Chapter 17- Five Hours
ChiChi had finished with her other homework and was about to start on her current events report. She plopped down on the couch with a notebook and turned on the TV. Since the best way to keep up with events was on the news, she turned the station there.
Anchor woman:
...has caught fire. It is suspected that foul play was involved. There was a young boy in the house at the time of the fire. He had four gunshot wounds, at least five broken ribs, first degree burns over much of his body, and is now comatose. The boy is being sent to West City Regional hospital. His identity is not known, but he is not expected to live more than five hours...
ChiChi put the TV on mute. During the broadcast they had shown a picture of Vegeta, bloody and burned, being hauled into an ambulance on a stretcher. ChiChi had almost not recognized him.
She picked up the phone and dialed Goku's number.
"Hello." Goku said.
"Goku!" ChiChi yelled frantic.
"Hey ChiChi. What's wrong?"
"Goku. It's Vegeta!"
"What? What about him? Have you found him?"
"No...Yes...He's at the hospital!" ChiChi heard Goku's truck screech to a halt.
"What? What happened to him? Which one?"
"There was a fire and gunshots and burns and..."
"Wait! Wait ChiChi! Just tell me which hospital he's at." ChiChi heard Bulma yelling something in the background when he said that.
"West City Regional!" ChiChi said and dropped the phone back on the hook and ran out the house.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Bulma and Goku were now at West City Regional. They ran into the lobby and straight up to the desk.
"We're looking for Vegeta Ouji. He was the young boy the found in the fire." Bulma said since Goku was too shocked to talk.
She hadn't heard the extent of Vegeta's injuries so she wasn't as frantic.
The nurse just pointed them down the hall to the waiting room. They went to the waiting room, not knowing where else to go. When they got in, they saw a room full of crying teenage girls and football players that were eerily quiet. Mr. Kozaku was there too. They all must have recognized Vegeta like ChiChi did.
"How bad is it?" Goku quietly asked going to stand, since there were no chairs left, next to Mr. Kozaku.
Mr. Kozaku shook his head sadly. "They're giving him five hours."
"What!" Goku yelled tears brimming in his eyes. "No! He can't die!"
"I'm sorry son." Mr. Kozaku said. "They've done all they can do. His injuries are too severe. They don't have the technology to help him."
"Technology?" Bulma choked out. She had heard the conversation between Goku and Mr. Kozaku and had started bawling like all the other girls. "I live at Capsule Corp. My dad has technology. He can save him."
Most of the girls in the room, the ones that had heard Bulma, had stopped crying. Goku visibly brightened.
"Really! Do you think he can?" He said hopefully.
"Well come on! Get him over here!" One of the girls shouted.
Bulma pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number. "Hello...daddy..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ten minutes later, Dr. Briefs walked into the hospital with a sobbing Mrs. Briefs right behind him. Mrs. Briefs didn't know Vegeta, but she always cries about stuff like this.
The Briefs were welcomed by a group of over thirty teenagers, twelve townsfolk, seven coaches, five teachers, four bar bouncers, two bar tenders and three doctors. (and a partridge in a pear tree... Sorry.)
"Hello." Doctor Briefs said.
"Daddy!" Bulma yelled, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the doctors. "You can help him right?"
"Well I'd have to see him first." Dr. Briefs stated.
"I'm sorry sir, but no visitor are allowed in the ICU." One of the doctors said.
Everyone started to protest but it was Chuckie that approached the doctor. "HEY!" She yelled. "Let the man in! Vegeta's going to die if you don't help him. Since you obviously can't do that, LET SOMEONE WHO CAN!!!"
The doctor backed off. "Alright. But not everyone can come in. He is in a critical state and is not yet stable. Too many people in there would be sure to mess everything up."
It was decided that only Dr. Briefs, Bulma, Chuckie, Gee, and Goku would be allowed in.
Everyone got quiet once again as the five people along with the doctors walked down the hall.
The five people were also quiet. They were required to wash their hands and put on nurse masks before they entered.
Bulma gasped when they entered. Like she always did at the sight of blood or anything close to it, she started to get queasy.
Vegeta was sprawled out on the bed with wires and tubes all over him. The heart rate monitor was beeping very, very slowly.
Dr. Briefs walked right over and immediately started examining him.
Goku, Gee, and Chuckie just kind of stood there in shock. It was one thing to hear what had happened, but another thing to see it.
"You can help him dad, can't you?" Bulma asked still pretty nauseous.
"Well I...I can try." Dr. Briefs said. "Don't worry honey. Where there's a will, there's a way."
This seemed to cheer Bulma up a bit.
"So Mr. Briefs," one of the doctors asked accusingly. "Why don't we have this technology here at the hospital?"
"Because most of it is prototype." Dr. Briefs explained simply. This effectively shut the doctors up.
Everyone's hope of Vegeta surviving dropped when he told them that.
"Um..Mr. Briefs," Another doctor spoke up. "How would we get all of the equipment over here in less than four hours?"
Dr. Briefs turned to her. "Well. I was thinking that it would be easier to bring him to Capsule Corp."
"What?!" The first doctor said. "I cant just discharge my patient to some...some..."
"Capsule Corp. has a registered medical wing." Dr. Briefs clarified. "We will have to airlift him there. We'd better hurry too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
All of the people that had now gathered in the hall tried to get close and see Vegeta as he was wheeled down the hall to the airbed. The doctors were pretty unsuccessful when they tried to push them back. There were just too many of them.
Everyone actually followed them until they got to the elevator. Then they went up the stairs. All of the doctors and nurses wondered how one person could attract so many people as they all filtered onto the roof.
Vegeta was loaded into the airbed. Everyone watched in silence as it lifted into the sky and headed for Capsule Corp.
Since there was so little room, only Dr, Briefs was allowed to ride. The rest of the group had to stay there.
"Hey Bulma!" Yamcha said pushing through the crowd of people to where Bulma stood. Juuanchi, Krillin, ChiChi, and Mrs. Briefs were right behind him. "Do you...uh...do you need a ride."
Bulma turned to them. "Alright." She said halfheartedly.