Chapter 4

The first thing Carter felt was agonising pain. All over.

He couldn't resist the loud groan from escaping his lips.

His head was pounding so much, it sounded like someone was drilling into it. Felt like it too. It was like his head was about to crack open.

And his body.

His right arm hurt so much, and felt so heavy it was like a bag of rocks. He couldn't even move it without experiencing sharp pains.

Then there was his right hip and leg. They burnt so much, it felt like his whole right side was on fire.

And he felt wet. All over.

Slowly blinking open his eyes, finding it harder than usual. Like they were really heavy.

When he managed to pry them open, he found himself laying face down in the middle of the road. On a small blanket of snow and ice, with snow continuing to pelt down on him, already covering him in a layer of snow.

That had to explain why he was wet.

It took him a moment to remember what happened and why he was laying in the middle of the road in agony.

Then he remembered. Walking to the hospital, the family, and the kids playing. The car speeding towards the kids. Pushing them out the way. Then getting hit...

He had been hit by a car.

Dammit.

Carter groaned again, this time not out of pain, well not only pain, but annoyance at his own stupidity. If he had more time to think, he might have done something else. Instead of idiotically throwing himself in front of a car! God he was stupid.

Lifting his head, he peered around those kids were gone. Scampered off. In fact the street was deserted. He was alone.

Typical.

He gets hit by a car saving some kids lives, and they don't even stick around to thank him, or even call an ambulance. Real nice.

No one was coming to help him.

Shifting, Carter gritted his teeth as he tried to get up. He knew it wasn't wise to move around after getting hit by a car, he could have some serious injuries. But he didn't have much of a choice seeing as no one was coming to help him, and lying in the road in the middle of a snow storm wasn't exactly going to do him much good either.

He turned onto his back and let out a yelp and whimper as he jarred his right arm. He may have blacked out a moment from the pain. The next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes to stare up at sky. Snow landing on his face, stinging his eyes.

It took him a moment to catch his breath. When he had, he tried to focus. Finding it a little difficult to keep a straight thought, his head swimming and pounding so hard. But he new he had to take stock of his injuries.

He was conscious. That was good. He knew his name and what happened. Another plus.

With his left hand, he reached up to his neck to check his pulse. Surprisingly, it was harder than he thought what with his hand shaking so much.

Finally, he managed to get it to stay still long enough to check his pulse.

Well that wasn't good.

It was low. Far lower than it should be. It was so faint, he could barely detect it.

That's bad...

And he was shivering really bad. His breathing could out in low shallow rasps.

Oh crap.

Hypothermia.

Dammit. He had no idea how long he'd been out here. He needed to get moving before he passed out and his organs shut down.

Gritting his teeth, Carter used his left had to push himself into a sitting position. Pain exploded all over, and his vision blurred.

He had the overwhelming desire to close his eyes and go to sleep. Exhaustion was catching up with him, and the pain...it hurt so much. He just wanted to go to sleep and wait for the pain to pass.

His started to close and he had to snap them open, just before he fell asleep.

He was getting worse.

Shaking his head to try and focus, he instantly regretted it as the throbbing worsened.

Taking a shallow breath. Carter let out a hacking cough.

When it passed he took a moment to look himself over.

His eyes instantly fell on his right arm, resting on his legs straight out. His coat and shirt was ripped and soaking wet. Not just from the snow but from blood. It was seeping through from whatever injuries his arm had. And around him the snow had all turned blood red. Crap! How much blood had he lost? Where was it coming from?

And his hand was covered in purple and brown bruises, and cuts. Not to mention blood seeping out from the arm.

Experimentally, he tried to move his fingers and hissed in pain. But he was able to move them. That was good he guessed. Using his left hand, he tried to move his forearm and whimpered.

"Ow! Ok no no." Carter closed his eyes instantly stopping the movement, waiting for the pain to subside; "Definitely broken."

Then he turned his attention to the rest of him.

His pants were soaking wet as well. It was hard to tell if it was just wet from the snow or blood as well given they were black trousers.

He put his left hand out to touch his hip and legs. He hissed in pain, but it wasn't so bad. Probably just some bruising.

But his shivering intensified and he knew staying here any longer would be very serious.

He needed to get up.

Taking a moment to prepare himself, Carter then placed his left hand on the ground, braced himself and pushed to get up.

It took a lot of effort, sliding and groaning as he stood. He stumbled as he made the mistake of putting pressure on his right side. Almost falling to the ground again, but he managed to stable himself.

Hopping, as he rested solely on his left side, he took a moment to catch his breath.

Now he was standing, the shooting pains was acting up again. As if his body was punishing him for standing.

His teeth now chattering alerted him really needed to get out of the snow.

Hobbling and stumbling towards his bag where he left it on the street. He stopped as he stumbled and fell into a lamppost seeing his bag was gone.

Stolen probably.

Just great.

Now his wallet and phone were gone.

He couldn't get a cab. Or call anyone.

He made a face, even if he had his phone who would he call? An ambulance? He really didn't want that. To turn up at County like this. Everyone would ask what happened, what could he say? It was just too humiliating and stupid. And then everyone would learn he was practically homeless.

He did still have healthcare, because as a doctor he wasn't stupid enough not to pay for that. He may be homeless but atleast he could pay for treatments if anything happened. Like this.

He knew he needed a hospital. He wasn't stupid and he was a doctor.

But he just really didn't want anyone to know he was hurt.

He could go to another hospital...But he could barely walk, and County was only a few blocks away.

Plus, looking at his watch he saw his evening shift was starting in half an hour. He couldn't miss his shift. He needed the money.

If he could just get to the hospital and clean himself up, he was sure it wouldn't be too bad. Just a few bruises.

First he just had to get there.

0o0o0oo0ooERo0o0o0o0o0

"Hey Mark." Haleh said passing Mark at the admin desk; "You seen Carter?"

"Yeah he's gone home." Mark said typing at the computer.

"Really?" Haleh paused; "Because I swear I saw Carter's car in the parking lot when I got in."

"What?" Mark turned to her sharply; "Are you sure?"

"Yeah it wasn't twenty minutes ago."

Frowning, Mark nodded; "Thanks. I guess he's back on in a few hours."

Haleh headed off, and Mark paused to think about what just happened. Carter's car in the parking lot could only mean one thing. Carter was here. So either he never left or he came back early.

Either way, he ignored Mark's order to stay home.

Grabbing the phone, Mark quickly dialled Carter's mobile number. His resident was going to get an earful. He had to be hiding somewhere around here.

He waited as it rung and rung. Now he was getting pissed. Carter was ignoring him.

He was just about to hang up when the phone answered.

"Yo."

Instantly Mark stilled. That wasn't Carter's voice. Panic quickly set in.

"Hello? Whose this?"

The phone hung up.

Mark pulled away and stared at the phone baffled. What the hell?

"Hey Mark you ok?" Doug said as he passed by looking at him.

"Did you know Carter's car is in the parking lot?"

"Really?" Doug turned to him his eyes widening and then looked sympathetically at Mark; "So what he came back here early?"

"I don't know. Have you seen him around?"

"No I haven't. What are you thinking?"

"I just called his phone and someone else answered."

Now Doug frowned in concern; "Weird."

"Yeah." Mark looked around hoping to see their favourite resident.

"Have you tried paging him?"

"No. I'll give it a go. But keep an eye out if you see him. The Christmas party starts soon and he might be trying to sneak back for it."

Doug nodded, but they both paused to share a concerned glance. Both fearing the same thing, that something bad may have happened to Carter. But really hoped they were wrong.