DISCLAIMER: I do not own Chicago Med or any of the characters. I really apologize for tha break but you guys don't even know how harsh my week in school was. Here's a chapter to make up for it ;) NEXT CHAPTER IS OFFICIALLY THE LAST since if I put it all in this one it would be really really long...love all the reviews, but would love to get even more! Enjoy!
Dr. Charles returned only to see an empty bench and two full cups of water in his hands.
"Connor?" he called, desperately hoping his colleague was very successfully hiding underneath the lone bench in an otherwise empty hallway.
He ducked down and checked under the seat anyways, just for kicks, even though it was perfectly visible from where he stood.
The psychiatrist let out a defeated sigh, there was no reeling in this guy.
…..
Connor, idiotically, ignored the jabbing pain in his stomach and cautiously, yet determinedly, continued down the hospital hall in the direction of the shout he heard. He'd been a doctor, and a Chicago native, long enough to know the distinct cry of distress.
As he slowly made his way down the corridor, there was no other indication of any noise, which made him move even more slowly as he reached the end of the hall.
Rhodes' next left would determine what he saw, whether he was putting his own life in danger, if there was any danger at all. But he could feel it, deep down, as the hair stood on the back of his neck, that something very bad was occurring.
He took a breath and swiveled to his left, eyes widening. Rhodes stood, frozen, as he stared at the scene before him. Unsure what to do.
….
Kill her!
No! Keep her, she can help us on the way out.
What did you do, Sal? Are you trying to kill us? That's it, isn't it! That's exactly what you're doing!
Murderer!
"Stop!" I shouted in a desperate attempt to shut the raving voices in my head up.
It was their fault I was in this big of a mess. They're the ones that told me the cure was up here so I couldn't hurt people anymore. I never wanted to do that, I wanted to save them from myself. The man and woman told me to come up here and ask this lady, wearing scrubs? Huh, weird. They told me she was part of the government and that I had to be forceful with her. Which is why I'm glad they also told me to bring that gun before we left the house.
But now, stuck somewhere on the third floor of some government agency, I was holding the barrel of my gun to the government lady's back. And she was crying.
She's crying because she knows you're going to hurt her! the women hissed in my ear.
I flinched, thinking as if that would rid me of her snarling voice.
"Please…" the lady I held in a tight embrace sobbed, "I won't tell anybody…I swear!"
"I'm so sorry," I said helplessly back to her, trying to explain I didn't mean any harm, "They're making me do it, I have to!"
I almost shed a tear myself, I hated making people scared.
I barely heard her scream a loud, "HELP!" before my hand automatically clasped her mouth shut.
"Shhhhhh!" I instinctively pressed the gun harder to her lower back. It was only us two on the floor, I knocked out the other three other ladies, and I was finally ready to get what I needed.
"The medicine," I whispered in her ear, my hand still over her mouth, "I need the cure."
You need this cure to stop contaminating people! You're killing them! the man's voice urged.
She continued to cry but stayed quiet as I removed my hand and she weakly said- for the seventh time- "I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Let me just call someone-"
"NO!" I yelled as the man's voice in my ear screamed too.
She flinched and sobbed again before I put my hand back and twisted her around; I was becoming agitated that this woman wasn't helping me when I was trying to help her. Save her.
"Stop!" someone called from down the empty hall. As I looked up, I saw a black haired, blue eyed man with a funny looking white dress on. I raised my gun, pointing it at this newcomer.
…
It was as if Rhodes was in a dream. One minute he's staring at someone who looked eerily familiar, tightly holding a sobbing nurse in his arms, and the next this man's gun was suddenly pointed at him.
Play it slow, Connor, he told himself.
Man, he was regretting not informing Dr. Charles about his whereabouts. He could barely walk, let alone save this woman without getting shot.
Then it hit him. Like a freight train.
"You…" Connor whispered to himself, no one else hearing it but him. He remembered this gunman in a clinic room two floors down a few days before. Head pain, then he found himself with a large piece of metal in his abdomen. This was the man that stabbed him. This was the man that was going to pay.
He vaguely remembered the patient mentioning voices, which caused Rhodes to reach for the phone in the first place….
"Sal," Rhodes couldn't believe he remembered the man's name from his chart, "My name is Dr. Connor Rhodes. We've met before, remember?"
He kept his voice even and calm, knowing the only way to save all their lives was with his mind.
A look of confusion marred the man's face, as if trying to remember, and the gun faltered.
Rhodes took a hesitant step forward and the gun was back in its place. Pointed straight at his gut.
"Look," Sal's voice was shaky, and his expression looked…scared, "Don't come any closer, I don't want to hurt you too."
Too late, Rhodes dryly thought, realizing this man was too far gone to even know he had almost killed Connor once before.
"Sal," he tried again, "What are the voices saying, huh? What are they telling you?"
Rhodes took one more step forward, the nurse's eyes widening in fear. Connor kept his hands elevated, palms open, showing he meant no harm.
Sal shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind, and looked up desperately.
"That I'm going to kill you."
Perfect, Rhodes thought, sarcastically.
"Why Sal? We're friends, aren't we?" Rhodes was crazy enough to take one more step, trying anything to keep this mad conversation going long enough until he had the remnants of a plan.
"I'm going to hurt you, and I don't want to," the man's voice showed real sincerity.
"You can only hurt me if you decide to," Connor stalled, noticing the quiet movements of the SWAT team behind Sal. Thank goodness.
Just a little longer, he told himself, Almost there.
He was close enough now to reach out and touch the nurse, though he didn't dare. Not with a gun so close in vicinity to him and her.
"B-but they…they want me to…" he couldn't finish, fighting an internal battle Rhodes couldn't see.
FINISH HIM! both man and woman practically shrieking in Sal's brain.
"NO!" Sal yelled back, not letting them define his actions anymore. Just this once, he was going to be the boss.
And he did as the man in front of him said, he lowered the gun and let the lady go. But the man stayed in front of him. Sympathy in his eyes, not fear.
...
Rhodes knew he had gotten through to Sal as his eyes seemed to clear from a foggy dream, blinking hard. Sal let the nurse go and dropped the gun, but Rhodes was now in the predicament with almost 50 SWAT officers surrounding him. This guy's mind was extremely delicate, especially now that he was somewhat lucid. One mistaken movement could set this guy off.
"Now, Sal," Connor improvised, "you're going to follow me and we're going to go down sit down behind the desk together."
The schizophrenic slightly nodded, a small look of confusion in his eyes.
"Okay," Rhodes said, not reassuring himself in the slightest. If an officer even moved they could be in big trouble.
And, of course, one of them did. An officer standing to his left, gun pointed straight at Sal's chest, emerged from the ring of SWAT members and briskly walked forward. Ordering the madman to lay flat on the ground.
Sal looked up, breath quickening, and turned back at Rhodes, desperation and hysteria in his eyes once more.
"No…." he mumbled, "No, you're one of them. You're one of them! You're trying to lock me up again! You're one of those sick government agents! Well, not anymore!"
What? Government agents? Spying? But Rhodes didn't have time to think about how delusional this man was any longer.
Because Sal lunged.
The next thing Rhodes knew he was lying flat on his back, Sal on top of him, with his hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing. Connor's vision went blurry and he felt a gushing, warm liquid flow freely from his side. But that was the least of his worries as his lungs inflated with no air to compensate. Sal's grip was cutting off his airway and the only thing Rhodes could do was stare into his crazed eyes.
Well at least that nurse is okay…and Rhodes' eyes closed.
...