Well this is Tsuki, and my brand new story! (
Denying ownership: These Character's don't belong to me, if they did,
Carter wouldn't be dating Abby at all!!! I am one of the biggest Carter
fans you'll ever find!!! I have nothing against Abby in general, as long as
she isn't dating Carter!!!!!!!!
Spoilers: none that I can think of.
Pairings: none
Characters: JC, PB, staff
Copyright: Dr. Moritz, Mason, and any other characters that don't belong to
the owners of ER, belong to me, I needed names so I made them up if they
bear any resemblance to actual people it was totally coincidental... If ya
wanna borrow them ask, I'm sure I'll let you use them. but then again who'd
want to?
Archives: If ya wanna post this story on another website please ask first.
Summary: Carter becomes infected with a deadly virus, and someone's running
around infecting patients with the same illness, will the staff at County
be able to figure out how to save him and all the others in time, and stop
an insane man from infecting anyone else?
Okay I'll stop babbling now *grins* read and enjoy!!!!
Send all reviews I'd like to know what you people think of my writing.
Flames are welcome, (hey if it means that you're sending me mail go
ahead!!!)
Send all reviews (good or bad) to: Lilmoonbunny16@aol.com
~Intuition~
Chapter 1: a little help
A young man sat hunched over a work table, it had been difficult and time consuming to get the right virus, from under the noses of those scientists; but it would be well worth it, now all he had to do was find the right candidates. He didn't have to worry about the police or anyone coming after him for this, the lab would probably want to keep the news that a dangerous virus had been stolen. He paused in his work and stole a glance at his watch, damn, almost time for his shift to begin at the hospital; it was then that an idea struck him. the hospital, lots of people that he could test his new mutated virus on. He smirked; then placed the vials and syringe back in a case and left for work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm just gonna draw a blood sample and send it down to Pathology, so we can figure out what this is." Carter said to his patient, Jamie Brett. The young man had been brought in by an ambulance, complaining of dizziness, chills, nausea and a fever. Jamie nodded and Carter prepared the needle. After he drew the blood he put it in a glass vial, and handed it to Lydia, but the vial fell to the floor and shattered. Carter mumbled a curse and reached down to help Lydia pick up the glass. Jamie looked down from his perch on the exam table. Carter reached for the pieces of glass, and muttered another curse as one sliced his finger, Lydia looked worriedly at him. "Are you okay?" she asked. Carter nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay, it was only glass; there wasn't any blood on it." "Alright." the nurse said. Carter stood up. "Lydia do you think you could get me a band-aid?" "Sure." And with that she left, to get Carter a band-aid. "Sorry, Mr. Brett, but we're gonna have to draw another sample." The young man nodded; his face pale. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carter sighed as he looked at the results. "What's the matter?" Mark asked he and Kerry walked over to the obviously tired young doctor. "These are the results from. Jamie Brett's blood sample, it's the same as the other patients, we gotta figure out what this is Mark." "Hmm." Kerry said "could it be a strain of the flu we've never encountered?" Carter shook his head. "No, I checked, this isn't the flu." "How many is it now?" Mark asked. "Five, including Mr. Brett." Carter said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, in an attempt to fight off the impending headache. "Go home Carter, you look exhausted." Mark commanded. Carter looked up at him, and put the chart down. "I called up to the ICU for a bed for Mr. Brett, transport should be down soon." Carter said. Mark and Kerry nodded. Suddenly, the doors burst open. "We have multiple burn victims coming in." An EMT yelled, and the ER became a flurry of activity, as the first victims arrived.
As soon as victims were taken care of, Carter trudged to the Lounge, wanting to go home, but not trusting himself to drive, or even make it to the El. He massaged his temples aware of the headache that was forming. 'Why did he feel so tired, he'd done longer shifts then this, without even feeling this rundown? Oh, well, might as well get a cup of coffee.' Carter thought to himself. He got the aforementioned cup of coffee, and sat down at the table, he rested his head on his folded arms, and without even being aware of it he drifted off to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark and Elizabeth stepped into the darkened lounge; Mark wrapped his arms around the surgeon's waist, and kissed her. She giggled then, pulled away and burst out laughing. "What?" Mark asked, confused. Through giggles Elizabeth managed to splutter, "We have company, sort of." Mark turned around, and saw the source of Elizabeth's giggles. John was at the table, face down and asleep. Elizabeth moved towards the sleeping doctor and brushed his hair out of his face. She smiled softly. "He looks so young." Mark grinned. "Don't let him hear you say that, he gets enough of that from patients." "Why is he still here anyway? Didn't his shift end two hours ago?" Mark nodded. "I did tell him to go home, but he got caught up in that trauma that came in, I guess he didn't trust himself to drive home." Just then the door opened, and Peter and Kerry walked in, Peter looked as if he was ready to leave. "Are you leaving Peter?" Mark asked The burly surgeon nodded. Elizabeth caught on to what Mark was thinking. "Do you think you could drop John off at his apartment? He's in no condition to drive, as you can probably tell." Elizabeth innocently asked. Peter paused. "Alright," he finally agreed. Mark and Elizabeth said goodnight then took their leave, Kerry paused by the doorway, "Good luck getting him out of here. After working 48 hours straight with limited sleep, he crashes hard." And with a sight grin Kerry left. Peter sighed and glanced at his former student. He reached out and shook Carter's shoulder, the brunette doctor mumbled incoherently. "Come on Carter" Peter begged. With some coaxing and threats, Peter managed to get the exhausted doctor into his coat, and out of the hospital, Peter guided Carter to his car and as soon as the young man was buckled in he was fast asleep. "You owe me Carter" Peter mumbled. The ride to Carter's apartment was uneventful, and finally they made it to Crater's front door. "Where's your key?" Peter murmured to the half asleep doctor. Carter blinked and looked at him, a confused look in his eyes, but he answered. "The spare ones above the door frame." he managed to slur out. Peter reached up and found the key, within seconds he had the door open and herded the weary doctor inside. Carter made an unsteady beeline for the couch and collapsed on it. Peter smiled slightly and moved towards the fatigued doctor, he pulled off Carter's coat and shoes then grabbed a blanket from on top of the couch and covered Carter. He paused for a moment to study his former student, and noticed that Carter seemed a bit flushed; he'd also seemed a little unsteady. Peter put his hand to Carter's forehead and frowned; the brunette was a little feverish. 'Probably from working himself to exhaustion,' Peter thought to himself. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a piece of paper from the table and wrote Carter a quick note, then deciding he could do nothing more, he went home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter woke with a start. 'Something's wrong' he thought and looked around trying to figure out the source of his disturbance, his eyes caught the clock, it was 4 a.m. Peter's thoughts came back to what had awoken him. Something was wrong he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. Then he remembered-Carter and how he had been a bit feverish, so Peter did the most logical thing he could think of, he picked up the phone. 'It's probably nothing.' he thought to himself. 'I'm over-reacting,' but something inside him told him that he wasn't, that nagging feeling made him dial Carter's number. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carter groaned and sat up, he felt like shit. "I feel like shit, and I probably look as good." Carter murmured out loud. Then he looked around confused. "How did I get here?" at that moment Carter noticed as note on the end table, so he picked it up. Carter, You were out cold in the lounge, so Mark asked me to take you home. When I left you were a bit feverish so take some aspirin, plenty of fluids, and get some sleep. -Dr. Benton
Carter placed the note back on the table, stood up a bit unsteadily, and made his way to the bathroom to get some aspirin, he was halfway down the hall, when a wave of dizziness stopped him in his tracks, and he reached over and grabbed the wall for support, till it passed. He took the aforementioned aspirin and stuck the thermometer under his tongue. When it beeped he pulled it out. 103.7. 'Well that's not good' he thought then glanced at the clock 3:48 a.m. 'I'll go to the doctor's tomorrow and get something' he thought to himself, then headed towards his bedroom. Suddenly another wave of dizziness and nausea swept over him and he fell to his knees, he fought to stay conscious, as the darkness closed around him; but he lost and collapsed in the hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Come on Carter pick up" Peter murmured impatiently, but the phone continued to ring, disgusted and even more worried, Peter slammed the phone back on its cradle and got up.
15 minutes later, Peter found himself outside Carter's door, so he knocked. "Carter, are you there? Open up, its Peter!" But Carter didn't answer the door 'Maybe I'm over-reacting.' Peter thought again. 'He's probably asleep,' but the nagging feeling didn't go away. Peter suddenly remembered the spare key, that he had used earlier, so he grabbed it and used it to open the door. "Carter?" He called, not too loudly in case, his intuition was wrong and Carter was merely asleep. After finding no sign of the doctor in the living- room, Peter headed towards the hallway leading to Carter's bedroom. Peter bolted forward when he saw the prone figure lying on the floor. "Carter?" He called, but the brunette doctor didn't respond. Peter put his hand to Carter's forehead and growled-Carter was burning up. He checked the doctor's vitals before pulling out his cell phone and calling 911. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kerry sighed. 'What a long night.' she thought to herself. 'At least it's not too busy.' Suddenly the doors crashed open and Peter and 2 EMT's rushed in with a gurney. "Peter what's going on?" Kerry yelled as she limped over. "I found Carter unconscious in his apartment, he isn't responsive." Peter responded. And with that Kerry, Peter, and some nurses began to work on the ailing doctor. "He has a high fever, he's probably dehydrated, and his heartbeat is erratic" Peter declared. "Let's start an IV of saline," Kerry barked after getting Carter's temperature taken. "We have to get his temperature down." "Dr. Weaver, his heart rate is dropping" Haleh stated, and paused, waiting for Kerry's orders. "His heart rate is 52.. He's in v-fib!!!!" "Paddles!!!" Peter bellowed. "Charge to 150!!" "Clear!" Haleh shook her head. "Damn it, come on Carter, don't do this to me." Peter growled. "Charge to 200." "Clear!" "We have a sinus rhythm, Dr. Benton, 75 and steady. Pulse-ox is 90" Peter dropped the paddles; he passed his hands over his face and gave a shaky sigh. "Let's get a blood sample, and send it up to Pathology, so we can figure out what the heck this is. Haleh, I want a heart monitor on him. Malik, I want a chem. panel. Let's intubate him, Peter. Chuni, call the ICU, and find an available bed, now!" Kerry barked, and everyone rushed to follow her orders. After they intubated, the unconscious doctor, Kerry motioned to Peter. "Peter come here." She said gently. Peter walked towards her. "Peter, do you know if Carter is on any meds?" Peter shook his head. "I don't think so." Kerry gave a heavy sigh and glanced at the ailing doctor. 'Hold on John.' she thought to herself. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 2: Losing Grip
Mark was pulled out of his light sleep by Kerry. "What's the matter?" He questioned. "Peter just brought John in, he's unconscious, and has a high fever, we're taking him up to the ICU now and I was wondering if you'd cover for me for a few minutes, because I'd like to go up with him." Mark sat up shock on his face. "What is it? Pneumonia?" "No, it isn't, his lungs are clear." she paused, "He went into v-fib, soon after they brought him in. We had to shock his heart." "Oh, God." Mark breathed, and stood up. "We just saw him earlier; he seemed fine; maybe a little tired but... "I know. I don't know how whatever this is set in so fast." Kerry said quietly. "Go on, I'll cover for you." Kerry nodded "Thanks, Mark." "No problem." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter stood next to the gurney as they waited for the elevator, he reached out and squeezed Carter's hand; the young doctor gave no response. "Hang on, Carter." he murmured. Kerry watched in silence, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment, she knew that Peter didn't often show emotion towards anyone, she also knew that Carter was one of the few people that Peter deeply cared about. The doors of the elevator opened and they made their way down the hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luka walked in the doors of the ER, ready to begin his shift. He could feel the underlying tension in the room. Abby gave him a tight smile when she saw him. He looked at her concerned, "What's wrong?" "They just took John up to the ICU, he's unconscious, and he has a high fever." she paused and Luka waited patiently, knowing that something else was bothering her. "He flatlined, Luka, they had to shock his chest..." Tears formed in her eyes. "It'll okay, Abby, he'll be alright." Luka soothed. Abby nodded , still a bit tearful, "It's just like before, I mean, not knowing if he's going to be okay. I'm sorry." Abby murmured. Luka gave her a faint smile. "It's okay." he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What the hell is taking so long" Peter growled, impatiently. "Calm down, Peter" Kerry warned. "Dr. Moritz is a very capable doctor." Peter sighed. "I know; it's just." he trailed off. Kerry managed a small smile, but before she could say anything, The tall, dark haired doctor in question strode over to them. Both Kerry and Peter stood up. "Well," Dr. Moritz began. "It doesn't look very good, right now; we aren't really sure what it is. His vomit has traces of blood in it, but his lungs sound fine, so I doubt that it's pneumonia. We managed to stabilize him. I think that it's best that we take him down for a cat scan, to rule out a chemical reaction." "Can we see him?" Peter asked. Dr. Moritz nodded. "He hasn't regained consciousness yet. I'm not even sure that he will; it's too soon to tell." "Thank you, Dr. Moritz." Kerry said. She turned to Peter but he was already gone, so with a weary sigh she followed him. Peter pulled up a chair beside Carter's bed; Carter looked so young, with all of the equipment attached to his slender form. Peter jumped slightly when he heard Kerry pull up a chair beside him. "He seems so young and innocent like this, it's hard to believe that he's a lot more trouble when he's awake." Kerry said quietly. A slight smile flickered across Peter's features, but as soon as it appeared; it was gone. Kerry reached over and brushed Carter's hair, from where it had flopped into his eyes. They sat there in silence for a while, until Kerry looked at her watch and sighed. "I should get back downstairs." she stood up and squeezed Peter's shoulder. "He'll be okay Peter." she said before turning and leaving. Peter nodded in response, and reached out and grasped the young doctor's hand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kerry stood in the elevator, she reached over and pressed the stop button, the elevator jolted and stopped; she drew in a shaky breath, and slid down to the floor with a sob. "Oh God." She whimpered, over and over to herself; finally realizing that she wasn't doing anybody any good by sitting there bawling, she stood up, dried her eyes, took a deep breath and started the elevator, which took her back to the ER. When she reached the ground floor she found the entire ER staff looking at her expectantly. "Well?" Mark prompted. "How is he?" Kerry looked at them and said, "Dr. Moritz is in charge of his care." she paused. "He's still unconscious, and they're trying to lower his fever. Peter's up sitting with him now." The whole ER seemed frozen; they stood there and looked at Kerry, trying to digest the information. Suddenly the radio crackled to life. "County, this is EMT Unit 9, we have nine victims of an MVA; how many can you take?" Kerry moved to answer the radio call. "Unit 9, this is County, we can take 4 traumas and 5 minors." "Copy that County. We are on our way, ETA is 15 minutes." "Let's go people!" Mark yelled, and the ER became a flurry of activity once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Moritz walked into the room, with a nurse on his heels. "Dr. Benton we need to take Dr. Carter, up for a MRI, you are welcome to come along." Peter nodded and stood up, but at that moment his pager went off, he cursed quietly. "Sorry but I won't be able to come along." Peter said with a frown. "The ER just paged me. I want the results as soon as possible though." Dr. Moritz nodded "Alright." "I'll be back soon man, hold on." Peter whispered to the unresponsive young doctor before leaving. Dr. Moritz looked at his patient. "Let's get you to that MRI." And with that Dr. Moritz and his nurse pushed the bed out of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What the hell's going on down here?!?!" Peter roared as soon as he entered the ER. "We have multiple MVA's coming in we need all the help we can get." Luka yelled as the first ambulance pulled in. The EMT's got out of the ambulance. "We have a female, mid twenties, possible broken ribs, multiple lacerations, lost 2 units on scene and complains of chest pain. Her BP is 99/65, we intubated en route, after she had trouble breathing. Her name is Melissa Myers." the EMT stated. "Let's get her into Trauma 1!" Kerry yelled. "Melissa? Can you hear me?" Kerry questioned, but the patient didn't respond. A second ambulance pulled up, Luka rushed over to it. "What do we have?" He called to the EMT's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As soon as the confusion ended, Mark gave a sigh, and then moved to Trauma 1 where he had last seen Kerry. She stood by the gurney, where the young woman called Melissa lay, the Heart monitor beeped a steady rhythm, as the vent pumped air to its patient. "Kerry?" He spoke softly, afraid of startling her. She turned around. "Are you okay?" Mark asked, walking over to her. She nodded solemnly, "She crashed so we put her on a vent, and she can't breathe without it." Mark nodded. "Are you gonna go back up with Peter and sit with John?" he asked. Kerry frowned, "Not yet. I have to take Ms. Myers up to medicine, when my shift is over I'll go back up. Dr. Moritz was going to take John to get an MRI, and he wants to run some other tests, so they might not be back yet."
"I'm gonna go up with Peter then." Mark said quietly. "Alright." Kerry said. "Do we have an epidemic on our hands Mark?" "I don't know Kerry, I hope not." "Don't worry, he'll be okay." Mark said reassuringly, before he left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter sighed and waited impatiently for Dr. Moritz to tell him about Carter's MRI. "Well his MRI is normal." Peter looked up at him. We're still working on getting his fever in control, and he hasn't regained consciousness yet." Peter nodded his understanding. Dr. Moritz was just about to continue his diagnosis of Carter when his pager sounded. "Sorry," he said standing up. "I have an emergency to attend to. I'll be back in a few minutes." As Dr. Moritz left the room, Mark showed up. "Hey," he said quietly to Peter. The surgeon merely looked at him. "What's his status?" Mark asked, ignoring Peter's silence. This time he got a response. "His temp is 104.5, he isn't conscious, his MRI is normal, and they're still waiting on his blood sample in Pathology." Mark nodded, and sat down; something obviously on his mind. "What?" Peter questioned. "What were you doing at Carter's apartment at 3 am? Shouldn't you have been at home?" "Um. Well, I was at home but, I had a bad feeling so I called to check on him, but he didn't answer so I went to his apartment and found the spare key I'd used earlier when I couldn't find his key, and I found him unconscious on the floor, so I called 911." "You probably saved his life." Mark said with a slight smile. "I hope so.." was Peter's reply. Before Mark could reassure Peter that Carter would be ok, Dr. Moritz walked back into the room. "Sorry about that." he said, in his quiet voice, then looked up startled, noticing Mark for the first time. "Hello, Dr. Greene..." he greeted. "Can we get on with this?" Peter cut in impatiently. "Oh, right, sorry. Well, as I was getting ready to say. His fever is still not under control, the saline IV, doesn't seem to be helping. I'm afraid that if we can't get this thing in check, there's the possibility of convulsions and brain damage if we can't bring his temperature down." "Damn." Peter said through gritted teeth. "Dr. Moritz," A female doctor said entering the room. "May I speak with you outside please." Dr. Moritz frowned. "I'm in the middle of something here." he said sharply. "I'm sorry, but I really need to speak with you." she stated. Dr. Moritz sighed. "Excuse me." he said to Mark and Peter, then left. Peter growled. "This is getting annoying." Mark was about to answer when, they heard Dr. Moritz annoyed voice yell, "What!?! Why didn't anyone page me!?!" "Sorry but.." the young doctor began, but she was cut off. "No sorry's Dr. Catalano, I should have been paged." Dr. Moritz entered the room, but before he could say anything, Peter cut in. "What is it?" Dr. Moritz paused, "The first patient that came in with this illness, just died, of a massive convulsion." Mark glanced at Peter who scowled. A low groggy moan sounded from the bed and all three doctors turned around to look at Carter, brown eyes fluttered, and Dr. Moritz leaned over him. "Dr. Carter? Can you hear me?" he flashed his pen light into the young doctor's eyes; Carter jolted away from the light, and gagged on the tube. Confused brown eyes looked up at them. "You have a high fever, Dr. Carter; Dr. Benton brought you in, when you collapsed. We're still waiting for your blood work to come back." Dr. Moritz said to the confused doctor. Carter glanced at Peter, then back at Dr. Moritz, and shook his head, as if he didn't understand. "Do you have any idea how this happened?" Dr. Moritz asked. Carter looked up at him not quite grasping what the doctor was saying, through the pounding in his head, then a memory flashed through his aching head- a vial of blood- his hand-; his eyes began to drift shut of their own accord, as Carter struggled to find a way to tell the three doctors about his hand. He managed to lift his hand slightly off the bed, before sleep again claimed him. The three remaining doctors looked at each other. "I wonder what he knew." Mark questioned. Dr. Moritz moved forward and examined Carters left hand, after doing so, he laid it back on the bed and studied Carter's right hand. "Could this have been what he was talking about?" Dr. Moritz said showing Mark and Peter the band-aid on Carter's finger. Whatever Mark or Peter was going to say was cut off by a nurse entering the room. "Dr. Moritz?" She said. The doctor in question turned to face her. "What?" He asked. "The blood work on Dr. Carter is back." She said and handed him the file. He looked at it and cursed softly to himself. "What?" Peter questioned, standing up. "It's the same as the others. I don't know how it could have been introduced into his system though, it's not viral; it had to have been introduced by unnatural circumstances." "Like." Mark prompted. Dr. Moritz shrugged, "None of these people have anything in common, except the fact that they're all sick with the same unidentifiable illness." "Well, what are we going to do about it?" Peter growled. "We are treating it with an aggressive course of antibiotics but." Dr. Moritz faltered seeing the look in Dr. Benton's eyes. "Dr. Benton, Dr. Greene we're doing everything we can, we have our top pathologists working on it at this very moment." Dr. Greene shot a warning look at Peter, then turned to Dr. Moritz, "I'm sure you're doing everything you can." Dr. Moritz nodded. "Dr. Moritz to room 306, Code blue, Dr. Moritz to room 306!," Dr. Moritz bolted from the room, and took off down the hall at a run. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What's the problem now?!?!" Dr. Moritz yelled as he stumbled into the room, after having almost collided with a table. "It's one of the fever victims, she coding!" a nurse yelled. "Get the paddles! Charge to 150! Clear!" Dr. Moritz shocked the young woman's heart, but alas, to no avail. "Charge to 200! Clear!" "We have normal sinus rhythm, doctor." The nurse said with a sigh of relief. "We have to do something about this." Dr. Moritz muttered "We can't keep these people alive for much longer this way." The nurse; Mason, frowned. "No results yet doctor?" Dr. Moritz shook his head. "Nothing, all we know is that it isn't infectious, through the air, it had to have been administered another way... but how?" Dr. Moritz said more to himself then to the tall nurse. "Umm." he looked up startled, "give her 10 ccs of Compazine." The nurse nodded, and Dr. Moritz wandered out of the room deep in thought. 'How could it have been introduced into their systems?' He thought to himself. A memory flicked into his head, and suddenly he knew how it had at least gotten into Dr. Carter's bloodstream. He bolted back towards Dr. Carter's room, ignoring the startled yelp of a nurse who was walking by, as he almost knocked her over. Dr. Greene and Dr. Benton looked up at him, confused as to why he had made such an undignified entrance. "I think I got it!" he said triumphantly. Dr's. Greene and Benton stood up and looked at him. "What? What have you figured out?" Peter asked. "I think I know how Dr. Carter got sick!" "How," Mark asked. Dr. Moritz walked over to Carter's bed side and gently shook the young doctor awake. Carter's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Dr. Moritz, confusion evident in his eyes. "Dr. Carter can you tell me when you cut your hand? It looks pretty recent." Dr. Moritz handed the young man a pad of paper and a pen, Carter struggled to get a grip on it. A vial of blood, one of my patients, I thought it was only my blood on the glass. Dr. Moritz nodded. "Who's vial? What was in it?" Carter paused trying to remember, and to gather strength. "Jamie Brett." Carter dropped the pen, exhausted, realization coming into his eyes. Carter gasped, choking on the tube; panic starting to seep into his body. "Shhh.Shhh, its okay, don't panic, we're working on finding a cure, it'll be okay," Dr. Moritz soothed. Carter nodded, weakly; and took a few shaky breaths, to calm himself, then without warning his body was wracked by rasping coughs, and he was once again choking on the tube, Mark and Peter surged forward to offer their assistance, to the gasping doctor. "Mason?" Dr. Moritz called, and the nurse hurried into the room. "Up the level of the oxygen tank to 70%" the nurse nodded and moved to follow the order. Within a few tense moments, the three doctors were able to calm to ailing doctor, and Carter lay there taking shuttering gasps. Mark and Peter shared a worried glance; that basically said, 'This can't be good.' Dr. Moritz caught their shared looked and leaned over the oxygen tank, Carter looked at him concerned. "I'm just adjusting it." he stated and Carter nodded, still too short of breath to do anything else. Dr. Benton sat back down beside the bed, but Mark remained standing. "Sorry, John, Peter, but I have to get home, Rachel will be there in a few hours, and I don't want her to come home to an empty house." John nodded and waved his hand for Mark to go, but before the balding doctor left, Mark reached over and squeezed John's shoulder. The young doctor managed a small smile, as Mark said good-bye's and left. Peter sat by Carter's bed-side, Dr. Moritz looked from one man to the other, then said, "Well, I should get going, I have some patients to check up on, I'll stop in to check on you later Dr. Carter. Dr. Benton." He said with a slight nod of his head then walked out the door. As soon as the doctor was gone Carter turned his attentions to the surgeon sitting silently beside him, he reached up and grabbed the pen and paper that Dr. Moritz had left. You.you don't have to.have to stay ya know .I don't mind. Carter wrote out. Peter reached over and pulled the pen and paper out of the young doctor's grip. "Lie down and get some sleep Carter." Carter gave him one last look, before obeying, but he kept his stare fixed on the stubborn surgeon, till Peter sighed and answered him. "I'll stay." he said with a shrug. "I don't have to be anywhere right now." Carter nodded and he attempted to stay awake, he studied the surgeon. He grabbed the pen and paper again and wrote, Are you mad at me? Peter growled again and pulled the pen from Carter's grasp and placed it on the table. Peter gave Carter a long look, before sighing tiredly, and answering, "No Carter, I'm not angry with you." He said. "Go back to sleep, k? You need to save your strength." Carter nodded, and fell back on the pillows, his eyes almost immediately fluttering shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Mason watched the young doctor as his breathing evened out, and scowled. 'He wasn't supposed to be part of the experiment' Mason thought to himself, then turned his stare towards the black surgeon, sitting faithfully by the ailing doctor's side. 'The only way I'm gonna be able to fix this is by getting rid of Dr. Carter, but that's gonna be hard with Dr. Whatshisname, sitting there forever. Oh, well, I'll fix it soon' Mason turned away. "I'll fix it soon. Nothing is going to ruin my little experiment." He murmured to himself, a malicious smile playing on his lips. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Mason walked into the room and Peter jumped awake. The nurse looked at the tired doctor for a moment before going over to look at Carter's chart. "Is everything okay?" Peter asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Oh, yes I'm just in to check on his vitals." Mason responded. The nurse studied Carter's chart and made a mental note, then to satisfy Dr. Benton, he went over and checked the machines and tubes that were connected to the young Doctor. Mason nodded to the surgeon, then left, Peter watched him leave, 'I don't trust him.' He thought to himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason smiled as hew walked down the hall, he'd give Dr. Benton some time to fall back asleep before going back in, and making sure that Dr. Carter met with an unfortunate. accident.
Chapter 3: A Close Call Mason edged into the room, syringe ready, slowly and carefully he made his way to Carter's bed-side, it had taken him hours to get this close. Dr. Benton had finally left for a bathroom break and some coffee. Mason leaned over the bed and studied Carter's face for a moment, he almost felt guilty for intending to harm such an innocent looking man, Mason sneered; 'Oh, well.' he thought to himself; 'It's his own fault for interfering in the first place.' He injected the clear solution into the I.V. port; he hastily disposed of the syringe, strolled out of the room, and waited for the results. Peter made his way back to the room, with his coffee, when he heard alarms blaring; he dropped his coffee, and took off towards Carter's room, almost colliding with Dr. Moritz, they stumbled into the room, where a nurse, med-student, and the med-student's resident were attempting to restrain Carter's convulsing form. "What happened?!?" Dr. Moritz yelled. The nurse's head shot up, "He just started convulsing a few seconds ago, when I came in to administer antibiotics." She yelled. Peter surged forward to help, but was stopped when Dr. Moritz's voice rang, "Get him out of here, Alyssa." The petite nurse ushered Peter out of the room, Peter growled, but the nurse didn't even quiver. "Dr. Moritz said out, Dr. Benton; and I'm not in the mood to argue!" she snapped, then ran back into the room to help. Peter paced outside the doorway, eyes glued to the floor; he couldn't bring himself to look into the room where doctors and nurses were yelling out orders, where alarms were blaring, where. where someone he had come to care about was lying in the hospital bed, barely hanging onto life..., Peter shook his head, dispelling the negative thoughts. How had he come to care so much about the brunette doctor? It seemed like only yesterday he was giving Carter the tour of the ER, only yesterday that Carter had come to him seeking comfort in the death of Dennis, only yesterday that Carter had been lying on a gurney, blood covering everything as the ER staff fought desperately to save him and Lucy.only yesterday. Peter's thoughts were abruptly cut off as Dr. Moritz stepped out of the room. "Dr. Benton? He's stable, we took a blood sample and we were forced to intubate him; he'll be out of it for a while." Dr. Moritz stated. Peter just stared at him and nodded, before walking back into the room. "You might want to go home and get some sleep Dr. Benton." Dr. Moritz said gently, but Peter only shook his head, "Thanks, but no, I have to stay here with him." Dr. Moritz nodded in defeat and said before walking down the hall, "He'll recover Dr. Benton; I know he will." Peter nodded and shuffled into the room, the monitors beeping, and the respirator breathing for Carter, the only sounds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason growled when he found that his plan hadn't worked, the stubborn doctor was still alive. His head snapped up as he heard angry footsteps approaching, he turned around and almost collided with Dr. Moritz, and a nurse who was struggling to keep up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "When I find out who did this, they are gonna lose their license!!! I'll make sure that they never even come near patients ever again!!!!" Dr. Moritz roared as he stalked down the hallway. Nurses stared at the angry doctor, careful to stay out of his way. Dr. Moritz stalked into Carter's room, earning a glance from Dr. Benton, and a young woman sitting beside him. "Dr. Benton." He said then paused, not able to recognize the young woman with him. "Dr. Chen." She supplied. "Dr. Chen." He repeated. "I just got the blood sample back, somebody injected him with Compazine; which he happens to be allergic to, that's what caused the convulsions, an allergic reaction." "You mean someone tried to kill him?" Peter asked, horrified. Dr. Moritz nodded, "There's no other explanation, there's no reason for him to be on Compazine. It was deliberate." "What the hell do you mean?!?" Peter roared. Dr. Moritz's voice was calm as he said, "It was deliberate; someone tried to kill him." "Who?" "I don't know Dr. Benton." Dr. Chen looked at both doctors before saying "Why would someone want to hurt John?" Dr. Moritz sighed, "I don't know Dr. Chen, I just don't know. We've contacted the police, their sending someone over to question personnel and such." Peter growled, and stalked out of the room, the other two doctors just watched him leave. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fuming surgeon stalked down the hall, looking for a place to seek refuge in. Three minutes later he found himself in the bathroom, he paced its length, unsure of how to handle the raw emotions churning within him. "God damn it!!!" Peter screamed to the empty bathroom, he pounded the tiled wall, and then sunk to the floor with a sob, and he sat there, letting his emotions finally get the better of him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark made his way up to the ICU, to check on Carter, and his ever vigilant mentor, Peter. Carter had been unconscious for two days now, with no improvement. 'And no deterioration either.' A voice in Mark's head stated. The balding doctor sighed, and rubbed his temples, it had hit all of the staff pretty hard when they found out that someone had deliberately tried to kill Carter; they all loved him dearly, and now his life was hanging in a delicate balance, one tip in the wrong direction, and Carter would be gone forever. Mark broke off his chain of thought, unwilling to go any deeper in what he knew was only going to make him feel even more disheartened, and he couldn't afford that, he had to keep his hopes up for the rest of the ER staff. He knocked quietly on the door; then walked in, Peter was dozing in a chair by Carter's bed, he moved further into the room, and stole a look at the ill doctor, the respirator was still breathing for him; his eyelashes created dark smudges on his pallid skin, and his damp hair fell wantonly across his forehead. The balding doctor stepped up to the bed and checked the machines and wires that were helping to keep the young doctor alive.
Chapter 4: Nightmares and Bad News
Carter opened his eyes and found himself in a vast darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. "Hello?" he called uncertainly into the void, but he received no answer, not even a faint echo to ease the silence. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself as he turned in a circle trying to get a grip on his surroundings. Suddenly a terrible thought came to him. 'Am I dead?' he wondered, and he thought frantically back to the last thing he remembered. He was walking down the hall, when he felt dizzy and the rest was all a blank. 'That's it, that's the last thing I remember.' He thought to himself. Suddenly he felt a cold blast of howling wind, and shivered, though not from the cold, when he'd felt the wind, he had also felt the prickle of some unnamable fear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter was jolted awake by the sound of monitors beeping wildly; while Carter thrashed violently on the bed, gagging on the respirator tube. The surgeon jumped up and began checking the machines, and simultaneously trying to soothe the distressed doctor. The on-call doctor rushed in and quickly prepared a sedative, she injected it into Carter's I.V., and within moments the struggling doctor went limp. "What happened?" she asked. "I think he was having a nightmare." Peter said incredulously. The doctor nodded gravely, and preceded to take Carter's temperature, when she got the results, she frowned. "His temp is higher; I don't know how much longer we can keep him stable." She said quietly. "We haven't been able to find an antidote either; the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is still trying to figure out what it is." Peter reached forward instinctively and brushed Carter's damp hair back from his face. "I won't let you die Carter, I promise." Peter whispered fiercely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mason carefully locked the door of the supply room behind him, careful not to let anyone see him, this plan hadn't been working to his liking, first that idiot doctor got involved, by getting infected, and now he refused to die, and it was going to be harder to get at him again with that surgeon, Dr. Benton always hanging around. Well one way to stop it would be to get rid of any.obstacles. that stood in his way. He looked through the shelves, looking for a certain object. ah ha! There it was, Mason pulled a syringe out of its protective covering and wrapped a cloth over it, to prevent him from accidentally stabbing himself, now all he had to do was wait for an opportunity to get close enough and then this would all be over for both of those annoying doctors.
~Intuition~
Chapter 1: a little help
A young man sat hunched over a work table, it had been difficult and time consuming to get the right virus, from under the noses of those scientists; but it would be well worth it, now all he had to do was find the right candidates. He didn't have to worry about the police or anyone coming after him for this, the lab would probably want to keep the news that a dangerous virus had been stolen. He paused in his work and stole a glance at his watch, damn, almost time for his shift to begin at the hospital; it was then that an idea struck him. the hospital, lots of people that he could test his new mutated virus on. He smirked; then placed the vials and syringe back in a case and left for work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm just gonna draw a blood sample and send it down to Pathology, so we can figure out what this is." Carter said to his patient, Jamie Brett. The young man had been brought in by an ambulance, complaining of dizziness, chills, nausea and a fever. Jamie nodded and Carter prepared the needle. After he drew the blood he put it in a glass vial, and handed it to Lydia, but the vial fell to the floor and shattered. Carter mumbled a curse and reached down to help Lydia pick up the glass. Jamie looked down from his perch on the exam table. Carter reached for the pieces of glass, and muttered another curse as one sliced his finger, Lydia looked worriedly at him. "Are you okay?" she asked. Carter nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay, it was only glass; there wasn't any blood on it." "Alright." the nurse said. Carter stood up. "Lydia do you think you could get me a band-aid?" "Sure." And with that she left, to get Carter a band-aid. "Sorry, Mr. Brett, but we're gonna have to draw another sample." The young man nodded; his face pale. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carter sighed as he looked at the results. "What's the matter?" Mark asked he and Kerry walked over to the obviously tired young doctor. "These are the results from. Jamie Brett's blood sample, it's the same as the other patients, we gotta figure out what this is Mark." "Hmm." Kerry said "could it be a strain of the flu we've never encountered?" Carter shook his head. "No, I checked, this isn't the flu." "How many is it now?" Mark asked. "Five, including Mr. Brett." Carter said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, in an attempt to fight off the impending headache. "Go home Carter, you look exhausted." Mark commanded. Carter looked up at him, and put the chart down. "I called up to the ICU for a bed for Mr. Brett, transport should be down soon." Carter said. Mark and Kerry nodded. Suddenly, the doors burst open. "We have multiple burn victims coming in." An EMT yelled, and the ER became a flurry of activity, as the first victims arrived.
As soon as victims were taken care of, Carter trudged to the Lounge, wanting to go home, but not trusting himself to drive, or even make it to the El. He massaged his temples aware of the headache that was forming. 'Why did he feel so tired, he'd done longer shifts then this, without even feeling this rundown? Oh, well, might as well get a cup of coffee.' Carter thought to himself. He got the aforementioned cup of coffee, and sat down at the table, he rested his head on his folded arms, and without even being aware of it he drifted off to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark and Elizabeth stepped into the darkened lounge; Mark wrapped his arms around the surgeon's waist, and kissed her. She giggled then, pulled away and burst out laughing. "What?" Mark asked, confused. Through giggles Elizabeth managed to splutter, "We have company, sort of." Mark turned around, and saw the source of Elizabeth's giggles. John was at the table, face down and asleep. Elizabeth moved towards the sleeping doctor and brushed his hair out of his face. She smiled softly. "He looks so young." Mark grinned. "Don't let him hear you say that, he gets enough of that from patients." "Why is he still here anyway? Didn't his shift end two hours ago?" Mark nodded. "I did tell him to go home, but he got caught up in that trauma that came in, I guess he didn't trust himself to drive home." Just then the door opened, and Peter and Kerry walked in, Peter looked as if he was ready to leave. "Are you leaving Peter?" Mark asked The burly surgeon nodded. Elizabeth caught on to what Mark was thinking. "Do you think you could drop John off at his apartment? He's in no condition to drive, as you can probably tell." Elizabeth innocently asked. Peter paused. "Alright," he finally agreed. Mark and Elizabeth said goodnight then took their leave, Kerry paused by the doorway, "Good luck getting him out of here. After working 48 hours straight with limited sleep, he crashes hard." And with a sight grin Kerry left. Peter sighed and glanced at his former student. He reached out and shook Carter's shoulder, the brunette doctor mumbled incoherently. "Come on Carter" Peter begged. With some coaxing and threats, Peter managed to get the exhausted doctor into his coat, and out of the hospital, Peter guided Carter to his car and as soon as the young man was buckled in he was fast asleep. "You owe me Carter" Peter mumbled. The ride to Carter's apartment was uneventful, and finally they made it to Crater's front door. "Where's your key?" Peter murmured to the half asleep doctor. Carter blinked and looked at him, a confused look in his eyes, but he answered. "The spare ones above the door frame." he managed to slur out. Peter reached up and found the key, within seconds he had the door open and herded the weary doctor inside. Carter made an unsteady beeline for the couch and collapsed on it. Peter smiled slightly and moved towards the fatigued doctor, he pulled off Carter's coat and shoes then grabbed a blanket from on top of the couch and covered Carter. He paused for a moment to study his former student, and noticed that Carter seemed a bit flushed; he'd also seemed a little unsteady. Peter put his hand to Carter's forehead and frowned; the brunette was a little feverish. 'Probably from working himself to exhaustion,' Peter thought to himself. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a piece of paper from the table and wrote Carter a quick note, then deciding he could do nothing more, he went home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter woke with a start. 'Something's wrong' he thought and looked around trying to figure out the source of his disturbance, his eyes caught the clock, it was 4 a.m. Peter's thoughts came back to what had awoken him. Something was wrong he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. Then he remembered-Carter and how he had been a bit feverish, so Peter did the most logical thing he could think of, he picked up the phone. 'It's probably nothing.' he thought to himself. 'I'm over-reacting,' but something inside him told him that he wasn't, that nagging feeling made him dial Carter's number. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carter groaned and sat up, he felt like shit. "I feel like shit, and I probably look as good." Carter murmured out loud. Then he looked around confused. "How did I get here?" at that moment Carter noticed as note on the end table, so he picked it up. Carter, You were out cold in the lounge, so Mark asked me to take you home. When I left you were a bit feverish so take some aspirin, plenty of fluids, and get some sleep. -Dr. Benton
Carter placed the note back on the table, stood up a bit unsteadily, and made his way to the bathroom to get some aspirin, he was halfway down the hall, when a wave of dizziness stopped him in his tracks, and he reached over and grabbed the wall for support, till it passed. He took the aforementioned aspirin and stuck the thermometer under his tongue. When it beeped he pulled it out. 103.7. 'Well that's not good' he thought then glanced at the clock 3:48 a.m. 'I'll go to the doctor's tomorrow and get something' he thought to himself, then headed towards his bedroom. Suddenly another wave of dizziness and nausea swept over him and he fell to his knees, he fought to stay conscious, as the darkness closed around him; but he lost and collapsed in the hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Come on Carter pick up" Peter murmured impatiently, but the phone continued to ring, disgusted and even more worried, Peter slammed the phone back on its cradle and got up.
15 minutes later, Peter found himself outside Carter's door, so he knocked. "Carter, are you there? Open up, its Peter!" But Carter didn't answer the door 'Maybe I'm over-reacting.' Peter thought again. 'He's probably asleep,' but the nagging feeling didn't go away. Peter suddenly remembered the spare key, that he had used earlier, so he grabbed it and used it to open the door. "Carter?" He called, not too loudly in case, his intuition was wrong and Carter was merely asleep. After finding no sign of the doctor in the living- room, Peter headed towards the hallway leading to Carter's bedroom. Peter bolted forward when he saw the prone figure lying on the floor. "Carter?" He called, but the brunette doctor didn't respond. Peter put his hand to Carter's forehead and growled-Carter was burning up. He checked the doctor's vitals before pulling out his cell phone and calling 911. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kerry sighed. 'What a long night.' she thought to herself. 'At least it's not too busy.' Suddenly the doors crashed open and Peter and 2 EMT's rushed in with a gurney. "Peter what's going on?" Kerry yelled as she limped over. "I found Carter unconscious in his apartment, he isn't responsive." Peter responded. And with that Kerry, Peter, and some nurses began to work on the ailing doctor. "He has a high fever, he's probably dehydrated, and his heartbeat is erratic" Peter declared. "Let's start an IV of saline," Kerry barked after getting Carter's temperature taken. "We have to get his temperature down." "Dr. Weaver, his heart rate is dropping" Haleh stated, and paused, waiting for Kerry's orders. "His heart rate is 52.. He's in v-fib!!!!" "Paddles!!!" Peter bellowed. "Charge to 150!!" "Clear!" Haleh shook her head. "Damn it, come on Carter, don't do this to me." Peter growled. "Charge to 200." "Clear!" "We have a sinus rhythm, Dr. Benton, 75 and steady. Pulse-ox is 90" Peter dropped the paddles; he passed his hands over his face and gave a shaky sigh. "Let's get a blood sample, and send it up to Pathology, so we can figure out what the heck this is. Haleh, I want a heart monitor on him. Malik, I want a chem. panel. Let's intubate him, Peter. Chuni, call the ICU, and find an available bed, now!" Kerry barked, and everyone rushed to follow her orders. After they intubated, the unconscious doctor, Kerry motioned to Peter. "Peter come here." She said gently. Peter walked towards her. "Peter, do you know if Carter is on any meds?" Peter shook his head. "I don't think so." Kerry gave a heavy sigh and glanced at the ailing doctor. 'Hold on John.' she thought to herself. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 2: Losing Grip
Mark was pulled out of his light sleep by Kerry. "What's the matter?" He questioned. "Peter just brought John in, he's unconscious, and has a high fever, we're taking him up to the ICU now and I was wondering if you'd cover for me for a few minutes, because I'd like to go up with him." Mark sat up shock on his face. "What is it? Pneumonia?" "No, it isn't, his lungs are clear." she paused, "He went into v-fib, soon after they brought him in. We had to shock his heart." "Oh, God." Mark breathed, and stood up. "We just saw him earlier; he seemed fine; maybe a little tired but... "I know. I don't know how whatever this is set in so fast." Kerry said quietly. "Go on, I'll cover for you." Kerry nodded "Thanks, Mark." "No problem." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter stood next to the gurney as they waited for the elevator, he reached out and squeezed Carter's hand; the young doctor gave no response. "Hang on, Carter." he murmured. Kerry watched in silence, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment, she knew that Peter didn't often show emotion towards anyone, she also knew that Carter was one of the few people that Peter deeply cared about. The doors of the elevator opened and they made their way down the hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luka walked in the doors of the ER, ready to begin his shift. He could feel the underlying tension in the room. Abby gave him a tight smile when she saw him. He looked at her concerned, "What's wrong?" "They just took John up to the ICU, he's unconscious, and he has a high fever." she paused and Luka waited patiently, knowing that something else was bothering her. "He flatlined, Luka, they had to shock his chest..." Tears formed in her eyes. "It'll okay, Abby, he'll be alright." Luka soothed. Abby nodded , still a bit tearful, "It's just like before, I mean, not knowing if he's going to be okay. I'm sorry." Abby murmured. Luka gave her a faint smile. "It's okay." he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What the hell is taking so long" Peter growled, impatiently. "Calm down, Peter" Kerry warned. "Dr. Moritz is a very capable doctor." Peter sighed. "I know; it's just." he trailed off. Kerry managed a small smile, but before she could say anything, The tall, dark haired doctor in question strode over to them. Both Kerry and Peter stood up. "Well," Dr. Moritz began. "It doesn't look very good, right now; we aren't really sure what it is. His vomit has traces of blood in it, but his lungs sound fine, so I doubt that it's pneumonia. We managed to stabilize him. I think that it's best that we take him down for a cat scan, to rule out a chemical reaction." "Can we see him?" Peter asked. Dr. Moritz nodded. "He hasn't regained consciousness yet. I'm not even sure that he will; it's too soon to tell." "Thank you, Dr. Moritz." Kerry said. She turned to Peter but he was already gone, so with a weary sigh she followed him. Peter pulled up a chair beside Carter's bed; Carter looked so young, with all of the equipment attached to his slender form. Peter jumped slightly when he heard Kerry pull up a chair beside him. "He seems so young and innocent like this, it's hard to believe that he's a lot more trouble when he's awake." Kerry said quietly. A slight smile flickered across Peter's features, but as soon as it appeared; it was gone. Kerry reached over and brushed Carter's hair, from where it had flopped into his eyes. They sat there in silence for a while, until Kerry looked at her watch and sighed. "I should get back downstairs." she stood up and squeezed Peter's shoulder. "He'll be okay Peter." she said before turning and leaving. Peter nodded in response, and reached out and grasped the young doctor's hand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kerry stood in the elevator, she reached over and pressed the stop button, the elevator jolted and stopped; she drew in a shaky breath, and slid down to the floor with a sob. "Oh God." She whimpered, over and over to herself; finally realizing that she wasn't doing anybody any good by sitting there bawling, she stood up, dried her eyes, took a deep breath and started the elevator, which took her back to the ER. When she reached the ground floor she found the entire ER staff looking at her expectantly. "Well?" Mark prompted. "How is he?" Kerry looked at them and said, "Dr. Moritz is in charge of his care." she paused. "He's still unconscious, and they're trying to lower his fever. Peter's up sitting with him now." The whole ER seemed frozen; they stood there and looked at Kerry, trying to digest the information. Suddenly the radio crackled to life. "County, this is EMT Unit 9, we have nine victims of an MVA; how many can you take?" Kerry moved to answer the radio call. "Unit 9, this is County, we can take 4 traumas and 5 minors." "Copy that County. We are on our way, ETA is 15 minutes." "Let's go people!" Mark yelled, and the ER became a flurry of activity once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Moritz walked into the room, with a nurse on his heels. "Dr. Benton we need to take Dr. Carter, up for a MRI, you are welcome to come along." Peter nodded and stood up, but at that moment his pager went off, he cursed quietly. "Sorry but I won't be able to come along." Peter said with a frown. "The ER just paged me. I want the results as soon as possible though." Dr. Moritz nodded "Alright." "I'll be back soon man, hold on." Peter whispered to the unresponsive young doctor before leaving. Dr. Moritz looked at his patient. "Let's get you to that MRI." And with that Dr. Moritz and his nurse pushed the bed out of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What the hell's going on down here?!?!" Peter roared as soon as he entered the ER. "We have multiple MVA's coming in we need all the help we can get." Luka yelled as the first ambulance pulled in. The EMT's got out of the ambulance. "We have a female, mid twenties, possible broken ribs, multiple lacerations, lost 2 units on scene and complains of chest pain. Her BP is 99/65, we intubated en route, after she had trouble breathing. Her name is Melissa Myers." the EMT stated. "Let's get her into Trauma 1!" Kerry yelled. "Melissa? Can you hear me?" Kerry questioned, but the patient didn't respond. A second ambulance pulled up, Luka rushed over to it. "What do we have?" He called to the EMT's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As soon as the confusion ended, Mark gave a sigh, and then moved to Trauma 1 where he had last seen Kerry. She stood by the gurney, where the young woman called Melissa lay, the Heart monitor beeped a steady rhythm, as the vent pumped air to its patient. "Kerry?" He spoke softly, afraid of startling her. She turned around. "Are you okay?" Mark asked, walking over to her. She nodded solemnly, "She crashed so we put her on a vent, and she can't breathe without it." Mark nodded. "Are you gonna go back up with Peter and sit with John?" he asked. Kerry frowned, "Not yet. I have to take Ms. Myers up to medicine, when my shift is over I'll go back up. Dr. Moritz was going to take John to get an MRI, and he wants to run some other tests, so they might not be back yet."
"I'm gonna go up with Peter then." Mark said quietly. "Alright." Kerry said. "Do we have an epidemic on our hands Mark?" "I don't know Kerry, I hope not." "Don't worry, he'll be okay." Mark said reassuringly, before he left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter sighed and waited impatiently for Dr. Moritz to tell him about Carter's MRI. "Well his MRI is normal." Peter looked up at him. We're still working on getting his fever in control, and he hasn't regained consciousness yet." Peter nodded his understanding. Dr. Moritz was just about to continue his diagnosis of Carter when his pager sounded. "Sorry," he said standing up. "I have an emergency to attend to. I'll be back in a few minutes." As Dr. Moritz left the room, Mark showed up. "Hey," he said quietly to Peter. The surgeon merely looked at him. "What's his status?" Mark asked, ignoring Peter's silence. This time he got a response. "His temp is 104.5, he isn't conscious, his MRI is normal, and they're still waiting on his blood sample in Pathology." Mark nodded, and sat down; something obviously on his mind. "What?" Peter questioned. "What were you doing at Carter's apartment at 3 am? Shouldn't you have been at home?" "Um. Well, I was at home but, I had a bad feeling so I called to check on him, but he didn't answer so I went to his apartment and found the spare key I'd used earlier when I couldn't find his key, and I found him unconscious on the floor, so I called 911." "You probably saved his life." Mark said with a slight smile. "I hope so.." was Peter's reply. Before Mark could reassure Peter that Carter would be ok, Dr. Moritz walked back into the room. "Sorry about that." he said, in his quiet voice, then looked up startled, noticing Mark for the first time. "Hello, Dr. Greene..." he greeted. "Can we get on with this?" Peter cut in impatiently. "Oh, right, sorry. Well, as I was getting ready to say. His fever is still not under control, the saline IV, doesn't seem to be helping. I'm afraid that if we can't get this thing in check, there's the possibility of convulsions and brain damage if we can't bring his temperature down." "Damn." Peter said through gritted teeth. "Dr. Moritz," A female doctor said entering the room. "May I speak with you outside please." Dr. Moritz frowned. "I'm in the middle of something here." he said sharply. "I'm sorry, but I really need to speak with you." she stated. Dr. Moritz sighed. "Excuse me." he said to Mark and Peter, then left. Peter growled. "This is getting annoying." Mark was about to answer when, they heard Dr. Moritz annoyed voice yell, "What!?! Why didn't anyone page me!?!" "Sorry but.." the young doctor began, but she was cut off. "No sorry's Dr. Catalano, I should have been paged." Dr. Moritz entered the room, but before he could say anything, Peter cut in. "What is it?" Dr. Moritz paused, "The first patient that came in with this illness, just died, of a massive convulsion." Mark glanced at Peter who scowled. A low groggy moan sounded from the bed and all three doctors turned around to look at Carter, brown eyes fluttered, and Dr. Moritz leaned over him. "Dr. Carter? Can you hear me?" he flashed his pen light into the young doctor's eyes; Carter jolted away from the light, and gagged on the tube. Confused brown eyes looked up at them. "You have a high fever, Dr. Carter; Dr. Benton brought you in, when you collapsed. We're still waiting for your blood work to come back." Dr. Moritz said to the confused doctor. Carter glanced at Peter, then back at Dr. Moritz, and shook his head, as if he didn't understand. "Do you have any idea how this happened?" Dr. Moritz asked. Carter looked up at him not quite grasping what the doctor was saying, through the pounding in his head, then a memory flashed through his aching head- a vial of blood- his hand-; his eyes began to drift shut of their own accord, as Carter struggled to find a way to tell the three doctors about his hand. He managed to lift his hand slightly off the bed, before sleep again claimed him. The three remaining doctors looked at each other. "I wonder what he knew." Mark questioned. Dr. Moritz moved forward and examined Carters left hand, after doing so, he laid it back on the bed and studied Carter's right hand. "Could this have been what he was talking about?" Dr. Moritz said showing Mark and Peter the band-aid on Carter's finger. Whatever Mark or Peter was going to say was cut off by a nurse entering the room. "Dr. Moritz?" She said. The doctor in question turned to face her. "What?" He asked. "The blood work on Dr. Carter is back." She said and handed him the file. He looked at it and cursed softly to himself. "What?" Peter questioned, standing up. "It's the same as the others. I don't know how it could have been introduced into his system though, it's not viral; it had to have been introduced by unnatural circumstances." "Like." Mark prompted. Dr. Moritz shrugged, "None of these people have anything in common, except the fact that they're all sick with the same unidentifiable illness." "Well, what are we going to do about it?" Peter growled. "We are treating it with an aggressive course of antibiotics but." Dr. Moritz faltered seeing the look in Dr. Benton's eyes. "Dr. Benton, Dr. Greene we're doing everything we can, we have our top pathologists working on it at this very moment." Dr. Greene shot a warning look at Peter, then turned to Dr. Moritz, "I'm sure you're doing everything you can." Dr. Moritz nodded. "Dr. Moritz to room 306, Code blue, Dr. Moritz to room 306!," Dr. Moritz bolted from the room, and took off down the hall at a run. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What's the problem now?!?!" Dr. Moritz yelled as he stumbled into the room, after having almost collided with a table. "It's one of the fever victims, she coding!" a nurse yelled. "Get the paddles! Charge to 150! Clear!" Dr. Moritz shocked the young woman's heart, but alas, to no avail. "Charge to 200! Clear!" "We have normal sinus rhythm, doctor." The nurse said with a sigh of relief. "We have to do something about this." Dr. Moritz muttered "We can't keep these people alive for much longer this way." The nurse; Mason, frowned. "No results yet doctor?" Dr. Moritz shook his head. "Nothing, all we know is that it isn't infectious, through the air, it had to have been administered another way... but how?" Dr. Moritz said more to himself then to the tall nurse. "Umm." he looked up startled, "give her 10 ccs of Compazine." The nurse nodded, and Dr. Moritz wandered out of the room deep in thought. 'How could it have been introduced into their systems?' He thought to himself. A memory flicked into his head, and suddenly he knew how it had at least gotten into Dr. Carter's bloodstream. He bolted back towards Dr. Carter's room, ignoring the startled yelp of a nurse who was walking by, as he almost knocked her over. Dr. Greene and Dr. Benton looked up at him, confused as to why he had made such an undignified entrance. "I think I got it!" he said triumphantly. Dr's. Greene and Benton stood up and looked at him. "What? What have you figured out?" Peter asked. "I think I know how Dr. Carter got sick!" "How," Mark asked. Dr. Moritz walked over to Carter's bed side and gently shook the young doctor awake. Carter's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Dr. Moritz, confusion evident in his eyes. "Dr. Carter can you tell me when you cut your hand? It looks pretty recent." Dr. Moritz handed the young man a pad of paper and a pen, Carter struggled to get a grip on it. A vial of blood, one of my patients, I thought it was only my blood on the glass. Dr. Moritz nodded. "Who's vial? What was in it?" Carter paused trying to remember, and to gather strength. "Jamie Brett." Carter dropped the pen, exhausted, realization coming into his eyes. Carter gasped, choking on the tube; panic starting to seep into his body. "Shhh.Shhh, its okay, don't panic, we're working on finding a cure, it'll be okay," Dr. Moritz soothed. Carter nodded, weakly; and took a few shaky breaths, to calm himself, then without warning his body was wracked by rasping coughs, and he was once again choking on the tube, Mark and Peter surged forward to offer their assistance, to the gasping doctor. "Mason?" Dr. Moritz called, and the nurse hurried into the room. "Up the level of the oxygen tank to 70%" the nurse nodded and moved to follow the order. Within a few tense moments, the three doctors were able to calm to ailing doctor, and Carter lay there taking shuttering gasps. Mark and Peter shared a worried glance; that basically said, 'This can't be good.' Dr. Moritz caught their shared looked and leaned over the oxygen tank, Carter looked at him concerned. "I'm just adjusting it." he stated and Carter nodded, still too short of breath to do anything else. Dr. Benton sat back down beside the bed, but Mark remained standing. "Sorry, John, Peter, but I have to get home, Rachel will be there in a few hours, and I don't want her to come home to an empty house." John nodded and waved his hand for Mark to go, but before the balding doctor left, Mark reached over and squeezed John's shoulder. The young doctor managed a small smile, as Mark said good-bye's and left. Peter sat by Carter's bed-side, Dr. Moritz looked from one man to the other, then said, "Well, I should get going, I have some patients to check up on, I'll stop in to check on you later Dr. Carter. Dr. Benton." He said with a slight nod of his head then walked out the door. As soon as the doctor was gone Carter turned his attentions to the surgeon sitting silently beside him, he reached up and grabbed the pen and paper that Dr. Moritz had left. You.you don't have to.have to stay ya know .I don't mind. Carter wrote out. Peter reached over and pulled the pen and paper out of the young doctor's grip. "Lie down and get some sleep Carter." Carter gave him one last look, before obeying, but he kept his stare fixed on the stubborn surgeon, till Peter sighed and answered him. "I'll stay." he said with a shrug. "I don't have to be anywhere right now." Carter nodded and he attempted to stay awake, he studied the surgeon. He grabbed the pen and paper again and wrote, Are you mad at me? Peter growled again and pulled the pen from Carter's grasp and placed it on the table. Peter gave Carter a long look, before sighing tiredly, and answering, "No Carter, I'm not angry with you." He said. "Go back to sleep, k? You need to save your strength." Carter nodded, and fell back on the pillows, his eyes almost immediately fluttering shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Mason watched the young doctor as his breathing evened out, and scowled. 'He wasn't supposed to be part of the experiment' Mason thought to himself, then turned his stare towards the black surgeon, sitting faithfully by the ailing doctor's side. 'The only way I'm gonna be able to fix this is by getting rid of Dr. Carter, but that's gonna be hard with Dr. Whatshisname, sitting there forever. Oh, well, I'll fix it soon' Mason turned away. "I'll fix it soon. Nothing is going to ruin my little experiment." He murmured to himself, a malicious smile playing on his lips. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Mason walked into the room and Peter jumped awake. The nurse looked at the tired doctor for a moment before going over to look at Carter's chart. "Is everything okay?" Peter asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Oh, yes I'm just in to check on his vitals." Mason responded. The nurse studied Carter's chart and made a mental note, then to satisfy Dr. Benton, he went over and checked the machines and tubes that were connected to the young Doctor. Mason nodded to the surgeon, then left, Peter watched him leave, 'I don't trust him.' He thought to himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason smiled as hew walked down the hall, he'd give Dr. Benton some time to fall back asleep before going back in, and making sure that Dr. Carter met with an unfortunate. accident.
Chapter 3: A Close Call Mason edged into the room, syringe ready, slowly and carefully he made his way to Carter's bed-side, it had taken him hours to get this close. Dr. Benton had finally left for a bathroom break and some coffee. Mason leaned over the bed and studied Carter's face for a moment, he almost felt guilty for intending to harm such an innocent looking man, Mason sneered; 'Oh, well.' he thought to himself; 'It's his own fault for interfering in the first place.' He injected the clear solution into the I.V. port; he hastily disposed of the syringe, strolled out of the room, and waited for the results. Peter made his way back to the room, with his coffee, when he heard alarms blaring; he dropped his coffee, and took off towards Carter's room, almost colliding with Dr. Moritz, they stumbled into the room, where a nurse, med-student, and the med-student's resident were attempting to restrain Carter's convulsing form. "What happened?!?" Dr. Moritz yelled. The nurse's head shot up, "He just started convulsing a few seconds ago, when I came in to administer antibiotics." She yelled. Peter surged forward to help, but was stopped when Dr. Moritz's voice rang, "Get him out of here, Alyssa." The petite nurse ushered Peter out of the room, Peter growled, but the nurse didn't even quiver. "Dr. Moritz said out, Dr. Benton; and I'm not in the mood to argue!" she snapped, then ran back into the room to help. Peter paced outside the doorway, eyes glued to the floor; he couldn't bring himself to look into the room where doctors and nurses were yelling out orders, where alarms were blaring, where. where someone he had come to care about was lying in the hospital bed, barely hanging onto life..., Peter shook his head, dispelling the negative thoughts. How had he come to care so much about the brunette doctor? It seemed like only yesterday he was giving Carter the tour of the ER, only yesterday that Carter had come to him seeking comfort in the death of Dennis, only yesterday that Carter had been lying on a gurney, blood covering everything as the ER staff fought desperately to save him and Lucy.only yesterday. Peter's thoughts were abruptly cut off as Dr. Moritz stepped out of the room. "Dr. Benton? He's stable, we took a blood sample and we were forced to intubate him; he'll be out of it for a while." Dr. Moritz stated. Peter just stared at him and nodded, before walking back into the room. "You might want to go home and get some sleep Dr. Benton." Dr. Moritz said gently, but Peter only shook his head, "Thanks, but no, I have to stay here with him." Dr. Moritz nodded in defeat and said before walking down the hall, "He'll recover Dr. Benton; I know he will." Peter nodded and shuffled into the room, the monitors beeping, and the respirator breathing for Carter, the only sounds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason growled when he found that his plan hadn't worked, the stubborn doctor was still alive. His head snapped up as he heard angry footsteps approaching, he turned around and almost collided with Dr. Moritz, and a nurse who was struggling to keep up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "When I find out who did this, they are gonna lose their license!!! I'll make sure that they never even come near patients ever again!!!!" Dr. Moritz roared as he stalked down the hallway. Nurses stared at the angry doctor, careful to stay out of his way. Dr. Moritz stalked into Carter's room, earning a glance from Dr. Benton, and a young woman sitting beside him. "Dr. Benton." He said then paused, not able to recognize the young woman with him. "Dr. Chen." She supplied. "Dr. Chen." He repeated. "I just got the blood sample back, somebody injected him with Compazine; which he happens to be allergic to, that's what caused the convulsions, an allergic reaction." "You mean someone tried to kill him?" Peter asked, horrified. Dr. Moritz nodded, "There's no other explanation, there's no reason for him to be on Compazine. It was deliberate." "What the hell do you mean?!?" Peter roared. Dr. Moritz's voice was calm as he said, "It was deliberate; someone tried to kill him." "Who?" "I don't know Dr. Benton." Dr. Chen looked at both doctors before saying "Why would someone want to hurt John?" Dr. Moritz sighed, "I don't know Dr. Chen, I just don't know. We've contacted the police, their sending someone over to question personnel and such." Peter growled, and stalked out of the room, the other two doctors just watched him leave. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fuming surgeon stalked down the hall, looking for a place to seek refuge in. Three minutes later he found himself in the bathroom, he paced its length, unsure of how to handle the raw emotions churning within him. "God damn it!!!" Peter screamed to the empty bathroom, he pounded the tiled wall, and then sunk to the floor with a sob, and he sat there, letting his emotions finally get the better of him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark made his way up to the ICU, to check on Carter, and his ever vigilant mentor, Peter. Carter had been unconscious for two days now, with no improvement. 'And no deterioration either.' A voice in Mark's head stated. The balding doctor sighed, and rubbed his temples, it had hit all of the staff pretty hard when they found out that someone had deliberately tried to kill Carter; they all loved him dearly, and now his life was hanging in a delicate balance, one tip in the wrong direction, and Carter would be gone forever. Mark broke off his chain of thought, unwilling to go any deeper in what he knew was only going to make him feel even more disheartened, and he couldn't afford that, he had to keep his hopes up for the rest of the ER staff. He knocked quietly on the door; then walked in, Peter was dozing in a chair by Carter's bed, he moved further into the room, and stole a look at the ill doctor, the respirator was still breathing for him; his eyelashes created dark smudges on his pallid skin, and his damp hair fell wantonly across his forehead. The balding doctor stepped up to the bed and checked the machines and wires that were helping to keep the young doctor alive.
Chapter 4: Nightmares and Bad News
Carter opened his eyes and found himself in a vast darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. "Hello?" he called uncertainly into the void, but he received no answer, not even a faint echo to ease the silence. 'Where am I?' he thought to himself as he turned in a circle trying to get a grip on his surroundings. Suddenly a terrible thought came to him. 'Am I dead?' he wondered, and he thought frantically back to the last thing he remembered. He was walking down the hall, when he felt dizzy and the rest was all a blank. 'That's it, that's the last thing I remember.' He thought to himself. Suddenly he felt a cold blast of howling wind, and shivered, though not from the cold, when he'd felt the wind, he had also felt the prickle of some unnamable fear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter was jolted awake by the sound of monitors beeping wildly; while Carter thrashed violently on the bed, gagging on the respirator tube. The surgeon jumped up and began checking the machines, and simultaneously trying to soothe the distressed doctor. The on-call doctor rushed in and quickly prepared a sedative, she injected it into Carter's I.V., and within moments the struggling doctor went limp. "What happened?" she asked. "I think he was having a nightmare." Peter said incredulously. The doctor nodded gravely, and preceded to take Carter's temperature, when she got the results, she frowned. "His temp is higher; I don't know how much longer we can keep him stable." She said quietly. "We haven't been able to find an antidote either; the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is still trying to figure out what it is." Peter reached forward instinctively and brushed Carter's damp hair back from his face. "I won't let you die Carter, I promise." Peter whispered fiercely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mason carefully locked the door of the supply room behind him, careful not to let anyone see him, this plan hadn't been working to his liking, first that idiot doctor got involved, by getting infected, and now he refused to die, and it was going to be harder to get at him again with that surgeon, Dr. Benton always hanging around. Well one way to stop it would be to get rid of any.obstacles. that stood in his way. He looked through the shelves, looking for a certain object. ah ha! There it was, Mason pulled a syringe out of its protective covering and wrapped a cloth over it, to prevent him from accidentally stabbing himself, now all he had to do was wait for an opportunity to get close enough and then this would all be over for both of those annoying doctors.