Chapter 13: New Friends 19th December 2013 - Evening
The hospital was never really silent. Even in the middle of the night there were noises, people, and light. True, some areas ended up with dimmed or reduced lighting, but over all there was always life in the hospital. Death as well.
Sighing, Harrison Wells glowered at the ceiling of the hospital room. It was very late and he knew he needed rest, but he couldn't get his brain to shut up. He kept trying to capture his memories of the explosion, but they were proving elusive. Just when he thought he had them nailed down, his mind would wander off onto a new subject. While he was usually an energetic individual, he rarely found it hard to focus on what he wanted. Now, though, he couldn't keep his mind on anything. It just seemed to jump from subject to subject.
Shifting in the bed, he flinched at the jolt of pain it caused. That wasn't helping his rest any. Still, he'd take the pain over the medications any day. He really didn't do well with pain killers and in a way he needed the pain. It acted as a reminder of what had happened, that he had survived, and that others had died.
The lights, set low but still on, flickered and he quietly checked the hospital records. Bartholomew Allen was coding again. Studying the data in real time, Harrison wished he could see the patient. He had some ideas about what might be happening, but if he could see how Mr. Allen was behaving physically it would give him more information.
The door creaked, bringing Harrison's mind back to the room. With a tap of a finger he banished Mr. Allen's information from his computer screen. He watched the curtain flutter as the door softly closed. Not a nurse. The nurses made little effort to be quiet. Whoever was in his room now was being positively stealthy. Ignoring the pain, Harrison tried to lift his head.
He had just enough time to register that somebody was standing next to his bed before a pillow was shoved over his face. Flailing his arms he tried to push the pillow away. It was no use. The attacker was leaning down and had gravity on his side. Harrison was going against it. Changing tactics, Harrison grabbed at the hands holding the pillow. He managed to get ahold of a finger and bent it backwards. The attacker cried out and Harrison was rewarded a brief moment without the pillow on his face.
"Help!" Harrison bellowed as he exhaled and then sucked in as much air as he could before the pillow was shoved over his face once more. This time the attacker put more weight behind the pillow and smashed Harrison's flailing hands away. One of the scientist's arms was pinned. He was running out of air and energy. Whoever was attacking Harrison, they had all the advantages.
Suddenly a weight crashed into Harrison, squishing him against the railings on the bed. The weight on the pillow shifted and Harrison felt something heavy roll across his chest and the pillow. As the weight crossed over him, the pillow pulled away and Harrison sucked in air desperately. Grunting and shouting filled his ears. His brain picked out two distinct voices. Somebody had come to the scientist's rescue and was grappling with the attacker.
Flailing, Harrison found the call button and pressed it. The lights flickered and nurses came rushing into the room, crash cart in tow, flashlights in hand. They stopped when they spotted the two men fighting. Jumping, the short female nurse came to her senses and ran to check Harrison's side. She quickly realized that the monitor leads had been torn off and that her patient was not coding. The shouting escalated and suddenly the woman was knocked away from Harrison's side. The assailant fled. Harrison's rescuer started to follow.
The man paused in the door. "Everyone okay?" His dark eyes quickly took in the room with a well trained ease.
"We're fine, Detective West," the short female nurse replied. She had already gotten to her feet and was turning back to her patient. The man nodded and rushed out of the room, racing after the assailant. "Doctor Wells," the nurse said, returning to checking Harrison.
"I'm okay," Harrison assured her. "Just a little out of breath." Noises continued to sound out in the hall. A jingle sound preceded the arrival of Hospital security. The nurse, her name tag read "Deborah Smith," got Harrison settled and documented everything before she went to fetch the doctor. While she was gone Detective West came back to the room and stood by Harrison's bedside. He was maybe as tall as Harrison, dark skin, intent eyes with dark circles under them, and sadness painting lines and exhaustion on his face.
"He got away. Are you okay?" The detective studied Harrison intently.
"I'd be willing to bet I feel better than you look. Thank you for the rescue," answered the scientist. It earned an exhausted nod from the man.
"You're welcome. Did you get a good look at him?"
"No. My sight line is limited and whoever it was made a serious effort to take me by surprise. Best view I got was of my pillow. I felt something snap when I pulled the hand away." Harrison tried to shrug, flinched in pain and sighed. "I may have broken their finger."
"Not much help, I'm afraid." The man cast a quick look to the door. Worry was visible on his face. The primary power came back on and Harrison could see fear flash across the detective's face.
"Are you a friend of Mr. Allen's?" Harrison asked the question without thinking. It earned him a dark and confused look from the detective. "Sorry. I just know the power has been fluctuating any time Mr. Allen has coded."
"He's my son," the detective answered after a moment. "You're the reason he's here. You're one of his heroes and if he dies, it will be your fault." There was anger and bitterness in those words and they cut through Harrison's physical pain. He didn't know what to say. Glaring, the detective turned and walked away, nodding at a uniformed officer who had arrived to take Harrison's statement.
The words and glare kept Harrison up for the rest of the night. The nurses assumed he was having problems calming down after the attempt on his life, but it was the detective that was haunting Harrison instead.