St. Jude's Hospital
Emergency Room
Louden County, Virginia
6.45 PM
"He's arresting!" the nurse announced as the monitor beside her began its shrill buzzing.
The attending doctor shot a worried look at the still body on his emergency table. His hands, soaked with the blood of his patient, began chest compressions as he mumbled a string of curses under his breath, "There's too much damage... just how many bullets did this poor SOB take?"
Overhearing his comment, the triage nurse said, "I count nine...all of them in the upper torso..." She shook her head solemnly. "Someone sure wanted this guy dead."
"Looks like they're gonna get their wish." the doctor replied as the heart monitor continued its screeching wail. "What're his stats?"
"No heartbeat, no pulse, he's in respiratory failure and his BP is heading south in a hurry," the nurse by the monitor reported. She shook her head, exchanging a grim glance with another attendant. "I don't know doc..."
"Not on my shift..." the doctor replied determinedly, "I want a 100cc's of Epi, push it and a hundred of Adrenaline...stat. Continue bagging him."
Used to this sight nearly every day, the ER staff continued their tasks, but this time with an edge. This man was a member of the team, one of the good guys. That didn't mean they wouldn't do their best for just an ordinary 'joe', but each team member new that the loss of this man would chalk another one up for the bad guys, something they were determined not to have happen.
"He's still flatlining..." the nurse informed them, "The meds aren't working."
"How long has he been down?" the doctor asked, his eyes briefly glancing at the wall clock above him.
"Five minutes..."
"Get the paddles and charge them to 250!"
"Charged." "Clear!" the doctor yelled, placing the paddles on the patient's chest. All personnel took a cautious step back, ensuring that they were not going to act as a conductor for the burst of electricity that would soon leave the defibrillator pads.
With a quick glance at his staff, the doctor pressed the button on the handles and the patient beneath him arched skyward.
"Still nothing."
"Dammmit." the doctor whispered softly, "Com'on stay with us buddy...stay with us!" He placed the paddles on the blood stained chest once more, "300!"
"Charging."
"Clear!" "Still nothing... he's been down for nearly ten minutes now," the young nurse solemnly declared. Asking the question every doctor hates to hear, she said, "You calling it?"
"Don't you believe in miracles?" the doctor asked her.
"Not since I started working in this place." the nurse replied truthfully as she continued to constrict the oxygen bag in her hands. "This is like working in hell and we all know the devil doesn't do miracles."
"Still no response." The resident monitoring vitals reported, "pupils fixed and dilated...we've lost him."
The doctor put down the paddles and stared at the broken man before him, "Time of death..." He glanced back at the wall clock, "six-fifty five P.M." He shook his head sadly as he stripped away his bloodied gloves and threw them into the receptacle in the corner of the room.
It was never an easy thing to lose a patient, but today he felt as if he had lost more than that. You always tried that little harder to save the law enforcement people. They were in the front line, trying to survive the trenches, trying to make the world just that little bit safer for everyone.
"This shouldn't happen to the good guys." The doctor said, "In the movies they always win."
He stared once more at the body lying on the table. A nurse was in the process of covering it with a white hospital sheet. Already the other members of the team were dispersing, going onto their next challenge, their next chance to save a life, hoping maybe to make up for the battle they had just lost.
The doctor made his way toward the connecting door and the flurry of activity he could already see taking place inside. As he pushed open the door he turned back to the solitary nurse left in the room, "Is there anyone we should contact...any relatives...friends?"
The nurse shook her head, "Not that we know of, but I understand that his partner is on her way in."
"Let me know when she gets here. I'd like to be the one to tell her the news."
The nurse nodded slightly and finished up her work. The doctor pushed open the connecting doors and walked through them, leaving behind him the feeling of despair as he tried to focus on his new casualty.
"What have you got for me?"
"White male, late thirties, gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder. He was unconscious enroute, but it looks like he's starting to come out of it. He's fighting the oxygen mask a little."
"Okay people, let's try and save this one." The doctor announced as he went to work on this latest patient.