"He's bleeding out!"
"Shit! Where's it coming from?!"
"Looks like… the left ventricle…"
'Okay, somebody clamp it!"
"Got it!"
"BP's dropping, heartbeat irregular!"
"Damn, I thought we had 'em. All right, let's go with 3 cc's and charge to 50! Clear!"
"Still irregular!"
"100! Clear!"
"That's gonna have to be stable enough."
"You're gonna stitch up his ventricle?"
"Since no surgeon's here, yes! Hand me that needle!"
The white ceiling patched with electrical, rectangular lights flashed overhead, annoyingly. He could hear the other doctors around him shouting things, but he decided to concentrate on staying conscious rather than listen in. He felt himself being lifted for a moment and the pain of being set back down made him wince.
"How ya' doin' there, Buddy?" Carter's voice became discernable a he opened his eyes once more.
"I've been better."
"I bet," Carter looked up. "Let's get 5 cc's of Morphine going here."
Haleh cut off his shirt with a pair of scissors to reveal black and blue. She hissed inwardly at the bruised discoloration and swallowed hard as she noticed a two-finger-width shard of glass protruding from his abdomen. "Haleh!" Luka's voice drew her attention away from Dave momentarily. He jerked his head in the patient's direction. "Rib count." She nodded quickly, her mind now set to the task ahead. She looked up at Dave's face. "Dave, tell me if this hurts, hon." She didn't see how it couldn't. He nodded. She slowly worked her way across his chest, felling each rib, praying that it was intact.
"Aw!" Dave yelped and Carter held down his shoulders as his body instinctually jumped in pain as she came to a particularly dark area or bruising.
"Sorry," Haleh muttered, knowing she needed to continue with the task at hand if she were in any way to help Dave, even if it caused him pain. Dave clenched his teeth and tried to ignore the pain as she finished. However, Haleh could still feel his muscles tense in pain now and then.
She looked up to Luka. "Two broken, four possible fractures."
Luka nodded, listening to Dave's chest with his stethoscope. His breathing was normal which meant that his lungs hadn't been pierced.
Abby wet a cloth with diluted disinfectant and began to wipe away the blood on the side of Dave's head. He turned his head to the right so that she could reach it easier. It was then that he noticed trauma two. A man lay on the table, his chest cracked open. Dr. Greene was hovering over the chest opening with a pair of clamping scissors and a needle. He announced something inaudible then moved to the other side of the patient. The man's face came into view. He was bloodied and unconscious, but Dave could recognize the face of his father. He suddenly cared about the previously nameless patient in the opposite trauma room.
"What happened?" His voice was quiet.
"Sorry?" Luka prompted while shining a light in Dave's eyes. When he was done the momentarily light blind Dave blinked. "What happened to the man over there?"
"Uh…" Luka glanced up momentarily at the man across the way. "I don't know."
"MVA that came in a few minutes ago," Haleh clarified as she handed John a syringe. Dave looked up to his friend. "Is he going to make it?" John quickly glanced over to see Mark charging up the paddles. He wondered why the hell Dave cared. "I dunno."
Dave turned his head back to trauma two.
Dr. Greene was shocking the man.
"Dave, tell me if this hurts," Luka placed his hands on the young doctor's abdomen, preparing to feel for any signs of internal bleeding.
Dr. Greene stripped off his gloves and looked to the clock, his mouth moving as a nurse recorded what he said on the patient's chart. Time of death.
"Dave?" Looking up after not hearing a response Luka followed Dave's gaze to the emptying trauma room, then back to Dave's concerned face. Through his life he had seen the face of desperation, desolation, and anguish and knew from working in a Chicago ER that he was more perceptive to facial expressions than most. Luka softened his voice as he noted Dave's visage. "Did you know him?"
Carter looked up suddenly, his attention matching that of Abby's.
After a pause Dave spoke. "Yeah… he was my father." Abby felt her breath catch in her chest. John hanged his head slightly and cursed inwardly. Luka felt a wave of surprised yet stayed focused on the situation. "I'm sorry." Dave slowly turned his head to look at him, their eyes locking. The confusion and pain in Dave's eyes matched the understanding in Luka's. After a moment of silence Luka looked down. Linking together the chain of events that had led up to that moment. "Is he the person who attacked you?"
Dave thought as he returned his gaze to the empty trauma room, weighing the consequences of his answer. Feeling weak, tired, and beaten he slowly nodded.
Carter and Abby exchanged surprised yet somewhat angered expressions and felt immediately more comfortable with the situation believing that one would be happy to see one's attacker dead.
"All right, let me finish, Dave, then you can go see him." Dave's slight nod was his only response. "Tell me where it hurts," Luka once more placed his fingertips on Dave's abdomen, preparing to press down.