Upon reaching the hotel, the head coach instructed Winston to unwind in his room. The head coach prohibited training for fear of injury, making sure Winston understood the directive. Upon entering his room, Winston was disappointed to see Oswin wasn't there; he had wanted to catch up. After he tossed his bag onto his bed, he walked over to the balcony. The night was really chilly, even though Winston didn't feel the biting wind, he walked inside the room, as he strode toward his bags, a surge of waves traveled into his bones and blood. He hyperventilated until his vision became blurry, and he passed out. Winston had been unconscious all night; when he woke, he was bewildered, struggling to understand what had happened as he tried to sit up.
Upon a swift inspection of the core system, he found nothing altered and, with a sense of dejection, remained seated on the ground for a period.
Until Winston decided to go through his plan once again, the head coach's instructions were for Winston to remain in his room. Winston thought perhaps the head coach wanted him not to injure himself, since he wanted to put Winston on the first eleven, like the agreement. Winston was not entirely sure about this, since the game ended in a draw and he didn't know about Maximilian's situation. And Winston was not sure whether Maximilian had also healed like him. After he was done, he stood up as he was about to walk into the bathroom. Oswin walked into the room, taken aback; Oswin rushed toward Winston with a delighted expression. He said, "Wis, bro, you are here, and all healed up,"
"Yeah, I am back bro"
Oswin patted Winston from front and back, amazed by Winston's health. Oswin held his shoulders, twittering Winston, Of course, one would be also shocked after witnessing a friend who was badly injured. To a point he was in and out in their breathing, Oswin looked at Winston and said, "Damn it, nice to see you here, man, I thought you were a gone,"
"I got a second chance, anyway, what did I miss? And by the way, how was the first match?"
After shaking his head, Oswin withdrew his hands from Winston's shoulders and approached his bed. "It's horrible, bro, the goal I scored was a fluke. We are lucky that the team on the second spot also drew and the team behind us lost their match."
Winston pondered for a while before asking, "Isn't Maximilian here, I thought he would be here already." Winston was unaware that Maximilian's injuries were more severe than his own. And everyone on his team was kept in the dark, so nobody knew Maximilian's situation. Oswin shook his head and proceeded packing his clothes, "Why are you packing your clothes" Winston asked.
Oswin stopped and stared at Winston and replied, "Wait, the head coach didn't tell you, we have another match in the next couple of days, and it will be in the next city. And the match we played, we had to travel to another city."
Winston rushed over to his bag and packed his stuff as he neatly folded his clothes. Winston pondered for a while; he wondered if the head coach was planning to put in the first eleven. He also wondered if he could talk to the head coach and ask to be put in the first eleven, "Yo bro, is the head coach planning on putting you on the first eleven, we really need the best forward right now. The strikers we have are lacking in talent." Oswin asked,
"I haven't talked to the head coach about that, he only instructed me to sit in this room,"
"Maybe he is thinking of putting you on."
"I hope so, bro,"
Once they finished packing, a staff member from the club entered their room and collected their bags. And instructed Oswin to go done on the ground floor, and he instructed Winston to head over to the room at the end of the hallway. Winston entered the room and was surprised by the equipment when the club staff saw him. They quickly instructed him to take off his T-shirt and get on the treadmill, with electrodes and wires attached to his chest. He executed a range of drill types; the club medic personnel were also taking notes, nodding among each other. After he was done, they told him to wait on the ground floor. The look on their faces, made Winston certain he'd be in the first eleven.
The piercing stare Winston received as he got off the elevator on the ground floor made him feel uneasy. Until he saw Oswin approaching. As they sat on the long couch, Winston slouched, his head facing up, he waited for the result from the head coach. Though Winston knew the drills were for his vitals, the club was still worried about his health. Truthfully, Winston was badly hurt, and he was in a coma for two and a half weeks. Upon waking one day, he was miraculously healed and bore no evidence of having been hurt. They all waited for hours until the ding sound of the elevator door opening. Winston quickly stood up as he was walking to the head coach, the head coach gestured to everyone to huddle up around him.
"As you all know, we got a match coming up in the next city. We will take a bus, so there won't be any stops. We now have a couple of games to play until the season concludes. The last game we played was good, but I need more from you," the head clapped his hands and he continued, "after we arrive in the next city, we won't have time to plan for the upcoming match. So we will talk tactics on the bus on our journey there,"
After the head coach was done, Winston cleared his throat; the head coach held Winston's shoulder and said, "Winston, your vitals seem normal," The head coach flipped through pages of his clipboard. And he continued, "Mmm, I will put you in, but not for the first eleven. You will be substituted in on the second half,"
An immense relief washed over Winston, he can now breathe a sigh of relief. At least he won't miss a match—his plan was still viable; he just needed to show that in the second half he was ready and healthy for the first eleven. And he needs to score more goals; Before Winston left the hospital, he checked the top goal scorer leaderboard and noticed that he wasn't far from the top scorers on the scoreboard. The goals he had scored so far were four, and the people on the leaderboard had five to six, nobody was above those numbers yet.
Considering the limited number of games remaining in the season, Winston's calculations indicated that he would have to achieve a scoring rate of two to three goals per match to secure a prominent position on the top goal scorer leaderboard. Another surge of waves traveled into his organs. This time he felt a cold in his lower abdomen. In a state of distress, Winston's breathing became rapid once more, prompting him to swiftly make his way to the lengthy couch where he then slumped down, cradling his abdomen.
Outside the hotel, on the balcony looking over the now dilapidated stadium, "I understand, boss, we should act now,"
"Yes, I understand. I will keep my eye on him; I will update after the season concludes. Oh, that kid took about ten pills, I don't know his location yet. But the Federation was here doing its investigation,"
After hanging his phone, the striker coach took out his cigarette pack and put a cigarette in his mouth. He looked at the dilapidated stadium, puffing smoke from his cigarette. Without blinking, he tried to recall what happened on the pitch before everything went blank. Upon regaining consciousness, both players were found to be injured as though they had been in a war.