Carefully Dave tucked the bag of hearts and the card into his breast pocket and his hand slid down the door opening it as Randi turned up the music.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..
Listen up everybody if you wanna take a
chance. Just get on the floor and do the New Kids Dance! Don't worry
'bout me cuz it won't take long! We're gonna put you in a
trance with the funky song! Cuz you gotta be... Hangin' Tough.. Oh
yeah.. Hangin' Tough.. Hangin' Tough.. That's right.. Ha-"
Dave slid across the floor with surprising agility, knocking the boom box off the desk and slipping the CD out, his hands shaking with fright. "NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK ARE EVIL!" He muttered, tossing it on the desk and flipping through the box of CDs. "Whose ARE these?!" Dave exclaimed with disbelief, holding up a 'Joey Lawrence Rappin' Love' Album.
Yosh stepped forward blushing. "Mine, Malucci.." He said meekly.
Dave sighed, "Sorry Yosh.. Here ya go.." He said handing him back his box and putting NKOTB back in the case."
Malik tossed Dave a CD and he plugged it into the player.
"Your construction
Smells of corruption
I manipulate to recreate
This air to ground saga
Gotta launder my karma
I said hallelujah to the sixteen loyal fans
You'll get down on your muthafuckin' knees
And it's time for your sickness again
Come on and tell me what you need
Tell me what is making you bleed
We got two more minutes and
We gonna cut to what you need
So one of six so tell me
One do you want to live
And one of seven tell me
Is it time for your muthafuckin' ass to give
Tell me is it time to get down on your muthafuckin' knees
Tell me is it time to get down-"
(exerpt Pigeon Hed Battleflag is property of Lo-Fidelity Allstars and co.)
The crowd of doctors began to dance and cheer as Malik spun out onto the floor.
"Great taste in music Malucci." Somebody yelled over the din. Dave smiled, grabbing his charts and walking to exam 4 again when he stopped outside exam 3.
It had been hours.. The poor bastard. Hadn't DeRaad gotten his fat ass downstairs to check on him yet?
He opened the darkened exam room door, his hand flailing blindly along
the wall for the switch. It clicked hollowly and produced
nothing, but a flickering of the lightboard outside the room as it
popped and blew out. Dave cursed under his breath and stepped in
the room.
"Lucy?" He muttered nervously as he saw the rumpled sheets and blankets of the empty bed. Lucy's stethascope lay on the floor at his feet and as he stepped forward to pick it up, the door swung shut behind him. "Shit! Lucy y-"
The knife gleamed in the light that filtered through the window as it
came into Dave's peripheral vision and he stumbled forward to
avoid it's first blow as Paul grabbed him roughly by the arms and slid
the long blade into his back.
If Dave had been able to, he would have laughed. He would have laughed hysterically. Why was this happening to him?? It was surreal, unbelievable. What had he done to deserve this? He was coming to make it up to Lucy? What had he done wrong?
Before Dave could contemplate this any longer, Paul advanced on him
again, digging the blade deeper for a third time. I should be
stopping this! I should be kicking his ass.. Dave screamed in his thoughts
as his knees began to weaken.
The blood shimmered wet on Dave's navy scrubs. It was warm and trickled down his thigh, tickling him and sending mixed signals of pleasure and pain through his leg.
His hands groped blindly in front of him, knocking over instrument trays, crashing to the ground as he fell.
Paul smiled in the shadows and slowly shed his gown.
Dave moaned softly on the floor, his eyes focusing and his vision clearing
to see the body of 'the lost medstudent' bleeding on the
floor. "Awww shit Luce.." He groaned feebly, using his quickly ebbing
strength to turn onto his back and stare his attacker in the
eye.
"You bastard... You fucking crazy asshole!" Dave licked his lips, tasting
blood. Except this time it wasn't warm or comforting. It was
cold and wet and salty and it told him that his wounds weren't superficial..
If there was blood in his mouth....
Dave lunged at Sobriki, crawling on his belly, yelling his head off. "They can't hear you Dr.Malucci.." Paul said softly. "They're all off having fun without you. They don't care about you. But.. Be careful, Dr.Dave.. If you're too loud.. I'll slit your throat too.. I'm quite good at it actually.."
With the last bit of strength in his rubbery limbs, Dave made a break
for it. Commando crawling across the floor to the doorway, he
crawled on his forearms, dragging his useless legs and leaving a trail
of red.
His hand strained to reach the door, striking the wood with a wet smack, his bandaged hand now saturated with his own blood as his good hand planted a red print in the open doorway.
Paul wrapped his hands around Dave's ankles and began slowly pulling
him backward, letting the door swing shut.
Kerry walked into the lounge, shedding her coat, hat and scarf and hanging them in her locker.
Randi and Andrew sat at the desk musing over large mugs of black coffee.
They'd looked up when she'd come in, but they hadn't
thought anything of it, their shifts didn't start for another fifteen
minutes.
"Where in the hell is Malucci? He IS scheduled to work , is he not?!" She grumbled, pouring herself a cup of brew and standing at the coffee machine.
Andrew rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. Working this late was evil and hard on a guy's system. 11pm till 7am .. What sort of crap shift was that?! "Not here... Greene told him that he could have the day off."
"The day off!!?" Weaver's eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on her crutch. If Mark Greene wasn't careful he'd have this cane shoved soooo far up his ass..
"Well. He did work double shifts for Dr.Greene last night. Dr.Greene
had made plans or something.. It was pretty busy too." Replied
Randi, coming to Dave's defense.
"MARK had plans?! That's not an excuse.. That's laughable.. I want Malucci out here now for his shift. Phone him." Kerry glowered, her fingers knuckled white around the handle of the mug as she sipped it slowly, looking at her watch. He was an hour late already. She hoped he wasn't expecting to be paid for that hour.. Or any of these damn hours he was sleeping off in some exam room.. When she got her hands on him.
"We tried phoning him. There's no answer at his apartment." Andrew muttered,
ripping open another sugar packet and adding it
to the stack of little empty pink envelopes that towered on the table.
He stirred the sludge slowly before sipping it and watching Randi's teeth
set on edge at the though of THAT much sugar in coffee.
"Or his cell phone.." She sighed, pouring a creamer in her coffee and glaring at Andrew.
"It's off.." Andrew finished for her, smiling slightly as he took a sip.
"Oh brilliant observation Einstein.." Randi muttered, rolling her eyes.
"He said he had several dates lined up. Maybe he went home with one of them.." Andrew grinned.
Kerry stood behind the desk clerk's chair, her cane raised off the ground
and inches from his head as she contemplated clocking him
into next week.
She watched Randi, looking the woman in the eyes as she lowered the crutch and set it on the floor and let it support her weight. Randi grinned evilly.
"I don't care if Dave went home with RuPaul, Traci Lords and Dame Edna.. I want him here, I want him on shift. Find him goddammit!" Kerry barked.
"Kerry.. Some of the staff are wondering if they can turn the music back on.. Malik says his stereo is fine.. There was no lasting damage from you throwing it against the wall." Luka said quietly as he stuck his head in the door.
"Is it Valentine's Day anymore Kovac?!" She asked through gritted teeth, and not looking up from her coffee.
"Well.. No.. I guess not."
"There's your answer. This is the Emergency Outpatients Facility of Cook County General.. Not a disco.. Go see some patients." Kerry grumbled angrily.
"But."
"GO!"
The door slid shut and Kerry glared at the clerks. "Isn't there some place you could be right now? Other than here?"
Randi and Andrew looked at each other before standing up and dumping their mugs in the sink.
As they walked out to Admit, they could make out the tinny faint mutterings
of music from the CD player that Malik had covertly
stuffed under the desk. "You better not let Weaver catch you with that,
Malik.. She'll have your balls as earrings.." Randi snickered.
His fingers thrummed on the desk, his newly manicured nails clicking
on the Formica, keeping in beat to the secret Beastie Boys
CD.
They looked up at the board, a few patients for Chen, a few for Carter,
a few even for Luka. Only one remained from last nights
shift. Inked in beside HEADACHE EXAM 3, were the initials LKn and DM.
*****
Paul looked down at his hostages and sighed heavily. They weren't much fun when they were unconscious.. They didn't moan or gasp or blubber or even make stupid escape attempts like Dave had done earlier.
**
Dave had learned quickly, Paul's friend was a good teacher. He'd stopped
moving after Paul had rolled Dave onto his back and held
the knife to his throat.
"You've been a bad bad boy, Dr.Malucci.." Paul hissed sadly. "Bad.."
Dave's eyes widened as Paul lifted the knife away, lifted the knife
up and brought it down into the doctor's stomach. He'd screamed in pain,
sobbing as the knife was slipped cleanly from the wound, dripping with
his blood. His breath had come in panicked gasps as
he watched Paul, wondering if he was going to do it again. Instead
Paul rose to his feet and stepped away from the doctor letting Dave roll
onto his good side and stare at him dully. "Bad.."
Dave swallowed, the taste of blood familiar in his mouth now.. Like peppermint gum or mints, something that belonged. "Paul.." He'd croaked. But that was all he could manage before a dark shadow of haze passed over him and he slipped into unconsciousness.
**
"I have to go feed my dog. I have to go take care of my pets. My dog needs me." Paul announced to his captive comatose audience before he knelt on his haunches before them and drew squiggles in the blood with his finger. "I just wanted to punish you. People when they are bad need to be punished. You hurt me. You stuck things in me. You were trying to cut me. Cut me open. Nobody does that. Nobody steals my organs.. They are mine. You cannot have them. You hurt me, you thought you could trick me. Be nice to me. You were bad though.. You had to be punished. I told you.." Paul said sadly. "I did warn you. You wouldn't listen. You were very very bad.." He said almost tearfully as he stood, getting to his feet.
He looked down at the bodies at his feet, the back of his gown gaping, his feet bare and a mottled purple from the cold floor.
"I have to go now.. I have to feed my dog."
Paul wandered from the exam room, down the hall, the knife still clutched
in his hand like a child's security blanket or stuffed animal. He stood
in the doorway, his doctor and medstudent unconscious from significant
blood loss, glancing around for a place to lose his
childhood, the security blanket clenched in his bloody white knuckled
fist.
He wandered down the hall, the ratty blue bathrobe flapping in the air before he stopped, looking upwards and around. The admit desk was busy, but with people doing work or at least pretending to, they didn't notice the young man straining his arm upwards, Paul on the end of his toes trying to get rid of his friend, his need. With a grunt of strength, he popped the butcher knife up top the supplies shelf and slowly returned to the ground, standing on the balls of his feet.
Paul glanced around quickly, before continuing to wander down the hall
and out the door to freedom.