Chapter 2
Derek stood outside of Sydney's office, still very confused. Doctor Kimashima couldn't have been aloowed back into America without some kind of punishment. Why was America suddenly so forgiving? Naomi had commited a serious crime. Derek knew something was going on. He nearly stomped right back into the office, and asked. But common sense got the better of him, and he decided to just wait. If something wasn't his buissness, it wasn't his buissness. "But what if it is my buissness, but they're keeping it from me?" he thinks, still completely confused. He lapsed into a state of complete thought, not even paying attention to the surroundings around him. His world of thought was interupted by the voice of his closest friend and assistant, Angie.
"Dr. Stiles? Are you there?" Angie asks, staring at Derek, who is just standing there lifeless. Derek then exits his mind and responds to Angie. "Of course I'm here!" he says, a little embaressed. He was mad at himself for letting Angie see him that way. "Doctor we have a patient with appendictis, and all the other doctors are occupied, can you preform the operation?" Angie asked, knowing Derek is still drained from the recent Neo-GUILT situation, and she was also exhausted. "I'm fine..." Derek responds. "...but will you be alright?" Angie smiled a little bit. "Of course I will. It's a simple operation, we can do it." Angie says, completely confident. The two begin the walk to the OR, where they scrub up and prepare for the operation.
"Antibiotic gel..." Derek says, preparing to make his initial incision. Angie hands him a jar filled with the thick, gooey gel. Some people may mistake this as Jell-O, others may think it's a fruit drink. Both assumptions are very far from correct. Derek spreads a little of the mixture onto the patients abdomen. "Scalpel." Derek says, as Angie hands him the razor sharp surgeon's knife. Derek puts the instrument into his right hand, and holds it like a pencil as he makes the opening incision. The knife cuts through the skin like a chef's knife through a cut of meat. The appendix appears inflamed, and very close to bursting. Derek takes his syringe and injects a little sedative into the bulging organ, allowing him to begins cutting into it with the scalpel.
Derek cuts into the soft meso-appendix with his scalpel, the knife penetrating the membrane easily. Once the meso-appendix is removed, Derek ties two small wires arround the appendix. He cuts the appendix off, and places it into the tray. "That was easy..." Derek says, relieved that this operation was nearly over. "Doctor, don't forget to suture the incision..." Angie reminds Derek. Derek, of course, is once again embarresed. Angie smiled as Derek turned around to suture the incision, knowing that Stiles had been exhausted in the past few weeks. She forgave him intirely. But as Derek turned around to put his instruments on the tray, he suddenly stops. "Doctor Stiles?" Angie asks, confused that Derek just completely stopped. Derek turned back around taking the ultrasound into his hands. He noticed something strange.
Derek runs the ultrasound device all over the patients body. "Huh..." he says. "I thought I just saw a spike in the patients vitals..." Angie checks the EKG. "Nothing wrong here..." She said. Just to be sure, she checks the ultrasound one last time. "Nothing." she says. "Well, I guess the operation is complete..." Derek says. "Are you SURE we souldn't run one last scan?" Angie responds, a little worried for the patient. "I want to keep an eye on him, but we don't need a scan now. We'll keep him here for a few more days, just to be safe." Derek says, already taking his medical scrubs off and nearly walking out the door. He was completely exhausted. He just wanted this day to be over so he could go home and rest. Of course, he loved his job, but being a surgeon or doctor of any kind can get tiring.
"Alright then." Angie says, also preparing to leave. The last thing both of them hoped to happen today was some kind of medical emergency. But with all that was going on, that was rather likely. Both of them left the OR, relieved their patient would be okay for the time being. Derek headed towards the research lab, looking to ask Victor a question about the Neo-GUILT that they had previeously encountered. He walks into the research lab, immedietly seeing Victor, pissed as usual, over a computer screen. "DAMMIT!" Victor yells, startling everyone, including Derek. "Woah, is something wrong?" Derek asks, a hint of fear in his voice. He knows what Victor can do when he's mad. "Yeah, but it's a little classified... I can tell you this though. I'm researching this disease called "Zathon," but we know nearly nothing about it. What we DO know, I can't tell you yet. But you will be informed soon... at least, according to Robert." Derek was stunned after hearing this. "Z-Zathon?" he says, remembering his dream.
Derek had a dream last night, that he encountered a strain of this strange disease. The disease was called Zathon. However, Zathon wasn't a full disease, it was a strain of a disease. Now he was completely terrified. Could this be some crazy coincidence? Or was this some sort of sign? What it was, Derek did not know. But he knew it couldn't be taken lightly. "Derek?" Victor says, and Derek notices he slipped into another state of pure thought. "Oh, sorry about that..." Derek responds. "Is something wrong?" Victor says, noticing that Derek was... rather "off" today. "I'm fine. Really." Derek says. However, Victor has sure that something was wrong with Derek. He dismissed this though, knowing that everyone has been on edge ever since the Neo-GUILT situation. "I'm sorry I can't give you more information. But only five people in the building and twenty people in the world know what's going on." Victor says, feeling forry for the confused and tired Derek. "It's fine..." Derek says, and walks off into the main lobby.
