4. Hospital
By the time Arthur and Solomon arrived at the hospital the boy had already been taken to the trauma bay. Ishizu was waiting for them by the front door.
"Is he alright?" Solomon asked as they walked up to the woman.
Ishizu shook her head slightly. "He started pouring blood about halfway here. By the time we got here his body was failing and we had to start CPR. They rushed him back and I believe they started a blood transfusion. I haven't heard anything since and we're trying to keep out of the way," Ishizu explained, seeing the colour drain slightly from their faces.
"Good lord," Arthur muttered. Yes, he had seen the X-Rays. But hearing him go from being dead to bleeding to death was quite a turn around. Not exactly how he planned on his night going.
"They've also informed the cops of a John Doe. When they have a chance and he's well enough they're going to come and get his fingerprints to try and find him on a database. I think they mentioned something about potentially taking a DNA sample to try and match to a family member," Ishizu added.
"DNA to match to a family member?" Solomon asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ishizu nodded. "Apparently it's a new thing they're doing. If someone submits their DNA to or one of those corporations, the police can use the information to help track people down. I believe they caught a few criminals by doing this."
"Wow… That feels…" Arthur frowned.
"Wrong," Solomon finished. His grandson had convinced him to do that test.
"Perhaps… But it has been capturing bad people," Ishizu pointed out. "Anyway, we should head in."
Solomon and Arthur nodded and followed the woman inside, the three taking a seat together in the waiting room. "Where are your colleagues?" Solomon asked.
"They went home again," Ishizu answered.
"Fair enough," Arthur said, glancing at his watch since he knew it was very early in the morning.
Solomon sighed and pulled out his phone, texting his grandson while he waited. He hadn't had much chance to speak to his grandson for the last couple of weeks while they tried to locate the tomb. Solomon was certain that little Yugi would be very interested in their discovery.
Hours passed by without any word on the teen's condition. Arthur had fallen asleep in the chair and Solomon was impatiently pacing. Ishizu was watching him quietly with a frown. Snapping at him wasn't helping. She knew because she had been trying.
Ishizu straightened when she saw two police officers with a small box walk into the emergency waiting room. The two officers went straight to the receptionist and spoke briefly to her, the woman calling a nurse over to take them into the back room. 'Is he fit enough to see the officers now? Did he pull through?' Ishizu wondered.
The officers were led through the maze of an ED to the trauma bay. Inside, amongst a mess of bloody linen and bins filled with blood covered dressings, laid the boy.
The boy was hooked up to a heart monitor and had a bag of blood infusing into a cannula in his arm. His broken bones had been splinted and were waiting for an operating theatre to become available so they could repair them. A tube was down his throat, forcing him to breathe.
"What happened to him?" one of the officers asked while his co-worker walked over to see the boy's right hand. The shoulder was splinted but he could still access the hand. He wasn't too keen on touching the other arm since the forearm had clearly been broken and splinted.
"Your guess is as good as ours. The report we got when he arrived is that they were discovered in an ancient tomb. Inside the sarcophagus, they managed to X-Ray them and discovered their broken body. Apparently, they started to breathe after the sarcophagus was opened," the nurse explained, seeing the two cops giving her a sceptical look. "Crazy, I know. But the X-Ray clearly does show them in a sarcophagus."
"Why are you using them, they, their?" one of the cops asked while his partner went back to getting a copy of his fingerprints.
"Because they have the genitals of both a male and a female. I am uncertain which one they lean towards," the nurse responded with a blush.
"How do you know that?" the cop getting the fingerprints asked.
"It is our job to assess all of their skin. We don't want a wound going unnoticed," the nurse responded, her cheeks getting even redder.
"Do you have a sample of his blood?" the cop beside the nurse asked.
She nodded. "It got sent to the lab as per your request earlier in the night prior to the first bag being pushed."
"Good… What's the plan with him?" the cop asked.
"They're waiting for an OR to open so that they can start to patch up his injuries. For now, they've stemmed the bleeding. It won't last though. They're also consulting specialists from around the work to try and work out what to do with his more severely broken bones," the nurse answered.
"Alright. Do we know anything at all about him besides the story of him being found in a tomb and miraculously waking up once a stone slab was removed from his body?" the cop asked as his partner rejoined him.
"Nothing," the nurse answered honestly, seeing the pilots from their emergency flight team and the doctor approach them.
"What's going on?" the doctor asked.
"We were just getting his fingerprints and confirming a sample was taking to see if we can identify him," the cop explained, raising an eyebrow at the team. "What are you guys doing?"
"We have found a specialist who is willing to take him and patch him the best they could. They even have a theatre that'll be available for them when they arrive. Everything will be ready for him when he arrives," the doctor explained.
"Where is this hospital?" the second cop asked with a frown.
"America," the doctor admitted. "Everyone necessary has been consulted and agree the gain from the transport outweighs the risk."
"How would he pay for the procedure?" the cop asked, his frown deepening.
"The doctor is going to do the procedure for free. The only hospital with a theatre open that is willing to accept him is a cheap partially subsidised facility which is an added bonus. We're not certain what'll happen after the procedure though. The options are rather limited though. Either he goes or he dies," the doctor responded. "We don't have the necessary equipment or skills to save his life here."
"Very well. We'll still try to identify him. Let us know when he arrives and who to contact if we find anything," the first cop said, handing the doctor his card while the flight medics got the boy ready for transport.
Under normal circumstances, this transport would be instantly ruled out. Especially since he's still in critical condition. But as the doctor said, they didn't have the resources to stabilise him. They had to make exceptions in this case.
Ishizu stood up when she saw the nurse and the two police officers returned to the waiting room. Her movement caught Solomon's attention and also woke Arthur up from his sleep. The three stood up and walked towards them. "Is he alright?" Ishizu asked.
"Who?" one of the police officers asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The John Doe found inside the tomb," Arthur answered.
"How do you know about him?" the second police officer asked.
"We were the ones that found him," Solomon answered. "We've been waiting for news for hours."
"Technically speaking, unless the teen said otherwise, they do not have authority to discuss his condition with you. It does not matter if you were the ones to find him. Since you yourself said he is a John Doe, it's obvious that you're not a family member. His condition can only be discussed with a family member. And only because of his age," the first officer said.
"Yes, under normal circumstances. But this isn't normal circumstances. He has no family," Solomon pointed out.
"You don't know that," the police officer responded.
"We do know that. I even have a video of us opening the sarcophagus and his first breath in an undetermined amount of time," Arthur said.
"You have a video?" the second cop asked with a frown, seeing her nod. "We'd like a copy of that."
Arthur nodded and grabbed a USB stick out of his pocket. He had plenty of time while waiting to download the video onto a USB encase someone else wanted to watch it. Their story was extremely unbelievable, and they all knew that.
"What will happen to the boy if you find nothing on him?" Ishizu asked with a frown.
"It depends really. Normally, a John Doe cannot get a new identity because they already have an identity and government documents linked to them. There are some exceptions such as children not declared at birth. Sometimes these kids are not discovered until adulthood so there is a way for them to get identity," the cop explained. "Usually, an amnesic person is considered to have an ID somewhere already. If the teen wakes up with his memory intact, then we can create an identity for him."
"You probably won't believe him though. Who would believe someone who fell asleep centuries ago and suddenly woke up in modern time? It sounds crazy," Ishizu pointed out.
"Perhaps. But we'll see what happens. For now, we'll see if he is in the system," the cop responded, turning to the nurse. "Thank you," the cop said before his partner left with him.
"Can you tell us his condition?" Ishizu asked once the cops had left the building.
"Technically, no. But you are the medic that brought them in, and I know you guys often wonder what happened to the patient. Anyway, they're still in critical condition. They've tried to place their bones back into alignment, but they think they should be plated. There's no theatres open here to try and stop the bleeding or plate the bones here now," the nurse explained. "They took the time to speak to specialists from around the world to get their opinion on the situation once they were somewhat stabilised. There's a doctor in the US that's willing to help them free of charge and will have a theatre ready for him when he arrives. The police are still going to try and identify him and then will get in contact with the other hospital if they do find something on him."
"Where is he going? What hospital?" Solomon asked with a frown.
"I don't know," the nurse answered honestly.
"Can't you go and ask?" Arthur asked with a frown of his own.
"They've already left. They were leaving when we exited the room. Besides, even if I did know, I couldn't share it with you. You are not a member of his family," the nurse responded, turning to return to her patients before the three in front of her could speak.
"Shit… How will we find him again?" Solomon asked, looking between his two friends.
Both shook their heads, uncertain what'll happen. The US was too big for them to track him down. It'll be a very difficult and expensive mission. Especially since they are not related to him so had no right to information about him.