CHAPTER ONE
A Life Like Lightning
One…
Epidemic
Dr. Jara Rishaka ambled lazily down the hallway of the brand new ward of the brand new hospital in the brand new neighborhood of very old Phoenix, Arizona. The new neighborhood was actually not completely new but, newly renovated. The new hospital was actually, truly new. Building was only completed two years ago. Morton Hospital it was called. Yup, calm place. Nothing like Nairobi… (This always caused a laugh of relief in Jara's chest.) The new ward was the Epidemiology Ward. Oh yes… the Epidemiology Ward… a hellishly dangerous place—but still… nothing like Nairobi. ("Ah ha!" Jara snorted as she walked by the hematology lab.) The new ward was the only ward in the entire hospital that had recently taken in the "attending RN" custom. This new system was basically a partnering between an Epidemiologist MD and a specially trained Epidemiology RN. The RN follows the MD around to his/her assignments and helps out with the random shit that happens about the ward… which is always full of boring, yet dangerous cases of things such as HIV, and Influenza ranging from A to C. Yeah, a pretty uneventful day was always threatening.
"Hey! Jara!" Alice Reed, Jara's attending RN, shouted as she ran towards her doctor waving her hands madly. "AGH!" Jara covered her face in fake-fear as Alice wrapped her arms around her doctor. "I missed yooooou!" She shouted. "Great, get offa' me. I can't breath!" The Lithuanian doctor cried. Alice backed up and stared at Jara with her big eyes before giving her a peck on the cheek and running off again. "We have a meeting tonight at six! Be there or get fired!" Alice called as she ran down the hall towards the nurses' lounge. "Ah damn it all…" Jara muttered to herself. She turned around on her left foot and began walking (again lazily) towards the hematology lab. "Screw you all to hell," she said to Dr. Reynolds as she passed him. "What?" He said looking up from his microscope, which was staring down at a petri dish of Influenza B blood. "You're the one that initiated that meeting aren't you?" She said accusingly, but doubtfully. She wasn't sure who it was that initiated the meeting but whoever it was… they were definitely in for a beating. Jara hated meetings. It was just like being back in high school. Lectures and talking forever more to come… It was a horrible, horrible thing to do to a person.
"Let's keep this meeting rather brief, shall we people?" Dr. Makan Akaii said. Jara snorted. Whenever he said that it always meant a long, long evening was at hand. Dr. Akaii was the chief surgeon and head of the Epidemiology ward. This ward basically had a hospital all its own for fear of infectious diseases spreading to the other patients. There was an area for bacteriology and one for virology. Jara worked in the virology sect. Dr. Akaii worked in the bacteriology sect but was also highly trained in virology.
"We have a new epidemic plaguing us here in virology," The handsome Hawaiian continued. Jara always admired him. He was gorgeous and very popular among the ladies. "It's nothing big. Not much more than a mutogenic strain of Influenza most likely. That's at least what the symptoms point to. The only thing I wanted to warn you folks about is the threat of transmission among other patients as well as staff. It's infection rate among the community is very alarming and we're so damn lucky that it's nothing more than an Orthomyxovirus. If this were anything like an Arenavirus we'd already be six feet under from the frigging infection rate," he said with odd emphasis on the types of viruses. Great, Jara thought. We're being briefed about a freaking FLU VIRUS… I could care less if I got the flu while working… She began to angrily tear her schedule to pieces. She allowed herself to tear up to six o'clock off but forced herself to stop when she realized she wouldn't know what the hell she was doing after this meeting. Jara suddenly looked up when she saw Alice stand. "Alice?" She watched in horror as her nurse walked up next to Akaii. "What is she doing up there?" She muttered to herself. Ohhh… if Alice has anything to do with the meeting she is so sleeping on the couch tonight… Jara grumbled to herself as her mind rambled. "We just want to warn you because one of my patients died this morning after being diagnosed with this virus," Alice said. One of your patients? Jara's mind growled. "The woman was over seventy years old and the virus only caused flu symptoms. However we want to warn you that it is just as dangerous to the elderly as the flu is," Alice announced. "So be warned. We're going to send blood samples to the lab and have it looked at and maybe soon we'll be able to come up with a simple vaccine like that of the flu. There is no need for barrier nursing, just use the basic sterility techniques, and use them well. Thanks for your attention, and have a good night," the little, blonde nurse said as she sat back down in her chair. "Thank you Ms. Reed," Dr. Akaii said as he smiled at her. She smiled back. "No trouble."
"Alright people, get back to your positions and have a nice evening," Akaii said as he walked out of the room.
"How was I?" Alice asked nervously as she and Jara walked out of the meeting room. "Great," Jara forced a smile. You evil little scum… She was still growling in her head. She hated the meetings… although she had to admit Alice looked very professional up there. It was quite a turn on.
"Hey Dr. Rishaka, what's going on tonight? Did you get called to that meeting?" Dr. Nico Gitano said as Jara and Alice walked into the ICU where there were many of those "flu" patients being treated. "Shut up," Jara joked as Nico snorted. He was happy because he didn't have to go to the meeting. He was working in the ICU and doctors working in any trauma-esque units were to remain in their positions and skip meetings. Alice giggled when Nico whisked his hand through her forever-silky-nice sandy hair. He was a handsome Italian doctor from Venice. He spoke with such a strong accent that without proper Nico-knowledge you would never understand. Jara had known him since she first started working in Morton Hospital. Both she and Nico were part of the original staff. They were of the first group signed into the hospital when it was first built. Alice had come about a half-year later. Jara had taken an immediate liking to her pretty new nurse and apparently Alice had taken an immediate liking for her sexy new doctor because they began dating only three weeks after being assigned to each other. Nico always commented how it was a shame Jara's sexual orientation didn't follow his because he'd love to have a go with her. She'd always laugh and tell him she wouldn't mind a threesome with Alice and him. As of yet he hadn't completely turned down the idea. Jara didn't think his girlfriend would like that very much but hey… he was kinda' cute. She didn't think it'd kill her to be bi… after all, Alice was.
Jara watched as Nico administered an IV to a young woman's arm. "You alright?" He asked the girl who looked rather sleepy. However in Nico-English it sounded more like y'arite? The girl understood the simple two word Italian-puzzle and nodded her head yes. Jara smiled. Her smiled faded a second later when she heard a gasp. "Nico!" She screamed as she ran towards a middle-aged man in the other bed. (Each ICU room had two beds, the Epidemiology Ward's ICU rooms were specially made for viral/bacterial containment so these two patients both had the same "flu" virus…) "What's wrong with him!" Alice shrieked. "I don't know—intubate him! Intubate him!" Jara shouted as Nico grabbed an ambubag and began to feed the tube though the man. Jara held his head in place as he gasped harder. His face began to turn a sick carmine. "Hurry! Hurry!" Alice cried as she held the convulsing man down. "Jara! Move!" Nico abandoned the ambubag when dark, arterial blood began to flow from the man's nose and mouth. He quickly pulled Jara's hands away from the patient's face. "Screw the regular techniques! We need barrier nursing!" Jara commanded as she ran to the cabinets in the corner of the room and pulled out facemasks and gowns. "Quick! Put these on and then reintubate him," she shouted. "This is no flu virus," Nico observed. "No shit," Jara said as she pulled her mask on. "This is a hemorrhagic fever."