Chapter 36: Traumatic Incident Number 3
"No one belongs here. Only people who are hurt or sick come here because they need help. Right now, that's you. Let him help you."
They ran through the maze of trailers, Geoff picking his way through from his vague memory of following Christian. He was surprised when his little white Honda came into view. Wolfgang climbed into the back set, pulling Kurt in with him. Geoff spent a moment arranging Kurt so that he was lying on his side and then hopped in the driver's seat.
It was a bumpy ride over the gravel and cobblestones as they drove away from the old part of the city. Wolfgang stared ahead miserably, trying to brace himself with his hands and knees to keep Kurt from bouncing around too much. He couldn't believe this was happening. It was like a nightmare coming true and the absence of either Margali or Amanda made it worse. Anything that happened to Kurt was now his responsibility. He would either return from this night a hero or a villain depending on Kurt's survival. The irony that he'd spent his life dodging responsibility only to have his heaped upon him in greater and greater quantities was almost painful.
"I just realized we've done this backwards." Said Dr. Mallory from the front seat.
"Oh?" Wolfgang said, trying to keep Kurt's head steady as the car hit pothole.
"I should be back there with him. You should be driving. It's too late now. Can you tell me if he's breathing?"
Wolfgang fought the urge to panic. Medical stuff scared the crap out of him. He hated visiting the doctor, couldn't deal with hospitals, he couldn't even watch those medical shows on TV. "How will I know?" He blurted out.
Geoff was a little surprised by such an obvious question. "Is his chest rising and falling?" He asked.
Still fighting the urge to break down into a useless panic attack Wolfgang realized that, yes, Kurt was breathing.
"Now check his pulse. On his neck."
Wolfgang put his hand on Kurt's neck. Nothing. "I don't think he has one." He shouted.
"Relax. Right here." Geoff held two fingers in the groove along side of the trachea where the carotid artery lay. Wolfgang followed his example and breathed a sigh of relief.
"He's got a pulse too." He said.
"Perfect. Good job. If any of that changes, you let me know." Dr. Mallory said. Clearly, as an assistant Wolfgang was going to be less than useless, but he would figure out a way to make it work.
Wolfgang nodded, his fingers still pressed against Kurt's neck.
It seemed a small eternity before Dr. Mallory pulled up to a white two story building. He climbed out and opened the back door.
"This is my clinic. We have most of the equipment a small trauma room has. I can help him here. Follow me." Said Dr. Mallory, pulling out a set of keys and going to the door.
Wolfgang pulled Kurt in his arms again and followed the doctor through another maze; this time it was clean white hallways instead of trailers.
"In here," Dr. Mallory led them into a dimly lit room with a large X-Ray machine in the center. He gestured for Wolfgang to lay Kurt on the table.
"I'll tell you this right now," Geoff said as he gathered various cartridges of x-ray film, "if that break in his arm is anything unusual, I'm going to have to refer you to an orthopedic specialist." He held up his hand at Wolfgang's protests, "It's because of what he does. If I reset the bones wrong, it ends his career."
"This needs to stay as quiet as possible. If his medical records get out…" Wolfgang started to explain.
"I know." Dr. Mallory said. "Trust me. I've heard the same rumors you have. You're worried that if someone with the wrong intentions finds out about your friend, you may never see him again. But I took an oath too. I won't cost a person his livelihood. Let's see what the x-rays say and then continue this conversation."
Wolfgang nodded. "What do you want me to do?" He asked. Beside him Kurt stirred, threatening to roll off the table. Wolfgang put his hands on Kurt's shoulders to keep him in place.
Geoff looked at Kurt's hands. He had never seen anything like them before. He was going to have x-ray both his arms. He needed to know what things were supposed to look like before he could even try to fix what was wrong.
"Just keep him still." He said to Wolfgang. Geoff carefully laid Kurt's hand on the cartridge. It had been a while since he'd taken an x-ray actually. There were so many things one learned in medical school that became the responsibility of nurses and technicians after graduation. Taking a moment to re-read the controls, Geoff unlocked the unit and turned on the focusing lamp, letting it shine a cross haired window of light down onto the plate below.
"Wolfgang?" Kurt slowly opened his eyes.
Dr. Mallory was being so quiet and serious that Wolfgang suppressed his desire to jump up and down at the sound of Kurt's voice. "Hey Elf, welcome back," he whispered.
"Where is this? What are we doing?" Kurt asked in German. "What is that machine?" He asked, his eyes becoming wide and sounding more frantic by the second.
"It's okay Kurt, it's like a camera." Wolfgang said.
Kurt shook his head. "I don't like this." He said. He sat up, scooting himself backwards away from where Dr. Mallory was still fiddling with the controls. Wolfgang tried to stop him.
"It won't hurt. You won't feel it." Wolfgang said. "It's a camera."
Kurt shook his head. "No. This isn't right. Wolfgang, let's get out of here."
Wolfgang tried to hold Kurt on the table, all the while telling him he would be fine, but Kurt only struggled harder. Dr. Mallory stopped working and watched. He couldn't understand the conversation, but it didn't sound good.
"Just tell him it will be okay." He told Wolfgang. Wolfgang was having a hard time keeping Kurt still; he didn't want to injure him any more than he already was, but Kurt was fighting him with everything he had.
"I'm trying." Wolfgang said. "Kurt, relax. I won't let anyone hurt you. Just…" And suddenly Wolfgang was grasping at thin air, tendrils of dark sulfury smoke drifting away from the spot where Kurt had been. "Damn it!" He shouted. Wolfgang turned to look at Dr. Mallory who was staring at him wide eyed.
"Did. Did he? Did he just?" The doctor stammered.
"Yeah." Wolfgang said, running his hands through his hair, "he can do that."
"Did he disappear?" Dr. Mallory asked, looking around the room.
"He teleports. He could be anywhere now." Wolfgang said in dismay. He sighed. "I'll go look for him." But when Wolfgang opened the door, he saw he wasn't going to have to look very far.
Kurt was lying on the floor, halfway down the hallway. He must have simply teleported to the other side of the door and then tried to run but was too exhausted to go on. Wolfgang knelt at Kurt's side. He was expecting Kurt to be unconscious so he was surprised to see him awake and staring at the ceiling.
"What are you trying to do to yourself?" Wolfgang asked him.
"Home." Said Kurt weakly. "Let's go home. I don't belong here."
Wolfgang laughed. "No one belongs here." He said. "Only people who are hurt or sick come here because they need help. Right now, that's you. Let him help you."
"No. This is all wrong." Kurt insisted. "What are all these machines? I can't stand this."
"I know. But I'm here. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you." Wolfgang said. He heard footsteps and the squeak of wheels. Wolfgang looked up to see Dr. Mallory standing behind him with a small, wheeled cart.
"Everything alright?" He asked.
"I think so. Sort of." Said Wolfgang.
"I think we need to take a different approach." Dr. Mallory said. He'd brought Kurt into the x-ray room first because it was the most efficient, but he should have remembered that Kurt had said he'd never seen a doctor before, let alone an x-ray machine. He'd been terrified. Geoff's rotation in pediatrics had been years ago, but the clinic was a family clinic so he saw kids everyday. Kurt may have looked older, but he was going to have to treat him like a "peds" case if he was going to get anywhere. That meant going slow and explaining everything. And when that failed, drugs.
Geoff pulled a few folded blankets from the cart and knelt down next to Kurt who shied away. "Lift up his head." He told Wolfgang. Wolfgang did and the doctor slid the folded blankets under Kurt's head for a pillow. "Better?" He asked.
Kurt nodded his head, still looking miserable.
Dr. Mallory pulled a few more items from the cart and arranged them on the floor. He set a small green oxygen cylinder near Kurt's head and held out the tubing for Kurt to look at. "It's just air." He said. "See?" Geoff demonstrated how a nasal canula worked, holding the tube under his nose and sniffing. "What to give it a try?" He asked.
Kurt glanced over at Wolfgang, who gave an encouraging nod, and agreed to let Dr. Mallory slip the tubes over his ears so the canula rested under his nose.
"Not so bad right?" Geoff asked. Kurt shook his head. "Okay, I'm going to do something that's going to hurt, but only for a second and then you'll feel better."
"Nein". Kurt shook his head.
"Let him help you." Wolfgang said. "Sometimes things hurt before they get better right?" Kurt nodded. "And look." Wolfgang said. He pulled out the rosary Kurt had dropped on the floor back in the trailer. "I'll hold it for you until he's done. Then you can have it back."
Defeated, Kurt acquiesced.
Dr. Mallory laid out the rest of his things and then looked at Kurt's good hand. He wasn't sure how he was going to do this. As a medical student he had started dozens of IV lines on all kinds of people. But that had been years ago, now it was the nurses who did that. He hadn't started a line in at least two years. And then there was Kurt's coloring; it made it impossible to see his veins. This wasn't even taking into account the fur. He put a tourniquet around Kurt's arm and watched.
There was a good vein in Kurt's hand that he could use; at least he hoped it was a vein. Geoff had only now considered that perhaps Kurt's differences went beyond his appearance, perhaps they were physiological as well. For all he knew, Kurt's blood could run backwards. He was just going to have to take it as an article of faith that Kurt really was "just like anyone else" as Wolfgang had told him.
He cleaned the site and held the catheter and stylet poised above it. It was a little nerve racking starting an IV on a patient who had already kicked him across the room once and had recently proven he could disappear.
"Keep a good hold on his arm." Geoff told Wolfgang. Wolfgang nodded and Geoff was worried that he looked like the fainting type. He didn't have much faith in him anyway; he'd never met anyone who couldn't tell whether a person was breathing or not.
"Ready Kurt?" He asked. "It's going to pinch, but only for a second." Kurt nodded bravely and shut his eyes. It was up to him now and so Geoff took a deep breath. Poised above the vein he slowly slid the needle in, feeling Kurt's whole body stiffen as he did. There was a string of what sound like German curse words, but Geoff stayed focused. There was a flash of blood in the chamber and he slid the stylet back to lock it in place. It was like he was on autopilot as Geoff taped the line in place and attached the inlet port. He realized he'd been holding his breath the whole time and exhaled gratefully.
"Not so bad." He said cheerily. "Are you okay Kurt?"
Kurt shook his head; his eyes still squeezed shut.
"Then please let go of my ankle." Wolfgang said weakly. Geoff looked over and watched as Kurt's tail slowly released the coiled hold he had on his friend's ankle. He laughed, it had been Wolfgang cursing, not Kurt.
Geoff drew up a syringe of saline and locked it to the port in Kurt's hand. "Okay, this isn't going to hurt, but it's going to feel really weird, like water running into your arm."
Kurt nodded, his eyes still closed. Geoff depressed the plunger and watched the IV site for leakage, but it was perfect, not a bad job at all given all the pressure he'd been under. He unscrewed the lock on the saline syringe and put it aside.
"What's in my hand?" Kurt asked.
"You can look." Dr. Mallory said. He held up Kurt's hand so he could see. Kurt opened his eyes, looked at his hand with a vague expression of horror and closed them again. Dr. Mallory picked up a second syringe, much smaller than the first.
"Okay, I'm going to do that again, but this time you're going to start to feel sleepy. That's okay. That's what we want. Ready?"
Kurt nodded again and this time, as Geoff pushed the plunger he watched Kurt fighting to keep his eyes open and then slowly letting them close. He'd done it. Now, he could finally work.
He was surprised to see Kurt open his eyes again. "Wolfgang?" He asked groggily.
"Yeah I'm right here. Oh yeah, I promised didn't I." Wolfgang carefully wrapped Kurt's rosary around his left hand a few times.
"What did you give him?" Wolfgang asked.
"Morphine, and some valium." He said and then answering Wolfgang's murderous look, he said, "I'm not afraid of him. I would have done the same thing for any patient who was that frightened and in that much pain. There's no point in torturing him."
Geoff looked down at Kurt. He looked relaxed for the first time since he'd seen him that evening, his breath coming in steady inhalations and exhalations. It was a much better impression than he'd had earlier. He pulled the last items of the cart and set them before Wolfgang.
"This is sterile saline. It's the same stuff people use for their contact lenses." He said as he opened a liter bottle of clear liquid that looked like water and poured some into steel pan. He ripped open a paper package of 4 by 4 gauze pads and soaked some of them in the saline. "Use these to try and wipe some of the blood and yuck off of Kurt's face. He'll feel and look a lot better. Use as much as you like and put the dirty ones in this pan here. Meanwhile I'll set the x-rays up." Geoff said.
Wolfgang did as Dr. Mallory asked. A lot of the blood on Kurt's face was caked and matted into his fur. It took a lot of the saline to get it out, but it was working. Wolfgang had felt so completely out of control for so long that it was nice to have a job, something he could do, where he could see actual results. Kurt looked pretty out of it, but Wolfgang started talking to him anyway. It was better than talking to himself.
"This looks a lot better, Kurt. It really does." He said. "Hey Kurt."
Kurt slowly turned to look over at Wolfgang, his gaze unfocused.
"Earth calling, are you still with us?" Wolfgang said.
"Mmmmm."
"I'm really sorry." Wolfgang said. "For this whole trip. The show. Everything."
"Why?"
Wolfgang was surprised to find his eyes tearing up. "Because I wrote it. Because it really happened to you and it's exactly how I wrote it."
"Lars tried to kill me?" Kurt asked.
His voice was so slurred that it took Wolfgang a moment to figure out what he said and that it was supposed to be a joke. He meant to laugh, but started crying instead. He couldn't speak for a few minutes, but finally he composed himself. Kurt tried to hand him one of the gauze squares to wipe his eyes.
"If it's really like the show," Kurt asked, "Do I get the girl in the end?"
Wolfgang laughed, finally getting it right. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Sure, which ever girl you want." His voice still shaking slightly, like he was about to start crying again.
Kurt smiled. "Amanda. I would pick Amanda." He said dreamily.
Wolfgang was silent. His sister? Had Kurt really meant to say that? He was thinking of how to respond when Geoff poked his head into the hallway.
"Okay, I've got everything set up. We'll take some pictures and then I can stitch that cut on your face." Dr. Mallory said.
"My face?" Wolfgang said. He put his hand to his cheek and it came away bloody.
"I think he got you with his tail." Geoff said. "It's okay."
He picked Kurt up and had Wolfgang carry the oxygen as they returned to the x-ray room. This time Kurt was much more cooperative. Dr. Mallory had all the pictures he needed within the few minutes and had Wolfgang carry Kurt into an exam room.
Wolfgang sat down in a chair. Kurt was curled up on his side on an exam table. He still had his rosary wrapped in the fingers of his left hand. It was midnight and Wolfgang could feel his eyes closing against their will, his head nodding forward before he jerked upright in an attempt to stay awake. It had to be almost over now. They had found Kurt, they had a doctor, and everything was going to be fine. He just had to stay awake a little longer.
