by James Barton
Do No Harm
Doctor Abigail “Abby” Baxter was a driven woman. Even as a teenager she had given up her social life for good grades. She was a timid looking woman with shoulder length blonde hair that always had stray strands sticking out at weird angles. She had a face full of freckles that she had always despised. Abby had joined the military right after graduation and gone into their medical program. She worked toward her degree and finally, three million coffees later, became a doctor. It was something she had fantasized about back when she still had pigtails.
Abby had transferred to Ashbury General Hospital about five months ago and she couldn’t be happier. She loved helping people and each patient brought on unique challenges, a chance to test her skills. Only, she had never faced a test like the one Mr. Adam Hollings brought with him, after being admitted for ordinary heat stroke.
“Paging Doctor Baxter, please report to Bay One,” the loudspeaker called out over the low rumble of the crowded hallway.
“Take Debra’s blood samples upstairs when you are finished. I need her bloodwork done before I release her,” she said to the nurse before reacting to the loudspeaker.
“Yes, ma’am,” Beth, the nurse replied. She was a small Latina with a waterfall of black hair caged tightly into a constrictive bun.
Abby looked up at the loudspeaker, “I guess that’s me,” she said cheerfully.
“Always is,” the young nurse chuckled.
Abby began to move in a hurried stride, which was really the only pace she had. Bay One was the area where emergency patients arrived from the ambulances. Everyone who worked at the hospital understood the importance of the announcement, while simultaneously keeping it from other visitors. As she moved through the bustle of patients and staff, she got a tinge of excitement. She wasn’t excited to see someone in pain; she was excited about the challenge of fixing them.
She opened the double doors and stepped onto the grey rubber mat and into the blue room. There on a stretcher was a man in his early thirties, wearing a torn windbreaker. The muscle-bound EMT was leaning over the counter talking to the receptionist in hushed tones.
“David!” Abby shouted.
“Yeah?” he said, straightening his posture.
“What have we got?”
“Male patient, mid-thirties, no apparent wounds, but his clothes are torn, punctured and stained with blood. He was found passed out at the mouth of a cave. He is unconscious and probably suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.”
“Blood on his clothes?” she asked.
David lifted the sheet and revealed his blood covered legs. Even his shirt had small, bloody tears over unbroken skin. Obviously mystified, Abby examined his chest more closely and saw no signs of trauma.
“Where was he again?”
“A cave. He activated a rescue beacon, paramedics picked him up and I met them on the road. They told me he had a climbing harness, but the rope had snapped. He probably used everything he had to climb those last few feet. I can’t believe he went in alone. I have an uncle that says …” David began.
“Alone?” Abby interrupted. “Have security contact the police.”
“The police?” David asked, suddenly more interested in the whole situation.
No matter how many times she witnessed it, Abby marveled at how the mention of police seemed to turn people into parrots.
“The police,” she repeated. “That blood must belong to somebody or something, an animal perhaps, but we need to find out ASAP. C’mon, let’s get him to X Ray and then to a room.” After a brief pause, she added, “And don’t throw his clothes away.”
That’s what I get for wishing for a challenge, Abby thought as they wheeled the mystery patient down the hallway. You’ve got to be careful what you wish for!
Later, as Abby stood in her new patient’s brightly lit hospital room, she still couldn’t help but wonder where all that blood had come from. As she waited for his X ray results, she continued her physical examination. His breathing was short and shallow and with gloved hands Abby examined Adam’s skin where the bloodstains had been. The nurse, Beth, took Adam’s vitals. Abby watched intently at the screen as Beth wired the unconscious man to the machine.
“Blood pressure is normal,” she said. Beth put his arm in her hand and began to swab a vein to apply a saline drip.
“Beth, as soon as he comes to, have him moved upstairs. I’d like to keep him under observation for at least the day.”
Beth had applied the IV but was now distracted by something in her hands. She reached over and pulled out two latex gloves and put them on.
“Beth!” Abby called out.
She spun around and finished putting on her gloves, tugging at the blue latex. “You with me?” Abby asked.
“Yeah, I just … sorry, my mind is elsewhere,” she said nervously.
“I know you only have a few more hours before your vacation starts, but let’s stay focused.”
“Yes ma’am,” she said with a forced smile.
Abby went to the break room and finally sat down, allowing the oversized recliner to swallow her in its old cushions. She stirred a watery coffee and let out a quiet sigh. It wasn’t a sigh of frustration, but instead she was just glad to sit down. Abby wasn’t known for taking breaks very often, but today had been especially long. As she sat in the recliner, an intern tapped away on his phone, hunched over at the small table. The air conditioning vent began to cascade freezing air on Abby and she wiped her brow. A hot drink with a cold breeze made her mind drift off to the times she spent with her grandparents in the winter. The intern had a bowl of soup that was growing cold from neglect as he continued to text away. Without looking away from his screen, he reached down in slow motion pinching at his spoon and missed a few times before finally grasping its handle. Abby shook her head slightly; she never understood the addiction. Everyone was so consumed with electronics these days; it was all about being connected, and yet people were anything but.
The intern stood up and began to wash his hands, finally putting down the phone for a moment.
“Paging Doctor Baxter, please report to room 213,” the loudspeaker called out. She knew her patients and she knew their room numbers. 213 was a new room, it had to be Adam. She stood up and said goodbye to the intern, who didn’t even notice as he tapped away at his screen. She walked up the stairs and passed by staff members who were busy jotting notes on their clipboards and moving at the same hurried pace as Abby. Standing in front of room 213 was Edward, an older gentleman in a security outfit. His thick white beard hid his aging, but kindly face. People had told her that he had been there since the hospital opened, but she felt that might be a bit of an exaggeration.
“Your boy is awake,” he said with a tip of his hat.
“Thanks, Eddie,” Abby said and patted him on the shoulder as she passed into the room.
Nurse Beth was standing in the room fidgeting with her gloves. She looked up at Abby and looked away quickly. Abby began to ask her a question when she locked eyes with Adam. He gave her a pleasant smile in return.
“Good morning, Doctor,” he said.
“Good morning. Looks like you had quite the excursion. Cave diving, right?”
“Yes ma’am, you do that on your free time too?”
“Free time? I wouldn’t know what that is,” she said and chuckled.
“I wanted to thank you for finding me out there. I was afraid I was going to die. I’m so sorry, where are my manners? I’m Adam,” he said and held out his hand for a handshake.
Abby cocked her head ever so slightly. There was something about him she couldn’t quite figure out, something she didn’t trust. She reached out to shake his hand and suddenly there was a small child charging toward the bed. She nearly knocked Abby over as she hurried to her father.
“Daddy, Daddy!” a little girl cried out as she ran up to him.
“Hey, you!” Adam said happily.
The little girl, probably about six yours old, immediate
ly began to tell him about things she had done the day prior. She seemed unaware that her Dad had been hurt, or at least could have been. A second later, a boy entered that looked a few years older; Abby didn’t have kids, she couldn’t really tell. The mother came in and cut across the room, ignoring Abby entirely. They all surrounded his bed. The children told him stories and asked him questions while his wife scolded him for risking his life in the first place. Abby felt like a fifth wheel and began to back out of the room. She would come back after the family had cleared out.
“Doctor!” the wife called out to her. Abby stopped in the door frame and turned around.
Adam’s wife approached Abby with a worried smile on her face. She was a plain looking woman with a quiet demeanor. As she approached, Abby could see the worry clearly printed on her face. “Is he okay?”
“It looks like he suffered a mixture of exhaustion and dehydration. We have been rehydrating him and letting him rest. I believe he will recover quickly, but I need to keep him overnight, just for observation.” Abby was keeping him overnight for observation, but not medically. She had called the police department and they were currently investigating the location where he was found. She was waiting for them to call her back, but she had also asked the lab to compare blood samples. It wasn’t something they normally did, but when she had a hunch, she followed it. Abby had a creeping feeling that the blood on his clothes was not his own.
“I’m so glad. Thank you, doctor.”
Abby started to excuse herself from the room when she caught Beth standing in the corner, staring at her hands. Her small watch was tightly fitted to her wrist. Abby checked the time before speaking.
“Beth, just go home. Looking at your watch won’t make the vacation come any earlier. It’s fine, just cut out.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not that, I, I just …” she began.
“You’re fine, just go. If I had a trip to France, I’d be excited too.”
Beth didn’t respond, she just exited the room with her head down. For someone about to go on a trip with her boyfriend, she seemed very upset. Beth had packed her bags full of dresses and sexy lingerie. She was completely unaware that she was now bringing something far more … interesting.
Abby checked on a couple of her other patients, but her thoughts kept gravitating toward Adam. She pondered his actions in that cave and wondered what had really happened. She thought about how he had struggled to the surface, even though she was told his rope had snapped. She admired his will and pictured him struggling those last few feet. Every muscle in his body was probably crying out for him to give up, but he didn’t. Abby found herself thinking about him in … almost, inappropriate ways. She shook those thoughts away and went back to her duties.
She checked in on Adam after making her other rounds. He was out of his bed and she looked around the room to find him. As she looked around the room, she found him standing in the bathroom. His drinking cup tilted, pouring water into the toilet. He looked over to her and smiled. “Hey Doc,” he said excitedly.
“Um … what are you doing?”
“Where does this go?”
“The sewer …” Abby said slowly and with confusion. “Why?”
“I mean where does it really go? I think people are always looking at the surface and rarely look deeper. You press this little handle and the water goes away; we think we know where it goes. Do we really? I mean, do we even care? Everyone is too busy to see the whole machinations of things.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, never better. Sorry, lying in that cave made me appreciate things. This place is really amazing.”
“This place?”
“This hospital you have here. I think you might have forgotten how amazing it is that you save people daily. You protect them from illnesses before they even happen with your immunizations. People get injured, things that would have killed them years ago, now barely make you skip a beat.”
“Wow, maybe I should spend some time in that cave.”
“You think I hit my head on those rocks?” he chuckled. “Sorry, some experiences just make you thankful. I can relate to what you do.”
“What do you do for a living?”
Adam paused for a second, almost as if he became frozen in time. It was only a second, but it was eerie all the same. “I’m a car salesman.”
“Well, I’d hate to devalue the art of salesmanship, but I’m not sure how car sales and health care relate? Anyway, Adam, could I ask you a few questions?”
“Of course,” he said and exited the bathroom. He walked to the window and gazed out like he was posing for a movie poster.
“There was blood on your clothes when they found you. Quite a large amount actually.”
“Oh?” he said without turning around.
“You didn’t have any wounds. Was there anyone else with you when you went into the cave?”
“You mean, did I murder someone?” he asked directly. Abby was taken aback and searched for the right words to respond.
“That’d be my first guess,” he said. “No, I didn’t bring anyone into a cave and murder them. That would make for a great crime show episode, though. Unfortunately, the chasm that opened in that field, was right along the tree line. If I didn’t already know it was there, I could have fallen in.”
Abby looked at him intensely. “When I reached the bottom, I sort of tripped over a rock. I can repel down an entire chasm, but the walking, that’s where I get clumsy,” he turned and cracked a smile. “A deer, a buck I think, fell in. When he hit the bottom, he made quite a mess. That’s how I ruined my clothes. Don’t tell my wife though, she bought them for me.”
“I have the lab running tests to confirm your blood type,” she blurted out. She didn’t even mean to, but he made her uncomfortable.
“That’s a bad idea,” he responded calmly.
“Why?”
“Doctor Baxter, please report to room 318. Please report to room 318,” the loudspeaker announced.
“That’s the lab now,” she said defiantly and began to storm out of the room.
“I’ll see you soon, Doctor.”
As she exited the room, she leaned towards Eddie and told him to keep a close eye on him. He tipped his hat.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the older gentleman said. His bushy white eyebrows rose up in response.
Abby made her way to the third floor.
“Hey, Manny, what have you got for me?”
The man spun around in his chair. Manny was a fit Indian man in his forties, but somehow looked like he was barely twenty. His hair was slicked back and his face was partially covered by a mask. There was a look in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. It was complete disbelief. He handed her a mask and she took it without even questioning him.
“I can tell you the blood on his clothes does not match his blood type.”
“Oh shit, so someone else was in there,” Abby assumed.
Manny hesitated and turned around to look at his microscope. “Well, that’s not what I’m getting at. The blood on his clothes was A Neg. The blood you drew from him earlier, well I can’t tell.”
Abby stood there, not saying a word.
“Why can’t you tell, Manny?” he said in a terrible female impression. “Thanks for asking, I can’t tell because the blood you gave me is fucking crazy!”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s not A Negative, it’s not O; it barely even resembles anything. Look!”
Manny pushed her toward the microscope. When she looked into it, there were black jagged cells moving about frantically. They jittered erratically under the microscope. It was, indeed, something she had never seen.
“What is that? Is that a new strain of disease?”
“Before we make any guesses, I need to show you this,” he said as he slid another slide of glass into the microscope. Abby peered in and still only saw the jittering black things.
“It’s the same thing.”
“Exactl
y. I added one drop of this, unidentifiable blood to one of the blood bags. I waited thirty seconds and put it on the slide.”
“It spread that quickly? Wait, those blood bags are for patients, what are you …” she began.
“You need to call the CDC,” he said firmly. It threw her for a loop. It was like hearing your lover tell you they’ve been cheating. The center for disease control would come in and quarantine everyone. She didn’t know what they would do, but it struck a chord of fear deep inside her.
“Wait, what?”
“That isn’t the worst part,” Manny said. He spun around and took two droppers.
“This one is clean, the other is, uh X.” He dropped the clean drop onto a slide and placed the other droplet an inch away on the same slide. He waited a couple seconds and then extracted the clean droplet and placed it on a new slide. He stuck it into the microscope.
Abby looked in with a sense of dread. The clean droplet now had the jagged black things, but this time they did not take up the entirety of the sample. They seemed to float beside the blood cells and did not cling to them and instead floated freely beside them.
“What does all this mean?” she asked with frustration in her voice.
“It infected the other sample without physically touching it. Maybe, it’s airborne a short range, maybe evaporation vapor, I’d have to run a lot more tests. The kind of tests that require a huge crew, like the CDC. I don’t care if it makes you fart rainbows, I don’t want it getting out of here unchecked. Call the CDC, now. Please.”
“Okay, thank you, Manny. I’ll call them now,” Abby said. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, with the CDC, not being one of them. She knew she should call them, but she was scared. Even though it was the right choice, she didn’t make it.
“Carl, hey, it’s me Abby,” she spoke into her phone.
A stern voice came across the other end. “Who? Speak up.”
Abby looked both ways, “It’s me, Captain Abigail Baxter. I worked with you in …” she began before being interrupted.