Chapter Seven: Finding Faith
"He's still not awake yet?" Kerry asked. Mark shook his head. They were now in the OR.
"At least he's stable. He shouldn't-"
"Dr. Green!" Cleo cried, "He's beginning to wake up!" Kerry and Mark ran over to Dave, who was stirring. He still looked deathly pale.
"Dave?" Kerry said, tentatively.
"Chief?" he muttered. She smiled.
"Dave, do you know what happened?"
"Some guy... he was crazy... he hid Lucy... Said we needed him to find her... If we took him to jail, she'd probably..." he moaned in pain.
"Dave? You OK?" his eyes snapped open at Mark's question.
"I want to get him!" he said, with anger filled determination. There was life in his eyes again. The burning desire to 'get him' kept him alive. He sat up but Mark eased him back down.
"Easy there, you're not ready to go out there looking for him."
"But look what he's done!" Dave said, his voice sounding annoyed now, without an ounce of weariness, "Done to Carter, Corday, Abby, Me, Lucy... He's gonna pay! He's mine!"
"You sound like Luka," Kerry laughed.
"Luka?" Mark and Dave turned to her.
"Yeah... I mean, no... I mean, Mark could I talk to you?" she pulled Mark away.
"Yes?"
"Luka found his file."
"What?!"
"It had his address in it. He wanted to go after him. I didn't want to say this in front of Dave incase he got any ideas..."
"Wait a minute... He was that determined and you left him alone?" Mark asked, disbelieving. Kerry nodded, then stopped and began to shake her head skeptically.
"No, he wouldn't... Not Luka, he's not like Dave, he wouldn't go anywhere without telling anyone... Would he?"
"Have you seen him lately?"
"I was with him ten minutes ago..."
"And where is he now?"
"Page him!" Kerry ordered as she headed out, "No, wait, on second thought, I'll do it."
Lucy stopped crying. Did she hear someone knock? Someone outside? No, it must have been her imagination. Who would be looking for her? But then, she heard Jacob go to the door.
Luka rang the doorbell, the casual approach. He was being paged, but ignored it. No one answered so he rang it again. After about waiting for a few minutes, a man answered the door.
"Yeah? What do you want, I'm busy!" the man sounded angry.
"Um, is this Mr. Crowe?" Luka asked.
"Where you from?" the man asked, detecting Luka's Croatian accent.
"Answer the question, please, sir," Luka ignored him.
"No, my name is Daniel Carson," Luka looked the man up and down. He had red hair and brown eyes, "I think you have the wrong house."
"Maybe I do, thank you," Luka tossed one more suspicious glance at the character before he shut the door. He then saw the house number. 143. He was looking for 145.
Lucy listened as she heard Jacob talk to the man at the door.
"I said I don't want no God damned vacuum cleaner!" she heard the door slam hard. She felt something on the back of her neck. Eight poking sticks moving up to her head. She screamed and shook the spider off. She watched it scuttle away over to what was left of Cara. It was a huge spider. Lucy hated spiders.
"I have to get out of here, I just have to!" she promised herself. Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten anything since that morning and all it was was a cup of coffee. She was so hungry. She knew she should have been thinking of a plan to help her escape, but all she could think about was that she'd never see the face of another human being again. The only smile she'd ever see again was that crooked smile on that evil man's horrible face. She flinched at the thought. The last time she had seen her friends they were accusing her of trying to hurt Abby. They had no reason to look for her now. Suddenly, she jumped at the sound of a doorbell.
Luka made his way to the next house. Again, he rang the bell. He only needed to ring it once. An annoyed looking man with bright green eyes answered.
"I told you, I don't want any- Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were that stupid salesman again trying to sell me a vacuum cleaner," he sighed and smiled, "So, how can I help you?"
"Um, are you Mr. Jacob Crowe?" Luka asked.
"Yes, that's me. Gosh, that accent sounds familiar... Ah, yeah, that's right, you're that Doctor I spoke to! What was your name again?"
"You can call me Dr. Kovac. Do you remember the young doctor that took you? Her name was Lucy Knight?"
"Uh... Yes, yes, I think so. Is there a problem?" his eyes looked concerned. Luka looked at him, suspiciously. Either he was a very good liar, or he didn't know what was going on, which Luka highly doubted.
"Um, yes there is. She's gone missing."
"Really? Wow, I'm sorry about that... Wait, what does this have to do with me?" he asked, innocently. Luka opened his mouth, but heard a muffled cry from inside the house.
"What was that?" he asked.
"It was my cat. She always makes noises when she's hungry. I was just about to feed her."
"Can I come in?" Luka asked.
"Uh, I'd let you, but the house's a mess. I hope Miss Knight comes back."
"Comes... back?"
"She ran away, didn't she?" he asked.
"I never said that," Luka said, "I just said she's disappeared..."
"Oh, well then I hope you find her! Good bye, Dr. Kovac!" and he closed the door. That did it. Luka knew Lucy was in there. But getting in there to find her, that would be another story. He decided to get back to the ER before he was missed.
Lucy sighed as she heard the door close again. For a minute, she had one moment of hope that Luka would find her, but he didn't. She didn't hear the conversation very clearly, but she heard enough to tell her that Luka was suspicious.
"I guess that's a good thing," she sighed.
"Kerry? Benton and I were talking and we think that Carter-"
"Wait, what about Dave?" Kerry asked Mark.
"Dave? Cleo said she'd watch him. Benton wanted to talk about Carter."
"All right. What about Carter?"
"Well, we think he's-"
"Dr. Weaver? Dr. Green?" Cleo said, catching up with the two.
"Cleo?" Kerry said, "Aren't you supposed to be with Dave?"
"He wanted a drink and the water was gone so I'm getting more."
"You left him alone?" Mark and Kerry said together.
"Is that a problem?" Cleo asked. Mark and Kerry turned on their heal and ran back towards Dave room. When they got there, he was gone. Cleo came in after.
"But... He couldn't have just gotten up and left... That would have been impossible!" she claimed.
"Not if you're really determined," Kerry said, "Mark, we're running out of doctors fast. How's Elizabeth? Do you know if she'd be able to work?"
"Kerry..." Mark said slowly, becoming very interested in a swallow perched outside the window.
"What?" Kerry asked.
"Well, when Cleo left to go help us with Dave..." Mark bit his lip and Cleo finished for him.
"Randi went in and began to talk to her..."
"So? Wait, don't tell me she's lost her memory too!" Kerry said, exasperated.
"Um, no, but... Well, Dr. Corday, she, um... told Randi she was tired and lied back down on her pillow. At first, she was only sleeping, but..."
"But?" Kerry persisted.
"Well, like Carter, she suffered severe head trauma when she fell down those stairs and... Well, now... She won't wake up..." Kerry's eyes widened.
"Won't wake up as if she's a heavy sleeper or won't wake up because she's not going to wake up?" Kerry asked, slowly, afraid of the answer, but Cleo and Mark shook their heads.
"Neither," Mark said, "Kerry, the good news is she's alive, but..."
"She's in a coma," Cleo finished. Kerry began shouting about every swear word she knew.
"Carter, Lucy, Abby, Corday, Malucci, Kovac... God knows! What the Hell is going on here? We're going through doctors faster than this staff can eat a box of doughnuts!"
"Uh, I don't like doughnuts..." Cleo smiled, timidly.
"I DON'T CARE! JUST GET ME SOME DOCTERS NOW!"
"That can't be good," Luka said to Chuny over the desk at hearing Weaver's scream.
"Yeah, she's been pretty steamed lately. I wouldn't tell her you were gone if I were you."
"But I know she's there! I could have sworn I heard her!" he jumped when Chuny's eyes widened. He turned around and saw Dave Malucci in a hat and coat, the color nearly completely gone from his cheeks.
"You wanna find her?" he asked.
"Dave! You look like a walking corpse!" Luka whispered, harshly.
"I guess we're both hiding from Weaver, aren't we? C'mon. You know where she is and now, we're together. One person can distract him while the other goes in to get Lucy. Chuny? You're not going to tell anyone you saw us, are you?" Dave's voice trembled slightly, but his eyes flared with determination. She said nothing. Dave began to shake, but kept his eyes on her. Finally, she nodded, reluctantly.
"All right, but you be back soon, you hear?" Dave just waved at her and dragged Luka on with him out the door.
"Dave, we're really short handed over there and-"
"Bite me," Dave interrupted. They were walking to Crowe's house. Dave was still shivering and very white. Luka could still see the bruises. Dave was too weak to do this. What did he think he was doing?
"Excuse me?" Luka asked.
"Shut up. We have to get there fast. He could do something to her. Maybe kill her," the way Dave spoke made Luka understand that he didn't want to talk. He shivered more and his legs turned to spaghetti and he fell onto Luka.
"Dave, you are in no condition to-"
"This bastard's mine!" Dave swore, clinging onto Luka.
"Dave, let the police-"
"Stop acting like Weaver! You wanna get her out of there, don't you? You want to watch this guy suffer, don't you? Look what he's done to all of us!" Dave sounded hysterical.
"Dave..."
"Come on, Kovac, are you with me or not?" Dave looked at Luka hopefully. Luka paused.
"Yes," he heard himself say. But inside his head he screamed 'No! No, Dave could kill himself!' But those weren't the words that came out. Instead, he had said 'yes.' Finally, they approached the house walked up the steps, ready to do what they had to do...
"He's still not awake yet?" Kerry asked. Mark shook his head. They were now in the OR.
"At least he's stable. He shouldn't-"
"Dr. Green!" Cleo cried, "He's beginning to wake up!" Kerry and Mark ran over to Dave, who was stirring. He still looked deathly pale.
"Dave?" Kerry said, tentatively.
"Chief?" he muttered. She smiled.
"Dave, do you know what happened?"
"Some guy... he was crazy... he hid Lucy... Said we needed him to find her... If we took him to jail, she'd probably..." he moaned in pain.
"Dave? You OK?" his eyes snapped open at Mark's question.
"I want to get him!" he said, with anger filled determination. There was life in his eyes again. The burning desire to 'get him' kept him alive. He sat up but Mark eased him back down.
"Easy there, you're not ready to go out there looking for him."
"But look what he's done!" Dave said, his voice sounding annoyed now, without an ounce of weariness, "Done to Carter, Corday, Abby, Me, Lucy... He's gonna pay! He's mine!"
"You sound like Luka," Kerry laughed.
"Luka?" Mark and Dave turned to her.
"Yeah... I mean, no... I mean, Mark could I talk to you?" she pulled Mark away.
"Yes?"
"Luka found his file."
"What?!"
"It had his address in it. He wanted to go after him. I didn't want to say this in front of Dave incase he got any ideas..."
"Wait a minute... He was that determined and you left him alone?" Mark asked, disbelieving. Kerry nodded, then stopped and began to shake her head skeptically.
"No, he wouldn't... Not Luka, he's not like Dave, he wouldn't go anywhere without telling anyone... Would he?"
"Have you seen him lately?"
"I was with him ten minutes ago..."
"And where is he now?"
"Page him!" Kerry ordered as she headed out, "No, wait, on second thought, I'll do it."
Lucy stopped crying. Did she hear someone knock? Someone outside? No, it must have been her imagination. Who would be looking for her? But then, she heard Jacob go to the door.
Luka rang the doorbell, the casual approach. He was being paged, but ignored it. No one answered so he rang it again. After about waiting for a few minutes, a man answered the door.
"Yeah? What do you want, I'm busy!" the man sounded angry.
"Um, is this Mr. Crowe?" Luka asked.
"Where you from?" the man asked, detecting Luka's Croatian accent.
"Answer the question, please, sir," Luka ignored him.
"No, my name is Daniel Carson," Luka looked the man up and down. He had red hair and brown eyes, "I think you have the wrong house."
"Maybe I do, thank you," Luka tossed one more suspicious glance at the character before he shut the door. He then saw the house number. 143. He was looking for 145.
Lucy listened as she heard Jacob talk to the man at the door.
"I said I don't want no God damned vacuum cleaner!" she heard the door slam hard. She felt something on the back of her neck. Eight poking sticks moving up to her head. She screamed and shook the spider off. She watched it scuttle away over to what was left of Cara. It was a huge spider. Lucy hated spiders.
"I have to get out of here, I just have to!" she promised herself. Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten anything since that morning and all it was was a cup of coffee. She was so hungry. She knew she should have been thinking of a plan to help her escape, but all she could think about was that she'd never see the face of another human being again. The only smile she'd ever see again was that crooked smile on that evil man's horrible face. She flinched at the thought. The last time she had seen her friends they were accusing her of trying to hurt Abby. They had no reason to look for her now. Suddenly, she jumped at the sound of a doorbell.
Luka made his way to the next house. Again, he rang the bell. He only needed to ring it once. An annoyed looking man with bright green eyes answered.
"I told you, I don't want any- Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were that stupid salesman again trying to sell me a vacuum cleaner," he sighed and smiled, "So, how can I help you?"
"Um, are you Mr. Jacob Crowe?" Luka asked.
"Yes, that's me. Gosh, that accent sounds familiar... Ah, yeah, that's right, you're that Doctor I spoke to! What was your name again?"
"You can call me Dr. Kovac. Do you remember the young doctor that took you? Her name was Lucy Knight?"
"Uh... Yes, yes, I think so. Is there a problem?" his eyes looked concerned. Luka looked at him, suspiciously. Either he was a very good liar, or he didn't know what was going on, which Luka highly doubted.
"Um, yes there is. She's gone missing."
"Really? Wow, I'm sorry about that... Wait, what does this have to do with me?" he asked, innocently. Luka opened his mouth, but heard a muffled cry from inside the house.
"What was that?" he asked.
"It was my cat. She always makes noises when she's hungry. I was just about to feed her."
"Can I come in?" Luka asked.
"Uh, I'd let you, but the house's a mess. I hope Miss Knight comes back."
"Comes... back?"
"She ran away, didn't she?" he asked.
"I never said that," Luka said, "I just said she's disappeared..."
"Oh, well then I hope you find her! Good bye, Dr. Kovac!" and he closed the door. That did it. Luka knew Lucy was in there. But getting in there to find her, that would be another story. He decided to get back to the ER before he was missed.
Lucy sighed as she heard the door close again. For a minute, she had one moment of hope that Luka would find her, but he didn't. She didn't hear the conversation very clearly, but she heard enough to tell her that Luka was suspicious.
"I guess that's a good thing," she sighed.
"Kerry? Benton and I were talking and we think that Carter-"
"Wait, what about Dave?" Kerry asked Mark.
"Dave? Cleo said she'd watch him. Benton wanted to talk about Carter."
"All right. What about Carter?"
"Well, we think he's-"
"Dr. Weaver? Dr. Green?" Cleo said, catching up with the two.
"Cleo?" Kerry said, "Aren't you supposed to be with Dave?"
"He wanted a drink and the water was gone so I'm getting more."
"You left him alone?" Mark and Kerry said together.
"Is that a problem?" Cleo asked. Mark and Kerry turned on their heal and ran back towards Dave room. When they got there, he was gone. Cleo came in after.
"But... He couldn't have just gotten up and left... That would have been impossible!" she claimed.
"Not if you're really determined," Kerry said, "Mark, we're running out of doctors fast. How's Elizabeth? Do you know if she'd be able to work?"
"Kerry..." Mark said slowly, becoming very interested in a swallow perched outside the window.
"What?" Kerry asked.
"Well, when Cleo left to go help us with Dave..." Mark bit his lip and Cleo finished for him.
"Randi went in and began to talk to her..."
"So? Wait, don't tell me she's lost her memory too!" Kerry said, exasperated.
"Um, no, but... Well, Dr. Corday, she, um... told Randi she was tired and lied back down on her pillow. At first, she was only sleeping, but..."
"But?" Kerry persisted.
"Well, like Carter, she suffered severe head trauma when she fell down those stairs and... Well, now... She won't wake up..." Kerry's eyes widened.
"Won't wake up as if she's a heavy sleeper or won't wake up because she's not going to wake up?" Kerry asked, slowly, afraid of the answer, but Cleo and Mark shook their heads.
"Neither," Mark said, "Kerry, the good news is she's alive, but..."
"She's in a coma," Cleo finished. Kerry began shouting about every swear word she knew.
"Carter, Lucy, Abby, Corday, Malucci, Kovac... God knows! What the Hell is going on here? We're going through doctors faster than this staff can eat a box of doughnuts!"
"Uh, I don't like doughnuts..." Cleo smiled, timidly.
"I DON'T CARE! JUST GET ME SOME DOCTERS NOW!"
"That can't be good," Luka said to Chuny over the desk at hearing Weaver's scream.
"Yeah, she's been pretty steamed lately. I wouldn't tell her you were gone if I were you."
"But I know she's there! I could have sworn I heard her!" he jumped when Chuny's eyes widened. He turned around and saw Dave Malucci in a hat and coat, the color nearly completely gone from his cheeks.
"You wanna find her?" he asked.
"Dave! You look like a walking corpse!" Luka whispered, harshly.
"I guess we're both hiding from Weaver, aren't we? C'mon. You know where she is and now, we're together. One person can distract him while the other goes in to get Lucy. Chuny? You're not going to tell anyone you saw us, are you?" Dave's voice trembled slightly, but his eyes flared with determination. She said nothing. Dave began to shake, but kept his eyes on her. Finally, she nodded, reluctantly.
"All right, but you be back soon, you hear?" Dave just waved at her and dragged Luka on with him out the door.
"Dave, we're really short handed over there and-"
"Bite me," Dave interrupted. They were walking to Crowe's house. Dave was still shivering and very white. Luka could still see the bruises. Dave was too weak to do this. What did he think he was doing?
"Excuse me?" Luka asked.
"Shut up. We have to get there fast. He could do something to her. Maybe kill her," the way Dave spoke made Luka understand that he didn't want to talk. He shivered more and his legs turned to spaghetti and he fell onto Luka.
"Dave, you are in no condition to-"
"This bastard's mine!" Dave swore, clinging onto Luka.
"Dave, let the police-"
"Stop acting like Weaver! You wanna get her out of there, don't you? You want to watch this guy suffer, don't you? Look what he's done to all of us!" Dave sounded hysterical.
"Dave..."
"Come on, Kovac, are you with me or not?" Dave looked at Luka hopefully. Luka paused.
"Yes," he heard himself say. But inside his head he screamed 'No! No, Dave could kill himself!' But those weren't the words that came out. Instead, he had said 'yes.' Finally, they approached the house walked up the steps, ready to do what they had to do...