Jordan Rose Duology (Book 1): Break Away

by J. Michael Favreau

  However, Kate was determined to learn as much as she could, even if she risked being labeled as annoying, a title she’d probably already earned. Kate would always make a point to volunteer for any nursing jobs that would take her away from the desk. As Kate had arrived at work, thoughts more on her rendezvous with Rose after her shift then the night ahead, she found she was in luck. Jeannie, one of the more senior nurses, had thrown her back out several days prior moving a patient. Kate had picked up an overtime shift to work the desk, but looking at the assignment board, she found she’d be working triage in Jeannie’s place instead.

  Basically the next step up from working the intake desk, triage was the taking of medical information and vitals of a new patient in order to determine how sick or injured they may be. It wasn’t much, but it was more then she would’ve been doing. This helped the doctors figure out which patient would be cared for first. However, it wasn’t very often they had multiple people in at the same time. At Green Forks Hospital, triage was done once a patient had been placed in one of the hospital rooms. The hospital was hardly a modern facility where triage would be done prior to being placed in a room. It wasn’t perfect, but it was their procedure. The triage nurse typically sat at the intake desk though, until they had a patient to triage which meant Kate would be spending a large chunk of the night hanging out with the nurse there despite the position change.

  Most midweek nights at the Emergency Room weren’t very busy, and this being a Tuesday night, Kate expected nothing different. Green Forks Hospital was the second largest hospital in northern Maine behind the hospital in Caribou and the only hospital in northwestern Maine. However, with the exception of the City of Green Forks, there were no other major population centers in the area. There were lots of towns scattered all over between them and the Canadian borders to the north and west, but typically most of their patients came from Green Forks or right near by.

  It was about eight hours into a ten hour shift and Kate had triaged only one patient all night. Someone had been doing some late-night carpentry work and had come away with a pretty nice gash in their hand for the effort. People in northern Maine tended to try and do things themselves even if that particular skill set was beyond their abilities, if they’d been drinking or both. It’d been exciting to do something at the time, but that had quickly faded and the boredom had set in again. The other nurse at the desk was doing a head-bob, slowly dozing off before catching herself as the night dragged on.

  From Kate’s position at the intake desk, she had a pretty good view of the parking lot outside through a large bank of windows. The parking lot was almost empty except for a few cars scattered throughout so when a car quickly sped into the lot, she could see the headlights coming well before they parked. Kate coughed loudly. “I think we got someone coming in.”

  “What’s that? Oh, ok,” the nurse next to Kate said groggily, smacking her lips and rubbing her eyes.

  The car that had entered the lot was a dark colored sedan, possibly a Saab, and it’d parked in the closest spot to the front door at an angle, the back end of the car protruding over their space’s line into the next parking space. They were either drunk or were in such a hurry they didn’t care how their vehicle was parked in the spot. As the occupants of the car came up to the door of the ER, Kate could see that it was a man and a woman, the man had his arm draped over the shoulders of the woman and she was half carrying, half dragging him through the front door. Kate immediately got up from the desk to go get a wheelchair and helped the man sit down as they came up to the desk. The man appeared to be in his late teens or early 20s. He was very sweaty and pale, semi-conscious, and was mumbling what sounded like “No, no, get away, no…” His eyes were half-closed and didn’t seem to be focused on Kate or anyone else.

  Kate looked up at the nurse at the desk who still appeared to be half asleep. “Which room?” she said impatiently.

  “Umm...Take them to room 10 and I’ll page the doctor,” said the nurse suppressing a yawn. She couldn't have seemed less interested in what Kate was doing or the existence of the people who’d just stumbled into the lobby.

  “Alright, follow me ma’am” Kate said to the woman as she began to push the man in the wheelchair down the hallway to room 10. The ER was set up with five patient rooms on each side of a large open space filled in the middle with the nursing station. This consisted of a cluster of half-cubicles where the nurses worked and gossiped while taking care of the patients in the rooms. At the front of the cluster was a desk that Kate passed by on her way to room 10. This desk was occupied by several nurses that didn’t even break from conversation as Kate, the man, and the woman rolled past. Once in room 10, Kate closed the door to the room for privacy and helped the man from the wheelchair up onto the bed. Kate figured that she would’ve normally had help with this type of task had she been working any other shift at the hospital, but since she wasn’t, it was all up to her.

  After the man was safely on the bed, Kate asked the woman to sit in a chair next to the bed. Kate powered up the computer in the room, signed in, and began the triage process entering their biographical information into their computer system.

  “Could I please get your name ma’am?” asked Kate to the woman. She appeared to be pale and sweaty, but not as bad as the young man she was with. She also seemed nervous and kept fidgeting with the clasp on her purse.

  “My name is Kelly Johanson, and this is my son Michael.” Kelly said as she unclasped her purse and pulled out her wallet. Kelly took out her license and insurance card and passed them to Kate.

  “Oh great thank you, that’ll help,” Kate said smiling at Kelly who didn’t return the smile and just glanced over at her son with a worried look in her face, fear radiating from her like waves Kate could almost feel lapping against her body.

  “So, can you tell me why you’re here tonight?” Kate asked putting on the neutral look of a concerned medical professional.

  “My son is very ill and I didn’t know where else to bring him,” said Kelly, eyes red-rimmed and near tears.

  “Ok, tell me what’s going on with your son,” asked Kate.

  “Mike was in New York City. That’s where he goes to college. Normally he stays in the city through the summer because he has an apartment there that’s too expensive to leave empty during breaks. He usually comes home every so often to visit and luckily his visit was just a few days before they started that quarantine of the whole city. If he had stayed another day or two, he’d probably still be there. A day or two after he got home, he started getting sick...like the flu. It’s only gotten worse and Mike just doesn’t seem like himself anymore.” Kate could see the terror in the mother’s eyes as she explained her son’s condition. Mike was still lying still on the bed and continuing to quietly moan “No, no, go away, no.”

  “How long ago has Mike been home from school?” asked Kate.

  “Just about a week. We took Mike to our doctor a few days after he got home, but the doctor just said he had the flu and sent him home. Now my husband and our other two sons are getting sick as well,” said Kelly.

  “So your doctor didn’t prescribe him anything? Has he been taking any medications?” asked Kate.

  “No the doctor didn’t prescribe us anything. He said to come back after a few days and if Mike was still sick, then he’d prescribe him some antibiotics. The thing is though, I called the doctor’s office and now the doctor’s out sick too. That’s why I decided to take him here, I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “Ok, has he been taking any medications? Even Tylenol or anything?” pressed Kate.

  “Well he was taking some cough and cold medicine when he got home, but that stuff didn’t really seem to work at all,” said Kelly, recalling with a little difficulty. “About three or four days ago, he started getting really feverish. Mike seemed like he couldn’t recognize us and didn’t want any of us to go near him. He seemed so scared so I gave him some sedatives we had left over at home from my husband’s kne
e surgery. That at least made him manageable, but you can tell he’s still feverish.”

  “How are you feeling Mrs. Johanson? You seem to be a little ill as well,” asked Kate using her most sympathetic tone of voice while taking notes.

  “I’ve been feeling a little under the weather, yes,” said Kelly nodding her head, “but I’m the only one at home who really isn’t that sick so I’ve been taking care of everyone.”

  “Okay,” said Kate standing up and moving over to the side of the bed opposite from Kelly. “I’m going to check Mike’s vitals and then the doctor will be in to see your son.”

  Kate always kept a stethoscope slung around the back of her neck and draped over her shoulders. Kate took the blood pressure cuff out of it’s pocket on the wall and wrapped it around Mike’s right arm. As Kate began to tighten the cuff, Mike seemed to take notice that she was there for the first time slowly and clumsily turning his head to look at her, eyes still half closed. Once fully inflated, Kate let the air out of the cuff listening to Mike’s arm with her stethoscope. Mike was now semi-focused on Kate, looking at her through his half-closed eyes, but also more aware then before. His low moaning had stopped. Kate smiled at Mike as she finished reading his blood pressure but Kate realized that something was very wrong and the smile faded. Mike’s blood pressure was way too high. Off the charts too high. Kate looked up from Mike to Kelly. “I think I’m going to…”

  Mike’s eyes shot open as if he suddenly realized that he was awake. He jerked away from Kate pulling the stethoscope out of her ears and ripping the blood pressure gage off the wall. Mike shot up into a crouching position on the bed with his back to Kate before unleashing a growl mixed with screams as he lunged at his mother, propelling himself off the bed. Mike landed on Kelly’s upper chest, slamming her to the ground and briefly taking both of them out of Kate’s view on the other side of the bed.

  Kate was frozen. She was unable to move. What had just happened? Kate was unsure how many seconds she stood there frozen, but eventually she came to her senses. Most people would have fled the room and gone for help, but Kate wasn’t one of those people. Kate had become a nurse to help people, not run away. Kate could hear noises coming from the other side of the bed so she took a deep breath and then ran around to the opposite side.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Kate was way out of her depth now. If a sedated patient leaping up and attacking his mother wasn’t once-in-a-career strange, Kate could never have prepared herself for what she saw on the other side of the bed. Mike was squatting over his mother, who was still laying on her back, arms outstretched to her sides. Kelly’s eyes and all the skin around them were completely scratched into a bloody and unrecognizable pooled mess. Kate couldn't tell if Kelly’s eyes were even still there as there was so much blood covering what used to be her face. Kelly’s throat was gone and a small section of her spinal cord was exposed, white bones sticking out of a growing pool of dark red blood that was still pumping out of a ragged hole at the top of her chest. Mike was half-turned away from Kate but she could see that his face and upper body was covered in his mother’s blood and he appeared to be chewing. Kate didn’t want to think about what part of his mother Mike was ingesting, but she couldn't help it...the scene in front of her was just too gruesome.

  Kate involuntarily gasped as Mike slowly turned his head to look right at her. Mike had scratch marks on his face and his shirt was ripped exposing more bloody scratches on his chest, likely from a brief fight with his mother. Mike and Kate stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Mike’s upper lip began to raise and a snarl passed between his bloody lips, gore dripping from his mouth and pieces of ragged flesh stuck between his glossy red teeth. Mike looked more like a rabid dog protecting its’ meal from scavengers then a human being. Kate took a step backwards away from Mike. It was time to summon help-this was way beyond anything she could handle.

  As Kate’s heel touched the floor, Mike sprang up onto his mother’s chest causing a large gush of blood to spray and gargle out of what used to be her neck. Perched on top of his mother’s ribcage, Mike growled and lunged at Kate. Kate backed away instinctively and brought up her right forearm to protect herself. As Kate’s forearm came up, she could feel Mike’s mouth wrap around it and his teeth sink in. Pain shot up her arm as she fell onto her back, Mike on top of her. More pain spiderwebbed from the back of her head as she slammed into the floor. Eyes closed, the loudest scream Kate had ever heard herself make burst from her as Mike began to swing his head back and forth, Kate’s arm still clamped in his jaw. Kate immediately heard more screams from outside room 10 as someone must have discovered what was happening through the window in the door. Kate could feel the pressure on her arm release as Mike let go and rushed the door but the searing, radiating pain remained. With Mike distracted, Kate realized this is her only chance to alert the whole hospital there was an emergency. Kate quickly dragged herself over to the red panic button next to the triage computer and smashed it down with her uninjured arm. Kate saw Mike turn toward her as she hit the button but lose interest once the blaring panic alarm sounded. Mike began to claw and bang at the door smearing blood all over the small window set in it. It was as if he couldn’t figure out how to open the door so he’d just decided to break through it. With every bang, Mike appeared to become more desperate to escape and soon began throwing his entire body against the door in an effort to set himself free, each attempt becoming more violent than the last. Desperate to not draw Mike’s attention again and satisfied everyone knew of the emergency in room 10, Kate huddled in a corner attempting to not move or make a sound, too scared to even cry.

  As Mike’s attempts to escape the room reached a fevered pitch, she could hear hospital security arrive outside the room. Mike seemed to realize this as well and stopped banging on the door. Mike slowly backed away from the door and perched himself on the bed, legs tucked under him like coiled springs, his attention focused on the blood-smeared window.

  Kate could hear the security guards on the door count “1...2...3!” and throw open the door. The first guard to enter the room, Kate thought his name was Nick, was one of the younger guards working at the hospital. Nick wasn’t expecting the carnage he found inside and hesitated when he caught sight of Mike as well as Kelly’s body beyond. That hesitation was all Mike needed to get the drop on Security Guard Nick, jumping off the bed and pinning him to the wall. Kate couldn't see how badly Nick was injured but she could hear his cries of surprise and pain as he was attacked. Kate could see that Nick was still fighting with Mike as they fell and rolled on the ground next to Kelly’s body. Nick was followed into the room by two other older guards. Kate watched in horror as the two older guards pulled Mike off of Nick to reveal Nick’s entire left cheek to be missing, jawbone and teeth fully exposed, and a large gash in his neck. The two guards dragged Mike to the bed and bodyslammed him down onto it, each holding Mike at the arm/shoulder. To Nick’s credit, he too got up and assisted holding down Mike’s legs. The security guards were followed by several nurses who helped strap down Mike to the bed with restraints and inject him with sedatives. It was only then that someone noticed Kate huddled in the corner. Kate, overwhelmed by what’d just occurred, could only mutter a soft “help” before the world went black and she passed out.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Kate wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but it couldn't have been more than an hour or two. She recognized the room she was in as being one of the other patient rooms at the hospital, but the room number seemed elusive. Kate looked down at her left arm and could see a large bandage on her arm as well as an IV taped to the inside forearm. She initially felt very, very good as drugs coursed through her veins, but earlier events were waiting on the periphery of her memory, slowly creeping back into her mind and quickly vaporizing the the good feelings. She was left with only a desire to do nothing but cry. Why had that woman been attacked? Why would someone do something like that to their own mother? Kate couldn't gr
asp the reality of the situation and she could feel the fear in her beginning to slowly rise like the first tugs of an incoming wave.

  Glancing to her left, she saw a chair with a woman sitting in it. She was very attractive and was looking at her cell phone. Kate was pretty sure she knew this woman and concentrated on her face. The woman had brown hair cut short to around the bottom of her ears, hazel eyes with flecks of green, honest features that were young but mature at the same time, and a chiseled chin with a small dimple in the center. Kate knew this face and this face felt like safety to her, like comfort, like home. The hazel eyes flicked up to look at her and they were instantly joined by a wide, toothy smile. The woman was happy to see Kate looking at her.

  “Kate...you’re awake,” the woman said, the excitement plain in her voice.

  Kate knew that voice. The voice was so familiar to her, it made her feel happiness and warmth. Kate wanted desperately to know this woman, her body ached at the sound of her voice. Kate could feel that she knew the hazel-eyed women with the toothy smile, down in her bones she knew this woman...if she could just remember. Furrowing her brow in concentration Kate put it all together: the face, the eyes, the mouth, the voice…

  “Ro...Rose?” Kate asked, hesitantly.

  “Yes, Kate, it’s me Rose, Jordan Rose.” the woman said, apparently slightly concerned, as she moved to the side of Kate’s bed.