Chapter 7: Calculating the Days
Sam had just died a day ago, and instead of grieving, Luka would pile himself up in work and funeral arrangements. Susan noticed how much quicker the deaths were getting; one would die in about half the time the previous person did from the other. It went on like a long chain. Frank died, and then one month later Malik died. After that, about 15 days later Neela died and about a week after that Pratt died. Four days later Abby went, and in another two days Sam was gone. That makes today a death day, Susan thought wearily trying to calculate the days.
The day went on, and on. Nothing happened but just when Susan was getting hopeful Ray walked in, choking on something nonetheless. "Ray!" Susan screams and goes over to help him before he started to turn blue. She wraps her arms around him, and squeezes until whatever is in Ray's mouth shoots out. She shakes her head as Ray thanks her for saving his life.
Susan walks over to the family room, because she hears odd noises. She opens the door and looks in as a particularly aggressive family is beating up Wendall, the social worker. She is on the ground, bruises forming and blood coming out of her nose and ears. "Stop!" Susan screams at the family. They look up for a second, but then continue to beat up Wendall. Susan runs and gets security, and they pull the family members off Wendall and handcuff them.
Gallant comes, ready with a gurney. They lift Wendall onto it, and wheel her into an open trauma room. "She's not breathing!" Gallant yells.
"Well, get an intubation tray!" Susan tells him. Chuny throws him the tray and Gallant rips it open, and starts to intubate Wendall.
"I'm in," he says once Wendall is getting the much needed oxygen. After that, they suture up Wendall's lacerations and wait for her to wake up.
Five hours later, Wendall has still not woken up. Gallant notifies Dr. Lewis, who tells him to order her a head CT. The head CT comes back with the worst possible news. "She's gone," Dr. Lewis says, staring at the CT of Wendall's head. She goes to find Wendall's family, to tell them that Wendall is indeed brain dead and for them to decide what they would like to do with her.
It takes a while for Susan to convince them to take her off life support, and when they finally do decide to, Gallant comes in to tell them Wendall's heart stopped and they weren't able to revive her.