Trauma Center: Second Opinion
"Flashback" by Tristan-the-Dreamer
So here's part two, finally! Part three will take a long time to finish, I'm afraid. Anyway, thanks to Crazy Girl Person because she inadvertantly gave me the idea of how Victor got sick! Thanks CGP. ((Big anime smile.)) Oh, and as for reviews, words cannot express how open I am to contructive critisism. I had trouble with this story, so any thoughts you have, lay 'em on!
"Victor." Dr. Sidney Kasal came striding down the hall. "A patient has just been brought in with Triti GUILT. We're not sure how he contracted it, but we're going to operate now."
"Okay, Chief." Victor looked puzzled. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to assist Dr. Camden. I know you've recently developed an injection that causes necrosis specifically in Triti cells."
"Right. It's 100 percent effective."
"Good," Dr. Kasal said briskly. "Can you come now?"
"Y-yes, of course." Victor frowned as he walked rapidly down the hall. He wasn't too happy about being paired with Dr. Camden. Ben was the newest surgeon at Caudecaus, and although everyone thought he was a genius, Victor frankly disliked him. I wish Derek was operating, even though he can be a bit slow…
The two workers scrubbed and suited up quickly. Victor gave a sideways glance at Dr. Camden as he snapped on his latex gloves. He seemed a little tired. He better be up to this, he thought to himself as they entered the operating room. The patient lay unconscious on the table. "Our patient is Jonathan Roster," Dr. Camden said, looking down at the slightly-built man with short tawny hair and a calm expression. "Chiral reaction is positive for Triti. Our objective—inject your serum and get the Triti out!"
"Right." Victor nodded curtly, preparing to draw a syringeful of the precious liquid. He had been caught unaware and so had hardly any serum on hand. Victor watched as Dr. Camden disinfected the patient's side with antibiotic gel and made a deft incision with the scalpel, soon exposing the familiar sight of Triti GUILT.
Victor passed over the syringe filled with plum-tinted liquid. "Inject it directly into the pancreas."
Dr. Camden did so, and in seconds the thorns began to wither. "Great! This is great!" He started lifting the limp Triti out with forceps and dropping them on the adjacent metal tray. "This will take half the time. I'm just going to raise his vitals a bit," he murmured from behind his surgical mask, glancing at the vital readout. He grasped the syringe of green fluid and gently inserted it into the patient's side. "There we go." He continued plucking out the GUILT.
"Wait a minute," Victor said, startled, after a little time had gone by. "His vitals are falling!"
"B-but…the chiral reaction is dropping, the Triti are dying! What's going on?"
Victor narrowed his eyes in concentration. "Do you remember anything funny on his charts, anything at all?"
"Victor…you know everything I do! We had a briefing before the surgery began!"
The vitals were down to ten.
"What are we going to do?" Victor asked helplessly. "I suppose we could—"
"I'll have to use the Healing Touch," Dr. Camden said resolutely.
"Okay." Victor nodded. He'd only seen the Healing Touch in action once or twice, but knew it was a powerful aid. Suddenly he hesitated, eyeing the circles under the doctor's eyes. "Wait—Dr. Camden—do you really think you'll be able to—"
He was wasting his breath. The doctor had an incredibly focused look on his face, and his movements were as fast as lightning. He injected the vital-raising serum and continued plucking out the withered Triti, dropping them on the tray. However, the strain was too much for him; he began wavering, and crashed to the ground, still gripping the forceps.
"I thought so," Victor muttered darkly. He yelled for help as loud as he could before turning to the patient. "Oh crap…!" Apparently Dr. Camden hadn't injected the full dose of his serum, because the Triti were starting to regenerate. And there wasn't enough serum for a second shot. "Now the thorns are going to be poison…and the vitals are still dropping!"
He injected more green liquid into the patient before grasping a fresh pair of forceps. He felt like he was acting on instinct, like he had to do this. He plucked out one thorn, then two more. He was then able to lift out a green triangle. He reached for another thorn, but it snapped. Poison gas started wafting out. "Dammit!"
He grabbed for the drain and tried to suck up all the gas, but it seemed to be drifting all over the place. Just then Dr. Kasal and Dr. Stiles burst in. "What's going on?" shouted Sidney.
"Help!" Was all Victor could get out. He was still trying to drain the gas. Meantime the vitals—
"He's flatlined!" Derek gasped.
"And the gas is going everywhere," Sidney snapped. "Victor, move over. Derek…" it was all a blur, but the only thing that mattered was two words: too late.
He had escaped breathing in the gas, but he could have cared less. What hammered into his mind over and over was the thought that he was an idiot for picking up those forceps. It was little consolation to him when his colleages reminded him that Jonathan's vitals were already mysteriously low, or that he had done what he thought was the right thing. His self-fury made him physically sick, and he was temporarily bedridden. Derek took it upon himself to stay by his side, but nothing he could do helped with Victor's guilt.
"Victor?"
"Hmmm?"
"Are you okay? You've been staring into space for hours." Angie happened to be passing through the lounge area and came upon Victor sitting quietly on one of the couches.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
FIN