Author's Note: Written as one of the 3 short fics submitted to the semi-finals of the NCIS-LFWS Contest. The prompt on all three was "epidemic" and they all had to center on the same character. I chose Tony.
Swine Flu
By Brynn
I sit here in the emergency room with what I know to be only a bad sprain, not a break. But, Gibbs told me to come here and get it checked out after I landed wrong jumping off a dock, chasing a suspect. I finished catching the guy and I'm walking on it, but when Gibbs says "jump" I jump. Actually, in this case, I sit for hours in an overcrowded emergency room.
I'm a 'people-watcher' though, so it's interesting. The emergency room is divided into two sections: "possible H1N1 patients", and "everyone else". The first group is far larger than the second and is spilling out of the confines of its assigned waiting area. And, it's not like we're actually in two different rooms. The flu people are literally just on the other side of the waiting room I'm in.
They have been given masks, and were asked to wear them, I'm sure. But, half of the patients are kids who are either playing with the thing or whose parents have long since given up on trying to get them to wear them. There is one little girl, about five, who is wearing hers. She's sitting (or rather melting) on her mother's lap and is barely conscious. I can't help but wonder if maybe she really does have the dreaded "swine flu", and what that will mean for her and her family if she does.
Once my mind is on that track, I can pick out several other people who might actually have it: a little old lady (propped up, just barely, by her equally old husband), a couple of teens, and a baby who is in obvious distress and doesn't stay in the ER long.
With all the hype and fear about the H1N1 virus, I've actually gotten rather complacent about the whole thing. Not that I don't take precautions – I do. But, everyone who gets the sniffles are just sure they're dying from swine flu. I think I had forgotten that some people really are!
As they call my name at last, I send out good thoughts to all these H1N1-possibles – especially the kids. I sure hope that baby and the little girl will be okay.