Chapter 13 Nick of Time

Carey checked on Cody. He was in the intensive care unit. His stomach had been bandaged up and some sensors were taped to his chest to monitor his heart rate. He had a tube in his mouth and one in his nose. His lips were swollen and wet with blood and spit. Carey had never soon Cody look so weak and helpless. But despite how he looked, he was stable and doing much better then expected. The same could not be said for Zack. After staying with Cody for a few minutes, Carey went to Zack's room. She couldn't believe this would be her last hour with him. Zack was attached to all kinds of machines. He had been put into a slight coma so that his death would be quick and painless. Zack was practically all ready gone. The only thing keeping him alive was the tube that was down his throat and the medicine that was keeping his heart going. Carey winced at the sight of him. His stomach was covered in dried blood. His lips were once again crudely wrapped around a plastic support. Carey sat down next to Zack's bed. She leaned over and kissed Zack's forehead. She stuck her face in his hair and cried. She knew she had to say goodbye.

"Oh, Zack," said Carey. How could she say goodbye? He was too young to die. He had too much to live for.

"You can fight this, baby. Come on, Zack, you're strong. Fight it," said Carey. Carey pleaded for Zack to fight back against his microscopic killer. But it was obvious that Zack was dying. His body was shutting down. He had been put in a diaper since he kept wetting himself. Drool flowed from between his lips. Since the support was there drool would get stuck in Zack's mouth and he would slightly cough and swallow then start drooling again. Carey could barely stand to look at him. But she wasn't going to just leave him to die alone. If he was going to go, she was going to be there with him. After forty-five minutes of waiting, Carey got hungry. She kissed Zack on the cheek.

"I'm just going to the vending machine a few halls down. I'll be right back, sweetie. Hang in there, bud," said Carey. She left and hurried towards the vending machine. Jim arrived a few seconds later. He was going to make one last shot at saving Zack's life. Jim looked the boy over, trying to find some clue to what was happening to Zack. He leaned in close to Zack's face, trying to find signs of infection. Jim figured that Zack was dying mainly cause the virus was somewhere he had overlooked. Some part of Zack's body that hadn't been properly examined. Jim looked Zack over. He was stumped. There was nothing he could do. He was about to leave when something caught his eye. Some stomach fluid with blood in it moving slowly across Zack's stomach. It couldn't be from the surgical wound. That had stopped leaking after the surgery. Jim followed the trail to it's source. When he found it, he felt like kicking himself. The leak was coming from Zack's navel. Jim could have shouted for joy. Of course. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Zack had complained of pain there. Jim had figured it was an appendix problem. By chance it was. But it also was the virus too. The truth hit Jim hard. He thought back to Zack's first visit.

"Any pain?" asked Jim.

"Yeah," said Zack.

"Where?" asked Jim.

"Everywhere," said Zack. Jim nodded.

"Does it hurt more at a certain spot?" asked Jim.

"Near my bellybutton," said Zack. Jim snapped back to reality. He jumped into action and raced into the hall.

"I NEED A SURGEON DOWN HERE NOW!"

Zack was raced to surgery. Jim met with Allison in front of the operating room to explain his findings.

"I know why Zack has been staying sick and how we almost lost him," said Jim.

"OK. Explain," said Allison.

"The virus has been reproducing. Every time we remove an infected part of Zack's body, it reproduces. Meaning we can't use the medicine properly to cure him. Meaning he almost died."

"Yeah. So there was some virus strands we kept missing? Where?"

"His navel."

"Of course. The infection always restarted in his stomach. We couldn't figure out why."

"The answer was right there in front of us. And we would have never thought to check there." Tom poked his head out of the OR.

"His navel was crawling with the virus. Good eyes, Jim. We're going to explore his whole body for signs of the virus. He'll be in here awhile. But he's going to live." Jim and Allison nodded. Tom went back to working on Zack.

"That was too close," said Jim, thinking of how they almost lost Zack.

"Yeah. Too bad we couldn't save that other girl," said Allison.

"Actually I got a call from the coroner this morning. Parents finally consented to an autopsy. She died of a sudden brain aneurysm. Totally unrelated to the virus. We couldn't have saved her if we tried." Allison nodded. The two sighed and went to go talk to Carey.

Hope that chapter is believable. It is possible for viral infections to go unnoticed in certain parts of the body. Next chapter is the last chapter. There will be a sequel. Please review.