Disclaimer: See first chapter
Rating: PG-15
Chapter Three: Corrine
Corrine had never been one to lose her head in a tough situation. She liked to think that she was particularly skilled at keeping things straight in her mind. I mean, she was excellent at keeping things straight in her room, was she not? But arriving at Mercy Hospital was like nothing else Corrine had ever experienced in her sixteen years on the planet, and she quickly found herself descending into confusion and timidity.
There were people everywhere. Injured victims, sick victims, families of victims, paramedics, nurses and doctors rushing from patient to patient and tending to the ones that were deemed to be in the most immediate danger. Corrine was sure that a hospital ER could not always look this frantic, that it was just a side effect of the shooting, but she vowed at that moment never to become a doctor in an ER. She wasn't sure she could handle the chaos. She needed to have a handle on the situation, to be in control of what was going on.
This whole day had been out of her control, Corrine thought with a grimace. She'd never experienced anything like it before in her life and it was terrifying and wretched and she hoped to never have to live through it again... and she'd been hiding in the bathroom the whole time. If she was traumatized from being in the other room... she couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like for those outside of it who watched their friends get shot, watched them die...
Corrine quickly pushed the thought out of her mind and resolved to remain in charge of her emotions for the rest of the day. The worst is over, right?, she asked herself. Now all you have to do is find out where Marshall, Vaughn and Lucas are, prove that they're all right, and go back to Blake Holsey. She could put this whole day behind her and sleep – she could really go for some sleep right now. She hadn't gotten much the previous night because she'd been up until one working on a history project – an 11 page term paper on the Cold War. She had dozens of pictures that she included, and graphs and tables, all kinds of information, all labeled and categorized... she was sure she would get a perfect grade on it – if she ever got to turn it in...
Oh hell, Corrine thought, blinking back the tears that threatened to surface. Some of your classmates just died today and you're thinking about a stupid history project?! How self-centered and aloof can you be? You need to focus on what's important. There will be plenty of time for the things you left behind later. Right now, it's time to look ahead...
Corrine turned to her left where Professor Zachary had joined her, Josie on his other side, still looking like she was cold, even though she was wearing her jacket, buttoned up snugly. Corrine had been worried about Josie after the shooting, after the two had been coaxed out of the girls' room by the police. Corrine had been crying before, as silently as she could manage, but when she came out of the bathroom to witness the commotion just across the hall, she cried even harder. At first, she and Josie had been ushered in a room with some other unscathed students, shivering – whether from the temperature or from the horror of the day, it was not immediately evident – but eventually, the police had moved on to other matters, and the two girls, inquisitive by nature, had snuck out of the room to see if they could find their friends, only to be brushed aside and overlooked with all that was going on.
As Corrine thought about it, it was only after they had left the secured room that Josie had lapsed into silence. Immediately following the shooting she had been collected and insistent – eager to find out what had gone on; only after they found themselves in the cafeteria had she stopped talking... Observing her quickly in the entrance to the ER, Corrine also noticed that the unresponsive look she had carried before had been replaced by one of abject discomfort, like she was distracted by something...
But before she could ask anything else, Zachary took hold of her elbow. "Come on, stick close to me. I don't want either of you girls to get lost. I shouldn't even have brought you here." He said, more to himself than to either Corrine or Josie.
The trio pushed their way through the crowd up to the front desk where a stern yet harried looking woman was answering phones while simultaneously scribbling something on a piece of paper. "Alright, MVA – how many victims did you say? Three critical, six minor... No, we can't take any more than one – we're swamped, in case you hadn't heard about the school shooting. We can take one critical and two minor, but you'll have to take the rest to Sacred Heart... OK, ETA is 8 minutes. Got it, we'll be ready." The woman scribbled this on the paper as she hung up the phone and without looking up, asked, distractedly, "Waiting room's over there, folks."
"I'm sorry, we're just... we're looking for any victims of the school shooting." Zachary began.
"We have quite a few of those, I'm afraid." The woman said dismissively.
"Well, we're looking for three young men in particular—"Zachary began. "If you could give us any information, like a room number or a status we'd really appreciate it. The names are Vaughn Pearson, Marshall Wheeler, and Lucas Rand—"
"I'm sorry, sir. Really, I am, but that whole situation's a complete mess right now and we really don't know any more than you do. We're trying to get the names of the victims up here right now, but we're a bit crowded, if you couldn't tell and—Hold on a second—"She plucked the phone from it's cradle and pressed a button on the keypad, answering with a crisp, "Mercy—what's your status... OK... No. I already told the 77 that we can't take any more critical victims... No, it's out of the question. If you want to send us more doctors, then you can send us more patients."
Corrine had been standing by silently, wanting to speak, but the stern woman ignored her actions and continued to talk into the phone. Finally Corrine raised her voice, "Excuse me, but I just wanted to find my... my brother. I think he might be here and—"The woman waved Corrine off with her hand flippantly and strained to hear her phone conversation. "Couldn't you just tell us where the victims of the shooting were taken?!" Corrine shouted.
Still the nurse ignored the three people before her and finished her phone call, laying the receiver back in its cradle. Annoyed, she turned to the girl to berate her, but softened when she saw the frightened expressions the girls wore. She sighed heavily, pushing a few strands of her red hair away from her face. "Look, if you really want to find your—your brother did you say?" Corrine and Zachary nodded, though the nurse looked dubious. "I'd say just check around the waiting room first. There are a lot of people here and it's very likely they could be in there waiting to be seen. If you can't find any of your friends there then you can look upstairs in ICU. They won't let any visitors in right now aside from family, but you might be able to find out something—"The phone began its incessant ringing once more and the exasperated look returned. "—I'm sorry I can't help you anymore."
"No, that's fine, thank you very much, Miss." Zachary said gratefully.
"Yeah, thank you." Corrine added.
As one, the trio turned back around to face the bustling waiting room, dismayed to see mostly strangers. "Where should we start?" Josie muttered.
"Why don't we just... start at one side and work our way around to the other?" Zachary suggested, looking rather intimidated himself.
"Sounds fine to me." Corrine said, leading the way. The trio walked slowly through the crowds of people. Drunkards and homeless patients littered the aisles and the hallways, on gurneys or sitting in chairs. Mothers holding sick and wailing children waited in chairs, looking anxious to be out of there – Corrine could relate – but not daring to lose their seat. And it was true; there were hardly any places to sit. Nearly all the chairs were occupied. In no small way could Corrine sympathize with the doctors and nurses at Mercy Hospital on that day, or any other day for that matter, if the hospital was normally even half as bad as it was then.
Corrine's eyes met briefly with a man who must have been in his mid- to late-seventies who was sitting tiredly in a chair in the corner holding a bloodied rag to his forehead. His eyes held a haunted, detached presence that unsettled Corrine and sent a chill running through her body. She quickly turned away and stared at a spot outside the hospital's bay doors, if only to escape the disturbing expression she'd witnessed from the elderly patient. The feeling of wanting to be somewhere else increased tenfold but Corrine ignored it, shoving it deep down inside of her where her fear and pain were also trying to escape. Lock it up, she instructed. Find your friends first. What if they need you?
That was then she saw her – finally, someone she knew. "Professor." She called, getting Zachary to turn. "Look, it's Tina, uh, Tina—Gedrick. That's her name. She's a cheerleader, and I think she's friends with Vaughn. Maybe she's seen him somewhere." Corrine was already halfway across the room, calling out, "Tina—Tina!"
Slowly, Tina raised her head, astonished to see who was calling to her. She had, perhaps, not been expecting to see Corrine Baxter in the emergency room, calling out to her. She looked past Corrine at Zachary and Josie, then back at the first girl. "What is it?" She asked, "What do you want?" Corrine noticed that Tina was sitting with her left wrist on her lap, holding an ice pack on it.
"I, uh—Are you alright?" Corrine asked quietly, gesturing to the arm."
"Me? Oh, yes, I'm fine." Tina's voice was small and afraid – a tone Corrine was not used to hearing from the usually bubbly and outgoing cheerleader. "I just fell... I got knocked into a display case and my wrist got kind of... hurt. I was in the school store when that kid—"Tina's eyes started to well up. "I just can't believe it. I can't believe it."
"Can't believe what?" Zachary asked gently.
"Didn't you hear? Madison, she—she died. Back at the school. They said she didn't even make it to the hospital. She was dead by the time they got there." Tina's voice wavered with emotion. "He killed her. That boy killed her."
Behind her, Corrine thought she heard a sharp intake of breath from Josie and when she turned, the redhead was looking even more drawn, her lower lip trembling violently, but still Corrine had no chance to respond because Tina drew her attention again. "I think your friend was in the school store when it happened—that Lucas guy." She said quietly. "I saw him buying a bag of chips just before—just before it happened."
"Lucas?" Corrine demanded. "You saw Lucas in the store? Is he here now?"
"I—I don't know. I don't remember much after the paramedics got there. I know he was in there with me and a few others for at least twenty minutes... I saw him just after, I think... But I don't remember if he was hurt or not."
"How can you not remember if he was hurt?!" Corrine almost shouted, near tears, startling Tina. "Can't you tell us anything else?"
Now Tina's eyes quivered with unreleased tears. "No! I can't! I'm sorry, Corrine, I don't remember anything else. After I found out Madison had died, well I all I wanted to do was get out of there!"
"Corrine—"Zachary laid a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Corrine, it's OK. We'll find someone else to ask. We'll find Lucas, if he's here. Someone else ought to have seen him."
Corrine, breathing heavily, slowly adjusted her temper, coming to her senses. Tina looked scared and Corrine knew that she was in just as much pain as herself, perhaps more because she knew her friend was dead. Suddenly feeling guilty, Corrine averted her eyes. "I'm sorry, Tina. I didn't mean—"She paused, then, "I've got to go. Thank you, really, thanks." She stalked off. Zachary – after giving Tina a reassuring look, followed with Josie in tow.
"Corrine, you're going to have to accept that everyone's just as much in the dark as we are right now. You'll find out things soon enough, you just have to give them time, Corrine—"
"I don't want to give them time!" Corrine said fiercely, turning to her teacher. "I just want to find out if my friends are even alive!"
Zachary sighed, looking over her head, and recognition emerged in his eyes. "I think I see some more students."
Corrine turned and indeed there were three more teenagers, clad in Blake Holsey High uniforms, sitting in chairs or on the floor near the soda machines. Corrine recognized two of them, a senior named Shelley Erickson, and a fellow junior, David—Dave something. The other girl, who looked a bit like Shelley, looked to be a freshman, and was sitting on the floor. Corrine, Josie and Zachary picked their way over to them and Corrine addressed the others with a nod before turning to Shelley. Shelley was a nice person, in Corrine's experience. The two of them had Music Theory together, and Shelley shared her notes if Corrine ever had to miss class. She knew who Corrine's friends were, and possibly had seen one of them.
"Corrine." Shelley called out to the girl as she got nearer. When Corrine was close, Shelley smiled bitterly. "I knew I should have gone to lunch off campus today—Oh God, that was terrible... What am I doing, joking in a time like this?" She caressed her forehead with one hand, a guilty look on her face.
"It's OK." Corrine told her. "No one's going to blame you for it. What are you here for anyway?"
"My brother, Harry." David spoke up, and Corrine couldn't help but notice the blood that seeped through the cloth he held to his arm. David looked up at Corrine and Zachary with big, blue eyes. "He got shot, in the cafeteria. Chris shot him when he—when he tried to take the gun away."
"I'm so sorry." Corrine said, then remembered that Harold Voorhies, David's brother, was a senior who had been dating Shelley for a few months. The freshman leaning against the pop machine was Shelley's little sister, if her memory served correctly. "I hope Harry's OK."
"He will be." David half-smiled. "The doctors said he would be. I believe them."
Shelley looked at David sympathetically, seeming to not share her friend's sense of hope. "Corrine, it's terrible, what's happened, isn't it?"
"Yes." Corrine said impatiently, "Everything's a mess. But I need to know, Shelley, David, any of you guys, you haven't seen Lucas, Marshall, or Vaughn Pearson, have you?"
A blank look slipped onto Shelley's face. "Oh Corrine, Josie... You don't know..."
Corrine's heart sank, fearing the worst. "Know what? What happened, Shelley?"
"We saw Vaughn Pearson here earlier, just after we arrived with Harry—"
"Is he OK?" Josie said quickly, stepping forward.
"Yes—or at least I think he was. He had a lot of blood on him... but he was walking, so I don't think any of it was his. Oh, God, Corrine, Marshall got shot. I saw it in the cafeteria. Chris killed that Madison girl, and then he tried to kill Vaughn but Marshall jumped in and got shot instead. I don't know why he did, Corrine, but he stood up to Chris. Both Vaughn and Marshall did... and look where it got them."
Corrine could almost feel her legs giving way beneath her but she steadied herself and ignored the urge to throw up. "Marshall got shot" ... "He had a lot of blood on him" ... It was Marshall's blood that Vaughn had on him... "Look where it got them..." Behind her, she could hear Josie quietly sobbing and beside her, Zachary had a hand on his mouth and had closed his eyes tightly.
"Shelley, do you—Do you know where they took him?" Corrine choked. "Where they took Marshall?"
"Um, I don't know—"
"It was down that hallway." Shelley's sister spoke up, glancing up from her spot on the floor and pointing to her right. "That's where the trauma rooms are. That's where they took Harry."
"Th—Thank you." Corrine began to walk, purposefully down the hall the girl had pointed to, glancing in random rooms as she passed and slowly picking up her pace.
"Corrine!" Zachary called after her. "Corrine, you're probably not allowed to go down there. Will you please—"Zachary sighed resignedly and followed at a reluctant pace.
Corrine turned a corner and almost collided with a doctor wheeling an elderly patient into the elevators. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she spun around and started down the opposite hallway. Then she stopped dead in her tracks. Adjacent to one wall was a gurney, all alone, with a sheet covering the unmistakable form of a body.
"No," she told herself quietly. "It's not him." She took a few hesitant steps forward, toward the still form. "It's not him." Still muttering to herself, Corrine came up to the body. She lifted her hand then quickly replaced it at her side. Squeezing her eyes shut to block the tears, she took a deep breath and lifted her hand again.
"Corrine." Professor Zachary had appeared, standing in the spot she'd occupied moments before. He looked at his student's apprehensive face then at the gurney. Josie peered around from behind Zachary. For a brief moment no one spoke then Corrine pulled the sheet back in one fluid motion.
It wasn't Marshall.
Corrine stared at the pale, lifeless face of a woman in her forties, a woman who would never again in this lifetime stare back at her... and then she burst into tears. Zachary rushed forward and pulled the sobbing Corrine into a hug, shielding her from the sight of the body.
"It's OK, Corrine. It's fine – you're fine." He told himself as much as the girl.
"I—I thought it was him, Z'. I thought it was Marshall. I thought he might be—"
"It's not him. It's alright, Corrine. It's not him."
The two remained this way for some time, it seemed, before Corrine finally broke loose, and noticed Josie, who was looking into the trauma room just down the hall, staring with fear in her eyes. "Y—you guys?" Josie started. Corrine wasted no time in rushing forward and peering through the glass doors.
She could hardly see past all the doctors and nurses in the room. There were plenty crowded around the table, working on the victim, passing vicious-looking instruments to each other. A puddle of blood was on the floor and all over the scrubs of the doctors... And over in the corner, brushed aside like a used napkin, was Vaughn Pearson, watching eagerly, trying to see past the doctors.
"Vaughn!" Josie called out and the teenager turned abruptly, surprised to see who had called him.
"Josie?" Slowly, he walked across the room, trying not to get in the way of the doctors, and pushed the doors to the trauma room open to join them. Immediately upon his exit, Josie pulled him into a huge hug and didn't let go for several minutes. Corrine, too, gave him a hug, which he eventually returned, still in shock. "Professor Z, Corrine... When did you guys get here? Is everything OK? Lucas—"
"We don't know where Lucas is." Zachary told him. "We were looking for you."
"Marshall, he—"Vaughn had a blank look on his face, even more blank than Josie's, if Corrine could believe it. He looked pale and drawn, and the front of his clothes, she noticed, was covered in blood. He meant to say that Chris was going after him, that Chris had meant to shoot him and Marshall had jumped in the way, had saved his life... but none of that came out because at that moment Vaughn was interrupted by the sound of one of the doctors shouting something inside the room. All four heads turned to the trauma room and all at once, they heard the dreadful sound of Marshall's monitor as the erratic beeping became a solid droning.
"He's flat-lining!" The doctor in charge shouted. "We need to get this kid up to OR quickly." With incredible speed, the doctors and nurses stepped away from the gurney and unplugged the equipment their patient was hooked up to and Corrine and the others got their first look at Marshall.
He looked terrible. There was blood all over, and his eyes were shut... He didn't look alive at all. In fact, Corrine decided, he looked less alive than the woman under the sheet she'd thought was Marshall earlier. Corrine gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. She and the others stepped aside as the trauma doors burst open and their friend was wheeled out. As he moved past, Corrine couldn't help but call out to her friend. "Marshall, oh my God, Marshall!"
The doctors ignored her as they made their way toward the elevators. Corrine and Vaughn rushed forward, catching one last glimpse of their friend before the elevator doors slid shut and he disappeared. Flustered, and disbelieving what she had just seen, Corrine moved until her back was against the wall and leaned against it for support.
"God, I can't believe all this is happening. It wasn't supposed to be like this. You all were supposed to be OK." Vaughn, having nothing to say that he felt would help, shrugged, looking just as lost as she felt. "Z, can't we go upstairs? See how he's doing?"
"I don't know Corrine, I think we should wait down here... They'll tell us if anything happens, I'm sure—"
"I want to go back to the school."
The other three people in the hall looked at Josie, shocked expressions on their faces. The sentence had been spoken with eerily calm resolve, and none of them had been expected. "Josie, what are you talking about?" Vaughn asked her.
"I said I want to go back to the school. I just... I can't be here anymore. I've got to get back."
"You can't leave." Corrine snapped, perturbed. "Marshall needs you. How could you think of leaving him?"
Josie opened her mouth then shut it quickly, at a loss for words. When she finally did speak, she did so quickly and quietly. "I just know there isn't anything we can do for him here. They're not going to let us in to see him anyway... I have something I want to check out, but I can't do it here. I—I just want to get out of here."
"What do you think you're going to find at the school that'll help you?" Corrine retorted. "What's wrong with you today? This isn't the Josie I know, the Josie who would always stick up for her friends and be there for them when they needed her. You're running away!"
"Corrine, Josie—"Zachary began helplessly, but he was cut off.
"Shut up. Just, shut up! You don't have any idea, Corrine." Josie's cheeks were as red as her hair, flared with her temper. "If you had—I'm not even going to try to get through to you. I'm going back to the school." With that, Josie turned on her heels and stalked off down the hallway from which they'd come, to the ER.
Mouth ajar, Corrine stared after her friend angrily. "Well, I'm not going to run." She said to herself. Zachary looked after the rapidly departing Josie then to Corrine.
"Corrine, Vaughn—I—I should really go after her. I can't let her go off on her own and try to get back to the school. You two shouldn't even be here." Zachary began, flustered. "Can I trust the two of you to stay here and not leave the hospital?"
The two teenagers nodded. "Sure, Z." Corrine said. "We'll be here."
"Good. Look, I'm gonna go talk to Josie. I'll try to be back here in an hour or two to pick you guys up. Are you absolutely sure you're going to be OK?"
"Yeah." Vaughn piped up. "We'll be fine. Go. Go find Josie." Corrine could tell that it pained Vaughn not to be able to go after the girl himself. She could sense his inner conflict between going after the girl he liked or staying with the boy who had saved his life, and she empathized with him. Josie was obviously hurt by something else that Corrine had not detected, and Corrine had probably made it worse by making her feel guilty.
But still, Corrine thought, anger rising once more. She shouldn't abandon her friends like that... It's not like her. That's not Josie... Corrine watched silently as Zachary jogged off down the hall, pulling his jacket on as he ran, and then she turned to the elevators. She pressed a triangular button and waited for the doors to slide open. She and Vaughn climbed on the empty elevator and began to ascend while Corrine wondered for the umpteenth time where Lucas Randall was...
Rating: PG-15
Chapter Three: Corrine
Corrine had never been one to lose her head in a tough situation. She liked to think that she was particularly skilled at keeping things straight in her mind. I mean, she was excellent at keeping things straight in her room, was she not? But arriving at Mercy Hospital was like nothing else Corrine had ever experienced in her sixteen years on the planet, and she quickly found herself descending into confusion and timidity.
There were people everywhere. Injured victims, sick victims, families of victims, paramedics, nurses and doctors rushing from patient to patient and tending to the ones that were deemed to be in the most immediate danger. Corrine was sure that a hospital ER could not always look this frantic, that it was just a side effect of the shooting, but she vowed at that moment never to become a doctor in an ER. She wasn't sure she could handle the chaos. She needed to have a handle on the situation, to be in control of what was going on.
This whole day had been out of her control, Corrine thought with a grimace. She'd never experienced anything like it before in her life and it was terrifying and wretched and she hoped to never have to live through it again... and she'd been hiding in the bathroom the whole time. If she was traumatized from being in the other room... she couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like for those outside of it who watched their friends get shot, watched them die...
Corrine quickly pushed the thought out of her mind and resolved to remain in charge of her emotions for the rest of the day. The worst is over, right?, she asked herself. Now all you have to do is find out where Marshall, Vaughn and Lucas are, prove that they're all right, and go back to Blake Holsey. She could put this whole day behind her and sleep – she could really go for some sleep right now. She hadn't gotten much the previous night because she'd been up until one working on a history project – an 11 page term paper on the Cold War. She had dozens of pictures that she included, and graphs and tables, all kinds of information, all labeled and categorized... she was sure she would get a perfect grade on it – if she ever got to turn it in...
Oh hell, Corrine thought, blinking back the tears that threatened to surface. Some of your classmates just died today and you're thinking about a stupid history project?! How self-centered and aloof can you be? You need to focus on what's important. There will be plenty of time for the things you left behind later. Right now, it's time to look ahead...
Corrine turned to her left where Professor Zachary had joined her, Josie on his other side, still looking like she was cold, even though she was wearing her jacket, buttoned up snugly. Corrine had been worried about Josie after the shooting, after the two had been coaxed out of the girls' room by the police. Corrine had been crying before, as silently as she could manage, but when she came out of the bathroom to witness the commotion just across the hall, she cried even harder. At first, she and Josie had been ushered in a room with some other unscathed students, shivering – whether from the temperature or from the horror of the day, it was not immediately evident – but eventually, the police had moved on to other matters, and the two girls, inquisitive by nature, had snuck out of the room to see if they could find their friends, only to be brushed aside and overlooked with all that was going on.
As Corrine thought about it, it was only after they had left the secured room that Josie had lapsed into silence. Immediately following the shooting she had been collected and insistent – eager to find out what had gone on; only after they found themselves in the cafeteria had she stopped talking... Observing her quickly in the entrance to the ER, Corrine also noticed that the unresponsive look she had carried before had been replaced by one of abject discomfort, like she was distracted by something...
But before she could ask anything else, Zachary took hold of her elbow. "Come on, stick close to me. I don't want either of you girls to get lost. I shouldn't even have brought you here." He said, more to himself than to either Corrine or Josie.
The trio pushed their way through the crowd up to the front desk where a stern yet harried looking woman was answering phones while simultaneously scribbling something on a piece of paper. "Alright, MVA – how many victims did you say? Three critical, six minor... No, we can't take any more than one – we're swamped, in case you hadn't heard about the school shooting. We can take one critical and two minor, but you'll have to take the rest to Sacred Heart... OK, ETA is 8 minutes. Got it, we'll be ready." The woman scribbled this on the paper as she hung up the phone and without looking up, asked, distractedly, "Waiting room's over there, folks."
"I'm sorry, we're just... we're looking for any victims of the school shooting." Zachary began.
"We have quite a few of those, I'm afraid." The woman said dismissively.
"Well, we're looking for three young men in particular—"Zachary began. "If you could give us any information, like a room number or a status we'd really appreciate it. The names are Vaughn Pearson, Marshall Wheeler, and Lucas Rand—"
"I'm sorry, sir. Really, I am, but that whole situation's a complete mess right now and we really don't know any more than you do. We're trying to get the names of the victims up here right now, but we're a bit crowded, if you couldn't tell and—Hold on a second—"She plucked the phone from it's cradle and pressed a button on the keypad, answering with a crisp, "Mercy—what's your status... OK... No. I already told the 77 that we can't take any more critical victims... No, it's out of the question. If you want to send us more doctors, then you can send us more patients."
Corrine had been standing by silently, wanting to speak, but the stern woman ignored her actions and continued to talk into the phone. Finally Corrine raised her voice, "Excuse me, but I just wanted to find my... my brother. I think he might be here and—"The woman waved Corrine off with her hand flippantly and strained to hear her phone conversation. "Couldn't you just tell us where the victims of the shooting were taken?!" Corrine shouted.
Still the nurse ignored the three people before her and finished her phone call, laying the receiver back in its cradle. Annoyed, she turned to the girl to berate her, but softened when she saw the frightened expressions the girls wore. She sighed heavily, pushing a few strands of her red hair away from her face. "Look, if you really want to find your—your brother did you say?" Corrine and Zachary nodded, though the nurse looked dubious. "I'd say just check around the waiting room first. There are a lot of people here and it's very likely they could be in there waiting to be seen. If you can't find any of your friends there then you can look upstairs in ICU. They won't let any visitors in right now aside from family, but you might be able to find out something—"The phone began its incessant ringing once more and the exasperated look returned. "—I'm sorry I can't help you anymore."
"No, that's fine, thank you very much, Miss." Zachary said gratefully.
"Yeah, thank you." Corrine added.
As one, the trio turned back around to face the bustling waiting room, dismayed to see mostly strangers. "Where should we start?" Josie muttered.
"Why don't we just... start at one side and work our way around to the other?" Zachary suggested, looking rather intimidated himself.
"Sounds fine to me." Corrine said, leading the way. The trio walked slowly through the crowds of people. Drunkards and homeless patients littered the aisles and the hallways, on gurneys or sitting in chairs. Mothers holding sick and wailing children waited in chairs, looking anxious to be out of there – Corrine could relate – but not daring to lose their seat. And it was true; there were hardly any places to sit. Nearly all the chairs were occupied. In no small way could Corrine sympathize with the doctors and nurses at Mercy Hospital on that day, or any other day for that matter, if the hospital was normally even half as bad as it was then.
Corrine's eyes met briefly with a man who must have been in his mid- to late-seventies who was sitting tiredly in a chair in the corner holding a bloodied rag to his forehead. His eyes held a haunted, detached presence that unsettled Corrine and sent a chill running through her body. She quickly turned away and stared at a spot outside the hospital's bay doors, if only to escape the disturbing expression she'd witnessed from the elderly patient. The feeling of wanting to be somewhere else increased tenfold but Corrine ignored it, shoving it deep down inside of her where her fear and pain were also trying to escape. Lock it up, she instructed. Find your friends first. What if they need you?
That was then she saw her – finally, someone she knew. "Professor." She called, getting Zachary to turn. "Look, it's Tina, uh, Tina—Gedrick. That's her name. She's a cheerleader, and I think she's friends with Vaughn. Maybe she's seen him somewhere." Corrine was already halfway across the room, calling out, "Tina—Tina!"
Slowly, Tina raised her head, astonished to see who was calling to her. She had, perhaps, not been expecting to see Corrine Baxter in the emergency room, calling out to her. She looked past Corrine at Zachary and Josie, then back at the first girl. "What is it?" She asked, "What do you want?" Corrine noticed that Tina was sitting with her left wrist on her lap, holding an ice pack on it.
"I, uh—Are you alright?" Corrine asked quietly, gesturing to the arm."
"Me? Oh, yes, I'm fine." Tina's voice was small and afraid – a tone Corrine was not used to hearing from the usually bubbly and outgoing cheerleader. "I just fell... I got knocked into a display case and my wrist got kind of... hurt. I was in the school store when that kid—"Tina's eyes started to well up. "I just can't believe it. I can't believe it."
"Can't believe what?" Zachary asked gently.
"Didn't you hear? Madison, she—she died. Back at the school. They said she didn't even make it to the hospital. She was dead by the time they got there." Tina's voice wavered with emotion. "He killed her. That boy killed her."
Behind her, Corrine thought she heard a sharp intake of breath from Josie and when she turned, the redhead was looking even more drawn, her lower lip trembling violently, but still Corrine had no chance to respond because Tina drew her attention again. "I think your friend was in the school store when it happened—that Lucas guy." She said quietly. "I saw him buying a bag of chips just before—just before it happened."
"Lucas?" Corrine demanded. "You saw Lucas in the store? Is he here now?"
"I—I don't know. I don't remember much after the paramedics got there. I know he was in there with me and a few others for at least twenty minutes... I saw him just after, I think... But I don't remember if he was hurt or not."
"How can you not remember if he was hurt?!" Corrine almost shouted, near tears, startling Tina. "Can't you tell us anything else?"
Now Tina's eyes quivered with unreleased tears. "No! I can't! I'm sorry, Corrine, I don't remember anything else. After I found out Madison had died, well I all I wanted to do was get out of there!"
"Corrine—"Zachary laid a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Corrine, it's OK. We'll find someone else to ask. We'll find Lucas, if he's here. Someone else ought to have seen him."
Corrine, breathing heavily, slowly adjusted her temper, coming to her senses. Tina looked scared and Corrine knew that she was in just as much pain as herself, perhaps more because she knew her friend was dead. Suddenly feeling guilty, Corrine averted her eyes. "I'm sorry, Tina. I didn't mean—"She paused, then, "I've got to go. Thank you, really, thanks." She stalked off. Zachary – after giving Tina a reassuring look, followed with Josie in tow.
"Corrine, you're going to have to accept that everyone's just as much in the dark as we are right now. You'll find out things soon enough, you just have to give them time, Corrine—"
"I don't want to give them time!" Corrine said fiercely, turning to her teacher. "I just want to find out if my friends are even alive!"
Zachary sighed, looking over her head, and recognition emerged in his eyes. "I think I see some more students."
Corrine turned and indeed there were three more teenagers, clad in Blake Holsey High uniforms, sitting in chairs or on the floor near the soda machines. Corrine recognized two of them, a senior named Shelley Erickson, and a fellow junior, David—Dave something. The other girl, who looked a bit like Shelley, looked to be a freshman, and was sitting on the floor. Corrine, Josie and Zachary picked their way over to them and Corrine addressed the others with a nod before turning to Shelley. Shelley was a nice person, in Corrine's experience. The two of them had Music Theory together, and Shelley shared her notes if Corrine ever had to miss class. She knew who Corrine's friends were, and possibly had seen one of them.
"Corrine." Shelley called out to the girl as she got nearer. When Corrine was close, Shelley smiled bitterly. "I knew I should have gone to lunch off campus today—Oh God, that was terrible... What am I doing, joking in a time like this?" She caressed her forehead with one hand, a guilty look on her face.
"It's OK." Corrine told her. "No one's going to blame you for it. What are you here for anyway?"
"My brother, Harry." David spoke up, and Corrine couldn't help but notice the blood that seeped through the cloth he held to his arm. David looked up at Corrine and Zachary with big, blue eyes. "He got shot, in the cafeteria. Chris shot him when he—when he tried to take the gun away."
"I'm so sorry." Corrine said, then remembered that Harold Voorhies, David's brother, was a senior who had been dating Shelley for a few months. The freshman leaning against the pop machine was Shelley's little sister, if her memory served correctly. "I hope Harry's OK."
"He will be." David half-smiled. "The doctors said he would be. I believe them."
Shelley looked at David sympathetically, seeming to not share her friend's sense of hope. "Corrine, it's terrible, what's happened, isn't it?"
"Yes." Corrine said impatiently, "Everything's a mess. But I need to know, Shelley, David, any of you guys, you haven't seen Lucas, Marshall, or Vaughn Pearson, have you?"
A blank look slipped onto Shelley's face. "Oh Corrine, Josie... You don't know..."
Corrine's heart sank, fearing the worst. "Know what? What happened, Shelley?"
"We saw Vaughn Pearson here earlier, just after we arrived with Harry—"
"Is he OK?" Josie said quickly, stepping forward.
"Yes—or at least I think he was. He had a lot of blood on him... but he was walking, so I don't think any of it was his. Oh, God, Corrine, Marshall got shot. I saw it in the cafeteria. Chris killed that Madison girl, and then he tried to kill Vaughn but Marshall jumped in and got shot instead. I don't know why he did, Corrine, but he stood up to Chris. Both Vaughn and Marshall did... and look where it got them."
Corrine could almost feel her legs giving way beneath her but she steadied herself and ignored the urge to throw up. "Marshall got shot" ... "He had a lot of blood on him" ... It was Marshall's blood that Vaughn had on him... "Look where it got them..." Behind her, she could hear Josie quietly sobbing and beside her, Zachary had a hand on his mouth and had closed his eyes tightly.
"Shelley, do you—Do you know where they took him?" Corrine choked. "Where they took Marshall?"
"Um, I don't know—"
"It was down that hallway." Shelley's sister spoke up, glancing up from her spot on the floor and pointing to her right. "That's where the trauma rooms are. That's where they took Harry."
"Th—Thank you." Corrine began to walk, purposefully down the hall the girl had pointed to, glancing in random rooms as she passed and slowly picking up her pace.
"Corrine!" Zachary called after her. "Corrine, you're probably not allowed to go down there. Will you please—"Zachary sighed resignedly and followed at a reluctant pace.
Corrine turned a corner and almost collided with a doctor wheeling an elderly patient into the elevators. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she spun around and started down the opposite hallway. Then she stopped dead in her tracks. Adjacent to one wall was a gurney, all alone, with a sheet covering the unmistakable form of a body.
"No," she told herself quietly. "It's not him." She took a few hesitant steps forward, toward the still form. "It's not him." Still muttering to herself, Corrine came up to the body. She lifted her hand then quickly replaced it at her side. Squeezing her eyes shut to block the tears, she took a deep breath and lifted her hand again.
"Corrine." Professor Zachary had appeared, standing in the spot she'd occupied moments before. He looked at his student's apprehensive face then at the gurney. Josie peered around from behind Zachary. For a brief moment no one spoke then Corrine pulled the sheet back in one fluid motion.
It wasn't Marshall.
Corrine stared at the pale, lifeless face of a woman in her forties, a woman who would never again in this lifetime stare back at her... and then she burst into tears. Zachary rushed forward and pulled the sobbing Corrine into a hug, shielding her from the sight of the body.
"It's OK, Corrine. It's fine – you're fine." He told himself as much as the girl.
"I—I thought it was him, Z'. I thought it was Marshall. I thought he might be—"
"It's not him. It's alright, Corrine. It's not him."
The two remained this way for some time, it seemed, before Corrine finally broke loose, and noticed Josie, who was looking into the trauma room just down the hall, staring with fear in her eyes. "Y—you guys?" Josie started. Corrine wasted no time in rushing forward and peering through the glass doors.
She could hardly see past all the doctors and nurses in the room. There were plenty crowded around the table, working on the victim, passing vicious-looking instruments to each other. A puddle of blood was on the floor and all over the scrubs of the doctors... And over in the corner, brushed aside like a used napkin, was Vaughn Pearson, watching eagerly, trying to see past the doctors.
"Vaughn!" Josie called out and the teenager turned abruptly, surprised to see who had called him.
"Josie?" Slowly, he walked across the room, trying not to get in the way of the doctors, and pushed the doors to the trauma room open to join them. Immediately upon his exit, Josie pulled him into a huge hug and didn't let go for several minutes. Corrine, too, gave him a hug, which he eventually returned, still in shock. "Professor Z, Corrine... When did you guys get here? Is everything OK? Lucas—"
"We don't know where Lucas is." Zachary told him. "We were looking for you."
"Marshall, he—"Vaughn had a blank look on his face, even more blank than Josie's, if Corrine could believe it. He looked pale and drawn, and the front of his clothes, she noticed, was covered in blood. He meant to say that Chris was going after him, that Chris had meant to shoot him and Marshall had jumped in the way, had saved his life... but none of that came out because at that moment Vaughn was interrupted by the sound of one of the doctors shouting something inside the room. All four heads turned to the trauma room and all at once, they heard the dreadful sound of Marshall's monitor as the erratic beeping became a solid droning.
"He's flat-lining!" The doctor in charge shouted. "We need to get this kid up to OR quickly." With incredible speed, the doctors and nurses stepped away from the gurney and unplugged the equipment their patient was hooked up to and Corrine and the others got their first look at Marshall.
He looked terrible. There was blood all over, and his eyes were shut... He didn't look alive at all. In fact, Corrine decided, he looked less alive than the woman under the sheet she'd thought was Marshall earlier. Corrine gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. She and the others stepped aside as the trauma doors burst open and their friend was wheeled out. As he moved past, Corrine couldn't help but call out to her friend. "Marshall, oh my God, Marshall!"
The doctors ignored her as they made their way toward the elevators. Corrine and Vaughn rushed forward, catching one last glimpse of their friend before the elevator doors slid shut and he disappeared. Flustered, and disbelieving what she had just seen, Corrine moved until her back was against the wall and leaned against it for support.
"God, I can't believe all this is happening. It wasn't supposed to be like this. You all were supposed to be OK." Vaughn, having nothing to say that he felt would help, shrugged, looking just as lost as she felt. "Z, can't we go upstairs? See how he's doing?"
"I don't know Corrine, I think we should wait down here... They'll tell us if anything happens, I'm sure—"
"I want to go back to the school."
The other three people in the hall looked at Josie, shocked expressions on their faces. The sentence had been spoken with eerily calm resolve, and none of them had been expected. "Josie, what are you talking about?" Vaughn asked her.
"I said I want to go back to the school. I just... I can't be here anymore. I've got to get back."
"You can't leave." Corrine snapped, perturbed. "Marshall needs you. How could you think of leaving him?"
Josie opened her mouth then shut it quickly, at a loss for words. When she finally did speak, she did so quickly and quietly. "I just know there isn't anything we can do for him here. They're not going to let us in to see him anyway... I have something I want to check out, but I can't do it here. I—I just want to get out of here."
"What do you think you're going to find at the school that'll help you?" Corrine retorted. "What's wrong with you today? This isn't the Josie I know, the Josie who would always stick up for her friends and be there for them when they needed her. You're running away!"
"Corrine, Josie—"Zachary began helplessly, but he was cut off.
"Shut up. Just, shut up! You don't have any idea, Corrine." Josie's cheeks were as red as her hair, flared with her temper. "If you had—I'm not even going to try to get through to you. I'm going back to the school." With that, Josie turned on her heels and stalked off down the hallway from which they'd come, to the ER.
Mouth ajar, Corrine stared after her friend angrily. "Well, I'm not going to run." She said to herself. Zachary looked after the rapidly departing Josie then to Corrine.
"Corrine, Vaughn—I—I should really go after her. I can't let her go off on her own and try to get back to the school. You two shouldn't even be here." Zachary began, flustered. "Can I trust the two of you to stay here and not leave the hospital?"
The two teenagers nodded. "Sure, Z." Corrine said. "We'll be here."
"Good. Look, I'm gonna go talk to Josie. I'll try to be back here in an hour or two to pick you guys up. Are you absolutely sure you're going to be OK?"
"Yeah." Vaughn piped up. "We'll be fine. Go. Go find Josie." Corrine could tell that it pained Vaughn not to be able to go after the girl himself. She could sense his inner conflict between going after the girl he liked or staying with the boy who had saved his life, and she empathized with him. Josie was obviously hurt by something else that Corrine had not detected, and Corrine had probably made it worse by making her feel guilty.
But still, Corrine thought, anger rising once more. She shouldn't abandon her friends like that... It's not like her. That's not Josie... Corrine watched silently as Zachary jogged off down the hall, pulling his jacket on as he ran, and then she turned to the elevators. She pressed a triangular button and waited for the doors to slide open. She and Vaughn climbed on the empty elevator and began to ascend while Corrine wondered for the umpteenth time where Lucas Randall was...