some bruises in your lower limb." He paused, making sure he extracted the right amount of yellow substances into a syringe.

Tapping the tip of the injection he held, he paused to say, "You are one lucky guy, she seems fine except from the minor injury she sustained on her head." He injected the substance and rubbed Ken's skin with some iodine and wool to avoid bleeding.

"How...h-" Ken stammered, feeling the impact of the drug already.

"Don't worry." Interrupted the doctor, the baby is fine, this will help you regain yourself, he smiled making his way out the ward.

Ken's vision blurred. He felt dizzy, "baby?" He wondered aloud, forcing his eyes to look through the glass.

"Ba...by?" Ken murmured once more before getting enveloped in the darkness.