Chapter 5

Carter stumbled into a lamppost. Clinging on to it for dear life as another wave of pain hit him. He rested his forehead against it for a moment, eyes closed.

It was taking far more energy than he had to walk down the street. And he was so cold. He couldn't think straight anymore. Everything was blurry.

All he wanted to do was sleep.

But he had to keep going.

So he pushed off from the lamppost. Drunkenly, he swayed from side to side as he walked down the street.

Hope welled up inside Carter as the hospital suddenly came into view. An ambulance was pulling up just as he arrived. So he realised he couldn't go in that way. Someone would see him. Looking down at himself as he limped along the street, he saw he was soaking wet and covered in patches of blood. That was bound to attract suspicion.

Luckily, there was another entrance. Predominantly for patients, so he could try and slip in and make his way to the men's room. Hopefully before anyone saw him. Like Dr Ross or Dr Greene. He knew if they did, within one second he would end up on a gurney and hooked to machines.

Heading to the other entrance, Carter pulled his coat collar up, ducked his head and walked in quickly. There were other people walking in, so he tried to blend in with them.

When he got inside, there was the familiar loud noise that came from being inside the hospital. It was overwhelming at first, but he was used to it now. And he quite liked the sound.

Relieved there was no sign of anyone he knew, he quickly made his way towards the nearest men's room. Grabbing a pair of green scrubs, some gauze and a first aid kit, from a nearby supply metal shelving unit in the hall on the way.

He was just nearing the door, when he heard Dr Benton's voice. And Carter was quick to tuck himself behind the wall of the corner until Peter went past. He must be covering the ER tonight.

That was cutting it close

As soon as Peter was gone, Carter rushed into the men's room, relieved there was no one inside.

Limping to the sink, Carter immediately fell against it, letting out a whimper as he hit his leg against it.

When he looked up seeing his reflection he stilled. Damn.

He looked awful.

His face was completely pale, practically white. There was a large cut on his forehead, with lots of blood covering the side of his face.

He didn't even realise his head had been bleeding. It didn't hurt. Did it?

He wasn't even sure anymore what hurt and what didn't. The cold had made practically his whole body numb.

Still shivering violently, Carter got to see the rest of his body in the reflection. His coat was rumpled, wet, bloodied and torn along with the rest of him.

It was like he had been put in a blender.

Using his one good hand, he grabbed a handful of paper towels and wetted them, before he started to clean his head wound.

It took more effort than it should have. What with his numb shaking hand.

He managed to clean up most of the blood, apart from the bits oozing out the large cut. But he winced at his reflection.

His face was still pale, making the cut more noticeable. And now the blood was gone, he could see there were large bruises covering his face, around his eyes and forehead.

Just great. That was going to be noticed.

Dumping the bloodied paper towels on the sink counter. Carter grabbed a bandage from the first aid kit, he with one hand tried to stick it over the cut.

Then he turned his attention to the rest of him.

Slowly, easing his coat and suit jacket off his left shoulder, he then very delicately started to slide it off his right. Closing his eyes, he groaned as he pulled it over his leg arm, jarring it and hissing in pain. He dumped both jackets on the floor as they finally came off and grabbed his hurt arm trying to keep it still and prevent more pain. Then he looked down at his arm, seeing blood had covered practically his whole forearm. There were some rips, showing him the skin beneath was bloody too.

Carefully undoing his cuffs, he pulled back the sleeve and hissed. His whole arm was swollen and bruised. Badly. And there were a few cuts, but he couldn't quite see where the blood was coming from. Odd.

Not wanting to dawdle, Carter just grabbed the gauze and started wrapping it around his arm. Using his teeth to tie it afterwards.

He paused to admire his work after, and immediately frowned. Blood was already starting to seep through.

Just great.

Moving on, Carter lifted his shirt to look at his torso and hip. Large purple bruises covered his torso, even worse over his hip. He prodded the bruises and let out a hum of pain. Without a CT scan he wasn't going to know if it was just bruising or internal bleeding. But judging by the fact that the pain wasn't so bad, he hoped it was just bruising.

Quickly striping off his shirt. Grimacing at the sight before him. He grabbed some paper towels and tried to clean himself up as much as he could. Then slipped on the green scrub top.

Turning to his pants. He slipped them off too, finding more bruises down his legs. The car hit him pretty good. His whole body must look like a giant plum.

He had to lean against the wall to get the scrub pants on. And the process almost made him pass out.

He felt an overwhelming wave of nausea and couldn't quench it this time. Stumbling to the nearest cubicle, Carter threw up his stomach contents.

The throbbing in his head only got worse, making his head spin.

When it was over, Carter just felt a hell of a lot worse. He wasn't sure he could even get up off the floor.

But he didn't have much choice. He forced himself up again.

Moving back to the sink to grab his old clothes he shoved them into the trashcan. Then he checked his reflection over again in the mirror and scrunched his face up. He looked awful, not even he would believe there was nothing wrong with him.

But it would have to do. He just needed his lab coat to cover up his arm and then he'd be set.

It was then a thought occurred to him. How was he going to treat patients with one arm? Then there was the fact he wasn't exactly thinking straight. Maybe this was a bad idea he could end up hurting a patient.

God he was in so much pain, he didn't even know what to do anymore.

Maybe if he spoke to Dr Greene and explained the situation he could treat him without anyone knowing. He just had to find him.

Easing open the bathroom door, Carter was immediately assaulted with bright lights and loud noises.

No wait...that was Christmas music...

Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that he was in the ER but for some reason he couldn't quite think properly.

His vision blurred as he hobbled into the hallway.

But it was empty.

Atleast he thought it was. The lights were making everything fuzzy, and he felt very hot of a sudden. Like he was sweating and was really thirsty.

He needed a drink.

Forgetting about finding Dr Greene or even his job as a doctor, Carter just ambled and hobbled down the hallway, not even sure where he was going. Or what he wanted. He was just walking around aimlessly. His pain forgotten, and unable to think straight.

He found himself entering the exam room opposite the paeds room and adjourning trauma 2. And as soon as he walked in his legs gave out.

0o0ooo0oERO0o0o0o000o

As there was still hardly any patients, everyone had decided to have a small Christmas Party. Starting out in the doctor's lounge and breaking out into the admin desk area. Seeing as the ER was so quiet.

There were trays of cookies and snacks, with music playing, and some people were even wearing fancy costumes. Like Jerry wearing a big Santa hat, and some of the nurses wearing tinsel and funny Christmas headbands. Everyone was dancing and laughing. Just having fun.

Mark was trying to enjoy the party too, between treating patients. He was just snacking on a cookie when he passed Jerry.

"Hey Jerry have you heard anything from Carter?"

"No sorry doc." Jerry shouted over the music.

"Dammit." Mark huffed. He was getting really worried now. There was no word or sign of Carter, he wasn't answering his phone or page.

He needed to try another strategy.

Meeting Kerry as she was exiting exam room 4, he cornered her; "Hey Kerry. Listen you haven't seen or heard from Carter have you?"

"No sorry Mark."

"It's just he's sick and I sent him home earlier, but his car is still here, and he's not answering his cell or pages."

"Oh?" Kerry looked at him before furrowing her brow in concern.

"Listen I'm worried. I just want to check he's ok. If you know anything..."

"You could try the medical campus. I believe he's working there as an RA."

"RA? Really?" Mark said surprised; "How long?"

"A couple of months."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why is working there?"

"It's not really any of our business Mark."

"Can I just have the number please Kerry?"

So not five minutes later, Mark was calling the campus from the doctor's lounge in hope of finding Carter.

Except he didn't get the result he expected.

He was sitting at the middle table, just hanging up the phone when Doug walked in.

"Hey Mark. Party's going strong. Lucky we're not slammed." He said flopping down onto the sofa grinning at him. But it fell when he saw Mark's face; "What?"

"Did you know Carter's been working as an RA at a medical campus across town?"

"Woah no I didn't. How weird. Why would he be working there? Isn't his family loaded?"

"I don't know. Kerry just told me he's been working there a couple of months."

"Kerry knew? Typical." Doug snorted and then rubbed his head frowning; "So is he ok?"

"Huh?"

"Carter." Doug leant forward; "You spoke to him?" He said gesturing at the phone.

"Er no." Mark turned him gravely as he spoke; "I spoke to the principal there. Carter was fired over a month ago, because some Halloween party got out of hand. He hadn't worked or lived there since."

"Okayyy. So where's he living now?"

Mark shrugged and leant back in his chair rubbing both hands over his face; "God this is driving me crazy. It's like I'm getting the run around whenever I just want a straight answer."

"Tell me about it. You wouldn't think someone like Carter would be so mysterious."

"I can't even find him!" Mark exclaimed in frustration.

"Isn't his shift about to start?"

"Yeah and he's not here yet. God knows where he is."

"You ever find out who was on the other end of Carter's phone?"

"Nope. And it just goes straight to voicemail now."

Eyeing Mark, Doug felt a pang of worry; "You don't think anything's happened do you?"

"I don't know." Mark said honestly; "I mean Carter's car is here but where is he? And someone else has his phone..." He trailed off, the meaning well understood. Someone could have hurt Carter and taken the phone.

Mark instantly flashed back to when he was attacked in the bathroom and they never found out who it was. He was over it now, but it still hurt to think about sometimes.

"I think this is getting serious now. Why don't you get security and get them to sweep the hospital and the parking lot? Just in case. If Carter turns up then fine, but it's best to be safe."

"Do you think that's necessary?" Mark said surprised.

"I think we need to find Carter." Doug stood; "Whilst you're doing that. I'm going to just have a quick check on the ER, see if he's not sleeping somewhere."

"Yeah alright." Mark said immediately grabbing the phone to call security. Meanwhile Doug rushed out to check the ER.

It may be an overreaction, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If they found Carter and he was fine, then so be it. But they saw tragedies every day, hell Mark was even attacked in their own hospital. The world was a dangerous place, and they had to look after their own.

Doug cut through the admin desk, just double checking Carter wasn't in the crowd celebrating. Then he headed to check the two exam rooms by the admin desk.

No Carter.

Heading past the curtained areas, he pulled each of them back to check, before moving on to the trauma rooms.

Carol was in one cleaning up; "Hey Doug." She said grinning.

"Hey you haven't seen Carter have you?"

Her smile vanished replaced with a frown as she stilled; "No why?"

"I don't know. Something may be wrong. Can you just keep an out and let me or Mark know if you find him?"

"Sure of course. Do you want me to help you look for him?"

"Mark already has security checking the rest of the hospital. I'm just checking the ER."

"Ok I'll help you look." Carol said nodding and they each headed in different directions to search.

Carol went into trauma 2 as Doug moved to the back end of the ER to check the other rooms.

A few held sleeping resting patients, others were empty. But no Carter.

Doug was just heading back out of the new paeds room, to head back down the hallway to the admin desk to check in with Mark when he heard a crashing noise. It came from the room opposite, beside Trauma 2.

Frowning, Doug rushed to the door and shoved it open.

The curtain was pulled around the bed, and he was just about to turn away when he saw a bloody smudged handprint on the curtain.

Yanking it back, his body went cold at the sight before him.

It was Carter. Laying face down on the ground, having knocked down an instrument tray as he fell. And there was blood dripping down his head onto the ground, creating a pool of blood around his head.

"Oh god." Doug breathed in shock for a moment. Then he sprung into action; "I need a gurney in here!" He shouted as he rushed to kneel beside Carter.

He was just gently turning him over when Carol burst in.

"What? I'm my god!" She gasped, covering her mouth in shock; "Carter?!"

"Get a gurney and get Mark!" Doug ordered not taking his eyes off Carter as Carol rushed out.

"Carter can you hear me?" Doug called out, gently touching Carter's head either side, terrified to move him too much in case there were neck or head injuries.

Carter merely remained unconscious.

Doug frowned deeply concerned. Carter was far too pale, and his skin was ice cold. And the blood seeping out from under a bandade was a bad sign. Then there was the rest of him. A bandage over his right arm was soaked with blood, and his hand was swollen and bruised.

What the hell was going on?! Doug just looked at him in pure shock for a moment.

Then he quickly tried to find Carter's pulse at his neck, but could barely find it and when he did it was so slow he almost missed it.

"Dammit." Doug huffed leaning his head down to press his ear just over Carter's mouth and nose, trying to determine if he was breathing.

Relieved he was, Doug sat up and not a moment later, the door burst open and Carol and Mark rushed in pushing a gurney, a backboard and C-collar.

"Jesus!" Mark said stopping to look at Carter in horror; "Carter? What the hell happened?" Mark demanded rushing over to the other side of Carter as Carol called out for more help and prepared the gurney.

"I don't know." Doug shook his head; "I just found him on the floor. He's barely breathing and his pulse is really weak."

Mark looked at Doug in disbelief before nodding weakly; "Alright let's get him on the gurney and into trauma 2."

Carol handed Mark the backboard and neck brace, allowing Mark to slip the neck brace around Carter's neck.

"Ok rolling." Doug gently rolled Carter towards him, whilst Mark and Carol slid the back board underneath Carter. They laid him back down on it.

"Ok lifting on my count." Mark commanded as he, Carol and Doug each grabbed a side of the backboard.

"One...two...three..." On three they all lifted and set Carter down on the gurney.

Then they raced out of the room, and headed straight for trauma 2.

"Hey we need some extra hand here!" Mark called as they shoved the gurney inside.

Weaver, Haleh and Lydia rushed in after them.

"What's going...Is that Carter?!" Kerry exclaimed in shock rushing over to help.

"Ok on my count." Doug said walking over to the other side of the trauma bed, and reached over to grab the backboard with Carter on it. "One...two..." and he didn't need to say three because they all lifted him onto the bed.

One of the nurses took the gurney back outside, whilst the others got Carter off the backboard.

"What the hell happened?" Kerry demanded as they started cutting the scrubs off Carter.

"No idea. I just found him collapsed in the suture room." Doug responded angrily.

"God."

Then they all rushed to hook Carter up to the monitors.

"BP 180 over 130!" Carol exclaimed gravely.

"Hang two units."

"Pulse 54. O2 74." Mark added shaking his head, at how bad that was.

Then he pulled out his stethoscope to check Carter's breathing. "Breathing laboured. Possible collapsed lung. Chest tube." He ordered as he slipped his stethoscope back around his neck.

"Get me a CBC. Chem 7, electrolytes, morphine IV push. And get me some warming fluids and blankets, he's badly hypothermic!" Doug called out, before leaning to shine a flashlight in Carter's eyes; "Right pupils blown, left round and reactive. Possible brain bleed."

"Ok we're going to need a CT and MRI." Mark called out as he was handed a chest tube. As he opened the packet he saw Carter's right arm and paused; "And page Ortho!"

Carol set up an IV in Carter's and hung the warming fluids; "Temp 87!" Carol called out.

They removed Carter's shirt and pants, ready to cover him with a gown and so Mark could insert the chest tube. But everyone in the room froze as they caught side of Carter's chest and torso, seeing large purple bruises spreading down to his hips and below to his right leg.

"Oh my god."

"What the hell happened to him?" Doug murmured glancing apprehensively at Mark, both sharing the same terrified concern.

"Someone page Benton!" Kerry called.

"We need a cross table C spine. Now!" Doug shouted, starting to press down on Carter's abdomen, checking for internal bleeding as Kerry checked his legs.

"Abdomen hard and tender. Possible internal bleeding."

"Inserting the chest tube now!" Mark called as he made the incision on Carter's right side and inserted the tube. Blood immediately spurted out everywhere.

"Arggh." Carter suddenly screamed in pain snapping his eyes open, making everyone jump.

Carter looked around wildly, not knowing what was going on. Staring up at the familiar trauma room ceiling and all the doctors and nurses around him, he was terrified. He didn't know how he ended up on a gurney or what he was in so much pain.

He struggled trying to get up.

"Carter?" Mark shouted still placing the chest tube; "You need to stay still."

Groaning at the searing burning pain in his chest he gasped for air, and struggled to cope with the searing pain all over.

"Carol calm him down."

Carol tried to talk to Carter, keeping her face just by his offering him a reassuring smile and words. But he wasn't listening. His head turning from side to side as he groaned and struggled.

"Carol." Mark warned as the x-ray machine was pulled in.

"Carter you need to keep still. Push 10 more of morphine and cortisone." Hoping that would calm him down.

"Ok everyone out."

Everyone moved to another room as the x-ray was taken and all then rushed back in getting back to work.

"Temp?" Doug questioned.

"85."

"What?" Doug looked at Carol accusingly; "Push more warning fluids!"

Mark looked at Carter's monitor and frowned; "Push 10 of Ativan IV push."

"Temp at 89."

"Carter? We got you. Can you tell us what happened?" Mark asked calmly, looking at him in concern; "Where does it hurt?"

Carted started screaming and arching his back, struggling against them; "Carter. Carter." Doug moved to Carter's head and grabbed both sides of his head to force him to look at him; "Hey ok focus on me." Finally Carter's eyes stopped looking around wildly and focused on Doug; "Good buddy. Real good." Doug said softly offering a small reassuring smile; "We're looking after you. We got you ok. Just tell us where it hurts."

His eyes started to close as he tried to turn his head; "No Carter stay with me. Talk to me buddy. Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere. It burns...my back..." Carter groaned snapping his head away and writhing.

"Your back?" Mark looked at Doug concerned; "Is it a sharp or dull pain?"

"Sharp..."

"Ok let's roll him."

As they rolled Carter and pushed the gown, they saw more bruises and a very small cut. Nothing to cause agony, so there must be something very serious going on inside.

They turned him back over and ordered more morphine, just as the doors were shoved open and Dr Peter Benton rushed in, immediately grabbing some gloves; "Alright what we got?" But he stopped when he saw Carter; "What? Carter? What the hell happened?"

Doug huffed, getting frustrated at hearing this; "Can we go over this later and just focus on saving his life?!"

Mark looked at Doug before turning to Benton to explain; "Found unconscious in the suture room. Not breathing and faint pulse. BP now 120 over 80. Hypothermic. Temp 89 and rising slowly. Collapsed lung, chest tube inserted. Possible broken arm and leg, abdomen hard and tender. Possible back and spine injury. X-rays run."

"Ok move over." Peter ordered, moving in between Kerry and Doug to get a better look, checking Carter's belly himself.

"Ugh." Carter groaned at being poked and prodded, latching out to grab Doug's arm. Without even thinking, Doug slipped his hand into Carter's offering a reassuring squeeze.

"Alright Carter we got you."

Peter then shouted; "He's bleeding out. We need to get him to the OR."

"We need to wait for X-Rays." Doug countered angrily; "And he has a possible brain bleed, and he's hypothermic. He's not stable enough for surgery."

"I think I'll be the judge of that." Peter argued.

Suddenly, Carter's monitor beeped rapidly and he let out some gasps and moans.

"Carter?" Mark said concerned leaning over him; "What is it? Carter?"

But Carter's eyes just rolled into the back of his head and he started shaking.

"He's seizing!"

They all grabbed Carter and turned him on his side whilst he shook; "10 mg of Mannitol now!"

They waited for the drugs to take effect, and finally Carter stopped shaking and passed out.

"There's blood in the foley back!" Lydia shouted holding it up.

"Alright he's bleeding out I'm taking him up. Get the OR prepped." Peter ordered pulling the railing up and about to lead him out.

"Peter you can't just take him! We need to wait for X-rays!" Mark argued but Peter ignored him.

"Peter!" Doug shouted.

"Do you want him to die why you wait around for the X-rays?!" Peter countered slamming his fist against the elevator button; "He's bleeding out!" He whirled around to face Doug, facing off against him.

Doug hesitated looking sadly at Carter as he was pushed into the elevator, and wheeled away.

Mark beside him nodded slowly; "Keep us informed of his status."

As the elevator doors closed, they just stood there staring at it.

Mark clapped Doug on the shoulder before turning and walking off.

"Doug?" Carol asked softly slipping her hand in his; "You ok?"

"What happened to him?" Doug murmured angrily, just thinking about someone attacking Carter like Mark was attacked. It infuriated him. This was supposed to be a safe place.

"I don't know. But he's going to be ok. We're taking care of him."

"I hope you're right."