ETWentHome, thank you for your review. I'm really happy you're enjoying it, but I'm afraid Zoe won't be waking up quite yet...
Paradoxilla, haha, read on and find out how many of them did as you told them! I'm afraid it isn't quite all of them. Thank you for your review!
TheAtomicCheespuff, thank you for your review - I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I'm trying to update every day so here's Chapter 5! I hope you like it.
Tanith Panic, I really wanted to try writing about some of the other characters and I was curious about how the bomb would affect the ED... so it made sense to put both ideas together! Thank you for your review.
Tato Potato, thank you for your review. I'm glad you're finding the story intriguing! I hope you continue to enjoy it.
Rita hated herself for it, but her eyes went instantly to Connie for guidance. The clinical lead barely hesitated. "Dylan, Rita: you and the others take Taylor outside, please."
"What about…" Dylan gestured towards the patient in Bay 4.
"He's dead," said Connie dismissively. "You can handle this, can't you, Sister Freeman? I'll see you outside."
Taylor was crying. She looked more like an angel than a criminal. Her blonde hair was fanned out over her pillow and she looked terrified. "What's happening? Is there a fire?"
"There are any number of things it could be," said Rita in a calm, no-nonsense way. "In my experience, it's most likely to be Dr Knight burning the toast. You'll be fine, Taylor." She lifted her head and looked at Dylan, who was still staring down at his patient. "Dylan. There's nothing you can do for him now, so come and help us, please."
"You… you go on," Dylan said over his shoulder. "I'll be along in a minute."
Rita watched him, frozen by momentary indecision. Into her mind came the treacherous thought that Connie would know what to do… but Connie wasn't here. Rita looked at the other nurses. "Okay. You take Taylor out now. Dylan, follow on as soon as you can, please. I'm…" She paused, hardly able to believe she was really saying this. "I'm going after Connie."
Cal sat with his face in his hands. "It's just a false alarm, Lofty."
"It probably is, but we still need to go out there," said Lofty patiently. "Come on, Cal." He put his arm around Cal and tried to haul him to his feet.
Cal sniffed. "I don't want anyone to see me like this."
"I think they'll probably be too worried about the alarm to notice," said Lofty. He rubbed Cal's shoulder. "If you go out, you'll be able to see Ethan. He's probably out there already and he'll be worried sick about you."
"Do you think Taylor… do you think she's…"
Lofty's voice was gentle. "I don't know any more than you do, Cal. But if you come with me now, we can find out."
Charlie saw the terror on the boys' faces, quickly replaced by an attempt at bravado. He got out of bed, reminding himself not to rush, and went over to the wheelchair by the side of the wall. He took it to the nearest bed and helped the boy to climb into it. "Time to go on a little adventure," he said.
The other boy got uncertainly out of bed. Charlie held out his hand to him and he came over at once, putting his hand trustingly in Charlie's.
Charlie put his hand on one of the wheelchair handles and put his own hand over it. "All ready? Then let's go."
He was aware of how tired and unsteady he felt, but he hoped the adrenaline would get him through if nothing else did. Despite his feeling of weakness and his genuine concern for the boys, he felt excitement rise up inside him. This wasn't the role he was used to playing in an emergency, but being part of one made him feel more alive than he had since his heart attack. "I'm afraid we can't take the lift in case there's a fire, so we'll just have to improvise. But you're both good at that."
They'd played quite a few improvisation games.
As they approached the staircase, the glass door swung open and Charlie came embarrassingly close to collapsing with relief when he saw it was Jacob.
"There you are!" Jacob's smile was as broad and unworried as ever. He bent over the wheelchair and gently lifted the boy. "Charlie, could you fold up the wheelchair for me? Good man. Now let's get outside and find out what all the fuss is about."
Ethan looked at Honey through eyes blurred with tears. "I thought you loved me."
"I liked you," said Honey. She touched Ethan's arm. "You are sweet. You're very sweet. But I want a guy with a bit more backbone and, I don't know, wildness about him. I want a guy who can dance with me all night long."
"I can dance with you all night long," said Ethan.
"Ethan, you can't even dance."
"But I could improve," said Ethan. "I could have lessons. You could give me lessons. Please, Honey. Please give me another chance."
"There's no point," said Honey. "I've met someone else now and we're happy."
Ethan felt a tear rolling down his cheek and quickly dashed it away. "You hardly know him, Honey."
"I feel like I do know him," said Honey. "When I'm with him, I just feel like the world is all pink and sparkly."
Ethan sniffed. "What colour's the world when you're with me?"
"Sort of… grey," admitted Honey. "It wasn't like that at first. But now…" She looked away.
"Now the novelty's worn off," said Ethan bitterly.
"Well… yeah," said Honey.
Robyn hadn't been relishing the thought of having a quiet word with Louise. But it was her job and Robyn was determined to do it well, so she'd searched the ED for Louise, finally discovering her in conversation with Lily outside the loos.
Robyn approached slowly, unsure if the conversation was professional or personal. Knowing Lily, it was likely to be the former.
"Lily, would you like to go and grab a coffee?" said Louise.
Robyn was startled, and more than a little bit interested in Lily's reply, but instead she heard the sound of the alarm.
"Right. We need to leave," said Lily, taking charge. She pushed open the door of the loos. "If anyone is in here, please come out now, leave the ED by the quickest route and assemble in the car park. Thank you."
Robyn watched admiringly, but as Lily turned, she saw the registrar's eyes were red.
"Louise, I need to speak to you later, but let's not worry about it for now," Robyn said with a smile as they made their way to the nearest exit.
Louise glared at her. "Don't hold back on my account. If you've got a problem with me, Robyn, you can say it to my face right now."
"Okay: maybe I will!" said Robyn, stung. "Louise, if you want to be a nurse, you need to be more empathic. If someone is scared, you need to reassure them. It doesn't matter if they're scared over nothing. All that matters is how they're feeling. They're having a horrible enough time already: they're in hospital!"
"Who are you to say if I'm feeling empathy or not?" retorted Louise. "You can't see into my head! I know I said the wrong thing to that boy. I feel awful about it. But you'd better start showing me some respect, girl, or we're going to have problems."
"I think we're having problems already," said Robyn.
Lily stepped between them. "I think you both need to calm down. Our first concern is the emergency and the safety of our patients. You can worry about your personal differences later."
"Thank you, Lily," said Louise. She gave Lily a sweet smile and Robyn an insolent stare. "Exactly what I was going to say."
Lofty kept his arm lightly around Cal's shoulders as they made their way towards the exit. Cal was trembling, though Lofty had decided not to mention it.
They saw Connie coming from the other direction, her phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes met Lofty's and she made a shooing motion towards the door. "A bomb?" she said into the phone. "How could a bomb have got into the hospital?"
Cal sniffed and said it was probably someone panicking over an unattended bag.
Ordinarily, Lofty would have agreed, but Connie's face was white.
"No, we didn't see any suspicious characters hanging around the ED," said Connie as she strode past them.
Lofty felt as though he couldn't breathe.
"Are you okay?" said Cal, his red eyes scrunched into an expression of concern.
"Fine," said Lofty, the words catching in his throat. As they passed Resus, Lofty glanced inside, as much to avoid looking at Cal as anything, and saw someone kneeling on the floor.
"Lofty?" Cal was several paces ahead of him. "What's up?"
"Will you be okay by yourself?" said Lofty.
Cal hurried to his side. "What are you talking about? You can't stay in here."
"Dylan's in there," said Lofty quietly. "He looks… upset. I'm going to help him. You go and find Ethan and check on Taylor."
"Okay," said Cal after a moment or two. "But don't take any risks. If he refuses to go with you, just get yourself out."
Lofty nodded. He took a nervous breath and went over to Dylan.