FULL MOON ISLAND

by Terry Yates

  “Yes, those would be the ones,” answered Ariella.

  Kyler walked over to Lauren’s gurney and smiled down at her.

  “She’s a sick young lady. Even if we operated right now and removed her mean old appendix, we’d still need to keep her under observation for a few days. No, Miami’s where she needs to be right now. All the staff here is gone except for Nurse Walling and myself. The electricity might go out at any moment. We need to get out of here and get this young lassie to a real hospital. Are you married by any chance?” he joked to the little girl, his face breaking into a large grin.

  Lauren, eyes half closed, smiled up at her doctor. Kyler figured that she probably didn’t get a lot of compliments at school. He had seen the uncomfortable way that the Blum kid had talked to her. And as for compliments at home, he was sure that they probably came in a sterilized box with a plastic lining and surgical gloves. He tried to picture the three of them sitting around the dinner table and discussing the latest news on the Van Allen Radiation Belt or if the Earth was seventy-or seventy-two billion years old. He figured that if anyone knew the answers to those riddles, it would be the O’Hearleys.

  “No, she’s better off in Miami.”

  As he turned to leave again, he thought he might’ve seen Lauren’s parents actually look at each other and nod in agreement. It seemed that was settled. Things were running smoother than he had anticipated. Once they got the John Doe out front, all they would have to do is wait for the helicopters. Lauren and the John Doe would need extra care. A helicopter ride in strong winds wouldn’t be good for either of them.

  Kyler, Nurse Walling, and Sgt. Cohen reached the small intensive care room. Kyler moved the partition aside while Nurse Walling moved the IV stand next to the patient’s bed.

  “Are you squeamish, Sergeant?” Kyler asked.

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Cohen answered.

  “I need you to be at the head of the bed. His face isn’t…well, let’s just say that he’s a bit…all I’m saying is…”

  Before he could finish, the Sergeant opened the oxygen tent and looked down at the John Doe.

  “Saw worse in Iraq, Beirut, and El Salvador.”

  Once again, Kyler was a tad shocked. Like Col. Potts before him, Sgt. Cohen wasn’t too shook up about the man’s disfigurement. He suddenly had a greater respect for soldiers than he had in the past. At that moment, Burt Burns rounded the corner.

  “Can I be of some assistance?” he asked.

  “Yes you can,” Nurse Walling answered before Kyler could speak. “Take the partition and set it up a few feet away from the other patients. I’m not sure we want our patients seeing the state this man’s in.”

  “Good idea,” Kyler said.

  “Gotcha,” Burt said. He folded the partition and disappeared back down the hallway.

  Kyler moved to the foot of the bed.

  “Everybody ready? We’ll just take small steps. Nurse Walling, keep an eye on the IV. We don’t want it coming out of his hand or the bottle.”

  “This isn’t my first barbeque, Doctor.”

  “Right. Sorry. Are we ready? Here we go.”

  With this, the three of them began to move the John Doe down the hospital corridor. Kyler was moving him very slowly. He wanted the man’s body to go through as little commotion as possible. Sgt. Cohen seemed to be doing fine but Nurse Walling was having a little more difficulty. She was having to keep the IV stand in front of her while at the same time, take tiny steps. Kyler was about to suggest that they trade places when he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. He looked to other side of the gurney just in time to see the patients left arm drop and fall to the side of the bed.

  “Stop!”

  The three stopped and Kyler moved to the side of the gurney and gently took the man’s bandaged arm and began to carefully put it back at the his side. Just as he was about to put the arm down, he saw the man’s hand. The palm was face up and something seemed to be different. He looked at the edges of the fingers. Surely he must be seeing things. The patient’s index finger and middle finger seemed to now have tips. He ran his fingers across, first the index finger, then the middle one. It couldn’t be true. His eyes must be tired. But there it was. On each finger, he could see lines and feel ridges. Both fingers now had prints. The man had fingerprints!

  “Is there a problem, Doctor?” Nurse Walling asked.

  Was there a problem? He wasn’t sure himself.

  “Eh…” was all he could say.

  “Doctor?” Nurse Walling asked again, this time with more concern in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

  Kyler gathered himself. It must’ve been the other hand that he had shown Potts that morning.

  “Nothing,” he lied as he placed the man’s arm back at his side.

  He moved back to the end of the gurney and the three began to move the patient down the hallway again. Nurse Walling looked back at him several times. She knew when a doctor was perplexed and young Kyler was definitely perplexed. He had seen something. Something that had confused him.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Doctor?”

  “Fine,” he answered. “Let’s get this man to the lobby.”

  When they reached lobby, they saw that Burt Burns had already set up the partition well away from the rest of the patients. Kyler was grateful for this because four more people were now waiting in the lobby…a man and a woman both looking to be in their late thirties or early forties, a teenage boy about seventeen who stood next to them, and a dark haired, dark eyed young lady in her mid twenties. Where the other three had wind blown hair, the young lady hardly had one out of place. Kyler did a double take on her.

  Burt joined them and the four of them wheeled the John Doe behind the partition. Nurse Walling placed the IV back into its original position.

  “What about the heart monitor?” she asked.

  “No room,” Kyler answered, “we’ll just have to keep an eye on him.”

  Something crashed against the window. Everyone shrieked simultaneously and threw themselves to the floor.

  “What in the Sam Hill…?” Sgt. Cohen muttered. He, like everyone, was spooked by the loud noise, but not too unnerved.

  Cohen ran to the window and joined the O’Hearley’s and the newly arrived teenaged boy.

  “What was that?” cried the boy, his face pressed against the newly cracked glass.

  Cohen looked down in front of them. It was getting darker by the minute and he was having a hard time seeing. After a moment, he saw that it was a street sign, pole and all, lying in front of the window. The thing had almost shattered the glass.

  “What is it?” Locklear O’Hearley asked.

  “A street sign,” replied Cohen. “We just got hit by Sycamore Drive.”

  Kyler wanted to laugh, but alas, he was a doctor, and such things were supposed to be beneath him.

  “Where’s Sycamore Drive?” the teenaged boy asked.

  “About a block and a half from here.”

  “Look!” The boy pointed towards the emergency entrance. Kyler, Nurse Walling, and Burt Burns ran to the window. “Over there!”

  Three figures were running toward the hospital…or attempting to run. The wind whipped through the circular breezeway like a cyclone, blowing the three first sideways, then backwards, then sideways again. It was a man and two women. The man was short and stocky. He had an arm around each of the ladies, one of whom seemed to be small, thin, and probably about sixty-five while the other woman was tall, leggy, and was wearing nothing but a bathrobe whose sash had been blown away long ago. The robe was wide open and flapping behind her exposing her 38-24-36 hourglass shape.

  “She’s naked,” whispered the boy. His eyes were glassed over and his breath had almost completely fogged the window in front of his face.

  “Oh my,” muttered Locklear in almost the same identical tone that the teenager had used.

  “She is striking,” Ariella admitted matter of fact after noticing the win
dow fog in front of her husband’s face.

  By the word “naked”, Michael Blum had sat up, adjusted his glasses, then craned his neck toward the window. A cane was draped over the elderly sleeping lady’s gurney. He took it and attempted to use it as an oar to move his bed to the window. He had only gotten a few feet when Kyler, Cohen, Burt Burns, and the teenage boy ran to the lobby door to help them into the hospital.

  As they reached the door, the people were already there, trying to force it open. The four joined in and began to slowly wedge it open. The wind was blowing so hard that it was nearly impossible. The seven of them cracked the door open an inch and several sets of hands went inside. When they had opened it a few inches, Kyler and the teenage boy dropped to their knees to try to force it open from the bottom. Kyler and the boy looked up simultaneously to see that the younger of the two ladies was standing directly in front of them with her fingers in the doorway. Her robe was completely gone now. Kyler felt his fingers pinch a little, because the boy had let go and was now staring off into an unknown land, mouth open, and eyes bugged. Kyler looked up to see that Cohen and Locklear were suffering nearly the same dilemma. The lady’s naked breasts were pressed against the glass as she struggled to open the door.

  “Come on!” yelled the short, stocky man pulling on the door with all his might.

  The group managed to open the door a foot and a half. Kyler sat on the floor and tried to squeeze himself through the door in a sitting position so that they could get it open. He managed to get his left leg through the crack, then put his left shoulder through. This cracked the door open a little more so that he was able to push against the door until half his body was straddling the doorway. He put both feet against the glass door and pushed. With the help of all six, they managed to shove the door open enough to squeeze in the smaller, older lady. She was so thin that she managed to squeeze in just in front of Kyler with a little room to spare…not so the long, tall, young, naked lady. She was trying to come through sideways. As she managed to get halfway through her right buttock planted itself firmly against his face. Kyler hoped the security cameras weren’t still on. This would give his colleagues more than enough ammo to use against him for years to come.

  The young lady got by Kyler with a push from the short, stocky man and four sets of willing arms from inside the hospital. Only Ariella O’Hearley didn’t help her through. She had just cleared the door when her foot snagged on the door track and she fell the rest of the way, landing on top of the teenage boy. Kyler wanted to laugh. This was one of those stories that the boy would tell for years to come and nobody would ever believe him.

  After the young lady rolled off of the boy, the man began to grunt and groan and finally bull his way through the door, kicking Kyler in the chin as he squeezed through the crack. Finally the rest of them held the door open and let Kyler slip his body back through before letting it go. As he did, the doors slammed shut with a resounding crash.

  CHAPTER 6

  Everyone was gathered in the lobby except for Nurse Walling and the young lady. Nurse Walling was not about to let her stand around naked, so the two of them went in search of clothing. They had found out that her name was Samantha Gould and that she was a model. The short, stocky man was her husband named Gringo Boots. His wife had kept her maiden name for career reasons, he had told them. The small, thin lady’s name was Sylvia Morrison. She was the model’s photographer. Gringo and Samantha had been eating in an abandoned deli when they’d heard the jet crash into the ocean. They had run into Sylvia on their way toward the hospital, one of the few buildings with its lights still on. The wind had knocked Sylvia’s glasses off of her face and carried them away. They had been thick and strong and now she could hardly see. She would’ve probably ended up in the ocean if Gringo and Samantha had not found her.

  The new couple’s names were Rob and Leanne Olsen and the teenage boy was their son Zack. The sleeping elderly lady whose cane Michael Blum had stolen was Mrs. Olsen’s mother. She was dying of cancer and had been under the care of Dr. Millard who had left with the second wave of helicopters and left all of his patients for his junior to deal with. The other elderly lady who was now awake and chatting endlessly with Lauren O’Hearley was Opal Munn. She was eighty-six. Her grandson was a corporal on the island and she had been visiting him when she had fallen and broken her hip. His commanding officer, Gen. Potts, had been nice enough to let her stay on the island so she could be near her grandson. He had not been outwardly kind to her but she wasn’t fooled when he asked her why she couldn’t die somewhere else. She’d seen through his rough exterior. Her grandson had tried to tell her that he was pure mean but she was having none of it. She knew people. They were all basically good.

  The last of the new group was Zora LeMarque. She looked to be in her mid twenties and a foreigner. Opal Munn had guessed that she was French and was disappointed when she found out she was from Belgium. She had arrived two days earlier. When asked why she was there, she quietly said something about doing research on something, but no one was really sure. She was quiet and not giving information about herself freely.

  Kyler overheard most of the introductions and biographies while he ran back and forth between patients. Where were the helicopters? The wind outside had to be around sixty miles an hour by now. They couldn’t wait much longer. There were over twenty of them in the hospital. He knew that Potts was out there somewhere and there were probably a dozen or more soldiers still on the island, so that would make as many as forty people or more still stranded and only three helicopters to transfer them all. That would be at least two trips if not a third. The O’Hearley girl couldn’t wait much longer, maybe a couple of hours at the most. She and the John Doe would definitely have to make the first trip. He looked at the John Doe. Why was he still alive? In med school, Kyler had been around several burn victims. Dr. Phillips wanted his med students to witness every kind of travesty a doctor would ever see. Car wreck victims, cancer patients, people with terrible skin diseases, and of course, burn victims. He didn’t want any of his students being surprised or rattled by any malady that they came across…plus, it weeded out the ones who just thought they wanted to be doctors. A good dose of burn victims would always cull the real medicine men from the ones who just wanted a high paying job.

  He’d just given Lauren O’Hearley and Mrs. Olsen’s mother each a new morphine drip when he heard a short gasp from Nurse Walling who was behind the partition with the John Doe. He gently replaced the tape over the needle of Lauren’s IV, gave her hand a squeeze, then began to move toward the partition. He’d only gotten a few feet when he heard a longer gasp coming from just behind him. He turned to see Zack Olsen and his father along with the bedridden Michael staring in an almost trancelike state. He followed their gazes, which ended just to the right of the security desk. There, before them, stood Samantha Gould dressed in a nurse’s uniform. Not just any nurse’s uniform, but a uniform that had been worn by a nurse who was at least five inches shorter than Samantha and about twenty pounds lighter. Nurse Walling had left her in the nurses changing room with her pick of any outfit before returning to the patients and the model had picked the smallest one she could find.

  “This was the only one that fit,” she squealed, mistaking the popeyed looks she received for disapproving ones.

  Her high voice mixed with the tight fitting nurse’s outfit sent shivers up Kyler’s spine. She reminded him of one of those old gangster molls that sat around in furs and filed their nails all the time. Nurse Walling gasped again from behind the partition causing Kyler’s trance to be broken.

  He continued to stare at the model as he made his way to the John Doe. Thinking the partition was still several feet away, he didn’t see it until he rammed into it with his head, causing it to fall over onto the patient and Nurse Walling. She cried out in surprise as it slid off of her and crashed to the white floor. Everyone immediately turned to see what the commotion was about. Kyler tried to quickly pick the partition back up
but was standing on it making it an impossible task.

  “Oh my god!” shrieked Gringo Boots. “What in God’s name happened to him?”

  As Kyler tried to pick up the partition, he saw that the others were also staring his way in horror. He turned toward the patient and saw that his oxygen mask had fallen off. His head had slumped to the right revealing his features for all to see.

  “He was pulled out of that jet,” answered Nurse Walling as she and Kyler began to put the partition back in place.

  “He survived that crash?” asked Rob Olsen. “But I saw it! No one could’ve survived that crash!”

  “Well, this one did,” Nurse Walling retorted as she gently turned his head face up.

  “What happened back here, Nurse?” Kyler asked once they were alone behind the partition. “Did you see something…odd?”

  Nurse Walling peered around the partition to see if anyone was within whispering distance.

  “Yes, I did, Doctor. It’s the strangest thing. I’ve been changing his bandages all day long, so I’ve pretty much gotten to know every inch of his body.”

  “So what’s happened?” Kyler asked cautiously, hoping that she had seen the same thing he had.

  “Look,” she whispered, pointing to his chin. She carefully lifted the man’s chin. Kyler saw patches of skin where none had been just hours before. “Do you see it? New skin! And look!” She placed her finger just under his mouth. Kyler saw that there was some semblance of a lip. His bottom lip seem to be reforming. And above his palate, where his mustache would normally end, was the beginning of a top lip. “That wasn’t there before. Am I going crazy or is he growing lips?”

  Kyler put his finger to his own lips. The nurse nodded almost embarrassed for not being her normal professional self.

  “Look here,” Kyler whispered, lifting one of the man’s hands.

  He showed her the man’s fingertips.

  “But his fingertips were burned off!” she exclaimed trying to keep herself at whisper level.