Judgment Day
A deadly disease is spreading through Trenton, New Jersey and the NIH team is called in to investigate. Meva and Nathen romance. There is tragedy for the team both collectively and individually. My first medical investigation fic. Please review!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but I play one in drama class. I do not own Medical Investigation. None of them are doctors, either, but you get the picture. All medical info is from the official CDC website.
Chapter 2: Succumbing
As far as numbers went on epidemic cases of this nature, patients were coming in left, right and centre. Over the past twelve hours the total of infected patients had risen from eight to thirteen right before their eyes. The death toll had mounted five. All of the initially infected patients were dead and there were no answers in sight. Four patients were stable and four critical.
Stephen looked down at Abby Baxter. She was nine years old and their newest patient. Her symptoms were consistent with those of the other cases, but she seemed to be fighting harder. He sighed and brushed a hand lightly through her hair before turning and leaving the room. He walked up to the laboratory and contemplated as he watched Natalie work. What was this thing and how was it spreading? They hadn't ruled out person to person transmission, but at this point it seemed unlikely. Absorption, ingestion and inhalation seemed to be the likeliest culprits. None of the patients seemed to have any bite marks, so animal transmission was discountable.
Natalie looked through the eyepiece of her microscope and allowed the lines to blur. She was getting nowhere fast and it was beginning to get on her nerves. Usually by this time they had at least some kind of a lead, even if it was completely wrong. They had nothing. It was the perfect virus. Undetectable, untraceable and incurable. It was a nightmare in a nutshell. Natalie could see Stephen out of the corner of her eye. He looked tired. She knew he needed rest. It was just dumb luck that the call had come in right after their last case. Natalie sighed and tried to re-focus on her work. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it killed her. She knew Stephen was thinking along the same lines.
Elsewhere, Miles was checking on his patients. Jamie Kurtz and Virginia Madsen, ages 16 and 17, respectively. They were barely conscious; the weakness was rampant in their bodies. They were hanging on despite the virulent illness present in their bodies. This was completely extemporaneous; a random strike of disease. It just didn't make sense. He just hoped that they would soon find the source of this infection that had taken over with such turpitude. Miles felt Jamie's pulse and swallowed hard when he noticed it getting progressively weaker. He checked her breath sounds and frowned when he heard the crackling in her lungs. Suddenly, a monitor somewhere across the room signaled a warning. Miles rushed over to the patient's bedside and called for a nurse.
Tony Caruso was convulsing and his heart was failing. He was one of the earlier patients and was weakening fast from the contagion. It just wasn't natural for a 22 year old to be dying of heart failure. This disease was malicious and working fast. Miles knew he had to be better, faster, smarter. He frantically moved with the rest of the team. Miles grabbed the paddles and placed them on the patient's chest.
"Charge to 200. Clear! 300, Clear! Charge to 350. Clear," Miles instructed.
The frantic beeping of the monitor was replaced by the drawling of a flat line signaling an asystole. Miles sighed and stopped his work.
"Time of death; 10:52," Miles stated.
He put the equipment back and left the room. He leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. Death had struck yet again. This was getting really old really fast. He was developing somewhat of a kakorraphiaphobia; a fear of failure. Six patients were dead and there was no end in sight. He was failing his patients, himself and his team as a physician.
Frank wandered around Jamie Kurtz's house searching for any indication as to what was killing all of these people. If there was a person to person commonality, this would be where he would find it. Jamie was close to the other teenage girl, Virginia. However, neither girl had any contact with any of the other victims. Still, it was better than nothing. Suddenly Frank was hit with a bout of exhaustion. He felt the tiredness in his bones and longed to sleep. He shook it off and kept working. He gathered all the necessary samples before heading back to Caritas hospital with his findings.
Eva looked around the room at all of the anxious reporters. News had gotten out about the virus and was spreading like wildfire. Connor had decided that it would be best to be subtly honest instead of letting rumors circulate, so now she stood on a podium at the centre of a press conference. She held on to the podium with all her strength. It was all she could do to keep from shooting each and every one of those reporters.
"We have not been able to identify the exact strain of the virus we're dealing with yet, but there are no new cases as of 9:00 am this morning. We're doing everything we can to find out what this illness is and how we can treat it. Until we do that we recommend that contact with individuals that are presenting with symptoms is minimal. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms we strongly advise you to come down to the Caritas hospital for screening. I'll let you know what's going on once I get some more information," Eva explained.
The press began to ask questions but she turned and left the room. There were no sure answers to give, so it was better simply not to say anything at all. Oh, the press was going to have a field day alright, but there was nothing neither she nor anyone else could do. Eva was hit with the sudden onset of a blinding headache. She felt dizzy and clung to the wall. It passed almost as quickly as it had come on and she decided to get some coffee before meeting Stephen upstairs.
Meanwhile, Stephen stood against the table in the lab with Natalie in his arms. They were all getting stressed out by their lack of progress. He stroked her back comfortingly and ran a hand through her hair. She looked up and cupped his face in her hands. Their lips met and a passion seared through them both. Daggers of pure lust pierced their hearts as they kissed hungrily. The burning desire raged through their veins and made them weak in the knees. They pulled apart breathlessly moments later and looked into each other's eyes. Smiling satisfactorily, Natalie spoke.
"I'm so glad I've got you, Stephen," she said lightly.
"I love you, Natalie," Stephen replied.
They embraced a while longer until they heard the door to the lab hiss open. They quickly stepped apart and looked up at the intruder. It was Frank. Natalie immediately noticed the sheen of perspiration on his forehead. He looked exhausted. He walked over and deposited the box of samples on the lab table before dropping into a chair and wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. Connor had noticed it, too. They walked over to Frank and stood on either side of him.
"Hey Frank, are you feeling alright?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired," he replied weakly.
"Are you sure?" Stephen inquired.
Frank stared at him blankly. Natalie placed her hand on Frank's forehead and was startled at how hot he felt. This was more than just exhaustion. This was the beginning of something terrible.
"My God, you're burning up!" Natalie exclaimed.
Stephen looked at the pair appraisingly.
"Natalie, I want you to get Frank admitted and start him on IV saline and broad spectrum antibiotics. I want you and everyone else up here ASAP for prophylactic treatment. I'll start looking through this stuff," Stephen instructed.
Natalie nodded and assisted Frank in walking through the door and down to the isolated ward. At the same time Stephen paged everyone else up to the lab for their doses of prophylactic antibiotics. He counted the pills and put them in separate dosage containers as he waited for everyone to come upstairs. Almost immediately he was joined by Miles and Eva who took the meds and then looked at him quizzically.
"What's going on?" Eva asked.
"Its just a precaution. Frank is developing symptoms of this thing," Stephen explained.
Miles and Eva both looked shocked. At that moment Eva's knees buckled and she would have fallen if Miles hadn't launched himself forward to intercept her fall. He held her steady with one arm and brushed the hair out of her face with the other.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little hypoglycemic, I'm sure," Eva denied.
Miles felt her pulse and almost gasped. She was becoming quickly bradycardic. Her skin felt warm and he was dead sure that she was feeling weak from the virus and not hypoglycemia.
"You're not fine, Eva. I want to get you admitted. I think its got you, too," Miles admitted worriedly.
Stephen looked stricken and Eva nodded slightly, too weak to argue. Miles supported Eva as they left the lab together. Stephen watched them as they walked away. The casualties had mounted fifteen; two of whom were his own team members. He only prayed that no more patients would succumb to death. He prayed that none of his other team members would fall ill. It was a lot to hope for, but hope was about all he could do at the present.
Eva put up with Miles' thorough examination without complaint. She was too tired and reveled in the feeling of his warm hands against her skin. She wished it could have been under better circumstances, but unfortunately she was already here, may as well make the best of it. Miles smiled at her as he worked and it sent a shiver up her spine. He was a much better doctor than Stephen gave him credit for. Miles finished with his examination and moved on to putting in an IV line. Eva took it all in a stride and didn't flinch once.
"Okay, that's it. I'm going to give you saline and broad spectrum antibiotics. Hopefully that will do the trick. If not, well, we'll find a cure for this thing soon, I promise," Miles said lightly.
"Thanks," Eva said quietly.
He smiled one of his reassuring smiles.
"No problem. Just promise me one thing," Miles said.
"Sure, anything," Eva replied.
"Promise me that you'll fight this thing for as long as you can. If you promise me that then I promise that I can get you through this," Miles said firmly.
Eva nodded and smiled.
"I promise," she whispered.
Miles smiled one last time before leaving the room. Eva lay back against the pillow and allowed sleep to cloud her senses.
Stephen paced nervously around the lab. Natalie watched as he slowly wore a hole in the linoleum. This case had just gotten a whole lot more personal for them. She knew she should have been working on finding something, but there was nothing to find. She had check for organophosphate poisoning, bacteria, viruses and everything else under the rainbow. Nothing was showing up on any of her panels. She could hear the silent clicking of the mouse buttons as Miles searched for answers on the internet. They were at the end of their leashes. If they didn't figure something out soon their team members would end up dead in a matter of days, maybe even hours.
Natalie checked all of her cultures again and came up empty handed. She began to sort through the samples that Frank had brought in when her pager went off. One of her patients was in distress. She rushed off to the isolation ward while the other two remained in the lab, deep in thought.
Luckily, the patient didn't die. It was just a matter of turning up the oxygen concentration and she would be fine. Natalie left the ward and ran into Miles. He had been adjusting the antibiotic dosage for a patient.
"Hey, why don't we go grab some coffee," Natalie suggested.
"Sure," Miles replied.
They walked off toward the cafeteria with no motivation and even less hope. After all, it was hard to be hopeful and motivated when you were going in blind. All either of them could think was that they had to save their coworkers. Though he looked stoic on the outside, Natalie knew that Miles was panicking on the inside. He would lose more than just a friend if he lost Eva. It was the same with Connor and Frank, though admittedly less intimate. If they were ever going to stop this thing, they needed a lead and some artillery. It wasn't going to be easy.
They drank their coffee in silence as they both racked their brains for triggers as to what this could be. All possibilities had run through their minds and despite being obscure were better than nothing. Natalie rubbed at her tired eyes and looked down at her watch. It was barely past midday and already things had taken a tragic turn. The two of them were startled by the sound of Natalie's pager going off. She glanced at the number before standing up and rushing off towards the isolation ward with Miles hot on her heels. They burst in through the doors, gowned and gloved, to find Stephen unconscious on one of the gurneys. Rushing over to his side, Natalie began a quick assessment. The nurse informed Miles of having found him in the laboratory barely conscious. He had been sorting through the samples Frank had brought in. It looked like another member of their team had been struck down.
Miles left Natalie to examine Stephen as he went up to the lab. He put on a mask as well as a gown and gloves before entering the lab. Two people who had handled the evidence had come down with symptoms of their mystery disease. The answer was somewhere in the samples. Miles worked frantically, albeit carefully and ran numerous panels on the evidence. While waiting for the results he tried to mull everything over in his head. The facts and figures were making little sense. His pager chose that moment to go off and he rushed off to the isolation ward.
He rushed into Stephen's room to find Natalie on a gurney beside him. She had tears in her eyes but looked better than the rest of the team. It was then that Miles realized he was the only one left. It was all up to him to save his team. The thought made him sick. What if he couldn't figure it out in time, or at all? What if he had to watch the traumatizing deaths of his team members play out before his eyes? No. He was going to stop this. He was going to beat this thing. Miles walked over to Natalie's bedside and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"It'll be okay, Dr. Durant. I'll make you the same promise I made Eva. I promise you that I'll find a way to beat this thing," Miles said comfortingly.
"I believe in you, Miles. So does Eva, so does Frank and so does Stephen. I know you can do this," Natalie said hoarsely.
Miles smiled weakly and left the room. There were now seventeen casualties in total. He leaned against the wall as the words echoed in his head.
Better. Faster. Smarter.
He wasn't about to let a virus get the best of him or his team. He was going to beat it if it killed him. Judging from how things were going, it seemed pretty likely, too. He didn't care. All that mattered was that his team survived. They had to. Eva had to…
A.N.: So, what do you think? See, its longer, like I promised. Thank you very much for all of your wonderful reviews and I'm looking forward to reading more of them. Your reviews have convinced me to make this a Nathen as well as a Meva, so I hope its done well. Thanks for reading and please review-Julia-