by M. Evans
Rogers got a little nervous. "Well, I am available. You do realize it's after one in the morning, right? Actually, I'm already at the lab. I couldn't wait to check the results and I have to tell you that the strain we tested on the fifteen rats is working impressively! I've done blood work ups and the data research on them. There is massive improvement!"
Frank said nothing and stopped his truck on the side of the road. He wanted to call Karen and tell her. He wanted to tell Shaun he had succeeded. He wanted to kiss Rogers. He wanted his body to stop trembling so that he could relax from the adrenaline rush that his body was going through. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, Rogers! Do we have any samples of it left?"
"I do have two batches left. Did you want me to see if I can get a giant batch made so we could mass test the drug on a group of a hundred rats, or are you going to distribute the drug to the cancer society you're dealing with? I am sure if someone is terminally ill, they wouldn't feel that they have too much to lose, right?"
Frank smiled thinking the terminally ill person was Karen and she would no longer be dying.
He was going to be the reason she lived.
They could finally move on with their lives. They could get married ... move in together ... do everything that a couple in love wanted to do. There would be mornings and nights spent together with nothing but peaceful slumber--the worries of the last four months put behind them. Frank snapped back to reality. "Simple question, Rogers! Do you have more of my drug, or do we need to create one? If we need to make one, I will take care of ordering it myself!"
Rogers cringed a bit thinking he would be finished at the plant if Frank saw what was in it. "Don't worry about it. I already ordered a batch of ten to further distribute it for your project."
"Pack one of the kits into a vapor container, and get it locked in a cooling locker so that we can package it to be shipped, they are going to want this right away."
Rogers smiled with relief, wiping his wrinkled brow. "Okay."
Hanging up the phone, he ignored the direct order. Punching the enter key on his keyboard, he ordered a batch large enough to take care of every Knicks fan at a sold out arena. The sister company in Chicago would receive the drug ingredients after the Adel branch made the initial batch. Rogers smiled, thinking of all the good he was doing. He thought if the patients Frank was trying to help had any short term results, such as the cancer treated rats, then millions of people would get a new lease on life.
Frank arrived at the laboratory shortly after speaking to Rogers. It had took everything in him to not sprint into the building at this time in the morning. He did not want to cause any commotion or make the security guards think anything might be wrong. He walked briskly in past Chuck and nodded. "Anything good coming out on the market, Chuck?"
Chuck laughed knowing that Fox was ex-military--he had the posture of a trained soldier. "Yeah, they have some new forty-fives, but good luck getting anything to shoot out of 'em."
Frank never stopped walking he smiled. "Better to have the guns and be ready when bullets are in stock, then be able to buy ammo and not have something to put it in."
Chuck nodded. "Amen to that! Have a good night, Dr. Fox."
Frank did a two finger salute to Chuck, with the correct hand, and went to the elevators.
Rogers was waiting for Frank when he arrived. "Can you believe we did it Frank? I mean, Dr. Fox? Isn't it incredible, after all these months, all the failures?"
Frank nodded, squeezing Rogers's shoulder, and trying to hold it together. "We are going to save a lot of people unnecessary heartache. This is God in a bottle, do you know that?"
"Yes.... We're going to be known by everyone worldwide when this comes out."
Frank asked for the research papers and documentation, and started combing through them.
"Well," Rogers started nervously, "if you don't need any help on this, I think I'm going to get going, I'm not really feeling all that well tonight. I think I've been burning the candle at both ends for too long. Just think--we can finally get some sleep! I think I’m going to take a short nap in the break room I’m to damn tired to drive."
Frank already was looking at blood samples under a microscope, absolutely amazed at what he was seeing. He waived at Rogers to go. He was speechless. The rat's blood he thought he was looking at with his own drug in it was the one that Rogers had injected with the modified X-74 gene. The rat was cured of cancer. What he didn't know was it was now a monster.
Frank murmured lightly under his breath, "The TBC count is through the roof. No cancer." He turned around as Rogers was leaving and shouted, "Where did you put the working formulas at, Rogers!?"
Rogers turned and pointed to the freezer as he was walking out. "It's on the top shelf labeled 'Working' in red ink. There's a vapor injector next to it. When are we going to talk to the CEO?"
Frank shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about mass distribution and how to best go about it. We're going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do--how a couple vitamin biochemists came up with the cure for cancer. Once we have some proven results to show, all will be forgiven."
"If not, I think that 'Rogers and Fox Enterprises' has a wonderful tone to it...!"
"Have a good night, Rogers. I'll see you on Monday. Enjoy Sunday--take the day off, you earned it!"
Frank double and triple checked everything the other doctor had entered for dates, times, and information, not realizing the forgeries. He was still shocked this was really happening, but feeling an absolute unbeatable high that he was about to save the woman he loved.
He packed the case with one of the ten vials and a vapor injection kit. He was going to need a vacation to get back to his normal self after this was all said and done. He saved everything in his data research box and noticed that it was already six in the morning. He thought it would be good to get breakfast and head over to Karen's. He felt the day was going to be as stressful as possible, and some food with would not hurt anything.
****
Frank stopped by a gas station picking up doughnuts and coffee. He smiled at the greeter who told him to have a good day. Frank nodded, unworried about that being an issue. Reaching Karen's, he pulled into the quiet driveway. He walked into the living room, setting his spare key down on the table, and walked around taking stock of the house. He saw Ellie's room was open, and heard a faint sound from some television show. He laughed thinking how Shaun always fell asleep with the television on as well.
He checked the kitchen. It was left clean from the night before when he'd stopped a little early for rest and a nice dinner with the girls. He set the doughnuts down and poured himself a cup of coffee. He wanted to run in screaming to Karen, but didn't want to give the poor woman a heart attack after finally achieving his goal. He went to her bedroom to crawl into bed and wake her with the news that was about to happen. He was in shock at what he saw.
Frank was met with an empty room, but this room was filled with all the signs of an emergency. The blankets had all been thrown from the bed. There were unused strips of medical tape hanging from the nightstand. He walked to the bed looking for something that would make this scene make a little more sense to him. He'd only been gone five hours. He wondered what could have happened in such a short time.
A crackling noise made him notice the plastic beneath his right boot. He bent down looking at a familiar bag with the word 'laryngoscope' on it--medical personnel used it for intubation. It cleared the airway so the patient could breathe with the assistance of a machine or a pump attached to it.
Frank dropped the bag and ran to Ellie's room, bursting in without knocking. No one was there. He yelled Karen's and Ellie's names, praying for a response. He was in an empty, quiet house ... alone. His heart was pounding and his breathing was getting short. For a moment he was worried that he was about to have a heart attack. He sat down for a second and took a few deep breaths, knowing if he didn't calm down he wasn't going to do anyone any good. He knew when bad things were happe
ning, he had to stay calm.
He thought for a moment finding it more difficult than normal to keep his head on straight. He reached for his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He hit the power button realizing it had most likely been dead for hours. He plugged it in and saw Karen's matching model on the counter. She was the one who had made him buy the smartphone in the first place, trying to help him get with the times.
He hit the power button on her phone. There were no missed calls or texts. Her battery was showing at seventy-five percent which was more than enough. He swapped batteries, getting his phone powered back on. He knew there was a very small chance Ellie would not have her phone on her. He waited for what seemed like forever watching the phone turning on, loading up, connecting to the internet and taking its sweet God damn time. Frank slammed his hand down on the counter. "Hurry up, you stupid ass phone!"
At the peak of his anger the phone finally started buzzing on the counter. He looked at it and saw twenty missed calls and six new voicemails--four from Shaun and two from Ellie. He took the charger off of the wall and pocketed it in case he needed it.
He ran to his truck, plugged the phone into his jack and hit the telephone icon on his steering column. He listened in horror to the messages that followed.
"Message one ... three forty-five a.m.: 'Dad! It's Shaun! You need to call me ASAP, please!"
"Message two ... three fifty a.m.: 'Dad! Why aren't you answering your phone!? Pick up your damn phone!'"
"Message three ... three fifty-four a.m.: 'You can't ignore this, dad! Ellie is scared to death! They're on their way to the hospital!'"
"Message four ... four fifteen a.m.: 'Frank, it's Ellie. Please call my phone when you get this. Mom's not doing good!'"
"Message five ... five forty-five a.m.: "Dad, I'm on my way to Mercy hospital! I'm just so glad you can't set out a second time. Don't worry, Greg's dad is giving me a ride to Des Moines!'"
"Message six ... six fifteen a.m.: 'Frank! It's Ellie! Call me if you get this! They don't know if mom's going to wake up again!'" It was a little difficult to make out what Ellie was saying in the last message through her stifled sobbing.
Frank was flying down the interstate. There were no cars on the road in town being so early, and no one was on the highway that led him to the interstate where he could get to Mercy Hospital in less than twenty minutes.
He made it in fifteen doing ninety on every straight stretch of road he could hit.
He tried calling both kids back but couldn't get a hold of either of them. He kept looking in his rear view and was blessed with no sirens, although the thought of stopping for a speeding ticket didn't seem likely. He kept saying under his breath, "Please, God, don't take her from me. Don't take another one. Don't let me be too late. I'm not strong enough for this again. If you ever do anything for me, let this be it. Just please don't let her pass. I just need a few more hours ... a few more days and I will have her cured." He slammed his hands down on the steering wheel. "You can't take her! I promised her I'd save her! We are so close!"
Frank took the off ramp at the hospital and a right turn toward the emergency department, fishtailing the truck and almost taking it up on two wheels. A security guard was waving a frantic arm at him to slow down and already on a walkie-talkie. Frank slid to a stop in front of the building, grabbed the vapor and his phone, and sprinting into the office. A receptionist looked at him in alarm--he'd been up for the last twenty-four hours and was dripping with sweat from the stress. Thoughts of the good and bad were flying through his head--a million what ifs which could be why Karen's here. The worst was not knowing.
The receptionist smiled nervously at Frank as he sprinted up to her desk. "Sir, are you all right?"
Frank shook his head. "No! I mean, yes! I'm fine. I'm here for a patient. I believe she was brought in a few hours ago--my fiancé ... and my son and her daughter."
"I'm sorry, sir.... Your entire family was admitted? I don't believe we've had anything like that. Are you sure you're at the right hospital, sir? Lutheran Hospital is just down the--"
Frank slammed his open palm down on the counter, startling the receptionist and making the armed security guard rise. Frank held up the hand for him to stop and took a long deep breath, composing himself. "Please, let me try again." He was breathing unevenly and still sweating. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief. "I'm sorry for this. My name is Dr. Frank Fox. My fiancé was brought in. She is sick with cancer and her name is Karen Randall. She was probably accompanied by her fourteen-year-old daughter, Ellie. My son, Shaun, came later I believe. I haven't been able to reach anyone on the telephone, though."
The nurse nodded slowly, looking down at her keyboard and pecking away, not saying anything. Finally, she looked up at him. "Yes, I do have a Karen Randall admitted. It doesn't say if her daughter is with her, of course. She's on the ninth floor ... room 540. Take the second set of elevators up there and turn left. Do you need an escort, sir?"
Frank shook his head, stammering out, "Thank you. I appreciate it." He was instantly feeling better, but was feeling sick from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The feeling of it made him feel he was going to vomit everywhere. The one fact which made him calm down was that corpses aren't admitted to a hospital room. He jogged to the bank of elevators trying not to cause too much commotion among the staff. People get a little nervous when a crazy-looking man comes ranting.
Frank thought about how elevators are much like traffic lights. The bigger a hurry you are in, the harder it is to get a green. The elevator stopped at every floor on the way up. He was cursing and waving his arms, telling people to hurry up. He had an entire side of an elevator to himself--the other occupants huddled closely and tried to keep their eyes from meeting Frank's. When Frank finally got to the ninth floor, he stepped out and heard a large collective sigh from the passengers behind him.
He hustled down to Karen's room and entered abruptly. He did not like what he saw. Karen was lying there looking like she was in a state of deep comatose. He then took in the whole picture. She had a breathing tube coming out of her mouth taped in place to her cheeks, and different IVs coming out of her arms and wrists. Frank dropped to his knees looking at the disheveled woman that he was madly in love with. He stood up again feeling like all the energy had been sucked out of him, but walked to her bedside, tears freely falling. He laid his head on her chest feeling her shallow heartbeat on his forehead. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I can't believe that I let you get to this. There just wasn't enough time. Will you forgive me? I need you, Karen."
His son's voice startled him. "Better late than never, I guess."
Shaun was standing near a couch where Ellie was resting. He had removed his varsity jacket and covered her with it. He walked to his dad and, filled with rage, whispered, "Where the hell were you! I can't believe this! She has been sick for months and Ellie tells me you're never there! I know that you're never at home! Do you really think that you can cure everything with your old books!? Is anything important to you dad!? Anything at all!?"
Frank tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but Shaun never let it get closer. He smacked it hard. He pushed his dad, and began shoving him and punching at his chest yelling, "You don't get to explain yourself, dad! I'm past it! There isn't anything you can say that I'm sure you haven't said before! You knew I wasn't big on the two of you ending up together, but this isn't how I wanted it to end! She didn't do anything to deserve this!"
He did nothing to retaliate from his son's anger. "No one deserves it, Shaun. You want to know where I have been? Why I haven't been around? I haven't been working on a drug at work. I've been working on a cure for Karen. I was in my lab when you called, and I didn't know my phone was dead. Yes, I think I can cure her. I think I have it."
Shaun stopped hitting him and looked him dead in the eyes. "You can't cure terminal cancer, dad! Do you think you are a god!?"
"It's the Devil's work son. God wouldn't put people and their families through the
pain of cancer. It's just too bad he can't step in and save the good ones."
Shaun laughed, pointing at Karen. "Wow, dad! Hell of a cure! Is that why she's lying in the hospital bed!? Do you have any idea what she's going through right now!?"
Frank looked at his son curiously. "She's in a coma, son. She can't feel anything."
"Not Karen, dad! Christ, I know she's gone! I was talking about Ellie! She was the one that found Karen! She was passed out and unresponsive, lying on the kitchen floor! She'd gotten up to get a glass of something.... Ellie had to call nine-one-one and ride down in the ambulance, watching the medics do all the work on her."
"I don't know what you want me to say, Shaun. It wasn't on purpose. I need you to understand that."
Shaun started backing up from his dad. "I don't have to understand anything! I was there for mom, and now I'm here for Karen and Ellie!" He checked on Ellie one more time. She was fast asleep from exhaustion. Shaun grabbed his wallet out of his jacket, then looked back at his dad. "I'm going to go buy some breakfast for Ellie. Do you think you can stay here long enough so if she wakes up she doesn't have to be here alone?"
Frank nodded and took a seat. He was going round and round about what to do. He still couldn't believe the original results from this new batch. He'd hoped for something good but never anything this wonderful. He couldn't believe he was going to give a trial drug to the woman he adored, but the way her medical chart he'd been studying for the last twenty minutes read, he didn't think he had a choice.
Frank pulled out the nasal inhaler, looking at it for a few minutes, moving it around in his hands. He pulled out the safety stop. He pulled Karen's air mask down to put the nasal injector in her nostrils. He pulled the switch emitting a double dose into her nasal cavity. He kissed her forehead, and sat back down.
He pulled out some sheets of paper he'd grabbed from the lab when he'd left. He was trying to figure out how often he could distribute the drug to her in case it was going to take more than one batch. He looked at the dosage results and they were identical to his calculations. He knew that in four hours he could give her a second dose.