Read The Legend of Buddy Hero (The Defenders Saga) for Free Online Page A

again, and it was unlikely he would be so lucky this time. 
    He saw the familiar lights of Maggie's Diner and ran toward them. He hoped to find somewhere safe to hide and someone to help this naked man who appeared to be seriously injured.  He looked down at the man as he made his way across the street. 
    The man's eyes opened and looked directly at him.  The man mouthed what Buddy could best guess was, “Buddy?”.  His eyes closed again, but his face gained a look of comfort.
    Buddy limped his way through the last few steps and reached the curb in front of Maggie's.  He fell to his knees, dropped the unclothed, unidentified man on the curb, and fell backward.  As his brain melted into darkness, he heard loud cheers coming from the crowd gathered in front of the diner.  His eyes closed and rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness.  A smile spread across his face, knowing the cheers he heard as the world went black were for him.
    *******
     
    I awake once again and again find only darkness.  It's easy to arrive at the conclusion that my location hasn't changed.  The pain I had felt earlier, however, seems to have left me.  I sit up and hear rustling nearby.
    “Hey Frank, I think he's awake!”  The voice I hear is coming from somewhere very close and to the left of me.  I then hear the sound of several different bodies moving toward me from different directions.
    “Hey buddy,” another voice says, leaning in very close to my face, “you alright?  Don't want to lose another one down here.”
    I find myself incapable of responding with anything other than a small groan.
    “Is it Charlie?” a third voice echoes from further away.
    “Charlie, is that you?  Talk to me,” the first voice sounds troubled.
    I lean forward and rest my hands in my lap.  Mustering as much energy as I am able, the words slowly escape my mouth.  I struggle with every syllable.
    “Damon. . . my name . . . is Damon.”
    *******
 
    Buddy awoke to find himself lying on the side of the road.  His eyes opened and saw seven people looking at him with concern on their faces.  Their faces quickly shifted into grins of relief.  Maggie leaned in close and hugged Buddy, a smile forming that pushed her cheeks up into her teary eyes. 
    “Wuh. . . What happened?”  Buddy spoke.  He erupted into a fit of coughing.  He turned his head to the side and spit a thick dark red concoction onto the sidewalk. 
    “Buddy!”  Maggie exclaimed, tears falling from her eyes as though she had never expected to hear his voice again.  Her smile somehow managed to grow even larger.
    Buddy clutched his side as he tried to sit up.  A man to the right of him held him down.
    “You're going to want to stay still until the paramedics arrive.  I think you may have some internal bleeding,” the man said.
    Buddy let his head fall, and his eyes closed.  The pain in his abdomen told him that the man was probably right.  He felt a hand run through his hair.
    “You're going to be alright Buddy,” he heard Maggie's voice say. 
    “The monster. . . what happened to it,” Buddy asked.
    “We don't know, Buddy,” Maggie said, forcing herself to talk through the tears.
    “It's gone, dude.  There's big gross pieces of it everywhere.  I don't know what you did, but it's like he ker-sploded into a billion disgusting bug pieces.” 
    Buddy cringed as he recognized Ryan's voice, but found himself happy knowing that he too was alright. 
    In the distance he heard the wail of an ambulance getting closer.  It screeched to a halt as it reached his location and the paramedics rushed to his side.  The last thing he heard as he succumbed to the darkness was the sound of his sister's voice.
    “Just hang in there, Buddy,” she sobbed.  “Just a little while longer, please.”
    *******
     
    “Damon, huh?  I've spent a lot of time in these mines and I don't believe I've ever known a Damon to be down here.  Are you new or something?”
    “I don't